20 Star Trek Women You Should Know

LOS ANGELES – DECEMBER 1: Majel Barrett as Number One (M. Leigh Hudec) in the STAR TREK: The Original Series episode, ‘The Cage.’ (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

4. Number One (The Original Series pilot)

You won’t see Number One in the vast majority of Star Trek reruns. In fact, viewers wouldn’t even see her in unmodified form until late 1988. You certainly never learn her canonical name.

Number One was portrayed by the now-familiar Majel Barrett. As mentioned earlier, Barrett was rejected by executives who were reportedly furious that a young, unknown actor was given such a major role, simply because she was having an affair with showrunner Gene Roddenberry.

Others said that the pilot was “too cerebral” and didn’t trust audiences to accept both an alien Mr. Spock and a female commanding officer. Still, Star Trek was given a second chance to create another (and eventually more successful) pilot. Creators kept Spock but got rid of Number One. Instead, Barrett played Nurse Christine Chapel, an altogether softer, less threatening, and more traditionally feminine figure.

It’s a real shame that we lost Number One. She was something practically unseen on television in the 1960s: a complicated, intelligent woman who made no apologies for her ambition or decisions. We wouldn’t really see another Star Trek character like that until The Next Generation, with either Dr. Pulaski or Ro Laren. Though the character of Number One has lived on in both licensed and unlicensed Star Trek tie-ins, it would have been far more satisfying to see her character develop on screen.