Pelia — memory alpha

Commander Pelia was a female Lanthanite Starfleet officer who lived on Earth from at least the 6th century BC through the 23rd century. She served as an instructor at Starfleet Academy before being assigned to Operational Support Services as chief fleet inspector, and later transferring to the USS Enterprise as chief engineer. While otherwise indistinguishable from a Human, Nyota Uhura was able to identify her species by her accent.

Who is the actress that plays Commander Pelia in Strange New Worlds? toggle section

Actress Carol Kane plays the role of Commander Pelia in the second season of Strange New Worlds. Pelia, a Lanthanite Starfleet officer, has a history of serving as a Starfleet Academy instructor and chief fleet inspector before her transfer to the USS Enterprise.

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What distinguishes Commander Pelia as a Lanthanite in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds? toggle section

Commander Pelia, portrayed by Carol Kane in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, is a Lanthanite, a species with an extremely long lifespan. She lived on Earth from the 6th century BC to at least the 23rd century. Pelia served as an instructor at Starfleet Academy, a chief fleet inspector, and later as the Chief engineer on the USS Enterprise. Her Lanthanite heritage, which is almost indistinguishable from humans, was identified by Uhura through her accent and was first revealed to Amanda Grayson.

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What was Commander Pelia's role at Starfleet Academy before joining the USS Enterprise? toggle section

Before joining the USS Enterprise, Commander Pelia, a Lanthanite, held the position of an instructor at Starfleet Academy. Following this, she served as the chief fleet inspector for Operational Support Services.

Provided by: Fandom

How is Commander Pelia able to live through the entirety of human history? toggle section

Commander Pelia, identified in Strange New Worlds as a Lanthanite, possesses an extraordinarily long life span, allowing her to exist from the time of Pythagoras to the farthest reaches of explored space. Her Lanthanite species is known for their near-immortal longevity.

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Early life

Pelia was born in the 28th century BC and claimed to have lived through the entirety of Human history. She further claimed to have been a contemporary of Pythagoras. (SNW: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail")

During the 20th century, Pelia knew Cary Grant, and was once a roadie for the Grateful Dead. (SNW: "Those Old Scientists", "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail")

In the 1960s and the 1990s, Pelia tried LSD, but it had no effect on her due to Pelia's Lanthanite physiology. (SNW: "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans")

During the 21st century, Pelia ran an antique and curio shop in Vermont called The Archeology Department. In 2022, she was visited by La'An Noonien-Singh and James T. Kirk, who had time traveled from two alternate versions of 2259. They were seeking a way to detect a cold fusion reactor in Toronto; Pelia gave them a 1980s divers' wristwatch containing phosphor that glowed in the presence of tritium, a by-product of the reactor. (SNW: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow")

Pelia survived World War III and witnessed the launch of a ship that carried the best of humanity in search of a new world between the end of the war and First Contact with the Vulcans. (SNW: "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail")

When the New World Economy ended the use of currency on Earth in the 22nd century, Pelia still resided in Vermont, living in a bunker in case the "no money, socialist utopia thing turned out to be a fad." (SNW: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow")

She was friends with Amanda Grayson, who was one of the first Humans that she revealed her Lanthanite heritage to. (SNW: "The Broken Circle")

Pelia spent some challenging time with "a time traveling Doctor I once knew." (SNW: "New Life and New Civilizations")

Starfleet career

Instructor at Starfleet Academy

Pelia served as an instructor at Starfleet Academy for a time teaching numerous Starfleet cadets. She considered Montgomery Scott one of her best students, but gave him some of her worst grades. She also gave Una Chin-Riley middling grades for what she considered 'sloppy' work, something that Una bore a grudge over for some time. (SNW: "The Broken Circle", "Hegemony")

Service aboard the USS Enterprise

Pelia and a team of inspectors were conducting system inspections and upgrades aboard Enterprise when a surreptitious distress call was received from La'An Noonien-Singh. Recognizing an urgent need to assist, acting captain Spock devised a plan with his remaining senior officers to steal the Enterprise from Starbase 1 by faking an imminent warp core breach. However, Pelia saw through the subterfuge immediately, as she continued to teach on this subject at Starfleet Academy. She nonetheless allowed Spock to proceed, assuming that as a Vulcan, he had sound reasons for doing so.

Having uncovered and averted the threat of a continued Federation-Klingon War, Pelia confided in Spock over bloodwine that her true motivation for assisting the crew was out of boredom, that her current teaching position was no longer challenging or interesting enough. She observed that the Enterprise appeared to be in very short supply of monotony, and volunteered her services to fill the vacant chief engineer's position. (SNW: "The Broken Circle")

She was dealing with a dilithium shortage and wasn't able to visit with Amanda Grayson when she boarded the Enterprise. According to Pike, she seemed awfully enthusiastic about purchasing dilithium. (SNW: "Charades")

After Ensigns Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner got stuck in 2259, Pelia gave Boimler advice on his predicament. (SNW: "Those Old Scientists")

It was at Pelia's suggestion that Nyota Uhura elected to transmit a piece of music into a subspace fold, which inadvertently created a quantum uncertainty field that compelled the crew to break into song during periods of heightened emotional stress. (SNW: "Subspace Rhapsody")

When the Gorn attacked Parnassus Beta, Pelia was reunited with Lieutenant junior grade Montgomery Scott, one of her former students, who was the only survivor of the destruction of the USS Stardiver. Pelia expressed frustration with Scott's lack of recording his work on his transponder and humorously frightened him to get it done, effectively cloaking the Enterprise from the Gorn. Later, the two managed to turn the Enterprise into an X-class coronal mass ejection to send the Gorn into a long hibernation cycle and then rescued the Parnassus colonists and landing party using transporter codes stolen by La'An. During this time, Pelia revealed that she pushed Scott so much because she recognized his potential, but also that he was too afraid to take risks. (SNW: "Hegemony", "Hegemony, Part II")

Pelia later sent Scott in her stead to a senior officers' meeting because she hated attending them. (SNW: "Shuttle to Kenfori")

Pelia was on shore leave when the Enterprise was tasked with testing the new holodeck, leaving Scott in charge of Engineering. (SNW: "A Space Adventure Hour")

When a Vezda invaded the ship, possessing Nurse Dana Gamble, Pelia forced it out of the young man by shooting Gamble with a phaser set to kill, allowing Scott to trap it in the ship's pattern buffer. Pelia told M'Benga that Gamble was already dead and described the lifeform as being pure evil. (SNW: "Through the Lens of Time")

When the Enterprise was captured by the Scavenger ship, Pelia's collection of antique telephones from the 1980s were used as a replacement for the ship's inoperable internal comms. In addition to telephones, Pelia's quarters is revealed to be brimming with items from her past, one such item being an original Atari game console which she claims to have used to pilot 8-bit starships. After the mysterious scavengers were revealed to be Humans, the descendant of a ship launched in the mid-21st century, Pelia sadly recalled witnessing the ship launch and that it had carried the best of humanity. (SNW: "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail")

In order to help the Tezaarians, Pike, Pelia, La'An, Uhura and Chapel used the Kerkhovian serum to transform into Vulcans. However, Pelia was unaffected by the serum, possibly because of her Lanthanite physiology. When the other four started going out of control, the crew used Pelia's quarters for secret meetings as she had technologically modified them against any form of detection due to Pelia's love for living off of the grid. (SNW: "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans")

Legacy

In 3195, she was listed with other luminaries of Starfleet Academy on a commemoration wall in the USS Athena. (SA: "Kids These Days" set decoration)

Personal life

Pelia was a self-described "packrat", who owned artifacts from throughout Human history. One of these was The Concert from the Louvre, which she insisted was a fake. Another was The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil. Other objects seen in Pelia's quarters included a jukebox, roller skates, an Atari gaming system, a Kit-Kat Klock and several antique telephones from the 1980s. (SNW: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail")