Star Trek: The Original Series — 1x00 — The Cage
Synopsis
Captain Pike and his crew are lured to Talos IV by a race capable of creating powerful illusions.
Filler rating: good filler
This is the original pilot of Star Trek. It never aired until subsequent home video releases included it as an extra, but chronologically this is the first episode of Star Trek and many people believe that you should watch this episode first. However, it's worth noting that almost all of the material in this episode will be shown again in a chronologically later episode, The Menagerie, as a clip show. If you hate clip shows, then skip this episode. You'll catch all the important bits of this episode in The Menagerie's retelling of it.
Remarkable scenes
- Christopher Pike doubting his ability to command the Enterprise.
- Pike, to Number One briefly forgetting that his first officer is female: "I can't get used to having a woman on the bridge."
- The aliens belittling Pike shortly after his capture.
- Pike being transported back into the memory he bemoaned about to the doctor.
- Pike's illusionary battle with the savage.
- Number One using the phaser cannon against the alien door.
- Pike needling information out of his fantasy woman about his captors.
- Pike discovering that intense anger blocks their telepathy.
- Pike's fantasy woman referring to Pike discussing their capture as strange talk that gives her headaches; trying so hard to act as if the fantasy is real.
- Pike transported into a fantasy with Orion slave girls.
- Pike being presented with a "selection" of different girls to suit him for breeding.
- Pike capturing one of the aliens.
- Pike discovering that the phaser not working was also an illusion.
- The captured humans preparing to destroy themselves with a phaser overload rather than live as pets for the aliens.
- The yeoman asking Pike who would have been Eve and Number One quickly striking her down.
Review
Set deep in the future, a weary captain of the starship Enterprise, Christopher Pike, is lured into an illusionary world created by reclusive aliens who seek to use his reactions to their illusions as entertainment. On at least some level, he finds himself tempted by their illusions, as he told the doctor he was thinking of giving up the responsibility of command to take it easy for a while. But he regains his vigor, breaks out of the cage, and returns to his ship with a renewed focus and conviction.
Aside from introducing us to the Star Trek universe, Star Trek's original pilot is a deep exploration of the psychology of Captain Pike. The plotting, while a bit too verbose at times, is quite strong. We learn what's getting him down and what he thinks he needs in order to recover during his conversation with the doctor, but we also get treated to actually seeing a version of these things as illusions after his capture by the aliens.
The illusions not only allow us to actually see what Pike was discussing with the doctor earlier in the episode, but also represent a new danger for Pike along with a new opportunity for him to recover from his emotional problems and regain his confidence. The revelation at the end that the aliens weren't all bad; only slightly misguided in their moral center was a nice touch. I liked that the aliens were neither terribly benevolent, nor terribly malevolent, but simply a shade of gray, much like their overall appearance.
As a side note, it's impossible to watch this episode without making note of the copious amounts of continuity errors with respect to chronologically later material. These errors exist because the rest of Star Trek retconned things established in this episode. Technically, it's the rest of Star Trek which is a continuity error. However, since this episode never aired during the original run, it's hard to hold any of that material responsible either. For a complete list of continuity errors, see the problems section.
Overall The Cage is a strong story. It is dragged down by unfortunate TV network politics of the time it was made and the necessary retcons by later material along with some of the internal imperfections in the plotting such as the verbosity of the A plot, but for all it has working against it, The Cage is a strong story whether it is the first episode of Star Trek you see (which I recommend!) or it is the last episode of Star Trek you see as a home video extra. It's above average compared to the rest of the series with its complexity and nuance.