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Is the Captain Pike we know from Discovery and Strange New Worlds really the same dude from "The Cage"? (startrek.website)

submitted 1 year ago by adamkotsko@startrek.website to c/daystrominstitute@startrek.website

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Like basically every current Star Trek fan, I love the character of Captain Pike as Anson Mount portrays him. I wonder, though, to what extent he is actually the same guy from "The Cage." If we had only that episode to work from (which the Discovery and SNW writers initially did), we would know that he is broody, that he struggles with the responsibility he bears for the lives of others, and that he is remarkably able to conjure up emotions like anger and hate on command. Does any of that fit with Pike as we know him now?

One way to answer this question would be to imagine a very literal remake of the original pilot recast with the current actors. Everyone else would basically make sense, but I think seeing the current Pike act out his scenes would be jarring and even a little upsetting.

I'm sure we can come up with in-universe explanations -- he was having a particularly bad day, he's grown as a person, etc., etc. -- but it does seem like the current-day writers are departing pretty abruptly from the ostensible basis for the character. What do you think?

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[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, I think he's absolutely the same person.

Firstly, "The Cage" portrays him at what I think is pretty unquestionably a low point - it wouldn't be fair to assume he's normally that angst-ridden.

BOYCE: Chris, you set standards for yourself no one could meet. You treat everyone on board like a human being except yourself, and now you're tired and you-

PIKE: You bet I'm tired. You bet. I'm tired of being responsible for two hundred and three lives. I'm tired of deciding which mission is too risky and which isn't, and who's going on the landing party and who doesn't, and who lives and who dies. Boy, I've had it, Phil.

The Pike we meet in "Discovery" is a couple of years removed from the mission on Rigel VII, and has been able to bounce back a bit. All the same, his character is practically defined by his faith in Starfleet's mission, and his willingness to make sacrifices in the pursuit of that mission, while also being acutely aware of the toll that takes..

[–] T156@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

The Pike we meet in “Discovery” is a couple of years removed from the mission on Rigel VII, and has been able to bounce back a bit. All the same, his character is practically defined by his faith in Starfleet’s mission, and his willingness to make sacrifices in the pursuit of that mission, while also being acutely aware of the toll that takes…

We also know that by Strange New Worlds, he's effectively retired to a small farm out in some snowy place, and decided to put his Starfleet career behind him.

It took an admiral effectively kidnapping him for him to even consider getting back in the Captain's Chair.