In part one of "The Menagerie", Spock claims that the Enterprise has received a distress call from a starbase. Unbeknownst to Kirk, Spock has lied about this SOS because he intends to kidnap one of the planet's inhabitants, former captain of the Enterprise Christopher Pike. With Pike in tow, Spock plans to use deception to take over command of the Enterprise and make a heading for Talos IV, the one planet Star Fleet forbids ships to even approach. But when Kirk almost kills himself in pursuit of the Enterprise, Spock saves him and turns on the autopilot of the Enterprise, using the computer to force a course for Talos IV. Charged with treason, Spock must now reveal the purpose of all this subterfuge. We cut to flashbacks from the original pilot "The Cage." As Part I ends, Spock is locked up and the Enterprise continues its course for Talos IV.
This episode was probably pretty amazing at the time if you had never seen the unreleased pilot prior to this. Nowadays with Netflix, "The Cage" is the first episode listed and usually the starting point for most bingers. And while already seeing some of this footage from "The Cage" does make the feat of hiring such a robust cast for this episode a little less impressive, I still think this episode is fantastic. This episode may exist because of budgetary and time issues but Roddenberry does a great job of tying it all together.
I love the tone of this episode. The way Spock is portrayed, you really have no idea what his intentions are; the episode leaves this part vague, really causing a sense of tension. Nimoy and Shatner have some great scenes in this one. I also enjoyed how Spock has had every single contingency planned out, even anticipating Kirk's pursuit.
One of the better episodes up to this point, we will see if part two can deliver on a great front end.
This episode was probably pretty amazing at the time if you had never seen the unreleased pilot prior to this. Nowadays with Netflix, "The Cage" is the first episode listed and usually the starting point for most bingers. And while already seeing some of this footage from "The Cage" does make the feat of hiring such a robust cast for this episode a little less impressive, I still think this episode is fantastic. This episode may exist because of budgetary and time issues but Roddenberry does a great job of tying it all together.
I love the tone of this episode. The way Spock is portrayed, you really have no idea what his intentions are; the episode leaves this part vague, really causing a sense of tension. Nimoy and Shatner have some great scenes in this one. I also enjoyed how Spock has had every single contingency planned out, even anticipating Kirk's pursuit.
One of the better episodes up to this point, we will see if part two can deliver on a great front end.