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*****
1-00 The Cage
Reviewed by Kevin Thomas Riley
While not technically the pilot episode of Star Trek, the episode named The Cage was the first pilot made but that was ultimately rejected by the suits at NBC for being "too cerebral". But they were sufficiently impressed by Gene Roddenberry's creation that they ordered a new, second pilot, which was almost unheard of at the time. A lot of footage from The Cage was nevertheless reused in extensive flashback scenes in the show's only two-parter The Menagerie, which won critical acclaim and proved that the story in The Cage could well stand on its own legs.
I agree whole-heartedly with this. The Cage is great Trek, it's great science fiction and it's a great story. I often wonder what Star Trek would have been like had it been greenlit after The Cage. And I often find myself intrigued by the thought of all those adventures that Captain Pike and his crew must have experienced before the more familiar James T. Kirk took over the helm of the USS Enterprise. In fact, I think it would be nice to see a Captain Pike series.
Christopher Pike is a different Captain than Kirk. He's more brooding and contemplating and resembles Horatio Hornblower more than the space cowboy Captain Kirk, which was probably intentional and one of the reasons they switched Captains for the second pilot. But Pike doesn't come off as a Picard either. All in all, Jeffrey Hunter suffused a lot into Pike in this hour that made him a worthwhile and interesting character, which makes his ultimate fate all the more tragic.
Pike's relationship with the ship's doctor Philip Boyce is reminiscent of Kirk's with McCoy, and Boyce also makes an interesting and well-developed character, serving Pike a martini since there are thing someone will tell his bartender but not his doctor.
Spock is the only character that survives from the first pilot and we can see that he's still in development. He looks and acts a bit different, talks more stilted and almost shouts out his orders and observations. He even smiles at one point. But he was also younger and presumably rather fresh from the academy.
Other characters aren't as developed, which is natural, but one of the main controversies among executives back then was putting a woman at the first officer (Number One). This is too bad in many ways, and not because it was sexist of the network to insist on ditching her, but because her character was interesting. Majel Barrett was far more interesting as the dark-haired Number One (and better looking too) than she was as the blonde Nurse Chapel. Oh, well… And I must also admit to having a soft spot for Yeoman Colt, who I still think is rather cute, and with hidden passions underneath her mousy persona if we're to believe the Talosians.
While I think The Cage could've held its own I can also see why the suits would think of it as being "too cerebral", especially considering that no one up until that time had ever tried to make an attempt at a serious science fiction show on TV. And powerful aliens that can project thoughts and images into people's brains are certainly cerebral even in a literal sense. It's still an excellent an engaging story that presents a lot of good ideas and a compelling message. Living off illusions is dangerous and it can destroy you, but also that humans (and presumably other intelligent beings) aren't prone for such an existence, as Pike keeps rejecting them. Even a gilded cage is still a cage. It's a good Trekkian message, even though the pessimist in me says that many humans would indeed like such a life of illusions. The Talosian keeper even says as much in the end, and I cannot help think about the holodeck in later era Treks.
The episode does have some plot holes, like why the Talosians originally just thought that Pike, one prime specimen for Vina, would be sufficient enough to repopulate Talos IV. There is a whole ship in orbit with a lot more diversified genetic material to use. It's only later that they bring down Number One and Yeoman Colt as alternative Eves to Pike's Adam.
The Talosians themselves are very well realized. Their huge brains (nice touch with the pulsating veins) and eerie telepathic voices make them creepy indeed. And the glass cages underneath the surface are a good visual. Speaking of good visuals, Vina dancing as an Orion Slave Girl has become an iconic image ever since.
I actually prefer the look and feel of the uniforms and sets on The Cage (and on Where No Man Has Gone Before) to that on the rest of the original series. The more subdued colours appeals to me more than the bright ones seen later, but I do understand why they went with the latter since colour TV was new at the time and it could be used as a marketing tool.
The remastered version offers little new (as it should), but I do appreciate the better look of the Enterprise travelling through space and the fact that they didn't change another iconic Trek image, namely that of the Rigel fortress.
Summing up, I give this, the very first outing (even if it was the last one to be aired, and that a couple of decades later) of Star Trek a perfect grade of 10. And as much as I like the rest of the original series and cast, as I've said, I wouldn't have minded a Pike Trek.
And god what a talanted actor. I would have ate Star Trek 60's style with a spoon if he had been Captain. Not that I don't love the one we have, but I can't watch it over and over like the other series. But hey does this mean you're going to finifh reviews of season 3 of ENT??????????
They usually have a bonus in that there is something about the movie or episode that I had not even noticed before. 
