Captain Pike's Wheelchair

[ZapBrannigan]

I'd have to say that Pike in his life support chair is the most unsettling thing in TOS, if you think about the suffering and paralysis it implies. And you don't even really know how much of him is in there. He might be like the Borg queen in First Contact, with no body below the shoulders.

Pike's condition was a horror element in the middle of an action-adventure show. The only other thing I find as scary is in "The Lights of Zetar", when the female tech dies after her face turns various colors. I like these episodes, but it does seem a little "off" when Star Trek veers into horror. It's like the scariest moments in the original Twilight Zone, the ones that were almost too much for children to watch, even though TV was supposed to be strictly G-rated.

Is there any precursor to Pike's chair design, or is it an entirely original idea? Greg Schnitzer has pointed out that Tom Leighton's black facial covering in "The Conscience of the King" was obviously based on a similar implied injury in The Outer Limits episode "The Duplicate Man." The big black chair Pike is stuck in seems iconic and like something from beyond Star Trek, but that's probably because I've been seeing "The Menagerie" all my life.

 

[Push The Button]

From The Menagerie:
...
MENDEZ: And totally unable to move, Jim. His wheel chair is constructed to respond to his brain waves. Oh, he can turn it, move it forwards, or backwards slightly.
PIPER: With the flashing light, he can say yes or no.
MENDEZ: But that's it, Jim. That's as much as that poor devil can do. His mind is as active as yours and mine, but it's trapped inside a useless vegetating body. He's kept alive mechanically, a battery-driven heart.

The chair is probably full of other life support equipment that feeds him, removes waste, regulates temperature, and helps him breathe. I hope Spock gave the Talosians a box of spare parts, extra batteries and a repair manual for the thing when he beamed Pike down.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I hope Spock gave the Talosians a box of spare parts, extra batteries and a repair manual for the thing when he beamed Pike down.

Yeah. The Talosians wouldn't even have a wall outlet with the right socket and current to recharge Pike's chair. American tourists can't use their small appliances in Europe, but an alien planet is no problem?

Incidentally, if Spock had waited just nine weeks, until "This Side of Paradise," the spores might have cured Pike of all his ailments.

 

[Herbert]

Incidentally, if Spock had waited just nine weeks, until "This Side of Paradise," the spores might have cured Pike of all his ailments.

Now that's an interesting idea.

 

[psCargile]

Odd how the ship's computer has a voice and the chair does not.

 

[ChasFink]

I hope Spock gave the Talosians a box of spare parts, extra batteries and a repair manual for the thing when he beamed Pike down.

No need. They could put him back together - probably better than Vina, as they have seen some humans now.

 

[Timo]

They haven't seen the innards of working humans any better now than previously... But they did get a chance to scan through the memory banks of an undamaged starship computer, so that could be of some help.

I wouldn't trust Vina to be a good yardstick of their skills anyway - if she exists at all, her body probably is just fine, or else she wouldn't do much good as one half in the project to breed a slave race.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[UnknownSample]

I'd have to say that Pike in his life support chair is the most unsettling thing in TOS, if you think about the suffering and paralysis it implies. And you don't even really know how much of him is in there. He might be like the Borg queen in First Contact, with no body below the shoulders.

Pike's condition was a horror element in the middle of an action-adventure show. The only other thing I find as scary is in "The Lights of Zetar", when the female tech dies after her face turns various colors. I like these episodes, but it does seem a little "off" when Star Trek veers into horror. It's like the scariest moments in the original Twilight Zone, the ones that were almost too much for children to watch, even though TV was supposed to be strictly G-rated.

Trek season 1 is very Twilight Zone, and part of what I love about it. Science fiction includes horror very heavily. I wouldn't class Trek as action-adventure. It's SF drama which succeeds as a result of a three dimensional mixture of factors such as horror and action, whatever helps in the story. They're devices to be used to make great SF, rather than their being the point itself.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Odd how the ship's computer has a voice and the chair does not.

Equally odd that nobody thought to have a Vulcan mind-meld with Pike. If his brain is active, a Vulcan should be able to meld with him.

Especially since Mendez and the rest of them were quick enough on the uptake to KNOW that Pike's brain is active in the first place. (How did they know that, BTW? If he can only say yes or no... )

 

[ZapBrannigan]

An unusual thing about the wheelchair prop is that I can't recall any part of it being re-used in later episodes. Quite often, a prop would show up several times:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x21hd/thereturnofthearchonshd421.jpg

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x08hd/imuddhd1148.jpg

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x02hd/theenterpriseincidenthd1252.jpg

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x14hd/whomgodsdestroyhd0041.jpg

I wonder if the cast did any backstage goofing around in the wheelchair, in those pre-sensitivity days. And I wonder what ultimately happened to the prop.

 

[Ronald Held]

Equally odd that nobody thought to have a Vulcan mind-meld with Pike. If his brain is active, a Vulcan should be able to meld with him.

Especially since Mendez and the rest of them were quick enough on the uptake to KNOW that Pike's brain is active in the first place. (How did they know that, BTW? If he can only say yes or no... )

In that era, how many Vulcan doctors were there in Starfleet and will to meld with outworlders?

 

[Kor]

Yeah. The Talosians wouldn't even have a wall outlet with the right socket and current to recharge Pike's chair. American tourists can't use their small appliances in Europe, but an alien planet is no problem?

Considering how all the technology in the galaxy is able to talk to each other, and how so much of it looks so similar, I have this weird notion that there is some galactic Acme-like corporate body working in the shadows, that everybody obtains their stuff from.

Kor

 

[psCargile]

Christopher Pike, meet Dr Stephen Hawking.

 

[johnnybear]

Some episodes of Star Trek were unsettling it has to be said, especially to children! For me it was Gary Mitchell's silver eyes and The Salt Vampire's true form. Then the woman without a face from Charlie X and Balok's real appearance was much scarier than his Mr.Hyde! The Talosians I found weird as well as the crippled Pike in the black chair and his sinister stare! The Dummies from Shore Leave, The first appearance of The Gorn, The Horta was odd when it shuffled after Kirk in the cave, The Parasites on Deneva, The Witches from Catspaw, Gorgon's true form from And The Children Shall Lead and the dead bodies and Libby Erwin's croaking from Lights of Zetar!
JB

 

[Redfern]

Christopher Pike, meet Dr Stephen Hawking.

Pike and Hawking, meet Davros.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

In that era, how many Vulcan doctors were there in Starfleet and will to meld with outworlders?

We have no idea how many Vulcans were in Starfleet at the time. There was Spock, and the Intrepid's crew; there could also be others. We just don't know.

And in any case, they could have contacted Vulcan and asked for a healer to be sent to Earth to help Pike.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Some episodes of Star Trek were unsettling it has to be said, especially to children! For me it was Gary Mitchell's silver eyes and The Salt Vampire's true form. Then the woman without a face from Charlie X and Balok's real appearance was much scarier than his Mr.Hyde! The Talosians I found weird as well as the crippled Pike in the black chair and his sinister stare! The Dummies from Shore Leave, The first appearance of The Gorn, The Horta was odd when it shuffled after Kirk in the cave, The Parasites on Deneva, The Witches from Catspaw, Gorgon's true form from And The Children Shall Lead and the dead bodies and Libby Erwin's croaking from Lights of Zetar!
JB

Sorry.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

We have no idea how many Vulcans were in Starfleet at the time. There was Spock, and the Intrepid's crew; there could also be others. We just don't know.

And in any case, they could have contacted Vulcan and asked for a healer to be sent to Earth to help Pike.

At that early point in the series, the Vulcans would have told Starfleet to go fly themselves. Vulcans were almost as reticent about mind melds as they were frantically private about ponn farr. And mind melds involve the extra problem of two-way disclosure. The Vulcan who got all up in Pike's grille would have his own thoughts opened up for Pike to see. And that's not going to happen.

Spock exposed his mind a lot and took humans to his wedding, but let's face it: Spock might seem like a Vulcan to us, but to Vulcans he was a wild man from Borneo.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And mind melds involve the extra problem of two-way disclosure. The Vulcan who got all up in Pike's grille would have his own thoughts opened up for Pike to see.

In Pike's condition, he was not about to violate the mind of any Vulcan who chose to mind meld with him. He was barely functional - that's why a meld would have been, so to speak, the logical choice to treat him.

And there's no evidence that the Vulcans would not have provided a healer to help Pike, if asked. At this point, they'd been members of the Federation for over a century. The stigma against mind melds had long since been swept away. There'd be no reason for them NOT to help Pike.

 

[Albertese]

They haven't seen the innards of working humans any better now than previously... But they did get a chance to scan through the memory banks of an undamaged starship computer, so that could be of some help.

I wouldn't trust Vina to be a good yardstick of their skills anyway - if she exists at all, her body probably is just fine, or else she wouldn't do much good as one half in the project to breed a slave race.

Timo Saloniemi

Not only did they have the Enterprise computer downloaded to sift through (in spite of how crude and time consuming it was) they also had two perfectly healthy Human female specimens to observe and measure and (and this is important for repairing the damage to Christopher Pike) Christopher Pike himself! Just cause they don't know how to repair their equipment doesn't meant that none of it works. Why should we doubt that the Talosians couldn't have made automatic recordings of the human specimens as soon as they arrived.

As for Vina's suitability, all they'd really need are her eggs. Assuming her ovaries were more or less undamaged in the crash, I don't see any issue there.

I guess the issue I always had with Vina is that why would it matter if they had never seen an intact human before? Did Vina never own a mirror? I mean these guys are master telepaths so how is it they couldn't reach into Vina's own memories and get some idea of what she was supposed to look like rather than an "everything works perfectly" lump of flesh?



--Alex