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

[Nyotarules]

If The Cage was the permanent set up for Star Trek then it would have been another 'White Americans in space' show. Glad things were drastically amended. If the writers could not envision a white female as a captain in the 23rd century then there was no hope for the rest of the majority of humans in the franchise.

 

[TrickyDickie]

a baron world

And here is the baron.

Sorry, I'm not a spelling nazi, but sometimes an image just pops up from a single word.

 

[J.T.B.]

If The Cage was the permanent set up for Star Trek then it would have been another 'White Americans in space' show. Glad things were drastically amended. If the writers could not envision a white female as a captain in the 23rd century then there was no hope for the rest of the majority of humans in the franchise.

But, with a woman commanding the ship, The Cage was the high water mark of the series for gender equality.

 

[Commishsleer]

But, with a woman commanding the ship, The Cage was the high water mark of the series for gender equality.

There was only one other time I can remember in TOS where a woman in Starfleet commanded anyone and that was in "The Alternative Factor". I suppose in "The "Man Trap" Uhura ordered the amorous crewman away.
However there were other times when the "enemy" forces were commanded by women, in Catspaw, Spock's Brain, Scalos, the Romulan Commander, Natira not many but some.
I don't think it was just TOS though, in TNG, ENT and even in VOY a vast majority of planets leaders, spaceship captain's, expedition heads, mad scientists were all men. Unless I'm not remembering VOYAGER properly. Sure women featured highly as wives, mothers, fem fatales, lead scientists etc but the leaders were mostly men.

I think they started with good intentions in "The Cage", Where No Man Has Gone Before" even "The Man Trap" and then they had "Mudd's Women".

Are the writers just giving us what we want though, is society to blame? Most television shows, movies have men as the head of the police department, hospital unit, band of intrepid explorers and we accept it. Woman can help but men still have to be the boss (most of the time).

 

[BillJ]

I'll just second (or third) the idea of the events on Rigel VII being shown.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

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

^ I tend to agree with that....

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.

The problem is that "The Cage" is such a different animal than the sharp turn the series took starting with the 2nd pilot. It would almost come off as an adventure of another group in that galaxy, but not really tell audiences what they should expect from a weekly Star Trek series. Unlike the 1977 pilot movie for The Incredible Hulk (which was released around the world as a theatrical movie in advance of the TV series' distribution a year later), which set its strong tone for the regular series, Star Trek--obviously--would not get that flowing lead-in advantage a "The Cage" movie. Certainly not in the way Roddenberry handled ST at that time.

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.

Well said--Vina was only there to help explore Pike's emotional state both as depressed captain and captive.

 

[Nyotarules]

Are the writers just giving us what we want though, is society to blame? Most television shows, movies have men as the head of the police department, hospital unit, band of intrepid explorers and we accept it. Woman can help but men still have to be the boss (most of the time).

Some writers are subconsciously influenced by their cultural norms, and some can think outside of their cultural comfort zone.

 

[plynch]

Also if we saw someone close to Pike killed (we know many were wounded from their bandages) it could help set up his existential angst.

I simply can't remember, what sets the main plot in motion? Distress call? Maybe I'll watch tonight.

 

[Nightowl1701]

Also if we saw someone close to Pike killed (we know many were wounded from their bandages) it could help set up his existential angst.

I simply can't remember, what sets the main plot in motion? Distress call? Maybe I'll watch tonight.

The Enterprise had picked up a 'radio wave traveling at the speed of light,' transmitted from Talos IV 18 years earlier when the SS Columbia crashed. Pike was ready to ignore it and head on to the Vega Colony to treat his injured crew, until they got a followup message saying there were 11 survivors from the crash.

 

[Shawnster]

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

In case you weren't aware... In the late 70s or so both Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers had their pilot episodes released theatrically. I think the theatrical release might have during the first season of its respective series.

Both went on for a second season. Kinda. Both were rebooted or reformatted for season 2. Buck Rogers, at least, kept the same name.

Both were Glenn Larson productions.

Apparently Space 1999 had theatrical releases of a few episodes. Mainly outside the United States.

 

[plynch]

Just rewatched. Danged good! Susan Oliver does a fine acting job, especially when nervous, trying to get Pike to play alomg. Hunter would have been a fine series regular too.

 

[johnnybear]

Space 1999 had eight episodes converted into films for presentation in cinemas! It was around 1979 and long after the series had finished ,not sure where, but I thought it may have been in the US, but they were heavily promoted during the initial boom on video recorders and tapes of the 1980/81 time! While Galactica had it's three hour premier in the cinemas in the UK and Europe plus The Living Legend two parter became Mission Galactica:The Cylon Attack and Conquest of The Earth was taken from the opening episode of Galactica Discovers Earth and The Night The Cylons Landed two parter! Not sure about Buck Rogers as I wasn't really a fan!
JB

 

[JonnyQuest037]

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?

Interesting question! I like the way you think.

I suppose the first thing I'd do is expand the investigation / attempted rescue scenes to give the rest of the crew some more character development and screentime and also get some more action in there. That would fix some of the "too cerebral" quality that NBC complained about. It could also be another opportunity to show how deadly the Talosians' illusions could be and why it would be a good idea to cut them off from the rest of the galaxy. (Although that was a story element in "The Menagerie" two-parter, not the original "Cage," of course.)

When Marvel Comics did a semi-adaptation of "The Cage" in their Early Voyages comic, they told the story from the POV of Yeoman Colt, newly arrived on the ship to replace the Captain's slain Yeoman, and we got to see a Talosian-induced flashback to her time at Starfleet Academy. Showing both Colt and Number One dealing with their own personal Talosian illusions while they were prisoners could be interesting, as long as it didn't slow down the story or pull focus away from Pike too much.

I personally wouldn't do much to delve into the crash of the Columbia, the fight on Rigel VII, or Vina's backstory, as I feel that those elements are all better discovered over the course of the story.

 

[Push The Button]

I'd go to see that movie.

Well, The Cage was made about 18 months before I was born, but you know what I mean.

 

[MAGolding]

When Marvel Comics did a semi-adaptation of "The Cage" in their Early Voyages comic, they told the story from the POV of Yeoman Colt, newly arrived on the ship to replace the Captain's slain Yeoman, and we got to see a Talosian-induced flashback to her time at Starfleet Academy. Showing both Colt and Number One dealing with their own personal Talosian illusions while they were prisoners could be interesting, as long as it didn't slow down the story or pull focus away from Pike too much.

So the writers of Marvel Comics Early Voyages had Yeoman Colt "newly arrived on the ship to replace the Captain's slain Yeoman"? What were they thinking?

SPOCK: We aren't going to go, to be certain?
PIKE: Not without any indication of survivors, no. Continue to the Vega Colony and take care of our own sick and injured first. You have the helm. Maintain present course.

PIKE: That's right. Unless we get anything more positive on it, it seems to me the condition of our own crew takes precedent. I'd like to log the ship's doctor's opinion, too.
BOYCE: Oh, I concur with yours, definitely.
PIKE: Good. I'm glad you do, because we're going to stop first at the Vega Colony and replace anybody who needs hospitalisation and also. What the devil are you putting in there, ice?

BOYCE: Sometimes a man'll tell his bartender things he'll never tell his doctor. What's been on your mind, Chris, the fight on Rigel Seven?
PIKE: Shouldn't it be? My only yeoman and two others dead, seven injured.

PIKE: This is Rigel Seven.

PIKE: It's starting just as it happened two weeks ago. Except for you.

So these quotations prove that three crew members were killed and seven inured on Rigel Seven, and that the Enterprise then headed to the Vega colony for treatment for the injured, and to replace anyone who needed hospitalization.

So how did the Marvel Comics writers justify the idea that Yeoman Colt would have or could have transferred to the Enterprise after the fight on Rigel Seven? What ship or starbase would the Enterprise supposedly have met for Colt to have transferred from? It is logical to deduce that Yeoman Colt was assigned to the Enterprise shortly before the fight on Rigel Seven and was reassigned to be Pike's Yeoman after the fight. And I suspect that the writers of the comic just never realized that.

 

[Harvey]

Not sure if it made it as far as a script draft - I would have to check my notes and probably go back to the archives to review the original documents - but at least one version of Roddenberry's story outline had the Enterprise docking with another vessel early in the pilot to exchange a few members of the crew.

 

[alchemist]

Not sure if it made it as far as a script draft - I would have to check my notes and probably go back to the archives to review the original documents - but at least one version of Roddenberry's story outline had the Enterprise docking with another vessel early in the pilot to exchange a few members of the crew.

Excellent memory, Harvey! See the first few pages of the first draft here, about half-way down the page.

 

[Maurice]

Not sure if it made it as far as a script draft - I would have to check my notes and probably go back to the archives to review the original documents - but at least one version of Roddenberry's story outline had the Enterprise docking with another vessel early in the pilot to exchange a few members of the crew.

Yeah, that's a scene I would have liked to have seen, It certainly would have been cheaper to stage than a revisit of the entire RIgel sequence with the whole landing party--assuming you had Hunter. If they'd wanted to play it really cheap they could have just shown the Enterprise near the Antares and play the scene in the transporter room, which would've required no new sets at all, just the opticals for the transporter.

Of course, if they're slowing down to meet a presumably sublight shuttle, why not just swing by the planet and use the transporter in the first place?

 

[Galileo7]

Space 1999 had eight episodes converted into films for presentation in cinemas! It was around 1979 and long after the series had finished ,not sure where, but I thought it may have been in the US, but they were heavily promoted during the initial boom on video recorders and tapes of the 1980/81 time! While Galactica had it's three hour premier in the cinemas in the UK and Europe plus The Living Legend two parter became Mission Galactica:The Cylon Attack and Conquest of The Earth was taken from the opening episode of Galactica Discovers Earth and The Night The Cylons Landed two parter! Not sure about Buck Rogers as I wasn't really a fan!
JB

Yes, Buck Rogers was released in theaters on March 30, 1979 before it went to series on NBC in the fall.

 

[Maurice]

The "movie" edit of the Battlestar Galactica opening was released theatrically in Canada, Australia & most of Europe before the show bowed on ABC in the US, and did very well in theaters, which no doubt got Universal to think they could do the same with Buck but domestically.