Robert April
Robert "Bob" April was a prominent 23rd century Human male Starfleet officer. In 2245, he was given command of the  . Captain April's command of the Enterprise came to an end in 2250 where he turned command over to his first officer Christopher Pike. ()

At some point following his stint as captain of the Enterprise, April was promoted to admiral and for the next twenty years he would be the Federation's ambassador-at-large. (; )

By 2256, however, he was considered one of the most decorated captains in Starfleet history. ()

Early life 
April was born in 2195, and later joined Starfleet, and married his wife, Sarah. ()

Starfleet career

Commanding the USS Enterprise  

During the 2240s, April oversaw the construction of components for a  starship at the San Francisco Navy Yards. That vessel eventually became the , which April later commanded from 2245 to 2250. His wife Sarah served as his chief medical officer. () Captain April's first officer was Christopher Pike. ()

Post-Enterprise 
Following the end of his five-year mission in 2250, April was promoted to admiral and passed command of the Enterprise to Captain Pike. He then became a respected Federation ambassador-at-large. (; ; )

By 2256, April was one of Starfleet's most decorated captains, ranked among other legends such as Jonathan Archer, Matthew Decker, Philippa Georgiou and his former first officer Christopher Pike. ()

In 2259, April traveled to Bear Creek, Montana where Pike was staying on Earth to inform him that Pike's own first officer, Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley had gone missing on Kiley 279. ()

After the Enterprise return from Kiley 279, April informed Pike, Chin-Riley and Spock that he had to use all the pull he had to convince the Federation High Court not to throw them all in jail for violating the Prime Directive on Kiley 279. He also informed the trio that he went to Starfleet's commander-in-chief personally to be read in on the events surrounding the . ()

On stardate 2341.4, April was tasked with convincing the R'ongovian Protectorate to join the Federation as they controlled a vital piece of territory in between Klingon and Romulan space. ()

Second chance at life  

By 2270, April, who retained the rank of commodore, along with his wife Sarah were transported to Babel aboard the Enterprise, where April would retire from Starfleet. During his trip, The Aprils, along with current Captain of the Enterprise, James T. Kirk and his crew would encounter Karla Five and her Reverse universe. That encounter would cause every one to age backwards and cause April and Sarah to age backwards. Following this incident, Exceptional circumstances made Starfleet consider his appeal to have his mandatory retirement rescinded. ()

Relationships

Romances

Sarah April 

It is unknown under what circumstances Robert and Sarah met, but the two would fall in love and get married. In 2270, the two would get a second chance to relive their lives again as the two were now younger. For Robert, however, he didn't want to relive their lives over again, as he couldn't improve one bit on what they had together. ()

Friendships

Christopher Pike 

April chose Christopher Pike as his first officer. During their tenure aboard the Enterprise together, April learned that Pike never did downtime well. Even after April left the Enterprise and command was transferred to Pike, the two kept a close friendship as Pike called him by his first name "Bob". (; )

Sometime prior to April's promotion, he and Pike took a picture when they were both still wearing an earlier version of the Starfleet uniform. ()

Key dates 
 2195: Year of birth
 2245: Appointed captain of the 
 2250
Transfers command of the Enterprise to Christopher Pike
Appointed Federation ambassador-at-large
 2259: Holds the rank of admiral
 2270: Holds the rank of commodore
 Destined for Babel for mandatory retirement
 Temporarily suffers from reverse aging and regains command of the Enterprise

Appendices

Appearances

Background information 
April was voiced by James Doohan in  and portrayed by Adrian Holmes in . His was the first character introduced in an animated Star Trek production to later appear in live action.

The name "Robert April" originated from the first Star Trek pitch, as the name of the lead character ("Robert M. April"). On StarTrek.com and in the , his name is listed as "Robert T. April". 

Prior to this, the name "Robert April" was used by Gene Roddenberry for a prison chaplain in two episodes of . The name for the featured Enterprise captain was later changed to "Christopher Pike" for  and then to "James T. Kirk" for later episodes. 

According to the script for "The Counter-Clock Incident", April was described as "a 75-year-old man whose looks belie his age. He has a full head of grey hair; he is rather trim and in good physical condition. He is wearing what we would consider a "fulldress" uniform, more formal than the Enterprise crew."

The  uses an image of Gene Roddenberry (manipulated from a photo of William Shatner by Michael Okuda) in an early-style uniform to illustrate its entry on April, as does the  for its entry on 2245.

When "The Counter-Clock Incident" writer Fred Bronson first heard about the prequel premise of , he mistakenly assumed, much to his excitement, that April was prominently featured in the upcoming series. He was later disappointed to discover this was not the case. Added ENT Co-Executive Producer Chris Black, "I was not the uber-fan that would have said, 'Wait, it should have been Robert April." (The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years, p. 646)

Unused material for Jonathan Archer's bio, featured in , stated that Archer passed away one day following the christening of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), in 2245. If canonical, it would suggest that April and Archer knew each other.

Roberto Orci once revealed he had considered a rogue April as a villain in .

Apocrypha 
In the books  and Best Destiny, both written by Diane Carey, it was stated that Captain April was born in Coventry, UK. In developing April for Final Frontier, having only the Animated Series episode as a basis, Carey decided to give him "a warm, funny, visionary personality, and made him a gentle and wise counterpoint to the very volatile and action-oriented George Kirk [... The] idea is that somehow James Kirk is the composite of the better qualities of both April and George Kirk, the visionary wisdom with the proactive reactionary hero." ()

In the Star Trek: Early Voyages comic series, April made several appearances and was often referenced. The first issue, "Flesh of My Flesh", established that April commanded a USS Tiberius for three five-year missions prior to commanding the Enterprise on his fourth five-year mission and that J.M. Colt and José Tyler served under April on the Tiberius. In the same comic, April walked Christopher Pike to the Enterprise in spacedock, and in another scene, set two years later, it was shown that it was due to April's recommendation that Pike recruited Spock to the Enterprise crew.

The fourth issue, "Nor Iron Bars a Cage", stated that April, then a commodore at Starfleet Command, personally reassigned J.M. Colt to the Enterprise to take up her position as yeoman. In the final story in the Early Voyages series, presented in the comics "" and "Thanatos", April, then an admiral, returned to the Enterprise to temporarily take command while Captain Pike conducted an undercover mission. April displayed questionable conduct in the story, but the tale was never concluded, as the series was canceled.

The alternate reality version of  appears in the IDW comic mini-series Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness. In the new timeline, he was captain of a previous , which existed subsequent to , but prior to the  launched in 2258 with  as his first officer. While surveying the planet Phaedus IV in 2239, he was declared killed in action, when in reality, he deliberately went against the Prime Directive to assist the planet's inhabitants in an ongoing rebellion until he was discovered by Captain  and Commander  twenty years later. Additionally, April recalled he had been captain "going on 10 years" in 2239, suggesting his prime reality counterpart would have also achieved the rank of captain in or around 2229, as this occurred before the creation of the alternate reality.

April later reappeared in the twentieth issue of IDW's Star Trek: Ongoing comic series, in which Captain Kirk visited April after the events of  to let him know that his plan to start a war with the Klingon Empire had failed.

The novel Captain to Captain gives his full name as Robert Timothy April.

The reference book Star Trek: Federation - The First 150 Years depicts April as the principal designer of the , having grown dissatisfied with current Starfleet vessels' lack of self-sufficiency.

The  tie-in novel Drastic Measures shows April in the year 2246 aiding the colony of Tarsus IV in the aftermath of Kodos the Executioner's infamous massacre. He is described as having an English accent and already married to his chief medical officer Sarah.

External links 
 
 
 

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