Warning: contains spoilers forStar Trek: Lower Decks#1!
Star Trekhas at long last found its most underrated Chief Medical Officer, and it won’t be the one most immediately suspect.
TheStar Trekfranchise has been graced with many excellent CMOs, such as McCoy, Bashir or Crusher. They have saved their ships time and again, earning their status as legends. Now, inStar Trek: Lower Decks#1,Doctor T’Ana, theCerritos’CMO, takes her place beside them with one awe-inspiring feat.
Dr. T’Ana of Star Trek: Lower Decks Does What Other Medical Officers Can’t
Star Trek: Lower Decks#1 (2024)
In the tale from Ryan North and Derek Charm. The issue opens with theCerritoscrew struggling to contain a virulent outbreak aboard the ship. The disease causes purple bumps to appear on the infected body, and can result in death. Captain Freeman asks T’Ana how long until the disease is fatal.
T’Ana scoffs, saying she is not going to let it get fatal, because she intends to cure it first.Doctor T’Ana then makes good on her word, quickly working up a cure and saving the ship.
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The VariousStar TrekCrews Have Suffered Many Outbreaks
The entire scene is a parody of the first season Original Series episode “Miri,” which saw theEnterprisecrew become infected with a disease similar to the oneCerritoswas facing. The disease had ravaged an entire planet centuries prior, and would have done the same to theEnterprisecrew if not for Doctor McCoy. McCoy raced against time to find a cure, but not before some crew members fell violently ill. “Miri” was one of several episodes across the franchise where a crew would deal with an outbreak of some sort.
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Episodes centered around these outbreaks have been some of the franchise’s best. In theStar Trek: The Next Generationsecond season episode “Unnatural Selection,” theEnterprisediscover a derelict Starfleet vessel. The crew were all dead, every one of them aged prematurely. Investigating further, theEnterprisenearly becomes infected with the same virus. Later, inDeep Space Nine’sfirst season, in the episode “Babel,” the station was infected by a disease that scrambled a victim’s language processing centers. In each episode, the show’s respective Chief Medical Officer was instrumental in saving the day.
The Chief Medical Officer May Be the Most Important Person On a Starship
On Starfleet vessels, the Chief Medical Officer is one of the most important positions. Crucial to the functioning of a starship or starbase, the CMO helps ensure the well-being of the crew, and this mandate gives them the authority to override a captain’s orders in extreme situations. The variousStar Trekshows have featured some of the best CMOs in Starfleet. While not the firstStar TrekCMO, Doctor “Bones” McCoy may be the best known. McCoy’s compassionate nature and medical acumen would set the mold on which all otherStar TrekCMOs are judged.
Seen only in the pilot episode “The Cage”
Star Trek
Paul Fix
Seen only in the episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
Second season only
Seen in one episode only, mentioned in others
Majel Barrett, Jess Bush
Began as a nurse, became MD later
There have been other great Chief Medical Officers in theStar Trekfranchise. Doctor Beverly Crusher, fromStar Trek: The Next Generation, is regarded as one of the best of her era, and was even in charge of Starfleet Medical for a short while. Doctor Julian Bashir,Deep Space Nine’sCMO, was a young Academy graduate when he came to the station.Voyager’sEmergency Medical Hologram, one ofTrek’smost fascinating characters, navigates the horrors and wonders of the Delta Quadrant.Other CMOs includeEnterprise’sPhlox,Discovery’sHugh Culber andLower Decks’T’Ana.
What Makes Doctor T’Ana The Underrated Star of Star Trek: Lower Decks
Star TrekHas Given T’Ana a Fascinating Backstory
Doctor T’Ana, the CMO of theCerritos, is one of the more recent additions to theStar Trekmythos.T’Ana is Caitian, a felinoid species introduced inStar Trek: The Animated Series, and her presence is a shout-out to that often overlooked show. As seen inStar Trek: Lower Decks#1, T’Ana is a highly competent physician, but somewhat lacking in bedside manner. The acerbic T’Ana, who swears more than anyone in Starfleet, it seems, is believed by someStar Trekfans to be a parody of Doctor Katherine Pulaski, theEnterprise’sCMO inThe Next Generation’ssecond season.
Lower Deckshas given fans fascinating glimpses of T’Ana’s background.Her species waged war against the Betazoids in the distant past–going so far as to eat them. T’Ana is in a relationship with Shaxs, theCerritos’tactical officer, and runs a book club on the ship as well. While theCerritosdoes not go on ashigh profile missions as theEnterprise,T’Ana has still seen the ship through some harrowing medical problems, such as a rage virus that swept through the crew in the show’s pilot.
Doctor T’Ana is a GreatStar TrekDoctor
Lower Decks’First Issue Proves Why
While the opening sequenceofStar Trek: Lower Decks#1is a parody of a classic franchise trope,it still demonstrates how great a doctor T’Ana is.In “Miri,” the specific episode being parodied, McCoy struggles to find a cure for the disease that was slowly killing them. The episode milked every bit of drama possible out of the situation, andLower Decks#1 has fun with it, by having T’Ana cure a potentially fatal disease in a number of minutes. The scene keeps with the irreverent (but loving) spirit that is a hallmark ofLower Decks.
Yet the fact the scene is a parody should not detract from Doctor T’Ana’s medical abilities one bit. In “Miri,” Doctor McCoy lacked the resources of theEnterprise’sSick Bay, but still found a cure. T’Ana had theCerritos’medical system at her disposal, which may seem to give her an unfair advantage. However, T’Ana did not waste any time in getting to work finding a cure, and she did so in a timely fashion.T’Ana saved the crew from a horrible death in a short amount of time.
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T’Ana finding a cure in record time is also more realistic. By the 24th century, in whichLower Deckstakes place, medical science had advanced to the point where diseases that kill millions today, such as cancer, are easily treatable. Add in the combined medical knowledge of the countless species that make up theStar Trekuniverse, and it becomes unlikely that any bacteria or virus would be able to do any serious harm. If a disease is giving Starfleet physicians a hard time, then it is something truly terrible.
Doctor T’Ana May Not Get the Credit McCoy Does, But She Is Still a Great CMO
T’Ana Is Vastly Underated in theStar TrekUniverse
Finally, Doctor T’Ana’s attitude during the issue’s opening scene helps distinguish her asStar Trek’smost underrated Chief Medical Officer. T’Ana takes her job seriously, and is not about to let theCerritosfall prey to a virus that she can cure easily. There is no grand-standing on T’Ana’s part. There are no heroic poses or cool speeches–T’Ana cuts to the chase and saves the ship. Serving on theCerritosmeansDoctor T’Ana may not get the recognition of a Crusher or Bashir, but this issue proves her worth as one of the franchise’s best Chief Medical Officers.
Star Trek: Lower Decks#1 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!
