| Leonard McCoy | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek character | |
 DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy in a publicity photograph for theoriginalStar Trek series | |
| First appearance | |
| Last appearance |
|
| Created by | Gene Roddenberry |
| Portrayed by | DeForest Kelley (1966–1999) Karl Urban (2009–2016) |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Leonard H. McCoy |
| Nickname | Bones |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Title | Doctor |
| Affiliation | |
| Family | David McCoy (father) |
| Spouse | Unnamed wife (divorced) Natira (separated) |
| Children | Joanna McCoy (daughter) |
Dr. Leonard H. McCoy, known as "Bones", is a character in the Americanscience-fiction franchiseStar Trek.[1] McCoy was played by actorDeForest Kelley in theoriginalStar Trek series from 1966 to 1969, and he also appears in theanimatedStar Trek series, in sixStar Trek films, in thepilot episode ofStar Trek: The Next Generation, and in numerous books, comics, and video games.[2] A decade after Kelley's death,Karl Urban assumed the role of McCoy in theStar Trek reboot film in 2009.[3]
McCoy was born inAtlanta, Georgia, in 2227.[4] The son of David McCoy,[5]: 257–258 he attended theUniversity of Mississippi[2] and is adivorcé.[6] McCoy later married Natira, the priestess of Yonada, as recounted in the episode "For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky". In 2266, McCoy was posted as chief medical officer of the USSEnterprise under CaptainJames T. Kirk, who often calls him "Bones".[2] McCoy and Kirk are good friends, even "brotherly".[5]: 146 The passionate, sometimes cantankerous McCoy frequently argues with Kirk's other confidant, science officerSpock,[1] and occasionally is annoyed by Spock'sVulcan heritage.[7] McCoy often plays the role of Kirk's conscience, offering a counterpoint to Spock's logic.[1] McCoy is suspicious of technology,[8] especially thetransporter.[2] As a physician, he prefers less intrusive treatment and believes in the body's innate recuperative powers.[1] The nickname "Bones" – chosen before the character was named – is a play onsawbones, a 19th centuryepithet for a surgeon.[9][10][11] In the2009Star Trek film reboot, when McCoy first meets Kirk, he complains that his ex-wife took all their shared assets following their divorce: "All I got left is my bones", implying this was the origin of the nickname.[12]
When Kirk orders McCoy's commission reactivated inStar Trek: The Motion Picture (1979);[2] a resentful McCoy complains of being "drafted".[13] Spock transfers hiskatra—his knowledge and experience—into McCoy before dying inStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).[2] This causes mental anguish for McCoy, who inStar Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) helps restore Spock'skatra to his reanimated body.[2] McCoy continues to serve on Kirk's crew aboard the captured Klingon ship inStar Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).[2] InStar Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), McCoy (through the intervention of Spock's half-brotherSybok) reveals that hehelped his father commit suicide to relieve him of his pain. Shortly after the suicide, a cure was found for his father's disease, and McCoy had carried the guilt about it with him until Sybok's intervention.
InStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), McCoy and Kirk escape from aKlingon prison world, and theEnterprise crew stops a plot to prevent peace between theUnited Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire.[2] Kelley reprised the role for the "Encounter at Farpoint" pilot episode ofStar Trek: The Next Generation (1987), insisting upon no more than the minimumScreen Actors Guild payment for his appearance.[14] McCoy had attained the rank of admiral in theTrek timeline when this episode was aired, and he is stated to be 137 years of age. He went on to become chief of Starfleet Medical, with a special rank known as branch admiral. The fictional bookComparative Alien Physiology was written by McCoy, and was required reading at the Starfleet Medical Academy through the 2370s.
In the 1973Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Survivor", McCoy mentions he has a daughter, Joanna. AlthoughChekov's friend Irina in the original series episode "The Way to Eden" was originally written as McCoy's daughter, it was changed before the episode was shot.[15]
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In the2009Star Trek film, which takes place in an alternate, parallel reality,[16] McCoy and Kirk become friends atStarfleet Academy, which McCoy joins after a divorce that he says, "left [him] nothing but [his] bones." This line, improvised by Urban,[12] explains how McCoy earned the nicknameBones. McCoy later helps get Kirk posted aboard theUSSEnterprise. He later becomes the chief medical officer after Doctor Puri is killed during an attack by Nero. McCoy remains aboard to see theEnterprise defeat Nero and his crew, with Kirk becoming the commanding officer of the ship.
The Guardian called Urban's portrayal of McCoy in the 2009 film an "unqualified success",[17] andThe New York Times called the character "wild-eyed and funny".[18]Slate said Urban came closer than the other actors to impersonating a character's original depiction.[19]
Kelley had worked withStar Trek creatorGene Roddenberry on previoustelevision pilots,[20] and he was Roddenberry's first choice to play the doctor aboard theUSSEnterprise.[21] However, for the rejected pilot "The Cage" (1964), Roddenberry went withdirectorRobert Butler's choice ofJohn Hoyt to play Dr. Philip Boyce.[22] For the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966), Roddenberry accepted directorJames Goldstone's decision to havePaul Fix play Dr. Mark Piper.[23] Although Roddenberry wanted Kelley to play the character of ship's doctor, he did not put Kelley's name forward toNBC; the network never "rejected" the actor, as Roddenberry sometimes suggested.[21]
Kelley's first broadcast appearance as Doctor Leonard McCoy was in "The Man Trap" (1966). Despite his character's prominence, Kelley's contract granted him only a "featuring" credit; he was not given "starring" credit until the second season, at the urging of producerRobert Justman.[24] Kelley was apprehensive aboutStar Trek's future, telling Roddenberry that the show was "going to be the biggest hit or the biggest miss God ever made".[5]: 146 Kelley portrayed McCoy throughout the originalStar Trek series, and voiced the character in the animatedStar Trek.[1]
Kelley, who in his youth wanted to become a doctor like his uncle, but whose family could not pay for a medical education,[25] in part drew upon his real-life experiences in creating McCoy, a doctor's "matter-of-fact" delivery of news of Kelley's mother's terminal cancer was the "abrasive sand" Kelley used in creating McCoy's demeanor.[5]: 145 Star Trek writerD. C. Fontana said that while Roddenberry created the series, Kelley essentially created McCoy; everything done with the character was done with Kelley's input.[5]: 156
"Exquisite chemistry" among Kelley,William Shatner, andLeonard Nimoy manifested itself in their performances as McCoy, CaptainJames T. Kirk, and Science Officer Spock, respectively.Nichelle Nichols, who playedUhura, referred to Kelley as her "sassy gentleman friend"; the friendship between theAfrican-American Nichols andSouthern Kelley was a real-life demonstration of the message Roddenberry hoped to convey throughStar Trek.[5]: 154
For the 2009Star Trek film, writersRoberto Orci andAlex Kurtzman saw McCoy as an "arbiter" in Kirk and Spock's relationship. While Spock represented "extreme logic, extreme science" and Kirk symbolized "extreme emotion and intuition", McCoy's role as "a very colorful doctor, essentially a veryhumanistic scientist", represented the "two extremes that often served as the glue that held the trio together". They chose to reveal that McCoy befriended Kirk first, explaining the "bias" in their friendship and why he would often be a "little dismissive" of Spock.[26] Urban said the script was "very faithful" to the original character, including the "great compassion for humanity and that sense of irascibility" with which Kelley imbued the character. New Zealand-born Urban trained with a dialect coach to create McCoy's accent[27] and reprised the role in its sequelsStar Trek Into Darkness[28] andStar Trek Beyond.
McCoy is someone to whom Kirk unburdens himself, but is afoil to Spock.[24] He is Kirk's "friend, personal bartender, confidant, counselor, and priest".[29] Spock and McCoy's bickering became so popular that Roddenberry wrote in a 1968 memo "we simply didn't realize ... how much the fans loved the bickering between ourArrowsmith and our Alien".[30] Urban said McCoy has a "sense of irascibility with real passion for life and doing the right thing", and that "Spock's logic and McCoy's moral standing gave Kirk the benefit of having three brains instead of just one."[31]
Kelley said that his greatest thrill atStar Trek conventions was the number of people who told him they entered the medical profession because of the McCoy character.[32] He received two or three letters a month from others reporting similar experiences. A friend observed that despite not becoming a doctor as he had hoped, Kelley's portrayal of McCoy had helped create many doctors. According to Kelley, "You can win awards and that sort of thing, but to influence the youth of the country ... is an award that is not handed out by the industry".[5]: 273
Twenty times on the originalStar Trek series, McCoy declares someone or something deceased with the line, "He's dead", "He's dead, Jim", or something similar. The phrase so became acatchphrase of the character that Kelley joked that the line would appear on his tombstone[33][34][35]—and it appeared in the first sentence of at least one obituary[36]—but disliked repeating the line.[5]: 166 During filming ofStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, when Spock is dying from radiation exposure, Kelley felt it would spoil the gravitas of the moment, so he andJames Doohan agreed to swap their lines: McCoy warns Kirk not to open the chamber, andScotty says, "He's dead already".[5]: 249 [37]
University of Southern California literature professorHenry Jenkins cites Dr. McCoy's "He's dead, Jim" line as an example of fans actively participating in the creation of anunderground culture in which they derive pleasure by repeating memorable lines as part of constructing new mythologies and alternative social communities.[38] As an example, the line appears inThe Firm's 1987novelty songStar Trekkin', which became a #1 hit in theUnited Kingdom.[39][40]
Another of McCoy's catchphrases is his "I'm a doctor, (Jim) not a(n)..." statements,[41] delivered by Kelley 11 times,[5]: 166 and three times byKarl Urban in later films. McCoy repeats the line when he must perform some task beyond his medical skills, such as when he is asked to treat the unfamiliarsilicon-based Horta alien in "The Devil in the Dark" (1967), saying, "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer."[42] Variations of the line have also been used by doctors in otherTrek series, includingJulian Bashir,Phlox, and theEmergency Medical Hologram stationed aboardVoyager.
Kelley parodied the phrase in a 1992 commercial forTrivial Pursuit's 10th Anniversary Edition, in which the question is asked, "How many chambers are there in a human heart?" replying "How should I know? I'm an actor, not a doctor!".[43][44]
It is often believed that Kelley said "Damn it, Jim!" before the "I'm a doctor" line, but in reality "damn" was never said on the original show (although "damning" was used) because the word was considered taboo on TV in the 1960s.[45]
In a rebuttal to atongue-in-cheek analysis in theCanadian Medical Association Journal, which claimed thatDr. Nick fromThe Simpsons was a betterrole model than his competitorDr. Hibbert,[46] both of which were published in the same journal in 1998, both doctors are cast aside for Dr. McCoy, "TV's only true physician" and "someone who has broken free from the yoke of ethics and practises the art and science of medicine beyond the stultifying opposition of paternalism and autonomy. A free and independent thinker and, indeed, someone even beyond role models".[47]
In 2012,IGN ranked the character Doctor McCoy, as depicted in the original series, its films, and the 2009 filmStar Trek, as the fifth-top character of theStar Trek universe, behind Data, Picard, Spock, and Kirk.[48]
In 2016, Doctor McCoy was ranked as the fifth-most important character ofStarfleet within theStar Trek science-fiction universe byWired.[49]
In 2016,SyFy ranked McCoy third of the six main-cast space doctors of theStar Trek franchise.[50]
In 2017, Screen Rant ranked the reboot film (Kelvin timeline) McCoy, played by Urban, as the 17th-most attractive person in theStar Trek universe.[51]
In 2018,The Wrap placed Doctor McCoy as sixth out of 39 in a ranking of main cast characters of theStar Trek franchise.[52] In 2018,CBR ranked McCoy as the 11th-best Starfleet character ofStar Trek.[53]
Your revered Admiral Nogura invoked a little-known, seldom-used "reserve activation clause". In simpler language, Captain, they drafted me.
Equally part of typical episodes are a series of lines that fans readily recognize: some that are favorites in particular episodes (such as the 'accoutrements' cited in the beginning commentary) and some which are closely identified with characters: Dr McCoy says, 'He's dead, Jim,' and 'I'm a doctor, not a — '; Spock remarks 'Fascinating' to occurrences which appear likely to kill or maim the crew...'
Dr. McCoy's signature lines, "He's dead, Jim", and "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer", will never be forgotten. In fact, Kelley joked that the line, "He's dead, Jim", would be written on his tombstone.
each character's role is clearly defined by his or her position on the ship, so much so that one of the show's many catchphrases was Dr. McCoy's recurring line, 'I'm a doctor, not a ...'
In a classic moment (episode: "The Devil in the Dark"), McCoy, challenged with healing a being that was made more of rock than flesh, spouts out, "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!"
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