I loved this two part episode as a young man, and i still love it today. I wanted to get that out of the way first.
I love it despite all the inconsistency in the script. I know a lot of people will say you can pick apart any show or film you want. And that is probably true. However, "The Menagerie" parts I and II have errors in the script that go to the very heart of the story and makes it weaker and less believable.
At the core of these problems are the planning by Mr. Spock and the long range abilities of the Talosians.
How in the name of Vulcan did Spock plan all this when he had no contact with the Talosians? When Kirk and Spock first visit Captain Pike it appears (to me anyway) that Pike already knows what Spock is up to and tries to stop him from carrying out his plan. But Spock had no contact with Captain Pike prior to the visit at the beginning of the episode. So when did Spock sit down with the Talosians and Captain Pike and plan all this? The Talosians even say, "Spock related Kirk's strength of will to us." Really? When exactly?
However, even worse than this mistake is the fact that the Talosians "created" the image of Commodore Mendez at Star Base 11 as Captain Kirk boards a shuttle craft to chase the Enterprise.
Really? The Talosians power is so great they can project an image all the way to a Federation Star Base! Really? If this is true, then why didn't the Talosians just project an image of Captain Pike at Star Base 11 so that nobody would know he was gone?
Even worse, if Commodore Mendez was still at Star Base 11 during this entire time why didn't he try and contact the Enterprise or the Federation and let them know that he(Mendez) was not aboard the shuttle craft? Near the end of the episode the Federation contacts the Enterprise and orders "Mendez" to take command of the Enterprise. Why doesn't anyone in the Federation know that Mendez is still at Star Base 11?
I am not sure how to solve the first problem of the planning, but the second part would have been easy to solve. Commodore Mendez should never have been a Talosian image. Mendez should have been real all along. There was no reason to make him an image. By having the real Mendez on board the Enterprise would have solved all this. After seeing the evidence the real Mendez would have been convinced of the need for Pike to remain with the Talosians and Spock's innocence of all charges. I think this would have made the entire episode much better.
As it is I can only give this episode 7 out of 10. Although I want to make it higher as this is a great concept of a story.
I love it despite all the inconsistency in the script. I know a lot of people will say you can pick apart any show or film you want. And that is probably true. However, "The Menagerie" parts I and II have errors in the script that go to the very heart of the story and makes it weaker and less believable.
At the core of these problems are the planning by Mr. Spock and the long range abilities of the Talosians.
How in the name of Vulcan did Spock plan all this when he had no contact with the Talosians? When Kirk and Spock first visit Captain Pike it appears (to me anyway) that Pike already knows what Spock is up to and tries to stop him from carrying out his plan. But Spock had no contact with Captain Pike prior to the visit at the beginning of the episode. So when did Spock sit down with the Talosians and Captain Pike and plan all this? The Talosians even say, "Spock related Kirk's strength of will to us." Really? When exactly?
However, even worse than this mistake is the fact that the Talosians "created" the image of Commodore Mendez at Star Base 11 as Captain Kirk boards a shuttle craft to chase the Enterprise.
Really? The Talosians power is so great they can project an image all the way to a Federation Star Base! Really? If this is true, then why didn't the Talosians just project an image of Captain Pike at Star Base 11 so that nobody would know he was gone?
Even worse, if Commodore Mendez was still at Star Base 11 during this entire time why didn't he try and contact the Enterprise or the Federation and let them know that he(Mendez) was not aboard the shuttle craft? Near the end of the episode the Federation contacts the Enterprise and orders "Mendez" to take command of the Enterprise. Why doesn't anyone in the Federation know that Mendez is still at Star Base 11?
I am not sure how to solve the first problem of the planning, but the second part would have been easy to solve. Commodore Mendez should never have been a Talosian image. Mendez should have been real all along. There was no reason to make him an image. By having the real Mendez on board the Enterprise would have solved all this. After seeing the evidence the real Mendez would have been convinced of the need for Pike to remain with the Talosians and Spock's innocence of all charges. I think this would have made the entire episode much better.
As it is I can only give this episode 7 out of 10. Although I want to make it higher as this is a great concept of a story.