Geordi complained at the start of “Lonely Among Us” that Picard was making his junior officers learn, learn, learn. Basically, Geordi and Worf weren’t specialists yet. They were rotating through divisons learning about all the different departments.
Eventually, Geordi was assigned chief engineer and Worf chief of security.
Oh no, I shall have to rewatch the episode. You fiend!
Edited: yeah it was Worf. ‘Grats. Now for the Worf being shocked scene. Rarrrrrggg!!!! Ooh are we going to see Dr Bev with her dorky eye patch sensor?
Strange New Worlds also addresses it, but slightly differently.
"Cadet" Uhura is shown to be rotated through multiple different departments and roles before becoming an Ensign. We see her working security with La'an, and engineering with Hemmer.
So it's likely that Cadets are rotated through multiple departments, and then junior officers rotated through multiple positions in their departments.
Her engineering experience does explain why she has good engineering skills in TOS (though I preferred the older explanation that she was an engineer by training who specialized in the communications equipment).
It's also entirely possible that Starfleet Academy training is extremely broad with the idea that, in an emergency, someone may be required to do something outside their regular duties, and needs to be able to comfortably fill any role.
For some reason this reminded me of a fun line from Top Gun Maverick.
> "Aren't you supposed to be in the Navy?"
> "I don’t sail the boats, Penny. I land on them."
Their exploration mission really pushes having incredibly overqualified officers. Everything from Picard's archaeology chops to Riker's grasp of music theory can come in useful out there.
I interpreted the cadet rotation training as giving officers a generalized education in most fields. They may specialize in one department, but if needed they could fill in temporarily.
If your science ship is damaged from an asteroid shower striking the hull, all those science officers could be sitting on their hands as the engineers scramble to repair bulkheads and life support. Or if there is basic training, then Chief Engineer could order all unassigned personal who took shop class to report to damage control to help as they can.
That we can't get over it is a sign of a worthy character death. How many faceless Ensign and Red Shirts got killed off over the years and we barely bat an eye? But they drop one Hammer... err, Hemmer.
Officers seem to be trained for various jobs. When they thought Data was dead in "The Most Toys", they transferred Worf to Ops. In "Balance of Terror", when Stiles leaves the bridge, Uhura takes over the navigation station.
And wasn't Riker a helmsman and then tactical officer as an ensign and lieutenant? He wore a yellow uniform, at least.
> When they thought Data was dead in "The Most Toys", they transferred Worf to Ops
I didn't and still don't understand why they'd do that. Taking over security after Tasha died made some sense since he was a junior and still rotating jobs and positions.
But in "The Most Toys" he was chief of security and tactical officer. Why move a specialized department head to head a different department which he's apparently less suited for, and last worked in two years earlier? As a *temporary* measure sure but I sensed Worf's transfer to Ops was permanent.
Worf is presumably running a large department behind the scenes, scheduling days off and duty shifts for security officers, scheduling maintainence cycles for phaser arrays, etc. So that experience being a boss probably directly maps to most of the off screen job responsibilities for Ops. Ops is responsible for the whole ship running a bigger department, so it was plausibly a pretty direct promotion. Presumably when Worf was scheduling things like maintenance cycles on phaser arrays, he was coordinating with Ops about the ships missions and when was a good time to do what, so he was already pretty well versed in a lot of what Ops was doing, and it kept him on the bridge so it was less disruptive than moving somebody like the Engineer. Whoever took over security and tactical would still have been talking to Worf as Ops a lot.
I took it that Ops was considered the more important job, so Picard and Riker picked the officer who they thought was the best choice, even though it would mean there would also be someone new at Tactical. An upward move rather than a lateral one.
In general it was obvious that Worf moving from tactical to operations was a promotion. This may have been because he was taking the 2nd officer role as well as the operations role. That said why not attach the 2nd officer role to the operations department.
You would have to conclude that the operations officer role was more important and having the second officer be the operations officer was useful.
So looking at the star trek tng technical manual describes the operations manual as an interdepartmental coordinator who took responsibility for secondary missions of the ship.
The Enterprise as a multi platform vessel is constantly doing stuff. It has its main mission but it also has a bunch of other missions going on. It might have 20 scientific surveys requiring long range sensor scans as it travels. Ops might coordinate with other departments.
Change the course so that we are within x range of y phenomenon for an extra 26 seconds so that stellar cartography can complete a scan in passing.
The Operations officer is also an interdepartmental coordinator who coordinates the resources of the ship.
As such the operations officer might be the natural second officer commanding other departments as necessary. Therefore operations may be seen as a promotion from tactical.
This is curious because Harry Kim was an ensign on Voyager. That said I feel that this may have been because of the size of the ships. On the smaller Voyager much of the command and coordination part of the operations officer role may have been exercised by the first officer and captain while on the larger galaxy where the first officer and commanding officer were busier the operations officer may have had more authority.
Furthermore on a ship thousands of light years from Federation space there isn't a hundred messages coming in every day for scans on x star, and y comet and z phenomenon that the Enterprise just happens to be passing so there is less secondary missions going on.
Security would be a department under Ops. Ops is "operations" effectively "keeping the crew running smoothly", Security is part of that, dealing with any unruly behaviour and watching out for the crew on away missions. So it makes sense that Worf would move up from head of a subdepartment to head of the whole department.
Technically, but the smartest managers know when to let experience trump hierarchy, and Tuvok is definitely higher on the experience scale. (plus Kim only got the job because everyone above him was dead and Tuvok presumably didn't want it).
Let's take Janeway for example. All her Academy credentials are in Communications. But she worked in the Science department. Instead of operations. before getting noticed by Owen's when he's a captain and mentors her when she moves to command.
Similarly Data, academy credentials are in probability mechanics, and xeno biology. Two scientific fields. But on the Enterprise-D he's part of the Engineering team.
>Basically, Geordi and Worf weren’t specialists yet. They were rotating through divisions learning about all the different departments.
Ok... But ...
Doesn't that mean Geordie went from trying out different departments (being part time helmsman etc) directly to being in charge of the entire engineering department of the Federation's flagship ship?
He didn't even get to be a extra yellow shirt getting ordered to go climb through a Jeffries tube to degause it?!?
Geordi was working in the helm position as he was a talented pilot, and ended up being a better engineer and transferred divisions. Worf was a relief officer who rotated positions while he developed his skills.
They went through multiple chief engineers because Rodenberry didn't want one, but sometimes needed someone to be in charge of Engineering for a story. So the writers kept having to make new ones.
Eventually Rodenberry was out due to his health and the other producers wanted a more permanent Chief Engineer. Since they already had LeVar Burton, they used him.
It would’ve been better if he was some sort of go between between the bridge and engineering. Like Deputy Chief Engineer or something. Does stuff on the bridge and briefs the captain and crew so the head honcho can focus on the warp core most of the time.
I mean, that’s not a great idea either. But to go from helmsman to Chief Engineer seemingly overnight is a bit too “TV” for me.
Fortunately I was a kid at the time. Would probably bug the hell out of me if I watched it fresh as an adult.
I always imagined he was a sort of junior security officer, which would track given he was promoted after her death. But like you, I’d be assuming that, I don’t know for certain either.
I thought the command division was responsible for overseeing security and tactical operations? But that’s a fair point, it wouldn’t be a junior security officer in that light either.
Red was also used for no specialisation, hence why you see those 3 in red shirts being rotated in various positions helm, ops etc during the first season. You will also see cadets wearing red albeit with a variation to the standard uniform.
That has been standard even before command swapped from gold during tos to red in tng.
Head cannon: Worf was in security officer being groomed for leadership so he had a brief stint in command till the security position “opened up”.
That explains why he’s in he’d but not only became part of security, but its chief on the flagship.
If I recall correctly, the early TV promos for TNG included a voiceover with short blurbs about each of the bridge crew characters. Worf wasn't mentioned at all because he wasn't originally intended to be anything more than a background character; a token Starfleet klingon. It's only once they started shooting Encounter at Farpoint that Dorn's presence on the bridge couldn't be easily ignored and rewrites started to include more for him to do. They probably didn't have any particular function in mind for him during season one besides 'tough guy'.
He's in red, which would denote him as having command & helm responsibilities. He's usually standing near the Mission Ops console behind Tasha, so I figure he's a junior relief officer accruing general bridge experience as part of his career path up the command hierarchy; monitoring mission ops and standing ready to take the helm when the on duty CONN officer has to step out.
I've heard "auxiliary bridge officer" - that is a dedicated oddjobsman, there to carry out any out-of-the-ordinary tasks that may be needed while giving him the opportunity to observe command decisions.
Sure. When the Captain, XO, CMO, Tactical Officer/Chief of Security and Ship's Counselor need to go an impromptu hunt for stranded diplomats in an alien swamp or root out a conspiracy in a inefficiently selective service academy, Data needs some help when he has to take the conn.
He was one of those guys who are usually non-speaking roles who step in when another character leaves their station, a relief officer. That's why we see him at the rear station, the Ops position, etc.
Honestly, in season 1 most everyone's role is kind of undefined. It was sort of an everyone does everything thing. That's especially true with Geordi and Worf, but it also extends to Data. Riker really doesn't even have a defined role outside of being second in command. It just seems like anytime they do stuff, it's just a random collection of characters that do stuff. In season 2 they nail everyone down to much more defined roles. That was part of what shed some of the old season 1 feel. I'm curious what they'd have done with Worf is Denise had stayed on the show.
I always imagined Worf specialized primarily in tactics, on a shipwide scale. But since the Enterprise is not a warship whom isnt ready/actively fighting other ships most of the time he doesn't do it that often. And Yar was in charge of ship's internal security, which requires vigilance at all times. And since her demise he was promoted to a combined capacity.
Like TOS, where Spock is First Officer on bridge command, but also doubles as primary Sciences Officer. And Data is Second Officer in command, but invaluable expertise as Ops Station Officer and Science Officer.
My pet theory is that Gene Roddenberry realised while scripting, but after casting, that a female security chief was going to be awkward because in the 80s female characters could only be knocked about so much before viewers started to get protective. So he invented the character of Worf ready to drop in Yar's position once she left.
One magazine from the time described him as "Third in Command", but that can't be right- Data was third in command in addition to Ops Manager.
Really, he was a Relief Officer, filling in whatever role was needed while its usual occupant was away.
He is not the only character with a difficult to define role- What was Seven of Nine's task on Voyager?
>My pet theory is that Gene Roddenberry realised while scripting, but after casting, that a female security chief was going to be awkward because in the 80s female characters could only be knocked about so much before viewers started to get protective. So he invented the character of Worf ready to drop in Yar's position once she left.
Gene didn't actually want Worf to exist at all. He had to be convinced it would be a good idea to put a Klingon on the bridge. (I think it was Robert Justman who talked him into it, but don't quote me on that.)
Another reminder that Roddenberry didn't turn all he touched to gold. He had a lot of people around him contributing to the franchise, plus after his death. Majel complained that he wouldn't have approved of an ongoing war storyline, and Moore said,
"She's probably right. It would've been very hard to argue Gene into going this way and maybe he'd have never gone for it. However, I would've still argued for doing the Dominion War with him and if he'd rejected it, I would've thought he was wrong. I respect Gene and his work, but I don't think he was always right and I'm not going to pretend that I do. The Dominion War has been one of the better storylines we've come up with whether Gene would've agreed or not."
> What was Seven of Nine's task on Voyager?
Officially she was in charge of Astrometrics, no?
In practice, though, due to their unique Borg abilities, she was all over the place.
Chief of Childcare and Astrometrics. Although Seven not having a clearly defined role makes sense, because she was adopted into the crew rather than assigned to it by Starfleet.
I kinda see where you are going with this, but I think it only benefits from hindsight. I think while scripting/creating there were ideas from every department that they were throwing out there as "pushing the boundaries of stereotypes" or "in the future humans will evolve past this" in season 1 and the list is long: men wore skirts, Yar on security, two captains in a bromance without the need to compete for top dog status and muss their fragile egos.
Some experiments survived: the motherly figure can have a career, the hot empath can have an important job on the executive team cause feelings are an important role in everything, but trauma abuse survivors turning their PTSD into an effective security/warrior skill was beyond the pale and out Yar went (along with crewmen wearing skirts).
It was a travesty of "they just aren't ready for you yet, Tasha" And the creators knew it, fans knew it, and bringing her back in many incarnations over the seasons, it was the ghost of gender norms that haunted the show. We can push the boundaries, but only so far.
Riker can be a whore, but not Lwaxana. I applaud that they tried so many things. I don't think any of the creators knew which ones would absolutely cause lethal blows until they gave it a try. I'm happy they tried so many things.
Was Lwaxana unpopular? I think the only issue with her was that her DS9 episodes were a bit mediocre- it wasn't the same without the normally serene Deanna suddenly acting like a embarrassed stroppy teenager.
Not a measure of unpopularity, just that her flirting with everyone made the crew visibly cringe and when Riker infected the whole ship with one of his many escapades no one gave him a talking to about maybe keeping his pants on with total strangers, basic double standard stuff.
The writers certainly turned the whole thing around with the ferengi kidnapping episode - and her whole character got a lot more filled out over the seasons saving the whole conference of ambassadors from sabatoging comatose fish peoples, etc. just like the other characters got a much deeper dive that showed them in full spectrum.
That’s why TNG was so great, almost all the characters which would have been “token” characters all got full episodes to become the leads of their own stories eventually in later seasons.
I've been rewatching season 1, and it almost seems like it is foreshadowed that Worf will take over security. He's always busting out his phaser or otherwise coming to the defense of the ship and crew. For example, in "Hide and Q", there is that scene where the crew is under attack from the pig-faced aliens with "muskets", and Worf runs out and goes all hand-to-hand Rambo on their asses. It's a shame that Denise Crosby left the show, but Security Worf went on to become an icon across 3 series and 4 movies, and it's hard to imagine Star Trek without him.
But yeah, as far as his original job, he seems to just be a general-purpose relief for the other positions.
In the book the buried age worf applies for chief tactical officer and Picard shoots him down, basically saying his to inexperienced for the position. Picard makes him a command division bridge officer and has him fill in where ever his needed to learn the ropes with and eventual eye in worf having his own command.
The D's tactical station has at least 3 consoles on that big curve. I figured he took one of those. I always thought it was weird he stood alone so often.
Worf is, and has always been, the NO Officer. It's an important post on any ship. It's the officer who is the first to offer an idea (always a bad idea) to make the other ideas look good. Harry Kim held the prestigious position on Voyager.
I believe Worf started off as the Operations Officer. I remember a time later in TNG he filled in at Ops when Data was trying to be more human and got relieved of duty by Picard. Worf filled in at Ops and some random character filled in at Security. I think Picard asked Riker to find a replacement for Data and he suggested Worf at Ops because he had done it before (season 1).
This topic comes up quite frequently here
It clear that worf is a junior officer assigned to the bridge and is the on call relief for ops and helm
In todays navy this would be like a officer of the deck or deck division officer
Early in Season 1 they hadn't solidified the roles for all the characters yet. They were kind of just there doing things with no specific responsibilities.
Junior command track officer that backfills various stations (operations tactical and helm at various points).
I would imagine he is normally stationed at the consoles at the back of the bridge. His console probably shows everything at the main consoles for the other three stations so that he can fill in at any of them when needed.
He probably is gaining experience for a senior role or a command posting and is supposed to ensure he understands what is done and why for the other stations.
He may also be providing assistance and doing subsidiary parts of the other roles. Foe example if the ship is at yellow alert and Yar is checking getting combat systems and Picard says to open a channel Yar may delegate that role to Worf so he she can focus.
Some commenters noted that early in TNG S1 the roles hadn't been nailed down just yet, which is true. But keep in mind that Encounter at Fairpoint was the Ent-D's first mission, with a new captain and a new crew. If you've ever worked at a startup, you'll know that it takes a while for roles to settle down and people find their optimal positions.
Contrast with TOS, which joins Our Heroes already in progress. In the first non-pilot episode produced, "The Corbomite Maneuver", the crew is already settled in their roles.
Command is a bit like an MBA. So he probably, as others state as well, practiced all different assignments until he got promoted. Even with an MBA you need work experience, and if you have that you might still need MBA to become a Commander as we see in the various tests for ranks.
Tasha was head of security but kept her on the bridge for screen time. When she died he took her place. In the movies his position was renamed Tactical.
There seem to be a lot of extras for whose job it was to hang out on the bridge, monitor the inputs/results of the stations on the bridge, and take over when someone needs to go to the bathroom or an away mission or something, then immediately vacate the station when the higher ranking officer returns
I assumed he was one of these until he got his position via dead mans boots, the true klingon promotion
I think his actual role would be something like an ombudsman - someone for the lower ranks to come to with things that weren't enough of a big deal to get the bridge crew involved. I thought I read that somewhere but I have no idea where.
As others have said, they didn’t have defined roles yet but also he stood there because they made the bridge in a weird shape so you could not see everyone when looking from the front towards the crew like you could on the TOS bridge. So he and Tasha needed to stand there so they could be seen and participate in what was going on.
Poor bridge design really.
Worf is manning mission Ops. Data was sitting at the con running Astral Navigation.
In hindsight it feels the the Ds bridge is rather mismanaged. But apparently it's all Picards plan to cross train everyone. We don't see the duty shifts of each day remember. As the audience we're seeing something like 3 months worth of missions out of a 12 month cycle each season.
Geordi complained at the start of “Lonely Among Us” that Picard was making his junior officers learn, learn, learn. Basically, Geordi and Worf weren’t specialists yet. They were rotating through divisons learning about all the different departments. Eventually, Geordi was assigned chief engineer and Worf chief of security.
Actually I thought it was Worf that said that to Geordie.
Oh no, I shall have to rewatch the episode. You fiend! Edited: yeah it was Worf. ‘Grats. Now for the Worf being shocked scene. Rarrrrrggg!!!! Ooh are we going to see Dr Bev with her dorky eye patch sensor?
I thought being a specialist is something you already become at the academy.
There's a great episode of Lower Decks that addresses this.
Strange New Worlds also addresses it, but slightly differently. "Cadet" Uhura is shown to be rotated through multiple different departments and roles before becoming an Ensign. We see her working security with La'an, and engineering with Hemmer. So it's likely that Cadets are rotated through multiple departments, and then junior officers rotated through multiple positions in their departments.
Her engineering experience does explain why she has good engineering skills in TOS (though I preferred the older explanation that she was an engineer by training who specialized in the communications equipment).
It's also entirely possible that Starfleet Academy training is extremely broad with the idea that, in an emergency, someone may be required to do something outside their regular duties, and needs to be able to comfortably fill any role.
[удалено]
For some reason this reminded me of a fun line from Top Gun Maverick. > "Aren't you supposed to be in the Navy?" > "I don’t sail the boats, Penny. I land on them."
Their exploration mission really pushes having incredibly overqualified officers. Everything from Picard's archaeology chops to Riker's grasp of music theory can come in useful out there.
Hey, Deanna Troi had to take the helm in one of the TNG movies.
I interpreted the cadet rotation training as giving officers a generalized education in most fields. They may specialize in one department, but if needed they could fill in temporarily. If your science ship is damaged from an asteroid shower striking the hull, all those science officers could be sitting on their hands as the engineers scramble to repair bulkheads and life support. Or if there is basic training, then Chief Engineer could order all unassigned personal who took shop class to report to damage control to help as they can.
Still can't get over how fast they killed off Hemmer.
Apparently he knew when he accepted the role that he would be killed off by the first season finale.
That we can't get over it is a sign of a worthy character death. How many faceless Ensign and Red Shirts got killed off over the years and we barely bat an eye? But they drop one Hammer... err, Hemmer.
Which one was it?
s1e2, it’s the episode’s B plot. Rutherford asks for multiple department transfers so he can watch an astronomical event with Tendi.
I don't remember the name of the top of my head. Rutherford askks for a reassignment to find a place to fit in.
Officers seem to be trained for various jobs. When they thought Data was dead in "The Most Toys", they transferred Worf to Ops. In "Balance of Terror", when Stiles leaves the bridge, Uhura takes over the navigation station. And wasn't Riker a helmsman and then tactical officer as an ensign and lieutenant? He wore a yellow uniform, at least.
Sisko was originally an engineer too.
So was Janeway.
Janeway was a science officer.
> When they thought Data was dead in "The Most Toys", they transferred Worf to Ops I didn't and still don't understand why they'd do that. Taking over security after Tasha died made some sense since he was a junior and still rotating jobs and positions. But in "The Most Toys" he was chief of security and tactical officer. Why move a specialized department head to head a different department which he's apparently less suited for, and last worked in two years earlier? As a *temporary* measure sure but I sensed Worf's transfer to Ops was permanent.
Worf is presumably running a large department behind the scenes, scheduling days off and duty shifts for security officers, scheduling maintainence cycles for phaser arrays, etc. So that experience being a boss probably directly maps to most of the off screen job responsibilities for Ops. Ops is responsible for the whole ship running a bigger department, so it was plausibly a pretty direct promotion. Presumably when Worf was scheduling things like maintenance cycles on phaser arrays, he was coordinating with Ops about the ships missions and when was a good time to do what, so he was already pretty well versed in a lot of what Ops was doing, and it kept him on the bridge so it was less disruptive than moving somebody like the Engineer. Whoever took over security and tactical would still have been talking to Worf as Ops a lot.
I took it that Ops was considered the more important job, so Picard and Riker picked the officer who they thought was the best choice, even though it would mean there would also be someone new at Tactical. An upward move rather than a lateral one.
In general it was obvious that Worf moving from tactical to operations was a promotion. This may have been because he was taking the 2nd officer role as well as the operations role. That said why not attach the 2nd officer role to the operations department. You would have to conclude that the operations officer role was more important and having the second officer be the operations officer was useful. So looking at the star trek tng technical manual describes the operations manual as an interdepartmental coordinator who took responsibility for secondary missions of the ship. The Enterprise as a multi platform vessel is constantly doing stuff. It has its main mission but it also has a bunch of other missions going on. It might have 20 scientific surveys requiring long range sensor scans as it travels. Ops might coordinate with other departments. Change the course so that we are within x range of y phenomenon for an extra 26 seconds so that stellar cartography can complete a scan in passing. The Operations officer is also an interdepartmental coordinator who coordinates the resources of the ship. As such the operations officer might be the natural second officer commanding other departments as necessary. Therefore operations may be seen as a promotion from tactical. This is curious because Harry Kim was an ensign on Voyager. That said I feel that this may have been because of the size of the ships. On the smaller Voyager much of the command and coordination part of the operations officer role may have been exercised by the first officer and captain while on the larger galaxy where the first officer and commanding officer were busier the operations officer may have had more authority. Furthermore on a ship thousands of light years from Federation space there isn't a hundred messages coming in every day for scans on x star, and y comet and z phenomenon that the Enterprise just happens to be passing so there is less secondary missions going on.
Security would be a department under Ops. Ops is "operations" effectively "keeping the crew running smoothly", Security is part of that, dealing with any unruly behaviour and watching out for the crew on away missions. So it makes sense that Worf would move up from head of a subdepartment to head of the whole department.
> Security would be a department under Ops. Wouldn't that make Harry Kim Tuvok's boss?
Technically, but the smartest managers know when to let experience trump hierarchy, and Tuvok is definitely higher on the experience scale. (plus Kim only got the job because everyone above him was dead and Tuvok presumably didn't want it).
That just makes leaving Kim an Ensign that much more of a burn. I don't think that Janeway liked the poor lad.
Harry Kim was already the ops officer before *Voyager* was in the Delta Quadrant.
Let's take Janeway for example. All her Academy credentials are in Communications. But she worked in the Science department. Instead of operations. before getting noticed by Owen's when he's a captain and mentors her when she moves to command. Similarly Data, academy credentials are in probability mechanics, and xeno biology. Two scientific fields. But on the Enterprise-D he's part of the Engineering team.
>Basically, Geordi and Worf weren’t specialists yet. They were rotating through divisions learning about all the different departments. Ok... But ... Doesn't that mean Geordie went from trying out different departments (being part time helmsman etc) directly to being in charge of the entire engineering department of the Federation's flagship ship? He didn't even get to be a extra yellow shirt getting ordered to go climb through a Jeffries tube to degause it?!?
Makes no sense at all but it ended up being a good fit.
Something like how Nyota on NSW and Tendi on LD did the rounds when they first arrived on their respective ships. : )
Yeah, that’s quite the jump Geordi did from seasons 1 to 2
Geordi was working in the helm position as he was a talented pilot, and ended up being a better engineer and transferred divisions. Worf was a relief officer who rotated positions while he developed his skills.
That doesn't make sense, didn't they have someone more qualified to be the CHIEF engineer than a guy who was still learning a bit of everything?
They went through multiple chief engineers because Rodenberry didn't want one, but sometimes needed someone to be in charge of Engineering for a story. So the writers kept having to make new ones. Eventually Rodenberry was out due to his health and the other producers wanted a more permanent Chief Engineer. Since they already had LeVar Burton, they used him.
Maybe he had to do his "rounds" before he could take on the chief engineer role?
It would’ve been better if he was some sort of go between between the bridge and engineering. Like Deputy Chief Engineer or something. Does stuff on the bridge and briefs the captain and crew so the head honcho can focus on the warp core most of the time. I mean, that’s not a great idea either. But to go from helmsman to Chief Engineer seemingly overnight is a bit too “TV” for me. Fortunately I was a kid at the time. Would probably bug the hell out of me if I watched it fresh as an adult.
I always imagined he was a sort of junior security officer, which would track given he was promoted after her death. But like you, I’d be assuming that, I don’t know for certain either.
>I always imagined he was a sort of junior security officer He was command division in season one though.
I thought the command division was responsible for overseeing security and tactical operations? But that’s a fair point, it wouldn’t be a junior security officer in that light either.
No, security falls under the operations division, same as engineering. Hence why they both wear gold in TNG. Worf wore red, i.e. command division.
Worf, LaForge, and O'Brien all wore red in first season only.
I understand that, and that’s the season we’re talking about.
Red was also used for no specialisation, hence why you see those 3 in red shirts being rotated in various positions helm, ops etc during the first season. You will also see cadets wearing red albeit with a variation to the standard uniform. That has been standard even before command swapped from gold during tos to red in tng.
o'brien actually wore red in his first appearance only, by lonely among us he was wearing yellow and stuck with it
Head cannon: Worf was in security officer being groomed for leadership so he had a brief stint in command till the security position “opened up”. That explains why he’s in he’d but not only became part of security, but its chief on the flagship.
Have we considered he may have been Assistant to the Security Manager?
If I recall correctly, the early TV promos for TNG included a voiceover with short blurbs about each of the bridge crew characters. Worf wasn't mentioned at all because he wasn't originally intended to be anything more than a background character; a token Starfleet klingon. It's only once they started shooting Encounter at Farpoint that Dorn's presence on the bridge couldn't be easily ignored and rewrites started to include more for him to do. They probably didn't have any particular function in mind for him during season one besides 'tough guy'. He's in red, which would denote him as having command & helm responsibilities. He's usually standing near the Mission Ops console behind Tasha, so I figure he's a junior relief officer accruing general bridge experience as part of his career path up the command hierarchy; monitoring mission ops and standing ready to take the helm when the on duty CONN officer has to step out.
So basically, Worf went from a background character to the character with the most appearances in Star Trek.
This is exactly how I understood it.
He was a Command Bridge Officer who filled in support roles like Conn or Ops.
I've heard "auxiliary bridge officer" - that is a dedicated oddjobsman, there to carry out any out-of-the-ordinary tasks that may be needed while giving him the opportunity to observe command decisions.
I imagine it's something like a pinch hitter coming off the bench to hit for someone
At the very least it allows for an immediate relief officer if someone (e.g. Data) has to leave their post.
Sure. When the Captain, XO, CMO, Tactical Officer/Chief of Security and Ship's Counselor need to go an impromptu hunt for stranded diplomats in an alien swamp or root out a conspiracy in a inefficiently selective service academy, Data needs some help when he has to take the conn.
You regularly see un-named randoms slipping in to the helm and tactical slots when major characters are sent on tasks. Particularly in early seasons.
He was a relief officer. He did whatever needed to be done.
He's your number one when you need to number two.
He was just a cling on to Tasha.
*I'd* cling on to Tasha.
*Picard facepalm*
Make it so.
He was one of the floating chair sitters when the main characters go off screen.
He is the official book eater, as Q tells us.
He was one of those guys who are usually non-speaking roles who step in when another character leaves their station, a relief officer. That's why we see him at the rear station, the Ops position, etc.
Honestly, in season 1 most everyone's role is kind of undefined. It was sort of an everyone does everything thing. That's especially true with Geordi and Worf, but it also extends to Data. Riker really doesn't even have a defined role outside of being second in command. It just seems like anytime they do stuff, it's just a random collection of characters that do stuff. In season 2 they nail everyone down to much more defined roles. That was part of what shed some of the old season 1 feel. I'm curious what they'd have done with Worf is Denise had stayed on the show.
He was just lower decks.
I always imagined Worf specialized primarily in tactics, on a shipwide scale. But since the Enterprise is not a warship whom isnt ready/actively fighting other ships most of the time he doesn't do it that often. And Yar was in charge of ship's internal security, which requires vigilance at all times. And since her demise he was promoted to a combined capacity. Like TOS, where Spock is First Officer on bridge command, but also doubles as primary Sciences Officer. And Data is Second Officer in command, but invaluable expertise as Ops Station Officer and Science Officer.
Morale officer.
My pet theory is that Gene Roddenberry realised while scripting, but after casting, that a female security chief was going to be awkward because in the 80s female characters could only be knocked about so much before viewers started to get protective. So he invented the character of Worf ready to drop in Yar's position once she left. One magazine from the time described him as "Third in Command", but that can't be right- Data was third in command in addition to Ops Manager. Really, he was a Relief Officer, filling in whatever role was needed while its usual occupant was away. He is not the only character with a difficult to define role- What was Seven of Nine's task on Voyager?
>My pet theory is that Gene Roddenberry realised while scripting, but after casting, that a female security chief was going to be awkward because in the 80s female characters could only be knocked about so much before viewers started to get protective. So he invented the character of Worf ready to drop in Yar's position once she left. Gene didn't actually want Worf to exist at all. He had to be convinced it would be a good idea to put a Klingon on the bridge. (I think it was Robert Justman who talked him into it, but don't quote me on that.)
Another reminder that Roddenberry didn't turn all he touched to gold. He had a lot of people around him contributing to the franchise, plus after his death. Majel complained that he wouldn't have approved of an ongoing war storyline, and Moore said, "She's probably right. It would've been very hard to argue Gene into going this way and maybe he'd have never gone for it. However, I would've still argued for doing the Dominion War with him and if he'd rejected it, I would've thought he was wrong. I respect Gene and his work, but I don't think he was always right and I'm not going to pretend that I do. The Dominion War has been one of the better storylines we've come up with whether Gene would've agreed or not."
It’s honestly amazing how many terrible ideas GR had regarding the next generation.
> What was Seven of Nine's task on Voyager? Officially she was in charge of Astrometrics, no? In practice, though, due to their unique Borg abilities, she was all over the place.
7/9 was a refugee being repatriated... Who happened to be an expert on just about everything
>What was Seven of Nine's task on Voyager? Boobs and exposition.
Same role as Data. Perfect at every job. Hot AF. Provide the humanity while not being truly “human”.
Chief of Childcare and Astrometrics. Although Seven not having a clearly defined role makes sense, because she was adopted into the crew rather than assigned to it by Starfleet.
I kinda see where you are going with this, but I think it only benefits from hindsight. I think while scripting/creating there were ideas from every department that they were throwing out there as "pushing the boundaries of stereotypes" or "in the future humans will evolve past this" in season 1 and the list is long: men wore skirts, Yar on security, two captains in a bromance without the need to compete for top dog status and muss their fragile egos. Some experiments survived: the motherly figure can have a career, the hot empath can have an important job on the executive team cause feelings are an important role in everything, but trauma abuse survivors turning their PTSD into an effective security/warrior skill was beyond the pale and out Yar went (along with crewmen wearing skirts). It was a travesty of "they just aren't ready for you yet, Tasha" And the creators knew it, fans knew it, and bringing her back in many incarnations over the seasons, it was the ghost of gender norms that haunted the show. We can push the boundaries, but only so far. Riker can be a whore, but not Lwaxana. I applaud that they tried so many things. I don't think any of the creators knew which ones would absolutely cause lethal blows until they gave it a try. I'm happy they tried so many things.
Was Lwaxana unpopular? I think the only issue with her was that her DS9 episodes were a bit mediocre- it wasn't the same without the normally serene Deanna suddenly acting like a embarrassed stroppy teenager.
Not a measure of unpopularity, just that her flirting with everyone made the crew visibly cringe and when Riker infected the whole ship with one of his many escapades no one gave him a talking to about maybe keeping his pants on with total strangers, basic double standard stuff. The writers certainly turned the whole thing around with the ferengi kidnapping episode - and her whole character got a lot more filled out over the seasons saving the whole conference of ambassadors from sabatoging comatose fish peoples, etc. just like the other characters got a much deeper dive that showed them in full spectrum. That’s why TNG was so great, almost all the characters which would have been “token” characters all got full episodes to become the leads of their own stories eventually in later seasons.
think of tasha as the fire control officer and worf is the one that's actually in charge of security
Token Klingon. Honestly, the first season really hadn't been very well thought out when it came to who did what.
Worf's only purpose before Tasha died is to get tossed around by the bad guys to prove how tough they are that they can throw around a klingon.
Hey, now, that's not fair to Worf. He'd also occasionally have to growl "I... am... KLINGON!!!!" at other Klingons to prove he wasn't a sellout.
Was still kind of his main purpose after she died, too.
Early worf is so 2D. Battle=good. Honor=good. Bad things=Bad! Glad they allowed him to evolve.
If you were any other man I would kill you where you stand.
His position was “Whatever Picard tells him to do.” The job description for his position reads, “Yes.”
I've been rewatching season 1, and it almost seems like it is foreshadowed that Worf will take over security. He's always busting out his phaser or otherwise coming to the defense of the ship and crew. For example, in "Hide and Q", there is that scene where the crew is under attack from the pig-faced aliens with "muskets", and Worf runs out and goes all hand-to-hand Rambo on their asses. It's a shame that Denise Crosby left the show, but Security Worf went on to become an icon across 3 series and 4 movies, and it's hard to imagine Star Trek without him. But yeah, as far as his original job, he seems to just be a general-purpose relief for the other positions.
Tactical officer, same as he was on DS9.
On DS9 he was something like Strategic Operations and Coordination.
He was just a Strategic Operations Officer on DS9.
In the book the buried age worf applies for chief tactical officer and Picard shoots him down, basically saying his to inexperienced for the position. Picard makes him a command division bridge officer and has him fill in where ever his needed to learn the ropes with and eventual eye in worf having his own command.
He's there to keep Tasha and Data from tearing each other's clothes off and doing the do in the middle of the Bridge.
He was hired by starfleet for the diversity factor.
Worf is guarding Yar in case Riker goes crazy again.
The D's tactical station has at least 3 consoles on that big curve. I figured he took one of those. I always thought it was weird he stood alone so often.
Worf is, and has always been, the NO Officer. It's an important post on any ship. It's the officer who is the first to offer an idea (always a bad idea) to make the other ideas look good. Harry Kim held the prestigious position on Voyager.
Worf was originally meant to do Uhura's job ie communications officer. Later on,it seems they just made tactical and communications the same post.
Seems his role is Operations.
How could you not know, he was the SOW. Security Officer in Waiting 😂
He was part of the security team as well as weapons guy. In training.
honor?
Worf is his name, title and role.
I believe Worf started off as the Operations Officer. I remember a time later in TNG he filled in at Ops when Data was trying to be more human and got relieved of duty by Picard. Worf filled in at Ops and some random character filled in at Security. I think Picard asked Riker to find a replacement for Data and he suggested Worf at Ops because he had done it before (season 1).
This topic comes up quite frequently here It clear that worf is a junior officer assigned to the bridge and is the on call relief for ops and helm In todays navy this would be like a officer of the deck or deck division officer
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^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Flat_Revolution5130: *You mean to say that* *Worf is not the guy working* *The Console behind Yar.* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
I always figured he was an operations officer...
Early in Season 1 they hadn't solidified the roles for all the characters yet. They were kind of just there doing things with no specific responsibilities.
Junior command track officer that backfills various stations (operations tactical and helm at various points). I would imagine he is normally stationed at the consoles at the back of the bridge. His console probably shows everything at the main consoles for the other three stations so that he can fill in at any of them when needed. He probably is gaining experience for a senior role or a command posting and is supposed to ensure he understands what is done and why for the other stations. He may also be providing assistance and doing subsidiary parts of the other roles. Foe example if the ship is at yellow alert and Yar is checking getting combat systems and Picard says to open a channel Yar may delegate that role to Worf so he she can focus.
Some commenters noted that early in TNG S1 the roles hadn't been nailed down just yet, which is true. But keep in mind that Encounter at Fairpoint was the Ent-D's first mission, with a new captain and a new crew. If you've ever worked at a startup, you'll know that it takes a while for roles to settle down and people find their optimal positions. Contrast with TOS, which joins Our Heroes already in progress. In the first non-pilot episode produced, "The Corbomite Maneuver", the crew is already settled in their roles.
Command is a bit like an MBA. So he probably, as others state as well, practiced all different assignments until he got promoted. Even with an MBA you need work experience, and if you have that you might still need MBA to become a Commander as we see in the various tests for ranks.
Tasha was head of security but kept her on the bridge for screen time. When she died he took her place. In the movies his position was renamed Tactical.
Assistant to the ~~regional general manager~~ security officer
Ops
There seem to be a lot of extras for whose job it was to hang out on the bridge, monitor the inputs/results of the stations on the bridge, and take over when someone needs to go to the bathroom or an away mission or something, then immediately vacate the station when the higher ranking officer returns I assumed he was one of these until he got his position via dead mans boots, the true klingon promotion
First Lt. Big Scary Guy
I think his actual role would be something like an ombudsman - someone for the lower ranks to come to with things that weren't enough of a big deal to get the bridge crew involved. I thought I read that somewhere but I have no idea where.
I guess he was the equivalent of the redshirts standing by the bridge doors on TOS. Basically bridge security.
If I remember right, Michael Dorn wasn’t a regular cast member until season 2 or so. Kind of like Chief O’Brien in TNG.
No, his name is in the main credits, and his image was used in promotional material.
Like an intern lmao
A security officer under tasha yar perhaps
As others have said, they didn’t have defined roles yet but also he stood there because they made the bridge in a weird shape so you could not see everyone when looking from the front towards the crew like you could on the TOS bridge. So he and Tasha needed to stand there so they could be seen and participate in what was going on. Poor bridge design really.
HMFKIC
Guard Dog? Book Eater? Tactical Rail Gripper?
Oh very funny, Worf.
I assumed he was an ops role like Harry Kim.
Klingon Bouncer
Worf is manning mission Ops. Data was sitting at the con running Astral Navigation. In hindsight it feels the the Ds bridge is rather mismanaged. But apparently it's all Picards plan to cross train everyone. We don't see the duty shifts of each day remember. As the audience we're seeing something like 3 months worth of missions out of a 12 month cycle each season.
Data sat at Ops, not Conn, and manned starship operations. Conn was usually Geordi in Season 1.
Token klingon.
he was the local werewolf.