“The Cage”

Stardate: Unknown
Episode: 1
Original US Airdate: N/A

Long ago, in a quadrant far away, the U.S.S. Enterprise patrolled the galaxy helmed not by Captain James Kirk but by Captain Christopher Pike. Star Trek's original pilot, "The Cage" is inexorably linked to the award-winning two-part episode "The Menagerie" since footage from "The Cage" was incorporated into "The Menagerie".

Summary

En route to the Vega colony for R&R after a battle on Rigel VII, Captain Pike and a landing party (including Lieutenant Spock and Navigator José (Joe) Tyler) beam down to Talos IV to investigate a possible crash 18 years earlier by the spaceship S.S. Columbia. They find a makeshift encampment and several survivors, including various elderly scientists and the beautiful Vina, who supposedly had survived the crash as an infant. Vina lures Pike to a rock formation, and several aliens emerge to capture Pike and take him underground. The survivors and their camp then vanish.

Pike awakens in a "cage", an enclosure fronted by a wall of strong transparent material, one of many exotic specimens collected by the Talosians. The smallish, cerebral aliens, including the Keeper, approach Pike's cage and communicate with him telepathically. After they leave, Vina appears in his cage. The aliens try to interest Pike in Vina by presenting her to him within various illusions: a maiden in distress, a green-skinned Orion slave girl, and his "wife". The Talosians intend to mate the two, enabling them to breed a race of humans to serve as slaves. The aliens even bring down two of Pike's female officers, Yeoman Colt and "Number One", reasoning that Pike might be more attracted to one of his crew.

When the Keeper sneakily tries to remove the women's laser pistols Pike had earlier thrown onto the floor of the cage, Pike is able to grab the Keeper. The captain uses one of the pistols to shoot a hole in the wall of the cage, although the weapon appears drained of energy (another illusion). After Pike threatens to shoot him, the Keeper allows them to see the hole made by the laser blast.

Pike, the Keeper, and the others ascend to the surface of Talos IV and learn why the Talosians wanted to breed a race of humans: to reclaim the planet's surface, wrecked centuries before by nuclear war. After "Number One" sets a laser pistol to overload, the Talosians back down. She and Colt are allowed to return to the ship, and the Talosians reveal the truth about Vina to Pike. Vina had survived the spaceship crash as an adult but had been severely injured and disfigured. Without the aid of illusions, she is a deformed, middle-aged woman. Pike sympathetically asks the Talosians to give her back her illusion of beauty. They not only do so, they also give her the illusion that Pike stayed on Talos IV with her. Pike returns to the ship, refusing to discuss what happened.

"The Cage" vs. "The Menagerie": Proto-Trek vs. Classic Trek

"The Cage", like many of the best TOS episodes, is a well-written, thoughtful, even disturbing story. This first pilot is more somber and low-key, however, although Pike still exhibits a Kirk-like concern for his ship and crew. One wonders how different the story might have been if Kirk had been imprisoned on Talos IV instead of Pike (perhaps including a couple of dead Talosians and the loss of Vina's maidenhood before the revelation of her "true appearance"). The episode's other cast members were pleasant enough, but most were nothing special (but then the same could be said of the cast of the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before"). "The Cage"'s Dr. Phillip Boyce was definitely more interesting than "Where No Man…"'s Dr. Mark Piper. The scenes with Yeoman Colt also seem rather awkward, especially when she "bumps into" Pike. These scenes were cut from "The Menagerie", apparently due to censorship, as were several other scenes (Vina's "I have to wear something" remark and her hereditary "headaches", Number One's fantasies involving Pike, the remark about Orion women enjoying "being taken advantage of"—surprisingly, the reference to Colt's "unusually strong female drives" was not cut).

Although the Talosians were played by female actors, male voices were dubbed in, with the Keeper's voice being originally done by Malachi Throne (who also happened to play Commodore Méndez in "The Menagerie"). The footage of the Keeper used in "The Menagerie" featured an altered voice—probably to differentiate the Keeper's voice from the commodore's and to allow the addition of the Keeper's remarks to Kirk. The "restored" footage in the various home video releases of "The Cage" uses the original voice [Windows | Macintosh], as does the "Next Week's Voyage" trailer for part 2 of "The Menagerie".

Quotable Quotes

Pike (on Yeoman Colt): "I can't get used to having a woman on the bridge."

Vina (to Pike): "I can't help but love you."

Talosian (on humans): "They have fantasies they hide even from themselves."

Keeper: "Wrong thinking is punishable; right thinking will be as quickly rewarded!"

Vina (after Number One and Colt arrive unexpectedly just as she has Pike where she wants him): "No! Let me finish!"

Keeper (to Pike after Vina departs with the illusion of Pike): "She has an illusion, and you have reality. May you find your way as pleasant."

"The Cage" on Video

The initial home video release (1986) of "The Cage" combined footage used in "The Menagerie" with a B&W work print of the pilot, with added opening and closing remarks by Gene Roddenberry. In 1988 either a a) former NBC executive or b) former Paramount employee was discovered to have a complete color print of "The Cage", which was released on video as the "All-Color Collector's Edition". Parts of the all-color version still have a patchy quality (especially the picnic scene), and the audio of the "restored" portions seems to be from the B&W print. The latter video release also omitted the Roddenberry intro/outro. Both versions of "The Cage" were also issued on laser disc. The final volume (40) of the DVD series of releases was issued 11 December 2001 featuring both "Cage"s plus "Turnabout Intruder" (the last episode of TOS, with Kirk's looniest ex-girlfriend, body-snatcher Dr. Janice Lester). The restoration work done on the all-color version is especially impressive on this DVD, with almost perfect color consistency. The variations in audio quality are also less severe, although still noticeable. Interestingly, the Keeper's voice now has the "electronic" effect even in the restored portions of the all-color version.

Trivia

"The Cage" was filmed in 12 days (beginning 12 December 1964) for the then-astronomical sum of $630,000. After the finished product was delivered to NBC in February 1965, the network rejected it and requested a second pilot, which turned out to be "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Not only was most of "The Cage"'s cast dropped at the insistence of the network, but Jeffrey Hunter (Pike) also dropped out of Trek (his wife felt science fiction was "beneath" her movie-star husband).

Video Captures

(From the "All-Color Collector's Edition" laser disc; click thumbnail to see full-sized picture)

Title	"Definitely something out there, Captain"	Navigator José (Joe) Tyler and First Officer "Number One"	Captain's cabin with hat and console TV	Dr. Phillip Boyce serves Pike a martini
Dr. Boyce dispenses advice to Pike	Warp drive the old-fashioned way	Yeoman Colt runs into Pike	Number One	Transporter Chief Pitcairn and assistant
Spock and Pike on Talos IV	Spock and Pike examine Talosian flora	Survivors' camp	Dr. Theodore Haskins and 2 other survivors	Pike, Tyler, Boyce, and CPO Garison
"This is Vina"	The Keeper and friends watch	"Don't you see it?"	Talosians capture another specimen	Spock reports Pike's disappearance
Another menagerie specimen	A 3rd specimen	Pike and his captors	"The intelligence of this specimen is shockingly limited."	Briefing-room consultation
Colt and Number One	Number One	Boyce	Tyler and ship's geologist	Vina as maiden in distress
Pike and Vina back in their cage	Blasting a hole	"Don't punish me!"	A hellish illusion for Pike	Pike and Tango
Pike and Vina back "home"	Pike and his "wife"	Pike as Orion "businessman"	Green Vina	Vina and musicians
Vina and Colt	Number One, Pike, Colt, Vina, and the Keeper	The Talosians read up on Lyndon Johnson	Pike threatens the Keeper	The laser cannon worked after all
The Keeper addresses his specimens	Vina and "Pike"	Spock, Number One, and Pitcairn welcome Pike back	"All ship's doctors are dirty old men."	End credits
End credits	End credits

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