Star Trek: 5 Reasons Now Is The Perfect Time To Rewatch The Cage

Sometimes a man will tell his bartender things he'd never tell his Doctor.

Philip Boyce, played by John Hoyt, was the archetype for Chief Medical Officers in Star Trek. He was straight talking and unafraid to tell his Captain when he thought he was in the wrong. Originally, Roddenberry had wanted DeForest Kelly for the role, but was overruled. He later conceded that Hoyt had been perfect for Boyce.

The Doctor had always been conceived as something of an unlikely space traveller. He was well into middle age, and measured each landing in terms of their annoyances, rather than their interest. He was able to speak to Pike in a way that no one else would have escaped, particularly helping the Captain in coming to terms with the deaths of three crewman on their previous mission.

There is a lot of Dr. McCoy in the character of Boyce. Hoyt was in fact disappointed not to be asked back to reprise the role in the main series. He had a barbed wit, bringing martini's to the Captain rather than traditional medicine. He was full of pearls of wisdom, not least the following quote:

'A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on, and licks it. Or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.'

Fans have already begun dream casting the role for Strange New Worlds, with many calling for the great Jeffrey Combs to take on the part. Boyce has only once been shown on screen (not including stock footage) and there is ample room to develop this character again.