Captain Christopher Pike is technically The first “Star Trek” ship captain. “The Original Series” Pilot “The Cage” presented Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and the Starship company visiting the planet Talos IV, where the pike is removed by psychic foreigners and must resist their illusions. But NBC found “the cage” as an unsatisfactory driver for “Star Trek”. The creator Gene Roddenberry returned to the board, revising the show with an almost entirely new distribution. (Only Spock / Leonard Nimoy remained on.)
Instead of being simply forgotten, “La Cage” has become part of the “hike” cannon. The two parties “The Menagerie” used “The Cage” clips, saving money on new images and saying a convincing mystery. Captain Pike was not only a character prototype for Captain Kirk (William Shtner), Pike was literally The captain of the company before Kirk. And now, thanks to the 2022 series “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”, “Pike (now played by Anson Mount) is finally played in a special show.
Adjust a handful of years before the original “Star Trek”, “Strange New Worlds” follows the company under the command of Pike as it explores the final border. The series is deliberately old -fashioned, telling episodic stories about the Enterprise crew having adventures as soon as “TOS” is released. Same company, different captain.
After the final of season 1 of “Strange New Worlds” in 2022, Anson Mount explained – in an interview with Esquire – how he and the showrunner Henry Alonso Myers work to ensure that Pike is not a carbon copy of Kirk. “Kirk’s decisive quality is machismo or bravado. The decisive characteristic of Picard, perhaps, is the intellect,” said Mount, weighing the different leadership qualities of the captains of “Star Trek”. Where is Pike in this? “I would like the quality of definition of Pike to be the heart. It is the best I can say.”
Captain Kirk is a hit, Captain Pike is diplomat
The final of season 1 of “Strange New Worlds” “A Quality of Mercy” presented the point of view of the program on James T. Kirk (played by Paul Wesley). According to the events of “The Menagerie”, we know that after having resigned as a company captain, Pike will be horribly injured and will eventually live his days on Talos IV. Pike had a vision of his dark future in “Star Trek: Discovery” and is naturally disturbed.
In “A Quality of Mercy”, Pike’s own future self shows why he cannot fight fate, making him advance several years when the company contacts the Romulians (as illustrated in the classic episode “Balance of Terror”). In this chronology, Pike is still captain of the company, then Kirk found himself as captain of the USS Farragut instead. Kirk and the Farragut join the company to continue the Romulians, but Pike is still the oldest captain. The conclusion of the episode is that Pike’s more diplomatic approach to the crisis would cause a disaster and a war, which doesn’t occurs under the more decisive Kirk in “the balance of terror”.
The episode is to explore the differences between the Pike and Kirk control style. In “Strange New Worlds”, Pike has a healthy “team” atmosphere. His hobbies include cooking and he is in a semi-engaged relationship with another captain, Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano). Kirk was always cooler and the more a man of action; He will make games that Pike will not be. JJ abrams “Star Trek” films have exaggerated and transformed Kirk (Chris Pine) into a Meathead limit chaser. “Strange New Worlds” right the ship with Kirk de Wesley, who is cool under pressure and a thinker outside the box, but not downright arrogant either.
Kirk (who is currently only a lieutenant) has become a recurring character in season 2 of “Strange New Worlds”. We will see how a Pike mentor is trying to be with his possible successor, but Mount said to Esquire that he hoped “Pike can give Kirk just enough of this heart for Kirk”.
“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is streaming on Paramount +. Season 3 of “Strange New Worlds” is expected to be presented on Thursday, July 17, 2025.
