Lt. Erica Ortegas is what Star Trek: The Original Series needed

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gave Star Trek fans a gem when the series cast Melissa Navia as pilot Lt. Erica Ortegas. Fun, outspoken, and hilariously confident at her ability to fly a starship, Ortegas is a breath of fresh air on the bridge of the Enterprise. She plays off of Captain Christopher Pike [Anson Mount] to the point where the two seem more like brother and sister than captain and subordinate. And she's doing the entire series a favor, something Star Trek: The Original Series could have used when it debuted in 1966.

The first pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series included Majel Roddenberry as Number One, but the network wasn't ready for a female lead, and they didn't think the audience would be ready for a woman as the second in command. So that part was tossed, and Spock [Leonard Nimoy] become Captain Kirk's [William Shatner] second in command. And although Nichelle Nichols' Lt. Uhura was a Starfleet officer on the bridge she never took command of the Enterprise during the run of the series. Being in the sixties, TOS gave all the "heavy lifting" to the men. But what a difference someone like Navia's Lt. Ortegas would have brought to the helm of the Enterprise.

There was never any doubt that Kirk was in charge of his ship, and he had little, if any, feedback from the helmsmen. They were there to do a job and follow commands. That was it. But imagine how different it would have been had Kirk had his own version of Lt. Ortegas. Funny and smart, she would have both challenged him, which he might not have liked, and given him more reasons to laugh. There might have been clashes, but, in the end, she would have added some much needed levity to the bridge. And, in moments of crisis, it would have been great to see a woman take the Enterprise through wormholes or whatever space anomaly they encountered.

Yes, The Original Series was filmed in the sixties so having a woman in such a powerful position was unheard of at the time, but there is the potential of a future Star Trek show with another Captain Kirk, possibly played by Paul Wesley. Let's hope that, this time, they give him a pilot who does more than just follow orders even if it does stray from canon. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has already done that by putting women in positions of power in a series set in a time period before The Original Series. So, with any new series, the sky is the limit!