Why the Change?

[The Wormhole]

^ When did that happen?

The Legacies trilogy.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Ah, so it DIDN'T happen on the show after all, then? So why would the novels need to come up with anything?

 

[The Wormhole]

Recognition. How do you establish that she's Majel Barrett's character from The Cage? Have someone call her Number One. But in this story she's a Captain with her own command, why is anyone calling her Number One? Here's why...

 

[Tim Thomason]

In the episode Colt is referred to as an "Earth woman" while Boyce and Tyler don't deny being human when the old man at the crash site calls them human. Although, neither does Spock, so interpret that however you want.

Well, Spock is half-human. He has just as much right to being called "human" as he does to all the times he has been identified as a "Vulcan".

 

[Tenacity]

Why make it any more complicated than that?

because that would place another nonhuman in the senior command group, a step away from being a homosap only club

 

[Noname Given]

View attachment 3426 One word you won’t see in Number One’s bio: human.

One word you will see: mysterious.
View attachment 3425

You realize GR was banging Majel at the time he wrote that (IE Anything to impress her )

 

[Greg Cox]

Recognition. How do you establish that she's Majel Barrett's character from The Cage? Have someone call her Number One. But in this story she's a Captain with her own command, why is anyone calling her Number One? Here's why...

Well, we did break down and give her an actual name as well . . . just because getting through three books without mentioning her real name was going to be a headache.

 

[Maurice]

In the Star Trek the Webcomic story "Basis of Proof" (LINK) she gets the name Isadora Barrett.

 

[Herbert]

I guess I just don't get why everyone thinks she's an alien just because Pike calls her Number One. That's a common term for a ship's first officer. Why make it any more complicated than that?

I'm just fine with her being human. For me, canon is what I see on the screen.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Recognition. How do you establish that she's Majel Barrett's character from The Cage? Have someone call her Number One.

Unnecessary. Her time on the Enterprise could be clearly referenced without using a nickname like that.

 

[FormerLurker]

There's even a way to use the nickname without using it to address her.

"She was Captain Pike's Number One."

Carry on from there.

 

[Vger23]

I'm just fine with her being human. For me, canon is what I see on the screen.

Not just for you, but for everyone..."On the screen" is essentially the Star Trek franchise's definition of canon.

 

[Timewalker]

As I understand it, the novels first described her as an Illyrian more than a decade before we ever saw an Illyrian onscreen in ENTERPRISE. (I think it was D.C. Fontana, no less, who first described Number One as "Illryian" way back in 1989, long before ENTERPRISE was a gleam in UPN's eyes.)

And there's some wiggle room as to whether "Illryian" is a species or a nationality. It could be that some "Illyrians" are simply humans descended from colonists who settled in the Illryian system generations ago. For myself, I assume that she's a different kind of "Illyrian," possibly from a different planet in the same system, than the ones in that ENTERPRISE ep.

My familiarity with "Illyria" is for three reasons:

1. Shakespeare's comedy "Twelfth Night" is set there; fraternal twins Viola and Sebastian are shipwrecked, Viola thinks Sebastian is dead, and when she's told where she is, she asks in bewilderment, "What will I do in Illyria?".

2. Illyria is one of the nations in the old Civilization board game. I had to play them a couple of times, and it's a pain to be stuck off in a corner of the gameboard.

3. It's mentioned in Xena: Warrior Princess (I don't recall the context, as it's been a very long time since I last saw any episodes of that show).

Well, that I can kind of understand as the novels do need to come up with a reason for why she would be referred to as "Number One" when she had been promoted and given a command of her own.

I can see it now. She's got the viewscreen on and is introducing herself to an alien captain:

"Greetings. I am Captain Number One of the Federation Starship (whatever her ship's name is)."

The alien responds politely, then asks in confusion: "How many captains does your ship have, anyway?"