Speaker 1: Warning, today's episode contain spoilers for the original the historical
Speaker 1: pilot of Star Trek the original series titled The Cage. Hello,
Speaker 1: and name is Jason and I'm roseay Night, and welcome
Speaker 1: back to Xtravision of the podcast where we dive deep.
Speaker 1: It's your favorite shows, movies and pop culture coming in
Speaker 1: from my heart, where we'll bring you three episodes a week,
Speaker 1: plus news on Saturday.
Speaker 2: In today's episode, beat me up, Scotty or not, because
Speaker 2: Scotty is not in.
Speaker 3: This episode and that's right.
Speaker 2: Today we are revisiting the first episode of the Star
Speaker 2: Trek the original series, called The Cage. Now there is
Speaker 2: no Kirk here. This is Captain Pike. So come with
Speaker 2: us as we kickstart our trek through Trek. You can
Speaker 2: think of this as our own episode two because if
Speaker 2: you enough of you listen and the feedback is good,
Speaker 2: we will be back with more Trek in the new year.
Speaker 1: And of course, Star Trek is a landmark sci fi
Speaker 1: property in only three seasons, which is kind of like
Speaker 1: mind boggling to think about, Like the original show only
Speaker 1: ran three seasons, even the fact that it was made
Speaker 1: after this up ordered pilot that we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about right, then cut up and used for the actual
Speaker 1: on air pilot. This pilot was received and kind of
Speaker 1: disastrous fashion, although it is quite good and you could
Speaker 1: see a lot of the strands that became the vibe
Speaker 1: of Original Trek here. Just the fact that it got
Speaker 1: made and made such an impact in its only three
Speaker 1: season run means that it's simply one of the most
Speaker 1: important sci fi properties ever, and we're delighted to be
Speaker 1: talking about it. I mean, it's like a show that
Speaker 1: I think I've talked about this a lot. When I
Speaker 1: was like in middle school and started getting really into
Speaker 1: staying up late, especially on summertime, and on the weekends,
Speaker 1: they would play Star Trek on the local TV station
Speaker 1: back to back with Get Smart, so it'd be like
Speaker 1: two episodes of Get Smart, which is which was a
Speaker 1: thirty and then an episode of Star Trek and then
Speaker 1: two episodes of Star Trek or something like that. So
Speaker 1: it'd be like from nine to ten it was like
Speaker 1: Get Smart, and then ten to midnight it would be
Speaker 1: Star Trek. And that's how I watched all of the
Speaker 1: original Star Trek, just like in weird orders and just
Speaker 1: like it, and it was so fun and I was
Speaker 1: absolutely delighted by it and became like a big part
Speaker 1: of my just like every night experience when I was
Speaker 1: that age. How did you first get into try?
Speaker 3: I actually loved that.
Speaker 2: That was your experience because England had a very similar
Speaker 2: version of it, which was basically you would have five
Speaker 2: thirty PM Neighbors, six pm Simpsons obviously the best, then
Speaker 2: six point thirty you'd hope it was Fresh Prince of
Speaker 2: bel Air, but if it wasn't, then it was usually
Speaker 2: Star Trek and that would run for like a solid
Speaker 2: three hours. So I saw all different versions of Star Trek.
Speaker 2: I saw the original series, I saw Voyager. I saw
Speaker 2: a really terrifying episode of Deep Space night and about
Speaker 2: nightmares that came to life that had me up for
Speaker 2: like a week, And yeah, I just I think this
Speaker 2: is such an interesting show. I'm so happy we're able
Speaker 2: to finally start digging into it because this was always
Speaker 2: our dream. Was like, if we're going to cover Star Trek,
Speaker 2: we're just gonna do it from the beginning, like there's
Speaker 2: no way that we're doing like choppy kind of bits
Speaker 2: and bobs, and people have always wanted us.
Speaker 3: To cover it.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm really excited to cover it, and basically
Speaker 2: this is the rundown of the episode. Solid recap because
Speaker 2: this episode is crazy, really long. It's a wild breaks
Speaker 2: basically every rule of pilot writing, which I love. Then
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about the themes, which here are
Speaker 2: very much like leadership, women in the workplace, surveillance, propaganda. Also,
Speaker 2: those themes die into why the show didn't necessarily get
Speaker 2: made in this form too, so we will talk a
Speaker 2: little bit about the history and the production of the pilot,
Speaker 2: as well as how this led to the original Real
Speaker 2: Star Wars pilot. Depending on which version you watched when
Speaker 2: you were a kid, that will either be The Man
Speaker 2: Trap or Where No Man Has Gone Before, which were
Speaker 2: the two episodes which aired out of order as pilots.
Speaker 3: And Yeah, it's gonna be great. We're gonna dig in.
Speaker 2: So this is track through Trek now a quick production
Speaker 2: note which I'm very happy to say because I love
Speaker 2: holiday season. So this holiday season we are going to
Speaker 2: be sharing some shorter stocking.
Speaker 3: Stuff for episodes with you.
Speaker 2: With so many great shows and movies coming out this
Speaker 2: next few months, the episodes will help us cover some
Speaker 2: extra content, including books and comics that we wouldn't necessarily
Speaker 2: be able to get onto our normal episodes, so stay
Speaker 2: tuned for these stucking stuff is starting the week of Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: The first three cap all Right Star Trek the original
Speaker 1: series series one the Cage. We open in Space the
Speaker 1: Final Frontier, although, as we will discuss later in our
Speaker 1: little factoid section, we don't get the iconic Space the
Speaker 1: Final Frontier narration from our Captain Kirk because it is
Speaker 1: not Captain Kirk as Captain Pike. We're on the bridge
Speaker 1: of the starship Enterprise, though Captain Chris Pike and his crew,
Speaker 1: including Science Officer Spock, receive a warning of an incoming signal.
Speaker 1: It's a very old distress signal, like the old type,
Speaker 1: and apparently there was a ship like eighteen years ago,
Speaker 1: the SS Columbia, that was lost out here, and so
Speaker 1: they're thinking, oh, this is it. Pike is like, well,
Speaker 1: guess what. We're not going to check it out, though.
Speaker 1: We have to go to Vega, and unless there are
Speaker 1: survivors down there, or any evidence that there could be survivors,
Speaker 1: we're not going to go because it was a long
Speaker 1: time ago. Were gonna deal with a.
Speaker 4: Crash right now.
Speaker 1: Kind of a persnickety like no from Christopher Pike, who
Speaker 1: then goes to his quarters and you discover why Captain
Speaker 1: Chris Pike is in such a busy mood. It's because
Speaker 1: they had just been through a battle on Rigel for
Speaker 1: and lost people. And doctor Haskins comes in to Christopher
Speaker 1: Pike's quarters, and it's very clear right away that doctor
Speaker 1: Haskins is an older guy and Pike are like it's
Speaker 1: like a mentor mentee or just like a shoulder to
Speaker 1: like lean on kind of relationship with doctor Haskins. He
Speaker 1: comes in with his little doctor case, opens it up
Speaker 1: and starts making a martini for the cat, which is
Speaker 1: which festival I shouldn't have but that's okay, shouldn't happen.
Speaker 2: But also so Star Trek coded like so much of
Speaker 2: what is interesting about this episode is though it is
Speaker 2: very introverted and kind of way more serious.
Speaker 3: It does establish a lot of the kind of.
Speaker 2: Like groovy things that would go on to kind of
Speaker 2: cement Star Trek storytelling, whether that's romance, whether it's unexpected drinking,
Speaker 2: whether it is kind of the mundanity and brutality of
Speaker 2: war combined with kind of the craziness of a sci
Speaker 2: fi adventure.
Speaker 3: A lot of it is here, and it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very interesting that this is where Roddenberry chose
Speaker 2: to start.
Speaker 3: Let's be real, way ahead of its time.
Speaker 2: This is like a fifth season kind of version of
Speaker 2: Star Trek.
Speaker 1: No, that's very, very true. So Pike is like, he's
Speaker 1: feeling really bad about the fact that they lost people
Speaker 1: on Rigel and the stress of command is wearing on him.
Speaker 1: He's really beaten down by the whole thing, and he's like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm thinking about hanging it up. I'm thinking
Speaker 1: about hanging up the cowboy hat, the spurs, the whole thing.
Speaker 1: I'm feeling washed. I don't want to do this anymore.
Speaker 1: And then Doc is like Doc, who is clearly kind
Speaker 1: of like his therapist as well as medical doctors, like
Speaker 1: why don't you just I don't know about that, Like
Speaker 1: what drink your martini? And then like let's sit on that,
Speaker 1: don't make any rash judgments. Then Spot calls with news
Speaker 1: guess what, cap there are survivors. We just we got
Speaker 1: another message from this distress signal and there are survivors.
Speaker 1: So Pike is like, fine, we'll head to Tallows. Pike
Speaker 1: is like a high strung guy. He's on the bridge
Speaker 1: a Yeoman comes in with the orders that he himself
Speaker 1: told her to bring at five am, and he's like,
Speaker 1: why are you here, guy, I talk you interrupt me
Speaker 1: on the fucking bridge and and she's like, I'm just
Speaker 1: bringing you the reports that you told me to bring
Speaker 1: it this very time. And he's like, all right, sorry
Speaker 1: about that, Yeoman, but I'm just not used to a
Speaker 1: woman on the bridge. I don't think there should be
Speaker 1: women on the bridge. And then he looks over and
Speaker 1: he's like, oh, yeah, my second in command number one
Speaker 1: is a woman.
Speaker 2: There's a Woman's like, but not you, number one of
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, you're acceptable. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Also this is Michelle Barrett Rodin Brie, who is Jean
Speaker 2: Rodenbree's wife and who would go on to play many
Speaker 2: different characters of in Star Trek where Rodin Breed kind
Speaker 2: of write her in, but this was obviously meant to
Speaker 2: be a huge role for her. And as you will,
Speaker 2: we will get into Pike was not the only one
Speaker 2: upset to see a woman on the bridge.
Speaker 3: Let's put it that way.
Speaker 1: Pike gets the science support and basically this planet is Earth, like,
Speaker 1: they can land. They don't need any other you know,
Speaker 1: breathing helmets or anything like that. So Pike is like, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be me. Spock and four other Red Shirts
Speaker 1: were going down there. Number One, you're in command, although
Speaker 1: he the implication is kind of that he doesn't think
Speaker 1: number one it would be safe for her to go
Speaker 1: down there, and maybe she couldn't handle it, but he
Speaker 1: also puts her in charge, you know, without a second thought.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a quite complex kind of view of
Speaker 1: Christopher Pike. They go down there. It's a rocky planet,
Speaker 1: very desert like. Pike and Spok are like intrigue. They're
Speaker 1: these little blue leaves that amid a sort of frequency
Speaker 1: that we just never go back to that but it's
Speaker 1: very mysteriously. Chrisms very interested in it. And after looking
Speaker 1: around for a while, they find the survivors camp and
Speaker 1: the survivor of the Columbia. They're all old as shit.
Speaker 1: They're like, you know, they look like eighteen sixties prospectors,
Speaker 1: you know, their hair all wild, giving.
Speaker 2: More looks in the time machine like that, like cavemen.
Speaker 1: So they're like, what's going on with Earth? And Pike
Speaker 1: and Spok are like Earth is great, just like you
Speaker 1: left it there are new technologies now where we can
Speaker 1: like fly here faster than light. So there's a lot
Speaker 1: of cool stuff, but you know, we'll get you out
Speaker 1: of here. So they are preparing to remove the survivors
Speaker 1: to the ship when they meet Vienna, who apparently was
Speaker 1: a child when the Columbia crashed, and so now she's
Speaker 1: like this beautiful blonde, nineteen or twenty year old woman,
Speaker 1: and Pike is immediately like thrown that there's this hottie
Speaker 1: like out here on tallows. Meanwhile, somewhere else, a group
Speaker 1: of bald, veiny headed aliens or like watching this whole
Speaker 1: scene unfold in their cave, and the leader makes some
Speaker 1: sort of signal we can't hear them speak and we'll
Speaker 1: figure out why soon to his two like lieutenants, and
Speaker 1: they head off. Pike is packing helping pack stuff up
Speaker 1: so they can all go back to the Enterprise, and
Speaker 1: they're almost ready to go, and Vena's like, hey, I
Speaker 1: can't help, but noticing you're a man of prime breeding stock,
Speaker 1: He's like it's like what, and then she goes like,
Speaker 1: I think it's time to show you our secret and
Speaker 1: he's like okay, And meanwhile the doc is noticing that
Speaker 1: the survivors, despite their bedraggled look are like very healthy,
Speaker 1: almost too healthy. He's looking like good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, looking great, Like what's gotten shilling down that for
Speaker 3: a long time? Are you really survivors or are you
Speaker 3: members of this strange society?
Speaker 1: The leader of the of the bedraggled Columbia survivors then
Speaker 1: is like, well, that's because of some kind of secret
Speaker 1: that you're not ready for, which is what. It's like what?
Speaker 1: And then that guy, the leader of the survivors, tells Viena, Hey, Vena,
Speaker 1: go take Captain Pike somewhere private to show him the secret.
Speaker 1: And so Pike is like, okay, let's go around the
Speaker 1: corner and go to this rock out crupping and she's
Speaker 1: like okay, ready, here it is and he's like what,
Speaker 1: I don't see anything, And then she disappears and the
Speaker 1: aliens come out of the cave and stun Captain Pike
Speaker 1: and they take him prisoner. The rest of his crew
Speaker 1: is like trying to blast through the door, but it's
Speaker 1: no good. They can't they can't get him. The door
Speaker 1: is apparently made of some super strong material. Spock radio
Speaker 1: is the strip. He's like, hey, it's a trap. They've
Speaker 1: got the captain. We're leaving. Pike wakes up in a
Speaker 1: cell and he's in like this extensive underground cave base
Speaker 1: in this clear walled cell, and he can see Pike
Speaker 1: like this kind of bear pig creature with its ash
Speaker 1: cheeks exposed, like walking around and other like weird creatures,
Speaker 1: like a huge rooster.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The aliens come in and they stare at Pike, and
Speaker 1: Pike is like, listen, I'm the captain of the USS Enterprise.
Speaker 1: Our mission is totally peaceful. I'm a very experienced space captain,
Speaker 1: and you should let us out. Let me out. And
Speaker 1: the aliens are like, look, how simple this organism is
Speaker 1: a very simple, like dumb creature. They still speak with
Speaker 1: their mouths and stuff, and they were easily tricked by us,
Speaker 1: and isn't that isn't that interesting? And then Pikes starts
Speaker 1: to get like gangster with it. He's like, listen, I've
Speaker 1: got fucking We've got phasers, we've got like laser cannons,
Speaker 1: we've got the tor the space torpedoes, we've got all that,
Speaker 1: like we could destroy this place, like, don't get into
Speaker 1: it with us. And the aliens, meanwhile, are still talking
Speaker 1: with themselves like, watch now he's gonna get mad and
Speaker 1: threaten us. And watch now he's gonna now he's gonna
Speaker 1: try and break the glass. Watch this, this is it's
Speaker 1: a law clear.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I also want to say huge another huge change here,
Speaker 2: or ironically a law change that really sets up one
Speaker 2: of the most continuously talked about canonical, uh hypocritical kind
Speaker 2: of things about Star Trek, which is the idereas you
Speaker 2: go you don't leave anything behind, you don't change a planet,
Speaker 2: you don't attack a planet.
Speaker 3: It's a peaceful situation that Pike is not in. That sage.
Speaker 3: Pike is like, I'm gonna blow your show. What are
Speaker 3: you gonna do it?
Speaker 5: Boy?
Speaker 2: It Now Honestly, that actually happens a lot, even though
Speaker 2: the Federation are not meant to do that. These motherfuckers
Speaker 2: are always getting involved in other people's business. But very
Speaker 2: funny to a Pike kid just immediately be like, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna blow up your planet, let me go, And then
Speaker 2: the aliens are like, oh, okay, we've had that one before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the aliens are like, okay, this one is
Speaker 1: quite spirited, and we'll begin with the experience quite soon.
Speaker 1: Spock and the crew back on the enterprise or studying
Speaker 1: the planet to try to figure out, like what can
Speaker 1: we do, and they realize that the underground aliens like
Speaker 1: trick them set them all up. The doctor points out
Speaker 1: that the aliens must have some sort of telepathy and
Speaker 1: ability to project illusions into their minds, and right now
Speaker 1: they might be doing that, Like we can't trust anything
Speaker 1: we're doing. They use this illusion of Vena the hottie.
Speaker 1: Actually he doesn't mention this there, but like that was
Speaker 1: a big part of it. So Number one wonders, like, oh,
Speaker 1: I wonder what the aliens want, Like what could they
Speaker 1: possibly want? Spots like I don't know, but he does
Speaker 1: figure just based on his readings that the aliens must
Speaker 1: have three times at least three times the brain power
Speaker 1: of their own. Yeah, that's why they're so big. So
Speaker 1: Number one is like, okay, well, here's my idea. Take
Speaker 1: let's take some of the cannons out of the ship,
Speaker 1: let's bring them down to the surface, and let's just
Speaker 1: drill our way through the door.
Speaker 3: Crazy.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, thousands of aliens, off camera but mentioned, are simultaneously
Speaker 1: probing Pike's mind and looking at his memories and just
Speaker 1: reading him like a book. As he searches for a
Speaker 1: way out, and they find out about the recent events
Speaker 1: on Rigel and his guilt about that, and they decide
Speaker 1: to use that memory again and his own guilt against him.
Speaker 1: Suddenly Pike is like on Rigel and Vina is there
Speaker 1: begging like Pipe help me, Oh my god. Pike is like,
Speaker 1: he knows immediately, like this is an illusion. You're from
Speaker 1: the planet, Like we're back on the planet. This is
Speaker 1: not happening. But he's also I'm in my cell and
Speaker 1: this must be some sort of space zoo. But then
Speaker 1: the space barbarian that apparently killed Pike's crew members shows
Speaker 1: up and starts going fucking ham and Pike is like,
Speaker 1: fine enough, like this I just instinctively like I have
Speaker 1: to fight this barbarian. And a lot of it is
Speaker 1: because of his own very period correct feelings of must
Speaker 1: protect woman from yes barbarian.
Speaker 2: To that really interestingly, even though he knows Vena isn't
Speaker 2: really real, but yeah, he even he even speaks to.
Speaker 3: The aliens about that.
Speaker 2: So this is again establishing a much more complicated understanding
Speaker 2: of gender and masculinity than most shows at this time,
Speaker 2: which would obviously go into shape kind of the legacy
Speaker 2: of Star Trek.
Speaker 1: So Pike does manage to kill the barbarian and then
Speaker 1: Poofy's back going to sell with Vena and Venus hugging him,
Speaker 1: and the aliens are watching like absolute freaks outside the glass,
Speaker 1: and Vina's like, listen, and here the innuendos are like
Speaker 1: so strong, it's crazy to think, like in the sixties,
Speaker 1: what this must have felt like. Of course this was
Speaker 1: not this pilot was not aired, but you know, it's
Speaker 1: a very similar kind of innuendos. In the later series,
Speaker 1: Vina is like, listen, am I real? Am I not real?
Speaker 1: I can be as real as you want, like anything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, She's like, maybe a woman be real?
Speaker 1: Yeah, what kind of woman have you fantasized about? Like
Speaker 1: I can be that. I could be anything that you
Speaker 1: want in the whole world, Like you know, just use
Speaker 1: your imagination. We could do that. And Pike is like, interesting,
Speaker 1: that's an interesting thought. And I'm not saying no, But
Speaker 1: how do I keep the aliens out of my mind?
Speaker 1: Do you know any way?
Speaker 3: I want? Like they won they want to be in
Speaker 3: my mind while I'm banging.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I do.
Speaker 1: And her reaction, even though she doesn't say there's a
Speaker 1: way to keep them out. Her reaction tells him there
Speaker 1: must be some. Meanwhile, outside of the cave number one
Speaker 1: and the rest, they're drilling with those ships cannons and
Speaker 1: they go full power and they don't see any change
Speaker 1: in the door. Doc points out that again, they're like, hey, uh,
Speaker 1: we don't know what to trust down here, Like they
Speaker 1: could be fucking with our minds right now and we
Speaker 1: would not know, So just be aware of that. Pike
Speaker 1: is chatting with Vena about the mind control and Vina's like, fine, fine, fine,
Speaker 1: if you promise to share whatever your most secret sexual
Speaker 1: fantasy is so we can live it together, I will
Speaker 1: tell you, like how to keep the aliens out of
Speaker 1: your mind. So she then tells him, Okay, the aliens
Speaker 1: went underground because of war, and that's underground over centuries,
Speaker 1: they developed them mental powers. But then they got their
Speaker 1: mental powers are so strong that they just got trapped
Speaker 1: in a maze of their own fantasies and delusions that
Speaker 1: they project apparently into each other's minds and everything and
Speaker 1: and so they're just kind of like a lost species.
Speaker 1: She confirms that there is this is a zoo and
Speaker 1: and then it becomes clear, Okay, we need a pair
Speaker 1: of humans, but like, where would the woman come from?
Speaker 1: Is Vienna even real? And Vina's like, no, I'm real,
Speaker 1: and again I can be like much realer in any
Speaker 1: way you want. But then all of a sudden, she
Speaker 1: screams and disappears in the big head alien like apparently
Speaker 1: like just made her disappear.
Speaker 2: We don't sucked him, sucked her back into his big
Speaker 2: butt slash testical brain uncle something like that. I did
Speaker 2: think this was actually very evocative and a great moment
Speaker 2: when she is, you know, talking to Pike and they
Speaker 2: kind of have this like picnic projection, and she sort
Speaker 2: of says to him, like, just tell me any fantasy,
Speaker 2: whatever your.
Speaker 3: Dream is, let me live it with you.
Speaker 2: Because I think she is aware that she doesn't really exist,
Speaker 2: but in that way, maybe they would let how to
Speaker 2: stay alive.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I was very ebucative.
Speaker 2: And again the creepy, haunting, existential kind of throwaway moments
Speaker 2: that made star Trek what it is being seeded hit because.
Speaker 3: Then she just doesn't exist.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because there's like deeper There are deeper complexities as
Speaker 1: you drill down into Starturek, which makes it very interesting
Speaker 1: even for the period. So Pike is, you know, how
Speaker 1: do I escape from here? He's trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1: He can't. The aliens come over and they feed him.
Speaker 1: It's feeding time. They give him just like a gross
Speaker 1: like a flagon of a gross nutrient liquid, and the
Speaker 1: alien is like, you gotta eat that, and if you
Speaker 1: don't eat it, we're going to torture you with various
Speaker 1: torture illusions. And now Pike is. Now Pike is really
Speaker 1: fascinated because he's like, why not just make me think
Speaker 1: I'm really hungry? Yeah, you can't do that, can you? Like?
Speaker 1: There must be to what you're doing.
Speaker 2: And the alien's like, why not just make him have
Speaker 2: sex with Bena if they do that?
Speaker 3: But they can't, And just so this sudden, I guess.
Speaker 1: So the Alien's like, listen, motherfucker. You keep thinking like
Speaker 1: that and you're gonna You're gonna regret it. All of
Speaker 1: a sudden, Pike is like, oh yeah, bitch, And then
Speaker 1: like rushes at the glass and the alien is flinches,
Speaker 1: and Pike is like, Aha, that's interesting, Like you got
Speaker 1: scared when I rushed the glass. You didn't know I
Speaker 1: was gonna do that. You can read my mind, but
Speaker 1: you didn't know I was gonna do that. Aha, So
Speaker 1: now what's really what is going on? The alien won't
Speaker 1: stop talking about Viena, like Viena Vienavina, Like don't you
Speaker 1: like her? Since she hot? Like do you want something else?
Speaker 1: Like what's going on? Like what we want you to
Speaker 1: be happy here? And we made this like very young
Speaker 1: girl that is like totally interest you and why don't
Speaker 1: you want that? And we sense that, like you're protective
Speaker 1: towards her, so like it's got to be working on
Speaker 1: some level. All of a sudden, Pike finds himself in
Speaker 1: that illusion that you were talking about with Ana. He's
Speaker 1: back on earth with his two horses and he's talking about,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I still go riding around here all the
Speaker 1: time and YadA, YadA, YadA, And it's definitely working on Pike,
Speaker 1: like he's getting sucked into it.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like, oh, well, maybe it's not too bad.
Speaker 1: It's clearly based on the conversation that he had back
Speaker 1: with the about Rigel and the events of Rigel with
Speaker 1: the doc and the aliens. Clearly thought, oh, here's here's
Speaker 1: an example of him wanting to like stop being the
Speaker 1: captain of the ship. Maybe we use that to get
Speaker 1: him out of this, and so Pike. But Pike can't
Speaker 1: let it go. He's talking with Viena about the illusion.
Speaker 1: He's like, what are they up to? What do they want?
Speaker 1: And Venus like, fine, okay, listen enough, I'll tell you
Speaker 1: and then we can do weird sex shit, okay, whatever
Speaker 1: you want. The aliens can't read like base primitive emotions
Speaker 1: like hate. They never really expand on what other emotions.
Speaker 1: Possibly they can't read, but definitely hate, anger, strong anger feelings.
Speaker 1: You can't do it and the only like and Vena's like,
Speaker 1: the only issue with that is like it's hard to
Speaker 1: keep that up for a long period of time. Pike
Speaker 1: is like, listen, Vina, you're hot as hell, okay, And
Speaker 1: from the moment I came down to this planet, I thought,
Speaker 1: here's like a hot twenty year old in space. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, i gotta like I'm feeling stuff, but like
Speaker 1: I'm a captain of a ship. And Vena's like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, we can do it again for the fifteenth time.
Speaker 1: We can do whatever you want. Yeah, and then boom.
Speaker 2: Also, can I just say, guys, this this episode of
Speaker 2: it sounds like a lot is happening.
Speaker 3: It's because this pilot is over an hour long.
Speaker 2: It's like there is there is a lot of conversation
Speaker 2: about whether or not Pike is going to have sex
Speaker 2: with this imaginary woman.
Speaker 1: So then the aliens are like, Okay, let's just get
Speaker 1: very explicit with the sexual part of this, right, So
Speaker 1: the illusion changes to like a white person's idea of
Speaker 1: like a near East stern like space middle Eastern court
Speaker 1: from the medieval times, with like a green dancing woman
Speaker 1: and music that suggests like a harem and you know
Speaker 1: that kind of thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, very orientalist.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Captain Pike is sitting at at a table with these
Speaker 1: two other like lecherousue guys who are like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love this planet. I love coming here. It's fucking
Speaker 1: you know anything you want, Like it's great. And then
Speaker 1: he the guy, the guy like directly in the Pike's right,
Speaker 1: says literally like, you know what I love about the
Speaker 1: women on this planet? They actually like being taken advantage
Speaker 1: of a holy shit, And Pike is like, he's looking
Speaker 1: at Vena Vina is the green skinned one's because.
Speaker 3: She also looks like hella old when in the green
Speaker 3: skin it's like a totally different look.
Speaker 2: I feel like they didn't understand the nature of pikes
Speaker 2: like innocence, Like he was being drawn to this kind
Speaker 2: of innocent, picnic fashion.
Speaker 3: But it doesn't mean he's not enjoying it.
Speaker 1: I mean he's definitely getting aroused. Like it's a very
Speaker 1: complex performance because Pike is both like trying to keep
Speaker 1: it legit and professional, but he's also like, damn, like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm in space brothel with green skin alien
Speaker 1: who wants me like and finally he's like, I gotta
Speaker 1: that's it. I'm leaving. So he leaves the like dance area,
Speaker 1: and he's finds himself trapped all of a sudden. I
Speaker 1: guess he was like going to storm off to like
Speaker 1: jack off in the bathroom or something it seems like,
Speaker 1: but what it seemed like, But he finds himself trapped
Speaker 1: and Vena' is there and she's looking at him very erotically. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: we cut to the surface. Spot A Number one are
Speaker 1: their Their plan now is beam ourselves directly into the
Speaker 1: base with a strike team. It's me Spot number one,
Speaker 1: Yeoman and three others and we'll get in there with
Speaker 1: our phasers and we'll break him out, and only Number
Speaker 1: one and the yeoman who got yelled at earlier get
Speaker 1: in and they get into a Pike cell and Pike
Speaker 1: gets like, insanely the Vina excuse me, it gets insanely
Speaker 1: jaeolus at me, like what the fuck?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: Like I was so we were so close. I've been
Speaker 1: working on this like he's my guy, and now you
Speaker 1: two fucking bitches broke, ugly, ugly, broke, broke let YouTube,
Speaker 1: dumb bitches, show up, your ruin out, I'll hang now.
Speaker 1: The aliens show up and they're like, okay, Pike, look
Speaker 1: at what we got you. Okay, we understand Vina. Now
Speaker 1: maybe we don't know how to create the illusion right,
Speaker 1: and she's not everything you wanted, But now we got
Speaker 1: number one, your direct report who she's an older woman
Speaker 1: and it seems like she has a very cold exterior,
Speaker 1: professional exterior towards you. But guess what she fantasizes about you,
Speaker 1: Captain Pike.
Speaker 3: This was wild.
Speaker 1: Number one is like you, I can't believe you just
Speaker 1: did that, snitches around, and then she goes to and
Speaker 1: then they go and the yeoman who you screamed at earlier,
Speaker 1: obviously younger, prime breeding like, and I gotta tell you this,
Speaker 1: she loves sex.
Speaker 7: It's the aliens literally tell this the Christopher Pike like,
Speaker 7: she loves sex, okay, and Pike is like, I got
Speaker 7: a lot of.
Speaker 1: Respect for Captain Pike in this moment, because Captain Pike
Speaker 1: responds to none of that. He's just like, listen, when
Speaker 1: I get my fucking hands on you, you son of
Speaker 1: a bitch. He's like, don't be talking about those women
Speaker 1: like that. I'm gonna fucking rig your little fucking neck
Speaker 1: and the aliens your alien neck. Alien then sends a
Speaker 1: bolt of pain through Pike's mind, like fuck off. Pike's like.
Speaker 1: Pike then tells his number one in the Yeoman like, listen,
Speaker 1: they can't keep your mind hateful, like they can't read that.
Speaker 1: They can't read hate. And Number one is probably like,
Speaker 1: believe me, I'm already there.
Speaker 2: She's like I'm that also as well, Like I thought
Speaker 2: this was really interesting because then I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: is this why they get everyone horny on the planet.
Speaker 3: Because that like it's hard to be hateful if you're
Speaker 3: just really horny. But yeah, I mean number one, they
Speaker 3: ain't reading shit. She's pissed.
Speaker 1: Yes, So on the ship Spock is now in control,
Speaker 1: and he's like, fuck number one, fuck the Yeomen, fuck Crystaler, Pike,
Speaker 1: We're out of here, Like this is crazy. We get Federation,
Speaker 1: we gotta go, man Federation. We are out, Captain Spock,
Speaker 1: you can call me that now. I'm out of here. Pike. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: and I'm not even sure what happened here. This feels
Speaker 1: like something that would have been edited. I mean, this is,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, a long running episode that would have
Speaker 1: been cut down to forty two or something like that
Speaker 1: for television. So what happens is an alien is like
Speaker 1: crawling into the cell for unclear reasons, and Pike, who's
Speaker 1: like sleeping, manages to catch him and fucking drags of
Speaker 1: it in the cell and he starts like ringing this
Speaker 1: alien's necks, like stop doing the fucking illusions, and the
Speaker 1: alien's like, listen, I'll destroy your ship unless you let
Speaker 1: me go. We can do that. We can put crazy
Speaker 1: illusions in your cruise mind and they will destroy it
Speaker 1: for us. Meanwhile, on the ship, the aliens are like
Speaker 1: in everybody's minds and they're downloading like all the information
Speaker 1: that they can get about the ship and Earth history
Speaker 1: and all that Pike is then takes out his phaser
Speaker 1: and he's like, I'm gonna fucking blow your fucking testicle
Speaker 1: brains out, and he marches the alien of the cell
Speaker 1: and it's like, take me back to the fucking service now.
Speaker 1: And Pike tells Number one contact the ship, tell him
Speaker 1: we escape. The alien says, listen, just stay here, okay,
Speaker 1: pick one of these females and repopulate the planet. Like
Speaker 1: what's the big deal? It would be great, come on,
Speaker 1: And Pike is like, listen, send number one and Yeoman
Speaker 1: back to the ship. Here's the deal, and I'll stay
Speaker 1: here with Vina and we'll make it happen. So and
Speaker 1: it's unclear in this moment whether he's legit or or
Speaker 1: he's tempted, or if this is a ploy. Number one
Speaker 1: sets a phaser to explode while he while Pike is
Speaker 1: making this deal and is like, I'd rather us all
Speaker 1: die than we live down here like zoo animals and
Speaker 1: the other aliens show up and they're like, listen, we
Speaker 1: have all the enterprises records and all the memories from there.
Speaker 1: It's a crazy That species is crazy, Like they are nuts.
Speaker 1: They don't like to live as slaves. They are very violent,
Speaker 1: maybe too violent than what.
Speaker 4: We're used to.
Speaker 1: And so the boss aliens like, Okay, we made a mistake.
Speaker 1: You guys are too wild, like kind of crazy. You
Speaker 1: can go like no harm, no foul, sorry about the
Speaker 1: whole thing, but you guys can go. And Pike is like, well,
Speaker 1: let me take Vina and if she wants to come,
Speaker 1: and she's like, I can't. And it's unclear if wait
Speaker 1: is she reel?
Speaker 2: Is she like?
Speaker 1: What is going on with na Yeoman and Numero Uno? Back?
Speaker 1: Go back up to the ship. Pike stays on the planet.
Speaker 1: They look back and they're in the transporter and where
Speaker 1: the Pike, Pike is down there just chatting up. Vina
Speaker 1: all of a sudden turns like really old and messed up.
Speaker 1: And it turned out that after the crash, the aliens
Speaker 1: were like, we don't know what a human is. So
Speaker 1: they like fixed her put her back together, and they
Speaker 1: put her back together like all lumpy and shucked off,
Speaker 1: and Pike's like, nah uglay yeah. He's like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know who, You're gonna stay here
Speaker 1: like it's fine.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: Pike is like, so Pike is like, listen, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go back to the ship. It was really nice meeting you.
Speaker 3: Sorry we didn't get to me.
Speaker 1: I had a great time with you.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 1: And so she walks off and then Pike like goes
Speaker 1: to the alien and is like, listener, feel like she's
Speaker 1: beautiful again? Can you do that for me? Like it's
Speaker 1: really terrible.
Speaker 3: He's like, this is off. Shut the truth like the
Speaker 3: macersions a guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, make her feel beautiful again, because I feel like
Speaker 1: really fucking bad for her. And so Pike goes back
Speaker 1: up to the ship and business as usual. The yeoman
Speaker 1: comes again with the daily report and Pike yells at
Speaker 1: her again and then she's like, but it's the report
Speaker 1: and he's like, oh yeah, that's fucking fuck. Yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: my mom sigh you. She then as she's leaving, is like,
Speaker 1: can I ask you, Christopher Pike, who would you have
Speaker 1: chosen between me and number one? Wild question? What set
Speaker 1: the back off the ship? And then Doc Haskins is
Speaker 1: looking herround like what the fuck happened on this planet?
Speaker 1: And then we go to the credits. Incredible wild Up
Speaker 1: episode never aired, but is the historical pilot for Star Trek.
Speaker 1: Let's go to break and then we will talk about
Speaker 1: the themes, discuss some of the themes and the things
Speaker 1: we saw in this.
Speaker 5: Episode, and we're back.
Speaker 1: Okay. Very fascinating episode because I think it does a
Speaker 1: couple of things, and I think for me, the themes
Speaker 1: of this are really one the responsibility of leadership, Like Pike,
Speaker 1: is it a crisis when we meet him, is it
Speaker 1: a crisis of confidence about whether he wants to continue
Speaker 1: doing this and whether he's the man for this job?
Speaker 1: Having just lost people on rigel in a way that
Speaker 1: makes it makes you feel like he's feeling like I
Speaker 1: could have done should I have done something different? And
Speaker 1: those people would still be alive. It's also a very
Speaker 1: interesting performance from Hunter because his portrayal of Pike is
Speaker 1: definitely like a moody Yeah, he's very handsome, but he's
Speaker 1: also like generally more stressed out and on the edge
Speaker 1: of burnout. Like he's not the kind of swashbuckling, charming
Speaker 1: Captain Kirk that we're going to get. And I think
Speaker 1: that's probably a note from the studio is like, make
Speaker 1: this guy less like existentially troubled. And then I think
Speaker 1: quite clearly the role of women in society in the workplace, Yeah,
Speaker 1: all over this because you're clearly not meant to think
Speaker 1: when Pike flips out on the Yeomen and says women
Speaker 1: should be on the bridge, you're not meant to be
Speaker 1: agree with him, because everything in this episode tells you
Speaker 1: that Pike's wrong about that. Like Number one is great
Speaker 1: take when she takes over the ship, she plays a
Speaker 1: id role in rescuing Pike, even though we then go
Speaker 1: to There's also this other layer where the show also
Speaker 1: doesn't really interrogate whether women have any other value besides
Speaker 1: being hot.
Speaker 3: No, there's a huge part.
Speaker 2: And I also think that the stuff with my Gel
Speaker 2: and playing Number one is really interesting because it is
Speaker 2: this duality of Gene Roddenbury being like, yeah, women are
Speaker 2: sexy and men want to fuck them, and that's really important.
Speaker 2: But also when Number one takes over, there is like
Speaker 2: no fanfare, no hype.
Speaker 3: She just does it. She has good ideas, and I think.
Speaker 2: That there was something there that he would he really
Speaker 2: wanted to explore, and so did Margel probably. But interestingly,
Speaker 2: I think there's two things here that tell us a
Speaker 2: lot about where NBC was at, because there are multiple
Speaker 2: characters who are set up here as could have taken
Speaker 2: over from Jeffrey Hunter as Christopher Pike. Obviously number one
Speaker 2: is one of them, but NBC had actually asked her
Speaker 2: to be removed when they reshot the pilot because they
Speaker 2: said no one would believe a woman could hold the
Speaker 2: position of second in command. Now, honestly, sure, crazy thing
Speaker 2: to say at the time, but we get it and
Speaker 2: led to you know, different kinds of casting, including Michelle
Speaker 2: Nichols as Yes, the communications officer Hura that would you know,
Speaker 2: change American TV forever and even inspire Martin Luther King.
Speaker 2: But it's very interesting that even in a show where
Speaker 2: they're having that conversation when they reshot the pilot, that
Speaker 2: was one of the things they wanted to take out
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 1: It's quite interesting. I also think that you know clearly
Speaker 1: what Roddenberry is working through here too, is like, Okay,
Speaker 1: women are entering the workforce. Mm hmm, how can we
Speaker 1: work with them and also like not want to fuck
Speaker 1: them like that is It's like very much part of
Speaker 1: this episode is like, okay, you're two direct two of
Speaker 1: your direct reports like wanna fuck captain, but one of
Speaker 1: them who is like not letting on in a very
Speaker 1: professional manner that she would ever have those thoughts and
Speaker 1: the second one who's kind of a freak. And also
Speaker 1: this is sixty six. He's being made, so this is
Speaker 1: like summer of love. Stuff is like bubbling, you know,
Speaker 1: the sexual revolution, the whole hippie free love thing is
Speaker 1: like coming. And that's quite clear that the Yeoman is
Speaker 1: meant to kind of symbolize that rising generation with for
Speaker 1: your sexual attitudes. And you know, roden Berry, I think
Speaker 1: is trying to say, like, okay, guys, how do you
Speaker 1: deal with this? Women are in the workplace now? Like
Speaker 1: what do you do? How do you how do you
Speaker 1: manage these tensions that of having women here and how
Speaker 1: do you keep it professional? And I think it was
Speaker 1: from that perspective a really interesting episode, despite the fact
Speaker 1: that again Pike at the end when he sees that
Speaker 1: Vita's old, is like, you know what, uh forget it,
Speaker 1: but but I love targeting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, He's like, look, he's like, this is this is
Speaker 3: where we're at.
Speaker 2: And as with any old guy who made stuff, you know,
Speaker 2: Geene Roudenbury has had his own controversies and stuff through
Speaker 2: the years. And the truth is, look, the episode has
Speaker 2: such a great interesting kind of complexity to those conversations.
Speaker 3: But ultimately at the end, it's like, well, a woman
Speaker 3: is valuable as long as she's hot, Like she can
Speaker 3: join the ship if she's hot.
Speaker 2: She can't join the ship if she's lumpy, even though
Speaker 2: it's the twenty third century and we have a doctor,
Speaker 2: you know, so no lumpy, no lumpy space princess here.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's very interesting. But I will say I
Speaker 2: do just think like how cool.
Speaker 3: That this exists.
Speaker 2: Like you can currently watch this on Paramount Plus, even
Speaker 2: though Google results will tell you otherwise, but it is
Speaker 2: listed on Paramount Plus as the first episode of Star Trek,
Speaker 2: and it is so beautifully shot, it's so weird, it's
Speaker 2: so long, Like it doesn't feel like it should have
Speaker 2: been able to launch a series that the series that
Speaker 2: it did. But actually when you go back and you
Speaker 2: look and you watch those forty five minute episodes that
Speaker 2: are really esoteric or later episodes, you know, the Deep
Speaker 2: Space nine stuff where there's a lot of a hollow deck,
Speaker 2: you know, like and lots of like Shakespearean weirdness, Like
Speaker 2: a lot of that is seeded here by just how
Speaker 2: unconventional it is. Jason revisiting this, what is like your
Speaker 2: biggest takeaway as we step into potentially, you know, covering
Speaker 2: the official pilot that people got to watch in sixty seven.
Speaker 1: That it's good sometimes studio notes are good, you know,
Speaker 1: And that while I probably would not agree with a
Speaker 1: lot of some of the probably many of the things
Speaker 1: the studio critiqued about ron Berry, it created a better
Speaker 1: product because it made him have to figure out how
Speaker 1: to make a lot of these complex and very cutting
Speaker 1: edge societal sociological ideas more palatable, more mainstream, more graspable.
Speaker 1: And I think they did a good job of that.
Speaker 1: Like it's impossible to not watch Pike and then ab
Speaker 1: Pike with Kirk. You know, Kirk love being Kirk. There
Speaker 1: are moments in the run of Star Trek where Captain
Speaker 1: Kirk is like feeling the weight of being the captain,
Speaker 1: but honestly, he loves it. That guy loves sitting in
Speaker 1: the chair.
Speaker 2: I do think it's very funny that one of the
Speaker 2: biggest takeaways they had was like, Okay, so if the
Speaker 2: captain does get to go to an alien planet because
Speaker 2: he doesn't work with those women, make sure he's kissing him.
Speaker 6: Make sure he's fucking them, because because Cork is a lover,
Speaker 6: Cork is like he's having an alien relations It's very
Speaker 6: clear that they leaned into that aspect, right. It's like, okay,
Speaker 6: you know, we kind of like to think where Kirk
Speaker 6: has to choose between three women, one of whom want
Speaker 6: to be utilusion, but what if going pike rather, but
Speaker 6: what if going for a you know forward, the captain
Speaker 6: actually you know, starts missing around with some of these aliens.
Speaker 6: I also think that though they don't talk about the
Speaker 6: more you know, honestly almost utopian philosophical mission of Starfleet
Speaker 6: in this episode, you could sense it here in the
Speaker 6: sense in the fact that, you know, the Enterprise tussles
Speaker 6: with these Telosian aliens who imprison their captain and almost
Speaker 6: make him live in a zoo with a lumpy woman, and.
Speaker 1: At the end of it, the humans are just like, okay,
Speaker 1: we're leaving, like that that was that happened, and it's
Speaker 1: a clash of cultures and societies. But there's no reason
Speaker 1: to like nuke your whole planet, like live and let live.
Speaker 1: We're at Eagre and see you later. It was a
Speaker 1: misunderstanding basically, and that ethos will be much further distilled
Speaker 1: in the actual Star Trek. Well, they talk about like
Speaker 1: what the mission is and to your point, as you
Speaker 1: talked about earlier, like how important the mission is of
Speaker 1: it's a mission of peace, et cetera, and of studying
Speaker 1: life across the galaxy in the universe, but not like interfering,
Speaker 1: and you get a sense of that here, whereas in
Speaker 1: any other kind of space adventure of the era this
Speaker 1: would lead to like, Okay, blow the.
Speaker 2: Step, come up, hut it up, or put them in
Speaker 2: space prison or something. So I like that you pointed
Speaker 2: out Also, I mean, I think this is well known
Speaker 2: by this point, but hey, if you're on this track
Speaker 2: through track with us, we do now have a new
Speaker 2: version of Captain Pike, who was inspired by the Cage,
Speaker 2: who is in strange in your world's played by Anson
Speaker 2: might Mount, and the ideas that us seeing the Pike
Speaker 2: era explorations that occurred before Kirk. So I also like
Speaker 2: that now this is very clinical and has even been expanded,
Speaker 2: And that would happen because they would recut some of
Speaker 2: the pilot to act as flashbacks to kind of explain
Speaker 2: away some of it with Jeffrey Hunters, some of it
Speaker 2: not because Jeffrey Hunter was like, nah, I've done one pilot.
Speaker 3: I want to do movies and just turn them down.
Speaker 3: So and of course that gave us William Shattner.
Speaker 2: But yeah, if this sounds interesting and you want to
Speaker 2: see more from your kind of introverted, strange sexy pike,
Speaker 2: well guess what that.
Speaker 3: Is very much the world of Strange New World.
Speaker 2: So that's one of the newest Star Trek series that
Speaker 2: is taking from this classic episode.
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and we'll be back with
Speaker 1: the back matter.
Speaker 4: A quick history of this pilot, and.
Speaker 1: We're back. Some quick facts about the Cage. The Cage
Speaker 1: does not begin as you noticed it, as we talked
Speaker 1: about with the iconic Star Trek mission statement on the
Speaker 1: five year journey to explore Strange New World, seek out
Speaker 1: new life and civilizations at Boldigo, where nowhere no man
Speaker 1: has gone before. That would be for the actual first pilot.
Speaker 1: The aired pilot of Star.
Speaker 2: Trek NBC began filming the Cage on November twenty seven,
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty four. Hilariously, they would then go on to
Speaker 2: cool the pilot to cerebral, too intellectual, too slow, and
Speaker 2: not enough action. Not to mention, and this is pretty
Speaker 2: crazy cost five hundred thousand dollars for that episode.
Speaker 3: But you know what I got to say, Sure, wop
Speaker 3: in price stag for the time, but guess what.
Speaker 2: Guys looks great, really looks beautiful HC TV.
Speaker 3: Like this shit stood up.
Speaker 1: I mean, this kind of tells you how how Titanic
Speaker 1: television was at the time. It's kind of like hard
Speaker 1: to think about now, but there were three channels period,
Speaker 1: and so while five hundred thousand is a whopping amount
Speaker 1: of money for nineteen sixty four, it also tells you
Speaker 1: the kind of like resources that they were throwing around
Speaker 1: Rather than rejecting the series outright after this, I guess
Speaker 1: you could say disastrous pilot that cost five hundred thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: the network gave notes recommissioned a second pilot, which ended
Speaker 1: up being Where No Man Has Gone Before, which led
Speaker 1: to the eventual series order for Star Trek, which came
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 2: Even though NBC never officially added we did get the
Speaker 2: classic The Menagerie, which is one of the early Star
Speaker 2: Trek episodes. That this would have probably been the way
Speaker 2: that they put them on the BHS is they put
Speaker 2: them with two episodes, so you could imagine that this
Speaker 2: somewhere where they thought if they ever did er it,
Speaker 2: they would double up. They recycled a law of the footage,
Speaker 2: and then they actually had to hire, as I mentioned,
Speaker 2: a guy called Sean Kenny to come back and play Pike,
Speaker 2: because Jeffrey was like, Hey, I'm doing movies now, guys,
Speaker 2: which I love.
Speaker 1: And he was like in a coma, I believe like
Speaker 1: Sean k Well the Pike. The Pike of that version
Speaker 1: was like brain dead, so like they you could get
Speaker 1: away with him looking a little different. Even though NBC
Speaker 1: never actually air The Cage of the Menagerie, took a
Speaker 1: bunch of the footage from this episode and then cut
Speaker 1: it into the existing episode that was going to air
Speaker 1: that was now called The Menagerie. Geen Roddenberry had the
Speaker 1: black and white workprint the sixteen millimeter from the original
Speaker 1: thirty five millimeter negative and was able to salvage a
Speaker 1: bunch of scenes from that for The Menagerie. This left
Speaker 1: Roddenberry's copy is the only known surviving version. When the
Speaker 1: VHS version raised his version of the Cage.
Speaker 3: I want to find that.
Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty seven, this is what I was touching
Speaker 2: on with Bob Fernach.
Speaker 3: Basically, he found an unlabeled film.
Speaker 2: Canister returned it to Roddenbury and then that allowed Rodenberry
Speaker 2: to make it possible to complete a full color version,
Speaker 2: and the restored color version was broadcast on October nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty eight, the first ever television airing of The Cage,
Speaker 2: and it was hosted by Patrick strew Up.
Speaker 1: Baba Star Trek. The original series ironically has two episodes
Speaker 1: that count as series premiers. After the rejected pilot The Cage,
Speaker 1: NBC premiered Star Trek on September eighth, nineteen sixty six,
Speaker 1: with The Man Trap, in which the Starship Enterprise faced
Speaker 1: a monster called the Salt Vampire. Very spooky episode. However,
Speaker 1: while the Man Trap wasn't the first Star Trek episode there,
Speaker 1: it wasn't supposed to be the series premiere. Star Trek's
Speaker 1: second pilot is called Where No Man Has Gone Before,
Speaker 1: and it was the third episode broadcast on NBC, and
Speaker 1: the Man Trap ended up premiering first because I loved
Speaker 1: just production stuff, so they aired it first, even though
Speaker 1: it was supposed to go after dude, Where No Man
Speaker 1: Has Gone Before?
Speaker 2: Such a classic bit of Hollywood chaikhaneri like we have
Speaker 2: that with so many animated shows where we still don't
Speaker 2: know what the official NBC version or Cartoon network version
Speaker 2: was meant to be, and then they added, you know,
Speaker 2: the release version. I love that kind of stuff. It's
Speaker 2: weird as heck. Okay, so good production. Note Cage was
Speaker 2: actually filmed at Desolu Production Studio, and Star Trek would
Speaker 2: continue to film on that lot at least until the
Speaker 2: end of sixty four.
Speaker 3: If you're wondering how Roddenberry kind of got.
Speaker 2: Into TV, well, he was in Westerns, which were obviously
Speaker 2: the biggest thing of the time before Sci Fi, and
Speaker 2: his show was particularly inspired by NBC to ABC series
Speaker 2: The Wagon Train from nine fifty seven to ninety sixty five,
Speaker 2: and in his original Star Trek pitch, he actually used
Speaker 2: the wagon Train as a reference. The format is wagon
Speaker 2: Train to the Stars, the sci fi creator wrote in
Speaker 2: his initial pitch document built around the characters to travel
Speaker 2: to other worlds and meet the Jeopardy and adventure which
Speaker 2: become our stories, very similar to what would become that
Speaker 2: opening kind of spiel for Star Trek.
Speaker 1: And that's how you do it, by the way, like
Speaker 1: you say, hey, it's like wagon Train in space and
Speaker 1: it worked. Morris Chapnick who became Rodenberry's assistant and was
Speaker 1: a future longtime Paramount executive, recalled his first, uh you know,
Speaker 1: encountering of the star trek idea, admitting that, oh, it
Speaker 1: was the wagon train pitch, part of the pitch that
Speaker 1: gave me like something to hold on to. Quote, I
Speaker 1: know anything about outer space, but the wagon train of
Speaker 1: the stars that I understood, and that's how it got sold.
Speaker 1: Jane Robert or like, that's the way you do it. Well,
Speaker 1: that's it for the pilot episode of Trek through Trek. Hey,
Speaker 1: you want to hear more, let us know. Next up
Speaker 1: on Extra Vision, we have another episode of Exit Vision
Speaker 1: group chat with our reactions to Dan Tractorbers, Predator bad
Speaker 1: Lands and Gearmo del Toro's Frankenstein and a little bit more.
Speaker 1: That's it for this episode. Thanks listing, bye x ray
Speaker 1: Vision is hosted by Jason Concepcion and Rosie Knight and
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 2: Our executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Kolefman.
Speaker 1: Our supervising producer is Abu Safar.
Speaker 2: Our producers are Common Laurent Dean Jonathan and Bay Wag.
Speaker 1: Our theme song is by Brian Vasquez with alternate theme
Speaker 1: songs by Aaron Kauffman.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to Saul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman, and
Speaker 2: Heidi Our discord moderate though