The Cage (TOS episode)
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"The Cage" is the original pilot episode of the science fiction series and resulting franchise. It was made in 1964, but never broadcast on television until 1988. The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Butler.
Primary cast
- Jeffrey Hunter : Captain Christopher Pike
- Susan Oliver : Vina
- Leonard Nimoy : Mr. Spock
- Majel Barrett : Number One
- John Hoyt : Dr. Phillip Boyce
- Peter Duryea : Lieutenant Jose Tyler
- Laurel Goodwin : Yeoman J.M. Colt
NBC reportedly called the pilot "too cerebral", "too intellectual", "not enough action", and "too slow", but rather than rejecting the series outright the network commissioned (in an unusual move) a second pilot: "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Rather than abandon the expensive footage, much of the footage was recycled in the later episode "The Menagerie", a two part episode (episodes 016-1 and 016-2), which revisited the events of the plot, and made it part of the continuity of the rest of the series. The episode is sometimes listed as episode 80 when shown.
The process of editing ended up destroying what was thought to be the only known color print of the episode. For many years, a print of the original pilot combining color footage from "The Menagerie" with black-and-white footage of the "lost" scenes taken from Roddenberry's all black-and-white print was shown at conventions and later used for early video releases of "The Cage". It was only in the late 1980s that a full-color print was discovered in Paramount's archives.
"The Cage" was aired for the first time in its entirety and in full color in 1988 as part of "The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation to the Next", a 2-hour retrospective special hosted by Patrick Stewart which contained interviews with Gene Roddenberry, Maurice Hurley, Rick Berman, Mel Harris and cast members from the old and new series, clips from both series and the Star Trek films I through IV.
The events of "The Cage" take place 13 years before Captain Kirk takes command of the Enterprise. There was also no stardate given.
The USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain Christopher Pike, receives a radio distress call from the fourth planet in the Talos star system. A landing party is assembled and beamed down to investigate. Tracking the distress signal to its source, the landing party discovers a camp of survivors from a scientific expedition that has been missing for 18 years. Among the survivors is a beautiful woman named Vina.
Captivated by her beauty, Pike is caught off guard and is captured by the Talosians, a race of humanoids with bulbous heads who live beneath the planet's surface. It is revealed that the distress call, and the crash survivors, except for Vina, are just illusions created by the Talosians to lure the Enterprise to the planet. While imprisoned, Pike uncovers the Talosian's plans to repopulate their ravaged planet using himself and Vina as breeding stock for a race of slaves.
The Talosians try to use their power of illusion to interest Pike in Vina, and present her in various guises and settings, first as a Rigellian princess, a loving compassionate farm girl, then a seductive, green-skinned Orion slave girl. Pike resists all forms, so the Talosians lure Pike's first officer and yeoman — both women — down from the Enterprise to offer further temptation. By then however, Pike discovers that his primitive human emotions can neutralize the Talosians' ability to read his mind, and he manages to escape to the surface of the planet along with his landing party.
The Talosians confront Pike and his companions before they can beam up, but the captain refuses to negotiate, even threatening to kill himself and the others rather than submit to the Talosians' demands. Frightened at losing their only hope in their future, the Talosians analyze the Enterprise's records and realize the human race is far too "independent" to be of adequate use to them.
Faced with no other options, the Talosians let the humans go. The others beam up, but Pike remains behind with Vina, urging her to leave with him. Vina then claims she is unable to leave the planet. It is discovered that an expedition had indeed crash landed on Talos IV, and Vina was the sole survivor. She was badly injured however, and left horribly disfigured, but with the aid of the Talosians' illusions, she is able to appear beautiful and in good health.
Realizing that the continued Talosian illusion of health and beauty is necessary for Vina, Pike is ready to return to the Enterprise, but in an act of goodwill, the aliens show him that Vina sees an image of Pike next to her, and they walk up to the entrance that takes them into the Talosian habitat, and then Pike beams up after the Keeper's closing words, "She has an illusion and you have reality. May you find your way as pleasant."
Of the 63-minute pilot, some 52 minutes was used in the two-part Menagerie episode, although the final surface scene was altered slightly and used as the Talosians' final message to Captain Kirk. Pike, now able to enjoy the illusion of being healthy and independently-mobile again, accompanies Vina up to the entrance to the Talosian habitat. What had been the Keeper's final words to Pike become the final words to Kirk, slightly altered: "He has an illusion and you have reality. May you find your way as pleasant." The voice over, however, is placed over the threatening scene earlier when the Keeper communicates, with a smug nod, "We may soon begin the experiment."!
Trivia
- Though never stated officially, The Cage may have been inspired (or heavily influenced) by the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, and through that, Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
- The episode featured the first appearance of green-skinned Orion Slave Girls. An episode of titled Borderland, broadcast on October 29, 2004, featured the first on-screen appearance of male Orions, 38 years after their species was first mentioned.
- The uniforms worn by Starfleet personnel differ in one substantial way from most future series in that the outfit includes a hat or a cap, though no one is shown wearing one in this film. (One can be seen in Pike's quarters). The idea of a cap being part of the Starfleet uniform would be revived (in an on-again, off-again manner) in the prequel series, , which takes place roughly a century earlier than The Cage, although several Star Trek movies featured Starfleet security officers wearing helmets and hats of various different designs.
- Jeffrey Hunter was invited to return as Captain Pike in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" but declined, opening the door for William Shatner to be cast as Captain Kirk. Hunter subsequently died in an accident in 1969, leaving Trek fans to ponder how different the later revival of Trek might have been had Hunter continued into the series, if a revival even happened.
- A later episode of the Star Trek series, "The Menagerie", would establish that the events of The Cage take place about 11 years before the series, or 13 years before "The Menagerie".
- Gene Roddenberry considered, at this early stage, having Starfleet be basically a civilian-oriented space service which had no need for ranks. (This is why, in 'The Cage', most officers on the ship wear the same insignia — a single gold stripe on the sleeve — regardless of their shipboard duties.) However, by the time the actual series came to be made, Starfleet was clearly established as being based on the military, specifically the rank system and structure of the United States Navy.
- Some have pointed out Spock's limping on the surface of Talos IV as an error. In fact, this was intentional. Navigator Jose Tyler's hand can be seen wrapped in bandages throughout this episode, and another officer has a bandage on his neck. Although not stated explicitly in "The Cage", these injuries came from the battle the Enterprise crew had on Rigel VII (which Captain Pike refers to early on in the story).
Reference
External links
- [The Cage] at StarTrek.com
- #redirect
- [Internet Movie Database: "The Cage"]
| Last produced: None | | Next produced: "Where No Man Has Gone Before" |
| Last transmitted: "Turnabout Intruder" | Next transmitted: None |
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