<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Star Trek Character
Christine Chapel
Nurse Chapel
Status	Deceased in franchise chronology
Gender	Female
Species	Human
Origin	Earth
Portrayed by	Majel Barrett
First Appearance
Profession	Nurse - USS Enterprise NCC-1701
Relatives
Special Features

Nurse Christine Chapel is a fictional character of the TV series Star Trek: The Original Series portrayed by Majel Barrett.

Character History

Nurse Chapel served as the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Starship Enterprise under the command of Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy. She was an accomplished bioresearch scientist when she first joined Starfleet. She first signed aboard the Enterprise in hopes of finding her space lost fiance, Dr. Roger Korby. She eventually found him (sort of) in the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", the eighth episode from Season 1, with tragic results.

By the year 2270 (Star Trek: The Motion Picture), Chapel had earned her Medical Degree, and was a staff physician on the Enterprise. She was seen directing emergency operations at Starfleet Command in 2286 (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home).

Character

It was an open secret that Chapel was infatuated with Mr. Spock, the alien first officer, who, of course, could never return her feelings. Spock was a Vulcan, a race who despised emotions, particularly romantic ones. Her hopeless love for the logical Vulcan touched the hearts of fans, making her a wonderfully tragic character.

Another reason that the Chapel character's popularity, is that many female fans could relate to her Spock infatuation. When Star Trek became popular in syndication in the late 60s and 70s, many women shared that they were attracted to the Spock character. Something about the pathos of Spock's struggle with emotion and loneliness, plus his inaccessability, captured the female imagination. In a way, Chapel was a surrogate for all those women.

Another reason people liked her, is that they knew that Majel Barrett was actually married to Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek's creator. In truth, when the series started, Majel Barrett was Roddenberry's girl friend, and he was still married to someone else. He was determined to have her on his series, and cast her as the mysterious "Number One" in the original pilot. The network executives didn't like her, and asked that she not appear in the next pilot or the series. After the series started, he placed the dark haired beauty in a blond wig, gave her the Chapel part, and hoped they wouldn't recognize her. They did, but he managed to keep her in anyway.