Why the Change?

The Legacies trilogy.

 

^ Ah, so it DIDN'T happen on the show after all, then? So why would the novels need to come up with anything?

 

Recognition. How do you establish that she's Majel Barrett's character from The Cage? Have someone call her Number One. But in this story she's a Captain with her own command, why is anyone calling her Number One? Here's why...

 

Well, Spock is half-human. He has just as much right to being called "human" as he does to all the times he has been identified as a "Vulcan".

 

because that would place another nonhuman in the senior command group, a step away from being a homosap only club

 

You realize GR was banging Majel at the time he wrote that (IE Anything to impress her )

 

Well, we did break down and give her an actual name as well . . . just because getting through three books without mentioning her real name was going to be a headache.

 

In the Star Trek the Webcomic story "Basis of Proof" (LINK) she gets the name Isadora Barrett.

 

I'm just fine with her being human. For me, canon is what I see on the screen.

 

Unnecessary. Her time on the Enterprise could be clearly referenced without using a nickname like that.

 

There's even a way to use the nickname without using it to address her.

"She was Captain Pike's Number One."

Carry on from there.

 

Not just for you, but for everyone..."On the screen" is essentially the Star Trek franchise's definition of canon.

 

My familiarity with "Illyria" is for three reasons:

1. Shakespeare's comedy "Twelfth Night" is set there; fraternal twins Viola and Sebastian are shipwrecked, Viola thinks Sebastian is dead, and when she's told where she is, she asks in bewilderment, "What will I do in Illyria?".

2. Illyria is one of the nations in the old Civilization board game. I had to play them a couple of times, and it's a pain to be stuck off in a corner of the gameboard.

3. It's mentioned in Xena: Warrior Princess (I don't recall the context, as it's been a very long time since I last saw any episodes of that show).

I can see it now. She's got the viewscreen on and is introducing herself to an alien captain:

"Greetings. I am Captain Number One of the Federation Starship (whatever her ship's name is)."

The alien responds politely, then asks in confusion: "How many captains does your ship have, anyway?"