Christopher Pike ( Star Trek ) Christopher Pike Fleet Captain Christopher Pike Species : Human Gender : Male Hair color : Black Eye color : Blue Home planet : Earth Affiliation : Starfleet Posting : USS Enterprise commanding officer Rank : Captain Fleet Captain Portrayed by : Jeffrey Hunter , Sean Kenney This article is about Christopher Pike , the Star Trek character . For the author , see Christopher Pike ( author ) . Christopher Pike is a character in the fictional Star Trek universe . He appeared in the pilot episode The Cage as captain of the USS Enterprise , and was portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter . The pilot was rejected and another was made ; the character of Pike was dropped after Hunter decided that he did not want to continue with the series . The character also appeared in the episode `` The Menagerie , `` which recycled footage from the pilot episode and dealt with the consequences of Pike 's actions in the pilot on the planet Talos IV . For new footage of Pike as he was 13 years after the events of `` The Cage `` , he was played by Sean Kenney . Little is known about his personal life history given the limited information in `` The Cage '' . He was from the city of Mojave in North America on Earth and at one point had a horse named Tango whom he liked to feed sugar cubes to . Christopher Pike is the first captain of the Enterprise to be recognized in the official canon . An episode of the animated Star Trek series of the 1970s revealed that a Captain Robert April predated Pike ; however , the animated series is not considered canon and , as of 2006 , no canonical reference to April has ever been made . When first seen , Pike and his crew were recuperating from a mission to the planet Rigel VII during which several members of the landing party were killed by the inhabitants , an incident that filled Pike with so much guilt that he considered resigning his commission with Starfleet and either going back to his home on Earth or becoming an Orion Trader , an occupation which included dealing in the buying and selling of Orion Slave Girls . The Enterprise was en route to Vega Colony to drop off wounded crew members when it received a distress call from the survey vessel S.S. Columbia , lost 18 years previously . Pike ordered the Enterprise to the planet Talos IV to retrieve survivors . However , Pike soon learned all but one of the survivors were faked by the Talosians in order to lure the Enterprise crew to Talos . The Talosians made every effort to provide sexual fantasies which might appeal to Pike using the only real survivor of the Columbia , Vina . After escaping the cell with the aid of his first officer Number One and Yeoman J.M. Colt , the Talosians showed Pike Vina 's real appearance ( as a disfigured older woman ) ; the Talosians saved her life but had no guide on how to repair a human body . Pike requested that the Talosians restore her illusion of beauty and the Enterprise left Talos IV shortly after . Pike 's subsequent career has been covered in non-canon novels and comic books , but all that is known officially is that Mr. Spock served with Pike for more than a decade , implying Pike 's tenure as captain of the Enterprise lasted at least that long , and that a some point prior to the episode `` Where No Man Has Gone Before `` , Pike turned over the captaincy of the Enterprise to James T. Kirk and was promoted to fleet captain . A couple of years later ( as indicated in `` The Menagerie '' ) , he was severely injured by an explosion from a malfunctioning warp reactor on a J-class starship . The delta ray radiation left him mute , badly scarred , and confined to a wheelchair . Upon hearing of his former captain 's condition , Spock made clandestine arrangements ( even at the risk of triggering the only death sentence left in Starfleet law ) to take Pike back to Talos IV. There Pike was reunited with Vina and ended up living on Talos IV permanently , still crippled , but given the illusion of perfect health . His ultimate fate , however , remains unrevealed . Spin-offs of the show have made references to Pike : for example , a `` Christopher Pike Medal of Valor '' was bestowed on Captain Benjamin Sisko for leading the recapture of space station Deep Space Nine during the Dominion War . The only mention of a mirror Universe version of Pike came in the episode `` Mirror , Mirror `` where it was revealed that Mirror-Kirk had killed him for command of the Mirror Enterprise . In the Star Trek : Enterprise episode `` In a Mirror , Darkly `` , the Mirror Universe version of Charles 'Trip ' Tucker was , like Pike , exposed to heavy delta ray radiation ; the alternate Trip even sports facial scars similar to the crippled Pike . In the Paramount-licensed Star Trek comic book series published by Marvel , Starfleet Academy , Nog and some fellow cadets encountered a solid image of Captain Pike on Talos IV. Its origins were uncertain . External link Christopher Pike at Memory Alpha , a Star Trek Wiki Preceded by : Robert April ( conjectured ) Captain of the starship Enterprise 2250–2263 Succeeded by : James T. Kirk Categories : Star Trek : The Original Series characters | Fictional captains | Fictional mute characters | Fictional disfigured characters | Fictional wheelchair-bound people In other languages : Español | Italiano Christopher Pike # fc0 Christopher pike.jpg Fleet Captain Christopher Pike 150px Human Male Black Blue Earth Starfleet USS Enterprise commanding officer Captain Fleet Captain Jeffrey Hunter , Sean Kenney This article is about Christopher Pike , the Star Trek character . For the author , see Christopher Pike ( author ) . Captain of the starship Enterprise Robert April ( conjectured ) James T. Kirk 2250–2263 