Hello all Ric here!
The final episode of Strange New Worlds season one tackled the overhanging question of why
does Pike not attempt to alter his future, now that he knows his fate?
And I have to say, the changes that would be wrought onto the timeline from how he attempted
to handle things were great to see unfold in that episode set in the year 2266, during
the events of “Balance of Terror”, but in an altered “what-if” timeline.
So let’s discuss those changes, because for the most part, they hold up as believable
outcomes.
There are some things that can also be chalked up to the fact that 7 years of difference
have passed between Pike choosing to alter his fate and the encounter with the Romulans,
and there are a lot of minor things that could build up in that time.
To begin with, the initial repercussion is that there are now going to me more cadets
alive that make it through the incident that condemns Pike, but there is a far greater
change that takes place.
In effect, it seems that Pike does not accept promotion to Fleet Captain, or if he does,
he chooses to remain aboard the USS Enterprise.
Whether this change is a motivation to further avoid the accident in his future, or a repercussion
of some other alteration, he remains in the centre chair of the iconic vessel long after
he should have stepped away before handing over command to Kirk.
There is also the possibility that his tour as Fleet Captain was only ever to be temporary
and he was slated to return to the Enterprise upon its conclusion.
This has a major knock on effect, for now with a different captain, the following missions
unfold in an entirely different fashion and it has me wondering how this alternate Pike
would have dealt with other missions The Original Series covered.
We see that Una Chin-Riley is still removed from the vessel, allowing for the executive
officer position to fall to Spock, so that remains the same and Uhura continues to serve
aboard the Enterprise too, after all why would she not?
We also learn that since the departure of Hemmer, the Enterprise now has a new Chief
Engineer of Scottish decent, but they are not named only heard.
Chapel potentially remains on board, but so does Joseph M’Benga as the Chief Medical
Officer, meaning the place was never open for Leonard McCoy to assume, despite the fact
that M’Benga does remain aboard the Enterprise as a part of McCoy’s team in the prime reality.
Alongside this, many of Pike’s familiar crew remain, although La’an seems to accept
a transfer to the USS Farragut as a Commander.
To me this makes sense for the environment that Captain Pike liked to foster among his
senior staff, so it’s only natural that many would want to remain on the Enterprise
as a part of his command.
The biggest issue is brought forth when it is highlighted that Captain James Kirk cannot
be in command of the Enterprise if Pike remained.
The Enterprise was already an iconic vessel among the fleet and a poster for what Starfleet
could achieve and strive for, when Kirk assumed command, the youngest officer to make captain
in Starfleet, the achievements of that ship mounted.
While Kirk still has an incredible career path laid out for him in this alteration,
he is not where he needs to be.
In this instance, it seems that Kirk remained aboard the USS Farragut, a posting he had
originally had under Captain Garrovick.
It seems in this alteration, he returned to the ship as its new command officer and therefore
was surrounded by an entirely different crew, the most notable of which is that he never
befriends Commander Spock.
Deprived of this friendship and influence, both their lives are already going to diverge
significantly but for Spock it seems things only get worse.
In another change however, a more light-hearted one, it seems that George Samuel Kirk remains
aboard the Enterprise, seeing as his brother is not its commanding officer, I guess, instead
of taking an assignment a year earlier on Deneva in 2265.
This means that he was never there for the flying neural parasite outbreak that claimed
his life so at least the two brothers got to have more time together.
Pike’s attempts to make peace with the Romulan Star Empire in 2266 gives the enemy ship a
chance to call in reinforcements and the situation escalates.
This paints Balance of Terror as an even more pivotal encounter in the original as it adds
the notion that the Romulans were literally preparing to invade, with the Bird of Prey
being a stealthy vanguard to test the Federation’s response.
The Star Empire is a very propaganda driven power, built on mistrust of others and even
their own so although the Romulan Commander proved amiable to discussion and reason, there
are many within who were not and the Star Empire would not be open to negotiations in
earnest until at least 2379.
And that was thanks in part to the efforts of Ambassador Spock.
Spock ends up either dead or permanently incapacitated from the altercation, which means that he
is effectively removed from the timeline going forwards too.
With no Spock, the V’Ger crisis could have unfolded differently, who knows what happens
with the Whale Probe, and beyond that the political landscape of the Federation would
be so wildly different thanks to Starfleet’s second war with the Romulans, that further
speculation is pointless.
Probably no Khitomer Accords for a start.
Pike however remains alive into what appears to be at least the 2280s judging by the uniform,
which too was slightly affected by the timeline changes.
He appears stating that the war with the Star Empire has continued since 2266 and that he
had returned to the Klingon Monks of Boreth to correct his unforeseen alteration of time.
In the future where Pike lives on a healthy life, he became aware of the path Spock was
supposed to walk, eventually becoming an Ambassador to Romulus and sowing the seeds for his unification
movement in his later years.
Without Spock’s gradual diplomatic efforts, the Star Empire remained an adversary, presumably
right into the 24th century instead of withdrawing back behind the Neutral Zone for almost a
century.
Pike goes on to learn that his alterations, no matter how well-intentioned cannot risk
upsetting the path of Spock, let alone the future he would create and opts to undo his
attempts to avoid his fate.
However it seems there are some lingering thoughts from his experience, the first is
that he gets to have an in depth chat with Captain Kirk in 2266, which then informs his
decision to learn more about the man in 2259, maybe evaluating him as a replacement.
Spock also senses the decision in Pike to accept his fate and this deepens the respect
he has for the man, and the lengths he will go to in the future to save Pike and return
him to Talos 4.
These changes address why Pike would avoid trying to alter his fate.
Of course there was always the temporal prime directive and the knowledge that you should
not attempt to change time, but when it’s your own future I think we would all try.
Being confronted with the outcome turns his accident into a wilful sacrifice and, as harsh
as it sounds, frees up the chair for another legend and sets up Spock for the role he needs
to undertake in the future.
As sad as it is, Pike needs to eventually go, but he still has a lot of work and good
he can do before he does.
What do you think of this?
It think it leaves little doubt as to the fate of Pike now, and actually adds to the
previous TOS episodes.
Overall, strange new worlds has been pretty fantastic, which I’ll be honest, allows
me to gloss over a lot more of the discrepancies and I look forwards to more tales in this
series.
Thanks for watching and I’ll check out your comments as we go, until then, goodbye!