The Original Series 0x01: “The Cage”

Welcome to the unaired pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series. A later episode, called “The Menagerie” reuses some of the footage from “The Cage.” I must say that I’m interested in seeing how this footage gets reused later on.

When TOS was later picked up, it seems that it was mostly recast. The only character I recognize from later episodes is Spock, and Leonard Nimoy’s portrayal clearly changed. Missing are other characters we associate with TOS, like Kirk, Sulu, McCoy, Rand, etc. 

You can watch this episode of TOS on Paramount+.

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Summary

But let’s talk about the actual episode, shall we? In “The Cage,” The Enterprise receives a distress signal from a nearby planet and the crew learns that a ship crashed there 18 years earlier. Captain Christopher Pike debates whether it’s worth it to investigate and decides to wait to see if there’s any evidence with the survivors.

Pike has a conversation with the doctor about how he’s thinking about possibly retiring from his post. The doctor tells Pike that he thinks that Pike would be bored if he did that. Just then, Spock informs us that there is some evidence of survivors.

So Pike, Spock, and some crew members beam down to the planet and discover a group of scientists who survived the crash…plus an attractive young woman named Vina. Vina was born around the time of the crash (which will be important later). It’s clear there’s an attraction between Vina and Pike, the former of whom lures the latter away from the rest of the group. A group of aliens called the Talosians kidnap Pike and take him to their underground bunker.

Talosians

The Talosians hold Pike in an underground cage in a kind of zoo. As a captive, he learns that:

• The Talosians originally lived above ground, but fled below ground due to a war that made the surface uninhabitable.
• While underground, they forgot how to use the machines made by their ancestors, so decided to develop their mental capabilities instead.
• One of the skills they developed was the ability to create elaborate illusions. They use this skill to create elaborate illusions for the creatures they hold captive. The hope is that their captives will be happy and that the Talosians can use their feelings of happiness as a kind of narcotic.
• Also, the Talosians see that the surface is becoming habitable again and want to create an army of human slaves to work the land for them.

Adam and Eve

The Talosians want Pike and Vina (who, as it turns out, was the sole survivor of the crash) to essentially serve as “Adam and Eve” for this new race of humans. One of the illusions they create for Pike is where he and Vina are living in Pike’s old hometown upon his retirement, in a way giving Pike a glimpse into what his life would be like if he retires from the Enterprise.

The Talosians examine records from the Enterprise. They learn that humans don’t like being held captive under any circumstance – even if their captors are benevolent. In fact, humans would rather die than be slaves. The Talosians decide that this makes humans too volatile for their purposes and decide to let the crew go. Vina, however, decides to stay behind. She was barely alive when the Talosians found her. The Talosians tried to put her back together, but it didn’t end up the way they wanted.

Thoughts

Here are my thoughts of “The Cage” in list form, because why not?

• I wonder what TOS would have been with Pike as captain rather than Kirk. I wonder how much Pike is mentioned again on TOS (I assume he’s referenced in “The Menagerie”). I’m curious to know if they ever give an explanation for why he left. Are we to believe he retired after all? I’m sure I’ll learn more about Pike when I make it to Discovery. Right?
• Who exactly is Vina? What’s her story? Was she an infant at the time of the crash? Did the scientific mission allow Vina’s pregnant mother to accompany them? Where did the illusions of the other survivors come from? Were they based on people who were actually on the ship? Why were there no illusions of female survivors? If Vina was an adult (and scientist?) at the time of the crash, how old is she now? If she was an adult in, say, her twenties at the time of the crash, wouldn’t that put her at or near 40 now? And if she did, in fact, have a scientific background, couldn’t she have helped out around the Enterprise? Surely it doesn’t matter what a scientist looks like? It bothered me that Vina’s appearance mattered so much.
• Why did it take so long for the Talosians to figure out that humans weren’t suited to their needs? Did no records from Vina’s crashed ship survive for them to comb through? If not, why didn’t they hack the Enterprise’s archives before they went through the trouble of capturing and studying Pike? 
• Why were the Talosians so fixated on Pike being Adam? They brought in Number One and the Yeoman in order to give Pike options when it became evident he wasn’t interested in Vina. But why couldn’t they have brought in more male crew members from the Enterprise? 

That’s my really long thought about the episode. Let’s see where the rest of this goes.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click the link and make a purchase, I receive a commission. This comes at no extra charge to you and greatly helps me cover expenses.

Where to watch “The Cage”