Leonard McCoy

Leonard Horatio "Bones" McCoy, MD was the tritagonist in the sci-fi television program Star Trek. He was portrayed in the original series, the first six Star Trek motion pictures, and the pilot of Star Trek: The Next Generation by the late DeForest Kelley. His alternate reality counterpart was portrayed by Karl Urban in the 2009 film Star Trek.
==History==
"Bones" was a hot-blooded and humanistic person that has been noted as a physician and scientist of the 23rd and 24th centuries. He was an accomplished surgeon, physician, psychologist, and exobiology, and was also considered an expert in space psychology. As ship's surgeon and chief medical officer, he served aboard the USS Enterprise and USS Enterprise-A for a combined twenty-seven years.
McCoy was the son of David and Eleanora McCoy. He attended the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), and happened to meet the joined Trill Emony Dax. She suspected that he would eventually become a surgeon.
As a young man McCoy had married and fathered a daughter, but later divorced. To escape the pain he felt at his marriage falling apart he entered Starfleet. He later met a young Starfleet officer named James T. Kirk and became close friends with the man. McCoy served on a medical mission to Capella IV before joining his friend Kirk as chief medical officer on the Enterprise. Over the course of the five year mission McCoy came to consider first officer Spock a close friend as well, even though they frequently argued with each other. McCoy also became good friends with the others on the Enterprise senior staff - including Nyota Uhura, Pavel Chekov, Hikaru Sulu, and Montgomery Scott. He became friends with Enterprise head nurse Christine Chapel and remained friends as she became a medical doctor herself and continued to work alongside him on the refit Enterprise. 
After the Enterprise was refit following the end of its first five year mission under Kirk's command, succeeding Captain Willard Decker recruited a very diverse crew with assistance from Lt. Commander Uhura. When the Enterprise left spacedock to deal with V'Ger, she had the most diverse crew in the fleet. At first Dr. McCoy was critical of this, fearing unexpected complications that could result from so many species living and working together. He later changed his mind, and his experiences working with such a diverse crew in the coming years led him to become an expert on alien physiology. McCoy began work on a medical textbook called Comparative Alien Physiology, and spent the next quarter century working on it. McCoy's work came to be regarded as one of the classics of Federation medicine along with Grey's Anatomy, and medical professionals throughout the Federation were familiar with the work. In the mid 24th century McCoy lamented that the work could never be kept truly up to date owing to the continued contact with alien life forms. 
It was McCoy that Spock chose to safeguard his katra, or his immortal soul, when Spock entered the warp chamber to save the Enterprise at the cost of his own life. Heading back to the Genesis Planet, Kirk and the Enterprise crew retrieved the Genesis regenerated body of Captain Spock. This came at a terrible price as Kirk's son David Marcus was killed by the Klingon commander Kruge's crew, and Kirk was forced to destroy the Enterprise to keep her from falling into Klingon hands.
After leaving the rapidly disintegrating Genesis Planet, Kirk and his shipmates returned Spock to Vulcan. There a Vulcan priestess transferred Spock's katra back to his regenerated body. Over the next few months McCoy underwent a series of mind melds to ensure that any remaining parts of Spock's consciousness had been completely transferred back to Spock. McCoy semi-jokingly told Spock to never put him through that again, to which Spock assured him that he had no intention of dying again anytime soon nor being raised from the dead again. Even after fal-tor-pan was completed McCoy still retained a few of Spock's memories, including some of Spock's pet sehlat I-Chaya.
When the Whale Probe attacked Earth, McCoy accompanied his shipmates back in time to the late 20th century to retrieve humpback whales that the probe was looking for. McCoy played a key role in helping secure the plexiglass needed to build a tank to hold the whales. When Chekov was seriously injured in a fall and was located at Mercy Hospital, McCoy, Kirk, and Gillian Taylor snuck into the hospital so that McCoy could treat him. Ultimately, the mission to retrieve humpback whales was successful and the whales the Enterprise crew brought to the 23rd century were able to convince the probe to leave.
After the Federation council dropped all the criminal charges against McCoy for his role in the unauthorized mission to save Spock, he and his shipmates were assigned to the Enterprise-A. McCoy served as CMO on that ship until that ship had been decommissioned in 2293.
Prior to standing down from duty on the Enterprise-A, McCoy participated in the peace mission to the Klingon Empire. He began studying Klingon anatomy in depth and even considered opening a practice dedicated to treating Klingon patients.
After the apparent death of Kirk McCoy continued his career in Starfleet and worked his way up the ranks. McCoy attended the wedding of his friend Spock to Saavik in the 2340s. By 2365 the 137 year old Admiral Leonard McCoy boarded the Galaxy class USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) to inspect the medical facilities. Commander Data escorted him to a shuttle that was taking him to the USS Hood. On the way McCoy told Data that the new ship had the right name, and that if they treated the Enterprise like a lady she would always bring them home.
When Montgomery Scott was rescued from the USS Jenolen in the late 2360s, he was delighted that Doctor McCoy was still alive. He chuckled at the thought of McCoy - who had been one of the most opposed to Starfleet's Admiralty during their years of service together - winding up joining them instead. 
==Trivia==
*In Star Trek: The Original Series and in the first six Star Trek movies, he has brown hair, but in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, he has white hair, due to aging.
*In the novel Provenance of Shadows McCoy died at his home shortly after his visit to the new Galaxy-Class USS Enterprise in 2364, an event contradicted by other stories.
==Gallery==
Bones.jpg|McCoy as he appeared in the late 23rd century.
BonesTNGjpg.jpg|A 137 year old Admiral McCoy in 2364.
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