Christine Chapel is a fictional Starfleet nurse and later physician in the Star Trek franchise. Originally portrayed by Majel Barrett and later by Jess Bush, she appears in all three seasons of Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, the films Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Bush portrays a younger version of the character in Strange New Worlds, where Chapel has a substantially expanded role.
In The Original Series, Chapel serves as the head nurse of the Starfleet starship USS Enterprise under Dr. Leonard McCoy. She joins Starfleet while searching for her missing fiancé, Dr. Roger Korby, and develops unrequited feelings for Spock. By the time of The Motion Picture, she has become a Starfleet physician, and in The Voyage Home she is assigned to Starfleet Command. In Strange New Worlds, Chapel is depicted earlier in her career as an ambitious nurse and veteran of the Klingon War.
Barrett was originally cast by series creator Gene Roddenberry as Number One in the rejected Star Trek pilot "The Cage". After she was dropped from the second pilot, Roddenberry created the role of Christine Chapel, allowing Barrett to return as a recurring cast member while also voicing the Enterprise computer. Bush assumed the role when the character returned for Strange New Worlds in 2022.
The character has received mixed critical and fan responses. Barrett's portrayal and Chapel's unrequited love for Spock drew criticism from some writers and reviewers, who regarded the character as underdeveloped and constrained by gender stereotypes, while her promotion to doctor and Bush's portrayal in Strange New Worlds have been praised.
Concept and development
Prior to working on Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry had been developing a variety of television pilots for Screen Gems. One actress he auditioned was Majel Leigh Hudec, later to use the name Majel Barrett.Cushman & Osborn (2013): p. 52 Later when he created the drama series The Lieutenant, he cast her in the episode "In the Highest Tradition". They quickly became friends, and entered into a romantic relationship although Roddenberry was married at the time.Shatner & Kreski (1993): p. 14Alexander (1995): pp. 54–55 During the development of the first pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series ("The Cage"), Roddenberry wrote the part of Number One (the ship's second in command) specifically for Barrett.Alexander (1995): p. 210 There was reluctance from the NBC executives to agree to an actress who was almost unknown.Cushman & Osborn (2013): p. 53 Roddenberry did see other actresses for the part, but no one else was considered.
Executive producer Herbert Franklin Solow attempted to sell them on the idea that a fresh face would bring believability to the part, but they were aware that she was Roddenberry's girlfriend. Despite this they agreed to her casting, not wanting to upset Roddenberry at this point in the production. After the pilot was rejected,Cushman & Osborn (2013): p. 65 a second pilot was produced.Cushman & Osborn (2013): p. 69 While it was generally explained that the network disliked a female character as the second-in-command of the Enterprise, Solow had a different opinion of events. He said, "No one liked her acting... she was a nice woman, but the reality was, she couldn't act."Engel (1994): p. 65 "Where No Man Has Gone Before" successfully took Star Trek to a series order.Cushman & Osborn (2013): p. 101 Barrett had been given the role of voicing the computer on the USS Enterprise, but was demanding that Roddenberry write her into the main cast.Solow & Justman (1996): p. 224
After seeing the initial proposal for "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", Barrett felt that she could play the woman who went into space to find her fiancé. She dyed her hair blonde in an attempt to fit the role.Cushman & Osborn (2013): p. 225 Barrett sought to surprise Roddenberry at his office, but he walked right past her, not recognizing who she was. It was only when he came back out to give his secretary some papers that he realized it was Barrett. They had the idea that it might get her past the NBC executives and back onto the show.Dillard & Sackett (1994): p. 21 The character of Christine Ducheaux was subsequently changed to Christine Chapel by Roddenberry, as a play on the Sistine Chapel. No other actresses were considered for the role.
At the same time, story editor John D.F. Black wrote the initial script for "The Naked Time", also early in the first season.Cushman & Osborn (2013): p. 178 The story featured a virus being transmitted among the ship's crew, which removed their inhibitions.Cushman & Osborn (2013): p. 179 One element of Black's story featured the addition of a nurse in sickbay, working with Doctor Leonard McCoy.Cushman & Osborn (2013): p. 183 Chapel was written into both these episodes by Roddenberry. The deception did not work, with NBC executive Jerry Stanley commenting simply "Well, well – look who's back" to Solow. Roddenberry saw to it that the character of Christine Chapel would become a recurring one throughout the series, on-par with Uhura. She remained unsatisfied with the role, but appreciated that since NBC had already fired her once, Roddenberry could not expand the role.
For Star Trek: The Animated Series, Barrett was initially set to reprise the role of Chapel as well as voicing Uhura. Likewise James Doohan was to voice both his own Scotty as well as Hikaru Sulu. However, following the intervention of Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols and George Takei were both brought back to voice their own characters. Barrett returned in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as Chapel, which she described as a "very minimal role", saying that "If no one had called me Commander Chapel, the audience wouldn't really know that I was there." Barrett said in the film franchise Chapel got lost along the way, not appearing in the second or third films despite her view that she was a main character in The Original Series. Nimoy brought back Chapel for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Barrett was grateful for his decision. Chapel was subsequently mentioned in the 2009 film Star Trek, which saw the characters from The Original Series re-cast. Chapel was one of the suggested possibilities for Alice Eve to play in the sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness. It was later revealed that she was portraying Carol Marcus.
In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds the Chapel character returned to the franchise, this time played by Australian actress Jess Bush. Bush chooses not to use her native Australian accent for the performance, a choice she states that helps her get into character physically and mentally.
In speaking with The Daily Beast in mid-2023 about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds LGBTQ+ representation—and her portrayal of a bisexual character—Bush unhesitatingly told the interviewer, "I'm queer". Bush said about the role: "I am so delighted that there's more representation for all expressions of sexuality and gender in Star Trek. That’s really exciting to me, and I’m really proud to be a part of that representation."
In 2022 Bush was nominated for her role for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Television Series.
Appearances In "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", it is explained that Chapel abandoned a career in bioresearch for a position in Starfleet. She had hoped that this would reunite her with her fiancé Dr. Roger Korby (Michael Strong), incommunicado following his expedition to the planet Exo III. Five years after Korby's disappearance, Chapel is assigned to the USS Enterprise where she serves as head nurse, working under Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley).
While on board the ship, she begins to develop feelings for Spock (Leonard Nimoy), admitting as much in "The Naked Time". Her actions in that episode resulted in the Psi 2000 intoxication unwittingly being further spread among the crew. The ship reached Exo III in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?". Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Chapel beam down and discover Korby had been exploiting a sophisticated android manufacturing technology on the planet. After Chapel is horrified to find out that Korby had transplanted his personality into an android replica, he kills himself in despair. Roddenberry later co-wrote in The Making of Star Trek that the actions of that episode resulted in Chapel breaking her ties to Earth and devoting herself to Starfleet service.
After Korby's death, Chapel doubts if she should stay aboard but elects to remain with the Enterprise throughout the five-year mission. Chapel's feelings for Spock were revisited and alluded to only a few times in the series, most notably in "Plato's Stepchildren". In the episode, the Platonians telekinetically force Chapel and Spock to kiss passionately. This humiliates Chapel despite her long-standing feelings for him. In the episode "Amok Time", she brings Spock some soup to help him through a sacred Vulcan ritual, the Pon farr. He angrily refuses the soup and throws it at the wall, but later thanks Chapel for her thoughtfulness.
Chapel appeared in two of the Star Trek films featuring The Original Series cast. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Chapel had become a doctor on board the Enterprise. Her second appearance was in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where she and Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) were stationed in Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco. In the 2009 film Star Trek, a Nurse Chapel is mentioned by McCoy (Karl Urban). In the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkness, Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) tells Kirk (Chris Pine) that after being with him, Chapel left to become a nurse.
Since the start of the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series in 2022, the Chapel character has appeared in all but one of the episodes in the first two seasons.
Reception
Cast and crew Executive producer Robert H. Justman did not care for Chapel; he described her as a "wimpy, badly written, and ill-conceived character".Solow & Justman (1996): p. 225 He added that the additional camera lenses used by director Jerry Finnerman in that episode for close-ups of her quivering lip only "served to emphasize the lack of character written into the character." He had complained to Roddenberry of Barrett's acting skills, but stopped when he became aware of their relationship. It was only after Barrett's first appearance as Lwaxana Troi in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Haven", that he came to realize that it was the Chapel character he disliked, not Barrett herself, and told her that his opinion had changed. Barrett also did not care for the character of Chapel, saying "I've never been a real aficionado of Nurse Chapel, I figured she was kind of weak and namby-pamby."