As reported by TrekMovie, Anson Mount appeared at Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, along with Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding, Babs Olusanmokun, Carol Kane, and executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers. At the post-screening panel, Mount and Goldsman mused on the qualities that set Pike apart from other Star Trek Captains. Read their quotes below:
Anson Mount: “After [Star Trek:] Discovery, we started talking about this show and we had our initial creative conversation. I said, I know this: I know that when a crew member comes to Pike’s office, everything stops, everything that’s he’s been reading, it gets put in a drawer. The most important thing in his world is the person in front of him right now. Because he’s smart enough to know that his greatest resource is his crew, because they’re a bigger brain together. That’s why he leads by best idea wins. You saw in [the season 3 premiere]. They took that, and really ran with it.”
Akiva Goldsman: “[Pike] knows when his career in Starfleet as an active captain is going to come to a close, but that’s less important to him than his crew. Fundamentally, there are a bunch of great captains. And of all of them and all that we’ve seen, weirdly Pike has the least ego. He has built a crew which is, in lieu of family, and to lose any one of them, all of whose fates he has no idea about, would be worse than death for him. So that gives us stakes. Because you can watch Anson wrestling with connecting and then the potential loss of that connection.
Why Christopher Pike Is Such A Special Captain In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Pike Is All About His Crew
As Anson Mount and Akiva Goldsman pointed out, Captain Pike has an extraordinary affinity for his crew and prizes them above himself. Of course, Pike has an ego, like any Starfleet Captain, but Chris also has the wisdom and humility to yield to the expertise of his personnel, such as Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) and Number One (Rebecca Romijn). Pike makes command decisions after weighing options, and he solicits advice before acting. With Pike, "The best idea wins."
Captain Pike takes a personal approach to caring for his crew by inviting them to his quarters and cooking them meals. This is another quality that sets Pike apart from other Captains of the Enterprise. While Pike knows he has an unavoidable fate looming, Chris chooses not to focus on himself and instead connects with his crew as a commander, mentor, and ersatz father figure. For Captain Pike, compassion and humanity are his strengths, and why the loyal crew of the Starship Enterprise greatly respect and admire him.
Our Take On Why Captain Pike Is A Great Star Trek Captain
Pike Is The Best Of The Classic & Modern
Captain Pike has captured audiences' imaginations and admiration perhaps more than any other Captain introduced in Star Trek on Paramount+'s era. Much of that can be attributed to Anson Mount's charismatic performance, but how Pike was written in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the key to his success. Pike is a throwback to the classic mold of Star Trek captains like Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), yet he is also a pleasingly modern interpretation.
Pike is the best Captain of modern Star Trek.
In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Captain Pike is a complete person who doesn't rigidly define himself as Captain of the Enterprise. Pike puts people above his mission, and he prizes his friendships and his romantic relationship with Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano). Pike isn't perfect, but his flaws make him relatable, and his best qualities make him someone Starfleet Officers and audiences alike want to explore the galaxy with. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds fans would agree that Pike is the best Captain of modern Star Trek.
