Doctors in Star Trek: Dr. Leonard McCoy in Star Trek: The Next Generation

Doctors are crucial crewmembers in Star Trek. This paper will discuss the medic who is arguably the most well-known of all of the gesamtkunstwerk's doctors, Leonard Horatio McCoy in Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-69). The core trio of Captain Kirk, the alien Science Officer Spock and Dr. McCoy comprise a command troika modelled on classical mythology. McCoy's humanity was used to deliberately balance science officer Spock's cold and inhuman logic. It was thus that McCoy, despite his occasional curmudgeonly crankiness became the human conscience of the ship and its de facto (if not de jure) ethics officer, a role that would be reprised by all of the successive doctors in Star Trek.