Every Version Of Christopher Pike On Star Trek

Good for them. I'll have the cookies baked In an hour or so.

Meanwhile, Hunter. Is. Pike. Period.

 

For me he is. You can keep JJ-Pike and Disco-Pike.

 

I'd be interested to see the onscreen minutes of Hunter in The Cage vs. Greenwood in the two Star Trek movies, to see who has actually acted as Pike the longest.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it was Hunter. Greenwood did fine with what he had, but his Pike was very much a supporting character. He made speeches to Kirk then died. And didn't even get to save a bunch of cadets from radiation poisoning before he did.

I think Anson Mount has been great in the role on Discovery. Yes, he's the one who wound up with the screentime, but he's made the most of it.

 

Nope.

 

Hunter's Pike was depressed, grim and sexist. While I appreciate "The Cage" being integral to Trek's beginnings, Hunter's version is easily the weakest of the three. Not much charisma as a result of the depression and a lot of extremely dated cringe regarding the sexism. That has not aged well.

 

Anson mount does a much better job.

 

"The Cage" is such a weird quasi-crossroads in Trek history. In some ways, it almost feels more like a product of the 1950s than the 1960s. Roddenberry's "grand future vision" is clearly there on paper, there's a woman second-in-command and the helm officer is described as Latino etc, but in the final product we have not so veiled sexism and "Jose" is cast with a white all-American-boy type a long way from his description in the story outline. The overtures to Trek's progressivism are there, but are being anchored by attitudes that seem decidedly post-war. Pike says he can't get used to women being on his bridge when there are at least three female officers present (one of them a background extra, but still). Where does he think they should be, baking cookies in the Enterprise kitchen? "The Cage" is an amazing piece of television for its time, and clearly a roadmap to the rest of the franchise with echoes that reach through all incarnations and into the present day, but in these aspects it's aged even worse than TOS itself.

 

Jeffery Hunter will always have a special place in Trek history. But even I, the huge Discovery fan that I am, have to admit that Mount has knocked the cover off the ball with his version of Pike.

As far as Bruce Greenwood goes, and I am a huge fan of the Abrams films, his version felt flat to me. Almost more of how I envisioned Robert April.

 

While I like both Greenwood and Mount's portrayals, they both seem a little more folksy/earthy than how I always envisioned Pike based on Hunter in The Cage.

Kor

 

Yeah, but the dour hard-edged Pike would've grated quickly. Especially after a season of Lorca doing much of the same thing.

We just have to accept that there was more to Pike's personality than what was on display in "The Cage" or that this is an alternate timeline.

Or both.

 

I'm a huge fan of Captain Pike and Jeffery Hunter, but I will agree to disagree on this point.

Hunter presented a scarred version of Pike (um, no pun intended) which did not give the opportunity to fully explore that character. With due respect to all parties, I would rather have Mount and Greenwood if it means more of a character that I find to be very interesting and wanted to see more of.

I may not get more of Hunter's Pike but I am happy to have more of the character Pike. And that is sufficient for me.

 

Yeah the thing to really remember about The Cage is that it presents a 'moment in time' for Pike... we didn't really get to see much of Pike the confident commander, or his folksy personality outside of the being back on the farm in Mojave and the line "now you're sounding like my doctor, bartender" (delivered with warmth and a beautiful little smile by Hunter). Otherwise all we see is a man on his guard from the world, emotionally broken and somewhat detached, the main image of him with a scowl and brooding. It leaves a false impression of the character as a whole. I feel like Anson Mount does a fantastic job of taking up Hunter's portrayal of the character but fleshing out the humanity of him. This is the Pike I would have hoped we would have gotten a chance to see, if Hunter had continued in the role.

 

Well, I always thought of him as more of a tough-as-nails rancher, than an easygoing farmer.

Kor

 

Since I have met people who can be both, depending on the situation, I think that Pike fits that just fine.

 

Yes, Greenwood was great in that avuncular, paternal role, but he didn't make any sense as Pike. Pike was established as being a near contemporary of Kirk, not Kirk's dad.

Greenwood's Pike was a totally different character with a namecheck for the fans. Captain April might have been a better choice, but wouldn't have landed the wheelchair gag at the end of ST09.

Anson Mount is just perfect and is killing it as Pike. But at the same time I can buy him as the same guy as Hunter played. Pike in The Cage is clearly depressed and morose, and I can completely believe he grew into Mount's version of the character.

 

Well, sort of halfway. In "The Menagerie" we learned that Pike was Kirk a dozen years before Kirk, thus probably about a dozen years after Kirk's dad.

Ditto! (Or just stopped being the Hunter version after the brief bout of depression was over, and returned to being Mount.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

Jeffrey Hunter conveyed everything I needed to know about Captain Pike, and I can imagine the great adventures he had along with his crew of the Starship Enterprise. He's an interesting character and I would like to close the book on him. Greenwood was planted as the Obiwan Kenobi role for Chris Pine's JJ Kirk; the mentor to teach Kirk something... but I wish I knew what it was? Mount is only there on Disco just to make their character Burnham look better, the latter versions of Pike were positioned to support the lead actor and not make an impression they would have their own series. Objectives were different from "The Cage" to JJTrek and Disco.

 

You don't have a clue as to what you are talking about. Mount has done a great job as Pike, and isn't playing second fiddle to Martin-Green.