Medical Log - Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy Quiz

Answer: False

This is false because it was not really Nancy but a creature, the last of its kind that McCoy, Kirk and others saw. This creature had the ability to appear in the likeness of any person whose image it could see in somebody's mind. This is why Dr. McCoy, Dr. Crater, Captain Kirk, and a crewman each saw a different image of a woman when looking at the creature. The creature also appeared as different people when it was on the Enterprise.

This creature lived on and craved salt which it forcefully extracted from living beings through sucker-like growths on its fingers. This creature had killed Nancy, an old girlfriend of McCoy's, over a year before because extracting salt killed its victims ("The Man Trap").

Question by christi_dove

Answer: University of Mississippi

McCoy's birthplace is not recorded in the annals of "Star Trek" lore, apart from being from the "Old South". It is known, however, that the University of Mississippi was where he went for pre-med, as discovered in the "DS9" episode "Trials and Tribble-ations".

Question by reedy

Answer: In "The Wire," when asked if he knows what was wrong with a plant, McCoy said, "I'm a doctor, not a botanist."

Hopefully this question was easy for you and you recognized "The Wire" was an episode from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," and not "The Original Series." Dr. Julian Bashir was actually the one to say "I'm a doctor, not a botanist," in response to Jadzia Dax's question about a plant. This famous catch phrase can be found in other Star Trek series such as "Star Trek: Voyager" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," and even in the 2009 alternate reality movie, "Star Trek."

Sources: "Memory Alpha.org" article "I'm a doctor, not a ..." and "Star Trek" transcripts on Chakoteya.net (or "Chrissie's Transcripts Site) for the various episodes mentioned.

Question by christi_dove

Answer: torture devices

Despite the great differences in their personal ethics, in other ways the two McCoys were similar enough that his mirror universe counterpart had even spilled acid on the same table, leaving the same acid burn mark as in the "real" universe.

Question by reedy

Answer: Shore Leave

"Shore Leave" was the episode of "The Original Series," in which what one imagined came true. McCoy had been discussing the almost unreal lush beauty of a planet with Sulu saying it was like something out of "Alice in Wonderland" right before the white rabbit and the little girl appeared.

McCoy thought the black knight they saw on the planet was a hallucination which could not hurt them which is why he did not get out of the way when the knight charged him with his lance. Kirk next shot the knight with the pistol that Sulu had found and they discover the knight was mechanical. After the landing party was distracted, both the knight and McCoy's body disappear!

Question by christi_dove

Answer: Xenopolycythemia

To keep things succinct, the story involved Kirk, Spock and McCoy saving a generational ship filled with people descended from a race believed to have been wiped out thousands of years previously. After averting disaster, a cure for McCoy's illness was found in the ship's database, and McCoy no longer had to face mortality (until much, much later in his life).

Bowden's Malady was a disease in the short-lived series "Firefly".

Shanti Virus was seen in the series "Heroes" (which also starred Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), George Takei (Sulu), and Zachary Quinto (Spock from "Star Trek" 2009).

Spectrox Toxaemia could be seen in the BBC series "Doctor Who".

Question by reedy

Answer: True

This is true because in the episode "For The World Is Hollow, And I Have Touched The Sky," he married the high priestess, Natira, of the Fabrini. She was very attracted to McCoy and asked him to stay with her on Yonada and be her mate. Yonada was really a generation ship and not a planet as those who lived on it thought. On the outside the ship looked like an asteroid.

In order for them to be married, McCoy had to allow a small device called the Instrument of Obedience to be implanted in his temple which made him one of the people. This device allowed the Oracle, a sophisticated machine, to punish offenders with pain and even death if they were disobedient.

The asteroid ship, Yonada, was malfunctioning and had deviated from its original course so it was on a collision course with a planet populated by billions. To save the lives of the people on the ship and on the planet it would collide with, McCoy contacted Kirk on the Enterprise to tell him where to find the sacred Book of the People which potentially included information on how to fix the ship. The Oracle determined this was sacrilege.

The Instrument of Obedience almost killed McCoy and knocked him unconscious until Spock and Kirk beam over and Spock used a different device to remove it from his temple. When he did so, Natira who was in tears cried out McCoy was no longer one of her people and his vow of obedience invalidated. It could be debated this line meant they were no longer married because their ceremony of marriage was his agreement to have the instrument of obedience implanted, thereby, becoming one of her people.

To wrap up a long story, Natira comes to believe McCoy, Kirk, and Spock about her planet really being a ship which needed to be fixed so billions would not die, and in doing so her obedience device almost killed her so it is removed as well. Though McCoy invited her to join him on the Enterprise, she decided to stay with her people because her people needed her and will even more once they reach their new home-world.

Question by christi_dove

Answer: Emony

In the "Deep Space Nine" episode "Trials and Tribble-ations", Sisko and Dax were on the bridge of the Enterprise when McCoy stepped off the turbolift. Dax recognized him as Emony had been on Earth judging a gymnastics competition.

Question by Daddy19

Answer: His katra

The transference of Spock's katra to McCoy set up the premise for the third Trek movie "The Search for Spock". Having the katra within him almost drove McCoy mad and in the end, even though the risk of death was great, he went through with the ceremony to have the katra returned to Spock.

Question by reedy

Answer: False

This is false because McCoy knew little about Klingon anatomy and Chancellor Gorkon was too badly injured by the assassins to be saved. Kirk and McCoy were both tried and convicted in a Klingon court and sentenced to life in prison on Rura Penthe.

Question by christi_dove

Answer: "Comparative alien physiology"

In "Message In A Bottle", The EMH had been transferred to a Federation ship in the Alpha quadrant using an alien sensor network. Paris was unhappy having to work in sickbay and convinced Harry Kim to try and build a replacement EMH.

When initializing the program, Kim commented that he'd compressed Voyager's entire medical database into a single file and this included both "Grays anatomy" and "Comparative alien physiology". Both of these books were considered to be classics.

Unfortunately, Kim and Paris were unable to successfully create a replacement EMH during this episode.

Question by Daddy19

Answer: McCoy's father dying a very painful death and begging his son to end the pain so McCoy assisted in his death.

What made the death of his father even more tragic was the fact that a cure was found for the disease his father suffered so terribly from not long after his death. Sybok had McCoy relive this terrible memory so he could face it and be healed in the knowledge that he did what he thought was right in helping to end the great suffering of his father by turning off his life-support.

I wonder if this scene generated controversy due to its depiction of euthanasia. After a brief search online I could not find any major reference to a controversy.

It was Spock whose deepest pain was depicted as being the rejection of his father due to his being half human-even at the moment of his birth.

Question by christi_dove

Answer: Lieutenant Commander Data

At the end of "Encounter at Farpoint", Data is seen escorting McCoy through a corridor of the Enterprise-D. McCoy asked Data whether he was a Vulcan (but without the pointed ears) as Data was aware of his age. When Data told McCoy he was an android, McCoy's comment was that was "almost as bad"!

Question by Daddy19

Answer: False

Kirk was not assigned to any ship as a result of his academic suspension. McCoy decided to injected him with a vaccine to combat Melvaran mud fleas (therefore giving him the symptoms) and insisted that "his patient" should be allowed aboard so as "his doctor", McCoy could continue to treat him.

It was quite a surprise for Captain Pike when Kirk burst onto the bridge after hearing Chekov's mission briefing.

Question by Daddy19

Answer: False

McCoy did not make an appearance in any of the "TNG" films. In fact, apart from credits for three voice roles, DeForest Kelley's last acting role was "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country".

DeForest Kelley passed away on June 11th, 1999, after nearly two years fighting stomach cancer. May he rest in peace.

Question by reedy