Reception and Cultural Impact
McCoy is someone to whom Kirk unburdens himself and is a foil to Spock. He is Kirk's "friend, personal bartender, confidant, counselor, and priest". Urban said McCoy has a "sense of irascibility with real passion for life and doing the right thing", and that "Spock's logic and McCoy's moral standing gave Kirk the benefit of having three brains instead of just one." Jennifer Porter and Darcee McLaren wrote that McCoy is an "unintentional" example of how "irrational prejudices and fixations, wishful thinking and emotional reasoning, denial and repression, and unresolved neurotic disturbances" compromise "scientific rationality" in Star Trek.
Kelley said that his greatest thrill at Star Trek conventions was the number of people who told him they entered the medical profession because of the McCoy character.
In regards to the 2009 film, The Guardian called Urban's performance of McCoy an "unqualified success", and The New York Times called the character "wild eyed and funny". Slate.com said Urban came closer than the other actors to impersonating a character's original depiction.
Read more about this topic: Leonard McCoy
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