Dr. Phlox

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Re: Dr. Phlox

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Mikey wrote:Intelligence doesn't magically bestow knowledge of - or experience with - the medical intricacies of an unfamiliar species.
No, but it shows that he must be an extremely fast and efficient learner, which means that even if he only spent a couple of years on Earth he'd likely be as good as any Human doctor and better than most.
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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GrahamKennedy wrote:
Mikey wrote:Intelligence doesn't magically bestow knowledge of - or experience with - the medical intricacies of an unfamiliar species.
No, but it shows that he must be an extremely fast and efficient learner, which means that even if he only spent a couple of years on Earth he'd likely be as good as any Human doctor and better than most.
He must indeed be a terrific learner - whether this is an unusual ability of Phlox or native to Denobulans in general, I don't know and isn't really germane here. However, we don't know how long he spent on Earth; whether any of his degrees were in human medicine or non-Denobulan medicine (aside from veterinary medicine) at all; what exactly he studied on Earth; etc. We can certainly make assumptions based on his posting to the NX-01, but they are just assumptions. The whole situation still begs the question why a human doctor - indeed, especially one attached to UESPA or Earth Starfleet already - wasn't used instead of an alien whose presence on Earth and litany of degrees indicate more of a researcher rather than practitioner.
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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I feel Phlox is unjustly evaluated.
As many have pointed to before, even in TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voy, while having more advanced treatments and medicine, no Doctor had a perfect record, and there have been times when treatments didn't work, and where patients died...

And I really have a lot of problems with accepting the Phlox was assigned on a Human only (mostly) crew if he sucked as much in human medicine.
He was a good Doctor, and there were many times where he was successful in determing the origin for a problem, and finding a cure.
And Phlox was mostly trained in Xenobiology, and assigned on a ship going to do what?
That's right, he was assigned to the first human ship "seeking out new life and new civilizations"...
How would having a human Doctor have been an advantage when facing all these aliens deseases and microbes and viruses?
I mean the guy, while he chose to let a civilization die, had found a way to make an incompatible race into a possible cure...
Pretty good, I'd say...

And honestly, at least he knew his way around a human body a lot more than Trip knew his way around the NX or its systems... :P
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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Yes, yes, all that is true. That's the problem. Why would he, in his particular situation which has already been discussed at length, be so much better at treating humans than human doctors with more advanced technology and a much deeper immersion in human culture and human medicine?

The answer is the problem: Mr. Mary-Sue Phlox.
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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Mikey wrote:Yes, yes, all that is true. That's the problem. Why would he, in his particular situation which has already been discussed at length, be so much better at treating humans than human doctors with more advanced technology and a much deeper immersion in human culture and human medicine?

The answer is the problem: Mr. Mary-Sue Phlox.
I don't think Plox was ever intended to be more qualified. I think what they were trying to create was the he was just as qualified to be on the ship/treat humans as any other doctor. Though is appointment on the NX-O1 was probably at least partially political, perhaps Earth had some sort of arrangement with Denobula? Perhaps they wanted to show faith in/salute their allies? Maybe whoever was in charge of Phlox was owed a favor by someone in the Earth starfleet? Or the original human doctor went AWOL so Capt. Archer had to call someone he knew at Starfleet Medical (or wherever) to see if they had a Doctor to spare, and this person just lost a cribbage game to Phlox and didn't want to pay him the money?

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Re: Dr. Phlox

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And if he was at least as qualified in human treatment, the fact that he was more qualified in Xenobiology made him the ideal candidate for this mission...

And Mikey, Phlox would definitely not be the first Gary/Mary Stu in ST, so the show wasn't different from the other series... ;)
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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Praeothmin wrote:And if he was at least as qualified in human treatment, the fact that he was more qualified in Xenobiology made him the ideal candidate for this mission...
I disagree. He was the ship's doctor, not a member of the science staff. The fact that he was used as such because of his skill in that area is completely tangential to his initial appointment to the NX-01.
Praeothmin wrote:And Mikey, Phlox would definitely not be the first Gary/Mary Stu in ST, so the show wasn't different from the other series...
Indeed. However, Phlox is the case we're discussing.
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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Mikey wrote:
Praeothmin wrote:And if he was at least as qualified in human treatment, the fact that he was more qualified in Xenobiology made him the ideal candidate for this mission...
I disagree. He was the ship's doctor, not a member of the science staff. The fact that he was used as such because of his skill in that area is completely tangential to his initial appointment to the NX-01.
Wasn't he accompanying the NX on its voyage initially because he was caring for the Klingon?
If he's so good at treating aliens, that means he has extensive knowledge of Xenology, and if he is as good as any human doctors in treating humans, again, gohe would be the best candidate to understand how to identify, and treat possible alien diseases or deal with alien microbes, no?
Praeothmin wrote:And Mikey, Phlox would definitely not be the first Gary/Mary Stu in ST, so the show wasn't different from the other series...
Indeed. However, Phlox is the case we're discussing.
I know, I'm just saying him being a Gary Stu doesn't bother me because we've been used to Gary/Mary Stu in ST, it's become their MO...
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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Sonic Glitch wrote: Maybe whoever was in charge of Phlox was owed a favor by someone in the Earth starfleet? Or the original human doctor went AWOL so Capt. Archer had to call someone he knew at Starfleet Medical (or wherever) to see if they had a Doctor to spare, and this person just lost a cribbage game to Phlox and didn't want to pay him the money?

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Actually, Dr. Phlox saved Porthos' life after he got sick in the episode A Night in Sickbay. He was doing everything he could to bring Porthos back to good health, including marinading him in that vat of yellow liquid.
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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He was doing everything he could because he had a clinically insane man screaming his head off about it and sleeping in his sickbay. Phlox said in the episode that they had similar animals on Denobula, and that their kidneys were delicious.
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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To Me, Phlox never really made sense. Why bring in an alien doctor that has never treated your species before and put him in charge Sickbay of your only proper starship?
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Re: Dr. Phlox

Post by Mithrandir »

Personally I think that he was one of the better and more interesting characters on ENT.

I agree that Phlox's adequate medical skills concerning humans and his superior skills concerning alien diseases and species made him a sensible choice. Far more sensible than him being the only doctor on board of a long-term explorer without the chance of crew replacements. What if he would have been killed?
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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Then enterprise would have been more screwed than it was!
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Re: Dr. Phlox

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alexmann wrote:To Me, Phlox never really made sense. Why bring in an alien doctor that has never treated your species before and put him in charge Sickbay of your only proper starship?
Phlox had treated Humans before. Remember the first time we saw him he was working at Starfleet medical on Earth, and had apparently been there for at least a couple of years. Given that the man has six degrees he seems to be a genius by Earth standards, so I don't see why he wouldn't be as good as any Earth doctor even at Human medicine.

It is a bit daft that he seemed to be a one man operation though. One doctor for eighty people isn't so bad, but at least have a couple of nurses, maybe a few first aid medic types or something.
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Re: Dr. Phlox

Post by Mikey »

Especially when the MACO's were berthed - you'd expect them to have a couple of corpsmen, at least.
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