It's said that Miss Piper was a highly efficient female administrator who captures our eye and I'd like to say that actress Julie Parrish certainly did that! 
JB
JB
Lt. Helen Johansson - What was the deal?
- Thread starter JonnyQuest037
- Start date
- Status
Now that I know what to look for, my attention is immediately drawn to her chest.
No doubt she's Mendez' assistant. But part of Starbase 11 staff, or part of Mendez' retinue visiting that starbase? The flower/starburst symbol ties her to the Commodore, who himself is separated from Stone and perhaps from the base by it.
Piper herself comments on communications regarding Pike - but all her lines basically center on Pike as a patient, and suggest that her role is one associated with the hospital or with Pike's personal care. She does not report on the theft of the starship, but on the disappearance of the patient, moments before anything else is found amiss, and apparently very shortly after the actual whisking away of the patient. And her communications comments also really directly relate to the medical impossibility of Pike having sent them.
A scenario that might clear up a few oddities might have Pike delivered to SB 11 from somewhere else mere days before the adventure, as part of Mendez' retinue when the Commodore, a good friend of Pike's (but not of Kirk's), moves to that location. Perhaps Mendez wanted to take Pike away from all the hubbub at the more centrally located original treatment center, and for that reason was all the more surprised that Kirk had been able to locate him.
A combination of months-long subspace gossip and total lack of visitors, plus extreme surprise at visitors nevertheless appearing, would be nicely explained by Mendez deliberately hiding Pike away in the far frontier, in Stone's starbase...
...Which just happens to sit right next to Talos. So probably the actions of Mendez (or whoever delivered Pike) were already being affected by Talosian telepathic trickery!
Oh, how much we can derive from the chest of Miss Piper here!
Timo Saloniemi
No doubt she's Mendez' assistant. But part of Starbase 11 staff, or part of Mendez' retinue visiting that starbase? The flower/starburst symbol ties her to the Commodore, who himself is separated from Stone and perhaps from the base by it.
Piper herself comments on communications regarding Pike - but all her lines basically center on Pike as a patient, and suggest that her role is one associated with the hospital or with Pike's personal care. She does not report on the theft of the starship, but on the disappearance of the patient, moments before anything else is found amiss, and apparently very shortly after the actual whisking away of the patient. And her communications comments also really directly relate to the medical impossibility of Pike having sent them.
A scenario that might clear up a few oddities might have Pike delivered to SB 11 from somewhere else mere days before the adventure, as part of Mendez' retinue when the Commodore, a good friend of Pike's (but not of Kirk's), moves to that location. Perhaps Mendez wanted to take Pike away from all the hubbub at the more centrally located original treatment center, and for that reason was all the more surprised that Kirk had been able to locate him.
A combination of months-long subspace gossip and total lack of visitors, plus extreme surprise at visitors nevertheless appearing, would be nicely explained by Mendez deliberately hiding Pike away in the far frontier, in Stone's starbase...
...Which just happens to sit right next to Talos. So probably the actions of Mendez (or whoever delivered Pike) were already being affected by Talosian telepathic trickery!
Oh, how much we can derive from the chest of Miss Piper here!
Timo Saloniemi
Good catch. I never thought of the pre-episode maneuvers just to get Pike close to Talos for the final leg of his trip to Talos itself. Those Talosians are brilliant.
And had obviously changed their ideas about a human slave colony out on the surface of their planet. Now they just wanted to help the disfigured Captain Pike!
JB
JB
Kirk had a bit of a type, other than Miramanee. We can probably guess what Lt. Johansson looked like. And for my money his two best/most interesting relationships outside of Miramanee were with two aliens (incidentally fitting that type) who wanted to and did use him for the preservation of their own races.
Last edited:
So Johansson is blonde, mature-looking, academically disposed, and interested in preventing the extinction of Swedes as an ethnic group, at whatever cost? Sounds just about right for Jim, with or without a cosh in his head or a phaser pointed at him.
While Kirk may avoid dating direct subordinates, we don't see him interacting with UFP civilians a lot. For gossip to travel, Starfleet personnel would appear to have to be involved: as Kirk's mark, as the middlemen or -women, and as the party that has the opportunity to remark on the rumors on-camera. But heaven knows what sorts of rumors circulate about Jim in the civilian world(s)...
Timo Saloniemi
While Kirk may avoid dating direct subordinates, we don't see him interacting with UFP civilians a lot. For gossip to travel, Starfleet personnel would appear to have to be involved: as Kirk's mark, as the middlemen or -women, and as the party that has the opportunity to remark on the rumors on-camera. But heaven knows what sorts of rumors circulate about Jim in the civilian world(s)...
Timo Saloniemi
Exposure to Federation civilians could be somewhat limited if you spend years on active starship duty. Not impossible, but limited. During those years Kirk could have spent some time planetside if whatever ship he was assigned to was temporarily out of service due to systems upgrade or repair.
I definitely think Miss Piper's chest is worthy of further study.
By the way, is "miss" how female Starfleet officers are addressed? Saavik was called "sir" in TWOK.
"Miss" was pretty commonly used in TOS, as it was still commonly used in the 1960s.
In the 1960s US, "Miss" was generally considered the proper way to address an unmarried woman. "Missus" (or "Mistress," both abbreviated "Mrs.") ditto for a married woman. Today, in both cases, it's generally "Ms" (often written as an abbreviation, as "Ms.").
"Miss Jane Wyatt"!
Gary Mitchell seemed to drag Kirk to the bars to pick up chicks starting early in his career. Even as Captain, Kirk hit the bars as soon as he hit the planet surface as seen in Court Martial and Wold In The Fold. I assume he had ample chances to pick up chicks over the years.
"Mister" Saavik, actually.
The classic way to apply "Mister" in the military has been in reference to a person of commissioned rank (up to Lieutenant Commander only) who is lower in rank than the one addressing, and somewhat known to that one (that is, a direct subordinate). Starfleet use of "Miss" in TOS, as in "Miss Piper" or "Miss Uhura", would probably follow that pattern, or attempt to, writer lapses notwithstanding. But perhaps "Miss" would be a bit informal by the rigid standards of the hyper-conservative Starfleet Academy, where "Mister" still remains the gold standard as a callback to the time when Y chromosomes were an entry requirement?
Or then Saavik is male, in some sense that matters to her. Or to him - McCoy is the only one to refer to Saavik as a she, in the elevator scene and out of the range of her (his?) Vulcan ears, and I already mentioned the rigid standards of the hyper-conservative...
Using "Sir" for somebody of lower rank is permitted but may be considered an insult, akin to "Good Day, Mr Rumpkin" not exactly meaning that one wishes Mr Rumpkin to enjoy his day. Commodore Stocker uses it in the respectful sense for Kirk in "Deadly Years", though. Kirk or Mendez calling Piper "Sir" would definitely be unusual.
Timo Saloniemi
Oops, missed this one.
If they thought that a disfigured Vina was no obstacle to their slavery plans, then a disfigured Pike would alter nothing...
Timo Saloniemi
Saavik being called "Mister" was just another aspect of Nicholas Meyer's "Nautical But Nice"/Horatio Hornblower theme for TWOK. I wouldn't read anything more into it than that.
So we've had lots of extra-canon stories about Kirk's relationships with such lovely ladies as Carol Marcus, Edith Keeler, Janet Wallace, Areel Shaw, Ruth, Janice Lester, Janice Rand, Helen Noel, and others, but AFAIK, there's never been a story that covered his relationship with someone who was only mentioned but never seen on TOS... Lt. Helen Johansson, mutual friend of Miss Piper.
From "The Menagerie, Part I":
The transcription doesn't quite do the exchange justice, as it's obvious that Kirk is rather embarrassed, probably because Helen is gossiping about him to other Starfleet officers, and most definitely because Miss Piper chose to tease him about it in front of Commodore Mendez.
So... What was the deal? I personally have a lot of trouble imagining the Kirk we saw on TOS ever having a relationship with his direct subordinate, considering how he embarrassed he was about his attractions to Janice Rand and Helen Noel. Did he just have a fling with Helen Johansson, sometime before he took command of the Enterprise? Were they contemporaries? Did he realize that she was in Starfleet when he met her? Did she join Starfleet sometime after her relationship with Kirk? Did Kirk have some extra reason to be embarrassed about his relationship with her? Was she a descendant of Scarlett Johansson? What?
Serious answers, funny answers, whatever you want! Go nuts!
Before I read the rest of the thread, I going to say what I thought it meant:
I understood that it was Helen Noel, and she had married in between. The episodes are a while apart going by stardates. Kirk might be worried Helen told about how he acted during that episodes, and the finds out Helen did not give that much detail.
Interesting idea.
I don't see how Helen Noel could go into much embarrassing detail, though, as all she and Kirk did was dance & talk about the stars. According to the original script for "Dagger of the Mind," Kirk initially thought that Noel was a passenger on the Enterprise, and was very embarrassed when he realized that she was actually a member of his crew. Apparently, he felt that even doing THAT much with a crew member was stepping over the line.
I guess I should have clarified that I meant how he acted towards Helen Noel after he met up with Dr. Adams.
But in the treatment room, Helen had Kirk in a hypnotic trance, and he has no memory of her testing the machine on him. And it got personal.
Overall, I think Helen Johanson was someone else, and the script intended it to mean that Kirk is a good lay, so much so that Miss Piper finds him desirable on hearsay alone.
- Status
Similar threads
