Standard Orbit 118: A Red Shirt Commodore? / by Norman Lao

The Commodores from The Original Series.

Running Time: 53 minutes 23 seconds
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Several episodes in The Original Series introduced a few high-ranking and "intrusive" characters that shared one commonality: the rank of Commodore. From the Ahab-esque Matt Decker in The Doomsday Machine, to Robert Wesley who was in charge of the M-5 Multitronic System proceedings in The Ultimate Computer, to Commodore Stone who moderated the legal proceedings in Court Martial and several more; the Commodores were an authoritative, bureaucratic and at times overbearing extension of Starfleet Command.

The Commodores added an additional layer of dramatic effect in The Original Series as they were usually at odds with Captain Kirk, Mr, Spock and the ongoing Five Year Mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise. They were akin to the overbearing and controlling "authority figure" that Kirk, Spock and others had to struggle against and overcome; a dynamic to which many younger viewers in the late 1960's related. In the end, the Commodore rank never extended past The Original Series save a few minor references in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Feature

Welcome to Standard Orbit (00:01:00)
And now … The Commodores! (00:01:49)
The Origins of the Rank and Title (00:02:26)
The Doomsday Decker (00:04:55)
The Multitronic Wesley (00:11:20)
A Red Shirt Commodore? (00:17:26)
Mental Projection Mendez (00:22:37)
Common Commodores (00:27:32)
The Disappearance of the Rank after TOS (00:34:34)
Hailing Frequencies Open (00:40:00)
Stump Mr. AtoZ (00:42:14)
Our Final Thoughts and Thank You (00:43:30)

Hosts

Jeffrey Harlan and Ken Tripp

Production

C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer), Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer), Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer), Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer), Ken Tripp (Editor and Associate Producer), Renee Roberts (Associate Producer), Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer), Richard Marquez (Production Manager), Will Nguyen (Content Manager)

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