Leonard McCoy or “Bones” is a rare science officer in the Enterprise Crew. He’s on third of the Kirk Spock McCoy trinity. You can get recruiting shards for McCoy in ultra recruit, premium recruit and Federation Recruit packs. Hopefully this article can help you a bit, but I won’t promise that if you read it that you’ll grow a new kidney.
(Author’s note, I know that the rare McCoy officer is also the McCoy from reboot Star Trek movies (so spare me the comments and emails)… but I’ve already written about Karl Urban, and DeForest Kelley deserves to be written about, so I’m writing about him here. And yes, I know there are several more opportunities for McCoys to appear in the game… but I’m going with it now.)
Captain’s Ability
I’m a Doctor, not a… – McCoy gives a bonus of 20% to all the Officer Abilities of the Officers on the bridge during combat.
This one can pump up to 50% with synergy. Defense is always a good thing to have. It reduces the amount of damage your ship takes to its hull during combat. (Or increases mitigation to be super technical.)
The only rub is that by the time you get Bones, you’ve probably got officers who will serve you better as captain than he will.
But, to be fair, I can’t remember Leonard McCoy ever being in charge of the ship.
Leonard McCoy Officer Ability
Excellent Medicine – Every time the ship gets hit, McCoy increases the Defense of all the officers on the Bridge by (10% 15% 20% 25% 30%.)
As with most of the Enterprise crew officers, McCoy gives you defense bonuses. And since Spock relies on defense stats for his shield ability, this could be very very useful in that crew. You’ll give up a little bit of synergy, as their both science officers, but it could be worth a try for you, depending on your officers.
McCoy is one of those officers whose captain’s ability and officer abilities complement each other. And since this is an ability that’s increased by the number of times your ship is hit, it’ll be more effective against ships that fire a lot each round.
Also, since Spock’s ability on the Enterprise isn’t needed, sliding McCoy in alongside Kirk makes quite a bit of sense.
He’s also a great officer have below decks, if you’re running Kirk, Spock, and Khan against armadas, you want to max health below decks. And he’ll be a good one to help with Spock’s shield
Additionally, if you’re running Charvanek his health stats will help with your armor-piercing, or Yuki Sulu‘s damage against Romulan ships.
DeForest Kelley Trivia
DeForest Kelley (known informally as Dee Kelley) was born in 1920 in Toccoa, Georgia, about 90 miles northeast of Atlanta. He was the son of Clora and Ernest David Kelley. His father was a Baptist minister, and the character McCoy’s father in Star Trek V, David, was named for him.
As a teenager, young DeForest would sing at his father’s church, and before long was performing on local radio shows in the Atlanta area.
He made his film debut as an uncredited chorus singer in the 1940 Nelson Eddy/Jeanette McDonald musical New Moon. Also uncredited in that film was silent film legend Buster Keaton.
During World War II, Kelley served in the First Motion Picture Unit, making propaganda and training films. It was in during a Navy training film that he was spotted by a Paramount pictures scout.
He got his first film acting role in 1947, in a low-budget hit, Fear in the Night. That movie, by the way, is now public domain, so you can watch it in it’s entirety on YouTube, if you’d like.
In the 1950s, on the big screen, Kelley appeared mainly in Westerns. On television, he made several appearances on a program called Science Fiction Theatre, twice playing doctors.
Probably the biggest film he appeared in was Gunfight at the OK Corral, where he played Morgan Earp. The film starred Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday. (As a side note, during college, I had a film class in which we watched and analyzed three OK Corral movies – this one, My Darling Clementine from 1946 with Henry Fonda, and Tombstone. Also, two versions of Henry V. Core classes weren’t the toughest.)
In 1957, he played a doctor in the film, The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit, opposite Gregory Peck. Nine years before Star Trek, and Kelley’s already telling a captain, “He’s dead.”
After that picture, Kelley continued to be a mainstay in westerns. It was a genre he loved working in. He showed up in Bonanza, where he played a doctor, where he was sentenced to hang for murder. The Judge who sentenced him in the episode was played by John Hoyt, the man who played Dr. Philip Boyce in the Star Trek pilot, and who Kelley replaced as the doctor on the Enterprise.
He also appeared on Laramie, Death Valley Days, Have Gun – Will Travel, Bat Masterson, and many, many others. There were a lot of westerns in the late 50s and early 60s. On The Virginian, he played a doctor treating Leonard Nimoy. There’s a clip of it on YouTube here. The video’s not great, but it’s fun to see.
Spoiler alert: Nimoy doesn’t make it.
Outside of westerns, he showed up on an episode of 77 Sunset Strip, Perry Mason, Route 66, and The Donna Reed Show.
Leonard McCoy, The Third Doctor on the Enterprise
After being passed over for the role of Dr. Boyce in the unaired first pilot, The Cage. The ship’s doctor in the second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before was portrayed by veteran character actor (and World War I veteran) Paul Fix.
Kelley finally landed the role of Dr. Leonard McCoy after the series was picked up. He’d worked with Gene Rodenberry before on Police Story, and in an unsold pilot. He was also on the list of candidates to portray Mr. Spock, had Leonard Nimoy turned down the role.
Over the next 25 years, Kelley would play Bones on three seasons of the Original Series, one season of The Animated Series, six feature films, the Next Generation pilot, and archival footage on Deep Space Nine.
Bestest Trivia Ever
Quick timeout, before we get to Star Trek, and this might be my favorite bit of Star Trek trivia, ever. DeForest Kelley was named for radio pioneer Lee De Forest. In 1906, De Forest invented the Audion vaccuum tube, which was the first practical amplification device. But that’s not my favorite bit of trivia.
This is. In 1921, Lee De Forest’s brother had a son. Lee’s nephew. The boy was named Calvert, after his father. And if you were a David Letterman fan in the 80s and 90s, you’re probably ahead of me on this. Calvert DeForest would later be known to the world as Larry “Bud” Melman, who appeared on the various Letterman shows for over 20 years.
Leaving Us at Farpoint
Now back to Dee Kelley, I know that the last time we really saw Kelley as Dr. Leonard McCoy was in Star Trek VI, but to me, it’s always felt like his best goodbye came in the Next Generation pilot, Encounter at Farpoint. It is fun to see how much more Southern McCoy came with age. But I’ve always really liked this performance.
“You treat her like a lady, and she’ll always bring you home.“
DeForest Kelley died of stomach cancer on June 11th, 1999.