Christine Chapel is a fictional character in the original Star Trek

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...

 series, and in some of the films based on it. She was played by the late Majel Barrett

Majel Barrett

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was an American actress and producer. She is perhaps best known for her role as Nurse Christine Chapel in the original Star Trek series, Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and for being the voice of most onboard computer interfaces throughout the series...

.

The character was written for Barrett, by Gene Roddenberry

Gene Roddenberry

Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...

, after a previous character that he had written for her, Number One

Number One (Star Trek)

Number One, in "The Cage", the original pilot episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek, was the un-named intellectual, problem-solving second-in-command serving under Captain Christopher Pike. She performs the same role for Pike "as Spock later does for Kirk"...

, had been dropped. Christine Chapel made her debut in the first season episode "The Naked Time". She was established as a regular character shortly afterward in the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?".

The Original Series

Chapel had abandoned a career in bio-research for a position in Starfleet

Starfleet

In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...

, in the hopes that a deep-space assignment would one day reunite her with her fiancé Dr. Roger Korby, a scientist of renown, incommunicado from his expedition to Exo III. Five years after Korby's disappearance, Chapel was assigned to the USS Enterprise

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

The USS Enterprise, NCC-1701, is a fictional starship in the Star Trek media franchise. The original Star Trek series depicts her crew's mission "to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before" under the command of Captain James...

, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk

James T. Kirk

James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...

. She served as head nurse under Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard McCoy

Leonard McCoy

Leonard "Bones" McCoy is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by DeForest Kelley in the original Star Trek series, McCoy also appears in the animated Star Trek series, seven Star Trek movies, the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in numerous books,...

.

Shortly after she joined the crew of the Enterprise, the ship reached Exo III. Kirk and Chapel beam down to join him and his party and they both soon discover Korby's sinister plot: Korby has been exploring and exploiting a sophisticated android manufacturing technology, the legacy of a long-dead civilization. Capturing Kirk and preventing him from warning Spock, Korby later attempts to take over the Enterprise by creating an android duplicate of Kirk to further his mad quest to populate the universe with androids but the plan backfired. Then it was revealed that Korby himself had replaced his own damaged body, transplanting his personality into an android replica. Kirk convinced Korby that he was no longer human and was just a machine. When Korby saw Chapel's horrified reaction at his current condition, he killed himself and his android companion Andrea in despair. After Korby's death, Chapel doubted if she should stay aboard, but elected to remain with the Enterprise throughout the five-year mission.

Relationship with Spock

Even while she still sought to locate Korby, Chapel was deeply infatuated with the Enterprises half-Vulcan

Vulcan (Star Trek)

Vulcans, or sometimes Vulcanians, are an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Star Trek universe who evolved on the planet Vulcan, and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion. They were the first extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek...

 science officer, Spock

Spock

Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek...

. Initially, Chapel kept these feelings to herself. However, in the episode "The Naked Time", when the Psi 2000 intoxication afflicted the crew of the Enterprise, Chapel openly admitted her love for Spock, despite the Vulcan's confession of his inability to return her feelings. Chapel's feelings for Mr. Spock were revisited and alluded to only a few times in the series, but most notably in "Plato's Stepchildren". In the episode, the Platonians telekinetically forced Chapel and Mr. Spock to kiss. This compels Chapel to admit that, despite her long-standing desire to be close with the Vulcan, all she wanted to do, given the humiliation of the situation, was "crawl away and die." In the episode "Amok Time", she brings Spock some soup to help him through a hard, secret, sacred Vulcan ritual. Spock denies the soup, telling her to "go away" and throws it at the wall because she is not willing to leave, but later acknowledges her thoughtfulness.

In Star Trek films

Chapel appeared in two of the Star Trek films featuring The Original Series cast. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the first film based on the Star Trek television series. The film is set in the twenty-third century, when a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V'Ger approaches the Earth,...

, Chapel had become a full-fledged doctor. Her second appearance was in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series and completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The...

, where she and Janice Rand

Janice Rand

Yeoman Janice Rand, played by Grace Lee Whitney, is a character in Star Trek: The Original Series. She subsequently appears in several Star Trek films and in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.-Depiction:...

 were stationed in Starfleet's headquarters in San Francisco. The 2009 film Star Trek also refers to a nurse Chapel who speaks a line of dialogue off-screen.

External links