Christine Chapel

Christine Chapel is a recurring character in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. She also appears as Dr Chapel in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. She was played by Majel Barrett in TOS and Jess Bush in SNW. In ST:XI and ST:XII she is mentioned in dialog.
She has a canonical unrequited crush on Spock.
==The Fanon Chapel: TOS==
The Chapel in fanon, naturally, is given much more agency than the one in canon. 
 
Fanworks have portrayed in a variety of ways:
* becoming a doctor, example A Gift Beyond Price, Orion Archives: 2272-2275 The Second Mission
* generally being a capable person, example: Reunion, Beyond Antares #24, Snakepit!
* being stranded on various planets as Spock's mate, example: Nuages, Kista, Demeter, The Castaways
* saving the day or being Spock's pon farr sacrifice with varying degrees of success
* as selfish/grasping/desperate/foolish
* being rejected by Spock
* being rejected by Spock's family, example Christine's Decision (a Kraith story)
* marrying Spock Heart Treks, Starweaver, Crossroads, Blood Ties, see Spock/Chapel
* as a conduit for Kirk/Spock, example: Requital, Dreamweaver
* dying in heroic ways
* helping others die, example: ...A Handful of Snowflakes and Other Trek Tales
 
==Some Fannish Reaction to Chapel==
=== The Original Series ===
Fans tend to have strong feelings regarding Christine. Some feel she is a strong character who could hold her own, some enjoy her unrequited love towards Spock, others dislike her passivity. 
Chapel was perhaps the least popular character in the zine era TOS fandom. Among the reasons for their dislike of her fans cited not being a well-written character, having a weak/passive/stereotypically feminine personality, replacing more interesting Number One and her crush on Spock being annoying.
Some fans, however, reported changing their attitude towards Chapel with time:
Inconsistent quality of writing the Chapel character often gets mentioned in the discussions of her. A fan in 1977 wrote: 
A fan in 1978: 
A discussion of Chapel in spock_chapel livejournal community addressed some widespread views of her in fandom:
A tumblr user graceleewhitney compared fannish reactions on Chapel and Chekov:
=== Reboot ===
Even though Chapel is almost non-present in Star Trek: Alternate Original Series, fanon versions of her appear in many Archive of Our Own fanworks. 
In those stories she is often paired with McCoy or Uhura.
Many fans were critical of the treatment of the Chapel character in the reboot:
On the other hand, reactions to her relative popularity in the reboot fandom were more positive:
=== Strange New Worlds ===
==Pairings==
Most common are Spock/Chapel, sometimes McCoy/Chapel. 
There is also a little Uhura/Chapel femslash based on their friendship in canon, one being a very early fic called Kismet (1977). Another early fic, a Chapel/Rand one, is Cross Currents (1980), the second Star Trek: TOS story written by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
==Fanworks==
===Fanfic===
 
* an early Chapel-centric fic is Snakepit! by Connie Faddis. It was first published in the print zines and Universal Transmitter (1975) and Rigel (1977) and then printed again in the tie-in book, Star Trek: The New Voyages #2 (1978). In it, Chapel saves the day.
* Djinn's works often featured Chapel and included such rare pairings as Kirk/Chapel and Chapel/OC
* Aconitum-Napellus's stories
===Zines===
*Universal Transmitter #1
*The Castaways by Cheree Cargill (Spock/Chapel, they are stranded on a planet, sort of Star Trek meets Clan of the Cavebear)
* Fantasy
*A Handful of Snowflakes (Spock/Chapel). The titular story from the zine was rejected by the editors of Eridani Triad because they disliked Chapel
*Heart Treks
*Kista and its sequel Demeter, both by Jane Land (Spock/Chapel)
* Ni Var
*Renewal (Spock/Chapel)
*Reunion (McCoy/Chapel novel showing the events of the first movie from the Chapel's POV)
* Starweaver
 
*Storms
*The Women's List
*The Other Sides of Me ("This is a zine consisting of stories based on the character of Christine Chapel.")
*Chris (Christine Chapel and Christine/Spock newsletter)
===Meta===
*At Odds: Nurse Chapel, the Original Hard Luck Kid by Karen Fleming (1974)
*Analysis of Nurse Christine Chapel by Diane Marchant in Beyond Antares #1 (1975)
*All About Chapel by Teresa Morris (1985)
*Christine Chapel, A Loser at What Cost? by Tess M. Kolney in The Women's List #2 (1986)
* Discussions of Chapel's appearances in episodes:
** The Naked Time, Wayback link
** What Are Little Girls Made Of?, Wayback link
** Operation: Annihilate!, Wayback link
** Amok Time, Wayback link
==Sample Fanart==
===1971===
File:Quadrant1art2.jpg|from Quadrant #1, artist is Pam Barilla (1971)
===1972===
File:Babel3art4.jpg| from Babel #3, artist is Margaret Basta (1972)
===1973===
File:Grup2inside2.jpg|from Grup #2, artist is Georgia Michaels
===1974===
File:Beta3art1.jpg|from Beta Niobe #3, artist is Marianne Tielesch
===1975===
Image:startrekprimer3.jpg|from A Child's Garden of Space: A Star Trek Primer, art by Phil Foglio, text by Paula Smith
File:Trans1art1.jpg|from Universal Transmitter #1 for the story "The Irish Campaign," artist is Connie Faddis (1975)
File:Fuhback.jpg|from Furaha #4
File:Universaltransmitterback.jpg|from Universal Transmitter #1, artist is Gee Moaven (1975)
===1976===
File:Idic4-6.jpg|from IDIC #4, artist is Signe Landon
File:Alnitah4.jpg|from Alnitah #4, artist is Robin Hill (1976)
File:Crossroads-1.jpg| from Crossroads in Stardate Unknown #2, artist Gerry Downes (1976)
File:Landoncard-10.jpg| from Signe Landon Star Trek Postcards, artist is Signe Landon (1976)
File:Interphase3-7.jpg| from Interphase #3, artist is Connie Faddis (1976)
File:Interphase3art4.jpg| from Interphase #3, artist is Gordon Carleton (1976)
File:Entity3art4.jpg|from Independent Entity #3, artist is Martynn
File:Warped21art6.jpg|from Warped Space #21 and part of The Weight, artist is Leslie Fish
===1977===
File:Grief-1.jpg|from Stardate: Unknown #3, artist is Gerry Downes
File:Bestofponfarr-4.jpg| from The Best of... #3, artist is Pat Harris (1977)
File:Galdis1art9.jpg|from Galactic Discourse #1, artist is Joni Wagner
===1978===
File:Mahko2art4.jpg|from Mahko Root #2, artist is Signe Landon
File:Warped3435-13.jpg|from Warped Space #34/35 (part of The Weight), artist is Leslie Fish. It portrays "Pendy" Uhura and Christine Chapel.
File:Warped39inside-6.jpg|from Warped Space #39 (part of The Weight), artist is Leslie Fish.
===1979===
File:Warped42-16.jpg|from Warped Space #42 (part of The Weight), artist is Leslie Fish.
File:Guardian2art1.jpg|from Guardian #2, aritst is Shona Jackson
File:Elder7.jpg|from The Other Side of Paradise #4, artist is Nan Lewis
File:Stardate5art4.jpg| from Stardate: Unknown #5, artist is Pat Stall (1979)
 Image:Alphatouch1inside2.jpg|thumb| from the zine Alpha Touch #1, artist is L L (1979) 
===1980===
 File:Kraithcollected6art5.jpg| from Kraith Collected #6, artist is Desire Gonzales 
===1982===
File:Fes5-20.jpg|from Fesarius #5, artist is T.J. Burnside
File:Homeisinside4.jpg| from Home Is Where the Heart Is, the artist is Barbara P. Gordon (1982)
File:Beyondantarestwentyart3.jpg|from Beyond Antares #20, artist is Marianne Plumridge
===1983===
File:Archives7-7.jpg|from Archives #7, artist is Carrie Rowles
File:Humanside1.jpg| from The Human Side, the artist is Annette Taylor (1983)
===1985===
File:Destinys1-4.jpg|from Destiny's Children #1
===1986===
File:Vault10art6.jpg|from Vault of Tomorrow #10, art by Fiona Graves (1986)
Image:womenslist1art1.jpg| from The Women's List #1, is Vel Jaeger (1986)
===1987===
File:Galdis5art10.jpg|from Galactic Discourse #5, artist is Melody Rondeau
File:Illusions1art1.jpg| from Illusions #1, artist is Schaezendur (1987)
===1988===
Image:betweenthesheets-2.jpg|from Between the Sheets, Vel Jaeger
File:Betweenthesheets6.jpg|from Between the Sheets, Vel Jaeger
File:Ninthquad9art.jpg|I from The Ninth Quadrant #9, artist is Vel Jaeger 
===1989===
File:Spock55-6.jpg|from Spock #55, artist is Wendy Purcell (1989)
===1990===
File:Spock57-6.jpg|Interior art of Spock #57, artist is Marianne Plumridge
===1992===
 File:Idiclog9.jpg|from IDIC Log #9, artist is Corinne Meyer 
===1993===
File:Hearttreks.jpg|from Heart Treks, artist is Gamin Davis
==Archives and Links==
*Christine Chapel, Original Series tag at Archive of Our Own
*Christine Chapel, Alternate Original Series tag at Archive of Our Own
*Christine Chapel, Original Series at FanFiction.net
* at Trekiverse
*Chapel stories posted to the where_no_woman livejournal community
==Resources==
*Christine Chapel on Memory Alpha
*Wikipedia
==References==
Category:Star Trek SNW Characters
Category:Star Trek TOS Characters