Christopher Pike is a great Captain, good thing he was removed from Star Trek

In the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery, Through the Valley of Shadows, Captain Pike chose his fate and put to bed any lingering doubts that this is a Prime Timeline series, or that NBC was wrong 53 years ago.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Star Trek Discovery Season 2

Am I the only one who always thought it was odd that a planet called Qo’nos, which was obviously derived from the Greek word Chronos, meaning time, had nothing to do with time whatsoever in any storyline?

And yet somehow the mysterious Time Crystals are found in the same Klingon Empire but on another planet… But I digress…

When Captain Christopher Pike looked into his own future, saw the shell of a man he would become, and chose to override his fear and do what had to be done to complete the mission and retrieve the time crystal he proved why he is undoubtedly among the best Captains in Star Trek history.

Star Trek The Menagerie Part 2

As great with one season as with seven…

Prior to this season of Star Trek Discovery, we really knew little about Captain Pike, think about it, he was the Captain before Kirk, he was a mentor of sorts to Spock, he fought for human ideals when captured by the Talosians, he suffered a horrible accident and ultimately was left on a planet of illusion where he seemed, okay. That’s about it.  That was Captain Christopher Pike. (Discounting the Kelvin Version of the Character, who essentially wasn’t the same man).

Enter Anson Mount who’s screen presence and light humor instantly brought the character to life, I know I wasn’t alone in being worried about what the character really was when Mount was first announced in the role. But the depth of character he and the writers have been able to achieve in just one short season is remarkable.

Thanks to the brief background we have from The Original Series episodes, and some truly fantastic writing the character has finally gone from a simple fate to a fantastic character who chose to cease being the man that he is to uphold his ideals. Could any of us have made the same choice?

Somehow it doesn’t matter that we now know he wasn’t going to just be ‘okay’ with returning to Talos V, the connection with and love he has for Vina is, after all, more than we originally saw in The Menagerie, because he didn’t know it. He only saw for himself what we originally saw in him. The Chair.

Can you imagine making that choice?

Star Trek The Menagerie Part 2 Pike

So, if he’s great how why is it a good thing he was removed from Star Trek?

The truth is if it hadn’t been for the rejection of his character The Cage would just be another mission Captain Pike went on years earlier during the run of his show, like any number of strange experiences Captain Kirk would have in his place. It was the fate created out of necessity to save budget and provide good TV that made the writers recycle The Cage and give Captain Pike his fate on Talos V.

Try as I might I can’t see Jeffrey Hunter or Gene Roddenberry bringing the same kind of character Anson Mount and Alex Kurtzman have, not over fifty years ago. And if they had the opportunity to try we couldn’t have this character now.

It’s truly a unique scenario that has brought us to this point, and not one many other franchises have the rich history to make possible.