Leonard McCoy
Dr. Leonard H. McCoy, known as "Bones", is a character in the American science-fiction franchise Star Trek.[1] McCoy was played by actor DeForest Kelley in the original Star Trek series from 1966 to 1969, and he also appears in the animated Star Trek series, in six Star Trek films, in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in numerous books, comics, and video games.[2] A decade after Kelley's death, Karl Urban assumed the role of McCoy in the Star Trek reboot film in 2009.[3]
"Dr. McCoy" redirects here. For the Marvel Comics character Dr. Hank McCoy, see Beast (Marvel Comics).Leonard McCoy
"The Man Trap" (1966)
(The Original Series)
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
DeForest Kelley (1966–1991)
Karl Urban (2009–2016)
Leonard Horatio McCoy
Bones
Human
Male
Doctor
David McCoy (father)
Unnamed wife (divorced)
Natira (separated)
Joanna McCoy (daughter)
Development[edit]
Kelley had worked with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry on previous television pilots,[20] and he was Roddenberry's first choice to play the doctor aboard the USS Enterprise.[21] However, for the rejected pilot "The Cage" (1964), Roddenberry went with director Robert Butler's choice of John Hoyt to play Dr. Philip Boyce.[22] For the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966), Roddenberry accepted director James Goldstone's decision to have Paul Fix play Dr. Mark Piper.[23] Although Roddenberry wanted Kelley to play the character of ship's doctor, he did not put Kelley's name forward to NBC; the network never "rejected" the actor, as Roddenberry sometimes suggested.[21]
Kelley's first broadcast appearance as Doctor Leonard McCoy was in "The Man Trap" (1966). Despite his character's prominence, Kelley's contract granted him only a "featuring" credit; he was not given "starring" credit until the second season, at the urging of producer Robert Justman.[24] Kelley was apprehensive about Star Trek's future, telling Roddenberry that the show was "going to be the biggest hit or the biggest miss God ever made".[5]: 146 Kelley portrayed McCoy throughout the original Star Trek series, and voiced the character in the animated Star Trek.[1]
Kelley, who in his youth wanted to become a doctor like his uncle, but whose family could not pay for a medical education,[25] in part drew upon his real-life experiences in creating McCoy, a doctor's "matter-of-fact" delivery of news of Kelley's mother's terminal cancer was the "abrasive sand" Kelley used in creating McCoy's demeanor.[5]: 145 Star Trek writer D. C. Fontana said that while Roddenberry created the series, Kelley essentially created McCoy; everything done with the character was done with Kelley's input.[5]: 156
"Exquisite chemistry" among Kelley, William Shatner, and Leonard Nimoy manifested itself in their performances as McCoy, Captain James T. Kirk, and Science Officer Spock, respectively. Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, referred to Kelley as her "sassy gentleman friend"; the friendship between the African-American Nichols and Southern Kelley was a real-life demonstration of the message Roddenberry hoped to convey through Star Trek.[5]: 154
For the 2009 Star Trek film, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman saw McCoy as an "arbiter" in Kirk and Spock's relationship. While Spock represented "extreme logic, extreme science" and Kirk symbolized "extreme emotion and intuition", McCoy's role as "a very colorful doctor, essentially a very humanistic scientist", represented the "two extremes that often served as the glue that held the trio together". They chose to reveal that McCoy befriended Kirk first, explaining the "bias" in their friendship and why he would often be a "little dismissive" of Spock.[26] Urban said the script was "very faithful" to the original character, including the "great compassion for humanity and that sense of irascibility" with which Kelley imbued the character. New Zealand-born Urban trained with a dialect coach to create McCoy's accent[27] and reprised the role in its sequels Star Trek Into Darkness[28] and Star Trek Beyond.
Reception[edit]
In a rebuttal to a tongue-in-cheek analysis in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, which claimed that Dr. Nick from The Simpsons was a better role model than his competitor Dr. Hibbert,[44] both of which were published in the same journal in 1998, both doctors are cast aside for Dr. McCoy, "TV's only true physician" and "someone who has broken free from the yoke of ethics and practises the art and science of medicine beyond the stultifying opposition of paternalism and autonomy. A free and independent thinker and, indeed, someone even beyond role models".[45]
In 2012, IGN ranked the character Doctor McCoy, as depicted in the original series, its films, and the 2009 film Star Trek, as the fifth-top character of the Star Trek universe, behind Data, Picard, Spock, and Kirk.[46]
In 2016, Doctor McCoy was ranked as the fifth-most important character of Starfleet within the Star Trek science-fiction universe by Wired.[47]
In 2016, SyFy ranked McCoy third of the six main-cast space doctors of the Star Trek franchise.[48]
In 2017, Screen Rant ranked the reboot film (Kelvin timeline) McCoy, played by Urban, as the 17th-most attractive person in the Star Trek universe.[49]
In 2018, The Wrap placed Doctor McCoy as sixth out 39 in a ranking of main cast characters of the Star Trek franchise.[50] In 2018, CBR ranked McCoy as the 11th-best Starfleet character of Star Trek.[51]