Leonard McCoy - Depiction

Depiction

McCoy was born in 2227. The son of David, he attended the University of Mississippi and is a divorcé. In 2266, McCoy was posted as chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise under Captain James T. Kirk who calls him "Bones". McCoy and Kirk are good friends, even "brotherly". The passionate, sometimes cantankerous McCoy frequently argues with Kirk's other confidant, science officer Spock, and occasionally is bigoted toward Spock's Vulcan heritage. McCoy often plays the role of Kirk's conscience, offering a counterpoint to Spock's logic. McCoy is suspicious of technology, especially the transporter; as a physician, he prefers less intrusive treatment and believes in the body's innate recuperative powers. The character's nickname, "Bones", is a play on sawbones, an epithet for physicians, in particular, those qualified as surgeons.

Kirk orders McCoy's commission reactivated in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979); a resentful McCoy complains of being "drafted". Spock transfers his katra—his knowledge and experience—into McCoy's mind before dying in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). This causes mental anguish for McCoy, who in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) helps restore Spock's katra to his reanimated body. McCoy rejoins Kirk's crew aboard the USS Enterprise-A in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, McCoy (through the intervention of Spock's brother Sybok) reveals that he helped his father commit suicide to relieve him of his pain. Shortly after doing so, a cure was found for his father's disease and he carried with him the guilt about it for the rest of his life. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), McCoy and Kirk escape from a Klingon prison world, and the Enterprise crew stops a plot to prevent peace between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. Kelley reprised the role for the "Encounter at Farpoint" pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), insisting upon no more than the minimum Screen Actors Guild payment for his appearance.

In the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Survivor", McCoy mentions he has a daughter. Chekov's friend Irina in the original series episode "The Way to Eden" was originally written as Dr. McCoy's daughter Joanna, but changed before the episode was shot.