If they'd tried to feature-ize The Cage sans Hunter

[Maurice]

Thanks to Harvey I've got some insight into Gene R's attempt to get Hunter to perhaps come back to do some extra bits so they could turn the first pilot into a feature. An agreement and a rate was apparently worked out with Hunter, but obviously this didn't happen.

But I got to thinking, what could Gene have done to get the ~63 minute pilot up to like 80 minutes to make it viable for theatrical release sans Hunter?

Assume this takes place before the 2nd pilot gets cast/made, that the other 1st pilot cast members could be brought back—notably Nimoy and Majel—and the main sets from the pilot were still available (as evidenced by how many of them got reused in the 2nd pilot) but not the series sets. What would YOU have done to get 4 or 5 more scenes to make a feature. minus the Captain?

Okay, you can speculate on WITH him, too. But without is a rather more difficult challenge.

 

[johnnybear]

I doubt that there would have been a Star Trek series if they had of turned the Cage into a feature film! They could have shown us more of the inhabitants of the underground city plus the creatures in the cages next to Pike! In James Blish's novel, he describes a scuttling giant spider which tries to attack Pike in his cell but is repelled by the invisible wall!
JB

 

[F. King Daniel]

I guess they could have added more shipboard scenes, Barrett and Nimoy trying different ways to get Pike back and being flummoxed by Talosian illusions at every turn.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Vina's life before the Enterprise arrived.

Boyce in sickbay seeing to the injured from Rigel VII, or finishing up his report on the death of Pike's previous Yeoman.

Introduce the ship's Chief Engineer with a scene about preparing to transfer the ship's energy to the ground cannon, then later working to restore power when the ship was stuck in orbit.

More between Number One, Spock, Tyler and Garrison on the bridge (having started a rewatch of TOS I'd forgotten about some of the early interactions and work the bridge crew did without Kirk there).

A memorial service (though this might need Pike) or have one of the other characters saying goodbye to one of the crew lost on their last mission.

Number One seeking advice from Boyce once Pike is abducted.

A landing party finding the remains of the Columbia, accessing their computers and ultimately finding the bodies of the crew.

 

[Maurice]

I doubt that there would have been a Star Trek series if they had of turned the Cage into a feature film!

Not necessarily. One idea was to use such a film in foreign markets, and it could serve as a way of introducing the show into those markets to make sales of the TV show (if it got picked up) into said markets. It seems the idea went by the wayside once the second pilot was going.

 

[plynch]

Rigel stuff as a 15-min. prologue a la Bond films? Then credits. Now it's two weeks later or whatever and the Cage plot begins. The Rigel scenes later with Vina added would feel different, yet familiar to the audience.

 

[Maurice]

Rigel stuff as a 15-min. prologue a la Bond films? Then credits. Now it's two weeks later or whatever and the Cage plot begins. The Rigel scenes later with Vina added would feel different, yet familiar to the audience.

With Hunter, yeah, that. It would have been a good way to open, action with some tragedy and show why Pike is so demoralized instead of just telling us.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Maybe the crash of the Columbia.

 

[TrickyDickie]

'The Menagerie' demonstrated that they could have done a lot without Hunter.

The whole sequence with Commodore Mendez was illusion.

If it had been necessary, they could have made it that there was no real Captain Pike at all.

 

[Maurice]

From narrative standpoint I don't see how/why you would jump back to the Columbia or Vina's earlier life, because the story isn't about her, plus it would risk tipping off the punchline.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

True. Maybe just the crash externally/space shots. Then an '18 years later' caption straight into Rigel action.

 

[Maurice]

True. Maybe just the crash externally/space shots. Then an '18 years later' caption straight into Rigel action.

I suppose, but since in-story we learn about the crash as the Enterprise crew does that seems possibly redundant and likely expensive.

I know they'd need to have done more shots of the Enterprise. They cheat around the barely-seen ship in the pilot because they got the 11' model only in time for the opening shot. The rest are cheap-looking shots of the 33" model.

You could probably have had a scene where the crew speculates on the likelihood of survivors after Pike first leaves the bridge, with some being pessimistic and others daring to hope that humans would win out, setting us up to seeing—as Boyce articulates later, "just what we wanted to see, human beings who'd survived with dignity and bravery."

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Rigel stuff as a 15-min. prologue a la Bond films? Then credits. Now it's two weeks later or whatever and the Cage plot begins. The Rigel scenes later with Vina added would feel different, yet familiar to the audience.

Seconded that this sounds great. Better certainly than an event that we only hear of, and there's no clear connection between the actual event and the illusion because the players in the illusion are so few by comparison.

 

[Nightowl1701]

If I'm in Gene's shoes, I'd be wanting to build up the one thing NBC hated most: Majel - er, Number One - sitting in the captain's chair while Pike's away. Spock too, if possible. And add some action to fight the 'too cerebral' charge and give movie-goers a lure to the drive-in.

"It's just that I can't get used to having a woman on the bridge - no offense, Lieutenant. You're different, of course." There's your setup. Start with Yeoman Colt having a chat with Number One about Pike (and about herself) once he and the landing party leave the bridge to beam down. After Pike is snatched up, show the party returning via transporter, and either Spock or Tyler trying to take charge before being reminded that One is now effectively captain - something they're not used to either. (Or we establish that there are female Starfleet captains, but not on top-of-the-line ships like the Enterprise - science vessels, maybe...)

After the 'laser' cannon fails, and Boyce's line "Their power of illusion is so great, we can't be sure of anything we do, anything we see,' put that to the test by having the Enterprise suddenly face off against an aggressor in orbit (remember, they're far past Federation space at this point). Could be proto-Klingons, could be Orion pirates, your pick. The problem is 1) One is having to command the ship in a battle situation and 2) Are they really facing what it seems like they're facing, or are the Talosians just trying to keep them out of their non-existent hair? Whichever you go with, the threat is chased off but not destroyed - meaning they could come back at any point, giving Spock more of a reason to 'blast out with rockets' once One and Colt are taken too.

When the ship goes dead, reveal the threat is returning at precisely the wrong moment - and now Spock's in the chair. If we still haven't determined how real the threat is, that adds to Vina's line "With illusion they can make your crew work the wrong controls or push any button it takes to destroy your ship." Maybe here we have Spock reveal something of his nature by contacting the threat and trying to talk/think his way out of a fight. Of course, this time the threat turns out to be yet another illusion, one dispelled once the Talosians get a look at the ship's records.

Once One/Colt return, extend the transporter room scene a little to have One and Spock talk about their shared experience in the big chair while under the gun; they both now better understand the burden of command Pike is under. If we really can't get Hunter back for more footage, have One wrap up the story with a voiceover as the Enterprise leaves orbit and goes into 'hyperdrive.'

 

[TrickyDickie]

When the captain is away, or incapacitated, or whatever, the first officer is the captain. Period. They are chosen for the ability to step in and have things go virtually the same as if the captain was still there.

The problem is 20th century gender issues being projected into the future as if there is no change in 300 years.

It's like the producers wanting to show progress, but their own remaining gender prejudices not quite making them able to pull the thing fully off. And then there's the audience to consider, as well.

Either women are going to be on the bridge as complete equals and gender is going to be fully set aside, or it's not going to work.

Going part way is just going to cause problems.

 

[Maurice]

^^^Yeah, but tell that to Gene 53 years ago.

 

[TrickyDickie]

^^^Yeah, but tell that to Gene 53 years ago.

"This is an extremely primitive and paranoid culture."

 

[STEPhon IT]

Yeoman Colt was a character I thought could've been explored along with Jose' Tyler; they could've contemplated on how the survivors could've managed living on a baron world. What measures would they've had to do in order survive? Procreation? Make a settlement and forget about the chances of getting home? We could've hear both of those characters' point of view to the disaster.

 

[Maurice]

If I'm in Gene's shoes, I'd be wanting to build up the one thing NBC hated most: Majel - er, Number One - sitting in the captain's chair while Pike's away.

Ya know, that claim of Gene's has largely been debunked. Of the 1st pilot cast only Hunter and Nimoy were okay in the network's opinion, whereas for the rest NBC felt "we can do better", which meant recasting all the other parts or replacing them with other characters. They don't appear to have singled out Majel/Number One as the stories claim, albeit some of the test audience feedback on her might not've been great. Some of us suspect Gene exaggerated the "they don't believe a woman in command" thing to spare Majel's feelings.

 

[scotpens]

Ya know, that claim of Gene's has largely been debunked. Of the 1st pilot cast only Hunter and Nimoy were okay in the network's opinion, whereas for the rest NBC felt "we can do better", which meant recasting all the other parts or replacing them with other characters. They don't appear to have singled out Majel/Number One as the stories claim, albeit some of the test audience feedback on her might not've been great. Some of us suspect Gene exaggerated the "they don't believe a woman in command" thing to spare Majel's feelings.

That's pretty much the case, according to later sources. What the network objected to wasn't having a female second-in-command; it was the producer using his leverage to cast his girlfriend, a relatively unknown actress with limited experience, in what would have been a co-starring role in a weekly series.