ST:TOS The Cage

So here we are at the first episode of Star Trek ever produced. Technically The Cage is not part of Star Trek canon because NBC rejected it and it never became the pilot. They made the daring move of ordering a second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before, that actually began the series. I decided to review The Cage this week anyway because it is nevertheless science fiction.

The most interesting thing about this episode is how different it is from the Star Trek we know and love. For one thing, the characters are completely different. Captain Pike is in Kirk's place, and is played by Jeffrey Hunter instead of William Shatner. The bridge crew is less diverse than it is in the real Star Trek, and only a few cast members, like Leonard Nimoy and Majel Barrett, appear in later episodes.

The bridge is also a bit less colorful, and the uniforms are somewhat different. The crew also carry different looking weapons.

I'm okay with most of the original elements that they later changed for the real pilot, except for the characters. The characters in The Cage are mostly boring and not very interesting to watch. They don't quite have the appeal that the Kirk, Spock, and Bones team have on screen.

It is logical to suppress all emotion, except when dealing with blue leaves

But let's get to the actual plot of the episode. The Enterprise crew picks up an 18 year old distress call, and they find that it's originating from a planet that doesn't appear to have much on it except for a few forms of plant life and a few scientists who were on an expedition. A group of aliens with pulsing veins on their huge heads capture Pike and imprison him in a cell with one of the surviving scientists, named Vina. They have the ability to create illusions, so they put Pike and Vina into several virtual situations in attempt to get Pike interested in Vina. Their main goal is to study how humans of the opposite gender interact. The aliens are surprised to learn that the humans hate being imprisoned. Huh, what a thought.

Despite their intelligence and the "illusion torture" that Pike receives when he does not comply with the situation, Pike resists and eventually takes one of the aliens hostage, using him to escape.

Back on the surface of the planet, the aliens reveal Vina in her actual, deformed look under all the illusions. Vina decides to stay on the planet with a virtual Pike, while the Enterprise crew leaves.

Yeah, 18 years without Proactive will do that do you

This episode feels more like a 60s movie than a Star Trek episode. The plot is original and actually pretty interesting, but it just doesn't work for a pilot episode. The characters are pretty bland and don't do anything to make them deserve any special attention. Spock is actually the most interesting character, but he is portrayed differently than in other episodes. In fact, the main reasons that NBC rejected the pilot was because Spock was not what they had wanted him to be, and the story was too cerebral(no pun intended) and slow-moving for a 60s audience. If this episode had aired as the pilot, I probably wouldn't have watched any other episodes.

Score: 4

Best Quote: "Sometimes, a man will tell his bartender things he'll never tell his doctor."

Best Moment: Pike taking the alien hostage.

Red Shirt Deaths: 0. Red shirts don't exist in this episode.