Christopher Pike (Star Trek)

Biography

Christopher Pike, a native of Mojave, California, once owned a horse named Tango. He became the second captain of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701, taking command from Robert April in 2250 at age 38. Though Pike was the first Enterprise captain depicted in Star Trek canon, the animated series later established April as his predecessor.

Appearances

In 2254, Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise is struggling with guilt after a mission to Rigel VII left several of his landing party dead, leading him to consider resigning. While transporting wounded crew to Vega Colony, the Enterprise picks up a distress signal from the SS Columbia, a survey ship that vanished eighteen years earlier. Pike initially refuses to change course, arguing that the injured crew must come first, but after a second, shorter message arrives, he orders the ship to Talos IV to look for survivors.

There, he discovers that nearly everyone from the Columbia is an illusion, created by the Talosians to trap the Enterprise. The Talosians craft fantasies meant to appeal to Pike, using Vina, the sole real survivor, as a romantic lure. With help from his first officer, Number One, and Yeoman J. M. Colt, Pike escapes his cell. The Talosians then show him Vina’s true form: a disfigured older woman, since they had no reference for repairing a human body after her crash.

Pike asks them to restore her illusion of beauty, and the Enterprise departs. By 2266, before the events of "The Menagerie," Pike has been promoted to fleet captain. He is gravely injured while saving cadets from a baffle plate rupture on a J-class training vessel; delta ray radiation leaves him paralyzed, unable to speak, and badly scarred. He relies on a brainwave-operated wheelchair and communicates only through a light on the chair: one flash for yes, two for no.

Reception

In 2012, IGN placed Christopher Pike, as seen in the original series and the 2009 film, 23rd among all Star Trek characters. The Washington Post ranked him the sixth best captain in the franchise in 2017, considering his portrayals in the Kelvin timeline films and the original pilot and series. TV Guide described Anson Mount's version of Captain Pike from Star Trek: Discovery as a "fan favorite" in 2019, also highlighting Rebecca Romijn's Number One.

That same year, Screen Rant named Mount's Pike the second best Star Trek captain, noting that he knew his future as a disfigured, wheelchair-bound man yet still carried on, calling that true bravery. The popularity of Anson Mount and Ethan Peck's performances as Pike and Spock on Discovery led fans to start a Change.org petition asking CBS for a spin-off series about their adventures on the Enterprise. By November 2019, that petition had gathered over 29,000 signatures.