The Menagerie

[VSAFaculty]

Just watching “The Menagerie” on PlutoTV. Since any contact with Talos IV was a death penalty offense, does anyone else wonder how Spock might have conversed with them without getting caught? Or how he might have initiated that contact?

Yes, I know he’s a computer genius.

 

[1001001]

Very carefully?

 

[VSAFaculty]

Very carefully?

Well…yes…but I mean, besides that.

 

[Iamnotspock]

Telepathically? They had the ability to project the illusion of Mendez across space so it seems likely they'd be able to make mental contact with Spock. Perhaps he was somehow able to tap into their wavelength, as it were, using his own Vulcan telepathy,

 

[Warp Core Breach]

As an aside, and it's certainly not canon at all, but the book "Burning Dreams" by the late Margaret Wander Bonanno (garamet on this board) is a pretty fantastic read.

 

[VSAFaculty]

As an aside, and it's certainly not canon at all, but the book "Burning Dreams" by the late Margaret Wander Bonanno (garamet on this board) is a pretty fantastic read.

I hadn’t heard of this novel, but I did read “Strangers from the Sky” and really enjoyed it, so maybe I will give this one a go. Thanks!

 

[JonnyQuest037]

As an aside, and it's certainly not canon at all, but the book "Burning Dreams" by the late Margaret Wander Bonanno (garamet on this board) is a pretty fantastic read.

Yes, and in Burning Dreams,

Spoiler: Minor spoiler for the novel

the Talosians reach out to Spock.

 

[VSAFaculty]

Telepathically? They had the ability to project the illusion of Mendez across space so it seems likely they'd be able to make mental contact with Spock. Perhaps he was somehow able to tap into their wavelength, as it were, using his own Vulcan telepathy,

Yes, and I think it might have been Spock who first reached out. He would have been more aware of Pike’s situation earlier than the Talosians, and it’s just the sort of thing that he would do.

 

[Metryq]

Telepathically? They had the ability to project the illusion of Mendez across space so it seems likely they'd be able to make mental contact with Spock.

There's no hard evidence in the episode, but this was always my interpretation—that the Talosians reached across space and contacted Spock. They lured in the Enterprise originally from lightyears away. Once having "bookmarked" Pike's mind, perhaps they watched him from afar. And knew about his condition. Heck, maybe Pike had already talked to the Talosians before Spock got involved. Why didn't they try to capture other humans? As the Keeper said in "The Cage/The Menagerie," humans are just too dangerous a species to domesticate.

MENDEZ: What is it? Why have they stopped the images?
SPOCK: Because they know that Captain Pike is fatigued. We can reconvene later.
KIRK: Then they care about the Captain.

I can't see Spock initiating the contact telepathically, even if he wanted to. I doubt the Talosians had subspace radio, since they'd have no need of it. And attempting contact by subspace would be too dangerous for Spock.

Perhaps someone has already written it up. Suppose the encounter with Pike set the Talosians on a new path: that of "breeding" human survival drive into more docile races they had already captured and bred, yet found lacking in exactly that kind of drive? (The "Ganymeans" in James P. Hogan's "Giants" novels did something similar—stealing a genetic segment from humans for their own benefit.) The Talosians are equipped to do that kind of "surgery."

 

[Noname Given]

Just watching “The Menagerie” on PlutoTV. Since any contact with Talos IV was a death penalty offense, does anyone else wonder how Spock might have conversed with them without getting caught? Or how he might have initiated that contact?

Yes, I know he’s a computer genius.

He's also telepathic as are they, and they can project that telepathy across light years.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I guess their telepathy is at least as strong as the death throes of a few hundred Vulcans.

Not only is the Enterprise fresh outta ESPers, but Spock has history with the Talosians, in addition to telepathy. If he can be convinced of the logic of sending Pike to Talos IV, or the certainty that Pike wishes it (and therefore he, as Spock's superior, is to be obeyed, not to mention Spock's personal fondness for his old commanding officer), he will move space and ship to get him there.

 

[VSAFaculty]

I guess their telepathy is at least as strong as the death throes of a few hundred Vulcans.

Not only is the Enterprise fresh outta ESPers, but Spock has history with the Talosians, in addition to telepathy. If he can be convinced of the logic of sending Pike to Talos IV, or the certainty that Pike wishes it (and therefore he, as Spock's superior, is to be obeyed, not to mention Spock's personal fondness for his old commanding officer), he will move space and ship to get him there.

I always felt that Spock had initiated everything, since Pike is saying “No” over and over again when Spock tells him he *has* to do it. Spock was nothing if not thoughtful and loyal, and so I always felt (sorry, Surak) that he took the first step.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

What kills me is: if Spock has just waited a few weeks, he could have brought Pike news of the spores on Omicron Ceti III. Then he could have openly pitched a plan to take Pike there for a full body cure.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

What kills me is: if Spock has just waited a few weeks, he could have brought Pike news of the spores on Omicron Ceti III. Then he could have openly pitched a plan to take Pike there for a full body cure.

A cure that doesn't leave you in your right mind isn't much of a cure.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

A cure that doesn't leave you in your right mind isn't much of a cure.

You let the spores cure Pike's body, then dunk on his mother to get him angry. That kills the spores, and he's back to his normal self.

 

[SpocksTricorder]

He's also telepathic as are they, and they can project that telepathy across light years.

But only with the Vulcan mind meld. Direct physical contact.

 

[Noname Given]

But only with the Vulcan mind meld. Direct physical contact.

The fact that the Talosians were able to project an image of Commodore Mendez for Kirk to interact with in the Shuttle from the time it launched from Starbase 12 says different.

 

[VSAFaculty]

SpocksTricorder
“But only with the Vulcan mind meld. Direct physical contact.”

Not necessarily. At the very least, Spock was able to feel the deaths of the Vulcans on board the Intrepid in “The Immunity Syndrome.”

 

[SpocksTricorder]

But maybe with their advanced powers they didn't need Spock.
That pilot episode coming back in the series sent Gene running for more vodka.

 

[Metryq]

You let the spores cure Pike's body, then dunk on his mother to get him angry. That kills the spores, and he's back to his normal self.

The spore loser cure.