This has to be one of the best edit jobs of any series. "The Cage" is 63 minutes long. Both of these episodes are about 49 minutes each. So, despite the fact this is essentially a clip show, they did film nearly an entire TOS episode to frame around "The Cage." And it's near seamless! As if it really was supposed to work this way all along.
For years and years I wondered about certain aspects of "The Cage" and how they incorporated them into "The Menagerie." The scene at the end with Pike returning to Talos IV and reuniting with Vina was one that I just couldn't figure out. Finally being able to see "The Cage" in it's entirety was really a gratifying experience.
This is one of the few times where following production order does not make sense in viewing. We were just at Starbase 11 last week and now we are back again. Last week Commodore Stone was in charge and this week it's Mendez. It definitely would make more sense to have this episode further away in the viewing order from "Court Martial." Fun fact, "Court Martial was produced first but shown 10 episode AFTER this 2 parter.
So last week Kirk and Spock beam directly to Commodore Stone's office. Well, Spock does as Kirk's already there. This week they beam down at some other location. It's possible, just odd. Maybe there was some reason for the different beam down location. This Miss Piper has no rank stripe on her sleeve. Is she related to Dr. Piper, formerly of the Enterprise? She's looking around as if she's expecting the landing party but isn't quite sure where they will materialize at. It's like she's looking up and down as if she will see them fall from orbit, LOL. She also mentions another woman who has told stories about Jim Kirk. Another point for the "ladies man" reputation.
So, Pike wasn't at Starbase 11 last week? Was he being moved? Was he there and we just didn't know? He's been hurt for months. Did Kirk's court martial worry Spock? Surely these plans were in motion for a while now. In fact, in the Ensign's Logs podcasts the two guys on there operate under the assumption Spock set this up over a series of weeks or a couple of months prior to execution and that he may have had assistance.
And what is up with this beep chair of Pike's? Helloooo! This is the future hundreds of years from now! Pike needs a chair and computer like Professor Hawking had. He'd communicate like normal. Honestly, even with 1960s understanding, Pike could have communicated with Morse Code. That would have taken too long for the episode, but it would have been an understood idea for 1960s audiences. If he can blink once for yes and twice for no, Pike could communicate in Morse.
Commodore Jose Mendez. Another valiant effort in the 1960s to portray a future of racial equality.
Love the redress of Engineering for the Computer Center. And the similar console types makes the tech universe believable. Same organization using the same systems. The original Enterprise viewscreen from "The Cage" appeared last week as the viewscreen in the court room and again this week as the viewscreen in the court room on the Enterprise.
Miss Piper wears the starburst patch that seems to belong to Starbase personnel. Mendez' assistant or whatever has the Delta. The one "captain" or whomever he is in Pike's Orion Slave illusion also wears the Delta.
No privacy for Pike. Guess he can't do much in that chair 24/7, but that feeling of always being watched on a monitor is a bit Big Brother.
Again Starfleet personnel not acting or reacting rationally in the face of a security issue. The guy that caught Spock messing around should have alerted security first, then tried to stop Spock.
McCoy goes from insubordination and nearly undermining Spock in "The Galileo Seven" to being his most passionate defender this week.
General Order 7. Death penalty for anyone going to Talos IV. No contact whatsoever. They even have a special security binder about the encounter from 11 years ago. Yet nothing is in the binder? I mean, that file does not explain the reason for the quarantine of Talos or the death penalty. No mention of Talosians or the ordeal Pike went through. So what does the binder contain? What happens if the Ferengi or Klingons or someone other than Starfleet arrives at Talos?
Speaking of the binder....
Subject: TALOS IV in the third quadrant of vernal galaxy.
Known Facts: Detailed information cross referenced with 3XY phagrin level - mass computer
The only Earthship that ever visited planet Talos IV was the USS Enterprise commanded by Captain Christopher Pike with Half-Vulcan Science Officer Spock.
Recommendations: Be it hereby noted that said following instructions be incorporated into STARFLEET policy - -
NO ONE WILL EVER VISIT TALOS IV.
The following officers have visited Talos IV and recommended that no human should ever visit it again - -
Captain Christopher Pike
Half-Vulcan Science Officer Spock
STARFLEET COMMAND
BY ORDER OF
Robert L. Comsul
COMMANDING OFFICER
Lot of speciest centric wording in that binder. Earthship. No human should ever visit. Twice mentioning that Spock was half-Vulcan.
Vulcans are incapable of lying. Except for Spock. Maybe it's because he's only half Vulcan?
Enterprise left at maximum warp. The shuttle was able to keep up but not overtake the Enterprise. The shuttle had the same warp speed as the Enterprise. Either the shuttle was docked by remote control, dragged in by tractor beam, or was beamed into the shuttle bay. Mendez and Kirk were beamed off the shuttle prior to it being stored in the shuttle bay.
Stardate 3012.4. Some people clinging to the first digit being the year of the 5 year mission would mean this episode is in year 3. Stardate 3013.1 is roughly 24 hours after 3012.4.
McCoy knows a shuttle is following the Enterprise. This is another indicator that the others in addition to the bridge crew know what is going on in and around the ship.
No vessel makes record tapes in this detail. Except the Enterprise did just last week. Multiple angles, zoom upon command.
Starfleet could detect transmissions from Talos IV beamed to the Enterprise. This would mean they weren't illusions being broadcast. The events of 11 years ago were being transmitted via normal communication methods. And Starfleet could detect this several light years away.
That illusion of the fight on Rigel VII would be so different today. Vina would participate instead of being the helpless damsel.
I hate to give Timo credit, but... Vina initially was an illusion. She really wasn't at the SS Columbia crash site. She even disappeared after leading Pike to the entrance. Later in the cell, Vina disappeared again. She must have been an illusion that time as well. Vina must have been in a separate cell elsewhere. Yet her illusion walked around with the Enterprise crew once they escaped Pike's cell. She was an illusion of a whole, normal looking woman the whole time until the very end. So, was there a real Vina? For story purposes there must have been, but the evidence is that she was an illusion the whole time. If there was a real Vina, she was locked away in a separate cell.
So why did the Talosians go to all this effort with the crash site trap and so forth? With illusion they can make anyone see anything and do anything. Mendez was an illusion from the moment they started going to the shuttle until the end of the trial. At what point was the real Mendez substituted with the illusion? What did the real Mendez see? Did he plan on going to the shuttle with Kirk? Did Mendez have an illusion of being on the Enterprise? If the Talosians are this powerful, why not use illusion to contact Starfleet and Pike directly? Why not cause an illusion and manipulate everyone so Pike is loaded onto a ship and delivered to Talos? They could even create the illusion so that not even Starfleet knows a ship was sent to Talos. Heck, they could have kept Pike at the beginning and sent an illusion of him back to the Enterprise. They could have just blown the Enterprise up once Pike beamed down.
Shout out to Talosian Bob and Marc! Good to see them again!
Thank goodness the restriction on contact with Talos IV was waved for this incident. Look at how many people would have had to been executed. Everyone on the Enterprise and probably everyone on Starbase 11.
