Unwarranted, unasked for, possibly inaccurate Trek meta
In a review on Amazon, I saw someone complaining about the Star Trek reboot talking about how there were a bunch of plot holes including the one where all the main cast members had different ranks, despite being in Starfleet for the same amount of time. I just don't think that is accurate, and I can't go to sleep until I explain why.
First of all, it's an inaccurate statement because, based on the film, Spock was already an officer when Kirk, McCoy and Uhura were cadets. At Kirk's trial it's stated that he's been running the Kobiyashi Maru test for four years- at least one year longer than Kirk had been at the academy. It seems ludicrous to think that he'd make it to the rank of commander by sitting on his ass at Starfleet Academy programming tests, so it's reasonable to assume that he's spent some amount of time working on a starship.
According to what I've read on MemoryAlpha, Spock served on the Enterprise under Pike for something like eleven years. There's no reason to assume that this couldn't still be the case, considering he and Pike clearly have a working relationship and he's an officer of a rank above Lieutenant. According to the lore, starships are sent out on five year missions to explore the galaxy - five years on a starship with Pike plus four years at Starfleet gives him a minimum of nine years of service, not counting his time as a cadet. We see his birth and part of his childhood at the same time as we see Kirk's in the film, but that doesn't mean they were happening at the same time.
Now Uhura is introduced as a cadet already. Granted, Pike does tell Kirk to enlist and he gets on the transport with the other students to head to San Francisco, but why are he and McCoy the only new recruits not already having cadet uniforms? Easy- Uhura's already been at Starfleet for at least a year. She even informs Kirk that she's studying xenolinguistics at the academy- which means she's already been there long enough to choose a specialization and that she and Kirk are not the same year.
Spock refers to Uhura as "Lieutenant Uhura" before Pike even puts her on the bridge, so it seems like all the cadets got bumped up to lieutenant (jr grade maybe?) to provide personnel for the starships.
McCoy was already a doctor when he enlisted - so he could have enlisted via direct commission? His previous medical experience may be why he was bumped up to lieutenant commander instead of commander.
Chekov and Sulu were already on the bridge when Spock arrived - so it's my opinion that Chekov and Sulu were already officers and weren't part of Uhura's class or Kirk's class at all. Pike wasn't familiar with them because the Enterprise is a brand new ship without a crew - and if Spock has been grounded for the past four years, Pike might have been, too. Aside from his initial fuckup, Sulu seems pretty familiar with piloting a starship. As for Chekov, Wikipedia says that "an ensign may go directly to a warship after being commissioned to serve as a division officer, or he or she may serve one or two years of specialty training before reporting to a combat unit." So it's possible that Chekov only served two years of specialized navigation training at Starfleet instead of going through the entire four-year process of becoming a commissioned officer.
Kirk became captain through simple chain of command. Captain Pike's first officer was Spock, so when Pike left the ship, he promoted Kirk to first officer and Spock to captain. Spock was forced to abandon his duties because of becoming "emotionally compromised," as first officer Kirk was then promoted to captain. Why is that confusing to anyone?
Now, why the hell did Pike make Kirk the first officer? That's the plot hole.
First of all, it's an inaccurate statement because, based on the film, Spock was already an officer when Kirk, McCoy and Uhura were cadets. At Kirk's trial it's stated that he's been running the Kobiyashi Maru test for four years- at least one year longer than Kirk had been at the academy. It seems ludicrous to think that he'd make it to the rank of commander by sitting on his ass at Starfleet Academy programming tests, so it's reasonable to assume that he's spent some amount of time working on a starship.
According to what I've read on MemoryAlpha, Spock served on the Enterprise under Pike for something like eleven years. There's no reason to assume that this couldn't still be the case, considering he and Pike clearly have a working relationship and he's an officer of a rank above Lieutenant. According to the lore, starships are sent out on five year missions to explore the galaxy - five years on a starship with Pike plus four years at Starfleet gives him a minimum of nine years of service, not counting his time as a cadet. We see his birth and part of his childhood at the same time as we see Kirk's in the film, but that doesn't mean they were happening at the same time.
Now Uhura is introduced as a cadet already. Granted, Pike does tell Kirk to enlist and he gets on the transport with the other students to head to San Francisco, but why are he and McCoy the only new recruits not already having cadet uniforms? Easy- Uhura's already been at Starfleet for at least a year. She even informs Kirk that she's studying xenolinguistics at the academy- which means she's already been there long enough to choose a specialization and that she and Kirk are not the same year.
Spock refers to Uhura as "Lieutenant Uhura" before Pike even puts her on the bridge, so it seems like all the cadets got bumped up to lieutenant (jr grade maybe?) to provide personnel for the starships.
McCoy was already a doctor when he enlisted - so he could have enlisted via direct commission? His previous medical experience may be why he was bumped up to lieutenant commander instead of commander.
Chekov and Sulu were already on the bridge when Spock arrived - so it's my opinion that Chekov and Sulu were already officers and weren't part of Uhura's class or Kirk's class at all. Pike wasn't familiar with them because the Enterprise is a brand new ship without a crew - and if Spock has been grounded for the past four years, Pike might have been, too. Aside from his initial fuckup, Sulu seems pretty familiar with piloting a starship. As for Chekov, Wikipedia says that "an ensign may go directly to a warship after being commissioned to serve as a division officer, or he or she may serve one or two years of specialty training before reporting to a combat unit." So it's possible that Chekov only served two years of specialized navigation training at Starfleet instead of going through the entire four-year process of becoming a commissioned officer.
Kirk became captain through simple chain of command. Captain Pike's first officer was Spock, so when Pike left the ship, he promoted Kirk to first officer and Spock to captain. Spock was forced to abandon his duties because of becoming "emotionally compromised," as first officer Kirk was then promoted to captain. Why is that confusing to anyone?
Now, why the hell did Pike make Kirk the first officer? That's the plot hole.