A new Star Trek series is on its way to our screens.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will air in the US on 5th May and with it there’s a new captain on the bridge… or should we say an old one?
Christopher Pike, played by Anson Mount, is taking the captain’s chair of the Enterprise in this new series, and, unless you’re the type to be fluent in Klingon, you’d be forgiven for not recognising him.
As a legacy character who has undergone many iterations in the nearly 60 years that Star Trek has been on our screens, Pike’s path through the final frontier is a little hard to keep track of.
So ahead of the series’ US release, and eventual UK release, it’s as good a time as any to look back on the character and understand not just who he is, but who he will be.
Who is Captain Christopher Pike in Star Trek?
Christopher Pike first appeared in 1965 in Star Trek’s original unaired pilot. The episode, titled The Cage, featured Pike as the captain of the USS Enterprise and he was played by film actor Jeffrey Hunter. Alongside him were Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as Number One, John Hoyt as Dr Phillip Boyce, and Leonard Nimoy as, of course, Mr Spock.
The episode sees Pike and his crew take on the Talosians, a race of mind-bending aliens who wish to breed humans as slaves on their ruined planet, Talos IV. On arrival, Pike falls for a young woman called Vina, who crash-landed on the planet years before but was saved by the Talosians’ illusion technology. By the end of the episode Pike and the aliens make peace, but he must leave Vina behind in order for her to stay well.
According to creator Gene Roddenberry’s biography, Hunter was brought on to play Pike over the course of 16 days, and was paid $10,000 for his part in the pilot.
However, when the pilot was rejected by NBC and a second pilot attempt was commissioned, Hunter chose not to return, preferring to be free to pursue other roles. And so came the time of James T Kirk, played by William Shatner, and the show that we all know and love today was formed.
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That original pilot remained unseen as a whole until it was released on VHS in 1986. Yet pieces of it were then used for the 1966 episode of the original series, The Menagerie, in which it was officially confirmed that Pike was Kirk’s predecessor as captain of the Enterprise.
In this story, Pike is now played by Sean Kenney, who was less well-known than Jeffrey Hunter and therefore less expensive to hire; the reason for this cheaper choice being the fact that in this point in time Pike is physically disfigured and permanently disabled.
Near the end of his life, Pike convinces his old crew-mate Spock to bring him aboard the Enterprise and take him back to Talos IV. In doing so, Spock is found guilty of mutiny and put on trial, during which he narrates the story of Pike and Vina as clips of the original pilot are shown. Once the ship arrives at Talos IV, Spock is forgiven and Pike is able to live the rest of his life with his long lost love.
After this, Pike is referenced again only once in the original series, when it is revealed in the parallel universe episode Mirror Mirror that the alternate universe version of Kirk murdered his former captain to gain control of the Enterprise.
Then, as the years went on and Star Trek transformed into films, next generations, and many other deep space adventures, Pike’s small chapter on the show seemed closed and forgotten. The only mentions were the names of shuttles and the “Christopher Pike medal of honour.”
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It took the big-budget alternate timeline of JJ Abrams to bring him back. In Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Pike is played by Bruce Greenwood as an older, more stoic captain who convinces the wild James T Kirk (played by Chris Pine) to join Starfleet and improve himself.
In this alternate universe, Pike takes the Enterprise into battle, is captured by rogue Romulan Nero, and then hands the captaincy over to Kirk. Then his death in Into Darkness at the hands of Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) is what drives Kirk’s revenge.
The reinvention in these films was a great success; however, it is back in the original Star Trek canon that we find this latest iteration of Pike. Anson Mount’s version of the character was first referenced and then appeared in Star Trek Discovery.
Taking over the Discovery ship in season 2, Pike, his number one (now played by X-Men actress Rebecca Romijn) and Spock (now played by Ethan Peck) help the team in their search for the “red signals” and the mysterious angel.
Throughout the course of the series, several references are made to the original pilot, which story-wise has already taken place, including a return to Talos IV and the reappearance of Vena. Then, in a dramatic moment of the episode Through the Valley of Shadows, Pike receives a premonition of his future disabled self and therefore knows his fate. It is this Pike who we now join in Strange New Worlds.
So despite Mount thinking that Discovery was “a one-season gig”, Pike will now be at the helm of his own show. And after so many years as the character who was unaired, sidelined, and left as a neat little piece of Star Trek trivia, we cannot wait to see what he does as captain, so let’s make it so.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds comes to Paramount Plus in the US on 5th May, and will arrive in the UK when the streaming service launches on 22nd June.
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