Talk:Leonard McCoy

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Contents 1 139 years old? 2 Catchphrases 3 Question 4 Horatio? 5 Quote? 6 An historian or a historian 7 5 years squeezed into 3 8 Grammar of article? 9 Succession 10 Memorable quotes 11 Futurama 12 Quote: I'm a doctor... 13 Quote: "He's dead, Jim."

[edit] 139 years old?

"He was born in 2227 and in 2366 he was named Chief medical officer..." That would make him 139 years old when he joined the Enterprise!

This article needs a little work as it's full of non-canon conjecture and speculation. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Star Trek. 23skidoo 20:13, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

No human being can live to be 137 years old. It would be more credible to have his age at that time be 80, 90, or even 100. 4.229.96.65 05:21, 30 Apr 2005

Advanced medical technology. Noel (talk) 13:56, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Catchphrases

Why was (Arguably one of the best lines was one never actually spoken in any episode: "I'm a doctor, not an actor!") appended to end of the list of "Im a doctor not a(n)"? If this the work of a jokester then it should be removed. 131.107.0.73 20:59, 28 February 2007 (UTC) Nate No, it wasn't a joke. And the statement as posted is accurate and non-offensive. So kindly let it alone. Once again, PLEASE LET THIS ALONE!!! There's not a reason in the world for you to keep deleting it: nobody appointed you censor, so a little courtesy and consideration would be much appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.216.11.5 (talk • contribs)

It violates WP:NPOV and WP:OR. Keep doing it, and at some point you'll be blocked. --Nlu (talk) 22:33, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

I brought back mentioning of Dr. McCoy's "I'm a doctor" catchphrase that was spoofed on Nickelodeon's Unfabulous and the "Guide to Fundraising" episode of Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. I have proof.

[edit] Question

Any idea where the nickname "Bones" comes from? What episode is it first used in?

I believe it is heard in the first regular episode produced, Corbomite Maneuver. 23skidoo 02:51, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Okay, but that doesn't answer the first question. Perhaps I'll reword it; is it ever explained where the nickname "Bones" comes from and, if so, where?

I came to this page with the same question, and I see that it has already been posted. If the answer becomes known, it could further enhance the article. Bob.v.R 16:36, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

It's never explained in the series, but "Bones" is short for "Sawbones", which is a colloquial term for a doctor. --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 17:13, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

The nickname "Bones" was originally suppossed to be used by Captain Pike to refer to *his* CMO, Dr. Phillip Boyce. the nickname derives from Boyce's name. this much i know from Roddenberry's original draft. i'm guessing that since the nickname was never mentioned onscreen refering to Boyce, the crew decided to pass the nickname on to Dr. Mccoy. -- Captain Proton 12:07, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

As far as I know, fanon has it that it is short for "sawbones", an English idiom for a doctor. I don't know if this was ever explicitly stated on-screen in the original series, though. -Kasreyn 13:19, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

It's an old term for doctor, probably started in the civil war

[edit] Horatio?

Can anyone provide a canonical source for McCoy's middle name? I don't recall it being said anywhere but I might have missed an episode. 23skidoo 02:51, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

From MA:

Several novelizations of movies have established McCoy's middle name as Horatio but this was never established on TV.

Now, that depends on the accuracy of MA's article... *shrug* Cburnett 04:10, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Quote?

I am pretty unversed in star trek and Battlestar, but that last quote "I'm not a psychic.."etc doesn't seem to be related to my eyes. is there something that makes it more related than it seems? If they're not, then someone should remove it. if not, then someone should add more info! omglol. TastemyHouse 07:06, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] An historian or a historian

Re Dr. Bashir, it depends on how he pronounced as to whether he said "a historian" or "an historian" - did he say "Hiss-torian" or "Iss-torian" - did Alex Siddig pronounce the H or was it silent? When the leading consonant(s) are all silent, the natural pronounciation is to say "an" and therefore to spell it that way. GBC 21:23, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 5 years squeezed into 3

The start of Enterprise's original 5 year mission is listed as 2266, and then notes that "McCoy served until 2269, when the ship's five year mission ended." If the 2266 date is correct (source?) then obviously the 5 year mission ended in 2270. The Timeline of Star Trek indicates that the original 5 year mission was actually shortened to 3 years, again without citing a specific source.

I also have serious doubts that the events in Star Trek The Motion Picture happened so soon after the original 5 year mission ended (and certainly later than "Circa 2271"). One site -- http://scifi.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://members.cox.net/stenterprise/enttmln.htm -- says 2273, another -- http://scifi.about.com/library/weekly/aa101899.htm -- lists the year as 2274, and yet another (which differs more significantly from the 5 year mission dates as well; 2270-2274/5) -- http://scifi.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://rec.horus.com/trek/lists/timeline.txt -- says 2277. ASpafford 02:27, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Grammar of article?

Some of the bio seems to be sort of awkwardly worded; for example, in some places it switches back and forth from past to present tense. Does this warrant marking it for clean up?

Crushedmidnight 19:37, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Some of the back and forth is due to writing about events actually depicted in the series, for which present tense is appropriate, and events alluded to but not depicted, for which past tense is appropriate. --EEMeltonIV 19:49, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Succession

Was he third officer? Therequiembellishere 01:40, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

I believe that was Scotty, but I could not supply a source for that. Crushedmidnight 21:29, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Memorable quotes

I removed this section. "Memorable" is subjective/non-NPOV -- strictly speaking, everything he says is to some degree memorable, and we're not going to put all his dialog there. "Notable" quotes would be more significant, but lacking a citation about what makes them memorable, that doesn't work either -- and WP:ILIKEIT isn't a reason to keep this, either. Lastly, straight-up quotes should be over in Wikiquote. If someone wants to move them over there, by all means... --EEMeltonIV 11:43, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Futurama

Why no reference to the Futurama episode where they show all the trekkies being killed and after each one is killed they say "he's dead jim"? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.22.53.86 (talk) 16:48, 3 May 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Quote: I'm a doctor...

Just to let you know, I have tossed in a few links to "I'm a doctor, not a(n)..." within wikipedia (Trials and Tribble-ations and Doctor (Star Trek), so far), and would just like to put up a general request not to remove the quotation marks or (n) from the section header, so that the links stay valid. Obviously, feel free to toss the tag into any article you see fit. Cheers, samwaltz 01:12, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quote: "He's dead, Jim."

Leonard McCoy page history extract:
•23:48, 9 November 2007 Ejfetters (list is trivia-like, and we don't really need a detailed list of each episode where this is said, not even its own section is needed)
•21:37, 22 November 2007 Milomedes (_Catch phrases - rm trivia tag - these notable phrases are embedded in the English language - I came here directly in linked discussion using one of them)
•16:02, 25 November 2007 Ejfetters (Undid revision 173168724 by Milomedes (there is no encyclopedic reason to list every instance he said it)

This is a list of 14 characters and 16 episodes where "McCoy frequently declares someone or something deceased with the line, "He's dead", "He's dead, Jim", or something similar."
Only 13 days after Ejfetters tagged it as trivia, I needed the list of characters, the list of episodes, and a section to link to show to others. (I needed to identify the instances when the character wasn't actually dead.) Since this catch phrase is embedded in the English language (my discussion was transatlantic), it's likely that the page is visited twice a month to examine this section.
An encyclopedia exists to tell us what we don't know. Since most of us already know that McCoy said this frequently, we visit the page to find out how frequently, about whom, and in which episodes.
I request consensus to detag the #Catch phrases section. Milo 01:45, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

• I just don't believe a complete list of every time he has uttered the words is encyclopedic. The article itself needs to be rewritten to conform to a real-world perspective, and much of the information listed is trivial. I don't think that stating that this was a catch phrase popularized is questionable, what I say doesn't need to be here is just the list of all the episdoes he said it was. The article needs much attention and a complete rewrite actually to match that of other Trek characters pages that were rewritten. Ejfetters (talk) 01:50, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

I don't think the list of episodes where that phrase was used is trivia, or the same for other catch-phrases when they are important ones. This one is a classic phrase that has become part of culture beyond even the show itself so it's good for the encyclopedia to include the information to show where it came from. I even found some books that talk about it and one of them was written by a professor. There is a wiki rule about wikipedia not being made of paper and we have lots of room for things that might not fit in a regular printed encyclopedia. This is a good example of one of those kinds of things. Maybe the overview part of the article is too much like telling the story of everything Dr McCoy has done and can be written more in a more analytical way, but this part is good to keep the list of where he used that phrase. --Linda (talk) 04:10, 26 November 2007 (UTC)