Sulu vs Chekov

[Mark]

Something has been confusing me for a while, and I thought maybe you guys could help clear this up for me. In TOS Sulu was a Lieutenant and Chekov was an Ensign

TMP saw them both promoted if I recall correctly

TWOK saw Chekov as a Lt. Commander and First Officer............wouldn't you have thought that Sulu would have gotten a XOs job before Chekov??? How did Chekov move ahead of Sulu??? This seemed confirmed as you'd need 3 senior officers to activate the self destruct on the E-nil. Sulu was sent to help McCoy and leaving Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov to activate the destruct. Then, in STV, Chekov was left in command of E-A when Sulu went with the away team. Then, when they returned to the ship, and Sulu began to enter their new heading Chekov told him "you have no authority", which, if he was the senior command officer on the bridge, he would I would assume.

So, at this point it looks as if Chekov outranks Sulu. Ok, I've seen some people get promoted over and past others. But now I get confused again. in STVI Sulu is now Captain of the most advanced and most powerful ship in Starfleet, and Chekov is still on E-A. Sulu never even had to serve as a first officer it seems.

How the hell can this be explained??

[Captain Seafort]

Just a convoluted promotion scheme I guess. Don't forget that the E-A was incredibly top-heavy rank-wise, so it's not a great example of Starfleet promotion procedures. Spock should certainly have had his own ship, Scotty and McCoy should have been running big shore institutions, and the rest of the senior staff should have been first officers. Sulu and Kirk were the only ones with a job suitable for their rank. As for the details, I think Chekov was command-track, while Sulu was "just" the helmsman - that would explain how Chekov got to be 2iC of Reliant while Sulu was still on the Enterprise, and how he apparently outranked Sulu in ST5. Alternatively, Sulu's posting in ST2 was as an Academy instructor, which may have been roughly equal to Chekov's in terms of pay grade, and Kirk put Chekov above him on the E-A because of Chekov's command experience.

[Teaos]

TWOK saw Chekov as a Lt. Commander and First Officer............wouldn't you have thought that Sulu would have gotten a XOs job before Chekov??? How did Chekov move ahead of Sulu???

It can makes sense since promotion isnt set in stone, you dont get a promotion every 7 years or whatever. You get them when you deserve them and they open up.

I dont really find this that hard to believe.

[Tsukiyumi]

How did Chekov move ahead of Sulu???

Very carefully.

[Grundig]

I would have thought the writers would pay a little more attention to this. Cpt. Seafort's explanation makes sense to me, but in reality it seems like the writers were just flippant about these details because the two were secondary characters.

Edit: Fixed - I meant Seafort, not Kendall. All these 'captains' are making the forums as top-heavy as the E-A!

[Teaos]

I would have thought the writers would pay a little more attention to this. Cpt. Kendall's explanation makes sense to me, but in reality it seems like the writers were just flippant about these details because the two were secondary characters.

When did Kendall post about this?

[Grundig]

Fixed.

[Reliant121]

How did Chekov move ahead of Sulu???

Very carefully.

[Mark]

This is the last time I will try and make this post. Server wen't down twice already erasing my post.

I thought that Sulu WAS on the command track. After all he commanded Enterprise on more than one occasion, and even led her into that aborted battle with the Klingons. It was always my understanding that he was next in line after Scotty.

I suppose that he could have turned down a transfer to stay with Kirk, thus letting Chekov move ahead of him on the command track, but then why would he suddenly get command of Excelsior while Chekov went back to Navagator/Weapons.

Makes no sense to me.

[Tsukiyumi]

How did Chekov move ahead of Sulu???

Very carefully.

[Mark]

So then, Sulu's BEHIND Chekov??? They were pretty close you know. Who knows what happened when they were lost in the wilderness together that time in STV.

[katefan]

If I recall correctly, the original ST II script was supposed to have a scene where Sulu talks about his upcoming command with Kirk in the travel pod on the way to Enterprise. In the scene he accidentally calls Kirk "captain" then hastily apologizes. Kirk smiles and says something along the lines that there was no way he could take offense to that. There were supposed to be numerous reasons why the scene was not used, among them Shatner's ego.

I recall a scene like that in the ST II book adaptation, but it has been many years since I read it.

So if the scene was actually supposed to happen Chekov and Sulu's respective positions would have made sense; Sulu was likely Enterprise's XO on his way to his own ship (it really was never specified who was second in command before Kirk took over).

[Graham Kennedy]

Sulu was also meant to be the Excelsior's Captain in Star Trek III, which again didn't happen for whatever reason. We had to wait all the way until ST VI to finally see it.

I gather Takei lobbied like crazy to get a Captain Sulu movie or series made.

[Tsukiyumi]

I gather Takei lobbied like crazy to get a Captain Sulu movie or series made.

That could've been a lot cooler than Enterprise.

[Teaos]

Meh, it would hav been to much of the same stuff as TOS, its a new ship but same time period.