WARNING: This thread WILL contain unhidden spoilers for this entry. Because this rewatch is in a slightly-subjective chronological order and not in production order, please refrain from talking about the content of other episodes or movies in this thread. If you do, please put that content inside spoiler tags. Some people here may be watching Star Trek for the first time.
#1: Star Trek: The Original Series pilot 1 "The Cage"
Written by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Robert Butler.
Stardate unknown (Sometime in 2254)
"It's wrong to create a whole race of humans to live as slaves." - Number One
As Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) muses to the ship's doctor about how tired he is of the responsibilities of captaining a starship, the USS Enterprise receives a distress call from from the SS Columbia on a distant world known as Talos IV. The message confirms the ship crashed and that there are survivors, so the Enterprise alters course to mount a rescue. But once they arrive, and meet a curious young survivor among the crew, Pike is suddenly taken hostage and the Enterprise is held in orbit by strange beings with enormous telepathic power.
Originally released: February 1965 (originally released to the public: 14 October 1986)
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What did you think?
I agree Hunter did a fine job, and that Shatner was a distinct improvement due to his incredible range and great versatility. To me, Hunter was a command figure in the mold of 50's and 60's characters, while Shatner represented a truly believable figure as a futuristic leader. Amongst the cast, he and Nimoy are far and away the most fascinating, magnetic figures, altho the others did a superb job on the whole IMO.
Also worth mentioning is the network turning this down essentially because it was too far ahead of the curve, which is heartbreakingly typical of TV and movie studios, as we know. But the fact that they were able to salvage this ep and turn it in to a very good and watchable Menagerie two-parter is incredibly impressive to me.
I certainly have my critiques of Roddenberry, but I thought it super-impressive that he cast his GF (or was Barrett his wife by that point?) as the #1 officer, and of course later bringing in Nichols and Takei.
Side note: if you're a Shatner appreciator, there's a hilarious (but extremely well done) long-running blog that examines his total career, as well as how his hair thinned over the years, necessitating his classic lace toupee in TOS. Highly recommended:
https://shatnerstoupee.blogspot.com/
@aeronmelon@lemmy.world