Number One - Your Take?

[gastrof]

the character was dropped due to poor test audience reaction.

Who was in that test audience? A bunch of television network executives with a pathological fear of anything innovative?

If I remember correctly, Majel herself said it was men who didn't like the idea of a woman having a command position (let alone SECOND in command), and women who took a "Who does she think SHE is?" attitude.

 

[Praetor]

Wow, I don't know how I missed this before:

I don't remember there being any hint of unrequited feelings during the episode itself, assuming we want to stick with what's actually on screen. Which I'm going to have to do, since I haven't read the manual you reference. The Keepers (or whatever the alien big heads were called) from "The Cage" suggested Number One as an alternative mate, but I don't remember their including her feelings for Pike among their list of her "qualifications." The other crewmember...can't remember her name...Lt. Something?...they specifically mentioned that she had a secret crush on him.

Yeoman Colt. And you're right, perhaps the unrequited feelings weren't explicitly shown. I think it was the character outline in 'TMoST' that suggested Number One was in love with the Captain but he overlooked her - sort of like how she was hurt when he referenced Yeoman Colt as a woman on the bridge annoyedly, and she took offense that he considered Number One "different, of course."

But yes, I always like the character, too. And I thought Majel looked fab as a brunette, despite the blue nail polish. I have no problem with considering her an alien of some sort, but...couldn't we have a logical, analytical human female? Such beings do exist, you know...

Oh, excuse me.

I also happened to prefer brunette Barrett, too - even the brunette Chapel.

The "USS Enterprise Officer's Manual" lists Kirk's crew from TOS/TAS, blended with additions from TMP and "Phase II", so it includes Spock, Decker, Ilia, DiFalco, Xon, Arex and M'Ress. Pike is listed separately as a Fleet Captain, now residing on Talos IV - and Number One, referred to only in Pike's biography as "Commander Leigh Chapel", is already off-ship.

DC Comics' first TOS annual included a scene where Number One as replaced as Kirk's intended first officer when her legs are crushed in a cargo bay accident. It was an article of "Star Trek Mysteries... Solved!", in a "Best of Trek" volume, that first speculated on the "Number One is Christine Chapel's older sister" stuff. Writer Leslie Thompson also speculated several possibilities for why Number One had no name, and was rather emotionless.

In my own fanfic, in a story that came out just after ST IV, and set up as a post-ST II story, I called Number One "Admiral Leigh Certaine" (looking up a thesaurus for interesting synonyms for the term "one"), and revealed her to be Christine's sister. I also referred to mysterious alternate names, and mentioned the leg-crushing accident. (It was interesting that Peter David later decided on Morgan "Primus" for his mysterious Number One analog in the "New Frontier" novels.)

Majel Barrett's own take on the character, prepared for her own "research" in the lead-up to making the pilot, was essentially what inspired the DC Fontana take on the character in "Vulcan's Glory". It fits quite well with the idea that Ilyria is an old Earth colony where the populace experimented with an alternate lifestyle.

You are a breathing encyclopedia. Thank you.

I also like the name you came up with. "Certaine" is pretty cool. Married name, or...? I wonder if it's possible to reconcile the idea of Number One being Chapel's older sister with her being Morgan Primus?

 

[Therin of Andor]

I also like the name you came up with. "Certaine" is pretty cool. Married name, or...?

Well, I never got around to finishing the story with her next appearance, but I was planning to have her bob up with a different name each time. That way, her getting called Lefler (in "The Captain's Table" novel), Robbins (in Marvel's comic), and Primus (in "New Frontier") all fits the character.

I'm wondering if she's Section 31, or maybe a member of a fifth column trying to thwart Section 31.

I wonder if it's possible to reconcile the idea of Number One being Chapel's older sister with her being Morgan Primus?

Why not? Remember, Morgan Primus is an immortal, so whatever tampering they were seemingly doing to numbered fetuses on Ilyria might have accidentally created an immortal. Of course, "New Frontier" also suggests that Morgan might once have been Morgan Le Fay, of Arthurian/Excalibur legend.

 

[Praetor]

I also like the name you came up with. "Certaine" is pretty cool. Married name, or...?

Well, I never got around to finishing the story with her next appearance, but I was planning to have her bob up with a different name each time. That way, her getting called Lefler (in "The Captain's Table" novel), Robbins (in Marvel's comic), and Primus (in "New Frontier") all fits the character.

I'm wondering if she's Section 31, or maybe a member of a fifth column trying to thwart Section 31.

Ahh, I see. I think you should finish it.

I like the idea of her working for an anti-Section 31... maybe even an FBI to their CIA, sort of?

I wonder if it's possible to reconcile the idea of Number One being Chapel's older sister with her being Morgan Primus?

Why not? Remember, Morgan Primus is an immortal, so whatever tampering they were seemingly doing to numbered fetuses on Ilyria might have accidentally created an immortal. Of course, "New Frontier" also suggests that Morgan might once have been Morgan Le Fay, of Arthurian/Excalibur legend.

Oh, that's interesting, I didn't realize the Le Fay connection. Especially clever, given the ship's name.

Given that, I think I'd prefer she was Christine Chapel's mother rather than sister, making Robin Lefler Christine's generations-removed half-sister. TMoST did call her "one of those rare beauties who looks the same from years twenty to sixty" or something along those lines.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I think I'd prefer she was Christine Chapel's mother rather than sister, making Robin Lefler Christine's generations-removed half-sister.

Mmmmm. Works better now we know she's an immortal. When the siblings idea was first mooted, the author (Thompson) was assuming a gap between the sisters' ages based on "The Cage" and TOS.

Of course, Peter David has been notoriously evasive on "Primus = Number One", insisting she's simply the character in "New Frontier" that would be played by Majel Barrett, since Majel had had on-screen roles in TOS, TAS, TMP, ST IV, TNG and DS9.

 

[Praetor]

Peter David's sneaky that way.

 

[dru]

IDW has a Trek mini-series called "Star Trek: Crew," written and drawn by comics legend and TOS fan John Byrne. It centers on "Number One" coming up through the ranks.

Links to TrekWeb reviews of the first issue:
http://trekweb.com/articles/2009/03/19/Comics-Review-Star-Trek-Crew-Issue-1.shtml

Preview of the third issue:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=2537

 

[Therin of Andor]

IDW has a Trek mini-series called "Star Trek: Crew," written and drawn by comics legend and TOS fan John Byrne. It centers on "Number One" coming up through the ranks.

And, once again, she is elusive about her name. At one point she signs her name in issue #1, but readers don't get to see what she wrote.

 

[Jeyl]

If I remember correctly, Majel herself said it was men who didn't like the idea of a woman having a command position (let alone SECOND in command), and women who took a "Who does she think SHE is?" attitude.

Well, the writers for the new Star Trek movie obviously didn't disagree with them.

 

[ClayinCA]

If I remember correctly, Majel herself said it was men who didn't like the idea of a woman having a command position (let alone SECOND in command), and women who took a "Who does she think SHE is?" attitude.

According to Herb Solow and Bob Justman's Inside Star Trek, that's because this was the story Gene told Majel when the network made him get rid of her; if true, this probably explains why this was also the story Gene always told in public, since he couldn't very well tell Majel this made-up version and then "go public" with the truth.