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Casting Pike's Number One

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Poor Riker and Burnham
 
Seeing a lot of strong actresses being recommended here but almost all of them might be a little too old to play the part. Obviously we don't need a Majel lookalike but they probably need to be between 30-45.

As soon as I heard about Anson Mount playing Pike, I immediately thought that his Conviction (a Law & Order spinoff) costar, Milena Govich, would make a great Number One.

I still think that, BTW.

That's actually not a bad one at all. If they do cast the role, I don't think they will be hiring some huge name, but Govich could work. Maybe even someone like Haley Atwell, Rena Sofer, Angie Harmon.

I don't know. I hope they don't overlook Number One and put Spock there. Why can't we have both?
 
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Now that we've thrown out some ideas about her casting, what should her backstory be? My hope is that it hews closely to DC Fontana's backstory: that she's from the planet Illyria and is genetically engineered. I feel that her genetically engineered background could allow interesting discussions about the subject. I've always felt Trek is too one-sided on the issue(Bashir doesn't cut the mustard with me). It would be interesting to see someone who extolls the positives of genetic engineering. I would have her be human though. And Illyria would be a world colonized by humans who believed in GE, and wanted to continue using GE without fear of reprisal. Her stoic demeanor could be attributed to the fact she's genetically engineered. Perhaps the colonists wanted to make sure that their creations didnt end up like the Augments: violent and aggressive. So they carefully designed their personalities to be highly rational and more dispassionate. She could be the Trek outsider commenting on humanity. But she's an outsider not because she isnt human, but because of the fact she's genetically engineered.
 
Maybe gene therapy has left her with unexpected side effects, so it's less of an augment thing and more of a "this is what happened as a result, thrive with it".
 
Now that we've thrown out some ideas about her casting, what should her backstory be? My hope is that it hews closely to DC Fontana's backstory: that she's from the planet Illyria and is genetically engineered. I feel that her genetically engineered background could allow interesting discussions about the subject. I've always felt Trek is too one-sided on the issue(Bashir doesn't cut the mustard with me). It would be interesting to see someone who extols the positives of genetic engineering. I would have her be human though. And Illyria would be a world colonized by humans who believed in GE, and wanted to continue using GE without fear of reprisal. Her stoic demeanor could be attributed to the fact she's genetically engineered. Perhaps the colonists wanted to make sure that their creations didn't end up like the Augments: violent and aggressive. So they carefully designed their personalities to be highly rational and more dispassionate. She could be the Trek outsider commenting on humanity. But she's an outsider not because she isn't human, but because of the fact she's genetically engineered.
Maybe she's so stoic and logical by choice because she does tend to have a more aggressive temperament due to her genetic engineering. That would make for a much more interesting character in my view.
She's constantly at odds with her inner-self and uses Vulcan techniques to retain her composure.
Imagine the discussions she could have with Burnham over the incident in the pilot!
Internally she would probably agree with Burnham's actions, but externally she would see the folly of said actions.
Now there's real character conflict!
I can see her avoiding interpersonal relationships with the crew and keeping to herself most of the time when not on duty.
Would even be interesting to see Captain Pike be aware of her inner turmoil and have purposely promoted her to the bridge to keep an eye on her and also occasionally test her mettle by goading her on.

So many ways to go with a character like that I can't even list them all here.

:cool:
 
Una may not actually be human, if the new DSC books are anything to go by, and I think they are to some degree. CBS already has Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio on Limitless. She's a fantastic actor & would make a great Una/#1.

Desperate Hours specifically refers to Una as a Human who was raised by Illyrians. It's possible that some of the details may make their way onscreen, if we spend any time with the Enterprise crew, but I'm not holding my breath. I expect a non-speaking cameo at best.
 
What if she is working for Section 31? She doesn't have to be a good guy. Your going to need a twist at some point so why not her? PLus you don't want her to basically just be Pike's sidekick. That or I got a crazy idea which i'm not sure matches up with her age but they can fudge this and say that she is Tilly's mom she has talked about before.

Jason
 
What if she is working for Section 31? She doesn't have to be a good guy. Your going to need a twist at some point so why not her?

Because Section 31 has been driven into the ground way, way too much already. The fewer characters on DSC who have anything to do with it, the better.

And count me as part of the group who hopes Number One is just a normal human woman without any of this crap about Illyrians or genetic enhancement. We all know that "Number One" is an absolutely common nickname for a ship's first officer - why can't they just keep it simple?
 
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Number One is secretly the chief of Section 31, posing as a lowly XO on the Enterprise. All Section agents go by numbers now, like the Stonecutters in The Simpsons.
 
Now that we've thrown out some ideas about her casting, what should her backstory be? My hope is that it hews closely to DC Fontana's backstory: that she's from the planet Illyria and is genetically engineered. I feel that her genetically engineered background could allow interesting discussions about the subject. I've always felt Trek is too one-sided on the issue(Bashir doesn't cut the mustard with me). It would be interesting to see someone who extolls the positives of genetic engineering. I would have her be human though. And Illyria would be a world colonized by humans who believed in GE, and wanted to continue using GE without fear of reprisal. Her stoic demeanor could be attributed to the fact she's genetically engineered. Perhaps the colonists wanted to make sure that their creations didnt end up like the Augments: violent and aggressive. So they carefully designed their personalities to be highly rational and more dispassionate. She could be the Trek outsider commenting on humanity. But she's an outsider not because she isnt human, but because of the fact she's genetically engineered.
This was my take on Number One for series set in the April Era:
Lt. (jg). Maggie Garcia: Quiet and shy, she is ironically the ship's Communications Officer. Unknown to most of the crew, Garcia is a decendent of the Eugenic supermen who plunged Earth into war centuries ago. Smarter and stronger than most humans, but raised in isolation by scientists, Garcia is socially awkward and at times uncomfortable with "normals" and fears their reaction to her background. April, whose ancestors fought and died in the Eugenics Wars, isn't pleased to have her aboard. Goldman is her "sponsor" and one of the chief designers of the program to "mainstream" Eugenic Humans. Garcia was the number one candidate for this program. ;)

Anyone known to have an augment background is pretty much kept under lock and key by the Government of Earth. (The UFP turns a blind eye to this "internal matter") Part of the reason for this is the augment process causes various mental problems (paranoia, megalomania, sociopathic tendencies.) Garcia is on an experimental drug regimen to keep this under control. Which probably contributes to her shyness and quite demeanor. All the above would be plot points for various episodes and arcs
 
Because Section 31 has been driven into the ground way, way too much already. The fewer characters on DSC who have anything to do with it, the better.
CBS will do what they have to in order to shift the maximum quantity of Black Badge replicas. They won't only feature Section 31 heavily, but they're gonna retroactively apply it to season 1 where we saw the badges first. And then all of TOS via Pike's Enterprise.

You just wait.
 
Because Section 31 has been driven into the ground way, way too much already. The fewer characters on DSC who have anything to do with it, the better.

And count me as part of the group who hopes Number One is just a normal human woman without any of this crap about Illyrians or genetic enhancement. We all know that "Number One" is an absolutely common nickname for a ship's first officer - why can't they just keep it simple?

Problem is we know they will be using Section 31 so even if people don't like the idea it's kind of a done deal by now so the question is how they should be used. I think she can still be seen a normal human women and still be Section 31. I totally agree about the Illyrians and genetic enhancement stuff. No reason she can't just be someone who has a some natural human flaw that makes her join Section 31 or if they didn't do Section 31 makes her have some kind of other personal issue. I kind of like the idea that she is mentally ill in some way but not the tv kind of mentally ill where they act all crazy and stuff. More like someone who still lives their life and simply takes medicine to get by. I've always wanted to see Trek deal with the fact that things like OCD and Bi-Polar etc stuff seems to have gone away but how does it go away? Humans would still be born with these issues and even if you can cure these kind of conditions would people still be impacted by them on some unconscious level that people without them don't have to?

Jason
 
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