Like basically every current Star Trek fan, I love the character of Captain Pike as Anson Mount portrays him. I wonder, though, to what extent he is actually the same guy from “The Cage.” If we had only that episode to work from (which the Discovery and SNW writers initially did), we would know that he is broody, that he struggles with the responsibility he bears for the lives of others, and that he is remarkably able to conjure up emotions like anger and hate on command. Does any of that fit with Pike as we know him now?
One way to answer this question would be to imagine a very literal remake of the original pilot recast with the current actors. Everyone else would basically make sense, but I think seeing the current Pike act out his scenes would be jarring and even a little upsetting.
I’m sure we can come up with in-universe explanations – he was having a particularly bad day, he’s grown as a person, etc., etc. – but it does seem like the current-day writers are departing pretty abruptly from the ostensible basis for the character. What do you think?
Jeffrey Hunter is pretty wooden in the role (as are almost all the actors in The Cage). He comes across as a flat, somewhat listless characters with issues with women. Anson Mount plays the role with a much better sense of the humanity of Pike.
I’d love to see a literal remake but there are scenes that just wouldn’t work (eg. the creepy scene where the young female ensign speaks to him).