Erika Hernandez
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Erika Hernandez (left) with Jonathan Archer (right) in 2154. |
Captain
Erika Hernandez is a character in the fictional
Star Trek universe, introduced in the
Star Trek: Enterprise episode, "
Home". She is portrayed by
Ada Maris.
Hernandez is the second
Starfleet captain given command of a
starship in Earth's
Warp 5 program, and is assigned to
Columbia (NX-02), the sister ship of
Enterprise (NX-01).
"Home", which takes place in 2154, establishes that some years earlier Hernandez and
Enterprise captain
Jonathan Archer had been in a relationship, which was briefly rekinded during a therapeutic holiday Archer took following the
Xindi mission.
Later, in the episode "
Affliction", Hernandez accepted the transfer of
Enterprise chief engineer
Charles Tucker, though she had to withstand complaints from her engineering crew, including requests for reassignment, due to Tucker's hard-driving manner of working.
In "
Divergence", the
Columbia was used in a risky maneuver that allowed Tucker to perform an
EVA to access a sabotaged
Enterprise while both ships were still travelling at high warp. She later allowed Tucker to stay aboard
Enterprise briefly in order to oversee repairs.
The decision by the writers of
Star Trek: Enterprise to introduce a female starship captain in the mid-22nd century (more than 100 years before
Star Trek: The Original Series) was controversial with some fans, who felt a female should not be shown in command of a starship at this point in history. This stems from a one-line remark by a female character in the
Original Series episode "
Turnabout Intruder", "Your world of starship captains doesn't admit women."
Over the years, some Trek purists have felt that this dialogue indicated that, for whatever reason, women were not allowed to captain starships at the time of TOS. Indeed the first female starship captain of that era would not appear on screen until the film
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Star Trek creator
Gene Roddenberry himself was reported as saying that the line was
chauvinistic and regrettable.
Other fans take into account that the female character who said that the world of starship captains didn't admit women, Dr. Janice Lester, was emotionally unstable when she made the statement, or that she may have specifically been referring to Captain Kirk and not starship commanders in general.
An alternate interpretation of the line is that the character was referring to the fact that starship captains are "married" to their vessels, preventing long-term relationships with people from forming. This interpretation reflects an underlying theme of
Star Trek that is present in all the series. The writers of "Home" took this interpretation of the line when they chose to make the captain of
Columbia a woman, and there is no further
canonical evidence to suggest that women were ever not allowed to command starships.
