Iām not talking about stuff like OāBrienās hollow rank pip, Iām talking about stuff like āWhy make Chakotay a lt. commander rather than a full commander?ā
It seems like there was at least some forethought put into who has what rank, but itās not clear to me how much thought, nor how much meaning was supposed to be baked in to those decisions.
For example, Dr Crusher was a full commander from Day 1, matched only by Riker on the main cast. Was that supposed to signify the authority afforded to the CMO? Was it supposed to be blatant enough for the audience to āgetā it?
One of the most prominent examples is Sisko starting his series as a commander. Again ā was that supposed to signify that he was more junior, a younger officer?
Behind the scenes, I wonder if we can trace a waxing and waning military influence in the writers room over the years. I know Roddenberry served, and I think some of the early TNG writers did as well. But I feel like that became less common in later series? (But I donāt know for sure.)
I think itās striking that rank is significantly downplayed on DSC, except for Burnham and potentially Saru.
I remember an interview with Garrett Wang who talked about a conversation with Rick Berman where he asked him whether Kim would ever be promoted to Lieutenant. Berman pretty much shot him down, saying that someone has to be an ensign.
And I think thatās pretty much all the thought that went into it: have characters with a variety of ranks. Possibly to help the audience distinguish them better (āJoin me in my ready room, [Rank]ā). Although admittedly that didnāt work in the second half of TNG when pretty much everyone (except Worf) was addressed as āCommanderā because by season 3(?) everyone was at least a Lieutenant Commander.
With Sisko I think they wanted to distinguish him from the other two Captains Kirk and Picard, and since he commanded āonlyā a space station that was an in-universe excuse to make Sisko a commander.
with Sisko itās specifically because, until they discover the wormhole, DS9 is considered a backwater post.
Typically, base commanders are at least captain rank. Sometimes bases are commanded by lower ranks, and there can be different reasons but in this case: itās remote and considered a less important ābackwaterā post compared to other bases. His eventual promotion to Captain belatedly corrects for how important the station became, as a trade/transit hub and as a strategic asset, after the wormhole discovery
I always thought it wouldāve been a fun twist if Harry got a promotion once Tom got demoted in Thirty Days.
Yeah I think that, aside from adding a bit of navy-esque flair to the shows, it also helps distinguish who is āin chargeā, and frames the way orders are issued and followed in a way that readily makes sense to the audience