Number One, captain of the Enterprise

[Timo]

We have an exhaustive list on a different subject: how many Enterprises in Starfleet? It's been in dialogue and visuals half a dozen times, and still folks have difficulty accepting it.

There's no such list on Enterprise captains, in dialogue or in visuals. Just like there's no such list on Kirk's female acquaintances or Constitution class vessels or members of the Federation. And not even a single figure to indicate how long such a list would be were it to exist.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Enterprise has seen many captains.

My questions is, who the hell is Zarlo?!

A woman in command on the Enterprise, I think half the fandom just had an aneurism.

Good.

This guy..... holy. At least you're consistent.

Likewise. But I'll take her consistency over your misogynistic kind any day.

Also, you're kind of making her point for her by jumping through a bunch of hoops looking for a reason why the woman can't be captain.

Yep. Acting Captain. She took up that role in The Cage while still bearing the rank of Lt.

That being said, they won't break Canon and introduce a 4th Long-term Captain of the 1701 before the movie refit.

It's always been April, Pike and Kirk.

If Spock and Pike are joining Discovery, Enterprise will be in Drydock.

 

[mdtauk]

Number One commanding the Enterprise, whilst not promoted to Captain. Like an extended away mission for Captain Pike.

But I would not be adverse to Number One taking command as a newly promoted Captain of Discovery for Season 3. I guess it depends on the performance of the actress in the role for Season 2.

 

[Timo]

I guess the big thing continuity-wise is to somehow get rid of her before Pike's big accident, so that only Spock remains available for arguing with him on that mental euthanasia thing...

Having her go out in a blaze of glory before the mid-sixties would seem more fitting than having her promoted so high up that she can't take the time to go see Pike. Although she could also be sent somewhere across the galaxy on a daring mission of exploration or something.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Longinus]

I guess the big thing continuity-wise is to somehow get rid of her before Pike's big accident, so that only Spock remains available for arguing with him on that mental euthanasia thing...

Having her go out in a blaze of glory before the mid-sixties would seem more fitting than having her promoted so high up that she can't take the time to go see Pike. Although she could also be sent somewhere across the galaxy on a daring mission of exploration or something.

I'd prefer the latter. After being a highly successful acting captain of Enterprise while Pike is away on Discovery for couple of months, she is promoted to a full captain and given a ship of her own. During the events of 'the Menagerie', she is on a five-year mission exploring the final frontier.

 

[Timo]

It's also a bit of a balance thing, though: if she flies farther out than Kirk did, why is she not newsworthy? And if she doesn't, well, Kirk always found time to return to Earth from his own five-year sortie. (That is, the actual returning did not require time travel, even though it did involve time travel!)

There could also be drama in the two being at odds when Pike has his accident. She thinks "let him stew in that chair sauna of his for a while, I'll go meet him later on to gloat and share a drink or fifty", and of course she ends up being too late.

In any case, the circumstances might warrant just the sort of cruel background in-joke, like Earthlings evacuating to Ceti Alpha in "Twilight"... But of course we aren't going to touch on that on any serious sort of story level.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[mdtauk]

I'd prefer the latter. After being a highly successful acting captain of Enterprise while Pike is away on Discovery for couple of months, she is promoted to a full captain and given a ship of her own. During the events of 'the Menagerie', she is on a five-year mission exploring the final frontier.

Could be Discovery if they keep in mind where the ship needs to end up, so she is not available.

But I think whatever Pike does to help/save Spock in this season of Discovery, could become the reason that Spock goes to such lengths to help Pike in The Menagerie

 

[Grendelsbayne]

It's also a bit of a balance thing, though: if she flies farther out than Kirk did, why is she not newsworthy?

Nothing says she isn't newsworthy. That most decorated captains list included almost exclusively people who were never mentioned in the 24th century and most of them only showed up in the 23rd century once or twice, and weren't mentioned when they weren't around. That leaves plenty of room for Una to be another famous 23rd century captain in her later career.

 

[Timo]

Oh, certainly. It's just that if she went farther than Kirk, this would at the very least give new perspective to who Kirk was, how famous, how exceptional, so forth. Over-Kirking Kirk just strikes me as overkill.

All of this is well beyond the scope of DSC itself anyway. I'm delighted to see some of the "The Cage" characters again. And I'm also hoping we don't see all of them, for realism's sake. But dropping Number One from the mix would certainly be a bigger loss than dropping old Boyce or the rather irrelevant Tyler.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hythlodeus]

Oh, certainly. It's just that if she went farther than Kirk, this would at the very least give new perspective to who Kirk was, how famous, how exceptional, so forth. Over-Kirking Kirk just strikes me as overkill.

All of this is well beyond the scope of DSC itself anyway. I'm delighted to see some of the "The Cage" characters again. And I'm also hoping we don't see all of them, for realism's sake. But dropping Number One from the mix would certainly be a bigger loss than dropping old Boyce or the rather irrelevant Tyler.

Timo Saloniemi

A lot of Kirk's fame, I guess, came from him saving the day on a weekly basis, not from his exploration alone. No. 1 could've certainly gone farther than Kirk, exploring new lives and civilizations and whatever, but her mission was simply put a more boring one. less saving the day, more actual science stuff. which in itself makes for a great career, but one that history books seldom acknowledge

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

Umm, nope.

It was always Kirk until "The Menagerie" told us about Pike. It was then always Kirk and Pike until "Counter-Clock" told us about April. But there never was any "just" there. And never any sort of a limit on the "until"...

Yes. This.

Canon has always been created as they went along. It's not as if back in pre-production of The Cage in 1964 someone wrote the rules saying the first NCC-1701 was "First April, then Pike, then Kirk, then Decker, then Spock...and nobody else ever".

No, instead the list of former Enterprise Captains grew as the franchise went on. So why not add one more?

 

[dahj]

Enterprise has seen many captains.

 

[UssGlenn]

I'd love to see Number One be an actual captain of the Enterprise but dialogue from the Menagerie precludes putting anyone between Pike and Kirk.

MENDEZ: You ever met Chris Pike?
KIRK: When he was promoted to Fleet Captain.
MENDEZ: About your age. Big, handsome man, vital, active.
KIRK: I took over the Enterprise from him. Spock served with him for several years.

It would take some real gymnastics to have Number One as the official commanding Officer (rather than just in command in Pike's absence) with the rank of Captain and then have Pike come back to the Enterprise afterward.

 

[TrickyDickie]

Here it is.

Thanks for posting that.

 

[Tuskin38]

Some of you are acting like Pike is the permanent Captain of the Discovery.

We don’t know that.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

It would take some real gymnastics to have Number One as the official commanding Officer (rather than just in command in Pike's absence) with the rank of Captain and then have Pike come back to the Enterprise afterward.

First, it could be a field promotion to Captain, which gets reset when Pike returns. Remember, Riker was promoted to Captain in BoBW2, but was back to Commander by the end of the episode.

Second, it's not uncommon for two Captains to serve on the same ship. They don't both have to be in command.

 

[ITDUDE]

Some of you are acting like Pike is the permanent Captain of the Discovery.

We don’t know that.

Since STD is not in Prime I don't have a problem if Pike becomes Captain of Discovery. But ONLY if he is good, Lorca level good. Thought I still would prefer Lorca. BBL!

 

[Longinus]

Some of you are acting like Pike is the permanent Captain of the Discovery.

We don’t know that.

I think it is pretty bloody obvious that this is only a temporary assignment to solve this red blob crisis.

 

[TrickyDickie]

That made me think of this take on the old proverb:

 

[DigificWriter]

Re: Spock, we know we're seeing the character as a child, but no announcementhas as yet been made regarding seeing the character as an adult.

Re: Number One, there is, as has been said already, nothing in the Star Trek Canon (ENT, TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VGR, and the DSC novels) that precludes her from Captaining the Enterprise.

Since STD is not in Prime