Where No Man Has Gone Before

Dr. Leonard McCoy: Definitely Not PC

[I’m reproducing this about.com article here because I was only able to find it after fighting with the Wayback Machine, so I figured I’d save you all the trouble.]

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By Julia Houston.

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While the Kirk-Spock friendship has somewhat outshone other relationships on Star Trek: The Original Series, the truth is that that friendship, along with pretty much everything else on TOS, wouldn’t have worked nearly as well without McCoy.

It’s long been noted that Kirk, Spock and McCoy together make up the “perfect man,” representing, respectively, the Ego, the Super-Ego, and the Id. More accurately, however, McCoy is “Id” to the entire show: the emotional reaction combined with the wisdom of knowing those emotions without shame.

Though TOS is remarkable in its time for forward-thinking in human and civil rights — so forward-thinking, in fact, that current Trek’s ideals are pretty much unchanged — McCoy’s role as the ship’s emotional reactionary now makes him look like something of a social throw-back. I’ve have several readers write to me over the years about how they find him “racist” and “jarring.”

There’s no question that the line, “You pointy-eared Vulcan” is meant to resonate with our own racist jibes. Racism on all the shows is traditionally associated with comments about appearances: smooth foreheads/bumpy foreheads, big lobes/small lobes, green skin/blue skin/pink skin. Since TNG, “real” humans would never say such a thing. Indeed, humans (and good aliens) of the 24th Century seem almost absurdly blind to any differences in racial appearances.

Even more telling, the human/Vulcan racism of the “primitive” Enterprise has been almost exclusively centered on the culture of Vulcans, not their appearance. Vulcans are said to be untrusting and untrustworthy, paranoid and culturally inclined to keep the truth to themselves. Sure, there’s that whole thing with their smell, but we know that different cultures, more than different races, maintain various smells according to eating habits, and so on. T’Pol’s breasts, frankly, are much more a factor in her appearance on the show than are her ears.

Trek produced today assigns such visual racism and its parallels to “Earth’s primitive past” strictly to aliens. It’s gotten the point, in fact, where we’ve grown quite comfortable with listening to such insults from Klingons and Romulans. They are, after all, silly backwards races who don’t know any better.

I can’t help thinking that if Enterprise truly wanted to be controversial (which it well may not) in demonstrating the true nature of racism, Trip or Mayweather might let loose with comments about blue-skinned freaks or green-blooded icemen or how the only good Klingon is a dead Klingon. It’s so much more disturbing to hear such things from “good” people. In real life, haven’t we all liked someone who “suddenly” mouths off in some racist/Zionist/sexist fashion that has us wishing we were miles away?

So let’s let McCoy off the PC hook here. It’s not fair to project back our own somewhat stifling and somewhat hypocritical ideals of political correctness and dismiss a complex character who does so much to enhance TOS. Indeed, it’s fair to ask whether McCoy is indeed a racist, no matter the appearance-oriented comments he occasionally lets loose.

For one thing, McCoy is hardly the only one on the show who expresses old-fashioned racism. Even in the TOS films, everyone is “allowed” to hate the Klingons, as they represent the American/Soviet tension, and quite a few guest characters have trouble with Spock’s appearance.

Indeed — and this is what truly highlights a shortcoming in our own current culture — racial appearance and differences can also be commented on without insult, as with green-skinned Orion slavegirls who are “like animals,” and “ugly little” Horta babies (and the Horta mother’s own appreciation of Spock’s ears).

In fact, a comment on differences in racial appearance creates one of TOS’ best lines. In “The Naked Time,” a stoned and sword-bearing Sulu grabs Uhura with the promise to defend this “fair lady.” Uhura (whose skin is dark) responds, “Sorry, neither.”

So taking McCoy in context, we can see that his comments about “green ice-water you call blood” may be singular, but aren’t really out of place.

But much more telling, McCoy makes negative comments about Vulcans to only one person: Spock. He doesn’t go off with Scotty or Kirk and bitch and moan about their pointy ears and green skin. In every instance that McCoy denigrates Vulcans, he does so to Spock’s face. Moreover, in each instance he’s trying to break through Spock’s stubbornness. Effectively, he’s saying, “Your own hang-ups about being Mr. Super Vulcan are getting in the way of being a rational person.”

Kirk does the same thing, actually, though in the episodes in question his insults are made up to rid Spock of his reason-stealing spores or given to an android to signal that it’s not really Kirk. In the first instance, Kirk is hurting a friend where he knows it will do the worst damage, and in the second he knows Spock knows Kirk would never use the word “half-breed.”

Watching the episodes in order reveals both that McCoy’s anti-Vulcan comments diminish over time (especially after the episode, “The Empath,” where Spock shows his feelings of friendship for McCoy), and that Spock gets more comfortable with his own emotional side. When Spock doesn’t go all Super Vulcan on McCoy, McCoy’s comments are teasing, but not really provocative.

Though it’s not the last of the TOS films, Star Trek: The Voyage Home contains the last substantial development of Spock and McCoy’s relationship. McCoy, who has now held Spock’s soul within himself, is more teasing than ever, but his manner towards Spock is superbly gentle and openly affectionate.

The Kirk-McCoy friendship is not as complex as his relationship with Spock, but it holds a wealth of tradition. As the youngest captain in Starfleet, Kirk’s command abilities are great, but he’s shaky on some of the interpersonal relationship stuff. McCoy often acts as Kirk’s emotional mentor without stealing any of his authority. Rather than lecturing Kirk in private, which might seem more genteel but would certainly piss Kirk off no end, McCoy’s temper flares up in public, his open displays demanding Kirk’s attention.

What’s most impressive about McCoy’s emotional behavior is not intensity, but purity. While he is quick to point out errors in Kirk’s judgment, his open heart offers infinite solace. Spock feels grief behind a stone wall. Kirk parades his grief as self-directed anger. McCoy just feels sad.

A telling moment indeed happens in “The Enemy Within,” where the faulty transporter splits Kirk up in his “civilized” and “darker” selves. Spock analyzes what’s going on, making many insightful comments about the science and significance of what’s occurred. But it is McCoy’s comment that the “civilized” Kirk is braver than the “darker” one that helps Kirk best in dealing with the situation.

In short, while Spock may be the other half of Kirk’s soul, McCoy is definitely his drinking buddy.

Of the three main characters on TOS, McCoy’s backstory is by far the murkiest. We know all about Spock’s childhood and adolescence, and Kirk grew up happy enough on a farm in Iowa. McCoy’s childhood is a blank. Off the screen, we’ve been told he had a wife who divorced him and daughter, but “off the screen” doesn’t mean too much. We know he likes to see himself as “just a country doctor,” but we have no details about his country upbringing — except that he likes Mint Juleps.

McCoy’s personal pain has been revealed almost entirely through those wonderfully craggy blue eyes. Every McCoy frown holds a life story, and while other people’s emotions affect him deeply, he is never once shocked by what the people around him choose to do. Surprised, displeased, angered, delighted, yes, but never shocked.

Like many, I’m sure, I was quite intrigued with the idea that we would find out McCoy’s “personal pain” in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. But it turned out to be a case of good idea, bad execution. McCoy performed euthanasia on his father? Somehow, that just doesn’t fit for me. But it’s canon now, and it certainly does make sense that mercy killing would be a great source of conflict for McCoy. He’s highly ethical, but can’t stand to see people suffer.

Perhaps McCoy’s most admirable feat, however, takes place outside Sickbay. He has no seat on the bridge, no command rank (like Crusher), and no real reason to spend as much time on the bridge as he does. Yet he never seems out of place there. Standing on Kirk’s side, trading comments with Spock as the Vulcan stands on the other, looking over the bridge crew and the ship itself. We know his function is just to be there, nearby, in case he’s needed — even if what we need from him is a good kick in the pants.

The Human Side of the Eerie Mr. Spock

It’s not just the photos. There are some pretty choice quotes.

“In private I’m romantic, dreamy, and like to show my true feelings.”

…that’s just from the introduction.

“Julie is an Aries like me, Adam is a Lion.” He pauses and smiles. “Yes, one wouldn’t probably expect it of me, but I really believe in what’s written in the stars.”

and:

“You have given some thought to issues like spaceflight and faraway stars. Would it appeal to you to go to the moon?”

[Nimoy’s] answer is spontaneous, “Sure! I would even like to live on the moon for a while if it were possible.”

NIMOY ON THE MOON

1972, via