So now we’ve moved up to our third McCoy, TOS McCoy, and finally, one that looks the way McCoy did for the first 40 years of the character’s existence. Nothing against Karl Urban, but it’s nice to see McCoy look like Dee Kelley. This officer is a rare science officer in the TOS Enterprise Crew.
Hat tip to player CylonLeo for the Real McCoy headline.
Captain’s Maneuver
We’re Rescuing You! – When defending, TOS Leonard McCoy increases the Shield Deflection, Armor, and Dodge of the ship by 300% of the Health of all officers on the ship.
Defensive abilities are underrated in STFC. While this isn’t going to help you at all in defeating mission bosses, hunting hostiles, or cracking bases, it’s great for situations when you know you’re going to be attacked – in defending your base, defending a territory capture node, or fighting off an overly aggressive opponent.
It’s also extremely useful when auto-grinding hostiles – which is to say, putting your ship in an area where you know a hostile hunter will come after it. Examples of this being Augment space, or in the space of factions you have a negative reputation with.
TOS McCoy sets you up with another crew, apart from Pike, Moreau, and Chen that you can use to grind up XP or faction reputation while you’re away from the game.
Lastly, in order to maximize the effect of this, use synergy to get the bonus up to 500%, and make sure you’ve stacked your below decks crew with health.
The strategy here is to use the ship with TOS McCoy on it like you would a Saladin.
TOS McCoy Officer Ability
Just an Old Country Doctor – If the ship is an Explorer, TOS Leonard McCoy increases the Attack, Defense, and Health of all officers on the ship by (20% 40% 60% 80% 100%.)
Any time you can pump up your officer’s stats, it’s a good thing. So this makes McCoy really useful on any explorer crew you want to put together – but the most obvious example would be using him in place of Spock on the Enterprise.
McCoy Character Background
Having gone over Karl Urban in the article about Cadet McCoy, and DeForest Kelley when covering Enterprise Crew McCoy, this time I thought I’d share first, a montage of some great McCoy lines, and then, the origins of “The Real McCoy.”
The Real McCoy Origins
In case you were curious, (or even if you’re weren’t) the phrase, “The Real McCoy” seems to have its origins in Scotland in 1856, from a poem called, “Deil’s Hallowe’en” (Devil’s Halloween.) In the poem, it was, “A drappie o’ the real MacKay”, (“a drop of the real MacKay.”) Poet Robert Louis Stevenson used “The Real MacKay” in a letter in 1883.
The first mention of “The Real McCoy” seems to come from a book by James Bond. Not that James Bond (or this one), by James S. Bond, in a book in 1881. “By jingo! yes; so it will be. It’s the ‘real McCoy,’ as Jim Hicks says. Nobody but a devil can find us there.”
In the late 50’s there was a western called “The Real McCoys.” That series featured long-time western actor Walter Brennan. So either you know exactly who Brennan was, and you can hear his voice in your head… or you don’t.
The other featured actor was longtime character actor Richard Crenna, who everyone knew when I was a kid in the 80s. And I mean everyone. Of course, I’m pretty sure that most of them wouldn’t remember his name, but if I told you that he played Colonel Trautman in the Rambo movies, I think he’d come into focus.
I will say again, the first Rambo film was a great, great movie. After that… eh… not so much. But since this is ostensibly a Star Trek site, I’ll tie Rambo back to Star Trek in two steps.
The antagonist in Rambo: First Blood was Brian Dennehy, who played the sheriff. Dennehy’s daughter, Elizabeth played Commander Shelby in the Next Generation two-parter, The Best of Both Worlds.
And now, I’m going to have a brief flashback to basement college parties in the 90s.
You know, when I started writing this blog, I didn’t think I’d wind up going … there. But here we are.
And… moving on.
(Awkward pause.)
Back to Star Trek, and we get “The Real McCoy” in the TOS Season One episode, The Man Trap, where a Salt Vampire impersonates McCoy. I couldn’t find a clip of it, but here’s the salt vampire attacking Kirk, and then Spock.