THE CAGE is coming to TOSR!!!!

[Praetor]

The problem with the original depiction of the ship going to warp to get to Talos IV was that it was SO different from how warp was depicted later, it just didn't fit, but them CHANGING it in the name of "remastering" has left me torn.

The problem I always had with the original warp effect is that it was ambiguous. I was never sure exactly what the intent was. Was the ship suppose to be actually transparent or was this just a cheap way to illustrate an intentionally ambiguous technology?

I thought, without any supporting evidence to back me up, that the effect was intended to demonstrate an actual change caused by the warp engines ... consider that the production crew had no previous work to go by except perhaps for movies such as Forbidden Planet in which dropping out of superluminal velocities required retreat into some sort of stasis chamber. I think what we saw in The Cage was an attempt to demonstrate a similar process, but with more benign consequences for the crew. They didn't need to retreat into a protective container, but still something dramatic happened when they used the warp engines.

I always thought it was a dramatic conceit to avoid having to shoot more space footage, but based on what Polaris posted it looks intentional. Personally, I don't mind the change too much. I don't like the original effect.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Well, Roddenberry probably invented it intentionally to save money, and then he and the other folks involved saw it and decided that it didn't work.

It looks as if it's directly derived from the "deceleration station" scene in "Forbidden Planet."

 

[AstroSmurf]

I am very excited about this! I had almost given up hope that CBS would ever run this one in syndication. I even dragged out the old Discussion thread from moth balls to post next week. I wrote the blurb for "The Cage" over a year ago and I can't believe I am finally going to get to use it. I guess you could say it is "one for the road".

I am almost tempted to take a look at the new special effects on YouTube but I don't want to spoil it.

 

[David cgc]

Not only does the ship become semi-transparent, but the crew is apparently unable to speak to one another. Notice at one point, Jose Tyler turns to Pike and holds up seven fingers to indicate the ship's speed.

Obviously, the theme music was so loud Tyler didn't think he would be heard over it if he tried to yell his report.

 

[True Trek Fan]

Can't wait to see it, I wonder if it will be shown on Space?

 

[Captain Robert April]

I have the script here somewhere - I'll find it and post the relevant portion.

www.trekmovie.com now has the promo for the remastered version of "The Cage" online - in it, Paramount's now officially identifying Christopher Pike as "the Enterprise's first captain."

They're still allowing April in novels and the current IDW comic miniseries by John Byrne, "Crew".

And how many promos included shots from scenes that never made it to screen?

The promotions department doesn't determine continuity.

 

[gastrof]

Don't expect it to run more than the usual 1 our timeslot. It's unusual for a station to futz much with syndicated scheduling...

I don't think anyone's sugggested a special-length airing. The two possibilities presented have been splitting it between two different weeks (with a lot of material repeated the second week), or majorly cutting it for a single episode showing.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I have the script here somewhere - I'll find it and post the relevant portion.

www.trekmovie.com now has the promo for the remastered version of "The Cage" online - in it, Paramount's now officially identifying Christopher Pike as "the Enterprise's first captain."

They're still allowing April in novels and the current IDW comic miniseries by John Byrne, "Crew".

And how many promos included shots from scenes that never made it to screen?

The promotions department doesn't determine continuity.

April who?

 

[cooleddie74]

About time the remastered pilot aired. Makes one wonder if this hasn't been the plan since TREK XI's release date was changed from last Christmas to this May.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The studio and producers determine continuity. Robert April is not part of it, and never has been outside of a cartoon that the studio has never embraced as canon.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Inclusion in the official timeline at Roddenberry's insistence, the various TAS references in DS9 and ENT, as well as the DVD release, say otherwise.

 

[Cyrus]

Any part of TAS referenced by DS9 or other so called canon series makes that part of TAS canon, not all of it. Same goes for any part of a novel or comic book that's referenced in one of the series.

Not that I care either way, but that's how it is.

 

[Captain Robert April]

That's like being "a little pregnant."

Sorry, doesn't work that way.

 

[Cyrus]

That's a horrible analogy, but whatever you say dude. As I said TAS being canon or not is not something that matters to me.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Any part of TAS referenced by DS9 or other so called canon series makes that part of TAS canon, not all of it. Same goes for any part of a novel or comic book that's referenced in one of the series.

Exactly so. The notion that "canon" extends beyond the actual contents of an episode or movie into some comfort zone of associations is a trivial absurdity.

 

[gastrof]

Inclusion in the official timeline at Roddenberry's insistence, the various TAS references in DS9 and ENT, as well as the DVD release, say otherwise.

Since, as I understand it, it was GENE who, around the time of the first movie, declared TAS no longer a part of the timeline, what "official timeline" do you mean, and where did you hear he "insisted" on it being included?

By the way, I agree with the others. Certain "historical" incidents being mentioned onscreen that happen to be in step with TAS don't make ALL of TAS canon. 'Sorry. It doesn't work that way.'

The comicbooks and novels are a perfect example. If something from one of the novels ends up mentioned onscreen at some later point in time, that doesn't mean that everything from every novel is canon. Not even everything in the very novel the "tidbit" came from. TAS is in the same catagory.

*************​

By the way, guys. The TV listings for the weekend of May 9th are up, and there won't be any "THE CAGE, pt 2". Looks like it's gonna be a one week butchered version. (Even if they do it commercial free, it'll still be missing a few minutes, since originally it ran what? Sixty-five minutes?)

*************​

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Since, as I understand it, it was GENE who, around the time of the first movie, declared TAS no longer a part of the timeline, what "official timeline" do you mean, and where did you hear he "insisted" on it being included?

That's because it didn't happen. The authors of several of the Trek official reference books asked Roddenberry's permission to include a couple of thing from TAS in their work, and he assented. This "insistence" is a self-perpetuated myth.

Of course, the official reference books are not canonical - as their authors are usually the first to point out.

 

[gastrof]

Of course, the official reference books are not canonical - as their authors are usually the first to point out.

Can you provide an onscreen reference to prove this?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Of course, the official reference books are not canonical - as their authors are usually the first to point out.

Can you provide an onscreen reference to prove this?

The authors don't appear onscreen and therefore don't canonically exist.

 

[T'Bonz]

Since, as I understand it, it was GENE who, around the time of the first movie, declared TAS no longer a part of the timeline

Tough shit on Gene. It aired, it's canon. Even if it sucked (like "Way to Eden," for example.)