Star Trek: Strange New Worlds needs to avoid a grave Captain Pike mistake

Yet, as those miracles multiply, for some they begin to butt against the franchise’s future: specifically the disability of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount).

If, a small but growing online discourse asks, medicine is so advanced, surely Strange New Worlds’ writers can find a way to ‘save’ Pike from a disability that sees him using a combination of a power-wheelchair and an iron lung, paralysed and unable to speak.

Ableist as this already is – and it’s an argument that often extends to magic in fantasy, too – as is often the case, it’s a smokescreen for a more troubling and revealing ableist sentiment. The argument here is less that 23rd century medicine should erase disability (which is bad enough) but because Mount has made Pike so likeable he especially ‘deserves a real happy ending’. Anyone else and it doesn’t matter. But Pike – we like that guy.

It’s an odd argument for any purported Star Trek fan. Star Trek has historically treated disability with a similar acceptance as the other issues upon which it comments. This building on Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s ethos – as communicated to a reporter who, in response to Sir Patrick Stewart’s casting as Jean-Luc Picard, suggested that baldness would be cured by the time of The Next Generation – that, “No, by the 24th century, no one will care.”

It’s not a philosophy Star Trek, or Roddenberry, has always observed. The Original Series two-parter The Menagerie, written by Roddenberry, sees Spock (Leonard Nimoy) kidnap Pike (then Sean Kenney) and deposit him on Talos IV, where he exists in a kind of psychic space hospice and an illusion of non-disability.

The Menagerie doesn’t shy away from depicting disability or its challenges in the advanced realm of medicine certain fans posit should erase that disability, but it also reflects the shaky ground often fashioned by The Original Series around disability as it prefers cure to accommodation.

This improved in The Next Generation. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) is not only a blind senior officer, in sharp contrast to The Original Series’ view of blindness as career-ending, but prominently uses a sequence of advancing disability aids.

Capping a range of other disability representations this carries through to recent series, with Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts) using mechanical implants to manage battle injuries in Discovery, rather than writers magically healing them with space medicine.

The intersection of advancing medicine and health – including disability – has been a running theme in Star Trek. We’ve watched characters rehabilitated from Borg assimilation, brought back to life with nanoprobes, cured of cancer, even handed a magic pill that reverses kidney failure, and, ironically, we’ve also seen Pike’s disability addressed in Strange New Worlds.

Perhaps to head-off speculation and put questions about it to bed, Strange New Worlds makes Pike becoming aware of his future and processing his grief the overarching narrative of season 1. It was handled, for the most part, well; mirroring the impact of a host of similar real-world prognoses.

Yes, there’s a hint of that tired trope of disability sacrifice – of course Pike is injured selflessly saving cadets and of course he accepts it almost immediately when doing otherwise could risk thousands of lives in a war with the Romulans.

But it works, it feels real. Not just for disabled viewers but able-bodied viewers too. That’s a significant thing to ignore to pursue the idea of curing Pike. In doing so, not only are certain viewers wilfully misunderstanding disability, but also Star Trek.

Yes, there could be more nuance to Star Trek’s depiction of Pike’s disability beyond what we saw in 1966 – though, one can justifiably argue that we’ve not come that far on disability since then. Star Trek is far from perfect on the subject, with Deep Space Nine’s clumsy handling of autism immediately coming to mind.

But that’s the point. Star Trek at its holistic best grows; it understands the present and tries, not always successfully, to reflect that back to us in narratives that are more digestible through their abstraction in science fiction.

If we see Pike’s disability again – rumours of a potential reboot of The Original Series make that a possibility – would it not make more sense to demonstrate a future that is more sincere, understanding, and particularly accommodating of disability (and thus, in the traditions of Star Trek at its best, a reflection of what our present should be)? Rather than indulging the limited idea of that future harboured by a small pocket of viewers certain that disability and happiness are mutually exclusive. I would much rather see Pike as a mirror to our own societal failings than simply adopting them.

To be fair, Strange New Worlds has given no indications it even intends to show, let alone revisit, Pike’s disability. But in a modern television landscape that is far from impervious to the pressure of misguided online discourse and following a less-than-inclusive season 3, I’m not as certain of that as I’d like to be.

Instead, I have to maintain hope that Roddenberry’s now-famous retort has staying power and that, to the question of whether disability should be erased by Star Trek medicine, whether it’s the 23rd, 24th, or the 21st century, the answer is no.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is available to stream on Paramount+.

Add Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.

Check out more of our Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.