Star Trek #01: Cage

The U.S.S. Enterprise receives a distress signal from the planet Talos IV and sends down a landing party to investigate. They find a group of survivors from a crashed scientific expedition but soon discover that they are actually just illusions except for a woman named Vina (Susan Oliver). Pike is soon captured by the Talosians in the hope that he, with the help of Vina, will help them repopulate their planet. The Talosians tempt the captain by portraying Vina in a series of alluring guises but Pike holds out and finally gains his freedom when he threatens to kill himself. The Talosians conclude that humans are too strong-willed and independent to be of use to them and allow Pike and his ship to leave orbit.

NBC originally rejected this pilot because they felt it was too cerebral. In comparing "The Cage" with the successive episodes of the original series, you can see their point. The Kirk episodes definitely had more action and energy to them. Watching Pike outwit the Talosians proves to be interesting but it can't match the entertainment value produced by a Captain Kirk fistfight. Hunter is wonderfully stoic and serviceable in his role but he lacks the passionate presence that Shatner brought to the series. Star Trek would have had a completely different identity had Hunter remained on the series. Still, "The Cage" is a fascinating footnote to a pop culture phenomenon and an important component of the Star Trek mythos. It is a solid outing from series creator Gene Roddenberry who truly was a visionary in believing that television was capable of producing a substantive and thought-provoking series.


What if...   September 21, 2003
ruben lopere (Brooklyn, NY United States)
The first pilot episode of the show, which featured a different captain (Jeffrey Hunter) as Pike would be worth watching for comparative purposes even if it was not an interesting episode. Much feels clumsy and disconcertingly different in this episode, but how could it be any other way, given that this was their first attempt, and so much was rejected by the suits? But a female second in command would have been really interesting (I'm not sure Barrett would have been up to the task though), as would a more emotional Spock and a more introverted Captain (I prefer Shatner's interpretation though).

The story is also good enough, with aliens reminiscent of the Vians from 'The Empath'. The episode explores the nature of reality and illusion, as well as the human need for companionship and love (themes also explored in 'The Empath', come to think of it). A strong if inevitably somewhat clunky episode, but one ultimately most valuable for the fact that it makes us ask ourselves, "What if.." (4 stars)


The real original Star Trek   September 22, 2002
Bruce Gray (Shenandoah Valley, VA, USA)
Those who are expecting the usual Kirk, Spock, and McCoy will be strangely surprised by this pilot episode for classic Star Trek.

Featuring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike, this episode really began what was to become the phenomenon of Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry asked the networks if they wanted a "Wagon Train to the Stars". When he got the go-ahead from NBC, he made this episode to show execs what he had to offer. It's almost a wonder that a second pilot ever got made. Gene was not afraid of taking chances - he had a woman as second in command ("Number One") and a multi-ethnic crew far before the term "politically correct" ever was even heard of. NBC execs wanted Gene to get rid of the female second in command and "do something about those ears", and Gene responded with the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Star Trek, to my knowledge, is the only show that has ever been granted a second chance like that.

This episode is worth watching. Gene filmed both an introduction to the episode and an epilogue after the episode that really add to your understanding of what makes this episode stand out. Some people say Jeffrey Hunter was kind of wooden, but I enjoyed his sense of wonder, as was evidenced by the very short scene on the planet where he discovers the "singing plants". Spock is completely out of what was to become his character - he even shouts "The Women!" when the Talosians only allow the two females from the Enterprise to beam down to Pike's location. And Dr Piper has a few things in common with McCoy - he even deals out the occasional medical martini. Some of these characters will undergo further development later.

But it's the story that stands out. Although by SF standards, the "Adam and Eve" plot is trite and overused, the fresher spin on it provided by the Talosians with their great mental powers allow it to not be as stale. Their ability to make people believe their fantasies are real really make the show. Anyone who isn't a little turned on by the Green Orion Slave girl dance is brain dead. And there's even some back story to characters we will never see again with Pike's horse and his memories of another battle on another world.

This episode will eventually be cut up and reused in the only classic Trek two-parter, "Menagerie", but I'd recommend this VHS and DVD not only to classic Trek lovers (who will =have= to have it to complete their collections) but to general SF fans - it's fun to see where a classic show actually begins.


Oh Vina Vina Vina   April 25, 2002
Johny Bottom (Jacksonville, NC)
I am not a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination, but I've always loved 'The Cage'. The story is one of the most interesting of all the episodes. For an early 1960's film on it's own, it borders on amazing. The whole episode is how should we say....dreamy. The entire cast seams to float along as if in a sleepy daze. It makes me wonder if the cast and director were all on some weird 60's drugs.

Sur-realism, memories, and mind control are the name of the game here, and the big headed aliens can make your life heaven or hell, depending on how you behave. I thought Captain Pike was great, much better than Pricard, but not quite as good as Kirk. Maybe he could have fit into the series somewhere, but I think he leaves a great legacy as a one-time captain.

Everyone thinks the 'big' scene is Mr. Spock smiling and grinning stupidly at some vibrating cardboard flowers, but they are wrong.

Susan Oliver as Vina, oh how beatiful she is. I have always been infatuated with green skinned slave girls anyway. I've made several bids for them, but always fall short cash wise (maybe a dylithium mine would help). Wathing Susan dance half-naked in her green body paint is much too seductive for 1960s and is possibly why the series was not picked up. I can see the producers now thinking "What the hell bloody show are you perverts trying to make? This is 1964 for crying out loud! Slave women who dance for their owners? Barbarians!"

Well I sit and watch Sweet Vina dance and dance and dance. I never get tired of her. If I was Pike I would have told Spock to fly off without me. I would have made sure the aliens kept her as the 'Green Illusion' and supplied them with a whole herd of slaves to do their manual labor. Sure when you saw her in her real state she was pretty messed up, but no worse than my ex-wife when she woke up with a hangover Sunday morning.