regarding the lack of promotion for some ST ensigns:

Fans have suggested that Kim's case owes to Voyager's isolation in the Delta Quadrant. Others, however, say that Kim's actions did not warrant promotion. The suggested lack of a lieutenant (junior grade) rank in Enterprise may explain Sato and Mayweather. Others have suggested that Voyager and Enterprise executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga simply did not pay attention to such details.

and still others have suggested that IT'S JUST A FARKING TV SHOW!

Heh. Some Trekkies need to learn abotu suspension of disbelief. That said,

rockneedsasavior: That said,

If I am not mistaken that would be Cestus III and they are about to be attacked by the Gorn..

/I have my OWN basement thank you very much!

There must be a Star Trek Wiki. They have one for the Muppets, for chrissakes.

The Real Damien: If I am not mistaken that would be Cestus III and they are about to be attacked by the Gorn..

Kirk faced the Gorn captain alone.

/suprisingly not considered a geek

So?

Tony Almeda's Chicago Cubs coffee mug has its own Wikipedia article.

swahnhennessy

Kirk faced the Gorn captain alone.

/suprisingly not considered a geek

Ummm...not surprisingly, you are now.

/happy Saturday night to you

Mugato: Is submitter Ric Romero or is he just new to Wiki?

While we're on the subject however, why is Chief O'Brien not an officer and can be ordered around by ensigns?


Because he is an enlisted man. He did not attend Starfleet Academy.

stranger than what?

how is a wikipedia article news?

I always assumed that Kim didn't get promoted on Voyager because there was no room for advancement. Though you'd think that eventually they would have killed off enough people for Kim to make Lt.

The thing about Hoshi and Mayweather not getting promoted bothered me while watching that last episode. That wasn't all that bothered me however. I just assume that it never happened in the Star Trek universe. It was just a holodeck fantasy (the last Enterprise episode, not the entire series), which explains why the bridge was messed up, why Hoshi and Travis were still Ensigns. Why Trip didn't really die, and why he and Tpol never seemed to hook up after the events in the episode before.

That article just makes me feel sorry for Harry Kim.

The suggested lack of a lieutenant (junior grade) rank in Enterprise may explain Sato and Mayweather.

Isn't Ensign the naval equivalent of Lieutenant just about everywhere?

Mugato

You obviously have no familiarity with military ranks do you? I am an enlisted man, I may make Chief after 12 years or so, but the most junior ensign fresh out of the academy will always outrank me. Also this article seems to disregard the fact that Ensign goes back beyond the 22nd century to actual Naval military ranks. Dumb farks, all of 'em

Kim should have been promoted, period. Paris got DEMOTED and then repromoted. Totally unfair. Kim had just as many heroic actions as Paris without being an idiot and getting demoted.

/Voyager sucked in general anyways
//Deep Space Nine rocked
///geek
////not a nerd
//nerds are smart
//slashies off the port bow

I just want to know "Where are the Nuk-lee-are Wes-sels?"

Is it still 'All-a-mee-duh?'

JPWRana, this has to be said about ten times a day "It's not news, it's Fark.com"
/sorry if you were being sarcastic

Party Spock approves.

17 posts and no Sulu-is-gay jokes? I'm disappointed in all of you.

/Standard dress for ensigns assigned to the Excelsior is red shirt and no pants.

Mugato

Actually I'd much rather be a Chief than an officer. They're the ones who do all the real work. The officers just get all the pay.

I like the video of Nimoy doing 'Bilbo Baggins,' if you've not seen it, google it. It is priceless; as good for a laugh as anything Shatner did.

swahnhennessy

The Real Damien: If I am not mistaken that would be Cestus III and they are about to be attacked by the Gorn..

Kirk faced the Gorn captain alone.

/suprisingly not considered a geek

But the episode wasn't just Kirk fighting the Gorn one-on-one.

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Arena

/geek, but not a Star Trek one
//has no idea whether the image is from that episode or not

Puddle Privateer: I may make Chief after 12 years or so, but the most junior ensign fresh out of the academy will always outrank me.

MugatoStay in school, kids.

Oddly, I have no problem laughing at dead teenagers or kidnapped babies. Yet I still can't shake the feeling that I'm going to hell for laughing at that.

Well played.

The other day I was watching some TNG. Spike showed the last episode of the first season and the first two of season two. What got me was Geordi LaFordge.

For the entire first season he piloted the ship. His only real gimmick was the visor. He pretty much came across as more useless than Mayweather on Enterprise.

Suddenly, in the second season, LaFordge has a pretty extensive background in warp field propulsion and is qualified for the one job that no one seemed qualified for in the first season, Chief Engineer. He didn't even have to spend a season in engineering, one day he's flying the ship, the next day he's incharge of making sure that it's running properly.

I guess being friends with the Captain paid off.

Dwreck: Kim should have been promoted, period. Paris got DEMOTED and then repromoted. Totally unfair. Kim had just as many heroic actions as Paris without being an idiot and getting demoted.


Massive word to that. Kim was Voyager's punching bag. He got his heart broken by a hologram, died and was replaced by a temporal/dimensional twin, got beaten around like he wasn't even a main character, and stayed an Ensign through the whole damn show?

Meanwhile Tom Paris nailed the Klingon, earned back his greater-than-Kim's rank twice, and even had hot freaky devolution lizard sex with the captain.

O'Brian was totally in the same boat as Kim. He got the hot Asian wife, but was cloned and his clone was killed. Got temporally shifterized and was killed and replaced by the temporal shifterized clone, was arrested and tortured by the Cardassians, and got a brain implant that made him think he was in solitary confinement for a crime he didn't commit.

Doctor Bashir was almost as irritating as Paris (especially his ridiculous "genetically enhanced" retcon in the sixth season), but he at least had the decency to be cockblocked by both Worf and Rom.

/I pay rent on this basement!

Great Janitor: A hell of a retcon is that all engineers spend some time as a pilot. Would you want an engineer who had never flown the damn thing?

Great Janitor: O'Brian went from transporter jockey to running a space station even bigger than the Enterprise, so it's not unprecedented.

I could totally make an affirmative action joke here, but I loved Geordi.

OH, puleeze... The character Butters from "South Park" has a longer, more extensive Wiki article.

/Trekkies are not the only ones

Bloody William: 17 posts and no Sulu-is-gay jokes? I'm disappointed in all of you.

helllooooooooooo

Someone explain to me how LaForge can read a god-damned tricorder!!!

O'Brian went from transporter jockey to running a space station even bigger than the Enterprise, so it's not unprecedented.


Well, we did actually see O'brian in Engineering before he transferred to DS9. Geordi just suddenly moved.

I could totally make an affirmative action joke here, but I loved Geordi.

We all love Geordi, and really, the best thing for the character was to move him to Engineering. Though, after taking some classes in electrical code, could he have really been the best man for the job? Odds are the Enterprise had some form of an electrical code book/PADD, and while he coukd see much of the EM spectrum, I really doubt he could tell the difference between black and red wire (or what ever the hell they used?)

I may make Chief after 12 years or so, but the most junior ensign fresh out of the academy will always outrank me.

But what if he is a Master Chief? that should count for something.

Seriously, someone tell me how LaForge could read a tricorder, or the friggin computers at all!!!

The visor has like, super night vision, x ray stuff, and a telescope.

It can also tell if people have a zombie virus, or if they have any Jewish blood.

Long story.

That episode where LaForge suddenly became the engineer was written during a writer's strike. They had no writers so they lifted the story from an episode of the second Trek series with Kirk and crew that never happened and made it fit the TNG crew. So the whole reason LaForge is an engineer was probably the idea of a producer or exec who didn't know the characters.


Actually, I have on my book shelf a book written over 10 years ago that explained the writers strike and all the movies, and the different series (every episode of TOS, TNG, TAS, Phase II and the first 7 movies. Plus only mentioned DS9 and VOY). There were two or three episodes that were from Phase II (the one with the woman pretending to be the devil was another one) and carried over into TNG.

My theory on the Geordi LaForge promotion is that at the start of TNG, they didn't plan on having Engineering at all. It would be mentioned but never seen. Then they realized at the last minute that they actually needed that set (from the book previously mentioned from 10 years ago called 'Captain's Log'). This also explains why the first season had 'Chief Engineer of the week' instead of a cast member in the role. I'm guessing that between the two seasons they decided to make Geordi the Chief Engineer to give him a bigger role.

/must have sucked being him, and being upstaged by Wil Wheaton for the entire first season.

the mormon magazine?

Carth

But what if he is a Master Chief? that should count for something.

My dad was an officer, and he used to talk about the command structure on his command. While experienced enlisted men may be outranked by junior officers, the smart ones tended to pay attention to the Chiefs and Master Chiefs for advice and guidance, even if in the end they still had final say.

TNG never used silver pips, did it?

By my reckoning those images should be

TNG (all seasons): one gold pip on black
TNG (films)/DS9/Voy: one gold pip on red

i like how fark gets credit for linking:

On September 23, 2006, this article was linked from Fark.com, a high-traffic Internet site. All prior and subsequent edits are noted in the revision history.

like we're energetic enough to edit a wiki page. jheesh.

/lazy farkers = good donut.

I thought all the trekkies had moved on to WoW now...I mean since D&D never really caught on

LOL! Seriously, what was the deal with having no central Chief Engineer character the whole first season. It's like they were drawing up the characters, and they totally forgot about it, and they actually had three different chief engineers in the first season. That's got to be a hell of a turnover for the flagship of the federation.

...the smart ones tended to pay attention to the Chiefs and Master Chiefs for advice and guidance, even if in the end they still had final say.

Wouldn't you think the really smart ones would go to OCS? I know what you're saying, anyone who's been in for that long knows his shiat, but c'mon, it's gotta be nice to have people salute you for once.

apotheosis247

Wouldn't you think the really smart ones would go to OCS? I know what you're saying, anyone who's been in for that long knows his shiat, but c'mon, it's gotta be nice to have people salute you for once.

I meant the smart junior officers.

In other news...

OK, there is no other news. That's why we're reading about trekkies on wikipedia.

OK, there is no other news. That's why we're reading about trekkies on wikipedia.


I'm at work. I have no real job duties or responsibilities (if only the pay were better...), it's either talk about Trek on Fark or play one of the Trek games that I've installed on my personal laptop that I bring to work with me.

Tempted to see if I can't start another 'Enterprise vs. The Empire' thread on Fark just to help the time pass by until I can go home.

tdpatriots12

Yeah, I know...I got a little overzealous w/ the italics so it's a little misleading the way it's written. But anyway, point is, if you're gonna make a career of it, get a BS degree from the University of Phoenix then take 3 months and go to OCS for cryin' out loud.

Some of my favorite Trek vids:

Star Trek Cribs from Trek 2.0.

Poolside with lube from G4.

Coffeehouse

Kirk/Spock Closer, TOS meets Kenneth Anger.

Why did a Wiki article get greenlighted?

Axana

Maybe because most of the people reading it are sitting in front of their computers on a Saturday night.

/Jesus I'm bored
//Forbes ranked Raleigh as the 4th best city for singles
///Forbes is stupid

Deldrach: LOL! Seriously, what was the deal with having no central Chief Engineer character the whole first season. It's like they were drawing up the characters, and they totally forgot about it, and they actually had three different chief engineers in the first season. That's got to be a hell of a turnover for the flagship of the federation.

Ok I'm gonna nerd out on this..

I think during the first season "chief engineer" wasn't a one-person position.. If you notice in the episode "Where no one has gone before" .. Kosinski wants to see the captain, and Riker says something to the effect of "this is one of our chief engineers, Lt Cmdr Argyle" ... somewhere between seasons 1 and 2, starfleet decided to drop the "multiple chief engineers" thing ...

Ok, just found this on the article for Sarah MacDougal:

Sarah MacDougal was played by Brooke Bundy. MacDougal appeared to have been replaced as Chief Engineer by Lieutenant Commander Argyle in TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before", also set in 2364. However, Commander William T. Riker's line in that episode in which he stated that engineering matters were overseen by "one of our chief engineers, in this case, [Mr.] Argyle" seems to imply that the ship had more than one chief engineering officer at the time. Therefore, it is possible that MacDougal continued to serve as chief engineer even while Argyle held that position. This practice of having more than one chief engineer seems to have come to an end by 2365, when Geordi La Forge became the sole chief engineer of the Enterprise.

As great as LaForge ended up playing the engineer's role (one of my favorite characters) there was something about having a blind black dude driving the ship that tickled my funny bone.

It's good that the "Vice Admiral" page addresses the peculiarity of Colonel West from ST VI. I mean, who ever heard of a Starfleet Colonel? Used to bug me, now it does not. Thanks, Wiki.

Markfarker: You didn't mention Star Trek Karaoki ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhTeYaqIe3E&NR )! I think I like that one best!

oh come on. star wars has it's own hands full here: Wookieepedia

Notice that all the Chief Engineers of the Week in the first season of TNG were all white and able bodied.

Actually, in the 1st season, there was a Chief Engineer of the Week named Singh (spelling?) who was a heavy set Asian man who was the first Enterprise crewman to get killed off. The episode was 'The Lonely Among Us'.

JPWRana: how is a wikipedia article news?

Can you see that little bit on the top right? What does that say?

Haha. Star Trek geeks are soooo lame.

Oh, snap! Farscape's coming on! Whooooo!

Levar Burton rocks. Smart dude (you seen him on Jeopardy?) and great with kids (BUT, you don't have to take MY word for it).

/not creepy, no, really...

Damn. I thought I was a nerd, but this thread makes me feel like pointing and yelling "NERDS!"

Wow. I didn't think this bullshiat submission would bring out the Trekkie nerds on FARK.

\submitter

Bad sumbitter. Bad.

Now I'm reading up on the freakin Ferengi and how photon torpedoes magically got replenished on Voyager.

Damn you to hell.

Now I'm reading up on the freakin Ferengi and how photon torpedoes magically got replenished on Voyager.


Yeah, I liked how on Voyager in season one they had no way to replenish the torpedos, then suddenly, they did. I guess if they were able to build the 'Delta Flyer' they could build new torpedos. I mean, how else do you manage to fire 93 out of 40 torpedos???

I also enjoyed the fact that on Voyager they had 2 shuttles, but managed to lose 15 of them. And, why the hell was Janeway so resistant to building a new shuttle craft?

/Voyager was entertaining, but not the best Trek.
//Not even going to touch the warp 10 salamander episode...

We've gone this far and no homage to Wesley Crusher yet?

/he did receive a field promotion you know.

rockneedsasavior: That said,

If I am not mistaken that would be Cestus III and they are about to be attacked by the Gorn..

/I have my OWN basement thank you very much!

I THINK that thats the planet Deneva where they encountered the parasites that nabbed Spock.

MY nerd-fu is stroooooooong!!!!!

The ensigns link led me to an even more fun one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_%28character%29

I just LOVE LaVar on Reading Rainbow. Great show, not just for kids, either.

I thought I was Trekkie, from way over here in the merry old land of Oz, but golly, you guys know more than I do.

Crap, where'd Toto go?

Dang dog, much too interested in dilithium crystals, if you ask me.

/Lest we forget
//Somebody had to do it

Do yourself a favor and watch Trekkies: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120370/

Sorry, when it comes to html, I'm the no name wearing the red uniform.

My favorite part is when the dude who hosts the annual Star Trek party noted that it's been picking up and a girl even showed up that particular year.

Great Janitor

OK, there is no other news. That's why we're reading about trekkies on wikipedia.


I'm at work. I have no real job duties or responsibilities (if only the pay were better...)

I'm at work, too. Between fark articles, I'm playing emulated snes games. Then there's that pesky hourly check that I do every 3 hours.

/Hooray, easy jobs!

"Why did a Wiki article get greenlighted?"

More importantly, if a star trek wikipedia article was going to be greenlighted, why this one? There's an entire category in wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Star_Trek_politics , all of which should be too obscure and silly to have in an encylopedia, not to mention things like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_characters_in_the_Star_Trek_universe or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Slave_Girl or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oo-mox .

The myriad linked star trek wikipedia entries kept me busy and engaged for much longer that I expected. I approve of this greenlight.

swahnhennessy: Kirk faced the Gorn captain alone.

Yes on an unknown planet but that was later in the episode. at the opening he and a landing party investigated the loss of the Cestus three outpost and were shelled from an unknown enemy.

MaggotyBalogna: I THINK that thats the planet Deneva where they encountered the parasites that nabbed Spock.

Deneva was never destroyed. Just the people were killed. The Planet in question clearly has battle damage.

rockneedsasavior: Heh. Some Trekkies need to learn abotu suspension of disbelief. That said,

I have a similar version of that exact same demotivational poster up, and it kept me on my toes since last year.

deevo

So?

Tony Almeda's Chicago Cubs coffee mug has its own Wikipedia article.

That's because the mug will be the new head of CTU on Day 6.

/and be shattered around Hour 12 against the head of first-half Evil Person while rescuing Chloe
//or was that spoiling?

Semiotix: Meh. So every show has an ensign or six. Big deal. Now, commodore--that's an interesting rank.

See Commodore Decker, episode: Doomsday machine.

Man, I've wasted my life.

Actually, Ensigns are the lowest ranking commissioned officer, period. And the term definately predated the 22 century. In fact, I'd put it back as far as the 20th. The artical seems to claim that 'Ensign' is a Star Trek term. Geez, these nerds know random little facts from every Star Trek series, but know jack shiat about real life.

The TRUE story of where the rank came from is this: Back in the American Revolution, or some war in that era, where the'd actually march in formation with a drum and the whole shebang, they'd have a low ranking officer cary their national ensign, or flag.

Needless to say, your flag bearer was a prime target, not only because he was so visible, but because disabling him would lower their morale, and cause a moment of confusion while they found a new bearer. So, yeah, most Ensigns were definalely expendable.

Today, low ranking officers aren't maimed without a tear shed for them. However, they still don't get much respect form their superiors, and even most senior enlisted. There's even an unofficial term called SLJO: shiatty Little Jobs Officer. He's the lackey of the command that fills out paperwork, or is made responsible for seeing that the crew tucks their shirttails in while in uniform.

Yeah, Commodore is pretty bad-ass. That's the lowest ranking Admiral, if any Admiral can truely be called low ranking. Right after Captain. There are a hundreds of these in the Navy, though only a dozen or so in the Coast Guard. The Rear Admirals are all put in command of entire districts. Coast Guard doesn't even send them out to sea, they're so important.

Engineers do it on impulse!

And as hilariously obsessive as trekkies get (and I'm talking to YOU, Jeff), they pale utterly besides sports fans. My Dad has memorized the entire fraking history of NCAA basketball, I swear.

Sport guys are teh biggest nerds out there.

Please don't call Wikipedia "Wiki". A wiki is a specific type of site. There are plenty of other wikis out there besides Wikipedia. Wikipedia just happens to be the most famous.

moothemagiccow: wikipedia is a joke

Good thing we have you to tell us what is and is not worthy of an article.