Captain Pike Seals His Future, Star Trek Discovery: Through the Valley of Shadows 

@MrHoppers002 As would I!

He knew what wa's going to happen to him but still took the crystal, and it made him one of the most courageous characters in Star Trek.

His portrayal of Pike is one of the few redeeming qualities of Star Trek Discovery.

pike is selfless i try to be selfless.

I saw this after watching Strange New Worlds. Didn't realise this happened.

Anakin's story is honestly so effing tragic. If he just wouldnt have had the ability of foresight or if he just wouldve pushed on anyway he and padre wouldve had a wonderful family and could've overthrown palpatine.

It’s not quite the same tho. Pike saw the crippling of himself. Anakin saw the death of his loved ones

@@christianmino4073 damn palpatine

Would any of the other captains reacted like that? Some would call BS in the moment. Some would argue the future is unknowable. Some would swear they'd find a way out. But I'm not sure any would have hit this hard.

@@faded9581 Anakin Aronson every ideals he had and those qualitys which Padmae loved in Anakin - because of a dream he never understood.

He was originally supposed to be the main character of the original series but he was mostly forgotten about before the JJ Abrams movies

He did try to avoid it, in SNW 1x10, but he learn he cannot do that, or else.

I’ve faced one of my deepest fears. It took me a while to recover from it. But I did and I came out the other end stronger for it.

Even worse, the small blood vessels (capillaries) rupture/are destroyed, meaning that pain medicine you are given won't work, as it can't travel via the blood to the affected areas. It's why death by severe radiation poisoning is one of the most brutal things there is - there's nothing they can do to alleviate the suffering.

For real. They have to keep him in that chair because every second he is rapidly dying and that is the only way they can give him some semblance of a life while constantly artificially replicating his cells.

And now you know why he ask Spock to take him to Talos 4.

@@captainr800 He didn't ask Spock. In fact, he refused at first, but Spock felt it was logical that he stay with the Talosians so he could be freed of his suffering for the rest of his life (and be reunited with Vina again.) :)

It's also worth noting he may have put some sort of request/order in his medical file along the lines of "look, if you're gonna save me, don't make it TOO advanced" in light of how easily and thoroughly Airiam was compromised.

Indeed

Fascinating

"It never said I had to avoid losing... I just had to avoid failing."

Janeway had no love for her crew she did everything in her power to fuck them over time after time

@@BelieveInMe1986 ok Matt.

It's very telling of Pike's character that Spock was willing to risk so much for him; the only other time he's displayed that level of loyalty and dedication to a single individual was Jim.

archer? chill? i think he is the most emotional captain and is always kinda irritated, not saying he is a bad captain but chill isnt one of his qualites, i think picard is more chill but in a serious way

"Janeway's love for her crew." Are we just ignoring that she is the only Starfleet captain who is a series lead that literally cold blooded murdered a crewmember out of choice?

It's almost cheap to write in a moral choice THIS sharp, his entire future hinging on this one decision, instead of letting him demonstrate his commitment to his ideals over years of service like normal people. But damn if Anson Mount doesn't sell the shit out of it. Instant legend.

It also gives his "ending" in The Menagerie that much more meaning? The man's willingly given up his future not only to eventually save the cadets, but to save all sentient life in the universe by acquiring the crystal for Burnham's suit. If anyone's earned the Talosian Retirement Home, it's him.

Under Klingon ethics what he did was even more admirable. He continues in the path of honor knowing it will lead to the most inglorious and dishonorable end. Faced with such a choice, a Klingon might give in and end himself. Pike chooses to face his future with open eyes instead.

@@hagamapamafortunately his last days were spent under an illusion of health comfort and vitality brought on by the Talosians. Pike richly deserved that.

@@jameslauder3984 *And he never saw that*, in the vision he received. He never knew anything might ease his pain.

And now I understand the "Klingon Therapist" anecdote SO MUCH MORE... "The battle against mental illness cannot be won decisively. It is a long campaign against an enemy who never tires, whose forces swell to twice their size whenever you look away. Battle against a foe of such magnitude, who occupies your very mind… every moment you survive is a triumph against all odds. There is no more honorable combat."

Did a better job paying homage to that scene than the Wrath of Khan remake.

Beep

Well this was one of the better episodes

I was thinking the same thing... Spock also chose a lethal dose of radiation in order to save people. It's interesting to speculate that, for all Spock's utilitarian logic, perhaps the real reason he sacrificed himself in WOK was because he saw that behaviour modelled in Pike and chose to emulate someone he saw as the epitomy of courage.

He still has to live quite a while in that form however.

But it's still an illusion. He knows it. Just an illusion....

@@WobblesandBean But he agreed to it.

For most people that would be fine, or at least bearable. But pike is the sort of person that would consider it the worst torture not to be able to help people or affect change or accomplish things. It would have been better if he’d died. He’s not a man who was ever meant to live the retirement life.

I think that's the point. He saw a future for himself that was nothing but grim, but he still accepted it.

Discovery had some ups and downs when it came to writing quality, but this moment was narratively brilliant. They took a character that had been around for fifty years and completely recontextualized that character in five minutes.

Vader looked at both and said, “Screw that. You better give me four cybernetic limbs, pal!”

I mean in fairness, neither of them were utterly wrecked by a massive dose of radiation.

@@TheNN Actually excess radiation and other ruinations of Skaro's atmosphere were what began the mutation of the Kaled race to begin with.

i know right, for some reason every time i watch this scene, the music, the breathing, the screaming, i look around and feel really scared and my anxiety hits for some reason. 😮

Surprise. They do; he's haunted by what he sees here, to the point he almost doesn't resume his duties. He also knows when the accident will happen... and it's less than a decade out.

@@Shinzon23 It wouldn't be good modern Trek without alittle or sometimes too much Time-Travel Drama.

I think I read somewhere that they originally wrote those episodes with Pike's fate because they weren't sure if the show was gonna continue so they needed some kind of story for those particular episodes.

Anson Mount was the perfect choice for Captain Pike. Watched the first episode of Strange New Worlds last night, and I was very pleased.

I'm almost done with season 2. I dig the stories. But the time taken for every emotional scene is pretty excessive. Like we have 3 minutes, but there will be a whole lot more to hug, cry and say goodbye or say whatever. Lol. Too much.

According to Trek timeline, The Cage takes place in 2254, even before Discovery (2256) or the beginning of Strange New Worlds (2258-2259).

The fate of Captain Pike was already sealed in the Original Series episode "The Menagerie" where we see him disfigured and confined to the chair where he could only move around and communicate through a flashing light. However, there is more to his fate that his vision did not show. I do not know if the future Captain Pike series will lead all the way to that moment (they would have to re-cast Captain Kirk in order for that to happen), but the original episode is worth seeing. You get to see Pike in his original form, as played by the late Jeffrey Hunter.

My thoughts as well. Death would be better than that torture.

Pike the type of character to continue on regardless of his condition, if he believes there is something he can offer even in this condition he not about to roll over and die, Also because we know what happens to him after that accident it's in the OG series.

Because he found a better solution: it's long established Star Trek canon. He's left horribly mutilated in a wheelchair, but Spock arranges for him to live on Talos IV with those telepathic aliens that had helped to restore Spock's memories and mind.

Is the situation entirely hopeless? He has life. He has the respect of his friends. He knows that the people he saved will live on as his legacy. he knows that he did good things and the thing he did that got him hurt was one of them. Perhaps he can scrape together enough hope to go on based on that. Also the limits of his chair seem not to be that limiting. He's capable of binary signals. yes or no. That means he's theoretically capable of communicating with a binary alphanumeric code.

And the fate that was destined for him fell on someone else.

I think for Pike, one example of a worse fate is if he chooses not to show up and all the cadets die. Knowing what we know about him on that day, despite knowing full well that it IS that day, he will be there on time in his finest uniform ready to save those who can be saved, because why should anyone suffer who doesn't have to? Sure it sucks for him but lots of young cadets live on that wouldn't have if he called in sick that day. And maybe that will give him comfort in the chair, that he is here so that some promising young cadet with their life in front of them doesn't have to be.

@@hagamapama It's just too bad that he doesn't know that that's not the end of the story for him, that he still gets a happy ending even in that truly awful state

Considering he's about to make an appearance - as we see him now - in Star Trek Online, which is set over 150 years in the future from this (it's not canon, I know, but still)... you might be right.

I hope not. The tragedy of Pike strengthens his character and makes him so much more awesome.

Or... he ends up on Talos IV with that woman that helped Burnham and Spock get the aliens there to restore Spock's memories. This is long-established canon dude, we already KNOW his ultimate fate and we have for a very long time.

If avoiding that future means leaving others to suffer, he'll take the iron lung happily over letting someone else pay for his cowardice

Does not one Cadet die though? There's one more in there with him when the explosion happens.

@@talaveraleonardo not the point. He saved all he could, and the rest don't die alone.

Here's my question: Why the HELL would they even keep him alive? If there's ever time to pull the plug, this is it. He won't get better, He lives a life of unremitting, crippling pain that will never heal or lessen. He is unable to communicate in any meaningful way. At this point, why stay alive at all? Also another thought: In the TOS era, engram transfers and mind switching are things that happen sometimes. Why not put him in a machine body? It's gotta be a better deal than the one Pike gets to live with.

@@hagamapama He's not hooked up to life support or anything like that for him to be disconnected from. BUT it's also not the end of the story for him. Spock arranges for Pike to go to Talos 4 and spend the rest of his life there. The telepathic aliens that helped restore Spock's mind after it got all messed up earlier in this season. In the original pilot episode of Star Trek, Pike met them on an away mission and he fell in love with that Vina woman. Their powers are such that they made it so it was like Pike was never harmed and he was able to spend the rest of his life with Vina. His restored state was just an elaborate illusion, but the way that their powers worked it was real to him and Vina which was all that really mattered.

Nope, This is exactly what happens to Pike in the original series. Remember, discovery is a prequel to the original series. Search “the menagerie” episode, youll see what happens and why.

well if their tech was so advance they could help Airiam, why can't Pike also get it?

@@aidanjanemcintosh6919 Airiam's injuries, while catastrophic were on a very basic level, Pike's injuries are on a molecular level.

@@Ethan-dn1wc at least get him a robotic body

@@aidanjanemcintosh6919 The technologies to do that won't exist until the late 24th century in Trek Canon, and from then to the 32nd century only two people have ever successfully undergone that procedure

so you wouldn't be afraid knowing you'd be confined to a box on wheels never being able to move or speak again? haha

@@xyeahtony1 explain to me how you got there from what i said

@@xyeahtony1 if it was to sacrifice someone i love, damn right I’d do it

This is not just disability. This is being trapped in the ruins of your own body. Strek has done good work with disabilities in the past, but body horror is another thing entirely. The closest thing I can think of to this IRL is the people who had to live their lives in an iron lung due to Polio. Even then those people had their voices Pike doesn't even have that.

It's not a plasma fire. It's massive ionizing radiation exposure. Look up Acute Radiation Syndrome, and the deaths of Louis Slotin and Hisachi Ouchi, among others, and happy nightmares. Pike got hit with enough to cause immediate, visible burns, and he was in the open: so there are no undamaged cells in his entire body. The chair is the only thing keeping Pike from literally rotting away as his genetically-damaged cells fail to replicate.

It was. But Pike got a more or less happy ending in the end: those telepathic aliens that helped to restore Spock's mind set him up with a cushy illusion that he was happy in.

You missed the part about madness, didn't you. There's a reason why this secret is carefully guarded by monks. Very few Klingons and even fewer other peoples can use these things without going insane. Pike just happens to be one that can.

The guy who played Todd was in Season 3 of Discovery as the pirate captain they encountered at Earth.

He later saw what would happen if he tried to change it. Also, that's Captain Pike's Canon fate.