Plot; Spock concocts an elaborate hijacking of the Enterprise in an effort to return his former Captain, now gravely injured, to a planet deemed forbidden by the Federation for reasons only he and Pike know.
Iconic two-parter is a reworking of the original (and ultimately rejected) pilot episode titled "The Cage", with Spock's plot to hijack the Enterprise and the subsequent fallout a wraparound. The mystery of Spock's behavior and the tension it creates is handled fairly well and acts as the driving force behind the story. And it was, to borrow one of Spock's well known sayings, fascinating to get a look at the Trek that could have been.
Jeffery Hunter as Christopher Pike is a very different presence than William Shatner, but he's far from the stiff Ken doll I'd always thought him to be. Hunter, with his powerful physique and matinée idol looks, certainly looks the part of a heroic space captain, but he shows a far broader spectrum than I'd given him credit for. It was also fun to get a look at Nimoy's Spock before he and the writers had gotten a handle on him. The Spock shown in "The Cage" portions of the episodes conflicts with the cool, dispassionate Spock that has become so iconic. In one scene, when the away team land on the planet, he even grins with a child-like glee upon discovering a strange pit of flora.
There are any number of flaws in--if you'll pardon the usage--logic here. Chief among them for me is that there is never a connection between Spock and Pike in "The Cage" portions of the story that would precipitate the former risking death and acting so against character. That it isn't a fatal flaw shows how well the rest of the elements work.
Iconic two-parter is a reworking of the original (and ultimately rejected) pilot episode titled "The Cage", with Spock's plot to hijack the Enterprise and the subsequent fallout a wraparound. The mystery of Spock's behavior and the tension it creates is handled fairly well and acts as the driving force behind the story. And it was, to borrow one of Spock's well known sayings, fascinating to get a look at the Trek that could have been.
Jeffery Hunter as Christopher Pike is a very different presence than William Shatner, but he's far from the stiff Ken doll I'd always thought him to be. Hunter, with his powerful physique and matinée idol looks, certainly looks the part of a heroic space captain, but he shows a far broader spectrum than I'd given him credit for. It was also fun to get a look at Nimoy's Spock before he and the writers had gotten a handle on him. The Spock shown in "The Cage" portions of the episodes conflicts with the cool, dispassionate Spock that has become so iconic. In one scene, when the away team land on the planet, he even grins with a child-like glee upon discovering a strange pit of flora.
There are any number of flaws in--if you'll pardon the usage--logic here. Chief among them for me is that there is never a connection between Spock and Pike in "The Cage" portions of the story that would precipitate the former risking death and acting so against character. That it isn't a fatal flaw shows how well the rest of the elements work.