Saw My First TOS episode!

deadman_uk · December 24 2009, 06:24 AM

I've seen all major Star Trek shows (ENT, TNG, DS9, VOY) with exception of TOS. I managed to get hold of TOS this week (Re-mastered edition) and just saw the first episode (The Cage Extended Version). I have to say, I am very impressed. To be honest, I put TOS off because it's the 60's with poor special effects etc but from what I've seen so far, it is pretty good and much better than I first thought. Are further episodes good like this?

What I don't understand is why Captain Pike is in command and I am not sure how/when Kirk comes into it. I guess I will find out soon enough.

Anticitizen · December 24 2009, 06:30 AM

deadman_uk wrote:

I've seen all major Star Trek shows (ENT, TNG, DS9, VOY) with exception of TOS. I managed to get hold of TOS this week (Re-mastered edition) and just saw the first episode (The Cage Extended Version). I have to say, I am very impressed. To be honest, I put TOS off because it's the 60's with poor special effects etc but from what I've seen so far, it is pretty good and much better than I first thought. Are further episodes good like this?

What I don't understand is why Captain Pike is in command and I am not sure how/when Kirk comes into it. I guess I will find out soon enough.

Yes, there are many more great episodes.

Kirk is not in The Cage because The Cage was the first pilot for Star Trek, filmed and used to sell the show to the network. Jeffery Hunter (Pike) was originally cast as the ship's captain. The first 'real' pilot is Where No Man Has Gone Before, with Shatner as Kirk in the role.

Most of the footage from 'The Cage' is re-used in a semi-flashback sort of episode called 'The Menagerie'.

deadman_uk · December 24 2009, 06:39 AM

Anticitizen wrote:

deadman_uk wrote:

I've seen all major Star Trek shows (ENT, TNG, DS9, VOY) with exception of TOS. I managed to get hold of TOS this week (Re-mastered edition) and just saw the first episode (The Cage Extended Version). I have to say, I am very impressed. To be honest, I put TOS off because it's the 60's with poor special effects etc but from what I've seen so far, it is pretty good and much better than I first thought. Are further episodes good like this?

What I don't understand is why Captain Pike is in command and I am not sure how/when Kirk comes into it. I guess I will find out soon enough.

Yes, there are many more great episodes.

Kirk is not in The Cage because The Cage was the first pilot for Star Trek, filmed and used to sell the show to the network. Jeffery Hunter (Pike) was originally cast as the ship's captain. The first 'real' pilot is Where No Man Has Gone Before, with Shatner as Kirk in the role.

Most of the footage from 'The Cage' is re-used in a semi-flashback sort of episode called 'The Menagerie'.

I'm confused, if the first official pilot was "Where no man has gone before" which is episode 1x03, what about 1x01 (The man trap) and 1x02 (Charlie-X)?? These have Shatner in them, so he was introduced BEFORE the pilot?

26138 · December 24 2009, 06:43 AM

deadman_uk wrote:

Anticitizen wrote:

deadman_uk wrote:

I've seen all major Star Trek shows (ENT, TNG, DS9, VOY) with exception of TOS. I managed to get hold of TOS this week (Re-mastered edition) and just saw the first episode (The Cage Extended Version). I have to say, I am very impressed. To be honest, I put TOS off because it's the 60's with poor special effects etc but from what I've seen so far, it is pretty good and much better than I first thought. Are further episodes good like this?

What I don't understand is why Captain Pike is in command and I am not sure how/when Kirk comes into it. I guess I will find out soon enough.

Yes, there are many more great episodes.

Kirk is not in The Cage because The Cage was the first pilot for Star Trek, filmed and used to sell the show to the network. Jeffery Hunter (Pike) was originally cast as the ship's captain. The first 'real' pilot is Where No Man Has Gone Before, with Shatner as Kirk in the role.

Most of the footage from 'The Cage' is re-used in a semi-flashback sort of episode called 'The Menagerie'.

I'm confused, if the first official pilot was "Where no man has gone before" which is episode 1x03, what about 1x01 (The man trap) and 1x02 (Charlie-X)?? These have Shatner in them, so he was introduced BEFORE the pilot?

They aired "The Man Trap" first.

deadman_uk · December 24 2009, 06:45 AM

26138 wrote:

They aired "The Man Trap" first.

Wouldn't that make "The Man Trap" the pilot? Usually the pilot is the first episode.

Jeri · December 24 2009, 06:47 AM

We just bought all three seasons on BD, and I started with Man Trap. Is The Cage on these disks somewhere? I didn't look. Just started playing.

We'd already seen them in HD, because we had first season in HD. But I just like to check and make sure they are alright...

deadman_uk · December 24 2009, 06:48 AM

Anticitizen wrote:

Most of the footage from 'The Cage' is re-used in a semi-flashback sort of episode called 'The Menagerie'.

Is "The Menagerie" basically a clone of "The Cage"? A clone but with Kirk in it?

Jeri wrote:

We just bought all three seasons on BD, and I started with Man Trap. Is The Cage on these disks somewhere? I didn't look. Just started playing.

We'd already seen them in HD, because we had first season in HD. But I just like to check and make sure they are alright...

What?! It's in HD? Argh, wish I could watch the series in HD. I have the re-mastered SD version.

Jeri · December 24 2009, 06:52 AM

It's on bluray disc now; I meant we also have season one of the HDTV version -- the version that lost out to bluray.

Gawd, aren't you up awfully early?

The Menagerie is a two-parter, btw.

gottacook · December 24 2009, 07:18 AM

For those new to the show: "The Cage" was a title retrospectively given to the first Star Trek pilot made at Desilu in 1964 and rejected by CBS (which was about to purchase Lost in Space) and by NBC. However, NBC ordered a second pilot without the Number One character (Majel Barrett). Jeffrey Hunter declined to appear again as Pike, hence Shatner as Kirk. Three scripts were offered, from which NBC chose "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (the others were "Mudd's Women" and "The Omega Glory"). This second pilot was shot in 1965 and led to the series. A number of episodes were shot before any had aired, and "Where No Man" ended up as the third episode broadcast in fall '66. (The Making of Star Trek, published in 1968 while the show was still in production, has a wealth of detail on the show's origins and early decision-making.)

Penhall99 · December 24 2009, 09:00 AM

deadman_uk wrote:

I've seen all major Star Trek shows (ENT, TNG, DS9, VOY) with exception of TOS. I managed to get hold of TOS this week (Re-mastered edition) and just saw the first episode (The Cage Extended Version). I have to say, I am very impressed. To be honest, I put TOS off because it's the 60's with poor special effects etc but from what I've seen so far, it is pretty good and much better than I first thought. Are further episodes good like this?

What I don't understand is why Captain Pike is in command and I am not sure how/when Kirk comes into it. I guess I will find out soon enough.

I envy you. I wish I could go back and watch all the TOS episodes for the first time again...

But yeah, you are in for a great ride. TOS is excellent, and you have many, many more classic shows to enjoy.

And just remember: "The Cage" was the rejected pilot. The official first episode wth Kirk and crew is "Where no man has gone before"

And the footage from "The Cage" (the rejected pilot episode) was later incorporated into TOS's only 2-part episode "The Menagerie"

And on the current DVD/blu-ray sets, they have the episodes in air-date order NOT production order. That's why "The Man Trap" is listed as the first episode. It was the first episode aired on TV, NOT the first episode produced...

bbailey861 · December 24 2009, 12:28 PM

Wow, it would be very cool to see these again for the first time. Enjoy.

DevilEyes · December 24 2009, 03:18 PM

deadman_uk wrote:

I've seen all major Star Trek shows (ENT, TNG, DS9, VOY) with exception of TOS. I managed to get hold of TOS this week (Re-mastered edition) and just saw the first episode (The Cage Extended Version). I have to say, I am very impressed. To be honest, I put TOS off because it's the 60's with poor special effects etc but from what I've seen so far, it is pretty good and much better than I first thought. Are further episodes good like this?

What I don't understand is why Captain Pike is in command and I am not sure how/when Kirk comes into it. I guess I will find out soon enough.

When I first watched TOS, I started watching TOS with The Man Trap, which was OK and I liked it enough, but then I decided to switch to the production order and watched The Cage - and it really blew me away. Great episode. But apparently the TV station at the time rejected it as "too cerebral". Go figure.

I can see why Roddenberry wanted to sneak The Cage back into the show somehow - it's too good a story to keep the viewers from seeing - so that's how Menagerie came about. Menagerie is practically a sequel to The Cage. It's a two-parter, and the first part deals with the framing story exclusively; in the second part, they incorporated most of the stuff from the unaired pilot, The Cage - you'll see how, and what a clever way they came up with to have Pike in it even though Jeffrey Hunter did not want to play the role anymore. When you've already seen The Cage, Menagerie part 2 can be a little boring as its feels like a clip show, but the ending is very different and wraps things up very nicely.

Mysterion · December 24 2009, 03:25 PM

deadman_uk wrote:

26138 wrote:

They aired "The Man Trap" first.

Wouldn't that make "The Man Trap" the pilot? Usually the pilot is the first episode.

A pilot is made to sell a series to the network, but doesn't always end up being aired first. See what happened with Firefly on the Fox network a few years back as an example: network didn't like the pilot Wheedon submitted, so The Train Job was written and aired first. The actual pilot episode for the series ended up being the last episode that Fox aired.

JoeD80 · December 24 2009, 08:16 PM

deadman_uk wrote:

I'm confused, if the first official pilot was "Where no man has gone before" which is episode 1x03, what about 1x01 (The man trap) and 1x02 (Charlie-X)?? These have Shatner in them, so he was introduced BEFORE the pilot?

These are the numbers following air-date order, not production order. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the 2nd produced (counting "The Cage" as the first), "The Man Trap" was the 6th, "Charlie X" was the 8th. The network or the studio often shuffles episodes around to give a balance to the variety of stories on a particular series (at least that's the theory; sometimes it just leads to viewer confusion as in the Firefly example above).

Noname Given · December 24 2009, 10:09 PM

If your inclined, do yourself a favor and watch the first 12 episodes in Production order, and NOT broadcast order, as for the first half season they had a lot of small internal continuity nods. For example The Corbomite Manuever (which IMO is the best Star Trek episode made because it really captures the essence of what 'Star Trek' was abount in 55 minutes (YMMV

) was the first episode filmed after teh pilot, but was the 10th episode aired because of all the SFX shots required for it).

December 24 2009, 06:24 AM	#1
deadman_uk Commander Location: England	Saw My First TOS episode! I've seen all major Star Trek shows (ENT, TNG, DS9, VOY) with exception of TOS. I managed to get hold of TOS this week (Re-mastered edition) and just saw the first episode (The Cage Extended Version). I have to say, I am very impressed. To be honest, I put TOS off because it's the 60's with poor special effects etc but from what I've seen so far, it is pretty good and much better than I first thought. Are further episodes good like this? What I don't understand is why Captain Pike is in command and I am not sure how/when Kirk comes into it. I guess I will find out soon enough.

December 24 2009, 06:47 AM	#6
Jeri Vice Admiral Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA	Re: Saw My First TOS episode! We just bought all three seasons on BD, and I started with Man Trap. Is The Cage on these disks somewhere? I didn't look. Just started playing. We'd already seen them in HD, because we had first season in HD. But I just like to check and make sure they are alright... __________________ I was Jeri before she was. Isis made animated by Carpe Occasio; thanks!

December 24 2009, 06:52 AM	#8
Jeri Vice Admiral Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA	Re: Saw My First TOS episode! It's on bluray disc now; I meant we also have season one of the HDTV version -- the version that lost out to bluray. Gawd, aren't you up awfully early? The Menagerie is a two-parter, btw. __________________ I was Jeri before she was. Isis made animated by Carpe Occasio; thanks!

December 24 2009, 07:18 AM	#9
gottacook Commander Location: Maryland	Re: Saw My First TOS episode! For those new to the show: "The Cage" was a title retrospectively given to the first Star Trek pilot made at Desilu in 1964 and rejected by CBS (which was about to purchase Lost in Space) and by NBC. However, NBC ordered a second pilot without the Number One character (Majel Barrett). Jeffrey Hunter declined to appear again as Pike, hence Shatner as Kirk. Three scripts were offered, from which NBC chose "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (the others were "Mudd's Women" and "The Omega Glory"). This second pilot was shot in 1965 and led to the series. A number of episodes were shot before any had aired, and "Where No Man" ended up as the third episode broadcast in fall '66. (The Making of Star Trek, published in 1968 while the show was still in production, has a wealth of detail on the show's origins and early decision-making.)

December 24 2009, 12:28 PM	#11
bbailey861 Vice Admiral Location: Kingston, ON	Re: Saw My First TOS episode! Wow, it would be very cool to see these again for the first time. Enjoy.

STAR TREK

CSI

ABOUT US

December 24 2009, 10:09 PM	#15
Noname Given Vice Admiral Location: None Given	Re: Saw My First TOS episode! If your inclined, do yourself a favor and watch the first 12 episodes in Production order, and NOT broadcast order, as for the first half season they had a lot of small internal continuity nods. For example The Corbomite Manuever (which IMO is the best Star Trek episode made because it really captures the essence of what 'Star Trek' was abount in 55 minutes (YMMV ) was the first episode filmed after teh pilot, but was the 10th episode aired because of all the SFX shots required for it).