Vina makes waves with Pike
How come when Vina vanishes, she does so with a "wavy"-like effect, but when the other illusionary survivors disappear, they just plain vanish! (no waves)

Wierd Transition award
After the battle with the creature, the camera focuses on Pike, then the scene changes and now the camera is focused on Vina's backside.

GREAT MOMENT:
The Talosians going through the Enterprise's computer files at lightning speed. This idea would be revisited in STTMP.

Not too intelligent for mentally superior aliens, are they?
At the end, the Talosians give Vina an illusionary Pike...well...why didn't they do that to begin with and let the real Pike go if he didn't want to stay?

THX to Luigi Novi!

I must add they sure give Pike a lot of PAPERWORK to look at. I guess PADDs were not in vogue yet.

They didn't create an illusionary Pike from the beginning because they wanted offspring. The illusion isn't that good.

From my perspective, several elements in The Cage don't seem very plausible. First off, I find it very unlikely that Vina would not return to Earth (because she is deformed from an improper "reconstruction"). If Earth can reorganise the very molecules of human beings (for the transportors), they should definately have the technology to properly cosmetically reconstruct Vina. I don't think this storyline would have worked in ST:TNG or even Enterprise. The later series would at least acknowledge that medical science would be sophisticated enough to medically restore Vina's appearance. A bit of short-sideness in the 60's series?

Another problem I have is with the concept of ESP. It's a concept that has been thoroughly debunked on Nova, Penn & Teller's Bull****, and other programs. Naturally, a story featuring ESP, or should I say the alien's thought powers, would seem less credible today. But that is probably a minor point: ESP and mental powers are an almost universally accepted concepts in science fiction. I can get over that, but it would seem to place the story more into the category of fantasy.

The pilot does start off with one of the most impressive pre-Star Wars (pre-motion control) effects seen in a science fiction production: the elaborate zoom around the Enterprise and into the bridge. This combination of model effects and live action was an early example of an effect common (via CGI) today. It was a most ambitious effect for 1964, even if it wasn't perfectly executed.

Captain Pike's remark that all doctors are "dirty old men" does seem very sexist and out-dated (since not all doctors are male or overbearing horndogs).

One thing still impressive: The Cage almost has the feel of being a small screen equivalent of a science fiction production of the caliber of Forbidden Planet. It's a first class production all the way (alright, some of the painted mountain backdrops on Telos looked a bit cheesy).

Another problem I have is with the concept of ESP. It's a concept that has been thoroughly debunked on Nova, Penn & Teller's Bull****, and other programs. Naturally, a story featuring ESP, or should I say the alien's thought powers, would seem less credible today. But that is probably a minor point: ESP and mental powers are an almost universally accepted concepts in science fiction. I can get over that, but it would seem to place the story more into the category of fantasy. - NGen

Well, it's been debunked as far as humans are concerned, sure. But does that mean that other lifeforms might not actually possess it? There's no way to completely rule out that possibility. We haven't met any extraterrestrial lifeforms to properly gauge the possiibilities. ESP may be cliched, but it could still be possible (but not probable).

Live long and prosper.

NGen, you can say the exact same thing for faster-than-light travel, transporters, replicators, etc.

What's with the couple in beach wear Pike passes as he goes to his quarters? They look like they wandered off the "Gidget" set.

Dr. Boyce doesn't waste any time getting to Pike's quarters -- it's all of five seconds after Pike calls him.

NANJAO -- the light panel over Pike's bed slowly changes colors.

The bulkhead in Pike's quarters has a curve and a window to it, indicating that it's in the secondary hull. It was later established that the Captain's quarters are on deck 5, in the primary hull.
The third season DVD set has two versions of "The Cage" on disc 7 - the full color restored version, and the color and black and white version, released on video in 1986. On the latter, the intro and epilog with Gene Roddenberry have been retained.
One nitpick, though - in the restored footage in the color version, they have tried to make the Keeper's voice sound consistent throughout. You can still notice differences, however.

"Another problem I have is with the concept of ESP. It's a concept that has been thoroughly debunked on Nova, Penn & Teller's Bull****, and other programs."

I'm not so sure of that. I have actually seen my sister display ESP. For example, when I had a car accident many years ago in Cleveland, my sister in Seattle called my mom the next morning to ask what happened to me. She didn't know what happened to me, but she knew SOMETHING had happened. How do you explain that?

I would explain it via the fact that there are many more times when a sister calls a mother when nothing has happened. For every time that someone calls you right after you were thinking about them, for every time someone has a hunch and decided not to board a plane that later crashes, there is a 99.99% of the rest of the time when a person does not call you when you had been thinking about them, and planes not crashing after a passenger decides not to get on at the last minute. Those exceptional instances are such fascinating anecdotes precisely because they're so stastically rare.

For a better understanding of how such pseudoscientific phenomena can be explained, I highly recommend Michael Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things, and Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World, as they're the two best books I've read on the subject of such alleged phenomena.

However I don't see why one should have to have a problem with this in science fiction, or why such a premise makes it fantasy instead of sci-fi. Sci-fi is fiction based on a premise involving some technological or scientific advancement or discovery. Since ESP is conjectured to be biological, such stories fall under sci-fi. When such powers are conjectured to be magical (as when it is called "Occlumency" in the Harry Potter novels), then it's called fantasy.

I have seen telepathy and ESP described as people having the same or similar electromagnetic frequency in their brains. Sort of like having a pair of cbs or radios on the same channel. Not that that makes it any more likely or not but just one sci-fi/psedosci explanation.

Pike remarked on 203 lives (total crew 204) 13 years before Kirk. The ship has obviously been refitted, and perhaps unlike Pike's ship, it is meant to be a much longer-range ship. With that, you need more people aboard to make the ship less dependent on repair ports and such. The Enterprise must have been upgraded. Another possible explanation - Pike's Enterprise is a "grand old lady" with some outdated technology that is bulky and inefficient. It can't support 430 people.

Sometime before Kirk takes command, the ship is upgraded (the basic space frame is in great shape), with modern technology, and expanded life support capability. Now it can hold 500, so a crew of 430 seems reasonable. Pike may have left his command with some 430 people under him.

I don't know where it is said that Pike's cabin was in the secondary hull. However, Decks 2-4 are mostly science labs on Kirk's Enterprise. Such labs may have been in the secondary hull... or largely absent... in Pike's time. Pike's quarters may have been on Deck 2 or Deck 3, where the hull curves sharply. Sick Bay may have been not to far away, or perhaps Boyce was finishing a "house call" and wasn't far away.

The opening shot actually got used in a couple of early episodes of the series, notably Corbomite Maneuver and such, although cutting away before we start to see the people inside that overhead window.

Guys, I have a question: On the Season 3 DVD, it indicates that it has two versions of this pilot, a "restored" version, and an "original" version. Rather than watching both back to back (though I'll eventually get to them), what are the differences? Is it that one has remastered video and sound? (I don't figure it's that, since why would they put a version on the disc before they remastered it?) Or does it mean that one version has scenes that the other does not? I'm curious. Thanks.

Spoiler/noncanon.

Unaired info from In A Mirror, Darkly(ENT) indicates that the NCC-1701 was launched in 2245.

For a long time, the color version of the pilot was thought lost. Roddenberry had a B&W copy. This was edited together with color footage from "The Menagerie". Later, a full color copy did show up. However, the mixed color/B&W version is interesting in that it highlights the footage that was used in "The Menagerie".

How come "The Cage" doesn't have a full credit roll? Just the basics are given. The names of the film editor, director of photography, music composer, other guest stars (and many other credits) were not listed. Leonard Nimoy got first co-starring billing, though. It was copyrighted (in 1964) though, a dignity not afforded to the first season of TOS until 1978.
I had heard (maybe it was from Trek 2.0) that the Keeper's voice was Malachi Throne's, but electronically distorted, to differentiate it from Throne's own voice when he played Commodore Mendez in "The Menagerie."

I started to watch "The Cage" on Star Trek 2.0, but quickly gave up. The concept of interactive comments being shown sounds interesting in theory. In reality, it's a drag. Fans are posting really inane comments. Some are just as dumb as those that kiddies post about Britney Spears' videos on MTV. The "Spock Market" is really lame and not witty. Do other fans really find Star Trek 2.0 entertaining?

Some of the factoids they scroll across the top are somewhat interesting, but for the most part it's just annoying.

P.R. asked: Do other fans really find Star Trek 2.0 entertaining?

I also watch it for the "Trek Facts" that run across the top of the screen, although since I've read so much over the years on TOS, there's very little there that strikes me as fresh. The comments are annoying and juvenile, and I prefer to ignore them.
G4 shows non-2.0'ed Trek on Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (E.T.) That's in its second go-round as well, but "The Cage" was not included in their latest rotation.

Some Trek eps are a natural for discussion about the cultural context of the series. I tuned in to Star Trek 2.0 hoping to see some interesting comments about "The Way to Eden". I was hoping to at least some some interesting comments about the 'space hippies'. None.

I find the 2.0 eps unwatchable for reasons stated above. Also, I didn't buy a 31" flat panel tv so I could see TOS on only 17" of it.

One thing about the 203 person crew that no one else has come up with...red shirts.

there are none on Pike's Ent. Perhaps they found they lost too many good officers on missions so doubled the crew by adding 227 red shirts to pull landing party duties....

Perhaps they found they lost too many good officers on missions so doubled the crew by adding 227 red shirts to pull landing party duties....

And we're quite grateful for the business, too!

Remember what a flop it was when CNN Headline News changed their look to have a small picture and loads of stats clutting the screen. They changed back to the full-frame screen presentation. I think Star Trek 2.0 would be better in fullscreen with a running scroll at the bottom. Actually, I think the best way to do this show would be like the 90's VH-1 "Pop-up Videos". Show the classic eps in full screen with interesting facts in pop-up captions. Such a wealth of trivia exists for each ep about its writers, actors, story influences, prop reuses, etc that I think such a format could work. Fan comments would be in a running scroll at the bottom.

Remember what a flop it was when CNN Headline News changed their look to have a small picture and loads of stats clutting the screen?
Bloomberg TV still broadcasts that way, with so much on-screen clutter.

"Pop-Up Star Trek?" Fascinating. BTW, whatever happened to Pop-Up Video? I thought that was so much fun. That and Behind The Music made VH-1 worthwhile. Now, VH-1 has no real music shows, and it's just a clone of "E-Entertaimnent Television." VH-1 ignored the 37th anniversary of Woodstock this past weekend. VH-1 Classic didn't, however, and ran the 1970 documentary film a couple of times last Friday, and will run it a couple of more times this week. (Sorry about the off-topic rant.)

NGen said regarding TNG and Enterprise, "The later series would at least acknowledge
that medical science would be sophisticated enough to medically restore Vina's appearance." While this is true, it's irrelevant when considering Vina's actual choice; spend months or years on Earth having her body 'bent' back into shape, as a woman in her 50's or 60's, or remain on Talos as a beautiful, young woman in her 20's, able to live anywhere in the universe, see anyone that's ever existed or could be dreamed about, free of the pain that obviously wracked her twisted body. I know I'd want the life of illusion when given such a choice, even if she's just a prisoner of the Talosians.
And because of that, Vina's actual response to Pike when he expects her to leave with him is more along the lines of, "I can't. I can't go with you. I can't bear to live as a crippled old woman, when I've regained my youth through Talosian illusions."

I'm a fan of Jeff Hunter,but I'm unsure that had he accepted the role of Capt.Pike on the series if he and Leonard Nimoy would have had the same chemistry together as Shatner & Nimoy did.Jeff was a more low-key,restrained actor,Shat was more theatrical,dramatic in his style.But to be fair,as we saw Kirk develop over each episode & throughout the three seasons,perhaps Hunter's Pike would have also done the same.I wonder if he would have been a more sharing actor with the rest of the cast as compared to Shatner?One thing is for sure though,if the other cast members felt that Shatner was a scene stealer,it could have even been worse for them had the producers accepted Jack Lord(and his demand for 50% ownership of the show)as the lead. Yikes!!! I liked the guy on Hawaii Five-O,but by most accounts he wasn't an easy guy to work with/for.

I always felt that they made some excellent decisions with changes they made to the look of the series between this pilot & the second pilot,"Where No Man Has Gone Before." The phasers & communicators were superior in design as compared to what we see in "The Cage." The uniforms are cooler looking with the black collar which did not come along until after the second pilot where they reused the same shirts from "TC." They also added some much needed color to the bridge.Some things that I wished they had continue to use on the show that we never see again after "The Cage" were: Female crew uniforms,grey jackets,the laser cannon,which they certainly could have renamed phaser cannon.I also liked the phaser rifle in the second pilot,"WNMHGB,"but it disapears after this & is not seen again in the weekly series.

I totally agree about the grey jackets, Mike. What was always odd to me is that they were already manufactured for 'The Cage'. What happened to them? It would have cost zero to utilize them.

I just thought of something today regarding the Gray jackets, specifically Captain Pike's. After he was kidnapped by the Talosians, his was never seen again. I wonder if the Keeper noticed later on that Pike had left his jacket behind?

Or maybe the Keeper thought, "Neat jacket!" and mentally convinced Pike to leave it behind? ;-)

KAM: In the Classic Trekkers Guide, Phil wonders why Spock was smiling, shouting and showing emotion. Well, this episode takes place 14 years before Amok Time. (13 years before The Menagerie, and Amok Time was aired the next season.) Clearly his control over his emotions was slipping because of Pon Farr.

Nice try...except that pon farr hadn't been invented yet! The truth is simply that Spock, as a character, hadn't had all the kinks worked out of him yet. Pon farr, as someone else noted, made Spock angry, brooding, dark, and on the edge of losing control of his great strength (throwing soup at Nurse Chapel; smashing his view-screen, which kills me every time b/c all I can think of is Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold smashing in the talking moose's nose in National Lampoon: Family Vacation). It did not cause him to do things like walk up to a flower and smile.

Nitpickers do not deal in reality. ;-)

The fact that the writers had not invented it yet doesn't mean that we can't use it as part of the internal reality of the series.

One part of this story that always intriugued/amused me was when Pike was first in captivity. The Keeper, predicting Pike's actions, says "The specimen will now boast of his strength, the weaponry of his vessel, and so on." Boast of his strength? I would've loved to have heard that!

How was the laser cannon moved to the surface from the ship? Beamed?

Pike must be a traditionalist. He's got a TV set in his quarters (never mind that TV died out more than two centuries before)! How exactly would does that work? Does Pike have the computer download the shows into his set and then watches them (like Tom Paris does on Voyager)?

No, the nacelles act like rabbit ears & he picks up the broadcasts from 3 centuries in the past since TV signals travel outward at the speed of light. ;-)

LOL! Of course, if the ship is more than three hundred light years from Earth, Pike is not gonna seeing anything but snow!

Pike: Dammit! What's wrong with this thing (bangs the TV set).

Number One: Nothing captain, we're just too far from Earth to be reeeiving any old TV signals.

Pike: How long until those signals catch up to us.

Number One: Well, given our current distance from Earth, I'd say about two hundred years.

Pike: Dang! I was hoping to watch Bonanza tonight!

The TV listings now show the remastered "The Cage" scheduled for the weekend of 5/2, two weeks from now. This is the last unbroadcast remastered episode.

Trekmovie.com has the preview for the remastered "The Cage".

Next weekend's episode is the premiere of the remastered "The Cage". Although most of the new effects have been seen in "The Menagerie", we'll get some better looks, most notably the push-in shot as the camera swoops into the bridge.

The following weeked is "The Doomsday Machine".

The remastered "The Cage" features a redo of the original titles -- same style, but with CGI. The "STAR TREK" title is backed by the same nebula they sailed off into in "Turnabout Intruder". The Enterprise is the original design with the nacelle antennas.

The push-in shot to the bridge is redone so that it looks like the camera dips through a transparent dome. CGI figures are blended into the live action as it transitions to the original film. It works great.

There's still that old issue of where the bridge turbo lift is. The models have a bump on the back of the bridge that would seem to correspond to the turbolift, but the turbolift is offset -- it's not directly opposite the screen. So either the bump doesn't correspond to the turbolift, or everyone on the bridge is facing to the right rather than straight ahead.

The light panel in Pike's cabin is now a viewport.

The transparent ship/loud music warp sequence was cut for syndication. Because the original edit was 65 minutes, over 20 minutes has been cut out. The whole Rigel section is missing. The remastered DVD version includes the whole thing.

All the Talosian illusions now use a wavy effect as they disappear. Spock's slide projector has an updated picture of Talos IV.

The pictures flashing by when the Talosians scan the ship's computer are redone, including a lot post-1964 -- Neil Armstrong on the moon, the Space Shuttle, a Soyuz spacecraft, the International Space Station, etc. The map of the Earth shows Russia rather than the Soviet Union. The only possible post-20th Century picture is the one of a lionfish -- Livingston, I presume?

Vina's transformation is smoothed out, so the fades between different levels of makeup aren't as obvious.

The episode ends with a pull-out shot through the bridge dome.

The laser effects against the Talosian elevator door are unchanged. The higher voice for the Keeper that was used in "The Menagerie" was kept here. The lines used from the original soundtrack were pitch altered to match. The original "The Cage" used Malachi Throne's regular voice. For "The Menagerie", he rerecorded the dialog speaking slowly and it was sped up to create the higher tone.

The soundtrack for the non-Menagerie sections has been cleaned up and sounds better than in previous editions. It's still pretty obvious when they switch, though.

"The Cage" was pieced together from three sources -- the footage used full screen in "The Menagerie", the color footage that was found in a film lab (but without a soundtrack), and the soundtrack from Roddenberry's B&W print.

After Spock reports the loss of the captain to Number One, he ends with "Do you read?" and closes the communicator without waiting for a response.

The episode ends with a pull-out shot through the bridge dome.
That was way cool. And unexpected, as I don't own the re-mastered sets. A great way to "bookend" the episode.
When Spock orders the Enterprise to leave Talos IV, just before the bridge goes dark, the bridge background sounds are the familiar ones from the series, not the sound used in the rest of "The Cage" (and "Where No Man Has Gone Before.")
The end credits are still mimimal - just the cast, writer/producer, director and Desilu. No film editor, director of photography, script (or "scpipt") supervisor, et al. The CBS logo, seen at the end of the rest of the re-mastered episodes, was dropped here. Possibly by our local station, who went right into an episode of Stargate Atlantis without a break.

I got the CBS logo, so they probably just cut it short.

Placing the turbolift offset was an artistic choice so that they could film the captain's reaction to someone entering/leaving the bridge. If it were directly behind him, he'd have to turn around to see them.

Some people have suggested that the turbolift is actually at the rear as depicted in the model, and the crew sits facing 30 degrees to port. I personally think this is silly.

Next week's remastered episode is "The Cage". And after that...? It appears to be the end of the syndicated remastered episodes. None of the cities I checked show anything after next weekend.

It appears to be the end of the syndicated remastered episodes.
I suspected as much when you posted that "The Cage" was scheduled. If it's true, it sure has been a lot of fun. My favorite part of the re-mastered episodes was the theatrical showing of the re-mastered "The Menagerie" back in November of 2007. I'll go so far as to say that I enjoyed that more than JJ Abrams' Star Trek flick.

The stars on half the main viewscreen appear to be mirrored from the other half.

Pike wanted the report at 0500.
Isn't that 5 am?
Anti-nit: Maybe Pike is just an early riser? One perk of being a captain on a ship away from Earth is that you can set the main shift to match your body's natural sleep rhythms.

Did anyone else think the picture of Talos IV on the viewscreen in the briefing room looked different from the planet we see the ship orbiting?

Here's some cool behind-the-scenes stuff I wanted to share. Scroll down; you'll read a puff piece about Jeffrey Hunter (which published his parents' address - a no-no these days) and Hunter's obituary.

Nice, Adam! Some really cool shots and stuff there!

Of course, this wouldn't be Nitcentral if we didn't nitpick the heck out of that page, beginning with a nit that jumps out at you at the top of it:

---The Cage never aired on television as it was a rejected pilot.

Of course it aired on television. It aired on television of boatload of times, as I've seen it myself, beginning, IIRC, during one of those Fourth of July Star Trek marathons on WPIX Channel 11 in my area (what later became the WB 11, and now the CW). I think what they meant to say was that it did not air initially as the originally pilot, but later on as a "lost" pilot.

Here's something fascinating, from TrekMovie.com. It's a letter from Gene Roddenberry to Alden Schwimmer, his agent, defending the choices me made for "The Cage", dated 2/12/65. Check it out; it's a good read. Totally on character from what I've seen and heard of Mr. Roddenberry.

The part where he writes

In other words, am wide open to criticism and suggestions but not from those who think answers lie in things like giving somewhat aboard a dog, or adding a cute eleven-year-old boy to the crew.

is interesting although a bit ironic considering Wesley and Porthos.

The letter does go to show how a lot of the problems with TV Shows and other forms of Entertainment relying too much on formula and gimmicks is something that's been around for some time.

Well, Wesley is the Great Bird's fault, but there's no way you can blame him for Porthos.

That's true. Not sure how that slipped my mind as I remember thinking of it when people mentioned the characters in the comments.

Small point but Wesley was around 16 when TNG started. Gene specifically says "an 11 year old kid" which would be more the Will Robinson variety. Certainly there were problems with Wes' character; but it's not so unbelievable that a 16 year old prodigy could learn the ship's systems. Even today a 17 year old can join the military if they have already finished High School and have parental consent.

You do make a good point.

Come to think of it, maybe his getting to do some shifts on the Bridge of Engineering aren't as implausible as one might think.

Even in the modern world, students with exceptional test scores do at times get to do things that students generally don't get to do.

I see Wesley getting to do those things given his test scores and intelligence level. I can even see them taking him down to Engineering one day and letting him work with one of the teams. He'd be supervised of course, but I can see it happening.

I think we also need to remember that his being the son of the Chief Medial Officer, who was close to the Captain and what happened with Jack Crusher would also have contributed to his getting access.

I think the real issues with Wesley Crusher started with the whole thing with the Traveller carrying on about how special Wesley was and all that. That and his saving the ship in The Naked Now by doing that thing with the tractor beam that turned it into a repulcer beam, something that 'would take weeks of laying out new circuits'. Yet, while *drunk* (more or less) he manages to do this.

Yes, his leading a team in Pen Pals didn't help either. I could see him leading a team of students in a special privilege type of project but leading a team of officers rather then being a part of the team with someone else leading didn't help either.

Although I'm sure things like that have happened and do happen in real life.

Come to think of it, even Jake got to work with O'Brien and Jake was a more normal kid and he didn't want to be in Starfleet. Granted, being the son of the Station Commander helped and iirc, it was more a thing Ben set up rather then something for which Jake volunteered.

And yes, I'm sure there would be resentment of Welsey getting to do these things. Resentment of the 'I worked my butt off for four years at the Academy and this 16-year old kid gets to do the same things I get to do!' type.

So having thought about it, yes the saving the ship stuff got annoying, as did the whole stuff about how special Wesley is and how he's meant for more. However, a lot of the other stuff he did is perhaps not as unusual as one might think. Is it common? No. But, it does happen.

Alan wrote:

---

quote:

Some people have suggested that the turbolift is actually at the rear as depicted in the model, and the crew sits facing 30 degrees to port. I personally think this is silly.

---

Okay, I dunno if these have been mentioned before or not, but... Aboard the Enterprise, just after Pike has been kidnapped, Spock displays a picture of a Talosian. Um, when exactly did the landing party see a Talosian? Pike was kidnapped before the alleged survivors of the Columbia disappeared. As a matter of fact, the landing party was focused on the disappearance for a couple of seconds. Long before Spock, Boyce and company even realized Pike was missing.

And why did Spock present a mere sketch? If they know what the Talosians look like, why not a photo or JPEG or something similar? If they had to use an illustration, why wasn't it one that was more detailed - and in color? Modern CGI could have made a rendition better than what Spock presented. Imagine what CGI will be like in the future. (And since this is the enhanced, remastered version of "The Cage" I'm watching, why wasn't it fixed like the opening shot of the Enterprise zooming through space?)

The shot of the castle on Rigel VII shows what looks like a moon and a Saturn-like planet in the background. Um, yeah, I got a feeling those celestial bodies are way too close to Rigel. The Saturn planet's about where our Moon would be. And Rigel's moon? About where most of our satellites orbit, I would imagine. I mean, look at how detailed the view of it is. That's too damned close. (Don't get me wrong, it still looks cool. It's just strikes me as being highly improbable.)

Live long and prosper.

The term is Roche's Limit, which is where an orbiting body will be torn apart by tidal forces. Even if it's not, strong tidal forces could cause tsunami-sized tides and severe weather.

However, it's not really clear what's orbiting what. If this is Rigel VII, is it really really near other planets in orbit around Rigel? Or is it a moon to the ringed planet? If it is, why isn't it something like Rigel VIIc?

So yeah, "it looks cool".

Concerning Rigel VII and the race of primitive humanoids Pike encounters. In one of my favorite non-canon books about Trek, "The Worlds Of The Federation", it includes information on the FED planets and their indigeonous lifeforms, a section of neutral/independant worlds, and a section of worlds hostile to the Federation. It includes the Ferengi, as the book came out in 1988 and includes the hostile races discovered by the Federation up to that point in the show's run.

Anyway, there is an entry for Rigel, a non-aligned quadruple star system with thirteen planets, six of which are habitable. Rigel II and Rigel IV are Earth colonies which humans have colonized. Rigel V has a native race of intelligent humanoids. Rigel VII, the one featured in this, the first Trek pilot episode, shows the "cool-looking" sky and the warrior who attacks Pike belonging to the race of humanoids native to it.

Then there is Rigel VIII, otherwise known as Orion. Yes, the very same Orion with green-skinned humanoids who subjugate their women and sell them as slaves to other races, as seen on Enterprise. There is also a thriving criminal organization on Orion, it's "Syndicate" is a central theme to later episodes of DS9. Finally, Rigel XII, featured in "Mudd's Women", in barely habitable, but has a dilithium mine which supplies the Federation.

One of my favorite examples of card lore from the Second Edition of the Star Trek CCG was "The Orion Underworld". It said:

"For over a century, Orion has been synonymous with criminal activity. Though the planet's rightful government has tried to fight this negative image, the Syndicate wields more power."

I just thought that was interesting.A MR

By the way, I really liked the actress who played both versions of Vina, Susan Oliver. I thought she did a good job with the role, and she was really pretty as well.

As for Jeffrey Hunter, as many are aware, he did not continue with Trek, and sadly, he died a few years later from a head injury he suffered while on a movie set. His portrayal of Pike was, well, interesting. It had been said that Hunter was cold and standoffish during filming, and Leonard Nimoy was at a loss as how to play Spock opposite him. This early version of Spock behaved totally out of character compared to how he would be during the main series run, which of course, Phil already mentioned.

As for Pike appearing again later in "The Menagerie", he was of course played by a different actor, and had been crippled and scarred in a radiation accident. As that episode showed, Pike and Vina were allowed to live out their lives on Talos IV, and be young and healthy again with the Talosian powers of illusion. Needless to say, Starfleet placed the planet off-limits under General Order Seven, fearing that if any other race learned the powers of illusion, it would be catastrophic.

As for the other characters, I also liked Majel Barrett Roddenberry as Number One, who I thought was a good example of a strong female character in science fiction. Which is what Kira's character in DS9's "Far Beyond The Stars" thought science fiction definetly needed. That epsiode really drove the point the point home that only white males meant anything in 1950's America. That was a perfect example of a Trek episode with "The Message" that would pound away at a specific theme for the whole show. Much like TNG's "Symbiosis" and VGR's "Tattoo"!

Although for TOS, the closest thing to a "MESSAGE" episode would have to be "The Omega Glory", written by Gene himself. Obvious Vietnam War parallel is obvious!

{Although for TOS, the closest thing to a "MESSAGE" episode would have to be "The Omega Glory", written by Gene himself. Obvious Vietnam War parallel is obvious!} - Andre Reichenbacher

What about "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"? "A Private Little War"? "The Cloud Minders"? (And really, "Battlefield" is notorious for it's blantant, over-the-top anti-racism message. The viewer is hit over the head with a solid neutronium two by four what the message is.)

Live long and prosper.

Oh yes, now I remember those episodes as well. Thanks for the reminder about them, Benn.

I suppose that TOS was full of that kind of thing, and it's understandable from today's perspective of it. After all, Trek was considered "too cebrebral" for audiences by network executives at NBC, wasn't it? And the fact that that kind of show hadn't ever been on television before was also an indication that it was an innovator, but of course, some of what TOS presented in the 60's does not hold up particularly well today. Some episodes are outdated with their "message", and others like "The Way To Eden" are downright goofy!

Anyway, I'm glad that NBC gave the show another chance by ordering another pilot. In any case, "The Cage" is good for what it was at the time, and I'm glad Gene created the whole thing in the first place!

How's that for a declaration of fandom?

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quote:

What about "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"?... And really, "Battlefield" is notorious for it's blantant, over-the-top anti-racism message.

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Oh yeah. The self-destruct sequence is classic. Honestly, I think there's very few eps of the Original TREK that have no redeeming qualities to them.

Live long and prosper.

Here's a little piece about "Cage" director Robert Butler. It relates to his 1980's series Remington Steele, but it's interesting in its own right. Mr. Butler is referred in the article as the "go-to guy" if you wanted your pilot picked up. Maybe that's the reason why "The Cage"'s associate producer Byron Haskin, who himself was an experienced director, didn't direct the first Trek pilot. (I don't know whether or not Mr. Haskin was even offered the job.)

Well, Wesley is the Great Bird's fault, but there's no way you can blame him for Porthos.

It was 50 years ago yesterday that shooting began on "The Cage". Here's a little flashback article from The Hollywood Reporter to note the anniversary.

I think we could give credit to Gene Roddenberry for predicting the 'couch potato'.
Vina's line, referring to the Talosians addicted to living lives through the illusions of their caged prisoners, describes our present-day existence as TV viewers that watch our reruns over and over and over;
"...you just sit, living and reliving other lives..."
Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but I suppose there's a little Talosian in all of us!

Little bit of trivia here. The Cage is the only glimpse we'll get of 23rd Century Earth until the first movie.

Pike and Vina's picnic illusion was set in what was once the Mojave Desert.

Found this today at trektoday.com...

Had things worked out differently, Laurel Goodwin, Yeoman Colt in The Cage, would have remained part of the original series.
But Jeffrey Hunter decided not to do the series, and NBC went in a different direction, dropping several characters, including Number One, and Yeoman Colt.
Part of why Goodwin was hired for The Cage was her looks, specifically her legs. “One of the key things about this character,” said Goodwin, “that Gene Roddenberry said was, ‘We want Yeoman Colt to have great-looking legs.’ He said, ‘You appear to have nice-looking legs.’ So I opened up this portfolio. There was an old magazine called Pageant. I had done a big spread, and one of the shots was with me in black leotards, with the little micro-glasses, and a skunk on a leash and a book of Freud in the other hand. And oh, boy, does it make me look great. So I opened the thing, and Gene said, ‘Well, yes, they do look good. But, you know, photos.’ So he said, ‘You do look like you do have good-looking legs. Would you mind lifting your skirt a little bit?’ It didn’t bother me any. I was a model as a teenager. You dressed in the back with a sheet around you.”
“So I pulled my skirt up. Not immodestly. He said, ‘Well, yes, I guess we all have to agree that she does have good-looking legs.’ So I’m thinking, ‘Hmm. Well, okay.’ So now, I get the job.'”
Goodwin didn’t get a chance to show off those legs though. “Well, by the time they got this costume together, against my better judgment, I could have been knock-kneed and bowlegged,” she said. “They had me in baggy three-quarter trousers and ugly boots. I thought, ‘Well, I’m certainly glad that one of the key things was that you had good-looking legs.'”
The character of Colt was “playing the subservient role,” said Goodwin, “and kind of having a crush on the captain and not trying to allow it to be picked up on so I could avoid getting into trouble, because you didn’t do that in a military setting.” While it may not have been the best role for a woman, the actress “wanted to play it right because, just being an actress and getting a job, it wasn’t easy. The market was very, very tiny. Three networks. And they made a lot of pilots, but only a few ever got picked up. Star Trek was a bit different. It had a great philosophy. And I thought the timing was perfect, that it was time for a semi-adventure, philosophical, a little deeper than that science-fiction type thing, because everyone was getting a little tired of detectives and cowboys.”
Goodwin found being dropped from the show very painful for financial reasons. “It was very painful. Very painful,” she said. “I, at that period of time, was going through a divorce. Not a pleasant divorce. I ended up having to cough up half of my salary from doing Star Trek as part of the property settlement. California, and all that sort of stuff. So it cost me a pretty piece of change. It cost me half of what I made.” Working on the show would have “made an incredible difference…So, yeah, I was devastated. Devastated.”
Goodwin is the last living cast member from The Cage. “I’m the last man standing,” she said. “Yep. Yep, yep. I have to say, it’s really quite wonderful, particularly now, at my age, to know that in some small way the work is still there, still alive, that it’s not something everybody has forgotten about.”

When Pike is heading for his quarters, we see a young couple, wandering in the corridor, dressed like characters from an old 60's beach movie.

What's going on here? Did Pike's ship have a casual Friday?

That was Lieutenant Avalon from the Beach Section and Lt.Cmdr. Funicello of the Watusi Division.

During Marvel's brief run of Star Trek The Early Voyages, in the 1990's, they covered what happened to Pike and his crew on Rigel VII:


https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Star-Trek-Early-Voyages/Issue-3?id=71606

Did you know there's a version of 'The Cage' out there with Kirk in it instead of Pike?
The people at Deep Fake have superimposed Shatner's face over Jeffrey Hunter's. The voice is still Hunter's, but the results are impressive....

https://youtu.be/qgEAY8Nfg3Y

Interesting.

Disturbing, but interesting.

I was thinking about what an angry captain Pike was, and then it hit me why he was so angry and undiplomatic to the Talosians.
Earlier in the episode, he confided to Doctor Boyce how he was fed up with his captaincy and was ready to resign.
Then he was captured, imprisoned, and 'experimented' on.
He was probably pissed off because he was so angry with himself for not quitting Starfleet sooner-- he waited too long, and now it seemed like he was going to spend his life as a prisoner on an alien world, rather than have the freedom of a new life outside of Starfleet. He was angrier with himself than with the Talosians.
I think I'd be very edgy and overtly angry with myself, too, if I'd let my one chance to avoid this nightmare slip through my fingers.

And what happened on Rigel VII was still weighing heavily on Pike. He blamed himself for letting his guard down and several of his crew getting killed on said planet.

One of the (fake) survivors asks Pike and his party, "Is Earth all right?"
I began to wonder what that meant, and wonder if (to convince Pike's team that they were real) that survivor was referencing a dangerous period in Earth history? It was 13 years prior in Enterprise time, and an additional 18 years since Vina's ship crashed on Talos Vi, which would place it about 2235.
Maybe at the time it looked like the Klingons or another alien species wanted to attack Earth.

Or the Romulans.

When the Columbia left Earth, it had only been 80 years since the Earth/Romulan War that predated the founding of the Federation.

Since people live longer in the future, there could have still be veterans of that war kicking around then.

"From a fable you once heard in childhood," the Keeper tells Pike after he forces Pike to experience an illusion in a fiery place.
Is that supposed to be Hell? I can see Roddenberry assuming that religion became less and less a thing in the future to point that the concepts of Heaven and Hell have become 'fables', but I've always wondered if that was Roddenberry's intention.
Or is there an actual novel or short story out there about a man in a scary, fiery place?

Yes, it's supposed to be Hell. And the "fable" angle is the Keeper's judgement on the notion, not how Pike thinks of it.

Or is there an actual novel or short story out there about a man in a scary, fiery place?

Perhaps the novel in question was, or will be, published, some time between now and the 23rd Century.

Or is there an actual novel or short story out there about a man in a scary, fiery place?

Quite a few. There are stories of people trapped in forest fires and burning buildings, plus various stories depicting people in Hell.

Although, IIRC the Bible doesn't depict Hell as the fiery place, wasn't that concept created later, and popularized by fire and brimstone style preachers?

Although, IIRC the Bible doesn't depict Hell as the fiery place, wasn't that concept created later, and popularized by fire and brimstone style preachers?

There are some references to Hell like places in the Bible, like Gehenna, and a lake of fire in the Book of Revelations, but nothing close to the pit of eternal torment and despair that most christians think of when talking about the place. That vision of Hell dates back to medieval times, its best known version probably being the Hell visited by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy.

Perhaps The Divine Comedy is what Pike read.

Sometimes surfing the Interwebs brings up facts that you never could have known about.
I was just on imdb.com, curious about the cast and crew of 'M*A*S*H', and right at the bottom of the list of directors (Alan Alda directed 32 episodes, Harry Morgan 9 episodes, Mike Farrell 5 episodes...) ) I discovered that Susan Oliver directed a 1982 episode of the series!
The episode was called ''Hey, Look Me Over' and according to imdb.com; 'The nurses return from evacuation to find that the doctors have left the camp a mess. Potter announces an inspection in two days, so Margaret and the nurses try to get everything reorganized. Nurse Kelly is mad at Hawkeye for ignoring her.'
I sort of remember it, but barely. Just thought I'd share the odd fact that Oliver delved into directing twice (the other time was a 1983 episode of 'Trapper John M.D.').

Nice that info can still be found about a nearly sixty-year-old episode.