Posted in: CBS, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: Anson Mount, Babs Olusanmokun, Celia Rose Gooding, Ethan Peck, Jeffrey Hunter, Jess Bush, leonard nimoy, majel barrett, nichelle nichols, star trek, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Highlights Show's Legacy Characters

Paramount+ released a new featurette titled The Original Series Characters in Season 1 that highlights the characters that once appeared in The Original Series prior to the current series in Strange New Worlds. With TOS being 56 years old, it acts as a refresher to long-time fans that followed the days of Gene Roddenberry's series and for new fans, a history lesson before the final incarnation that would star William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.

The first is the most obvious in Christopher Pike, the U.S.S. Enterprise captain before Shatner's James Kirk, which was played by Jeffrey Hunter in the original unaired TOS pilot, "The Cage", which would be repurposed for the two-part episode "The Menagerie" that would find catatonic and burned Pike played by Sean Kinney in his infamous mobile device. The clip also broke down his relationship with Spock (Ethan Peck). Discovery season two would reintroduce Pike played by Anson Mount, who is traumatized by his morbid future prior to the events of SNW that takes place before TOS. Coping with his own PTSD, he tries to make sense of the time he has left regardless if destiny beckons.

The next featured is Lt. Cmdr Spock first played by Nimoy and currently played by Peck as the featurette broke down the events of "The Menagerie" to provide a glimpse of his past loyalty to Pike going the extra mile and his eventual place in the TOS crew. The third is Number One, which was a nickname carried over into Next Generation, originally identified as Una before she was given her full name as Lt. Cmdr Una Chin Riley. Played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry in "The Cage", she served as Pike's first officer leading the search for the missing Pike during the events of the episode in Tallos IV before the final incarnation of TOS had Spock taking over her role as XO in addition to being science officer. Rebecca Romijn plays the character on SNW, also re-introduced on Discovery with Mount and Peck.

Communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura is the next featured, played by Nichelle Nichols on TOS, and currently played by Celia Rose Gooding on SNW as a cadet. The featurette reminds fans of Uhura's pride in her African heritage, her gift of song, and her intuitive nature in both series. Dr. M'Benga was played by Booker Bradshaw in TOS' original canon in the season two episode "A Private Little War" treating Spock given his familiarity with Vulcan physiology. He's played by Babs Olusanmokun in SNW.

Nurse Christine Chapel was the role that Majel Barrett Roddenberry would come to be synonymous within TOS in addition to her turn as the voice of the ship's computer and Lwaxana Troi in future Star Trek canon. Chapel worked with M'Benga and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) in TOS, now played by Jess Bush in SNW. In addition to her invaluable nature on the Enterprise, the featurette also broke down her bond with Spock. The final entry is George Samuel "Sam" Kirk, who's the brother of James Kirk, both were played by Shatner. Sam is distinguishable by his mustache, but unfortunately, their only meeting on TOS was a tragic one in the season one episode "Operation: Annihilate!" as Kirk found his brother dead (sorry, not sorry for the 56-year-old spoiler). Dan Jeannotte played him on SNW re-introduced in the premiere episode. New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

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