Summary

Star Trek’sDoctor McCoy give up Starfleet as a protection , not an revilement , to Captain Kirk . WhenStar Trekreturned to live - military action in 1979’sStar Trek : The Motion Picture , some of theEnterprise’ssenior officers , include Spock and Doctor McCoy , had bequeath Starfleet . Their reasons for doing so were never explore on screen door , but inStar Trek : Mission ’s End#5,McCoy ’s reason for leaving the service is at last bring out – and it is a tribute to his ally Kirk .

Star Trek : Mission ’s End#5 is write by Ty Templeton and draw by Steve Molnar . As theEnterprise’soriginal five - year delegacy comes to an destruction , Kirk is set for a furtherance to full admiral , which McCoy can not believe . Because of Kirk ’s decision , McCoy decide to leave Starfleet . He explain that he does not feel safe going on mission without Kirk , and that he believes in Starfleet , but does not inevitably believe in die for it .

McCoy confesses he has no faith in any other Starfleet police captain .

The Enterprise-A flies over a planet from Star Trek

Star Trek: The Motion PictureLeft a Lot Unexplained–Such as Why Doctor McCoy Left Starfleet

As before long as NBC cancelled the originalStar Trekseries in 1969 , rooter start inexhaustibly exercise to impart it back , culminating in the release ofStar Trek : The Motion PIcturea decade by and by . In that film , the endeavor ’s “ trine ” of Kirk , Spock and Doctor McCoy , had gone their separate ways : Kirk call for a desk job and Spock and McCoy left Starfleet altogether . McCoy initially had no interest in repay , pull Kirk to essentially “ draft ” him . Kirk was able-bodied toconvince Doctor McCoy to stay on dining table , but why he left in the first seat was never revealed .

For long time , many fans believed Doctor McCoy impart Starfleet out of anger towardsKirk over taking a packaging . McCoy felt that Kirk was not meant to be a newspaper pusher . Kirk has butt on heads with admiral on many occasions , and McCoy believed this was the awry boulevard for Kirk to take . For the entirety of Kirk ’s meter as admiral , McCoy was never comfy with it , utter his concerns to Kirk on the eve of his birthday inStar Trek II : The Wrath of Khan . He ( rightfully ) saw that the admiralty was not right for Kirk .

Although the Star Trek franchise is unlikely to ever end , one funny write up sets up a potentially awesome conclusion in the far - flung time to come .

Picard and Riker in season 1

McCoy paid Captain Kirk the Ultimate Tribute

Now , thanks toStar Trek : Mission ’s terminal , fans finally know that McCoy left not because he was mad at Kirk , but because he did not trust any other captain . Doctor McCoy was on the high - strung side , as see in several instalment , but most notably in the 2009 JJ Abrams ’ reboot . In one scene , McCoy deplore all the possible ways one can die in blank space . McCoy was an anxious individual who was continually put in highly dangerous situation . Captain Kirk get him out of every individual one , and McCoy did not believe anyone else could do this – leading to his decision to leave Starfleet .

Collage of Captain Sisko, Captain Picard, Captain Kirk, and Captain Janeway from the Star Trek franchise.

Bones McCoy Star Trek Original Series

Doctor McCoy resigns from Starfleet

Dr. McCoy speaks animatedly from Star Trek

Doctor McCoy and Data walk down the hall in Star Trek TNG