"The Menagerie"
Captain's Log 10230.6. 1324 hrs.
The Trektastic Voyage continues boldly going this week with "The Menagerie," the only two-part episode of The Original Series.
I'm a little late getting this episode viewed and reviewed, mainly because of a very busy weekend.
"The Menagerie" is an important episode of Trek for various reasons. The first is because it established that "The Cage," the first pilot filmed to sell Trek to NBC, is part of Star Trek continuity. "The Cage" featured the first captain of the Enterprise, Christopher Pike, and a younger Spock. "The Menagerie" states that the events of the "The Cage" took place thirteen years prior to the events of the first season of TOS, which is generally considered to be the first year of the first five-year mission.
"The Menagerie" is also critical because of the themes it contains. While the episodes mostly retell the story of "The Cage" in an abbreviated form, the framing story of the two episodes offer a compelling portrait of the person of Spock. Here we see Spock's commmitment and loyalty not only to Pike, but also, to Kirk and the Enterprise. Spock creates an elaborate ruse to get the Enterprise to the Starbase where now Fleet Captain Pike is stationed. Pike was on a cadet training ship when an accident exposed him to deadly radiation. Now a man with a vital mind trapped in a useless body, Pike has no way to communicate save through his chair, which allows him to say "yes" through one beep or "no" through two beeps.
Spock commandeers the Enterprise and heads to Talos IV, which the Enterprise visited under Pike's command thirteen years before. As Spock's court martial unfolds, we learn why Spock took Pike to Talos IV, which is "the only forbidden planet" in the galaxy." A visit to Talos means death, but we see that Spock was willing to risk even that to bring Pike there. The Talosians are a race of telepaths who are able to free the mind and allow it to work independent of the body, not unlike the premise of the Matrix films.
The episode ends with Pike being reunited with Vina, the Earth woman who crashed on Talos IV years before Pike first arrived, and being freed from his bodily restraint.
What's so moving about "The Menagerie" is Spock's devotion to his old captain and friend, Pike. Spock risks his career, his life, and even the career of Kirk to ensure that Pike will not live a life of torture, trapped in a ruined body. These themes of loyalty, self-sacrifice, and frienship would play throughout all of Trek, and would be revisted especially in the two-part saga that mirrors "The Menagerie," Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. This latter stories see Spock risk his life for Kirk and the Enterprise, this time, losing his life to save his friends. The second half sees Kirk risk his career and his life to try and reunite Spock's soul with his body. Kirk would lose his son and the Enterprise in the process, but his sacrifices would not go in vain as Spock was restored.
Screencaps ahoy!
The episode's title card.
"A shell of a man:" Fleet Captain Christopher Pike, injured in the line of duty.
Spock on trial for sabotage and mutiny.
Kirk watches as a restored Pike finds the peace he deserves.
The Trektastic Voyage continues boldly going this week with "The Menagerie," the only two-part episode of The Original Series.
I'm a little late getting this episode viewed and reviewed, mainly because of a very busy weekend.
"The Menagerie" is an important episode of Trek for various reasons. The first is because it established that "The Cage," the first pilot filmed to sell Trek to NBC, is part of Star Trek continuity. "The Cage" featured the first captain of the Enterprise, Christopher Pike, and a younger Spock. "The Menagerie" states that the events of the "The Cage" took place thirteen years prior to the events of the first season of TOS, which is generally considered to be the first year of the first five-year mission.
"The Menagerie" is also critical because of the themes it contains. While the episodes mostly retell the story of "The Cage" in an abbreviated form, the framing story of the two episodes offer a compelling portrait of the person of Spock. Here we see Spock's commmitment and loyalty not only to Pike, but also, to Kirk and the Enterprise. Spock creates an elaborate ruse to get the Enterprise to the Starbase where now Fleet Captain Pike is stationed. Pike was on a cadet training ship when an accident exposed him to deadly radiation. Now a man with a vital mind trapped in a useless body, Pike has no way to communicate save through his chair, which allows him to say "yes" through one beep or "no" through two beeps.
Spock commandeers the Enterprise and heads to Talos IV, which the Enterprise visited under Pike's command thirteen years before. As Spock's court martial unfolds, we learn why Spock took Pike to Talos IV, which is "the only forbidden planet" in the galaxy." A visit to Talos means death, but we see that Spock was willing to risk even that to bring Pike there. The Talosians are a race of telepaths who are able to free the mind and allow it to work independent of the body, not unlike the premise of the Matrix films.
The episode ends with Pike being reunited with Vina, the Earth woman who crashed on Talos IV years before Pike first arrived, and being freed from his bodily restraint.
What's so moving about "The Menagerie" is Spock's devotion to his old captain and friend, Pike. Spock risks his career, his life, and even the career of Kirk to ensure that Pike will not live a life of torture, trapped in a ruined body. These themes of loyalty, self-sacrifice, and frienship would play throughout all of Trek, and would be revisted especially in the two-part saga that mirrors "The Menagerie," Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. This latter stories see Spock risk his life for Kirk and the Enterprise, this time, losing his life to save his friends. The second half sees Kirk risk his career and his life to try and reunite Spock's soul with his body. Kirk would lose his son and the Enterprise in the process, but his sacrifices would not go in vain as Spock was restored.
Screencaps ahoy!
The episode's title card.
"A shell of a man:" Fleet Captain Christopher Pike, injured in the line of duty.
Spock on trial for sabotage and mutiny.
Kirk watches as a restored Pike finds the peace he deserves.
posted by Christopher at 11:30 AM
2 Comments:
Here's my thoughts:
1. As an ex-U.S.Cavalry/artillary grunt, I would have liked to have seen that laser cannon used in a few more episodes.
2. Vina was probably one of the most hittable women in the whole series.
3. I never fail to let out a "whoo!" when Pike finally gets his hand on and starts choking that little toad.
4. This show has one of my favorite moments in the entire series - it occurs near the end of the court martial, I think. It is after they've voted Spock guilty and we first learn the Talosians have been behind the whole shebang. Kirk turns to Commodore Mendez to ask something, says "Commodore" and Mendez vanishes - he is not and never was on board the Enterprise.
Susan Oliver's Vina was indeed the first beautiful woman of Trek. Majel Barret's Number One just didn't do it for me.
I like the cannon as well, but I wonder why they didn't just use the Enterprise's phasers set on a low level? Maybe it would've been too much, or too costly to produce in the real world.
Chris
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