Nurse Chapel

From LoveToKnow Sci-Fi

Nurse Christine Chapel served aboard the USS Enterprise under Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek: the Original Series. Played by Gene Roddenberry's wife Majel Barrett (who later played Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation and was frequently heard as the voice of the computer in later series), she was a relatively minor character in the series who eventually became a doctor. She maintained her role throughout the original Star Trek series and appeared in several Star Trek movies.

Nurse Chapel – Career

Christine Chapel abandoned a career in bio-research to pursue her Starfleet ambitions. Her initial goal was to be re-united with her fiance, scientist Roger Korby. Five years after joing Starfleet she was commissioned as a lieutenant and assigned to the USS Enterprise serving as a nurse under the chief medical officer Dr. Leonard McCoy.

Not long after her service aboard the Enterprise, she encountered Dr. Korby on a remote planet. He had replaced his damaged body and transplanted his personality into an android replica, building a beautiful android wife in the process. Though she initially considered leaving the Enterprise to stay with Korby, she later decided to continue serving on the starship.

Nurse Chapel returned to Earth and completed her medical degree. She served aboard the Enterprise after its refit as doctor in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Years later she became commander and coordinated a relief effort on Earth suffering from ecological attacks by orbiting probes.

Relationships

A long-standing point of tension during the original Star Trek series was Nurse Chapel's attraction to Mr. Spock, the half-Vulcan science officer aboard the Enterprise. Vulcans have the same emotions as humans, but over the centuries have learned to suppress them to attain a state of logical thinking and action. In essence, Vulcans are unable to feel emotions such as love, hate, happiness or jealousy. It was Spock's inability to return her feelings that led to tension between them.

Initially, Chapel kept her feelings toward Spock to herself. But a Psi 2000 intoxication afflicted the members of the Enterprise and she admitted her feelings to Spock during this time. He was shocked to learn such illogical feelings could persist after such a long time. She insisted that Spock address her by her first name, but he refused and continued to call her Nurse Chapel.

While Spock was inflicted by the Vulcan blood fever "pon farr", he underwent a period of intense and uncontrollable emotional outbursts. Chapel cared for him during this time, preparing traditional Vulcan foods and staying by his side when her duties allowed. It was during this time the two openly discussed her attraction and Spock's inability to return the sentiment. It was a brief moment, but Spock gave her a glimmer of hope when he referred to her as Christine for the first time.

After three years of living with a quiet love, Chapel finally shared a kiss with Spock. The situation was far from ideal, however, as they kissed only because powerful telekinetics were controlling them. This was during the same episode "Plato's Stepchildren" where Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura shared a controversial kiss.

Christine Chapel also had a close friendship with Lt Uhura, the ship's communications officer, and a professional friendship with Dr. McCoy.

Unofficial Information

Very little information about Nurse Chapel's civilian life exists within the Star Trek series or movies. Several non-canon sources give biographical details such as her birthdate (2237) and birthplace (New Orleans, Louisiana, Earth).