The Cage\Menagerie oddities

[Timo]

The fact that the pair doesn't acknowledge Pike in any way, or even appear to recognize the captain of the ship, might favor the idea that these youngsters are civilians... And short-time passengers at that, rather than permanent occupants, crew dependents or the like.

Perhaps when Pike met with hostilities at Rigel VII, he was prompted to evacuate some Earth citizens from there?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[The Castellan]

The fact that the pair doesn't acknowledge Pike in any way, or even appear to recognize the captain of the ship, might favor the idea that these youngsters are civilians... And short-time passengers at that, rather than permanent occupants, crew dependents or the like.

Perhaps when Pike met with hostilities at Rigel VII, he was prompted to evacuate some Earth citizens from there?

Timo Saloniemi

Was thinking that, and since they have nothing to do, I see nothing wrong with them having an evening stroll through the ship's hallways, so long as they don't get in the way, it's all good. Though I don't recall many others Kirk walked past really taking notice of him and stop and salute, thank goodness.

 

[Captain Robert April]

It's not like every time Kirk walked down the corridor everyone was popping salutes, so I see nothing wrong with those two being a couple of off duty crewmen on their way to the pool.

 

[The Castellan]

It's not like every time Kirk walked down the corridor everyone was popping salutes, so I see nothing wrong with those two being a couple of off duty crewmen on their way to the pool.

Exactly, this is why I keep feeling Starfleet is not a pure military entity, since there's a lot of stuff missing from today's human military, thank goodness.

I wonder if the pool water is all over the place when the ship's rocking about.

 

[Timo]

Would the pool be located next to the Captain's quarters?

I mean, why are these people traipsing in a corridor situated between the bridge and the personal space of the skipper? Is that an indication of further un-military 23rd century thinking - with entertainment sharing space and priority with command functions, and/or with junior officers or crewmen or passengers bunking next to the master of the ship?

Recreation rooms did pop up on "Deck 3" often enough for Probert to situate major rec spaces right next to the bridge for TMP (although his preference was for an Officers' Lounge). But the rec room scenes just highlight another not particularly nonmilitary aspect of the seemingly conservative Starfleet: nowhere else in Star Trek did we see people taking off their uniforms in their free time. (And stop sniggering back there, I'm speaking of the 1960s, so I can't be thinking of that!)

It still seems that a couple of clueless civilians would have the best excuse for trespassing in casual wear on the top decks of a starship that is accommodating them in exceptional circumstances and not doing much else.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Captain Robert April]

Who the hell said they were anywhere near the pool when we see them?

 

[T'Girl]

It's not like every time Kirk walked down the corridor everyone was popping salutes ...

Exactly, this is why I keep feeling Starfleet is not a pure military entity, since there's a lot of stuff missing from today's human military, thank goodness.

US Air Force personnel don't salute while indoors, would not
a corridor aboard the Enterprise be considered "indoors?"

 

[Timo]

Who the hell said they were anywhere near the pool when we see them?

Umm, you the hell?

I mean, if they are on their way to the pool, then either the pool sits next to the bridge and Pike's quarters, or then the place they are coming from does. If they are off duty, where are they coming from? Quarters more "highly positioned" than Pike's?

(Or did they get lost?)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[TigerOfDarkness]

Maybe they're wearing some specialised uniform/garments that just happen to resemble 60's casual wear?

 

[T'Girl]

The impression I have is that the Captain's quarters isn't immediately adjacent to the bridge, but instead a few decks below. And that the Captain was located in "officer's country," one of those folks in swim wear could have been billeted near the Captain's quarters.

.

 

[Christopher]

The impression I have is that the Captain's quarters isn't immediately adjacent to the bridge, but instead a few decks below.

In the series, it was on deck 5, though it's hard to say about the pilot.

 

[Captain Robert April]

It's not like every time Kirk walked down the corridor everyone was popping salutes ...

Exactly, this is why I keep feeling Starfleet is not a pure military entity, since there's a lot of stuff missing from today's human military, thank goodness.

US Air Force personnel don't salute while indoors, would not
a corridor aboard the Enterprise be considered "indoors?"

Bingo.

Besides, they see the captain just about every damn day, probably more than once a day. So long as they're not disrespecting him, who cares?

 

[Timo]

Whether Pike resided in the same place as Kirk is debatable, because the cabins were of completely different shapes. Plus, Pike had a window, which would seem to place his den on Deck 2 in the superstructure. Or at very most on Deck 3, and that's assuming that this window would be kept shuttered every time the camera watches the superstructure from the outside. Decks 4 and 5 cannot have portholes on the bulkheads.

Kirk lived on Deck 12 in a couple of episodes, as often discussed. Although the evidence is indirect: in "Mudd's Women", when Kirk wants to see Mudd ASAP, Spock takes him in a turbolift to Deck 12 (but that might be where boarders get frisked and scanned); and in "Enemy Within", the evil Kirk tries to rape Janice Rand in her cabin on Deck 12, but the Captain's yeoman might well have a cabin in the lower decks even if the skipper himself lives in the superstructure.

The superstructure (Decks 1 through 3) would seem a natural place for top officer quarters, by naval precedent. We also know from "The Enterprise Incident" that Deck 2 houses some guest quarters (probably for visiting top brass). Perhaps Pike placed a civilian family evacuated from Rigel VII in there, next to his own cabin?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[CoveTom]

I've often wondered about the real-life military in this regard, having never served myself. But TV shows and movies often leave the impression that military folks are saluting each other constantly. But I'd have to think when you're in an actual work environment with people trying to get stuff done, you wouldn't just constantly be standing up and saluting every time somebody of a higher rank happened to wander by. That would seem awfully... inefficient.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ And isn't it true that real world military officers only salute if they are wearing hats?

Another oddity: Spock shouting. Not because it's Spock, but because my reaction is, "All right already, I'm checking the circuit! And dude, I'm like RIGHT HERE NEXT TO YOU."

Also Spock's very next line is "Can't be the screen, then" yet he says the first word in a quasi-Brit accent ("CAHHN'T") which is rather unNimoylike.

 

[Redfern]

Didn't Whitfield's "Making of Star Trek" state in the earliest outlines for "The Cage" that Spock may have learned English vis training audios (the future equivalent of Rosetta Stone or something) and picked up an accent from the instructors? Maybe this was indeed the angle at which Nimoy approached the character before he started to get fleshed out in later episodes.

Actually, this brings up another point. I get the impression a lot of the younger fans have not had the opportunity (for whatever reason, anything from the lack of knowledge it actually exists to it simply being unavailable) to read this seminal work. In the early 70s when it first hit syndication, that behind the scenes book was considered essential reading. Nowadays, I get the impression a percentage of fans don't know such a book was ever printed. This isn't meant as a complaint, simply an (admittedly rather myopic) observation.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[David cgc]

Didn't Whitfield's "Making of Star Trek" state in the earliest outlines for "The Cage" that Spock may have learned English vis training audios (the future equivalent of Rosetta Stone or something) and picked up an accent from the instructors? Maybe this was indeed the angle at which Nimoy approached the character before he started to get fleshed out in later episodes.

Exactly. Spock's peculiar uses of emphasis and odd pronunciations were an intentional choice to show that he'd learned english as a second language and had a sort of accent. I think that might also have been the reasoning for his relentlessly good manners, using "please" and "thank you" whenever he was giving orders, even under high-stress situations (though that may also have been to show that Spock doesn't get stressed).

 

[Neutral Zone]

Spock was strange in his speech during the first episodes of ST. He always appeared to be shouting his lines and facial features comical.

 

[number6]

He actually says

There is no survivors' encampment, Number One.

He is talking to Number One who is the voice on the communicator.

 

[T'Girl]

constantly be standing up and saluting every time somebody of a higher rank happened to wander by.

^ And isn't it true that real world military officers only salute if they are wearing hats?

In the real world ... it depends.

You don't stop what you doing everytime a officer walks through, unless it's a general and sometime not even then. If you're part of a work detail, the head of the detail salutes and no one else. No one wears a hat on the flight line, you still salute when appropriate.

It's actually pretty complex.

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