new star trek nurse chapel

Jess Bush’s Nurse Chapel Will Shoot From The Hip In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 BTS

Nurse Christine Chapel is seen with a phaser in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, currently in production and highly anticipated.
Jess Bush shared a behind-the-scenes photo in costume as Nurse Chapel with a witty caption, showcasing her waist holster and phaser.
Strange New Worlds has been renewed for season 4 by Paramount+ and is currently filming episode 8 of season 3, with production ending in May.

Nurse Christine Chapel looks to be sporting a phaser in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3. Now in production in Toronto, Strange New Worlds season 3 is highly anticipated , especially after the recent news that Strange New Worlds has been renewed for season 4 by Paramount+. Strange New Worlds is currently filming episode 8 of season 3, and the end of production in May is now in sight.

On her Instagram Reels, Jess Bush (@onejessa) shared a behind-the-scenes video selfie in costume as Nurse Christine Chapel . Bush shows off Chapel's waist holster and phaser with the caption, "Eatin' cookies, zappin' crookies." Check out Jess' post below:

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 - Everything We Know

Nurse chapel is an action hero (when she has to be) in star trek: strange new worlds, chapel is a klingon war veteran.

The potential for Nurse Christine Chapel to get in a phaser fight in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is exciting because action is a new facet the series has added to the beloved Star Trek legacy character. Nurse Chapel as played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry never saw action in Star Trek: The Original Series. The younger version of Christine played by Jess Bush in Strange New Worlds has a background as a Klingon War veteran, and she has already survived some harrowing incidents in the past two seasons.

More action for Jess Bush in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is a thrilling possibility.

In Strange New Worlds season 1, Nurse Chapel fought space pirates who hijacked the USS Enterprise, and she also managed to outmaneuver a baby Gorn and survive. In Strange New Worlds season 2's premiere, Chapel and Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) used a super soldier serum to defeat Klingons in hand-to-hand combat. Strange New Worlds season 2 also revealed Chapel's traumatic Klingon War experience. And, in Strange New Worlds season 2's finale , Chapel and Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) faced an armored, adult Gorn in outer space and won. More action for Jess Bush in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is a thrilling possibility.

Source: Instagram

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is streaming on Paramount+

Cast Bruce Horak, Celia Rose Gooding, Jess Bush, Melissa Navia, Ethan Peck, Babs Olusanmokun, Rebecca Romijn, Paul Wesley, Christina Chong, Anson Mount

Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Franchise(s) Star Trek

Writers Bill Wolkoff, Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers

Directors Amanda Row, Valerie Weiss, Jonathan Frakes, Chris Fisher

Showrunner Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers

Where To Watch Paramount+

Jess Bush’s Nurse Chapel Will Shoot From The Hip In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 BTS

Who Plays Christine Chapel In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds?

You can be forgiven for not quite being able to place the face of Nurse Christine Chapel on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." The show, currently in its first season on Paramount+, is one of the newer enterprises of the ever-growing "Star Trek" franchise. But while anything with the "Trek" pedigree attached is always going to stir up attention, people may have trouble recognizing the cast members. The most well-known here would be Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Rebecca Romijn, just because you've probably already seen them around the galaxy (hint: They've already played their characters on "Star Trek: Discovery").

"Strange New Worlds" is the "Star Trek" TV show that shares the most in common with the original 1960s series we've seen since it chronicles the adventures of the starship Enterprise shortly before Captain Kirk takes over. It even counts original characters (Chapel included) like Captain Christopher Pike (Mount) , Spock (Peck) , Number One (Romijn) , and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) as part of the crew. But a fresh face takes over the Chapel role — initially played by actor Majel Barrett back in the day. Barrett is of course "Star Trek" royalty, having appeared or done voice work in over a dozen "Trek" shows and films over the years. She was also the wife of legendary "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry. So the newcomer has some pretty big space shoes to fill here.

The new incarnation of Nurse Chapel is a younger, flirtier, more energetic version of the character and is a welcome addition to the show. And while "The Original Series" only explores the relationship between her and Spock on the surface, "Strange New Worlds" looks poised to dive deeper. But who is this platinum-haired actor who has embraced the challenge of succeeding the iconic Majel Barrett?

Jess Bush was a model Down Under

The actor who plays Christine Chapel on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is Jess Bush, and she landed the "Strange New Worlds" gig without many high-profile roles on her résumé yet. In fact, her IMDb page only lists a handful of credits to date — although that's likely to change with her newfound "Star Trek" exposure. But unless you're familiar with the likes of "Skinford: Chapter Two," "Playing for Keeps," or "Home and Away" (which apparently are all real movies and shows that exist somewhere), she probably wasn't quite on your radar.

Bush hails from Australia (alas, not the 23rd century) and got her start in modeling, first appearing in the limelight in the 2011 season of "Australia's Next Top Model." Eventually, this led her to pursue acting, and after the aforementioned handful of lower-profile projects, she snagged the coveted role of Nurse Chapel, who keeps the sick bay afloat alongside Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) — yet another character from "The Original Series."

Ideally, Nurse Chapel will have a more significant role on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" than on the '60s series. Sadly, that version of the character was mostly relegated to what amounted to cameo appearances (although one time she got to beam down and be part of the fun). Hopefully, the plan for "Strange New Worlds" is to have the dynamic Bush be a more significant part of the adventure. It looks promising.

As for Bush's earthly future, we'll see what the stars have in store for her. Not every "Star Trek" actor has seen that success translate beyond Federation space. But it will definitely be exciting to watch Bush liven up "Strange New Worlds" before seeing where she boldly goes from there.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Standout Jess Bush Is a Bit of a Mad Scientist

By Jordan Hoffman

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On paper Star Trek: Strange New Worlds sounds like a studio note-driven nightmare. It is a spin-off to a prequel, featuring a mix of new characters plus actors like Ethan Peck and Celia Rose Gooding doing the impossible: recreating the iconic roles of Spock and Lt. Uhura.

But the Paramount+ series, now over halfway through its first season, is cruising at warp factor nine. (That’s good; if it went much faster, there would be catastrophic consequences .) Everything about this new show works: the stories, the sets, and, especially the performances. Led by Anson Mount as Captain Pike, and surrounded by Peck, Gooding, Rebecca Romijn, Babs Olusanmokun, Christina Chong, Melissa Navia, Gia Sandhu, Bruce Horak, Dan Jeannotte, and Adrian Holmes , the pre–Captain Kirk version of the USS Enterprise is an upbeat, lively place loaded with energetic and invigorating adventure.

But should one get hurt (or need a shot of tri-ox compound prior to an away mission), there’s someone waiting for you with a smile in sick bay. That’s Australian actor Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel.

Bush’s role is one of the trickier ones in Strange New Worlds. Chapel is a character from deep within the lore of Star Trek; she was originally played by Majel Barrett, later Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, wife of series creator Gene Roddenberry. She rarely got more than a line or two per episode, but if you watched closely, you saw there was great potential in the character. And now that potential has been realized.

The Trek gig certainly represents a big break for the 30-year-old Bush, whose first television appearances were on Australia’s Next Top Model. Speaking to V.F. via Zoom from Toronto, where Strange New Worlds is shooting its second season, the self-taught visual artist (more on her project involving dead honeybees in a moment) told us about her favorite concert (Prodigy), her comfort movie ( Ferngully) , and made some observations about Canadian living that, perhaps, only someone from Sydney would make.

Vanity Fair: A Star Trek gig is a life-altering event. What was the audition process like?

Jess Bush: All on the internet, all digital. It started very mysteriously. The character name was false. I only could look at the audition pages for 24 hours; I couldn’t screenshot them or print them. If I did anything, I would self-detonate.

So no “chemistry tests” with the other actors?

No. I met Ethan Peck at the airport. He was living in L.A., I was in Sydney, and I met him during the layover [to Toronto].

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Was that intentional?

No, I recognized him in the airport lounge. We had a cast Zoom the morning before I left. He had a bright green mask on, and he walked into the lounge with the same bright green mask. I was feeling shy so I didn’t say hello, but he came up to me.

Strange New Worlds is a neat trick, because some of the characters are brand new, and others are very well known. Some, like yours, are down the middle, with characters that were on the periphery, known mostly to hardcore fans. Did you do a crash course to watch earlier stuff?

I did a bit of research, indeed.

I looked up The Original Series, then saw how many episodes there are, but then saw Nurse Chapel is only in there sporadically. I watched “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” She’s quite present in that—and it was great!

The one with the robo-girl, and that outfit!

The robo-girl’s outfit—totally impractical, I don’t know what it was holding onto!

But I tried to distill [Chapel]’s essence, even though she never got a lot of screen time.

We always saw that Nurse Chapel had some sass in her, but it’s really in the forefront now.

I’ve been nothing but encouraged by the writers and creators of the show. They’ve said, Here are the bones of the character, and they’ve trusted me to explore it.

Historically, Nurse Chapel has worn light blue, but you are in crisp white.

The white jumpsuit was a collaborative effort. At first they asked if I wanted to wear a tunic or if was I interested in a jumpsuit—and I said absolutely jumpsuit . This iteration of Nurse Chapel is all about agility. She’s active and gets stuff done.

There was a blue one too, and we tried both. At first I wanted blue; then we did the camera test and white was way better.

Plus it’s got little embroidered crosses on there.

Yep. It’s funny because when the first images came out, I was only seen down to my waist, and apparently some fans started making costumes and just assumed it was a tunic. They didn’t see I had legs.

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Have you always been a sci-fi fan?

I have not been, historically, but this has brought me into a whole new world. I love how sci-fi can take abstract elements of humanity and dissect them in a fantastical light. Star Trek does this so well.

But I am getting more interested in space. I’m reading the book Extraterrestrial , about this object that passed through our solar system that has no other explanation other than it came from another place—it gives me tingles just thinking about it.

You think there’s life on other planets that will visit us some day?

Whether they make contact with us is another question, but it would be the most insane idea ever to think we’re the only life in the universe.

You mentioned the fans recreating costumes. Part of being on a Star Trek show and its 55-year legacy is the “convention circuit.” Are you prepared for all that?

I can’t wait, and I feel like this experience will not be whole until I experience conventions. This show exists because of the fan base . We’ve been building it all through the pandemic, and I want to meet the people that helped create it.

Some of your colleagues have already dipped their toe in—Ethan and Anson were both on a Star Trek Cruise already. Have you gotten feedback of that scene?

I think it’s something that you can prepare for but…it’s gonna be different in person.

Ethan Peck is a handsome man.

In episode five, you got to whap him across the head.

That was really fun. That was one of the first times Spock and Chapel got to chat and play. The first smack I was worried—“is this too hard?” I didn’t want to get carried away.

You are also with Dr. M’Benga, Babs Olusanmokun , a lot. I saw him at the premiere in New York City—he came into the party with shades on.

He was, hands down, best dressed at that premiere. Don’t tell anyone else I said that.

I was poking around, and I see that you have done a lot of work in visual art , particularly jewelry and site-specific installations involving honeybees. What’s the deal with Jess Bush and bees?

Well, I don’t only focus on bees, but that series you are referring to, The Bee Totems , I’ve been working on for several years.

I collect honeybees from beekeepers after they have died, and preserve each one in a sphere of crystal resin. Then I suspend them in hundreds or thousands in different formations. Sometimes a light artist designs a projection, other times it interacts with natural light. Sometimes a sound artist designs a soundscape, so it’s an immersive experience. I am super invested in it. I’ve been doing it forever, and probably will do it forever.

But why bees?

It started by walking though a park and finding a dead bee in the grass. I was just taken by it. They make it possible for us to exist, and they fall into the background. The die by the thousand, they live by the thousand, and are hardworking animals. If you look at a bee, they are special—they feel like they come from another place. At least that’s how I experience them.

If you say there are hundreds in these spheres, how long does that take?

It’s hard work, and difficult to get it right. A long process, but I love that, because when you get one perfectly centered with no bubbles, you can’t stop looking at it. And my friends and family understand. They are used to my mad-scientist ways.

Are you able to keep up with this while working on Star Trek ?

I don’t do visual art while I am acting, but I do have my materials with me.

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Wait, you brought a huge sack of dead bees to Toronto?

No, no, I did not smuggle dead animals into the country, but I have all my tools.

What’s the biggest difference between Sydney and Toronto?

The weather, and the appreciation of the weather. When a day warms up you can feel it in the street. People are overcome with joy. There are festivals, there are cherry blossoms, it’s infectious.

And the food scene is great here. And the tulips. And the squirrels! Squirrels are so great. Raccoons are so cute. We don’t have anything like that; so cute. The wildlife won’t kill you. Well, that’s not true. The coyotes might kill you, but it’s nothing like at home.

Jordan Hoffman

Contributing editor.

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Watch: New ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Promo Introduces Nurse Chapel

| March 31, 2022 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 112 comments so far

And Paramount+ ends the month with their sixth Star Trek: Stange New Worlds character promo, this time for a familiar nurse.

Meet the new Chapel

Joining Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Spock (Ethan Peck), and Number One (Rebecca Romijn) for the new series will be a collection of new and familiar characters onboard the USS Enterprise. One of the classic characters is Nurse Christine Chapel, originally played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry on Star Trek: The Original Series . The following social media promo introduces us to Chapel on Strange New Worlds , played by Jess Bush.

Nurse Chapel is one of Starfleet's best, and she knows it. #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds premieres May 5 on @ParamountPlus ! pic.twitter.com/wMmetzSAdu — Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) March 31, 2022

NOTE: this Instagram version should be viewable to all

More character promos

This Strange New Worlds promo follows Tuesday’s videos for Cadet Uhura and Security Chief La’an , Wednesday’s videos for Lt. Ortegas and Hemmer , and Thursday morning’s M’Benga . We have done an analysis of the first two promos already , and we will be doing the same for the others soon.

Coming in May

The series debuts on May 5th. Paramount+ has provided the following synopsis:

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series will feature fan favorites from season two of Star Trek: Discovery , Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.

And in case you missed it, here is the teaser trailer…

Find more news and analysis for Strange New Worlds .

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This show really looks and “feels” like the TOS but today

Yeah it’s basically what many wanted Discovery to feel like. Just more proof they do listen to the fans and course correct as much as possible.

OR, alternatively, each Star Trek series has their own specific tone, and just like DS9 was different from TNG and VOY was different from ENT and vice versa, SNW has its own distinct tone from DIS and vice versa, which just happens to fall more in line with people’s TOS/TNG-colored preconceptions of what Trek should be merely because, like those two previous series, it takes place on the USS Enterprise (as opposed to the NX-01 Enterprise…).

Yes, more likely this, Michael. That said, I do believe that T2 is right in that they saw that DSC wasn’t satisfying every segment of the fandom, and rather than double down with a spinoff with the same tone (which they could have done seeing as DSC actually is popular and well-watched)– they did something different to appeal to someone new.

And believe me, it must have been very tempting to do a Discovery 2.0 spinoff. If something is doing well, you might want to just give people more of it. Doing something different can be fraught with risk.

Judging from comments and ratings on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, Discovery is popular with about 50% of fandom. Those who want better writing and better storytelling needed to be served.

And we don’t really know how “well watched” it is. P+ hasn’t released any numbers apart from at one point claiming it was their most watched program. But of course, that doesn’t mean “well watched”. As I’ve said before. The highest point in FL is just over 300′ That is not a high mountain. Just high for Florida.

Yet it’s the 3rd most populated state.

People like him need to be ignored. Anyone trying to claim DSC isn’t well-watched is fooling themselves.

It’s on its fifth season, has a high budget, and more than ever before Paramount has all the data to show if there’s an audience, being on a DTC streaming service.

If nobody was watching, it wouldn’t keep getting renewed. Period. Now, we can debate how much of the existing trek audience is watching it, but I would never lean on IMDB for that. Heavily skewed.

And at the end of the day, if DSC is 50% Trekkies, and 50% new audience, well… you’ve just increased the amount of Trekkies by 50%.

Love it or hate it, DSC is Star Trek, and there’s a lot of people watching, and i’d say the people watching are now part of the fandom. Sorry if that upsets the gatekeepers, but it’s the truth.

Dude… I generally make it a rule to not respond to trolling posts but feel compelled to do so in this case.

Being the most watched in a group of 10 is not the same as being the most watched in a group of 100.

Another more direct example… A network with overall smaller viewership than the rest will for sure have a program that is their highest rated program. But compared to other networks that rating is still pretty low. So that network with overall smaller viewership numbers will probably not drop said program but will still work to come up with others that will help propel them in with the bigger networks.

Therefore, when someone just claims Star Trek Discovery is “well watched” one must realize that is true only from a certain perspective. To ignore that fact is akin to having blinders on.

Pretty much agree with all of your points, however I do enjoy conversing with ML31, who always does make a case to support their views, even though I don’t agree with all of them.

I’m not sure if you really missed the point or are being sarcastic.

They’ve been touting the numbers for the shows that have debuted since the rebrand as always setting new viewership records for P+, without actually giving specifics. Oh how I miss Nielsen ratings and box office tallies.

But I think it’s safe to assume Discovery still out-rates the rest of the lineup, the deal to claw back international rights from Netflix would only be worth it if it was doing well for them. But as you say, good for P+ is a different scale than good for another streamer. Like how Voyager settled into a “good for UPN” level of success which would not have translated as well on a bigger network.

those numbers are still visible and able to be seen, by those who work in the industry.

It seems like Discovery is doing very well on P+ and I would think has gained a lot more viewers since the early CBS All Access days when that site had just a tiny amount of subscribers. P+ isn’t exactly D+ yet but it’s gaining a lot more subs these days. I think part of that is all the new Star Trek of course along with everything else.

Again, we don’t know the numbers but they keep renewing the show and as you said they even brought it back from Nextflix. To me, that seems to indicate it’s at least doing well enough for that site. Discovery may even go a full 7 seasons like the 24th century shows or even higher than that. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would even get to a fifth season in the beginning and yet here we are.

Discovery is a real oddball to me. It seems like such a divisive show, at least online, that’s all we have to really go on, but people seem to really be watching it. And that’s all Paramount cares about.

Agreed on P+. It’s steadily become a pretty good service, and the inclusion of Paramount movies really helped. But there’s now quite a few really great exclusive shows on there, and they’re drawing subscribers who are now finding Discovery.

I’d be willing to bet that watches of Season 1 and 2 increased over the last year or two as people went back and watched it as new subscribers browsed the service.

Yeah P+ is definitely a HUGE improvement over AA lol. It’s not even close. AA was of course still young, but without the merger happening, it would’ve just been a niche site for CBS and Star Trek fans basically with little diversity. Now it feels like a real site and what’s crazy is we are paying the exact same amount we were paying for AA, but now we have thousands of movies on top of it.

And Discovery certainly has benefited from it. I think way more people has watched it since the changeover. But all the Trek shows seems to be very popular in general so while people may have originally hated a Trek show going on a streaming site, this was clearly the best decision for the franchise.

I will agree though P+ still needs better original shows outside of Star Trek. I have only still watch mostly just the Trek shows. I know there are better shows now like the Yellowstone shows and the one with Jeremy Renner, they just don’t appeal to me personally. I did watch the first episode of Halo and thought it was OK, but not great. I still plan to watch the entire season and will watch episode 2 soon. And I know a lot of people hate that show who are fans of the game, but I never played it or knew much about it so I don’t have any baggage going in with that regard at least.

“How I miss nielsen ratings”

I don’t miss the nielsen ratings. Neilsen ratings got great shows canned and kept terrible shows on the air longer than they should have. Horrible metric for a shows actual viewing numbers.

And it’s amazing that a Trek fan would miss them, since the original Star Trek is the PERFECT example of the flaw in Nielsen ratings.

Well, I am happy to be able to amaze you! I wasn’t alive in the sixties, but I can tell you the Nielsens prepared me for the cancellation of Enterprise and helped me come to terms with DS9 and Voyager not getting the movie treatment.

I just liked having a metric I knew the people who made decisions about the future of the shows would use. It was flawed, but it was also traceable data we could analyze and debate. I knew that X number of people were in it with me every week, even if the stats were off and the way that was monetized was antiquated.

Now the popularity of the shows is entirely opaque, with subscriber numbers hidden and factors like internet buzz being more important than ever. We technically don’t even know if a Star Trek show is the top performer on P+, let alone how it compares to other hits on other services. I can be told to stay in my lane, but I would really like to know, so sue me.

In the end, it’s fine to let go of the need to feel validated and be content with the shows doing well enough to be renewed on this semi-niche service, but that’s easier to say when we are in a boom period with 5 shows in production. It’s going to be harder when shows start getting cancelled or Paramount+ is absorbed or merged with another service with changed priorities. With no granular data to support why anything happens, it’s kinda just mindlessly absorbing content.

I think Enterprise would’ve lasted longer if they paid more attention to the DVR viewings than ratings, but that’s when all of that was new and the networks wasn’t focused on it at all. Now it’s a different story today. The best example of that today was Agents of Shield. The Nielsen ratings would’ve killed that show by the fourth season but they were super strong for DVR watches and how it lasted for seven seasons.

Today studios have a more direct approach with DVR and streaming viewings. Nielsons was really not an exact science to say the least but it’s still part of the industry standard, just thankfully not the only standard anymore.

Yes. That is my point. I have no doubts Star Trek Discovery is the most watched show on P+. But we have no way of knowing how those numbers compare to other streaming services. Quite frankly I have serious doubts they come close to other programming on the bigger, higher profile streamers. As you say, those numbers are not made public.

That doesn’t really matter since obviously DSC and the Trek franchise are doing very well financially on the service to allow for continual greenlights to new series, and very substantial budgets for each entry. Never so far have we heard of any budget constraints.

So it doesn’t really matter.

We actually have no idea how well they are doing financially. For all we know the streaming stuff is being propped up through other means. They could be willing to take losses for a while to get their service going. It could be doing fantastically well and rivaling Netflix for subscribers. We just don’t know. My theory is that if they were doing as well as the other we would be hearing it from the marketing side. But that’s about all we can gather unless someone has some sort if inside scoop on what’s going on inside the Mountain.

Nah, maybe if it was a private company with venture capital committed, but it’s publicly traded company with dividends to deliver and stockholders to answer to. Publicly traded companies simply don’t invest much in developments that don’t offer payback in 2.5 years…unless you are Apple, Facebook or Google anyway. So it’s extremely unlikely that your scenario could be the case over the amount the years that they are into this now. Can I prove this, no. But I think it’s extremely unlikely.

The only thing I will agree on is that we don’t know the financial goings on with P & specifically, P+.

Better storytelling and writing is subjective. I don’t like it, you may not like it, but it’s awfully haughty and obnoxious to sit there and claim “people who want better TV need to be served.”

Get over yourself, you’re not the barometer of quality storytelling. I mean, there are plenty of people out there who’d say the same about what you consider well-written Trek, who view it as poorly written TV, or who look down on sci-fi in general as populist tripe.

“Get over yourself, you’re not the barometer of quality storytelling. I mean, there are plenty of people out there who’d say the same about what you consider well-written Trek, who view it as poorly written TV, or who look down on sci-fi in general as populist tripe.”

I could not agree with you more. Besides the sentimental reinvention of history that is the foundation of his comment is that the writing on TOS, TNG and other Trek series was typically very good is just ludicrous. Look at the first two seasons of TNG, TOS season 3, most of Enterprise and a lot of Voyager and it’s hard to take his comment all that seriously without having a huge guffaw! LOL, give me a freaking break!

Well, yes, I’m more of a sci-fi fan than a soap opera fan. And I believe that a ship like Discovery should be run by folks who conduct themselves as professionals – rather than indulging in lots of kisses, hugs, tears and cheers, etc. Roddenberry once compared the operation of the starship Enterprise to the running of the aircraft carrier Enterprise. No one in their right mind would turn over the operation of that iconic aircraft carrier to the collection of emotional misfits aboard the Discovery (Saru probably being the only exception; perhaps the doctor as well). Credible characters help with that all-important ‘suspension of disbelief’.

That’ll be Section 31 for sure.

Exactly! It just wasn’t working for a lot of fandom. It doesn’t mean everyone or even most, but clearly not enough. So I’m happy they changed gears with it even if I still don’t love the show. It is much better today IMO.

And I’m not trying to put down Discovery, I’m really just talking about expectations vs reality. If the show was the second or third show made, it may have been a different situation altogether. It was mostly being the first show after a decade of no other Star Trek shows and people wanted stuff like, well, seeking out strange new worlds again; and Discovery definitely didn’t deliver on that.

I wouldn’t say DIS isn’t working for “a lot” of the fandom. Outside of this website, the show gets an awful lot of praise and fans. It’s more likely that there is a small but VERY vocal subset of the fans who need to endlessly complain about the show and insist that it’s on the verge of being cancelled and Alex Kurtzman has been fired. Looking at online review sites such Rotten Tomatoes should never be taken as gospel since there have been shows and films that have been ‘review bombed’ there in order to purposefully drive down scores by angry fans- think The Last Jedi, Ghostbusters 2016, Batwoman etc.

I don’t know… I’m not as connected to social media stuff like my kid is. But I can say that I’m not seeing P+ stuff entering popular culture like TNG did or even other streaming shows do. I’ve asked my kid if he has seen anything in his social media usage and he has claimed hardly anything at all. Admittedly this is all very anecdotal so take that for what it’s worth. We very well could just not be seeing what is going on out there. But I will also add this bit of anecdotal evidence. I personally know about 5 others who were into Star Trek. None of them pay for P+ or were interested in watching these shows. Two of them went in with me the first season of Star Trek Discovery only to drop out after it. And none of them were aware of the new show until I told them. Two have asked me if Picard was any good. The worst thing I said about it to them was it was unfocussed as it tried to do too much.

Again, hardly scientific. Just adding my personal experience to the mix.

Star Trek has been used to break the ice for Paramount for ages. It got them a space in the sci-fi franchise business post-Star Wars. It got them lucrative first run syndication deals that cut out the middle men at networks. It got them guaranteed extra attention for their own network, then their streaming service.

As with what happened with UPN, eventually something, be it Halo or a Taylor Sheridan show or something else, will overshadow Trek, which they’ve probably squeezed about as much out of fandom as they could by now and now just need to hold our interest. Hopefully it’s something more prestigious than WWE Smackdown! or America’s Next Top Model this time. Star Trek tends to have a ceiling of popularity which is great behind a paywall, but they can’t expect it to be more than a building block to expand the service if they want to compete with the big boys.

“Outside of this website, the show gets an awful lot of praise and fans.”

100% agree!

Again, if Discovery was a huge hit from day one, then they wouldn’t have moved it 930 years into the future lol. What’s the saying,, if it isn’t broke…

I get it, you really like the show personally. But you have to also admit there was a LOT of acrimony about it, especially in its first season. And they clearly knew that but from season 2 on, they tried to course correct every issue fans were complaining about from giving the Klingons hair to just making the show feel a little more fun and upbeat. That’s why Pike and Spock was brought on, they knew they had to make it feel a little more ‘TOS’ as possible. Because also remember they said several times we wouldn’t even SEE Spock on Discovery and they changed course on that too.

Clearly this very small but vocal audience has had a profound influence on the show since it’s almost a completely different show now from first season. No Star Trek show has had so many changes since DS9. That was probably the most altered show in the franchise until Discovery showed up. At least DS9 was able to stay in its time period.

All that said, I think Discovery is much more liked today for sure. But look at all the work they done to achieve that. And this is all good IMO. I never understand why some people (not you) get upset when you simply point out the fact the show was changed due to fan pressure? A. EVERY spin off show was changed due to fan pressure of some kind and B. It proves the producers and writers care. They probably see the problems themselves and course correct. If you don’t want your show prematurely cancelled, you simply try to improve it.

But even now, Discovery still seems like a pretty divisive show today. And it’s not just THIS website. Again, this is my point. Go to ANY website where fans can rate the show: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Metacritic, etc. Discovery is the lowest ranked show out of all the Star Trek shows. Seriously, just click them on and have a look. Stop acting like people only hate the show on one website. I’m not trying to put down the show, I’m only looking at the data we can find and based on that, Discovery still has a lot of issues overall in the fanbase WHEN compared to the other shows.

It doesn’t mean more people don’t like it or even most people, but it’s also very hated on the other side to a crazy degree. If you can’t admit that fine, but this fallacy it’s really a super popular show that is praised doesn’t show up in reality.

“Again, if Discovery was a huge hit from day one, then they wouldn’t have moved it 930 years into the future lol. What’s the saying,, if it isn’t broke…”

The problem I have with this statement of yours is that Brian Fuller’s original concept for DSC always had them moving to a different Star Trek timeframe. That’s documented.

Bryan Fuller was talking about an anthology show. This is not remotely the same thing. That and the fact he was talking about moving era to era with new crews, ie, TOS era, TOS films, TNG era and eventually a post Nemesis era. Nowhere was it suggested it would just jump 900 years past everything we know lol.

The reason it didn’t fly was because he basically wanted a complete reset every season with new actors and sets and it would’ve been very costly. That’s apples and oranges. And nowhere has it ever been even implied they moved the show to follow what Fuller was thinking. If anything, they basically ignored everything Fuller wanted for the show from season two on and hence why Burnham is now a Captain when she was suppose to be a lower ranked officer.

“According to Entertainment Weekly, Bryan Fuller’s original pitch to CBS had the show starting in Discovery‘s time, but then moving through the eras of Kirk and Picard and then going beyond that, reaching a time period that hasn’t been seen in Star Trek before.”

I mean, we can argue the exact meaning of this, but you claiming the the sole reason they moved the timeline was to salvage a bad series seems a tad disingenuous given Fuller’s original concept involved “reaching a time period that hasn’t been seen in Star Trek before.”

So DSC, while not fully embracing Fuller’s concept, certainly followed through with a big part of it. It certainly seems that they ended up pretty much where Fuller intended, at least regarding the spirit of his long-term concept for the series.

LOL that’s literally what I just said. It DIDN’T do that. It skipped Kirk and Picard completely and just went to a new setting. This is just spin man, c’mon. Discovery didn’t move because of that or had anything to do with Fuller’s original vision.

And dude, you’re just cherry picking what his entire concept was suppose to be. This is full idea that he wanted:

“Fuller sat with CBS executives to deliver his pitch. It wasn’t just for a ‘Trek’ series but for multiple serialized anthology shows that would begin with the ‘Discovery’ prequel, journey through the eras of Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and then go beyond to a time in ‘Trek’ that’s never been seen before. “The original pitch was to do for science fiction what ‘American Horror Story’ had done for horror,” Fuller says. “It would platform a universe of ‘Trek’ shows.” CBS countered with the plan of creating a single serialized show and then seeing how it performed. It was a fair compromise, yet demonstrated the first conflict of vision between a powerful company and an inventive writer that would eventually lead to a dramatic falling-out.”

Fuller was suggesting what I said, have different characters go through different eras, one by one like in a normal timeline and eventually go to the post-Nemesis era which my guess is where Picard is currently at, not 900 years into the future lol. That was strictly what Alex Kurtzman came up with.

Nothing in this original concept has anything to do with Discovery. The biggest point that you didn’t cite being the American Horror Story angle. I don’t know if you seen that show but I’ve seen a little of it in different seasons and that show is an anthology show. Every season starts with a different premise, setting and characters. They all have a beginning, middle and end and then reset it next season. Some of the actors even come back but still play totally different roles from previous seasons.

THAT’S what Bryan Fuller wanted. An actual anthology show where nothing is connected season to season. It just sounds like he wanted to set every season in a new era and with different characters .

His idea went even farther than what I was suggesting because it sounds like he wanted multiple shows. But maybe all he meant was each show would just go one season and then restart it with another show? Either way he was talking about something much more ambitious (and expensive lol).

Discovery is not an anthology show. It doesn’t completely reset itself. It’s a continuation of the same show with the same characters and it’s not going to a different era every season. They simply jumped to another setting. It’s apples and oranges.

I don’t really disagree with much of your post here, but anthology or not, his endgame for the Star Trek Discovery series was “reaching a time period that hasn’t been seen in Star Trek before.” We surely both would accept that implementing this on DSC would result in a major series time-jump, right?

So they’ve fulfilled that part of his concept. Therefore, I just don’t see how you can claim that they independently came up with the time jump for the sole reason of saving a troubled series? And furthermore, there has never been any actual reporting or interviews that support your “we’ve got to do this drastic time jump to save the series” reasoning here on the time-jump.

My reason for the time-jump is at least loosely connected to what Fuller originally said. I don’t think you can back up your conjecture in a similar way with any info from the creators/producers that was reported, right?

Now is it possible Kurtzman or someone on the production team said, “the series needs an enema, so let’s leverage Fuller’s time-jump idea and do a soft re-boot?” Sure! But to say that the DSC series time-jump happened completely independent of Fuller’s stated time-jumping concept for this series I just have a hard time believing — I mean, that would be an amazing coincidence, right? :-)

It’s not the same thing man. It had ZIP to do with Fuller’s original idea. And no, you’re still wrong. Read the post again, the IDEA was for SEPARATE shows to be in a different era. Discovery was just going to be in the era it was originally in for one season. After that, then a new story with new characters would show up next in a different time period and setting. And then a new crew and time period after that. It would go on like that season after season. That was the idea.

It wasn’t about ONE ship “time jumping” to other eras. That was not anything remotely related to his idea. Based on Fuller’s idea, Discovery story would’ve just ended after it’s first season probably after it defeated the Klingons. And then the next season would have a new ship and a completely new set of characters doing something 20 years later in the Beta quadrant or something.

Anyone can read what the guy was envisioning. You tried to cherry pick the most basic idea leaving out the fact he was talking about an anthology show that would be set in various time periods and tell different stories with different crews and ships. That has nothing to do with Discovery. Again, apples and oranges.

Aaron Harberts, one of the original EP before he got the boot said back in season one when the moaning over visual canon started that they would reconcile the issue in season 2. His words:

“We have ten years until the original series comes into play. It is a challenge creatively because we have lots of choices in terms of how do we reconcile this [Spore] Drive? This surrogate daughter of Sarek? How do we reconcile these things the closer we get to the original series? That’s going to be a big discussion that we have in season two.”

SMG later said that season 2 will explain why Spock never mentioned his sister in TOS. Her words:

“Alex Kurtzman said ‘I know a lot of people are asking why he didn’t ever mention her.’ He was like, ‘Trust us. There will be an explanation.’”

So now we know what the ‘explanation’ was. They jumped 930 years in the future to keep fans from moaning about these issues for the next five seasons. Problem solved.

Trying to spin it had anything to do with trying to fulfill Fuller’s ‘vision’ because he mentioned other stories would take place in future periods is like suggesting Star Wars was actually Roddenberry’s vision because it took place in space and ships fought each other.

Actually you know what. we’ll just agree to disagree and call it day! Not a huge deal. And you could be right to some degree. Not the end of the world.

Yea, I appreciate that. I think at the end of the day it’s likely we are both partially right on this. The Fuller concept was an anthology and not just a time jump by one crew, but the time jump part of it gave Kurtzman and company an easy excuse to do a soft reboot of the series to improve it.

Actually I was wrong!

I looked at IMDB and I realize Discovery is no longer the least ranked show, Prodigy is! I haven’t actually looked at the scores since that show came on. But currently Prodigy is 6.9 and Discovery is 7.1.

Now, I’m NOT trying to spin this, but Prodigy is new and usually scores on that site raises higher in time IF the show is liked of course. This in fact happened with Lower Decks. That show was at an 6.4 from what I can remember in it’s first season. It could’ve been even lower, that’s just where I saw it at the time. It’s now at 7.3 a year later. So it was raised considerably.

But the fact Discovery is at 7.1 four years on is more proof this show is not exactly beloved in the fanbase. It’s not an awful score but it is the lowest outside of Prodigy. Even Picard is currently at 7.5 and that got a lot of scorn in its first season as well.

I would say that the show isn’t as well received with the “internet fanboy” types that include all of us who post on Trek sites daily. However, I know many casual fans, and nearly all of them are in the like-to-love DSC range of opinions.

Yes, but this is a fallacy. So does that mean when people praise a show online, that shouldn’t mean anything either? So should we not believe how much praise shows like TOS and TNG gets online? Because those shows gets plenty even today. In fact every classic show seems to be more liked than disliked now in the overall fanbase even if some of the shows are still more popular than others.

And as far as I can tell, Prodigy is getting the most praise from all the new shows and by people who don’t like Discovery either. Maybe just maybe Discovery isn’t as well liked as other Star Trek shows? I don’t think that’s a controversial thing to say at this point. That seems pretty obvious to me four seasons on now.

But I’m not saying Discovery is a hated show overall either. I think most people DO like the show, they are just more on the fence with it compared to others. This shouldn’t be a shock at this point. But people are clearly watching it at least.

But this idea people just have it out for Discovery online is kind of odd since the other Kurtzman shows seem to be at least be more liked if not loved. I think Discovery just started out on the wrong foot in a huge way and it’s taking longer for more people to accept it.

Exactly! Multiple shows that are bringing new fans to the table given each has a different fanbase niche. It’s a brilliant way to expand the franchise.

That too of course but I think Discovery would’ve been ten times more popular if it went this direction from the start. I think the real issue was being the first show since Enterprise ended and people wanting a more ‘traditional’ Star Trek show again. That’s why so many were excited when they heard it would be so close to TOS because they thought that was the type of vibe they were getting. And then became disappointed when they didn’t get it.

Now if it was the second or third show in the line up kind of like DS9 coming after TOS and TNG, then it may have succeeded better with different expectations.

It just didn’t feel ‘Star Trek’ enough and more like ‘BSG in the Star Trek universe’ and why so many fans had issues with it. Certainly for me but I had a TON of issues lol.

I think Discovery suffered from a bad start–the original showrunner Bryan Fuller had a totally different conception for the series and when he left the show there was a scramble to make do with what they invested in already instead of wiping the slate and starting clean. So many people were brought in, left, and were replaced again that the Executive Producer credits list is so laughably long.

Pike was a surprise hit–I think the only bright spot in Season 2, but since they pre-produce the series a season in advance, his exit had already been written, so they couldn’t keep him back in, and somehow appear in the 31st century. Smartly they decided to give him a series of his own.

True but they kept to his basic outline so this was always going to be the show. He made it clear the first season was going to deal with the Klingon war and he personally approved of the Orc-Klingons which went down brilliantly with fans. ;)

Maybe if he stayed it would’ve been a stronger and less eradicate first season but my guess the dark and cynical tone would’ve been the same regardless.

And your second paragraph is my entire point. People fell in love with second season BECAUSE they got Pike who just represented what people thought of Star Trek. People liked Lorca, but he isn’t a character that fans aspire to and for most fans someone like Pike are the type of characters they want in Star Trek. Even Michael Burnham, the main star started out as a mutineer first episode in. Not exactly inspirational or uplifting lol.

That’s why there was such an outpouring for a Pike show when Discovery was only in it’s second season. The show barely started and fans were already clamoring for something different. Because that’s exactly the kind of tone they wanted in both a main character and a show. If Discovery had Pike in first season as the main lead, my guess is it would’ve been a more popular show (even if not a better one) from the start. Fans wanted to see a more optimistic and Trek vibe season one clearly missed the mark on.

That’s really the only point I’m making.

Honestly I think there are a lot of things that caused Star Trek Discovery to be what it is. The bad start contributes for sure. But that was one of many many ingredients that ruined this recipe. They tried to put better frosting on the cake later but they just couldn’t hide the fact that the cake was badly baked.

These character promos are fantastic! And fun! I may just have to get Paramount+ before May gets here, lol! :)

Yeah they are great! :)

I think it’s rather each show has a bit of a different market, and when taken all together the fan base grows. I don’t really see this as the singular solution I think you are suggesting?

Cautiously optimistic w/ the Christine Chapel character. 😊

I wonder why they’re messing with the genome of someone who seems to be related to an augment.

Hmmmmmm…you may have something there!

Why doesn’t Nurse Chapel look like Number One? Not respecting TOS at all, epic fail.

j/k, can’t wait for SNW!

It would have been hilarious, if not practical, for them to have Rebecca Romjin playing Nurse Chapel in addition to Number One. And voicing the Enterprise computer.

Part of me hopes that it’s shown how Number One becomes the pattern for all computer systems. Not an explanation we need, but would be fun.

The again, there’s a bigger part of me that doesn’t want THAT kind of nostalgia — just handwave all the history, changes, and avoid trying to “explain” Trek’s past.

That would have been an expensive “wink” to the audience. But a clever one.

According to canon, Nurse Chapel and Number One cannot co-exist in the same episode ;-) so it’s wouldn’t be so impractical

Have to say that I am perhaps “cautiously pessimistic.” There are too many TOS characters and homages on SNW. Are they really incapable of coming up with something new, like ENT did — and like DIS did not (Sarek, Mudd, etc.)?

That said, I always liked the character of M’Benga on TOS. But why does M’Benga go from CMO here to deputy CMO on TOS?

Many reasons. He may have disliked administration and preferred being a doctor first. He may have left for training and came back – accepting a different position. He may have only been a visiting physician during TOS, studying Spock. Who knows.

Are they really incapable of coming up with something new,

Part of the point of the show is to explore known characters that were barely explored in TOS (Pike, Number One, M’Benga, even Uhura and Chapel are largely unknown). Clearly there are new characters also – Hemmer, Ortegas, etc.

I agree with you on this, in fact I mentioned something similar on the article about the new Aenar character Hemmer. I think the show needed to have more characters like Hemmer to start and slowly and gradually bring in the more familiar characters over the seasons. Maybe they don’t want to continue the show for more than 3-4 years that is why they want to bring back so many TOS characters so soon. I also don’t mind M’benga as he was only in 2 episodes of TOS and we basically didn’t know too much about him except for being a vulcan expert. I think if there are creative writers and easy explanation could be given.

I do like seeing the TOS characters but yeah I have to agree it is feeling a bit too much, especially now that we know Kirk is showing up too. And I’m pretty positive he will show up in the season one finale and not just in season two.

It’s obviously a good strategy to bring back iconic characters on all these new shows, but what I miss about classic Trek was every show did feel very distinct because all the characters were new. We would see a few old ones pop up for an episode in a season but the main characters were original minus O’Brien on DS9.

And now thinking about it, SNW easily has the most known group of characters by a mile. But I guess they know it’s easier to get people to pay for the show when they see as many familiar characters as possible. Something the old shows didn’t have to worry about (in America).

As far as M’Benga, I don’t see that as a big deal. Maybe he just decided he wanted to do more clinical research (his specialty was Vulcans right) and being CMO would get in the way of that taking care of so many patients; so he stepped down. Doesn’t take much. But I guess we’ll see.

“There are too many TOS characters and homages on SNW.”

That’s on purpose and I’d even go so far to say that the nature of this show as either a prequel or a reboot is yet to be determined by its popularity. If it’s a success, it’ll end up replacing TOS altogether. If it’s not a big hit, they can still sell it as a short-lived prequel…

Enterprise didn’t really do anything new, though? It brought back Klingons, Ferengi, Borg, Romulans, T’Pau, the Mirror Universe. On top of that the show itself followed the same format as TOS, TNG and VOY for it’s first two seasons (three even considering the amount of standalones in Season 3). In fact from what I remember most of the fan reaction to the show was “why are you bringing back these elements? Can’t you do something new?!”

Granted, Season 4 was novel in its structure- but even then it relied heavily on Trek lore and didn’t really do much in the way of doing anything new. Augments storylines, references to Babel, a strong focus on the Vulcans, the (aforementioned) Mirror Universe. The franchise was running on fumes by that point and was being micro-managed by Berman, who we’ve all come to learn was a sexist, homophobic pig.

It was new characters and because they came before the others they couldn’t lean on new-Trek (what I call the Berman shows) too much. And even then, the instances mentioned were not very well received. (Although I’m tired of the Borg I felt their episode wasn’t that bad) They didn’t even really dive into TOS much until Coto showed up. And when they did, adding T’Pau was pretty organic and worked.

TNG actually went the other way. They distanced themselves from TOS as best they could. They included the one cameo by Kelly in the pilot. The one “sequel” episode early on. Then over the years ended up finding ways to get two TOS characters into one episode and one 2 parter. And that two parter was mainly to promote a movie.

I mostly agree with this. They are using two legacy characters in this and one has a genetic connection to a villain that I feel has been given too much mileage.

AFAIC, if they wanted to use established characters then go with some we saw on “The Cage” and maybe MAYBE no more than ONE (1) of the TOS group. (I vote for Scotty as in my mind his presence is the one that makes the most sense.)

But it feels like nu-Trek just doesn’t want to make any kind of leap that doesn’t have a full on connection to what came before. It feels like they want that safety net. Those safety nets have worked for them before so they just aren’t going to take any more risks. Which I find unfortunate. I know it’s not my money on the line but I would just like to see them do something without a safety net.

And the funny part is from what I can see of that short character introduction on the new Aenar character Hemmer and the comments on that article, the single new alien character of the show is getting highly praised and rightly so. I think they could have included a few more characters in the vein of Hemmer but maybe they thought too much of them might take the focus off the human characters.

Yeah I agree. I love it’s a character that was already introduced on another show but we still know very little about. They were only in three episodes on Enterprise. So they can really develop the species and I always wanted to see more of them since they were introduced.

I think Hemmer is going to be a break out role.

That said, I always liked the character of M’Benga on TOS. But why does M’Benga go from CMO here to deputy CMO on TOS?

Well, isn’t it true/fact in canon that Kirk and McCoy were relatively close (friends) in the academy days prior to Kirk taking over the Enterprise? So, I would assume that when Kirk took command, he restaffed some personnel on the Enterprise, especially recruiting his “friend” McCoy …to be CMO.

There is nothing about Kirk & McCoy’s history at all. But from what I gleaned it seemed likely that they knew each other at least fairly well before Kirk took command of the Enterprise. And my head canon was that Kirk chose McCoy to be his CMO when he took command.

Very optimistic. Loved the promos so far.

She seems just a tad more assertive than Majel’s Chapel was.

This clip reminded me of the briefly flirted with idea that Chapel had a thing for Spock on TOS. I’m wondering if they are going to play with that here.

Due respect, it wasn’t a briefly flirted with idea. It was, regrettably, her sole character trait.

It was referenced in “Return to Tomorrow,” “Amok Time,” and “Plato’s Stepchildren,” at least.

Don’t forget Mudd’s Passion, where she used a love potion on Spock.

Yeah that’s basically what we seen with Chapel, her school crush on Spock and very little else minus the episode we meet her robot fiance.

That one episode gave her more backstory than Uhura or Sulu ever got!

LOL definitely! But really like her. I always liked Chapel but she was just kind of ‘there’ most of the time. This one looks very assertive and engaging.

Wow! Just wow! The casting for this show has been generally amazing. The only character that looks a bit out of place so far is Ortegas.

I’m curious, how does Ortegas look out of place? I really liked the video focusing on her character. She seemed to have some fun banter with Pike and seemed generally really cool.

Just my first impression — the character’s lines seem a little forced and I find her appearance a bit goofy looking. It’s only a teaser though, so I hope to be pleasantly surprised when the series starts.

Ortegas seemed to fit right in to me. I enjoyed her banter and attitude. I have a feeling it’ll bounce off other characters in interesting and fun ways.

Fair enough. We’ll see once the season starts. I hope my initial impression from watching this brief teaser are proven wrong.

Ok. It’s brilliant and I’m excited! But why is she wearing commander’s stripes?

THANK YOU! I thought I was the only one that noticed that.

This version of the character and their relationship (not necessarily romantic, of course, but it certainly reads as flirtatious in this promo) with Spock only makes sense if this is a reboot.

What’s the harm in this being a reboot?

it’s not a reboot – but – if they do end up rolling a Kirk Enterprise crew in a couple of years, there are enough adventures to weave into the existing canon of original shows without re-doing them

Star Trek: TOS Reboot, coming your way in about two years, folks.

You’re predicting two years Danpaine? Why so long? ;D

I love Discovery and the new aesthetic it introduced but feel it would have worked better in the post TNG timeline. Keeping a lid on a technology as impressive as the spore drive would be impossible in the 21st century, let alone the 23rd.

That was it’s biggest issue IMO. The show just did not look like it fit in its original time period. They corrected that in a big way lol, but I honestly think if they put it in the 25th century from the start, more people would’ve at least given it a chance. Once you remove the Spock sibling angle, the show really would’ve fit better in a post-Nemesis setting.

I don’t think they did anything to fix their original “too advanced looking for the era” problem. Moving their “too advanced for the era” ship 900 years in the future doesn’t fix that problem. It’s still there. And weirdly, their ship when it arrived looked like it fit right in with the the rest of the 32nd century. I will give you that the time shift moved that problem out of the spotlight and to the sidelines. But it was still a problem. I think they have a “32nd century doesn’t look futuristic enough” problem. But I guess that’s more a ‘me’ thing.

It is looking like they have done a better job with their version of Pike’s Enterprise. I think they could still do better but if the show is good it will be less of an issue. Still think they should turn the lights up on the bridge and elsewhere. That would help a TON. The 23rd century just wasn’t that dark. I think that’s a small thing that would go a long way to helping make it fit.

Yeah oddly Discovery still looks like one of the most advanced ships even in the 32nd century lol. BUT to be fair, we haven’t even really seen the inside of a 32nd century ship yet. And while Discovery still looks advanced, since it’s still in a century we never seen, they can take any liberties they want. Sure we can say if it’s not advanced looking enough , etc, but canon wise it doesn’t matter because we have zero to compare it to.

That’s the difference with the 23rd century, we know exactly what it looks like. We known it for 50 years now and Discovery didn’t try to adapt to any of it outside of the most minor elements.

So even if the 32nd century doesn’t solve all their problems, it definitely solved the biggest ones. Notice no one is even talking about the visual issues anymore, but they are complaining about everything else though lol. But that’s all everyone was talking about its first season.

Well, to be fair tech that far out would probably so far beyond our meager comprehensions no one here could probably consider what they are doing. But again, that is part of the problem with going forward THAT far.

And I did say moving the show’s era moved an early problem out of the spotlight. If sweeping the dirt under the rug is solving the problem then I guess they did.

Yeah I agree generally. But it’s all left to the imagination basically and that’s where Science Fiction takes over. But you look at videos from the early 1900s predicting what the year 2000 would be like, most were waaaay off the mark lol. They made the future too advance. I can’t even try predicting what the real 23rd century will look like, much less the 32nd century. My guess is though none of it will look anything like Star Trek. ;)

But I really love Discovery in this setting because it simply gives us something new again. I’m hoping season 5 delve into Starfleet a bit more now, but maybe they will save that for the Academy show if it takes place in this era.

Actually, The Cage (bridge, transporter room and captain’s quarters) was darker than TOS. It was Jerry Finneman who brought in the brighter look / color washes of TOS. The Cage Enterprise looks rather gray and moody.

I don’t think it is that big a difference. But even if they met The Cage half way I think it would make a great deal of difference on screen to conveying the “feel” of the era they are supposed to be in.

The designs are an interesting mix of TOS and 2001 Space Odyssey, which has proven to be timeless and modern at the same time. There are also some vibes from Space1999 and TMP minus some 70s flair.

PS. On the scene with Dr.M’Benga wearing the blue uniform it feels like what Phase II could have looked like or how TOS could have looked like with the budget of TMP in the early 70s.

OMG. This thirty second clip was the best Trek since Star Trek VI. Good job all. Warp speed.

If you’re going to write her like your standard off the shelf quippy marvel character and not like the TOS nurse chapel, why have her be that charakter at all? Just give her another name

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Head Nurse Chapel

Congrats on your promotion, Chapel.

SPOILER WARNING: This clip may contain spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 8 "Under the Cloak of War"!

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' "Under the Cloak of War," witness Christine Chapel's promotion on the moon of J'Gal while stationed during the Klingon War.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In addition, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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The Strange New Worlds promotional machine keeps on moving as we get ever closer to the upcoming series premiere, so keep checking back for more news here at TrekCore!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuts on Thursday, May 5 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada. Additional international distribution has not yet been announced.

SNW Season 1
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS – Nurse Chapel’s HERstory

Posted by Rebecca Kaplan | Jun 7, 2022 | Star Trek , Stuff We Like , TV & Streaming | 0

Every Thursday on Paramount Plus, Trekkies warp around the sun to go back in time before Captain James Tiberius Kirk was in charge of the U.S.S. Enterprise on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . The new series follows Captain Christopher Pike ( Anson Mount ), Science Officer Spock ( Ethan Peck ), Number One ( Rebecca Romijn ) and the other members of Enterprise ‘s crew as they explore where no one has gone before. As they traverse the cosmos, new and old members of the Enterprise crew face danger and adventure together. They will help their captain overcome the trauma of witnessing how his current life ends (a storyline that began in Star Trek: Discovery ‘s second season).

In addition to the Enterprise crew already introduced in Discovery ‘s second season, SNW introduces other characters who first appeared in Star Trek: The Original Series , like Dr. M’Benga, a Starfleet physician originated by Booker Bradshaw. In SNW , Babs Olusanmokun is playing the role. Another returning fan favorite is Cadet Uhura, played by Celia Rose Gooding . Having screened the first five episodes, Strange New Worlds delivers on connecting its stories and characters to the TOS era in an exciting way for long-time Trekkies and new viewers alike.

RELATED: Rod Roddenberry Chats Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, First Lady of Star Trek

A returning TOS mainstay is Nurse Christine Chapel, who first appeared in the 1966 episode “The Naked Time” as the Enterprise ‘s nurse. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry originated the character and continued to play her in Star Trek: The Animated Series , Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . Barrett-Roddenberry always said Nurse Chapel was the eighth member of Enterprise ‘s crew, appearing in 25 out of 79 episodes.

However, in a 1987 issue of STARLOG , Barrett-Roddenberry said that although she would be willing to return to the character of Christine Chapel, it wasn’t “that important to the “Powers That Be.” In the last few decades, things have changed with the corporate overlords. Rod Roddenberry (the actress’s son) oversees the franchise and there is renewed interest in the character. And now she is back in Strange New Worlds , and Trekkies are meeting a younger version of Nurse Chapel, played by Jess Bush , for the first time.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry’s Nurse Chapel

Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry)

Courtesy of CBS

If Star Trek visionary Gene Roddenberry ‘s script hadn’t changed before the Enterprise warped into family homes for the first time, Barrett-Roddenberry’s onscreen role would have been much different. Cast in the first pilot as Number One, Barrett-Roddenberry was to play second in command to Captain April. You read that right, Captain Robert April ‘s Number One. But, Captain April wasn’t All-American enough for the studio and he was replaced with Captain Christopher Pike before the first pilot, “The Cage,” was filmed.

Too bad for Captain Pike, he also lacked the bravado the studio was looking for, and the studio passed on the series. But, the studio had other problems with the first pilot as well. So, following feedback on “The Cage” that the show was too diverse, Star Trek visionary Roddenberry had to choose between Leonard Nimoy ‘s Spock and his wife’s Number One. Unfortunately, Barrett-Roddenberry was not cast for the second pilot (something the fandom has long held against him).

Despite NBC’s executives’ wishes that Roddenberry’s wife not return to set after the pilot, the disappointing outcome paved the way for the introduction of Barrett-Roddenberry’s Nurse Chapel to make her first appearance in The Original Series in Season 1, Episode 4, “The Naked Time.” Apparently, Roddenberry hoped the TV executives might not notice that he re-cast his wife in TOS if she bleached her hair blonde for the role; however, the executives were not fooled.

The Original Series (S01E04) “The Naked Time”

The Naked Time TOS Spock (Leonard Nemoy) and Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry) holding hands romantically

Barrett-Roddenberry’s Nurse Chapel makes her first appearance in The Original Series in “The Naked Time,” about a mysterious pathogen that causes the crew to lose control of their inhibitions. Although Chapel’s confession of unrequited love for Spock during her first appearance is odd, the TOS episode is the only one in which all three female leads appear together: Chapel, Lt. Nyota Uhura ( Nichelle Nichols ) and Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney).

However, this episode sets up much of Chapel’s early shipbroad life and several episodes deal with her unrequited love for Spock, like “Plato’s Stepchildren,” where Chapel and Spock are forced to kiss, or “Amok Time,” where she helps Spock through Pon farr. Hopefully, Strange New Worlds will flesh out the backstory of Chapel’s attraction to Spock. Fingers crossed!

The Original Series (S01E07): “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”

Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry) in blue and Dr. Corby in green in purple room

However, what inspired Roddenberry to write his wife back into the show wasn’t her first appearance. “The Naked Time” script just happened to need a nurse. Instead, he was inspired to add Nurse Chapel to the Enterprise ‘s regular crew after his wife read a proposal for “What Are Little Girls Made Of?,” which ended up airing as Episode 7 of The Original Series — and it’s an important episode.

RELATED: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Recap: (S01E01) Strange New Worlds

Before Chapel joined the Enterprise crew, she trained to be a scientist under the tutelage of Dr. Roger Korby. Eventually, she falls in love with Korby and they get engaged. But following her fiancé’s disappearance on the planet Exo III, she abandons her career as a bio-researcher (for which she earned several degrees) to join Starfleet in hopes of a deep space assignment to find Korby. Bee-tee-dubs, she hasn’t heard from him in five years.

In “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” Chapel succeeds, but Korby isn’t what he used to be. When Enterprise reaches Exo III and finds Korby, he’s using android technology that Trekkies don’t see again until Star Trek: Picard . Before Starfleet rescue arrived, Korby used the technology of a long-dead civilization and replaced his own body with an android replica, transplanting his consciousness into the body and creating android companions for himself. Sound’s like Picard’s golem .

The Animated Series (S01E10): “Mudd’s Passion”

The Animated Series is the continuation of TOS , except as an animated show; it’s almost like a revival with a larger budget. When the five-year mission of Kirk’s Enterprise continued on Saturday morning, Barrett-Roddenberry reprised her role as Nurse Chapel. In TAS , Chapel takes her first step toward becoming a doctor: she is promoted to lieutenant and head nurse in the tenth episode of season one, “Mudd’s Passion.”

Unlike The Original Series , the animated Chapel is often given more to do than prance around bringing Spock soup. Instead, she is allowed to show off her skills as a woman of science. Under the acting command of Uhura in “The Lorelei Signal,” Chapel even has a chance to take over as acting Chief Medical Officer.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek: The Voyage Home

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as Doctor Chapel treating Leonard Nemoy playing Spock

Courtesy of StarTrek.com

Barrett-Roddenberry once again returned for The Motion Picture to play Doctor Chapel, although the actress described her part as a “very minimal role.” She told STARLOG , “If no one had called me Commander Chapel, the audience wouldn’t know that I was there.” Maybe or maybe not, coincidentally, the characters in the movie don’t even seem to want Chapel there. Now holding an MD, McCoy explains to Kirk that he “need[s] a top nurse, not a doctor who will argue every little diagnosis with me” — and good thing, Chapel doesn’t listen.

RELATED: Bonnie Gordon Speaks the Protostar’s Truth on Star Trek: Prodigy

After not appearing in the second and third movies — despite her view, Nurse Chapel was the 8th member of The Original Series main cast — Nimoy asked Barrett-Roddenberry to return for The Voyage Home as Commander Chapel. Now that she is stationed at Starfleet HQ, Chapel is in charge of emergency room procedures. Sadly, that means she doesn’t get to go back in time, but the actress did feel like it was a better send-off.

Barrett-Roddenberry told Greenberger, “I really didn’t consider my work in the first [film] to be that great an experience.” However, she added, “I was excited to be back with her Star Trek family for Star Trek IV . Just working with them in costume, and all of us together was a fascinating feeling.”

Strange New Worlds (S01E01): “Strange New Worlds”

Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) in all white standing in a sci-fi doctor's office

With Strange New Worlds , the writing team has a chance to flesh out some of Chapel’s backstory. “She just wasn’t a very exciting character. I didn’t care for her that much,” Barrett-Roddenberry said in an interview with Star Trek Magazine , dated July 2000. “She was a namby-pamby type of woman. First, she was a doctor to start and to go out and find her fiancé, she had to take a demotion, probably in rank and pay, because there was already a doctor aboard the Enterprise. This woman’s not too smart; she doesn’t have a whole lot going for her.”

Although the series has established Chapel gave up a career in bio-research to join the Enterprise , it wasn’t until Strange New Worlds that fans even learned that she was a scientist working on the civilian exchange from Stanford Morehouse Epigenetic Project before joining Starfleet. This background proves essential during the first episode of SNW when Trekkies see Chapel put that knowledge to work when she rewrites the genomes of several crew members for an away mission.

Bush told TrekMovie.com that she is excited for the opportunity to finally flesh out the character and peel back her layers, saying, “Chapel peels back some of her layers, I think. There’s something that forces her to kind of go somewhere that she’s not comfortable in and it results in a very big step towards growth, personal growth for her. So that was really delicious to experience as an actor.”

Who’s Who: STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS Enterprise Crew

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About The Author

Rebecca Kaplan

Rebecca Kaplan (she/he) has a JD and an MS in Criminology but believes that telling a good story does more good than the law. She's the Features Editor at Prism Comics and regularly contributes to the Eisner-winning PanelxPanel. You can find more of his writing at MovieWeb, StarTrek.com, Comics Bookcase, and MarvelBlog, and in Double Challenge: Being LGBTQ and a Minority, which she co-authored with her wife, Avery Kaplan.

Personal details

Jessica Bush
5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
March 26 , 1992
Brisbane, Queensland
Kyle Bush (Sibling)

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Trivia Has aspirations to direct in the future and spends much of her free time on set shadowing many of the current directors.
Quotes [In an interview by Flaunt when asked whether she'd seen much of Star Trek before getting the role]:I think Star Trek is a really powerful vehicle for cultural messaging. And I think that the makers of Star Trek have always been very mindful of that power. And, as an artist, I couldn't ask for anything more than that. To be part of something that makes an impact.
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Who is Nurse Chapel in ‘Strange New Worlds’? Explained

Christine Chapel is a character who recurs across different Star Trek series and timelines, including Star Trek: The Original Series ( TOS ) where she was played by the inimitable Majel Barrett, and the Kelvinverse films where she was limited to a voice cameo from an uncredited actor. Beginning her career as a nurse and genetic research specialist Chapel ends up as both a medical doctor and high-ranking Star Fleet officer in the prime universe. But what about in Stark Trek: Strange New Worlds ( SNW) ? Which continuity does this version of Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) belong to , and how does she differ from previous versions of the character?

The Continuity

So there’s some debate about which continuity SNW ‘s belongs to, and whether or not it exists in a continuity all its own. In short, it comes down to whether or not Captain Pike having seen his future via time crystal in the Star Trek: Discovery ( DIS ) episode “Through the Valley of Shadows” created a new timeline that so far only DIS and SNW take place in.

Observation of an event is known to affect the outcome even if no action beyond observation is taken to interfere with it (think Schrodinger’s Cat, and more recent experiments with atoms), and so, according to this theory, the timeline split the moment Pike’s vision began. Then, for those unconvinced by quantum physics, there’s the fact that Pike’s decision-making is clearly influenced by what he saw, meaning that, for all that he is trying to preserve the timeline, doing so completely is impossible as his day-to-day actions are influenced by his new, burdened, emotional state.

These changes may be small, and largely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things (unlike his eventual accident, which is necessary to avoid a much worse outcome for the whole galaxy), but they are changes nonetheless, the very first of which would have splintered the timeline if the vision itself did not. Assuming, of course, that Pike’s vision wasn’t always a part of the original timeline, and everything he does, as a result, is also a part of it, SNW and DIS would both still be part of the prime timeline. Time travel is complicated. All we can say for sure is that SNW isn’t set in the Kelvinverse.

The New Nurse Chapel

Christine Chapel has a complicated history with the franchise. Though she had what should have been a compelling back story in TOS —giving up a career in bio-research in the hopes of finding her missing fiance by serving on the Enterprise—she was written into the show as a means of emphasizing Spock’s Vulcan stoicism and rarely allowed to develop beyond that.

With a hefty dose of 1960s sexism at play, Chapel’s character was usually restricted to pining over Spock, complete with teary eyes, a quivering lip, and tragic, steadfast devotion in the face of his regular rejections. Majel Barrett didn’t like playing the character for this reason, and a lot of fans really didn’t like her either, finding the writing tired and sexist even then. Despite these limitations, however, Chapel definitely showed the glimmers of something more, which eventually led to her becoming a niche favorite and fans calling for her return in later movies.

A dedication to medical ethics, prioritizing them over even her duty as a Star Fleet officer and the chain of command; intense loyalty to, and ability to work with, the cranky Dr. McCoy; and a clever, empathetic grasp on patient psychology all laid the groundwork for the much more interesting character hidden under the misogyny—something SNW dives right into creating and exploring with Jess Bush’s version of Christine Chapel.

Whether or not SNW exists in a parallel continuity or is still part of the prime timeline, most of the changes made to Nurse Chapel are retcons rather than the result of an alternate continuity, as they predate even the earliest point at which the timeline may have split.

Though in TOS she first served on the Enterprise under Kirk’s Captaincy, in SNW she’s already a Star Fleet officer aboard the Enterprise long before Kirk gets anywhere near it, with a history of serving aboard several other ships as well. The implication is that Chapel entered Star Fleet through the usual route of training at the academy, with her time as part of that research group either a break-in or part of her Star Fleet career instead of the other way around. She’s also a more physically active character, in keeping with the military-style physical training and fitness requirements Star Fleet has for its members regardless of gender (something TOS didn’t quite hit the mark on, as progressive as it was for the time). Bush and the creative team chose to highlight this by switching her uniform from tunic dress to jumpsuit.

Chapel has also undergone some significant personality changes. Speaking in an interview with Den of Geek , Bush explained that these are all traits she saw in the original version of Nurse Chapel in TOS, just expanded on and developed. There’s also a little bit of reverse engineering going on in order to create a younger, less jaded version of the character to fit the show’s prequel setting. SNW Nurse Chapel is bolder, more confident and less reserved, and possessed of a wicked sense of humor she uses both to comfort her patients and as a deflection mechanism. There’s still a core of grief and sadness to her, though whether that’s also tied to a missing fiance or rooted solely in the things she experienced during the Klingon War remains to be seen. Nonetheless, it manifests differently and isn’t the sum of who she is or how she’s depicted. She gets to be a fully rounded human being here, maladaptive coping mechanisms, commitment issues, and all.

Christine Chapel

View history

Christine Chapel was a female Human Starfleet officer who lived during the 23rd century . She served in the medical department , a subsection of the sciences division , aboard the USS Enterprise from the late 2250s to the 2270s , before later serving at Starfleet Headquarters during the 2280s .

1.1 Nurse aboard the USS Enterprise
1.2 Training with Roger Korby
2.2 Chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise
2.3 Post Enterprise
3.1 Alternate Neutral Zone Incursion
4.1 First Contact Day Party
5.1.1 Roger Korby
5.1.2 Spock
5.1.3 "Argelius II gal"
5.1.4 Dever
5.2.1 Leonard McCoy
5.2.2 Nyota Uhura
5.2.3 Erica Ortegas
5.2.4 Joseph M'Benga
6 Key dates
7.1 Appearances
7.2.1 Conception
7.2.2 Original appearances
7.2.3 Later appearances
7.3 Apocrypha
7.4 External links

Early life and career [ ]

As a child, Chapel owned a Malamute dog named Milo , who "may or may not have" bitten a girl who once called her stupid . ( SNW : " Spock Amok ")

Chapel once served on the USS Farragut , a ship that her future commanding officer James T. Kirk was also posted to at one time. ( SNW : " Memento Mori ", " A Quality of Mercy "; TOS : " Obsession ")

Chapel participated in the Klingon War . ( SNW : " The Broken Circle ") She traveled to J'Gal aboard shuttlecraft 12648 where she was assigned as head nurse in the Mobile Combat Surgical Unit . ( SNW : " Under the Cloak of War ")

Nurse aboard the USS Enterprise [ ]

Nurse Christine Chapel in early 2259

In 2259 , she was on civilian exchange from the Stanford Morehouse Epigenetic Project when she was assigned to the USS Enterprise as a lieutenant commander under Captain Christopher Pike serving as CMO Joseph M'Benga 's nurse . In the early days of her assignment, she met Nyota Uhura and Spock for the first time. ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

During the Enterprise 's mission to the Persephone system , Chapel attended a dinner at Captain Pike's cabin .

When an away team consisting of Lieutenant Junior Grade George Samuel Kirk , Lieutenants Spock and La'an Noonien-Singh , and Cadet Uhura was getting prepped to beam down to investigate the comet M'hanit , she inoculated them with a hypospray to prevent them from being exposed to cosmic rays for two hours. After the away team beamed back to the Enterprise , she entered the transporter room to help the injured Lieutenant Kirk. ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ")

During shore leave on Starbase 1 , she supported Spock during his relationship problems with his fiancé T'Pring and helped him when he was trapped in T'Pring's body. ( SNW : " Spock Amok ")

When the USS Enterprise was hijacked by pirates, Chapel hid in the Jefferies tubes , evaded capture and managed to overpower some of the pirates when she was discovered. However, together with Spock, she was ultimately captured by the pirate Captain Angel , who sought the release of their lover Sybok from the Ankeshtan K'til Retreat by using Spock as leverage. He and Chapel foiled Angel's plans by pretending to be in love with each other and Spock temporarily ending his betrothal to T'Pring. ( SNW : " The Serene Squall ")

When an alien consciousness from the Jonisian Nebula brought the fairy tale The Kingdom of Elysian to life on the Enterprise , Chapel was used for the character of Lady Audrey, a healer. She didn't remember the events after the ship was returned to normal. ( SNW : " The Elysian Kingdom ")

When the Enterprise responded to the USS Peregrine distress call , Chapel was part of the away team. ( SNW : " All Those Who Wander ")

Nurse Christine Chapel in late 2259

Later that year, Chapel was thinking about applying to the Fellowship of Archaeological Medicine . If selected, she would be stationed on Vulcan for three months . She was denied the fellowship but kept applying until she was accepted. ( SNW : " The Broken Circle ", " Charades ", " Subspace Rhapsody ")

Like Doctor M'Benga, Chapel was disturbed when Ambassador Dak'Rah boarded the Enterprise . Before becoming a Federation Ambassador, Dak'Rah was a Klingon General during the Klingon War of 2256 - 57 , specifically on J'Gal where Chapel and M'Benga had been stationed. During the Battle of J'Gal , Dak'Rah had ordered the massacre of civilians before M'Benga had killed his three generals in a black ops mission. After M'Benga killed Dak'Rah, supposedly in self-defense, Chapel backed up his story to Pike and Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh despite not having seen the whole altercation. ( SNW : " Under the Cloak of War ")

Training with Roger Korby [ ]

Chapel aboard the USS Cayuga during the Parnassus Beta incident

Chapel applied to study under Roger Korby in late 2259. Her application was accepted, and she subsequently left the Enterprise , briefly traveling aboard the USS Cayuga . However, the Cayuga was destroyed by the Gorn at Parnassus Beta . Chapel managed to survive the ship's destruction and aided Spock in killing a Gorn and crashing the wrecked saucer section into a Gorn tower on the planet. After returning to the Enterprise , Chapel attempted to treat Captain Marie Batel who had been infected with Gorn eggs. ( SNW : " Subspace Rhapsody ", " Hegemony ")

Chapel and Korby fell in love while she was studying under him and they became engaged . During this time, she became well acquainted with Dr. Brown , Dr. Korby's assistant , whom she affectionately called " Brownie ". ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ")

Starfleet career [ ]

Chapel's Starfleet identification card in 2269

Following her fiancé 's disappearance on the planet Exo III around 2261 , she abandoned a career in bio-research for a position in Starfleet in the hopes that a deep space assignment would one day reunite her with Korby. ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ")

By 2266 , Chapel had officially joined Starfleet . Her serial number was NI-596 MT21Z. ( TAS : " Mudd's Passion "; TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ")

Kirk's five-year mission [ ]

Christine Chapel in 2266

Chapel was once again assigned to the Enterprise , when it was under Captain James T. Kirk from 2266 to 2270 , where she served directly under chief medical officer Leonard McCoy . ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ")

Chapel assisting McCoy

During her first year, she assisted McCoy with Joe Tormolen 's ultimately unsuccessful surgery to repair a damaged intestine , pronouncing him dead. ( TOS : " The Naked Time ")

On stardate 2712.4, the Enterprise reached Exo III. Korby was found, exploring and exploiting a sophisticated android manufacturing technology, the legacy of a long-dead civilization. Korby had replaced his own damaged body, transplanting his personality into an android replica, and had built himself a beautiful companion, Andrea . After exhibiting his madness, the android Korby was destroyed. Initially, Chapel doubted if she should stay aboard, but she elected to remain with the Enterprise throughout the five-year mission. ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ")

On stardate 3541.9, Chapel helped re-educate Lieutenant Uhura after the probe Nomad wiped the communications officer 's memories. ( TOS : " The Changeling ")

By 2267 , Chapel was sometimes called upon to help other doctors than McCoy, sometimes with him as the patient . She also often was supportive of Dr. McCoy, even when others questioned whether he could be entirely reliable.

On stardate 3478.2, when Kirk, Spock , McCoy, Montgomery Scott , and Lieutenant Arlene Galway contracted a mysterious rapid-aging syndrome on the planet Gamma Hydra IV due to radiation left by a passing comet , Chapel was called upon to help the visiting Dr. Janet Wallace in an effort to help comfort, if not cure, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, and Galway.

Later, when Dr. McCoy, with Spock's help, figured out that it was increased adrenaline levels that had kept Ensign Pavel Chekov from developing the syndrome, Chapel instinctively knew that McCoy would be able to figure out an antidote for the rapid-aging syndrome in time to cure himself, Kirk, Spock, and Scott (Galway had already died). She stood up for McCoy even while that wisdom was questioned by Dr. Wallace and visiting Commodore Stocker , but let it be known that Dr. Wallace could be of great assistance to her and McCoy. Sure enough, Chapel was proven correct out when McCoy did find the antidote in time to save himself, Kirk, Spock, and Scott.

In a half-hearted attempt to mollify Pavel Chekov's disdain at having to submit to yet another round of medical tests, she assured him, " This won't hurt. Much ." ( TOS : " The Deadly Years ")

Applied psychology in action

She cleverly made use of psychology (and deception ) in a house call to Ensign Garrovick 's quarters in 2268 , attempting to encourage him to eat some dinner. Brandishing a record tape , she claimed it contained McCoy's prescription to "eat", and assured him the doctor would feed him intravenously if he did not comply. In reality, the tape actually contained " A Survey on Cygnian Respiratory Diseases ". When she returned it to a box on McCoy's desk, she did not go into details about her reasons for borrowing the tape. ( TOS : " Obsession ")

In 2268, though, there were times both when Dr. McCoy greatly confused Chapel, as well as when she was put into danger. On stardate 4657.5, Chapel was in the Enterprise sickbay when McCoy and the Kelvan Tomar brought in Spock from the surface of a class M planet where a landing party had met the Kelvans. McCoy told Chapel that Spock was close to dying, though she could tell that wasn't true. This was a ruse by both McCoy and Spock on Kirk's orders, because Kirk wanted them on the ship to help stop the Kelvans from taking the ship to the Andromeda Galaxy , and Spock had put himself into a Vulcan trance to trick the Kelvans into thinking he was truly gravely ill. McCoy had to hint to Chapel to keep quiet. She did take the hint but remained confused. On stardate 4658.9, with the Kelvans still controlling the Enterprise to return to the Andromeda Galaxy, Dr. McCoy complained to Kirk that he had watched four of his best doctors and nurses, including Chapel, be neutralized and reduced into dehydrated porous cuboctahedron solids , the size of a Human fist, composed of their base minerals, which represented the "distilled" essences of their beings. The Kelvans considered them non-essential personnel. Chapel and the other doctors and nurses were reconstituted, after Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scott, the only four not neutralized, regained control of the Enterprise . ( TOS : " By Any Other Name ")

On stardate 5029.5, when children from the Starnes Exploration Party were on board the Enterprise , she cared for and entertained them, showing them how they could use cards to order any ice cream they wished from the Enterprise 's food synthesizers . She also was the first to notice how the children didn't cry for their recently deceased parents, and reported this observation to Dr. McCoy. ( TOS : " And the Children Shall Lead ")

Chapel and McCoy administer the tri-ox compound to Kirk, in the transporter room after Kirk was rescued from the Defiant .

On two separate occasions, Chapel displayed excellent skills as a lab assistant. On stardate 5693.2, she assisted Dr. McCoy in developing a diluted theragen derivative to cure mental degradation effects caused by an interphase as the Enterprise was passing through Tholian space. She also assisted McCoy by administering the cure throughout the ship and helping him, in the transporter room , in administering the tri-ox compound to Kirk after he was beamed aboard from the USS Defiant . ( TOS : " The Tholian Web ")

While serving as a nurse, Chapel considered her responsibilities as a member of the medical profession to supersede her role as a subordinate crew member on the Enterprise , even to the point of disobeying an order from her superior, McCoy, whose welfare she was concerned about. ( TOS : " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky ")

On stardate 5710.5, Chapel assisted Spock and McCoy in synthesizing an agent to counteract hyper-acceleration effects of Scalosian water. ( TOS : " Wink of an Eye ")

By 2269 Chapel was promoted to the rank of lieutenant , and held the position of head nurse . ( TAS : " Mudd's Passion ")

On stardate 5483.7, when under the influence of the women of Planet Two of the Taurean system , the male crew members of the Enterprise were incapacitated by the siren's song. Lieutenant Uhura took command of the vessel, and assigned Chapel as acting chief medical officer . They led an all-female landing party down to the planet's surface to rescue Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy. ( TAS : " The Lorelei Signal ")

On stardate 5143.3, she informed McCoy that Captain Kirk wanted to know whether his examination of " Carter Winston " was finished, adding that his fiancee Anne Nored was waiting to see him. ( TAS : " The Survivor ")

On stardate 5577.5, after the Enterprise was struck by a flash of light coming from a planet in the Cepheus star system and the flash temporarily paralyzed the crew, the whole crew started shrinking to fingernail length, at 1/16th of an inch in height. On stardate 5577.6, Spock observed that Chapel's titanium bracelet was staying the same mass , though their uniforms were shrinking at a proportional rate as their bodies. Spock hypothesized (correctly) that their Starfleet uniforms were shrinking because they were made of an algae -based material known as xenylon , and that biological and naturally made material objects were also shrinking, but not the ship itself or other totally man-made material objects.

A shrunken Chapel drowning

A short time later, after Lieutenant Sulu broke his right leg in a fall from the helm station on the bridge and was taken to sickbay by Kirk and Lieutenant Arex , Chapel fretted that they couldn't use their bone-knitting laser , as it was now too large. Chapel then had an idea that McCoy thought was a great idea: they could use a microscope laser , which they used to heal the inner ear , to do the surgery to reset and heal Sulu's leg. Chapel was proved correct about that, but – due to her shrinking size, while trying to bring the microscope laser from the medical cabinet – she tripped on a knitting needle that had also stayed the same size, fell into the sickbay's aquarium , and nearly drowned . Fortunately, Kirk was able to save her.

Later, Chapel helped rescue mutant descendants of the Terra 10 colony from the unstable planet they were located on and relocate them to a more stable planet. Along with the rest of the crew, she was returned to her normal height by use of the transporter , which had saved the original molecular structure of each crew member in the pattern buffers . ( TAS : " The Terratin Incident ")

On stardate 5499.9, when Kirk and Spock mutated into water-breathers, Chapel assisted Dr. McCoy in reversing their mutations. ( TAS : " The Ambergris Element ")

Chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise [ ]

Doctor Chapel in the 2270s

During the early 2270s , Chapel earned her MD after completing a medical program, and was assigned to the refitted Enterprise .

Upon the return of Dr. McCoy during the V'ger crisis, he explained to Kirk that he was "going to need a top nurse , not a doctor who will argue every little diagnosis with me." Chapel later provided care to Pavel Chekov , whose hands were burnt from a malfunctioning bridge console . She also performed medical scans on the Ilia probe , and assisted in reacquainting the probe with Ilia 's former life. She also provided medical care to Spock after his traumatizing mind meld with V'ger . ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

Post Enterprise [ ]

In 2286 , Commander Chapel was stationed at Starfleet Headquarters , where she coordinated relief efforts while Earth was experiencing a severe ecological disaster from an orbiting space probe . Later, Chapel attended the trial of Kirk and his senior officers at the Federation Council Chambers and excitedly congratulated her old crewmates when the council dismissed all charges facing them. ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

Alternate timeline and realities [ ]

Christine Chapel in an alternate 2266

Alternate Neutral Zone Incursion [ ]

In an alternate timeline where Captain Pike prevented his exposure to delta radiation and was still in command of the Enterprise in 2266 , Nurse Chapel was still serving aboard the Enterprise during the Romulans incursion into Federation space . She was on duty when an injured Spock was brought to sick bay with severe injuries. ( SNW : " A Quality of Mercy ")

Unverified Accounts Involving Christine Chapel [ ]

First contact day party [ ], personal life [ ].

Throughout her life, Chapel changed her hair color back and forth between blonde and brunette. ( TOS : " The Man Trap ", " Operation -- Annihilate! ", " Turnabout Intruder ", Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

At some point prior to stardate 5577.5, Chapel acquired a titanium bracelet made by the titanium smiths of Libra , which she occasionally wore while on duty. ( TAS : " The Terratin Incident ")

Romances [ ]

Roger korby [ ].

Chapel kissed by her "fiancé"

Chapel became engaged to Korby after having been a student of his. Despite his disappearance and the subsequent failure of two previous expeditions to locate him, she maintained hope of his return nonetheless. When asked by Spock if she recognized his voice , she remembered it clearly enough to confirm that it was, in fact, "Roger" who was contacting the Enterprise .

Upon arriving on Exo III, she embraced him tenderly, only to become jealous of Andrea's familiarity with him, as the android also called Korby by his first name . Learning that Andrea was an android, she naturally assumed Korby had created a companion to replace her, or, as she put it, a "mechanical geisha ". Korby assured her that Andrea only obeyed orders and that he did not consider her a woman, merely a tool.

Having learned of Korby's ability to manufacture android duplicates of living people, and seeing what became of the other members of the landing party, Chapel was disillusioned. She recalled that the Korby she knew wouldn't harm a living creature, as he believed their lives to be sacred. She was still conflicted about his mental state, and hoped she would not be given orders to betray him, preferring instead to have "Kirk" " push me off the same precipice where Mathews died. "

Though Korby tried to convince her that he was still the same man he had always been inside, she refused to believe him. Upon the destruction of his android body and subsequent death, she returned to the Enterprise . ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ")

Christine and Spock in 2259

When they first served together in 2259 , Chapel was immediately attracted to Enterprise 's half-Vulcan science officer , Lieutenant Spock, and would occasionally flirt with him. ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ")

They developed a friendship and Chapel would even support Spock when he had relationship trouble with his fiancé T'Pring . ( SNW : " Spock Amok ")

When Spock and Chapel foiled Captain Angel's plans to free Spock's half-brother Sybok by pretending to be in love with each other they shared a kiss to convince Angel of their affair. ( SNW : " The Serene Squall ")

After the mission to Valeo Beta V , Chapel comforted Spock by giving him a hug. ( SNW : " All Those Who Wander ")

After Spock broke off his engagement to T'Pring for him failing to confide in her that he had been stripped of his Vulcan genes and made fully human by the Kerkhovians , Chapel and Spock finally decided to enter to a relationship. ( SNW : " Charades ")

Shortly after, their relationship came to a rocky end when Chapel was accepted in Dr. Roger Korby's fellowship and would be leaving the Enterprise . ( SNW : " Subspace Rhapsody ", " Hegemony ")

Chapel confessing her love for Spock

Even a decade later, her attraction to him was an ongoing source of tension and bemusement throughout Kirk's five-year mission as well. Even while she still sought to locate Korby, Chapel was deeply infatuated with Spock. Initially Chapel kept these feelings to herself. However, when the Psi 2000 intoxication afflicted the crew of the Enterprise , Chapel admitted her love for Spock, who was shocked:

Chapel insisted that Spock address her by her first name , as opposed to her title, which he resisted. Chapel was unaware that Spock's inability to react to her emotionally was further complicated by his betrothal to T'Pring . Leading him to the ceremony in which his fiancée rejected him in favor of a different suitor, Spock underwent a period of intense emotional outbursts: a blood fever known as pon farr . Chapel characteristically doted after the Vulcan, preparing plomeek soup , a traditional Vulcan broth. The experience allowed them to discuss, even if briefly, Chapel's confession of love. Despite his acknowledged inability to return her affections, he did refer to her as Christine for the first time. ( TOS : " The Naked Time ", " Amok Time ")

Chapel's longing for Spock was well-known among crew members, and noted openly by Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy on a number of occasions. During Spock's recovery after a near-death experience on Neural , fellow medical officer Dr. M'Benga caught Chapel tenderly holding Spock's hand while watching his recovery on the medical panel atop his bed. M'Benga was sympathetic, despite Chapel's attempt to hide her feelings. Chapel later proactively aided Spock by secretly holding his consciousness to keep him from being destroyed by Henoch . ( TOS : " A Private Little War ", " Return to Tomorrow ")

Her feelings for the Vulcan briefly interfered with her ability to assist McCoy in treating him for the puncture wound left behind by the flying parasite , prompting the doctor to order her either to put aside her feelings or call another nurse to help him. ( TOS : " Operation -- Annihilate! ")

Three years after confessing her love to Spock, Chapel finally shared a kiss with him. Unfortunately, the situation was forced by the Platonians , against their will. Having sensed their close bond, they adorned her in make-up that gave her the appearance of a Vulcan. Chapel admitted that, despite her long-standing desire to be close to Spock, all she wanted to do, given the humiliation of the situation, was "crawl away and die." ( TOS : " Plato's Stepchildren ")

In 2269 , while weakened by the polarized conductor , he referred to her as Christine when calling telepathically for help, after initially calling her " Miss Chapel". ( TAS : " The Lorelei Signal ")

Chapel attempting to interest Spock

Later that year, Harry Mudd provided Lieutenant Chapel with love potion crystals that she used on Spock, much to her embarrassment when they didn't take effect immediately. Though the crystals eventually worked, it wasn't long before Spock realized he was reacting to them and not experiencing genuine feelings of love. Later, when he offered to help her record Mudd's confession , she rebuffed him. ( TAS : " Mudd's Passion ")

Upon Spock's resumption of his science officer duties on the Enterprise in the 2270s, she was pleased to see him again. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

"Argelius II gal" [ ]

During Chapel's time on Argelius II , she had a fling with a woman that she told Erica Ortegas about. It was considered a misunderstanding that Chapel ended up being chased by phaser fire. Chapel claimed it was the only time she had a misunderstanding regarding a relationship. ( SNW : " Spock Amok ")

Chapel had a casual sexual relationship with Lieutenant Dever of the USS Skylark . When Dever tried to figure out where their relationship was heading, Chapel left him without giving him an answer. She later told him that she considered him boring and ended the relationship. ( SNW : " Spock Amok ")

Friendships [ ]

Leonard mccoy [ ].

Chapel refusing to leave

Though McCoy occasionally referred to her by first name only, she was never observed calling him "Leonard". ( TOS : " The Naked Time ", " Elaan of Troyius ", " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky "; TAS : " The Pirates of Orion ")

Chapel was comfortable with standing up to McCoy's orders if she believed them to be incorrect or odd; for instance, she made sure the doctor informed Captain Kirk of his (McCoy's) xenopolycythemia diagnosis, remaining in sickbay until the captain arrived, instead of leaving as per the doctor's instructions. ( TOS : " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky ") She also questioned his request for two ccs of stokaline to treat a "dying" Spock in 2268. ( TOS : " By Any Other Name ")

Just prior to a dying McCoy beaming down to the surface of Yonada in 2268, she admonished him to make the most of his remaining time, as "A lot can happen in a year ." ( TOS : " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky ")

In an effort to protect her from being penalized for following his orders instead of Arthur Coleman 's, McCoy told her to administer a sedative to "Janice Lester" , despite the action being against his better judgement. ( TOS : " Turnabout Intruder ")

Upon hearing that she'd become a doctor during his brief hiatus from Starfleet, McCoy was reluctant to work with her, as he was of the opinion that she, like other doctors, would argue about every diagnosis he made, rather than take the orders he gave. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

Nyota Uhura [ ]

Chapel and Uhura hugging

In addition to a professional friendship with Dr. McCoy, Chapel was particularly close to Uhura . ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ", " The Changeling ", " Plato's Stepchildren ", " The Tholian Web ") The two first met when they were both assigned to the Enterprise in 2259 . ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

As Chapel departed the bridge to see Roger Korby for the first time in years, Uhura wished her all the best with a sisterly kiss on the cheek. ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ")

Chapel closely aided the communications officer in relearning the knowledge Nomad had stolen from her. Upon Uhura successfully reading (in English rather than Swahili ) the sentence " The dog has a ball ", Chapel hugged Uhura. ( TOS : " The Changeling ")

Erica Ortegas [ ]

During her time serving under Christopher Pike, Chapel was close friends with Erica Ortegas , the ship's navigator, to the extend of the two hanging out during some of their shore leave together and Ortegas even providing "moral support" to Chapel's dating life. ( SNW : " Spock Amok ")

Joseph M'Benga [ ]

Chapel met Doctor Joseph M'Benga prior to the their posting aboard the Enterprise , on the moon of J'Gal , where they were both stationed during the Klingon War , M'Benga as one of the doctors and Chapel as Head Nurse. The two grew close over the time they spent there, as they tried (and sometimes failed) to rescue war victims and even children, as the Klingon War grew more bloody and desperate. Near the end, Chapel encouraged him to "stop them", to find the person who's in charge and "make them pay". ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds "). When escaping the starship part of the false flag operation started by the Klingons on Cajitar IV , right before they jumped into space without a suit, M'Benga hinted that they'd "gotten out of worse", to which Chapel disagreed. ( SNW : " The Broken Circle ").

Later, when Klingon Ambassador Dak'Rah arrived on the Enterprise, they recalled their posting on J'Gal. When M'Benga killed Ambassador Rah during a physical altercation in Sickbay, Chapel witnessed the entire exchange and reported what she saw for Noonien-Singh's report. ( SNW : " Under the Cloak of War ").

Key dates [ ]

ca. 2256 - 57 , assigned as head nurse at the Mobile Combat Surgical Unit on J'Gal
Assigned to the USS Enterprise
Accepted into Roger Korby 's fellowship
2270s : obtains her medical degree and becomes chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise
Between the 2270s and 2286 : Leaves the USS Enterprise and is assigned to Starfleet Headquarters

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

" The Naked Time "
" What Are Little Girls Made Of? "
" Operation -- Annihilate! "
" Amok Time "
" The Changeling "
" The Deadly Years "
" Journey to Babel "
" A Private Little War "
" Obsession "
" The Immunity Syndrome "
" By Any Other Name "
" Return to Tomorrow "
" Elaan of Troyius "
" The Paradise Syndrome "
" The Enterprise Incident "
" And the Children Shall Lead "
" Spock's Brain "
" The Tholian Web "
" For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky "
" Plato's Stepchildren "
" Wink of an Eye "
" Let That Be Your Last Battlefield "
" The Lights of Zetar "
" The Way to Eden "
" Turnabout Intruder "
" Beyond the Farthest Star "
" The Lorelei Signal "
" The Survivor "
" The Magicks of Megas-Tu "
" Mudd's Passion "
" The Terratin Incident "
" The Ambergris Element "
" The Pirates of Orion "
" Albatross "
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
" Strange New Worlds "
" Children of the Comet "
" Ghosts of Illyria "
" Memento Mori "
" Spock Amok "
" Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach "
" The Serene Squall "
" The Elysian Kingdom "
" All Those Who Wander "
" A Quality of Mercy "
" The Broken Circle "
" Ad Astra per Aspera "
" Among the Lotus Eaters "
" Charades "
" Lost in Translation "
" Those Old Scientists "
" Under the Cloak of War "
" Subspace Rhapsody "
" Hegemony "
" Holiday Party "
" Walk, Don't Run "

Background information [ ]

Conception [ ].

Christine Chapel was played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry in all of the character's appearances prior to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . The role was created by Gene Roddenberry , intending the part to be played by Barrett, with whom the married Roddenberry was having an affair. The creation of the recurring role was Roddenberry's solution to pressure that Barrett frequently put on him, as she was insistent that she play a regular character on Star Trek , even though executives at the television network NBC had fired her as Number One in the unaired original pilot " The Cage ". As an executive producer on Star Trek: The Original Series of Star Trek , Roddenberry planned to ensure that the resultant character of Chapel would definitely recur. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , paperback ed., p. 224) Roddenberry additionally installed Barrett as the primary voice of the ship's computer, a role she would continue to play for the rest of her life.

In his reference book The World of Star Trek (3rd ed., p. 28), writer David Gerrold reckoned that Chapel "was obviously created specifically" to love Spock and went on to say, " The need to dramatize Spock's Vulcan aloofness requires that a woman fall in love with him and be continually rebuffed. Hence, Nurse Chapel. "

In scripts of " The Naked Time ", this character was known as Christine Baker and, later, Christine Ducheau or Christine Ducheaux. She was even referred to with the latter name in the final draft shooting script (dated 28 June 1966 ), which went on to describe her as "dark-haired… more starkly attractive than beautiful… a woman capable of startling vitality… superb efficiency…" [1] In a revised draft of the script, this passage of text was minutely changed, with the only alteration being that the words "a woman capable of startling vitality" were moved to the start of the description. Gene Roddenberry renamed the character to Christine Chapel as a pun on " Sistine Chapel ". ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One [ page number? • edit ] , Inside Star Trek: The Real Story [ page number? • edit ] ) In actual dialogue in "The Naked Time", however, she is never referred to as anything other than "Nurse" or "Christine".

Original appearances [ ]

Majel Barrett saw her opportunity to appear further in Star Trek by auditioning for the role of Chapel. " I wanted to be a part of it so badly, and I kept watching the scripts that came in, and when this episode ['The Naked Time'] came in, my mind started to go in different directions, " Barrett recollected. " So I bleached my hair and waited for Gene [Roddenberry] to come in and take notice of it. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 27 , p. 44) Barrett, whose hair was now bleached blond, awaited Roddenberry in his office. " I sat there talking to his secretary, Penny, and Gene walked in. He looked at me and at Penny, said, 'Good morning,' and walked in the door… I kept on talking to Penny, and pretty soon Gene came out again, put some papers on Penny's desk, sort of smiled at me, turned around, and walked back in his office. Then the double take happened. He opened the door and said, 'Majel?!' And I said, 'By God, if I could fool you, I can fool NBC.' " ( Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before , p. 21) Roddenberry agreed. Concluded Barrett, " He said, 'Yes, you can' […] You just don't come back again when they fire you once, but I so much wanted to be a part of this show. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 27 , p. 44) Barrett was thereafter cast as Christine Chapel.

An issue that frustrated the show's producers, notably Robert Justman, as well as Majel Barrett herself, was that the character of Chapel was not fleshed out. ( Star Trek Magazine issue 144 , p. !4) For instance, little canonical information existed about Chapel's life outside of her career in Starfleet. Just after seeing the first footage of Barrett in the role, Justman realized that he didn't much like the performance. He addressed this problem with Gene Roddenberry in the latter's office, saying that Barrett "seemed awkward" in the part. " Gene just smiled, " Justman remembered, " as he always did when I told him something he didn't particularly want to hear […] 'I thought she was fine,' he responded. 'Maybe a little nervous this time, but she'll work out great. It's a new character for her, and she'll get even better as she goes along. I like her a lot in this role.' Pushing him further wouldn't work. But I continued to needle him about it from time to time. His response was always the same: a smile, a short remonstration that she was 'fine' in the role, and then a change of subject. I stopped needling him about it after finally becoming aware of their relationship. Years later, I realized it wasn't the actress I disliked, it was the role. Nurse Chapel was a wimpy, badly written, and ill-conceived character. " He particularly found fault with Chapel repeatedly pining for another character – whether it be Spock, as is the case in "The Naked Time", or Roger Korby in " What Are Little Girls Made Of? " ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , pp. 224-225) Expressing similar sentiments, Barrett confessed, " I didn't care that much for Nurse Chapel, to tell you the truth. She really wasn't that exciting a person or that exciting a character for an actress to play. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 38 , p. 39) Clarified Barrett, " I was happy with what I did, except there wasn't that much to do. It wasn't that satisfying, but in those days, I couldn't talk Gene into doing any more; again, I was a woman, and they had already fired me once, so I wasn't given too much to do. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 27 , p. 44)

The first draft of the script of "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (dated 26 April 1966 ) Chapel was originally envisioned as "Margo Korby", the wife of Roger Korby. By later drafts, Margo was changed to Christine and in later revised scripts, the following was included as the description of her character: " She's a strong, calm woman, very much in control of herself which emphasizes only more for us the flickers of emotions that do occasionally show through. " Also, as scripted for that episode, Chapel's abandonment of a career in bioresearch was stated to have been specifically for a position aboard the Enterprise , though this ultimately changed to being an assignment aboard a generic vessel. [2] Regarding Majel Barrett's appearance as Chapel in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", Robert Justman critiqued, " The close-up shots of her eyes misting over and lower lip quivering were beautifully photographed by cameraman Jerry Finnerman , who used special lighting and diffusion lenses. But this only served to emphasize the lack of character written into the character. " ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , 1997, p. 225)

According to Herb Solow , NBC did notice the same actress whom they had already fired portrayed Chapel. Solow related that – while he was screening a rough edit of "The Naked Time" for a group of NBC execs, well before the series was broadcast – NBC Vice President Herb Schlosser asked him who the performer was, a question Solow agreed to answer later. When they were alone after the screening, Schlosser repeated the inquiry and, upon Solow revealing the name of the actress, the NBC executive realized it was the same controversial performer. Schlosser was therefore initially puzzled about why the Star Trek producers hadn't cast a different actress for the part. " This was one of those times when the truth would be painful for all concerned, " stated Solow. " I answered quickly, 'Putting together a cast is like forming an orchestra. Individual actors are unimportant; it's an ensemble thing.' " Schlosser then correctly assumed that Barrett's casting as Chapel was due to her having an affair with someone who had a lot of influence in the Star Trek production team, a suspicion that Solow didn't confirm until after the series had been airing for a while. Also according to him, the news within NBC that the portrayal of Chapel involved Barrett returning to Star Trek led Jerry Stanley – another executive at the television network – to yodel, " Well, well – look who's back. " ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , 1997, pp. 224 & 233) Barrett herself claimed, " For three years, NBC never knew it was the same person. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 27 , p. 44)

Regardless of whether or nor Barrett actually believed her own claim, it were not only Schlosser and Stanley who found out early, but Desilu Studios Head Lucille Ball as well, and, according to Solow, when she did, she was not amused, not in the slightest; Lucille Ball had by then become well known for her character trait of valuing moral propriety after her failed marriage with Desi Arnaz , which had fallen apart partly due to Arnaz' philandering, and this she expected of her staff and employees as well. When she found out that the married Roddenberry had an illicit affair with Barrett, ironically hired, under her own name Majel Leigh Hudec, by Ball herself for Desilu as a contracted actress, and having personally instructed her in one of her own comedy seminars in 1957. [3] [4] (X) , she could not abide with this kind of behavior anywhere near her property, and was dead-set on firing the pair of them on the spot. Incidentally, Ball had already wanted to do something similar, albeit at the opposite end of the spectrum, with Mission: Impossible co-stars Barbara Bain and Martin Landau , when she found out that the two were actually a married couple, and wanted to fire them as she suspected a severe case of nepotism, which she could not abide with either. And indeed, this had been the additional reason for Ball for wanting to fire the future Roddenberry couple as well, as she concurrently became aware that he had surreptitiously sneaked an as a blonde disguised Barrett, her new alias (which Ball took as evidence of deliberate deception, not entirely unjustified), back into the Star Trek production as Christine Chapel against the express wishes of NBC. Through an intermediary, her personal publicist Howard McClay, Solow had in both cases – as Mission was also produced under his auspices – the toughest of times to convince the headstrong Ball otherwise. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , 1997, p. 223; These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One , 1st ed, pp. 25-27)

Christine Chapel turned out to be highly unpopular among some fans of Star Trek 's original series. " It was because of her love for Spock and his occasional moments of gentleness toward her that Christine Chapel was largely disliked among the Trekkies who adored Spock, " explained David Gerrold. " Female fans saw her as a threat to their own fantasies and male fans saw her as a threat to Spock's Vulcan stoicism. " However, the fans who met Majel Barrett were often surprised by how beautiful she was. Gerrold concluded, " They just couldn't see it in her as Chapel because of the relationship between her and Spock. " ( The World of Star Trek , 3rd ed., p. 28)

Later appearances [ ]

In Star Trek: The Animated Series , the voice for the character of Chapel was provided by Majel Barrett, reprising the role from TOS.

Christine Chapel was intended to be included in the ultimately aborted television series Star Trek: Phase II , in which her promotion to doctor was planned to be established. The Writers'/Directors' Guide for that series said of the character, " Introduced in Star Trek I as Nurse Chapel, her medical degrees have been accepted by Starfleet, and she has returned to the U.S.S. Enterprise to serve as McCoy's associate. She is second in command of the ship's medical section, and McCoy seems to enjoy passing on to her every duty he finds too boring, irritating or annoying to himself. Yet outside of Captain Kirk, she is probably McCoy's closest confidante. An expert in psychotherapy, she has unusual ability to teach patients how to use the healing powers of their own bodies. " ( The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , p. 119)

In character notes that Gene Roddenberry wrote for Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Chapel was mentioned in the note about Dr. McCoy and was described as being influenced by the fact that McCoy was dealing with a great deal of pressure at the time of the film, even to the point of almost causing him to suffer a nervous breakdown . The section regarding Chapel stated, " [She] must take on an overly large portion of the load of treating the sick, and is likewise subject to breakage. " ( The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , p. 102) Majel Barrett was delighted that, in The Motion Picture , Chapel was promoted to doctor status and that she herself was not required to ruin her hair by dying it blond to match her TOS appearances as Chapel. In the film, Barrett's portrayal of Chapel was partly based on the description of the character from the Writers'/Directors' Guide for Phase II . ( The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , p. 119) Her appearance in The Motion Picture was in keeping with the fact that long hairstyles were disallowed in that film. ( The Making of Star Trek , p. 142) However, Majel Barrett had qualms about her appearance as Chapel in The Motion Picture , confessing, " I really didn't consider my work in the first one to be that great an experience. " ( Starlog #116)

When asked why she herself was absent in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , Majel Barrett stated, " The fact that Gene really didn't have that kind of involvement in the second and third movies was probably the reason. There was a new producer on the pictures and I just don't think they, or anybody, wanted Mrs. Roddenberry running around. I'm sure it was politics. Since then, many things have been ironed out and I certainly have greater hopes for Star Trek IV . " ( Starlog #108, July 1986 , p. 56)

In the script for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , Chapel was described as a "Starfleet Medical Officer whose history in Star Trek is known to all." The same script featured her in a short, ultimately excised scene. Set in the Federation Council Chamber, the scene detailed Commander Chapel meeting with Sarek upon his arrival there. She thanked him for coming but admitted to being unsure whether he was too late to testify at the then-ongoing trial of Admiral Kirk and the senior crew of the Enterprise . [5] Noted Majel Barrett, " I just had a couple of lines with Sarek, so it was really nothing of consequence. " However, Barrett also considered that this scene would have been her "only real scene" in the movie. Chapel's role in Star Trek IV is so minimal that Barrett hypothesized, " If no one had called me Commander Chapel, the audience wouldn't really know that I was there. " Longing to have more involvement in Star Trek , she proclaimed, " Somewhere Chapel got lost. " On the other hand, Barrett also related about her brief inclusion in Star Trek IV , " I am grateful for having been in it after not being in Star Trek II or III […] I loved it, I had such a great time. " ( Starlog #116)

Simon and Schuster 's officially licensed Star Trek: Starship Creator interactive software , written by production staffer Michael Okuda , listed some supplemental biographical details on Chapel. It mentioned she was the child of Lauren Chapel and Patterson Chapel of New Orleans , Louisiana , Earth, and had an interest in ballet . Other information included a birth date in 2237 , Starfleet Medical Academy Nursing Degree in 2266, and doctorate by the 2270s. She graduated in the 98th percentile of her class, with degrees in bioresearch, medical archaeology , and endocrinology . It assigned her original rank as a "brevet," or provisional , ensign , and stated that she rose to become the director of Starfleet Emergency Operations by the time of her Star Trek IV appearance.

Apocrypha [ ]

DC Comics ' Who's Who in Star Trek 1 comic reveals that she had Swedish and Cherokee roots.

Chapel appeared in Vonda N. McIntyre 's novelization of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan . She was still serving on the Enterprise in 2285 , and was present during Saavik 's Kobayashi Maru scenario .

In Peter David 's New Frontier novel Renaissance , Scotty mistakes one of the characters, Morgan Primus , the mother of Robin Lefler , as "Christine". It was also suggested in that series that Primus was actually Christopher Pike 's "Number One". This mistaken identification was a joke referring to the fact that both roles were played by the same actress.

Dr. Chapel was also seen as the chief medical officer aboard the USS Excelsior in the novel The Sundered .

External links [ ]

Christine Chapel at StarTrek.com
Christine Chapel at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Christine Chapel at Wikipedia
1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein

Screen Rant

Strange new worlds finally explains nurse chapel's tos spock feelings.

Star Trek is finally exploring the origins of Nurse Chapel's romantic feelings, suggesting Spock isn't as emotionally ignorant as he appears.

Warning! SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 7 "The Serene Squall"

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is finally explaining where Nurse Chapel's feelings for Mr. Spock come from in Star Trek: The Original Series . In Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 7 "The Serene Squall", a resourceful Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) and hostage Mr. Spock (Ethan Peck) are the only remaining crewmembers when the Enterprise is stolen by pirates. It's another Strange New Worlds episode that elaborates on the origins of the original Nurse Chapel's (Majel Barrett) feelings for Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in TOS .

In Star Trek: TOS , Nurse Chapel's romantic feelings for Spock were well-documented. Interestingly, given the character's role in Strange New Worlds , Dr. M'Benga (Booker Bradshaw) is the only Enterprise crew member who's sympathetic to Chapel's unrequited love for Spock . The rest of the crew treat it as a recurring joke, or even an irritation, with a frustrated Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelly) telling her to put aside her feelings for the Vulcan in order to do her job properly in Star Trek season 1, episode 29, "Operation -- Annihilate!" Strange New Worlds is finally exploring where these feelings originated from, and in doing so suggests that Spock isn't the emotionally ignorant, unobtainable object of desire that he appears to be throughout TOS .

RELATED: Why Strange New Worlds Should Ignore Nurse Chapel's First Star Trek Story

In Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 7 "The Serene Squall," the Enterprise is hijacked by space pirate Captain Angel (Jesse James Keitel.) Angel plans to use the Enterprise as a bargaining tool to negotiate the release of Spock's half-brother Sybok with T'Pring (Gia Sandhu.) Knowing what would happen if Sybok was released, Spock quickly tries to put distance between himself and T'Pring by claiming he's having an affair with Chapel, kissing her on the bridge of the Enterprise in full view of T'Pring. It's a gamble that pays off, but it also implies that Spock is fully aware of Chapel's feelings for him long before she reveals them in TOS season 1, episode 6 "The Naked Time."

At the end of "The Serene Squall", Star Trek 's Chapel and Spock discuss their " performance on the bridge " and it's clear that both of them were doing a little more than acting. While Spock has definitely utilized Chapel's feelings for himself to save the Enterprise, she brushes it off by saying she " did what she could " to make up for the Vulcan's inability to lie. She also assures him that she knows there's nothing there because Vulcans are honest and logical and wouldn't " chase another woman while they had a girlfriend ." However, this also feels like a lie on Chapel's part. Spock is only half-human, suggesting he may feel something for Chapel. It's established earlier in the episode that this humanity is proving to be a stumbling block in Spock's physical relationship with T'Pring, when she admits to studying human sexuality.

It's not the first time that Strange New Worlds has explored T'Pring and Spock's eventual parting in the classic Star Trek episode "Amok Time." Season 1, episode 5 "Spock Amok" also tackled the couple's anxieties and put Nurse Chapel right in the middle of their relationship struggles. Rather than portraying Chapel as a lovelorn and, as actress Majel Barrett once described her, " a namby-pamby type of woman, " Strange New Worlds is portraying the character to be an incredibly resourceful and emotionally astute character. She swiftly avoids kidnap by the pirates and plays her part in retaking the Enterprise beyond a mere romantic " performance. " It's easy to see why, after years of not-quite-platonic friendship and stoically hiding her feelings in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds that Nurse Chapel finally snaps under the influence of the inhibition stripping contagion in Star Trek: The Original Series and confesses her undying love for Mr. Spock.

NEXT: Strange New Worlds Just Set Up Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 2: Release Date, Trailers, Crossover, and What to Expect

Star Trek's flashiest crew flies into the galaxy with all phasers blazing in Season 2.

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When and where is star trek: strange new worlds season 2 coming out, watch the star trek: strange new worlds season 2 trailers, who are the cast and characters of star trek: strange new worlds season 2, what do we know about star trek: strange new worlds season 2’s story (and the crossover episode), what is the future of star trek: strange new world, who are the creators of star trek: strange new worlds.

The first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was a masterpiece combining nostalgic elements of Star Trek: The Original Series and modern techniques that was a pleasant surprise for fans of all ages. It had an excellent reception from both critics and audiences, mostly because of its amazing cast, and in many ways, it's a return to what fans loved about much of the original series. Season 2 is coming out fairly soon, and we can hope that it will keep up the excellent quality from the first season. It is another chance for us to see what the Enterprise is up to before Kirk and another excellent saga in the Federation's bid to explore the galaxy. Now without further ado, let's get into everything we know so far about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2.

Editor's Note: This article was last updated on June 4.

Related: 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 2 Character Posters Show the USS Enterprise Crew Ready For Intergalactic Adventures

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 will be hitting screens on June 15, 2023 . As of right now, Season 2 has already finished production, and small bits of information have been leaking out to the public via formal and informal channels. As with the rest of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 will be released on Paramount+. The first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was on a Thursday release cycle, running from May 10, 2022, to July 7, 2022, and is available for free on Paramount's YouTube Channel .

Watch on Paramount+

Ahead of the official trailer, we got to see two sneak peeks for the season. The first of these sneak peeks features Lieutenant Erica Ortegas (played by Melissa Navia ) on her way to an away mission. It seems the tempo of the crew has hardly changed even though Number One Una Chin-Riley (played by Rebecca Romijn ) is no longer with the crew. We also have some more pithy wordplay with Spock as he continues to grow his ability to interact more naturally with others.

The second sneak peek is more of a behind-the-scenes look. In the previous series, such as Star Trek: The Next Generation , we often see casual places for the crew to relax around the ships. The showrunners thought the mess hall that we saw in the first season was too sparse and have introduced a new area for the ship. The video features Will Wheaton , formerly TNG's Wesley Crusher, and the production designer Jonathan Lee showing off the impressive new set piece. It looks somewhat familiar to Ten Forward and has that modernized 1960s look. This new set is supposed to feature a lot more intimate conversations between characters and includes a ton of easter eggs. One that was immediately picked up by Will Wheaton was the Saurian Brandy from Star Trek: Picard . We see Guinan and Picard drinking it from a similar bottle in Picard Season 2 Episode 1 "The Star Grazer".

The first trailer for Strange New Worlds Season 2 was released on April 19, 2023. The roughly two-minute trailer serves as a teaser for the events to come. Check it out here:

More recently, we got the official trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 on May 24. The new trailer showcases a lot more of the action to come, and gives us our first proper look at the series' upcoming crossover with a certain other Star Trek show. See the trailer in the player below and stay tuned for more:

We received a clip from the upcoming season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . In this clip of Episode 2, Una stands on trial. It's a very entertaining albeit brief video.

Most of the cast from the previous season is returning, which is to be expected given the state the show was left in. Given the events of the last season, the Enterprise will be in need of a new head engineer. The newcomer to the enterprise will be played by the iconic Carol Kane . Kane is well known for roles in the TV series Taxi and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt as well as various film roles, usually playing a more comedic motherly character. It seems that this time around she will be a no-nonsense engineer, but perhaps we will see some of that comedic side as well.

The full list of main cast members in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 includes Anson Mount as Christopher Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock, Jess Bush as Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La'an Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas, Babs Olusanmokun as Joseph M'Benga, Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley / Number One, and Carol Kane as Pelia, among others.

Related: 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Should Boldly Go in Its Own Direction

One of the major storylines that we can expect to see is what exactly happened to Number One. One of the highlights of the first season was finding out that she was genetically engineered (one of the recurring issues in Star Trek with characters such as Deep Space Nine ’s Dr. Bashier) and that she has been taken away from her position on the Enterprise. Captain Pike and the rest of the crew definitely support her, but with her position unfilled, someone will have to step in to fill her shoes in the interim.

We also have a first occurrence in the Star Trek Universe, a combined crossover episode with the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks . Tawny Newsome (who plays Ensign Beckett Mariner in the animated show) and Jack Quaid (who stars alongside Newsome as Ensign Brad Boimler) will be making their live-action debut during the new season of Strange New Worlds . Given that Mariner and Boimler both originate from a timeline much closer to that of Star Trek: The Next Generation , we are certainly left with more than just a few questions. So far, we know that the series will have combined animated and live-action scenes. That episode will be directed by Star Trek veteran Jonathan Frakes .

With characters such as Paul Wesley ’s Captain Kirk appearing in Season 2 , there is certainly a lot of potential for a Season 3. And clearly, Paramount+ has taken note, as it has been confirmed that Strange New Worlds will be getting a Season 3 . The show has plenty of storylines left to explore and has proven to be among the more successful shows in the franchise, so this hardly comes as a surprise. From the tension between Spock and Nurse Chapel to Uhura’s hesitation to continue in Starfleet, not to mention La'an’s murky past, there is plenty left to unpack on this amazing show.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was created by Akiva Goldsman , Alex Kurtzman , and Jenny Lumet . Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman are the showrunners for the season. Season 2's directors include Chris Fisher , Amanda Row , Eduardo Sánchez , Dan Liu , Jonathan Frakes, and Valerie Weiss . The episodes were written by Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman, Dana Horgan , David Reed , Kirsten Beyer , Davy Perez , Kathryn Lyn , and Onitra Johnson . The score for Season 2 was composed by Season 1 and Star Trek: Prodigy composer Nami Melumad . Executive producers on the show include Eugene Roddenberry , Trevor Roth , Jenny Lumet, Frank Siracusa , John Weber , Aaron Baiers , Heather Kadin , Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman, and Alex Kurtzman.

The Star Trek DS9 And TOS Episodes That Influenced Strange New Worlds' Darkest Episode

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Under the Cloak of War

In the "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" episode "Under the Cloak of War" (July 27, 2023) , a Klingon ambassador named Dak'Rah (Robert Wisdom) comes to visit the U.S.S. Enterprise on a diplomatic mission. "Strange New Worlds" takes place immediately after the Klingon War, and several of the ship's crew remember the conflict vividly, expressing prejudice and consternation to see a Klingon on board. Captain Pike (Anson Mount) reminds his officers to keep an open mind, but Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) cannot.

Through flashbacks, audiences learn the horrible wartime conditions that both Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) served under, and they were bleak. There weren't enough medical supplies to go around, and Dr. M'Benga had taken to storing injured soldiers inside a transporter pattern buffer, hoping to rematerialize them when more could be done. He also secretly develops a rare and dangerous steroid called Protocol 12 which temporarily increases strength and stamina but also robs one of their ability to discern right from wrong. The drug turns people into berzerk killing machines.

Dak'Rah was present at the same battle Dr. M'Benga barely survived, and the doctor resents the Klingon's attempts at diplomatic contrition, knowing of the blood on his hands. Later, it will be revealed that Dr. M'Benga has an even darker secret and that more violence happened during the war than he initially communicated. War, the episode argues, will break everyone and everything.

This is in keeping with Trek's usual attitudes toward war, often depicted as humanity's ultimate failing.

In a new interview with TrekMovie , "Cloak" director Jeff Byrd pointed to other bleak, war-themed episodes of "Star Trek" as precedent, showing that the franchise has a dim view of armed conflict and that anytime it happens, morals decay.

A Private Little War

The TrekMovie interviewer was astute enough to recognize the two episodes in question. The first was the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "The Siege of AR-558" (November 16, 1998), and the other was the original series episode "A Private Little War" (February 2, 1968) .

"A Private Little War," often referred to by Trekkies as "the Vietnam War episode" featured a peaceful, primitive planet that inexplicably started fighting each other with flintlock rifles, a technology centuries beyond their capabilities. Kirk (William Shatner) finds that the locals have been given the weapons by a Klingon named Krell (Ned Romero), a cruel interloper who wants to perpetuate a primitive Civil War for his own nefarious purposes. Kirk faces a moral dilemma. He can provide more weapons to the losing side of the Civil War, giving them a better chance for survival, but forcing him to actively perpetuate the conflict. Or he can step out and let one side be killed.

Byrd summed it up, saying:

"Yes, the one where they are selling the weapons and keep upgrading. So a lot of those were brought into this script-wise and then realized by me on set visually."

"The Siege of AR-558," meanwhile, is an out-and-out combat episode of "Deep Space Nine." At that point in the series, the Federation had been at war with the Dominion for over a year, and capturing communications relays was key to winning. Sisko (Avery Brooks) managed to fend off an attacking Dominion force, but lost many Federation officers in the process. The episode if violent and bleak. Everyone is injured and horrified. War is Hell. Davy Perez, the writer of "Under the Cloak of War," knew both "Private" and "Siege" when he penned the episode.

The Siege of AR-558

"The Siege of AR-558" also features a scene wherein Ensign Nog (Aron Eisenberg) has his foot blown off . Medicine in "Star Trek" is advanced enough to easily grown him a new one, but Nog still has to face horrible trauma. Byrd also noted other war movies outside of "Star Trek" that influenced the battle scenes in "Under the Cloak of War."

"Obviously, there are comparisons in here to ' Apocalypse Now' and there is a little ' Hamburger Hill' in there, and even some ' Born on the Fourth of July .' We discussed, on set, a lot of little Easter eggs [you would see] if you're looking really closely at certain little moments. We wanted to make sure that we got some iconic moments and framing and different things of these iconic war films so that it feels familiar but it's in a different time.

It's notable that the three films Byrd cited are all about the Vietnam War, the infamously messy quagmire that killed about 3.8 million people and achieved very little. That war was surrounded by lies and deceit, and the American soldiers knew it. Vietnam was proof that the United States war machine was an ignoble enterprise that cost billions and murdered the poor. It's no coincidence that the notoriously pacifistic "Star Trek" was created in the shadow of Vietnam. In a very real, living sense, "Star Trek" exists as a direct refutation of combat-forward thinking. Gene Roddenberry looked at the horrors of war and envisioned a future when it would be futile.

Very occasionally, "Star Trek" has to depict war, however, to remind audiences of how horrible it is.

IMAGES

Here's The Research That Went Into Bringing Nurse Chapel Back In Star
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Jess Bush On Exploring Nurse Chapel
Australian Actress Jess Bush is the New Nurse Chapel
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Star Explains Nurse Chapel Costume Change
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Jess Bush On Exploring Nurse Chapel
6 Ways Strange New Worlds Improved Nurse Chapel From Star Trek TOS

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COMMENTS

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In this week's Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the simmering tension between Lieutenant Spock and Nurse Christine Chapel finally hit a boiling point in "Charades" — as the two officers finally faced their feelings head on after Chapel fought to get Spock restored to his half-human, half-Vulcan self. We sat down with Nurse Chapel herself, actor Jess Bush, to talk about growing into the ...
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In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' "Under the Cloak of War," witness Christine Chapel's promotion on the moon of J'Gal while stationed during the Klingon War. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Star Explains Nurse Chapel Costume Change
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Jess Bush explains Nurse Chapel's costume change. The new series centers on Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the USS Enterprise five years before the Star Trek: The Original Series time-frame where Captain James T. Kirk would eventually helm the Federation flagship. Strange New Worlds is the sixth entry since writer-producer Alex ...
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62. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds keeps the character introductions going with the second member of the show's medical staff — giving us a first look at Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel. A character originated of course by Majel Barrett in the Original Series, Christine Chapel made three-dozen appearances between the classic Star Trek ...
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RELATED: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Recap: (S01E01) Strange New Worlds. Before Chapel joined the Enterprise crew, she trained to be a scientist under the tutelage of Dr. Roger Korby. Eventually, she falls in love with Korby and they get engaged. But following her fiancé's disappearance on the planet Exo III, she abandons her career as a ...
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Nurse Christine Chapel's new opportunity in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds raises the possibility that Jess Bush may be leaving the role at the end of season 2. At the start of Strange New Worlds' musical episode, "Subspace Rhapsody", Chapel is offered the chance to study under Doctor Roger Korby at the Fellowship of Archaeological Medicine.The placement will require Chapel to leave the USS ...
6 Ways Strange New Worlds Improved Nurse Chapel From Star Trek TOS
Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) has been significantly improved by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which has turned her into a bona fide fan favorite.Chapel is one of two Star Trek legacy characters originated by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry who are featured in Strange New Worlds, the other being Number One (Rebecca Romijn).But as a modernized prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, Strange ...
Australian Actress Jess Bush is the New Nurse Chapel
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Jess Bush
Jess Bush. Actress: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Jess Bush is an Australian actress, model, and visual artist who plays Christine Chapel in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. She rose to fame at age 19 as a contestant in the talent show Australia's Next Top Model which was followed by a successful career in modeling. In 2017, she appeared in two episodes of the long-running Australian soap opera ...
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Christine Chapel
Christine Chapel is a fictional character who appears in all three seasons of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Original Series, as well as Star Trek: The Animated Series and the films Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.Portrayed by Majel Barrett, she was the ship's nurse on board the Starfleet starship USS Enterprise.
Christine Chapel
I am a nurse first, Doctor McCoy, and a member of the crew of the Enterprise second.Christine Chapel Christine Chapel was a female Human Starfleet officer who lived during the 23rd century. She served in the medical department, a subsection of the sciences division, aboard the USS Enterprise from the late 2250s to the 2270s, before later serving at Starfleet Headquarters during the 2280s. As a ...
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In Star Trek: TOS, Nurse Chapel's romantic feelings for Spock were well-documented. Interestingly, given the character's role in Strange New Worlds, Dr. M'Benga (Booker Bradshaw) is the only Enterprise crew member who's sympathetic to Chapel's unrequited love for Spock. The rest of the crew treat it as a recurring joke, or even an irritation ...
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