Captain Christopher Pike’s (Anson Mount) USS Enterprise bridge crew in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds inadvertently makes Captain James T. Kirk’s (William Shatner) Enterprise crew look bad by comparison. Strange New Worlds chronicles the voyages of the Starship Enterprise in the years before Kirk took over the legendary vessel, with Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) serving as Pike’s Number One and a young Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) as the Enterprise’s Science Officer. But now that the rest of Pike’s bridge crew has been revealed, it retroactively casts Kirk’s Enterprise in a negative light because James T.’s starship becomes sexist.
The cast of Star Trek: The Original Series was truly groundbreaking and remains influential. The bridge of the Starship Enterprise was multi-racial, and both Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and NBC championed a diverse cast. With a Japanese helmsman, Mr. Sulu (George Takei), an African communications officer, Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), a Scottish Chief Engineer, Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), and, later, a Russian navigator, Pavel Chekov (George Takei), along with a Vulcan, Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Star Trek: The Original Series was the gold standard in the 1960s as a cast that represented different people working together for the common good. However, Uhura’s presence on the bridge aside, Kirk’s Enterprise and Star Trek in the 1960s relegated women to yeomen or lesser roles aboard the starship. The most prominent women besides Uhura in TOS were Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney), who only appeared in season 1, and Nurse Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett).
In terms of giving women substantial roles aboard the Starship Enterprise, Strange New Worlds puts the original Star Trek to shame. Captain Pike’s bridge crew not only has a female First Officer, but the Enterprise also boasts a female helmsman, Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), and a female Chief of Security, La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), who is a descendant of the villainous Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). La’an now predates Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) as Security Chief of a starship although Tasha was groundbreaking when TNG premiered in 1987. (However, Commander Ellen Landry (Rekha Sharma) technically beat La’an to the punch as Security Chief of the USS Discovery in Star Trek: Discovery season 1.) Meanwhile, Strange New Worlds establishes that Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) first joined the Enterprise in Pike’s era and remained to serve under Kirk, as does Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding).
Strange New Worlds‘ progressive female cast creates an unfortunate domino effect when the Enterprise passes from Pike to Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series because when Kirk takes over as Captain of the Enterprise, the senior staff positions of helmsman, security chief, and First Officer will go to male Starfleet Officers. Further, Nurse Chapel doesn’t become a doctor and remains in a lateral career role until Star Trek: The Motion Picture, when she finally becomes an M.D. Kirk even complains about having a female yeoman in TOS because the only “woman” he’s interested in is the Enterprise. Only Uhura will be a bridge officer on Kirk’s Enterprise until Lt. Ilia (Persis Khambatta) in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The cast of Strange New Worlds, which also includes Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) and a blind Aenar named Hemmer (Bruce Horak), is a sign of modern thinking because TV shows and movies reflect the times in which they’re made. As forward-thinking as TOS was in terms of diversity, it was also a Star Trek series made in the 1960s that very much reflected the sexist attitudes of its time when it came to women. Unfortunately, the transition of the Starship Enterprise from Captain Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series will lead to a huge step backward for the women who serve on the Enterprise because the values of 2022 just don’t line up with those of 1966.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres Thursday, May 5, 2022, on Paramount+.
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