Star Trek: What Happened To The Enterprise Captain Before Pike & Kirk?
Before Captain James T. Kirk and even before Captain Christopher Pike, there was Captain Robert April. Although April is canonically one of the most decorated captains in Starfleet history, the poor guy doesn't have the same kind of name recognition as the others because NBC wrote him out of the original series. It wasn't until 1974's "Star Trek: The Animated Series" Season 2, Episode 6, "The Counter-Clock Incident," that the character made his debut – before being shelved for another 50 years. But in 2022, the first captain of the USS Enterprise finally achieved live-action status.
On "Strange New Worlds," Robert April (Adrian Holmes) is an admiral, Starfleet having promoted him after his five-year mission at the helm of the USS Enterprise. While the series may expand or alter the next phase of his story, he eventually earns the rank of commodore, and it is this title he carries to retirement. April's retirement is the impetus for his inclusion in "The Counter-Clock Incident," which sees him and his wife save the USS Enterprise from disappearing into a reverse universe, where time flows backward, the old become young, and the young become children. Will "Strange New Worlds" adhere to this fun little niche in the canon? Nobody knows, not yet.
Will Admiral April see himself in Captain Pike?
It's a safe bet that April will return, considering the ending of "Strange New Worlds" Season 2, which sees Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) torn between obeying a direct order from the admiral and saving the crew of the USS Cayuga and the colonists on Parnassus Beta. Season 3 is expected to pay off on that cliffhanger, and part of that payoff, regardless of Pike's decision, will be April's reaction. Also, let's be real: There's no version of this where Pike doesn't ignore April's command. If their roles were reversed, April would do the same.
In 2246, during his five-year mission, Captain April broke General Order 1 — a Starfleet regulation that forbids its members from altering the normal development of a pre-warp civilization — to prevent an extinction-level event from wiping out the Perricans. Two years later, and still aboard the USS Enterprise, he did it again on a different planet to save a different people. Neither transgression prevented him from his promotion to admiral, and it seems just as unlikely that he would reprimand Pike in any meaningful way for making a similar choice.
The parallels are clear, and if "Strange New Worlds" showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers don't draw the line, then Adrian Holmes likely will — his research into the character gave him an understanding of the depth of April's legendary career. Hopefully, some of that will make the final cut. If not, well, there's always the de-aging thing.