WARNING: This thread WILL contain unhidden spoilers for this entry. Because this re-watch is in a slightly-subjective chronological order and not in production order, please refrain from talking about the content of other episodes or movies in this thread. If you do, please put that content inside spoiler tags. Some people here may be watching Star Trek for the first time.
#1: Star Trek: The Original Series pilot 1 “The Cage”
Written by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Robert Butler.
Stardate unknown (Sometime in 2254)
“It’s wrong to create a whole race of humans to live as slaves.” - Number One
As Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) muses to the ship’s doctor about how tired he is of the responsibilities of captaining a starship, the USS Enterprise receives a distress call from from the SS Columbia on a distant world known as Talos IV. The message confirms the ship crashed and that there are survivors, so the Enterprise alters course to mount a rescue. But once they arrive, and meet a curious young survivor among the crew, Pike is suddenly taken hostage and the Enterprise is held in orbit by strange beings with enormous telepathic power.
Originally released: February 1965 (originally released to the public: 14 October 1986)
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What did you think?
The Cage takes itself so much more seriously than the series that followed. Muted colour palette, no miniskirts, less bombastic performances, a few mostly imaginary action moments but mostly a methodical conflict between the Talosian manipulation and Pike’s resolve to escape. I really like it, but I wonder if a show that stuck to this tone would have had the success TOS did. Regardless, solid episode that gives us a strong sense of the captain’s character as he goes through a rough time.
So it begins, at the very beginning.
The pilot that made NBC tell Gene Roddenberry to take a hike, only for Lucille Ball to veto them and demand a second pilot be filmed. The rest is history.
Honestly, I think this pilot is the better of the two. It is interesting how many parallels The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before share. But this pilot feels more mature, taking the stakes more seriously. I also prefer this crew loadout. The Doctor is a bit nondescript, just an old man wearing a Starfleet bathrobe, but I really like Lieutenant Tyler, Yeoman Colt, and especially Number One. I would still replace Jeffery Hunter with William Shatner. Pike is a good character (as we come to know many, many years later) and Hunter is a good actor, but Shatner embodied the character so much better, gave it so much more energy. Shatner made his character feel like he was from the future in a way Hunter did not.
And of course, Leonard Nimoy’s Spock is arguably the most important actor/character combo in the entire franchise. And the longest lived (from 1965’s The Cage to 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness) - almost half a century.
The plot is pretty interesting, even today. And it’s of its time. The Twilight Zone would have spun this as something actually happening on Earth as the episode aired. The Orville also did a version of this story in its first season. Apart from the small amount of time it took for everything to unfold, nothing feels contrived or forced. The latent sexism on display can be blamed on the Talosians lack of understanding of how intellectual and culturally progressive the Human race was at that point. But at the same time, humans are still humans. Because Vena’s just acting to avoid punishment, The Talosians casually betraying Yeoman Colt’s inner-most thoughts about Pike is the closest to real romantic undertones this episode gets. Because when they try the same tactic on Number One, she just rolls her eyes.
I get that the NBC board wanted something less sophisticated, so we got a more campy, more colorful pilot to replace this one. And I get that Star Trek owes its early success to being more accessible to the average viewer. But just like the canceled Phase II, imagine what would have been if this had been greenlit from the start.
I agree Hunter did a fine job, and that Shatner was a distinct improvement due to his incredible range and great versatility. To me, Hunter was a command figure in the mold of 50’s and 60’s characters, while Shatner represented a truly believable figure as a futuristic leader. Amongst the cast, he and Nimoy are far and away the most fascinating, magnetic figures, altho the others did a superb job on the whole IMO.
Also worth mentioning is the network turning this down essentially because it was too far ahead of the curve, which is heartbreakingly typical of TV and movie studios, as we know. But the fact that they were able to salvage this ep and turn it in to a very good and watchable Menagerie two-parter is incredibly impressive to me.
I certainly have my critiques of Roddenberry, but I thought it super-impressive that he cast his GF (or was Barrett his wife by that point?) as the #1 officer, and of course later bringing in Nichols and Takei.
Side note: if you’re a Shatner appreciator, there’s a hilarious (but extremely well done) long-running blog that examines his total career, as well as how his hair thinned over the years, necessitating his classic lace toupee in TOS. Highly recommended:
I am and will always be a huge fan of TOS, but they’re not getting another nickle outta me. It must be declared Public Domain at once!
