Couldn't wheelchair Pike have had a Betazoid assistant

[Turtletrekker]

In universe.... Perhaps Pike didn't like the idea of someone always being able to hear his thoughts. It would mean anything he would want to keep to himself, would still be heard by one other.

How is that different from living with the Talosians?

 

[Yistaan]

How is that different from living with the Talosians?

The Talosians seemed fine with all the dirty thoughts in people's heads, going by the Cage and If Memory Serves. It doesn't phase them.

Betazoid assistant: Captain Pike, can you please try and stop thinking of Orion women, Number One, and Vina? It's incredibly distracting.
Pike: Beep beep.

 

[Nyotarules]

My headcanon has always been that the incident was simply recent enough that the Enterprise arrived at Starbase 11 before Pike's permanent arrangements could've been finalized. Perhaps a chair with a more versatile voice synthesizer was under construction on Vulcan and/or a Betazoid assistant was already dispatched, they just didn't arrive before Spock put his plan in motion.

Which is why Pike was beeping No, No all the time, he was waiting for his very attractive Betazoid assistant to show up or for his new bionic body. Or Betazoid were not members of the Federation, so the average person had very little contact with Starfleet personnel

 

[thribs]

While Betazoid was part of the Federation then, they kept their abilities a secret which is why it was never a option.

 

[Yistaan]

While Betazoid was part of the Federation then, they kept their abilities a secret which is why it was never a option.

Betazoid ambassador on Starbase 11 (telepathically): I and any member of my species could help you communicate Captain Pike. But... we won't!

Wheelchair Pike:

 

[AndorianAle]

Commodore Mendez: "Good morning, Fleet Captain Pike. You'll be happy to know we've arranged for you a special personal assistant. Betazoid. She'll be able to communicate your thoughts for us telepathically. Do you approve?"
Pike: "BEEEEP"
Mendez: "Excellent. She's beeming up now."
*JERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*
Mendez: "Welco-"
Lwaxana Graxx: "I am Lwaxana Graxx, daughter of the Third House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Kalos, Heir to the Holy Scepter of Betazed. Who are you and what's wrong with his face? Hmm, not much of a conversationalist, is he? What's with all of those blinking lights? They're giving me a head ache. I grow tired. Please show me to my room. I assume he'll be carrying my bags? Well he's got wheels, hasn't he? Just tie a rope around him and he can drag my personal belongings. They're quite heavy. Please make sure not to scuff them up."
Pike: "BEEEEP" "BEEEEP"
Lwaxana Graxx: " 'Please kill me?' My word. I had no idea in accepting this assignment that my beauty would be too much for this poor man. He doesn't feel he could get any work done having such beauty so close and be unable to touch it. He would rather die.
Pike: "BEEEEP" "BEEEEP"
Lwaxana Graxx: "Such naughty thoughts, Captain. You're making me blush."
Pike: "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP" "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP"

 

[jfordny]

I presume that Pike had a form of brain injury that gave him aphasia -- he could understand language, but couldn't formulate verbal thoughts himself. Only the Talosians' mental power was sufficient to overcome this.

Although it's still a reach. The frame story of "The Menagerie" just doesn't hold up to scrutiny, because it was a quickly contrived way to set up a plot that would let them expand the original pilot into a 2-parter and thus avoid falling too far behind their production schedule.

Hey, here's a wacky idea -- maybe Pike's inability to communicate was itself an illusion the Talosians created in order to manipulate events so that Pike would end up back in their clutches.

I agree with this. The Menagerie didn't hold up in the world of TOS. It's a clever way to use the original pilot, it's a great episode for Spock, but too much fanwanking is required for me to buy that the best that could be done for Pike is that chair. And Discovery just made the flaws more obvious, given the level of technology in the show. The Klingons not only transformed Voq into human, they implanted Tyler's consciousness into his brain, lol.

Then there are the Talosians, who have to be retconned into something far more benevolent than they are in the Cage. Or in If Memory Serves, where they require Burnhman to relive a painful memory and Vina makes the point that if they force payment it will not be pleasant.

Dumping Pike off there and portraying it as some sort of happy ending requires ignoring that the Talosians tortured him - by throwing him into an illusion that he was burning, ironically - when he didn't cooperate with them in the Cage.

I also wonder why he was kept alive if he needed a battery driven heart. I guess no one has medical directives in the 23rd century?

 

[thribs]

I’m pretty sure they say his brain was undamaged. It was the rest of his body that was beyond repair.

 

[Kemaiku]

I also wonder why he was kept alive if he needed a battery driven heart. I guess no one has medical directives in the 23rd century?

Picard's in the 24th was shown to be fairly primitive with a limited lifespan even with their era's tech.

 

[Yistaan]

They should have had something in the TOS bible that said that anything short of vaporization could be immediately cured with futuristic medical technology. Would have been an excellent cost cutting measure and forced writers to think of stories other than injuries that should be curable in the future.

 

[Vger23]

I honestly don't recall- was it ever established that the Federation had even encountered the Betazoids by the time of early TOS?

 

[Yistaan]

I honestly don't recall- was it ever established that the Federation had even encountered the Betazoids by the time of early TOS?

Yes, in Discovery. Harry Mudd robbed a bank on Betazed: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Bank

 

[thribs]

I honestly don't recall- was it ever established that the Federation had even encountered the Betazoids by the time of early TOS?

No on screen canonical source but there was one in Starfleet in the second Discovery novel.

 

[Yistaan]

No on screen canonical source but there was one in the second Discovery novel.

Harry Mudd knew as much to rob a bank there and boasted of it to Tyler, who showed no confusion about this planet.

 

[DaveyNY]

Maybe the Betazoids had contracts like the Deltans (Lt. Ilia) at that time, and couldn't or wouldn't be allowed to use their gifts around folks not so empowered?


(EDIT: sentence didn't make sense)

 

[thribs]

Harry Mudd knew as much to rob a bank there and boasted of it to Tyler, who showed no confusion about this planet.

I know but they never say they were part of the Federation there.

 

[Yistaan]

I know but they never say they were part of the Federation there.

Even if they weren't I highly doubt knowledge of their abilities would have escaped Starfleet Intelligence or Section 31 (in whatever state they are in at that time). Although helping Pike may not be high on their list of priorities.

 

[thribs]

Even if they weren't I highly doubt knowledge of their abilities would have escaped Starfleet Intelligence or Section 31 (in whatever state they are in at that time). Although helping Pike may not be high on their list of priorities.

But by the time the accident happens, Section 31 would have thought to be destroyed.

 

[Succubint]

TOS was adamant about telepathy being alien, unknown and rather threatening. Even the fact that Vulcans were telepaths was pretty much unknown to our main heroes! I doubt the Betazoid government would have been any more willing to confess to telepathic powers than the Vulcan one at this point.

While that may be true for later TOS, the second pilot that aired, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" disputes that. There's quite a bit of discussion of ESP, how common or uncommon it is. In fact all ship personnel have an ESP quota, which they looked up on the ship's computer. They found both Mitchell and Dehner had a high score. So it's not seen as an alien thing, but a natural development in their citizens. Due to the freak incident crossing the galactic barrier, however, having telepathic/telekinetic powers or the high potential for them did indeed become threatening.

 

[Yistaan]

While that may be true for later TOS, the second pilot that aired, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" disputes that. There's quite a bit of discussion of ESP, how common or uncommon it is. In fact all ship personnel have an ESP quota, which they looked up on the ship's computer. They found both Mitchell and Dehner had a high score. So it's not seen as an alien thing, but a natural development in their citizens. Due to the freak incident crossing the galactic barrier, however, having telepathic/telekinetic powers or the high potential for them did indeed become threatening.

This is one of those early installment episodes that never quite fit with the rest of the show. You would think Spock's Vulcan telepathy would have been affected by the Galactic Barrier, but apparently not.

How did the Federation stop any Betazoid or other telepathic race from flying a ship to the Barrier for instant godhood?