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Leonard McCoy

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"Dr. McCoy" redirects here. For the Marvel Comics character whose real name is Dr. Hank McCoy, see Beast (comics).

Leonard McCoy
Portrayed byDeForest Kelley (1966–1996)
Karl Urban (2009-present)

Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy is a character in the Star Trek and Bones media franchises.[1] First portrayed by DeForest Kelley in the original Star Trek series, McCoy also appears in the animated Star Trek series, six Star Trek movies, the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in numerous books, comics, and video games.[2] Karl Urban assumed the role of the character in the 2009 film Star Trek,[3] and its 2013 sequel Star Trek Into Darkness.

Depiction

McCoy was born in Georgia, 20 January 2218.[4] The son of David,[5]: 257–258  he attended the University of Mississippi[2] and is a divorcé.[6] In 2266, McCoy was posted as chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise under Captain James T. Kirk who calls him "Bones".[2] McCoy and Kirk are good friends, even "brotherly".[5]: 146  The passionate, sometimes cantankerous McCoy frequently argues with Kirk's other confidant, science officer Spock,[1] and occasionally is bigoted toward Spock's Vulcan heritage.[7] McCoy often plays the role of Kirk's conscience, offering a counterpoint to Spock's logic.[1] McCoy is suspicious of technology,[8] especially the transporter;[2] as a physician, he prefers less intrusive treatment and believes in the body's innate recuperative powers.[1] The character's nickname, "Bones", is a play on sawbones, an epithet for physicians,[9] in particular, those qualified as surgeons.[10]

Kirk orders McCoy's commission reactivated in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979);[2] a resentful McCoy complains of being "drafted".[11] Spock transfers his katra—his knowledge and experience—into McCoy's mind before dying in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).[2] This causes mental anguish for McCoy, who in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) helps restore Spock's katra to his reanimated body.[2] McCoy rejoins Kirk's crew aboard the USS Enterprise-A in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).[2] In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, McCoy (through the intervention of Spock's brother Sybok) reveals that he helped his father commit suicide to relieve him of his pain. Shortly after the suicide, a cure was found for his father's disease, and McCoy carried the guilt about it with him for the rest of his life. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), McCoy and Kirk escape from a Klingon prison world, and the Enterprise crew stops a plot to prevent peace between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire.[2] Kelley reprised the role for the "Encounter at Farpoint" pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), insisting upon no more than the minimum Screen Actors Guild payment for his appearance.[12]

In the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Survivor", McCoy mentions he has a daughter. Chekov's friend Irina in the original series episode "The Way to Eden" was originally written as Dr. McCoy's daughter Joanna, but changed before the episode was shot.[13]

Alternate timeline

Karl Urban as McCoy in Star Trek (2009)

In the 2009 Star Trek film, which takes place in an "alternate, parallel" reality,[14] McCoy and Kirk become friends at Starfleet Academy, which McCoy joins after a divorce that he says "left [him] nothing but [his] bones." This line, improvised by Urban,[15] explains how McCoy came to be known as Bones. McCoy later helps get Kirk posted aboard the USS Enterprise.

Development

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had worked with Kelley on previous television pilots,[16] and Kelley was Roddenberry's first choice to play the doctor aboard the USS Enterprise.[17] However, for the rejected pilot "The Cage" (1964), Roddenberry went with director Robert Butler's choice of John Hoyt to play Dr. Philip Boyce.[18] For the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966), Roddenberry accepted director James Goldstone's decision to have Paul Fix play Dr. Mark Piper.[19] Although Roddenberry wanted Kelley to play the character of ship's doctor, he didn't put Kelley's name forward to NBC; the network never "rejected" the actor as Roddenberry sometimes suggested.[17]

Kelley's first broadcast appearance as Doctor Leonard McCoy was in "The Man Trap" (1966). Despite his character's prominence, Kelley's contract granted him only a "featuring" credit; it was not until the second season that he was given "starring" credit, at the urging of producer Robert Justman.[20] Kelley was apprehensive about Star Trek's future, telling Roddenberry that the show was "going to be the biggest hit or the biggest miss God ever made".[5]: 146  Kelley portrayed McCoy throughout the original Star Trek series and voiced the character in the animated Star Trek.[1]

Kelley, who in his youth wanted to become a doctor,[21] in part drew upon his real-life experiences in creating McCoy: a doctor's "matter-of-fact" delivery of news of Kelley's mother's terminal cancer was the "abrasive sand" Kelley used in creating McCoy's demeanor.[5]: 145  Star Trek writer D. C. Fontana said that while Roddenberry created the series, Kelley essentially created McCoy; everything done with the character was done with Kelley's input.[5]: 156 

"Exquisite chemistry" among Kelley, William Shatner, and Leonard Nimoy manifested itself in their performances as McCoy, Captain James T. Kirk and science officer Spock, respectively.[5]: 154  Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, referred to Kelley as her "sassy gentleman friend";[5]: 154  the friendship between the African-American Nichols and Southern Kelley was a real-life demonstration of the message Roddenberry hoped to convey through Star Trek.[5]: 154 

For the 2009 film Star Trek, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman saw McCoy as an "arbiter" in Kirk and Spock's relationship.[22] While Spock represented "extreme logic, extreme science" and Kirk symbolized "extreme emotion and intuition", McCoy's role as "a very colorful doctor, essentially a very humanistic scientist" represented the "two extremes that often served as the glue that held the trio together."[22] They chose to reveal McCoy befriended Kirk first, explaining the "bias" in their friendship and why he would often be a "little dismissive" of Spock.[22] Urban said the script was "very faithful" to the original character, including the "great compassion for humanity and that sense of irascibility" with which Kelley imbued the character.[23] Urban trained with a dialect coach to create McCoy's accent.[23] Urban reprised the role in its 2013 sequel Star Trek Into Darkness.[24]

Reception and cultural impact

McCoy is someone to whom Kirk unburdens himself and is a foil to Spock.[20] He is Kirk's "friend, personal bartender, confidant, counselor, and priest".[25] Spock and McCoy's bickering became so popular that Roddenberry wrote in a 1968 memo "we simply didn't realize ... how much the fans loved the bickering between our Arrowsmith and our Alien".[26] Urban said McCoy has a "sense of irascibility with real passion for life and doing the right thing", and that "Spock's logic and McCoy's moral standing gave Kirk the benefit of having three brains instead of just one."[27] Jennifer Porter and Darcee McLaren wrote that McCoy is an "unintentional"[7] example of how "irrational prejudices and fixations, wishful thinking and emotional reasoning, denial and repression, and unresolved neurotic disturbances" compromise "scientific rationality" in Star Trek.[28] An Illinois con artist scammed $25 million in investments for a non-existent "McCoy Home Health Tablet" medical device.[29]

Kelley said that his greatest thrill at Star Trek conventions was the number of people who told him they entered the medical profession because of the McCoy character.[30]

With regard to the 2009 film, The Guardian called Urban's performance of McCoy an "unqualified success",[31] and The New York Times called the character "wild-eyed and funny".[32] Slate.com said Urban came closer than the other actors to impersonating a character's original depiction.[33]

"He's dead, Jim."

Twenty times on the original Star Trek, McCoy declares someone or something deceased with the line, "He's dead", "He's dead, Jim", or something similar. The phrase so became a catchphrase of the character that Kelley joked that the line would appear on his tombstone,[34][35][36] but disliked repeating such lines[5]: 166  and refused to say it in The Wrath of Khan when Spock is near death. Kelley and James Doohan (Montgomery Scott) agreed to swap their lines, so McCoy warns Kirk against opening the engineering doors while Montgomery Scott says "He's dead already".[5]: 249 [37] The line has entered popular culture as a general metaphor, with uses as diverse as descriptions of an unresponsive electronic circuit,[38] an example of how to add an audio file to function as an alert sound in a computer system,[39] and an illustrative quote regarding how to know if one's opponent has been destroyed in an action hero game.[40] USC Literature Professor Henry Jenkins cited Dr. McCoy's "He's dead, Jim" line as an example of fans actively participating in the creation of an underground culture in which they derive pleasure by repeating memorable lines as part of constructing new mythologies and alternative social communities.[41] Google Chrome uses the phrase as an error message when Google Chrome either is terminated with the task manager, or Chrome runs out of memory, and is a common error.[42]

"I'm a doctor, not a(n)..."

Another of McCoy's catchphrases is his "I'm a doctor, (Jim) not a(n)..." statements,[43] delivered by Kelley 11 times[5]: 166 , and twice (by Karl Urban) in later films. McCoy repeats the line when he must perform some task beyond his medical skills, such as the "classic moment" when he is confronted with the unusual silicon-based Horta alien in "The Devil in the Dark" (1967), saying, "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer."[44] Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager, two other Emergency Medical Holograms (one in Star Trek: First Contact and the other in the Voyager episode "Message in a Bottle") and Dr. Phlox from Star Trek: Enterprise all use variations of the line, which has also made its way into many other shows such as Stargate Atlantis,[45] Robot Chicken,[46] Terra Nova,[47] Family Guy, and Friends. In a parody sketch titled "The Restaurant Enterprise", on an episode of Saturday Night Live, Kirk (guest host William Shatner) directs McCoy (Phil Hartman) to help a man who's choking. McCoy snaps, "Dammit, Jim! I'm a doctor, not a ... (suddenly realizes the situation; slightly embarrassed) Oh ... oh, sure." On an episode of In Living Color, one parody sketch lampoons the advanced age of the principal Star Trek actors. McCoy appears as a skeleton in a wheelchair, and quips, "Dammit, Jim! I'm a corpse, not a doctor!" DeForest Kelley himself parodied the phrase for a Trivial Pursuit commercial ("How should I know? I'm an actor, not a doctor").[48][49] The phrase also appears in the 2009 film, in which McCoy (Karl Urban) says "I'm a doctor, not a physicist" to Spock. Similarly, in 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness, McCoy (Urban again) tells Spock, "Damn it, man, I'm a doctor, not a torpedo technician!" Another reference to the catchphrase can be found in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective where actor Jim Carrey searches for clues around a dolphin tank, gets told that he must hurry, and says "Dammit, Jim! I'm a doctor, not a poolman."

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Asherman, Alan (May 1, 1993). The Star Trek Compendium. ISBN 978-0-671-79612-9.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Okuda, Mike and Denise Okuda, with Debbie Mirek (1999). The Star Trek Encyclopedia. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-53609-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "And Karl Urban as McCoy!". Viacom. October 17, 2007. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  4. ^ Mandel, Geoffrey (1980). USS Enterprise Officer's Manual. 201W 18th St. Apt 20A, New York, NY. 10011: Interstellar Associates. p. 21.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rioux, Terry Lee. From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley, Star Trek's Dr. McCoy. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7434-5762-0.
  6. ^ Okuda, Michael (1996). Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-53610-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ a b Porter, Jennifer E. (1999). Star Trek and Sacred Ground. SUNY Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-7914-4334-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Bruno, Mike (October 18, 2007). "Abrams' 'Trek' Casts Kirk and Bones". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  9. ^ Schnakenberg, Robert (2007). Sci-Fi Baby Names: 500 Out-of-This-World Baby Names from Anakin to Zardoz. Quirk Books. ISBN 978-1-59474-161-6.
  10. ^ "Sawbones definition - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms". Medterms.com. March 19, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  11. ^ Screenplay by Harold Livingston, story by Alan Dean Foster, directed by Robert Wise (1979). Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Your revered Admiral Nogura invoked a little-known, seldom-used 'reserve activation clause.' In simpler language, Captain, they drafted me.
  12. ^ Nemeck, Larry (January 7, 2003). Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-7434-5798-9.
  13. ^ Joanna precursor to The Way to Eden
  14. ^ Burr, Ty (May 5, 2009). "Star Trek". The Boston Globe. p. 1. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
  15. ^ Star Trek DVD commentary
  16. ^ "DeForest Kelley profile at Startrek.com". Retrieved January 25, 2009.
  17. ^ a b Solow, Herbert (1997). Inside Star Trek The Real Story. Simon & Schuster. p. 152. ISBN 0-671-00974-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  18. ^ Solow, Herbert (1997). Inside Star Trek The Real Story. Simon & Schuster. p. 37. ISBN 0-671-00974-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  19. ^ Solow, Herbert (1997). Inside Star Trek The Real Story. Simon & Schuster. p. 75. ISBN 0-671-00974-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  20. ^ a b Solow, Herbert (1997). Inside Star Trek The Real Story. Simon & Schuster. p. 240. ISBN 0-671-00974-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  21. ^ "Star Trek's Dr McCoy dies". BBC. June 11, 1999. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  22. ^ a b c "Orci & Kurtzman: How Star Trek deals with Kirk, Spock and McCoy". Sci Fi Wire. March 25, 2009. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
  23. ^ a b "Karl Urban". IESB.net. January 17, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  24. ^ "'Dredd 3D' Star Karl Urban: 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Will Be 'Epic', 'Emotional' (EXCLUSIVE VIDEO)". Celebuzz. September 22, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  25. ^ Whitney, Grace Lee (1998). The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy. Quill Driver Books. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-884956-03-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ Davis, Lauren (September 7, 2013). "Gene Roddenberry's 1968 memo on improving Star Trek's characters". io9. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  27. ^ "Urban On Star Trek & McCoy". Sci Fi Pulse. July 18, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  28. ^ Porter, Jennifer E. (1999). Star Trek and Sacred Ground. SUNY Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-7914-4334-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  29. ^ Hopper, Tristin (December 23, 2013). "Howard Leventhal impersonated Health Canada to fool people into investing in bogus Star Trek-inspired 'medical tricorder'". National Post. Doug Kelly. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  30. ^ Shatner, William (2008). Up Till Now: The Autobiography. Macmillan. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-312-37265-1.
  31. ^ Hoad, Phil (April 21, 2009). "JJ Abrams's Star Trek: we have liftoff". The Guardian. London. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  32. ^ Dargis, Manohla (May 8, 2009). "A Franchise Goes Boldly Backward". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2009.
  33. ^ Stevens, Dana (May 6, 2009). "Go See Star Trek". Slate.com. Retrieved May 7, 2009.
  34. ^ Porter, Jennifer E. (1999). "Darcee L. McLaren". Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture. SUNY Press. p. 127. ISBN 0-7914-4334-5.
  35. ^ Amesly, Cassandra (1990). "How to Watch Star Trek". Cultural Studies: Volume 3, Number 3. John Fiske (ed.). Routledge. pp. 68–69. ISBN 0-415-03743-3. Equally part of typical episodes are a series of lines that fans readily recognize: some that are favorites in particular episodes (such as the 'accoutrements' cited in the beginning commentary) and some which are closely identified with characters: Dr McCoy says, 'He's dead, Jim,' and 'I'm a doctor, not a — '; Spock remarks 'Fascinating' to occurrences which appear likely to kill or maim the crew...' {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  36. ^ Kaplan, Anna L. (October 1999). "Obituary: DeForest Kelley". Cinefantastique. 31 (8): 62. Retrieved April 7, 2009. Dr. McCoy's signature lines, "He's dead, Jim", and "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer", will never be forgotten. In fact, Kelley joked that the line, "He's dead, Jim", would be written on his tombstone.
  37. ^ Greenberg, Allen (May 1992). "Install Long and Prosper". Computer Gaming World. p. 46. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
  38. ^ Miller, Michael (2000). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Home Theater Systems. Alpha Books. p. 210. ISBN 0-02-863939-1.
  39. ^ Pogue, David (2002). Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. O'Reilly Press. p. 210. ISBN 0-596-00450-8.
  40. ^ Borgenicht, David (2002). The Action Hero's Handbook. Quirk Books. p. 42. ISBN 1-931686-05-X.
  41. ^ Jenkins, Henry (1992). Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture. Routledge. p. 76. ISBN 0-415-90572-9.
  42. ^ "Google Chrome errors and crashes: "He's Dead, Jim!"". Google Chrome Help. Google Support. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
  43. ^ Butt, Miriam (2006). "The Thousand Faces of Xena: Transculturality Through Multi-Identity". Globalization, Cultural Identities, and Media Representations. Natascha Gentz (ed.), Stefan Kramer (ed.). SUNY Press. p. 83. ISBN 0-7914-6683-3. each character's role is clearly defined by his or her position on the ship, so much so that one of the show's many catchphrases was Dr. McCoy's recurring line, 'I'm a doctor, not a . . .' {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  44. ^ Lass, Martin (2002). "The Discovery of Chiron". Musings of a Rogue Comet: Chiron, Planet of Healing (2nd ed.). Galactic Publications. p. 212. ISBN 0-9715924-2-X. In a classic moment (episode: 'The Devil in the Dark'), McCoy, challenged with healing a being that was made more of rock than flesh, spouts out, 'I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!' {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  45. ^ "The Brotherhood". Stargate: Atlantis. Season 1. Episode 14. January 3, 2005. Sci Fi Channel. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  46. ^ "The Munnery". Robot Chicken. Season 2. Episode 12. September 24, 2006. Cartoon Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  47. ^ "Now you see me". Terra Nova. Season 1. Episode 10. 28 Nov. 2011. {{cite episode}}: Check date values in: |airdate= (help)
  48. ^ "I'm a doctor, not a... Dr Leonard McCoy's much-parodied signature phrase". Fortean Times. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  49. ^ Stuart Elliott (September 22, 1992). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: Advertising; Giving Familiar Brands a Second Chance". The New York Times. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
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