All Strange New Worlds Legacy Characters Ranked From Most To Least Faithful To The Original Series

5. Christopher Pike – Jeffrey Hunter/Anson Mout

Christopher Pike was the captain of The Enterprise for the unaired pilot that was filmed in 1964, The Cage. He was played by Jeffrey Hunter. There’s something very reminiscent of Jeffrey Hunter in Anson Mount. They share the same screen idol jawline  and sharp salt-and-pepper haircut. When Anson Mount first appeared as Pike on Star Trek: Discovery, it was immediately clear who he was meant to be. Anson Mount’s Pike reads as the same character as Jeffrey Hunter’s.

Despite the physical similarity, however, the two characters could not be more different. A lot has been made of the new Pike embodying non-toxic masculinity, but the original Pike was a product of a far more sexist time. But if you haven’t seen The Cage in a while, it’s easy to forget just how sexist it was and just how sexist Pike was, in particular. In what would’ve been our introduction to the hero of the show, we see Pike chewing out his female yeoman for no apparent reason. He as much admits that it was for no reason, lamenting that he can’t get used to women on the bridge, before assuring Number One that she’s different.

Unbelievably that last bit probably came off as quite progressive at the time (he’s so accepting of that one woman that he doesn’t even see her as a woman.) But today it reads as overt misogyny.

Anson Mount’s Pike is also introduced with a scene that tells us who he is. Pike took command of the Discovery with a crew exhausted from the Klingon War, a trip to the mirror universe, and the revelation that their former captain was actually from the mirror universe. In his first address to the bridge crew, he reveals that he was diagnosed with asthma as a child and that he failed astrophysics at Starfleet Academy, vulnerabilities intended to build trust with the crew. He then assures them that he understands what they’ve been through.

Mount’s Pike is also charming and charismatic, whereas Hunter’s is morose and sullen. They are both deeply affected by the loss of crewmembers, but where Mount’s Pike genuinely grieves for them, Hunter’s Pike seems to just be feeling sorry for himself.

If Strange New Worlds featured a Pike that emulated Jeffrey Hunter, it never would’ve gotten off the ground.