You know, for all of Star Trek’s Shakespeare references, I feel like “Turn death into a fighting chance to live” is such a perfect line of iambic pentameter that even the man himself would have approved.
So can we talk about the scene in The Search For Spock when Kirk and co. have gotten onto the Enterprise and are about to steal it
And Kirk tells them they can back out and everyone says, of course, hell no
And we get this most adorable album cover of smiles
And then Kirk with this look of utter adoration tells them to get to their stations
And everyone else goes off to a console to actually do something
But Bones just immediately walks over to stand next to the Captain’s chair and offer commentary, because he clearly considers his “station” to literally be that of Kirk’s right-hand man
and it’s where he belongs <3
Okay, but …
… you know, I just gotta say …
Usually McCoy stands on his left and Spock on his right
Kirk has two hands and Bones is responsible for both of them right now
So here’s the interesting thing about where McCoy stands (and I admit, I seized on the “right-hand man” pun without fully thinking about McCoy’s usual stance).
McCoy stands on Kirk’s left side, and the left side of the captain’s chair, most of the time.
But there are some exceptions.
Most of them have something to do with a disruption to the natural order of things (Kirk in the middle, McCoy to his left, Spock to his right). The first kind of disruption is when Kirk isn’t captain at the moment.
When Bones is fighting with the idea of Spock as leader (the middle of The Tholian Web, The Galileo Seven) he tends to stand on his left. It seems to be a visual representation of McCoy refusing to relinquish his traditional spot on Jim’s left side, and thus refusing to accept a change in leadership.
When McCoy is supporting Spock as temporary captain while Jim is in peril (The Doomsday Machine, the end of The Tholian Web, Arena), he stands on Spock’s right side.
The clearest example of this is in Arena, where he starts in his normal spot and moves over when he fully registers what’s happened; he literally invites Spock into the chair, and then moves to Spock’s normal spot.
At the end of The Tholian Web, he’s still to Kirk’s left, but to Spock’s right.
The second type of disruption occurs when Spock is in danger. When Spock is out of the picture, or when McCoy is extremely worried for Spock, he tends to stand on Jim’s right, where Spock should be. This happens both on the Bridge (Operation: Annihilate!)
and elsewhere (A Private Little War).
This also happens when Spock is taken over by an alien entity, such as Kollos (Is There in Truth No Beauty?) You can see McCoy saving Spock’s rightful spot here.
When Spock has been taken over by Henoch (Return to Tomorrow) and is in the captain’s chair, McCoy is desperately trying to save his life: again, standing at his right side.
The best representation of the “Spock in Peril Switch,” though, is in The Immunity Syndrome. After Spock leaves the ship, McCoy stands at Jim’s right - both by the Captain’s chair and everywhere else.
It’s like he’s keeping Spock’s spot warm; he always has hope that Spock will return, and speaks to this perhaps more directly in this episode than any other (until, of course, his speech to Spock’s comatose body in The Search For Spock). “Spock. Is it me, Jim? Am I so sentimental that I just have to keep believing that he’s still alive in that mass of protoplasm?” Even Spock makes a joke that McCoy is out of order, calling him “Captain McCoy.”
But as soon as they find out Spock’s alive and they’re pulling him to safety? Watch McCoy move.
So, yes, upon more thought, that seems to be what Bones is doing here. He’s keeping hope (and Spock) alive, standing in his place, and keeping it safe for him.
And I still have Feelings about it.
(What I mean by “Bones keeping Spock alive” is that Bones is literally embodying Spock by holding Spock’s katra in his head at the moment. So, standing in Spock’s spot is a natural reaction to both of these factors - simultaneously being in possession of his own big heart and Spock’s mighty brain, both asserting themselves.)
