Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike is the ‘Star Trek’ Captain We Deserve

I’ve known the name Christopher Pike since I was a kid watching the earliest Star Trek episodes on VHS with my nerdy mother, but I have not loved Christopher Pike until now. Anson Mount‘s portrayal of the first Captain of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is simply on another level. Mount oozes raw charm as Captain Pike. He is kind, curious, clever, but above all, empathetic to the people around him. Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike is the platonic ideal of a Star Fleet captain and very much the sci-fi hero we need in 2022.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is Paramount+’s latest new streaming Star Trek series and the one that evokes the spirit of the original series (and Star Trek: The Next Generation) the most. Set about 10 years before Star Trek: The Original Series, Strange New Worlds follows the exploits of the Enterprise during its Christopher Pike years. The first officer is a spirited and smart woman named “Number One” (Rebecca Romijn) and Spock (Ethan Peck) is merely a trusted science officer The crew is populated with a mix of familiar faces, like Cadet Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), and new characters like pilot Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and chief security officer La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong). Every episode follows this gorgeous, brilliant, and collaborative crew as they explore, duh, strange new worlds.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is as much a prequel series as it is a spin-off. We first found ourselves charmed by Anson Mount’s Captain Pike when he stepped in as interim Captain of the Discovery in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2. That ship had been rocked by the revelation that their Captain, Lorca (Jason Isaacs) was actually an interloper from a mirror universe. Pike’s arrival on the ship brought the science ship, which had been a bit too familiar with battle, back into the warm, welcoming, pacifist vibes that Star Trek was traditionally known for. To put it simply, Captain Pike was nice.  

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds picks up after the events of Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, which flung the Disco and her crew into the future and left Captain Pike with an unnerving sneak peak of his own infamous demise. When we first meet Pike again in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, he is emotionally grappling with knowing about his own death. He’s grown a sadness beard and likes riding his horse over the snowy Montana plains. Most of all, he’s making breakfast from scratch for his apparent friend with benefits, Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano). It was honestly so wholesome to watch Captain Pike make his lady friend pancakes. Wholesome and sexy.

Once Pike is back in his Captain’s seat, he nobly breaks rules to save both his crew and masses of strangers. He hosts “Captain’s Table” dinners open to the whole crew where he turns his quarters into the chicest gastropub imaginable. Pike takes pains to listen to feedback from his Starfleet fam and believes in diplomacy above all else. Basically, Christopher Pike is the dream Starfleet Captain. He upholds a deep conviction in our ability to be better than we’ve been before.

Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike feels like a massive gift to Star Trek fans. He’s full of the charisma and verve that made us fall hard for Captain Kirk, but has the sensitivity and philosophical bent of a Picard. He is the kind of man we’d all follow across the stars, into black holes, and to the surfaces of wayward comets. That’s because Pike is the kind of leader who believes in his crew. Thereby he believes in all of us.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds works because it feels so much like a great throwback to the bones of what makes Star Trek great. And Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike is emblematic of the values that made us love Star Trek in the first place. He’s all the greatest values of Starfleet wrapped up in the image of a classic swashbuckling hero. He is simply perfect.