With the release of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the Crew of the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Series has been rebooted twice now, but the new series promises to fix a character oversight from the J.J. Abrams Star Trek films. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a television spinoff show on Paramount + designed to expand the mythology from Star Trek: The Original Series as well as Star Trek: Discovery. Whereas the Abrams Star Trek films were designed to appeal to a massive audience, many aspects of the original series were lost in adaptation. One of the most significant losses was the exclusion of the Enterprise’s Nurse Christine Chapel, an important character in Star Trek: The Original Series with many interesting qualities that deserve to be adapted into modern-day Star Trek projects.
The character Nurse Chapel first appeared in Star Trek The Original Series season 1, episode 4, “Naked Time,” wherein she confessed her love for Spock. Nurse Chapel appeared intermittently in every season of Star Trek: The Original Series, she often helped Doctor McCoy in the medical bay or occasionally assisted on missions. Nurse Christine Chapel was played by Majel Barrett, the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry after her first character from the pilot, "Number One" was removed from the show. Nurse Chapel’s last appearance before the release of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds occurred in Star Trek: The Voyage Home, wherein she was stationed as a doctor within Starfleet command.
Although Nurse Chapel is one of the more recognizable characters from Star Trek: The Original Series, she was not featured in the J.J. Abrams reboot of the Star Trek series. Abrams sought to reintroduce audiences to the crew of the Enterprise by combining a modern-day action blockbuster sensibility with the iconic imagery and characters within Star Trek: The Original Series. However, in the three film installments of the Kelvin timeline, not one managed to include a cameo or mention of one of Star Trek’s most iconic female characters in Nurse Chapel. Luckily, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds promises to include a rebooted version of Nurse Chapel, played by Jess Bush. Since Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has more time to devote to its story and the fact that its audience is more specific, Nurse Chapel’s character can finally be reintroduced to modern Star Trek audiences.
Why Nurse Chapel is So Important To Star Trek
Nurse Chapel was an essential figure in Star Trek, both within the show's narrative and behind the scenes. She was one of the most complex female characters that appeared consistently on the Enterprise. In Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 7, “What Are Little Girls Made Of,” the show revealed Nurse Chapel joined Starfleet in hopes of finding her husband, Dr. Roger Korby, who was lost after his expedition to planet Exo III. She is also alluded to having a crush on Spock several times throughout the series. These events are rife with narrative potential for new adaptations of the character. Nurse Chapel has suffered profound loss and had to face complicated and emotionally devastating choices regarding her husband and her career. Such nuance in a recurring female character on the Enterprise was unprecedented at the time of the show's release. Furthermore, the role was played brilliantly by actress Majel Barrett, who made the character iconic and even returned to play Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation. As the wife of Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry, and as an actress who had been a part of the series since the unaired pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series, “The Cage”, Majel Barrett (and therefore Nurse Chapel) is a vital part of the Star Trek legacy.
J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Movies Ignored Nurse Chapel
The 2009 film Star Trek directed by J.J. Abrams rebooted the original series to give a fresh take on how James T. Kirk came to meet the crew of the Enterprise. The film aspired to please those familiar with Star Trek and newcomers by establishing an entirely new timeline, so audiences only needed a passing familiarity with the series to follow the plot. J.J. Abrams focused the reboot primarily on Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) as they learn to trust one another; they are joined by Uhura (Zoe Saldaña), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban), and Chekhov (Anton Yelchin) as the primary returning characters. Nurse Chapel was left out because, although those familiar with Star Trek: The Original Series are well aware of her character, she is not as heavily featured as the rest of the recurring crew members. Since Abrams was primarily focusing on Kirk’s character in the rebooted Star Trek films, he chose to include characters like Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) or Dr. Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) because they had more of a direct emotional impact on Kirk in the original series. However, they ignored the opportunity to reboot and modernize one of Star Trek: The Original Series’s more complex female characters.
Strange New Worlds is Perfect for Nurse Chapel’s Star Trek Return
Whereas the Kelvin Timeline Star Trek movies failed Nurse Chapel, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will not. The new spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery is set to explore the adventures of the crew of the Enterprise before Kirk became captain, but unlike the Kelvin Timeline, this is seen as a direct prequel to the original series pilot that isn’t introducing Kirk to the crew of the Enterprise– yet. Nurse Chapel is confirmed to be a recurring character in the series played by Jess Bush, and will likely get much more character development and screentime. Since Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a television show, they have more time to dedicate to more characters, allowing Nurse Chapel time to shine. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is also directly aimed at audiences already familiar with Star Trek lore, as seen by the fact that it is a spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery and a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series. The series won’t have to worry about general audiences not being familiar with Nurse Chapel because odds are they already are.
While Nurse Chapel didn’t leave quite the impact on Star Trek that Captain Kirk or Spock did, she is still an essential part of the series' legacy. Thankfully, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has the opportunity to amend the error of having overlooked her in the last few films. Those movies may have been an action-packed reboot designed for all audiences, but it still failed to showcase one of Star Trek's most interesting female characters. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has the perfect opportunity to create a new version of Nurse Chapel that pays tribute to her predecessor from Star Trek: The Original Series while expanding on her character.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres Thursday, May 5, 2022, on Paramount+.