Philip Boyce was the chief medical officer on board the USS Enterprise in 2254, under the command of Captain Christopher Pike.
Personality and traits
Boyce was an acerbic realist who did not hesitate to tell Captain Pike when he thought Pike was wrong. He was known to carry a portable martini kit with him, reasoning that, "sometimes a man will tell his bartender things he'll never tell his doctor." In this capacity, Boyce counseled Pike to remain in the service when Pike confided in him that he was considering retiring. Boyce realized that Pike's sentiment was stemming from a recent incident on Rigel VII in which three Enterprise crewmembers, including Pike's yeoman, were killed, an incident on which Pike blamed his own complacency.
Talos IV
Boyce was a member of the landing party investigating the apparent existence of survivors of a crashed survey expedition on planet Talos IV, reporting to Pike on the extraordinary health of the survivors despite supposedly being stranded for eighteen years. Later, when it became clear that the existence of survivors was an illusion created by the Talosians for the purpose of abducting Pike, Boyce participated in a staff briefing, cautioning the crew as to the dangers posed by the Talosians' mental powers. (TOS: "The Cage", "The Menagerie, Part I", "The Menagerie, Part II")
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Memorable quotes
"Sometimes a man'll tell his bartender things he'll never tell his doctor."
"Chris, you set standards for yourself no one could meet. You treat everyone on board like a Human being except yourself."
"A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on, and licks it. Or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away."
"We both get the same two kinds of customers. The living and the dying."
"Eve? As in Adam?"
"As in all ship's doctors are dirty old men."
Appendices
Background information
Boyce was the first ship's doctor conceived for Star Trek. In Gene Roddenberry's original pitch for the series, the following is written about Boyce:
- Ship's Doctor --
- Phillip Boyce, an unlikely space traveler. At
- the age of fifty-one, he's worldly, humorously
- cynical, makes it a point to thoroughly enjoy
- his own weaknesses. Captain April's only real
- confidant, "Bones" Boyce considers himself the
- only realist aboard, measures each new landing
- in terms of relative annoyance, rather than
- excitement.
Some of the ideas about Dr. Boyce subsequently influenced a character biography that appears in The Making of Star Trek. Written during a time when Robert April was still being considered as the name of the Enterprise's captain, the biography states:
- Ship's Doctor. Philip Boyce, M.D., is a highly unlikely space traveler. Well into his fifties, he's worldly, humorously cynical, makes it a point to thoroughly enjoy his own weaknesses. He's also engaged in a perpetual battle of ideas and ideals with Jose. Captain April's only real confidant, "Bones" Boyce considers himself the only realist aboard, measures each new landing in terms of the annoyances it will personally create for him.
In the second revised final draft script of "The Cage", a description of Dr. Boyce reads, "A highly unlikely looking space crewman, Boyce is pushing middle age, something of a worldly cynic."
At one time, David Opatoshu was considered for the role of Doctor Boyce. [1] The character went on to be played by John Hoyt, who was disappointed not to be asked back to reprise the role, following the making of "The Cage". (Starlog #113)
The text commentary of "The Menagerie, Part I" regards Dr. Boyce as being the first of numerous "bartender-confidantes" throughout Star Trek history, also counting Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Vic Fontaine in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as fitting this mold.
Starlog issue 113 mistakenly refers to Boyce's first name as "Joseph".
Apocrypha
According to the novel Enterprise: The First Adventure, by Vonda N. McIntyre, Boyce was the CMO of Starbase 23 following his tenure aboard the Enterprise.
His mirror universe counterpart appears in the story story "The Greater Good" by Margaret Wander Bonanno contained in the anthology Shards and Shadows. He is depicted as the chief medical officer of the ISS Enterprise, then under the command of Captain Template:MU, in 2264.