Someone you're not

I just saw the very first episode of the original Star Trek series, the very very first one, before William Shatner was Kirk. It was about Christopher Pike-I actually wrote Chris Pine first before I noticed- and had Majel Barrett as Number One. She later on went to play Nurse Christine Chapel in the Star Trek series. Anyways. I found myself wishing they could have continued that particular crew's adventures. They had Spock there, but a kinder and gentler version, and they had a hyper active ensign, whose name was probably never mentioned. Pike called the doctor a dirty old man and the doctor told him drinking was the solution to a lot of problems and these aliens tried to hook Pike up with three women, and I was thinking, 'does he have to choose?' and it was pretty damn awesome considering it was from the 60s. I mean, some of the lines and actions were pretty racy for those standards. I loved the ending, how the girl got what she wanted and it turned out the aliens weren't bad, they were just trying to help the woman be happy. D'awwwww.

But anyways. I loved how Number One was shown. Considering this was the 60s and women were just beginning to come into their own rights considering equality and the such, to see Gene Roddenberry give a high ranking position to a woman, to have the captain tell her 'we need the officer with the most experience to watch out for us', to have her (and the other female officers) wearing pants, and to have even the doctor defer to her...Well..it was pretty cool. She was so authoritative without coming across as bitchy or overly compensating for something, she was able to remain in charge and in control of her emotions when the aliens were humiliating her in front of Pike. She was able to admit her mistakes and learn from them, and she was, in general, a well written female character in a show from the 60s. I didn't detect any sexism in that show. I wish they could have continued that particular show, but if they had, we wouldn't have had Kirk and Bones and all the rest I suppose. I think I'd rather have Bones than Number One, but I wish I didn't have to choose.