One of the last big pieces of the Star Trek casting puzzle has just fallen into place. HR says that actor Bruce Greenwood has been hired to play Christopher Pike.
If you’re not a Trekkie, and you know who Chris Pike at all, it’s as that guy in the chair with the blinky light. In the only two-part episode of the original series called “The Menagerie”, the character makes an appearance, after having been disfigured and confined to a futuristic wheelchair. By the way, “The Menagerie” is getting a two-day run in movie theaters next week. Be there.
On the other hand, if like me you’re a Trekkie, you remember Captain Christopher Pike as the Enterprise’s captain before James T. Kirk. The television show’s original pilot, “The Cage”, actually didn’t feature William Shatner’s Captain Kirk character or for that matter any other known Trek regular except Mr. Spock. In Trek lore, Kirk takes over for Pike as the next captain of the Enterprise and Spock stays behind to become Kirk’s first officer.
In the pilot, Pike was played by Jeffrey Hunter, who not only bears no resemblance to Greenwood, but was a helluva lot younger. Greenwood is 51 and looks it, wheras in the time the new Star Trek movie takes place in, he should be in his late-30s at the oldest. Ah screw it. It’s Pike, nobody cares about Pike. This is one piece of continuity fudging I can live with. Besides, Greenwood is a great character actor. He’s not the “big name” some had thought would end up in the role (at one point Tom Cruise was rumored), but he’s a well known character actor with a strong screen presence. He’ll do.
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