Series: Star Trek: Original Series
Pilot Episode
Original Air Date: October 15, 1988
Once upon a time, there was no such thing as Star Trek. No one but Gene Roddenberry knew anything about the USS Enterprise, Vulcans or Klingons. Such orders as "Beam me up, Scotty!" and "Set phasers to stun!" had not yet been introduced to playground adventures throughout the United States.
Then one day, a show idea was pitched to NBC. A pilot was made. The pilot was rejected. Happens all the time. But this time, in an unprecedented move, the network asked for a second pilot. Take 2 passed muster and the greatest franchise in American science fiction television was born. The original pilot, however, would not be aired until 23 years later.
"The Cage" contains many elements that would eventually become familiar to Trek fans worldwide. The theme music is in place. The iconic Starfleet insignia is stitched over the right breast of the uniforms. Most importantly, Mr. Spock is already on board.
The rest of the Enterprise crew is unique to this episode. The Captain is Christopher Pike, as played by Jeffrey Hunter. Hunter declined the opportunity to reprise his role in the second pilot, his character thus reduced to trivia question answer status. Hunter passed away in 1969 at the age of 42.
The story is vintage Trek (all of those cliches had to start somewhere). The Enterprise responds to a distress signal, originating from a Class M planet (a Roddenberry-invented designation for worlds capable of supporting life). Captain Pike takes an away team to the surface. The distress signal is part of an elaborate trap set by the Talosians, the planet's inhabitants. Pike is captured. He and the crew back on the ship struggle to spring him.
One interesting element of this first Trek adventure was the casting of a woman as First Officer, a progressive idea for 1964-65. Comments by Pike indicate that the concept is a bit of a stretch for even his 23rd century sensibilities. The part was played by Majel Barrett, Roddenberry's girlfriend. The two would eventually be married in 1969, not parting until his death in 1991. Barrett would play various roles in Trek series over the years, most memorably as Lwaxana Troi on Next Generation. She died of leukemia in 2008 at the age of 76.
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I am not a Trekkie - not yet, anyway. Inspired by comic books and enabled by Netflix's instant viewing capacity, I've decided to watch the entire saga - all six TV series plus movies - from the beginning. How far will I get? How often will I blog about it? Only time will tell.
Undaunted by the fact that this ground is already well-covered in the blogosphere and over the Web at-large, I shall boldly go where no squid has gone before.
Okay, first of all ... I love that last sentence! Haha, I'm all happy and smiley having read it.
ReplyDeleteSecond of all, what happened to Dr. Who? Are you finished viewing it or will you be viewing it simultaneously?
Lastly, wow. Big undertaking. I have only ever watched 'Wrath of Khan.' Once. At the movies with the aunt who always took us to the movies back in whatever year it was released. '82? '83? So my memory is worthless except for the bugs that got stuck in someone's ear as a means to, I dunno, get them to confess something or other. (See, useless.)
Anyway, this'll be interesting! I like the trivia tidbits a ton. Looking forward to reading more.
As for the Doctor, we have already watched everything from the Ninth Doctor on at least twice. My Wife shows little interest in going back further than that. So, I could do it, but probably on my own. Don't think I could do both Doc and Trek simultaneously but if this goes well, anything's possible.
DeleteIf you're only going to watch one Trek movie, you did pick the best one. In the words of George Castanza, "It was a hell of a thing when Spock died." Your writing would seem to indicate, though, that you're pretty familiar with the TV shows, right?
Ha! Okay, so here's how it went down. Mars was a TV watcher. I was not. So I wiki'd stuff. The cast acting drunk because of a virus, 'phasers set for the Heathcoat dining room,' all of that was me just doing the research. And, yes, I always guarded against anachronisms so wiki helped a lot in that regard, too. Maybredth's technique with Nick's singing lessons, Jason's photography (Madame Thunderbolt,) Mallory's experience in radio (Chevy Loves Mallory Keaton) -- all of that was stuff I just did the research for as I was writing the books.
DeleteAs for DW and ST, follow your nose! It's entertainment, after all. Go where your interest is. We're kind of schlepping through JoA because the eps really lost their centering magic for me at a certain point when the writing began to really reduce Joan's character to a dimensionless type, which made me very sad. But, anyway, yes. In my opinion, life's too short to put off what we want to watch/read/do/learn. If Trek's where it's at, right now, go. Boldly!
Entertainment-wise, I always go where the nose leads. With blogging, I find it's more gratifying to go where the conversation leads. My first Trek post was about a comic book series for which my friend Zander Cannon served as writer. Comments were mostly nostalgic for the shows and I, too, was more interested in watching more rather than reading more.
DeleteIt's February, typically a downtime at The Armchair Squid and a good time to try new things. Trek it is. So far, so good. Dr. Who's a good idea, too - one to file away for later.
What was it you won a t-shirt for? Something you wrote for Double Barrel?
DeleteI was one of the finalists in a caption contest.
DeleteI envy you in your Trek virginity! To experience it all over again ... sigh. We're pretty big fans: I have one of those fish stickers on the back of my car except it's a spaceship and it says "Trek" instead of ΙΧΘΥΣ. That said, we tried to watch the original series (first time for my kids; spouse & I watched it growing up), and I couldn't do it. It wasn't quirkily funny in that old-timey way, it was just awful. So we picked back up with The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine and watched those. Again, the grown-ups had seen them when they first came out but the kids hadn't. It was a big hit, both series. My daughter decided when she grew up she'd design Data. Now college is only two years away and that's still her plan. That's how big an effect it had.
ReplyDeleteLove the Doctor, too.
Enjoy!
Oh no, hardly a virgin! I have watched plenty, including every TNG episode at least once. But I love starting a story - especially one as thoroughly developed as Trek - from the beginning.
DeleteGood luck to your daughter. One of my favorite TNG episodes is a Data story: "The Offspiring."
I'm curious to see how far I'll get with the original series. Some episodes are great but some are definitely painful, as you say.
Ah, I misunderstood! It is a different experience getting these stories all at once, rather than sporadically over the years. We discovered the Battlestar Galactica reboot after it was wrapped up and available via streaming. So we watched that show every single night (sometimes two and even three a night, if we were really hooked and it was a weekend), kind of gobbling it up. There's a continuity you get from consuming it that steadily: it's more satisfying than watching it once a week, with long breaks between seasons. Can you imagine reading a book that way?
DeleteThe Offspring: With Lal. That was a fantastic episode.
That's exactly how we started with Doctor Who! We began with the Ninth Doctor and plowed on through. We've done that twice now, actually: once just the two of us, then once with our daughter. I'm undecided re: the new companion. I really loved Amy Pond. I haven't quite come to grips with that loss yet.
DeleteIt's funny you should mention the parallel with novels as it's been a conversation topic of late with both My Wife and my teaching partner (he's the Drama Guy, I'm the Music Guy). With Netflix releasing all episodes of "House of Cards" at once, a future path for television is made clear. One need not wait a week any more. Assuming you have 13 hours free, you can manage the whole season in one sitting. In fact, you can hardly call it a season any more!
What's interesting about the comparison to novels is that so many of what we think of now as classics of the form were, in fact, originally serialized. Dickens, Flaubert, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky all worked under such arrangements.
I suppose you will be a Trekkie by the time it's all over with!
ReplyDeleteI figure I'll at least have gained some Trekkie cred. My true scifi devotion, though, is to "Star Wars" so I may need to balance things out at some point.
DeleteI remember those swollen-headed telepathic aliens. There was another episode in which Pike was disabled and mute in a wheelchair and Kirk had to lock horns with the swollenheads on their planet. There was also woman called Vina who flirted with Kirk. The actor who played Pike must have regretted turning down the role - I hope it wasn't a cause of his untimely death.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the story, including footage from the pilot, was recycled for the episode "Menagerie," a two-parter aired in the first season. I haven't watched that one yet but I look forward to it. Awkward edits are always fun!
DeleteHunter died of cerebral hemmoraging, resulting from an on-set head injury - non-Trek related.
I have viewed these episodes recently. I do love Star Trek but I have only seen Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. I was not interested in watching the older ones until my husband and I debated about who is a better Captain- Kirk or Picard. Well, that debate did not end amicably but I was pleasantly surprised at the cohesiveness between the older and newer series.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I had no idea that Pike's first officer was Roddenberry's wife. She also does the voice for the computer on STNG. I loved her as Deanna Troi's mother. :D Great post!
Thanks, Sharahizan and thanks for following!
DeleteCan I ask how you found my blog? I see that you contribute to many blogs. Do you have a solo one of your own?
It's interesting that Spock was originally intended to be a hot-headed "devilish" character, and Majel's Number One was the emotionless logical one. I think they cut out a few emotional scenes with Spock when they assembled "The Menagerie," but a few smiles and shouts were still there.
ReplyDeleteWe always referred to the Talosians as the "Buttheads," long before Beavis and his friend existed.
There is definitely something unsettling about those Talosian heads!
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