Romance has been a part of Star Trek ever since the original pilot, “The Cage”. The themes of romance and intimate personal relationships have continued until this day with Prodigy, Lower Decks, Picard, and Discovery. This essay will focus on the most prominent romance in each iteration of Star Trek.
I will only be talking about romantic love. Familial love and the love friends share will sadly not be discussed.
Now, let’s start at the beginning.
In “The Cage“, our lead character, Captain Christopher Pike, meets the last survivor of a ship that crashed on the planet Talos 4 many years ago. A young and gorgeous woman named Vina. As we watch the captain fall deeper in love, we sense there’s more to this situation than meets the eye.
Eventually, it is revealed that Vina barely survived the crash and had t be put back together by the Talosians. As she said, they did the best they could, but they’d never seen a human before, and Vina was left horribly scarred.
The Talosians were a race of highly evolved humanoids who’d developed, after many millennia, a variety of mental powers, including telepathy and the ability to cast highly realistic illusions.
They hoped that Pike would stay forever on Talos 4 and mate with Vina. Pike refuses to be their puppet despite his deepening feelings for the lovely Vina. In the end, the Talosians allow the Enterprise and her crew to leave Talos, and Pike is left with a hole in his heart that could never be filled by anyone else.
Years later, Pike suffered terrible injuries that left him scarred but also unable to move or speak. In the end, Pikes longtime friend and former science officer, Mr Spock, commandeered the Enterprise and returned his former Captain to Talos 4 to live out the rest of his life with Vina under the comforting illusions of the Talosians.
Love in the Orginal Series
As we already know, after The Cage, Star Trek TOS changed, and a new cast of characters was set up for our enjoyment. There are several romances in TOS, but the three that stick out in my mind are the burgeoning relationship between captain Kirk and Yeoman Janice Rand (we were robbed of the payoff from this relationship, The tender yet subtle romance between Nurse Chapel and Mr Spock, and one of the greatest romances in Star Trek history (in my opinion) Captain Kirk and Edith Keeler.
In the episode, “The City On the Edge of Forever”, a half-crazed Dr McCoy goes through an ancient time portal and ends up in 1930’s New York City. When he arrives in the past, he saves a young woman Edith Keeler from being run down in the street.
In the past, Edith Keeler was a peace and nonintervention advocate who spoke against America’s involvement in World War 2. Her survival allows her to become a prominent member of the peace movement, which leads to America abandoning Europe, thus changing the course of history.
Kirk and Spock follow McCoy through the portal and arrive before the doctor saves Edith from her historically determined fate. Kirk meets Edith, and their chemistry is instant and heated.
You can tell that Kirk would actually consider staying in the past with Edith if that was possible. In the end, Kirk is there when McCoy tries to run out into the street to save Edith. Kirk stops him, and Edith is killed on impact.
I think Edith was the great love of Kirk’s life. Before Edith, it was all flings and one-night stands. After Edith, it was just a continuous search for another great love. Unfortunately, he never found that kind of love again.
I get sad just writing that.
Next Generation Romance
Star Trek: The Next Generation, fixated on the show’s primary romance in the pilot episode. Back in the day, the Troi and Riker romance was the Sam and Diane, or Ross and Rachel of the Star Trek Universe.
For seven seasons, we watched Will and Deanna do it dance about whether they would become a couple again in the end, except for a brief period where Deanna and Worf dated Troi and Riker ended up together.
Star Trek: Nemesis opened with the wedding of Will Riker and Deanna Troi, completing a circuit from their relationship when they were younger until they became adults and senior officers in Starfleet.
As we see in Star Trek: Picard, the Riker’s have settled down to quiet family life. They have a child. Live on a beautiful planet. And enjoy the little things in life. It’s a happy ending for a couple that deserved it more than most.
There’s a love between Will and Deanna that I don’t think has ever properly been described in TNG. They are an All-American couple. If ever there was a prism for the viewer to look through and see what the world of Star Trek is really like, it’s through the relationship of Deanna Troy and Will Riker.
Passion In Deep Space
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was stuffed with relationships. From the O’Brien’s. To Sisko and Cassidy Yates. From the many relationships of Major Kira. And finally, one of the greatest relationships in Star Trek history. Jadzia, Dax, and Worf.
From its beginnings in a holodeck single combat program. To their wedding and finally to the tragic death of Jadzia at the hands of Gul Dukat.
Across its seasons, the relationship of Worf and Jadzia spanned the gamut from pain to pleasure, from love to loss, from trust to anger, and everything in between. They are, in my opinion, the epitome of a Star Trek relationship.
But no matter how beautiful the relationship was, it ended in tragedy. Worf’s final cry of pain as he ushered in her arrival in Stovokor Is all that needs to be said about the loss we felt when Jadzia died.
Delta Devotion
For Star Trek: Voyager, I’m going to surprise you with my choices of the best and most important couple. I bet most of you think I’m going to talk about Paris and Torres. And while I love the Tom and B’elanna relationship, it’s not the one I think is the most important on Voyager. That honour goes to Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay.
Over seven seasons of Voyager, we watched a nonphysical, beautiful, tender, loving relationship blossom between Chakotay and Janeway. They were each other’s best friends. They spent their free time together. They were always trading looks and smiles. In the end, I’m going to say the nonsexual relationship between Janeway and Chakotay Was the glue that held Voyager together.
There was real love between them. They loved each other. I hope we learn it blossomed after they returned to Earth. I like to think they’re married and maybe they adopted a child or some dogs.
Endearing Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise’s Lack of any real romantic relationships with one exception. You love that was never quite spoken between Commander Tripp Tucker, and Subcommander T’pol added a sense of emotional realism to the show.
The chemistry between the actors was amazing, and it shone through in their performances. If not for the early cancellation of Enterprise, I truly do believe we would have seen T’pol and Tucker together for a long time.
I’m still upset we were robbed of this.
Picard Passion
Star Trek: Picard only has one real romantic relationship at this point. What started out as a purely sexual relationship between Dr Agnus Jurati and Captain Christopher Rios seemed to be heading towards a more personal and romantic aspect at the end of the season finale when Agnes puts her hand directly on his shoulder as they’re leaving for their next adventure, you can tell their feelings between them real feelings.
Hopefully, in the next two seasons of her card will get to see those feelings grow. I like the two of them together, I think the actor and actress, who I’m both fans of, have real chemistry, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Addendum to the final shots of the Picard season finale, we see Raffi and Seven of Nine holding hands at the table, Does this mean there are a couple? Does this mean they have a sexual relationship? Or is this something else we don’t know yet?
Personally, I’m hoping they become a couple. I like them together. They have good chemistry. I’m saying that a lot and that bodes well for Picard if they’re looking at the interpersonal relationships of this new crew.
Concerning Lower Decks and Prodigy, both shows are new, and they’re new kinds of formats for Star Trek. As of yet, there are no strong romantic relationships on these shows. Although I can see Gwynn and Dal eventually become romantically involved on Prodigy, this has yet to blossom.
Discovery Desire
Now we come to the big one, Star Trek: Discovery there may be more relationships, or potential relationships, on discovery than I can mention. But instead of covering all of those, I wanna talk about the one that means the most to me.
The love between Paul Stamets and Hugh Culber.
Paul and Hugh make me happy, from their matching pyjamas to brushing their teeth together in front of the mirror. They are the perfect couple. For the LGBTQ community, these two beautiful men have been a breath of fresh air. They’ve had their ups and downs.
They’ve shared their hopes and fears, their pain and pleasure. Their happiness and grief. The pain Paul felt when Hugh died was palpable to the viewer. The hurt and ache in his heart. Went out into the world and wrenched people with pain. But the love between them is so strong that even Hugh couldn’t stay dead.
They’ve had their highs and lows, but in the end, they always find their way back to each other.
Romance and Star Trek go hand in hand. They’re like peas and carrots. You can’t have one without the other. In the end, a Star Trek without romance would be a much sadder experience.
We need the relationships between these people. We need it to feel real. We need to feel the pain and the joy with them, from the death of Edith Keeler To Paul and Hugh’s adoption of Adira And Gray. Star Trek is a better and brighter place for it.
