The Cage or Where No Man Has Gone Before?

[Terok Nor]

I've started rewatching TOS from the start (by production order) so I've recently watched both pilot episodes of the series.

While I think they were brilliantly written and acted I'd have to say WNMHGB has the edge. It managed to encapsulate everything great about the series in one episode. The drama, the friendships, the action, the alien threat of the week. Added to that William Shatner's Kirk is instantly more likeable and commanding than Jeffrey Hunter's Pike who came across as stiff, untouchable and moody.

The Talosians and their menagerie were a great concept and The Keeper is one of the most memorable villains but again I'd have to give the edge to Gary Mitchell due to his friendship with Kirk making it more personal. Kirk was forced to kill what used to be his friend at the story's conclusion. The actors had a superb chemistry and really sold the fact Kirk and Mitchell were buddies.

The Cage has the edge when it comes to its female leads. Vina is a tragic character who I can't help feel sorry for and also feel glad for when "Pike" joins her to keep her company at the end. Number One was a fascinating character and it was great to see such a powerful female character this early on. I liked the Yeoman character but she didn't have too much to do. As for WNMHGB Dr. Dehner I enjoyed her character as a foil for Mitchell but it felt like neither the crew nor the viewers got to know her all that well due to her switching pretty fast from a cold fish to an emotional mess.

Spock wasn't quite the character we came to know and love in either of these episodes but that's not a big deal to me as there are enough recognizable Spock elements present. I would have liked Number One to continue but not at the cost of losing the stoic logical version of Spock. Dr. Boyce was better than Dr. Piper but that may be down to the former having a lot more screentime. Luckily Bones came along and eclipsed both. Scotty and Sulu didn't make much of an impression in their first appearance but they didn't have a lot to do so it was understandable. Lt. Kelso probably would have made a great supporting cast member but sadly it was not to be.

I've rambled on long enough so let's hear from someone else

 

[BillJ]

I think they are both incredibly strong episodes. Tough to choose one over the other.

 

[Drone]

While it doesn't detract from the drama, production values, and the sense of mystery presented by what "lies beyond", I can't agree that Where reveals Kirk as a wise, prudent, or experienced captain. He was presented with evidence of the disaster that the Valiant suffered not only physically being able to withstand contact with this thoroughly unknown type of space, but having survived the encounter, ultimately failing to overcome its dire impact on some of the crew. Hell, there was even an intimation that the commander had to destroy his own ship as the only means to prevent complete catastrophe.

With this knowledge does Kirk give any pause to unquestioningly and with some seeming urgent sense of dispatch, plunge into this area clearly beyond Starfleet's ken? No. Apparently the conviction that Enterprise is a far more powerful and sophisticated starship is the sum total of that thought that is needed to foolishly plunge forward. Clearly the options of first sending probes and gauging their data, taking more time to scrupulously glean and reconstruct everything possible about the nature of what befell Valiant after its own attempt, or try to work out some model of the potential of the barrier with all the sensor information that Enterprise had the ability to gather and perhaps be inventive to extend that reach, were options that weren't in Kirk's playbook. I can't help but feel that this decision marked him as the unseasoned, almost rookie version of the leader we were to come admire so greatly. I've often thought that it would have been appropriate to have had an episode or at least a significant portion of one, focus on a sober Kirk contemplating how his foolhardiness needlessly cost the lives of a number of crew, including his closest friend, who seemed like a compelling character in his own right.

At the same time, I understand that the rollout of the series demanded that it be immediately defined by action, effects, and suspenseful drama so as to mark it as something new and a concept to be taken seriously as opposed to the scifi currently on view on the other networks. For it to be introduced as cerebral to the extent that its vitality and punch presented in this still nascent broadcast genre, would get bogged down in an egghead talkfest was definitely not the impression that the network desired to be left on the audience giving the show a shot.

I think I very slightly prefer the Cage because it seems to draw a wider palette of what the dimensions of a thoughtful introduction to a challenging space drama could offer. An advanced, questing culture that while thoroughly committed to the ethos of exploration, retained what I found a warmer and reassuring depiction that humanity still had the capacity to express doubt and uncertainty while also determinedly making its way across the galaxy. It featured aliens as well, portrayed as having mysterious intentions and fantastic, yet not ultimately, insuperable powers. Interestingly too, their own back story, showed them in the end not as malign monsters to be unquestionably destroyed, but with a vulnerability of their own.

It was this greater multifaceted quality that I perceive in the Cage that might still have allowed Trek to be launched with the momentum and wonder that led it to be the phenomenon that so many know with such familiarity some fifty years later.

 

[Lance]

''The Cage'' is like Star Trek stripped down to it's basics. If you can imagine taking away decades of mythology-building, and just asking the question, ''What is Star Trek like?'', then the answers are all right there in ''The Cage''. It isn't quite yet what we recognise as The Original Series, but it *is* the recognisable grandpappy of all Star Trek, more broadly, across the whole franchise.

''Where No Man Has Gone Before'' is the grandpappy of The Original Series in particular. It takes what worked in ''The Cage'', and adds to it a visceral, seat-of-your-pants excitement that the former was essentially lacking, but which we saw time and time again in TOS.

Watching WNMHGB after watching The Cage is like seeing all the basic foundations of Star Trek fall into place, firstly the broader format, and then the more familiar elements (like Captain Kirk). The rest of season one then builds a multi-story apartment complex on top of those foundations.

 

[Albertese]

Tough call! I picked "The Cage" but only for one reason. Both shows give us great, distinctive characters, and both do a good job of setting up a sketch of a far future setting, and both have very compelling stories. I like them both very much. But for me anyhow, "The Cage" could almost be typed as The Cage as it, more than "Where No Man Has Gone Before" feels like a stand-alone sci-fi film, and less like an episode of a continuing series.

Now, I realize that as a pilot for a series, this lacks a certain utility--and I completely realize why is was pseudo-rejected and replaced with WNMHGB--but for me, viewing it five decades later, I enjoy the feeling.

--Alex

 

[Terok Nor]

''The Cage'' is like Star Trek stripped down to it's basics. If you can imagine taking away decades of mythology-building, and just asking the question, ''What is Star Trek like?'', then the answers are all right there in ''The Cage''. It isn't quite yet what we recognise as The Original Series, but it *is* the recognisable grandpappy of all Star Trek, more broadly, across the whole franchise.

''Where No Man Has Gone Before'' is the grandpappy of The Original Series in particular. It takes what worked in ''The Cage'', and adds to it a visceral, seat-of-your-pants excitement that the former was essentially lacking, but which we saw time and time again in TOS.

Watching WNMHGB after watching The Cage is like seeing all the basic foundations of Star Trek fall into place, firstly the broader format, and then the more familiar elements (like Captain Kirk). The rest of season one then builds a multi-story apartment complex on top of those foundations.

Brilliant post! I think you've hit the nail on the head

I especially love the last paragraph.

 

[Timo]

The two pilots give very different starts to the adventures to (potentially) follow...

Young and eager Commander Kirk comes from nowhere, sailing towards his baptism of fire with a crew of strangers and newcomers, bravely confronts the hardships of the adventure, and then forges on, a bit bruised for the loss of the one friend among the original team, but having gained a new one in the so far alien and even adversarial Spock.

Lieutenant Pike we meet halfway into a really dreary working week. He retires into his cabin to brood until dragged into action, wades through his adventure on a leash, gets saved by the courage of his second-in-command and the compassion of his enemies, and then departs, leaving behind a doomed civilization and a dying guest heroine. But his life, career and crew remain intact, and it is in fact his measured and rational approach that has carried the day.

Were this HBO, young Kirk might die in the pilot just for the cruel shits and giggles. In 1960s writing, he must survive - but Pike might well die for his sins of being old and timid/reasonable, and launch a series carried by the survivors. There's the potential of something actually happening in the first pilot, then. And it's a bit of a disappointment when nothing really does, perhaps, but it takes a while to notice this. Could such exciting stories of mounting suspense but zero payoff be told every week?

Kirk in turn wastes ammunition with abandon: the adventure starts out with a bang, resulting in a forced lull soon thereafter. It takes an enemy who grows mightier by the hour to keep the tension rising. And after all is said and done and shot to pieces, the ending is still upbeat. We could certainly have roller-coaster adventures like this from week to week, without stopping to notice that nothing changed here, either.

In-universe, was Kirk as reckless as Pike was careful and contemplative? Was he active where Pike was passive? Well, Kirk was commanded to penetrate the Barrier, his stated mission being to see whether this would be safe for those slated to follow. The pilot already paints a picture of Kirk as the most expendable asset of Starfleet, something well supported by the series. Pike in turn was conservative in the most literal sense, trying to keep people from dying and assets from being lost. Both are realistic job descriptions for military commanders, but which one would be more suited for a five-year mission in the final frontier...?

In the end, I see "Where No Man" as the more effective launch for a series of adventures. "The Cage", while no more cinematic IMHO, tells a complete story, and doesn't stop there: it already tells all the possible Pike stories in one package.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Terok Nor]

In the end, I see "Where No Man" as the more effective launch for a series of adventures. "The Cage", while no more cinematic IMHO, tells a complete story, and doesn't stop there: it already tells all the possible Pike stories in one package.

I agree with this. When "The Cage" finished I didn't long for more Pike or lament the fact he could have been the captain in the series. I felt I'd seen it all from him. In short his character just didn't excite me or make me want to see more of him. The minute Kirk appeared in WNMHGB I was hooked and ready to delve back into TOS again. Rewatching the series from the start it's obvious Kirk is still learning to be a good captain in these early episodes. He snaps at Scotty and makes mistakes due to his emotions. There is a lot of room to grow with the character of Jame T. Kirk. Not so much with Pike who was already a seasoned and seemingly bored captain by the time we meet him.

 

[Joanna McCoy-Kirk]

I honestly can't choose one over the other. "The Cage" is more thoughtful and disturbing, while "Where No Man Has Gone Before" has a better captain (more energetic and more interesting).

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

The choice is easy.

While "The Cage" is often credited with dealing with serious philosophical questions (life direction, dreams, slavery, etc.), WNMHGB took that to another level, by using--in a spectacularly potent way--the great science fiction subject of examining man's greatest failing of hubris (i.e. daring to play God / with abilities beyond human comprehension) by personalizing this ever-relevant moral argument.

If that was not enough, the story pulled audiences in with a truly charismatic captain (the polar opposite of Pike) having to painfully set his feelings aside due to his relationship with the Mitchell. This was no random crew member, or passing guest, but his best friend--a person he knew since they were fairly young.

Kirk was not dealing with disillusionment that could be solved with an adventure into illusion-land, or the barrier transforming some faceless crewman, but a genuine crisis of command, with his heart sitting on one shoulder, trying to find a way out of an increasingly unmanageable situation, and the "devil" (of sorts) in Spock on the other shoulder, pushing him into a one-way nosedive to betrayal and conflict.

Of note is that this is the first of many times Kirk would challenge and/or destroy false gods (earth born or not), as he would flatly state in this episode:

"A god, but still driven by human frailty. Do you like what you see?"

"One jealous god. if all this makes a god, or is it making you something else?"

...and continue in "Who Mourns for Adonais"--

"We find the one quite sufficient"

WNMHGB illustrates that a man of the future can be a one of obvious faith, and can zero in on pretenders (Mitchell, Apollo, et al) who would dare impose their petty whims on what would amount to their victims.

That said, it is important to note how sensitive the story was in maintaining Mitchell's potential to earn sympathy after his fall and death. Unlike the abysmal Star Wars prequels, where George Lucas failed on his promise to change viewer perceptions of Darth Vader from the absolute villain (of the original films) to a fallen, sympathetic hero (thanks to Anakin being despicable for most of his adult life), in WNMHGB, Mitchell was instantly personable, so even after his wicked megalomania and eventual death, we--as the audience--could feel just as much sorrow as Kirk in the epilogue. That is rare in "false god" stories, and almost always comes up short or empty, as in the Star Wars example.

Long before there was backstory of Kirk surviving Kodos the Executioner, long before the Farragut tragedy, one episode created a compelling hero with the perfect combination--in equal measure--of a deep soul & forceful adventurism in his command approach. That was the kind of character audiences (and network executives) wanted to follow. But such a character needed a bold, grim story to justify his existence--why he was important in this developing tale.

"Where No man Has Gone Before" had an overabundance of that, which leaves no doubt why Star Trek became a series, why no other ST production ever launched with so magnetic a group of characters and story. "The Cage"--while a serious, solid episode, lacked so much of what made the 2nd pilot true Star Trek as we have known and expected it to be (with too many failed attempts in many of the spin-offs and NuTrek).

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Young and eager Commander Kirk comes from nowhere, sailing towards his baptism of fire with a crew of strangers and newcomers, bravely confronts the hardships of the adventure, and then forges on, a bit bruised for the loss of the one friend among the original team, but having gained a new one in the so far alien and even adversarial Spock.

Lieutenant Pike we meet halfway into a really dreary working week. He retires into his cabin to brood until dragged into action, wades through his adventure on a leash, gets saved by the courage of his second-in-command and the compassion of his enemies, and then departs, leaving behind a doomed civilization and a dying guest heroine. But his life, career and crew remain intact, and it is in fact his measured and rational approach that has carried the day.

Well Timo really nailed it, and my preferring Kirk over Pike is wonderfully contextualized here.

 

[telerites]

Easily The Cage for me. I would take Where No... overTge Menagerie if that were a choice. I would have loved to see Shatner in The Cage, not to say I disliked Hunter all that much but Kirk is my captain. I grew up with him and all others pale. Just like Tom Baker is my Doctor Who.

 

[Timo]

Oh, and make no mistake, I'm sure that "in reality", in-universe, and in any putative TV show to follow, Pike would have gotten over his moody moment right after "The Cage", and would have been a dynamic and energetic lead character. It's just that such recovery is not explicit or even implicit in the pilot itself, the story doesn't drive me towards this conclusion, and the pilot doesn't leave me wanting for such a change, or for any sort of "more".

Which makes it all the easier to accept that when we return to this character, he isn't actually making a comeback - he isn't all there, and isn't even incarnated in Mr. Hunter any more! I don't feel I'm missing parts of the story: it's straight from "The Cage" and the disillusioned veteran to "The Menagerie" and the brave wreck of a man who ended his career and his life in that suicidal rescue operation. Whatever did happen in between was more of the same, and rightly so.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Christopher Miles]

''The Cage'' is like Star Trek stripped down to it's basics. If you can imagine taking away decades of mythology-building, and just asking the question, ''What is Star Trek like?'', then the answers are all right there in ''The Cage''. It isn't quite yet what we recognise as The Original Series, but it *is* the recognisable grandpappy of all Star Trek, more broadly, across the whole franchise.

''Where No Man Has Gone Before'' is the grandpappy of The Original Series in particular. It takes what worked in ''The Cage'', and adds to it a visceral, seat-of-your-pants excitement that the former was essentially lacking, but which we saw time and time again in TOS.

Watching WNMHGB after watching The Cage is like seeing all the basic foundations of Star Trek fall into place, firstly the broader format, and then the more familiar elements (like Captain Kirk). The rest of season one then builds a multi-story apartment complex on top of those foundations.

The Cage is the Ivy League Bordeaux-drinking Uncle that needles you at the family holiday party because you chose Business or Engineering over Philosophy or Comparative Religion

Where No Man Has Gone before is the guy in the library trying to get chicks by using a Spinoza cover to hide his latest issue of Astounding Stories.

You seek the Uncle's approval once in a while, but enjoy hangin' with the Astounding Stories fella.

The Uncle's doctoral thesis was The Motion Picture

Your bud wrote Star Trek II.

 

[Christopher Miles]

The choice is easy.


Of note is that this is the first of many times Kirk would challenge and/or destroy false gods (earth born or not), as he would flatly state in this episode:

"A god, but still driven by human frailty. Do you like what you see?"

"One jealous god. if all this makes a god, or is it making you something else?"

...and continue in "Who Mourns for Adonais"--

"We find the one quite sufficient"

Whom Kirks destroy.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Commander Kirk...
Lieutenant Pike...

I'll allow (though i doubt) that Kirk might have been a commander, but there's no way a lieutenant was given command of that ship.

 

[Drone]

''The Cage'' is like Star Trek stripped down to it's basics. If you can imagine taking away decades of mythology-building, and just asking the question, ''What is Star Trek like?'', then the answers are all right there in ''The Cage''. It isn't quite yet what we recognise as The Original Series, but it *is* the recognisable grandpappy of all Star Trek, more broadly, across the whole franchise.

''Where No Man Has Gone Before'' is the grandpappy of The Original Series in particular. It takes what worked in ''The Cage'', and adds to it a visceral, seat-of-your-pants excitement that the former was essentially lacking, but which we saw time and time again in TOS.

Watching WNMHGB after watching The Cage is like seeing all the basic foundations of Star Trek fall into place, firstly the broader format, and then the more familiar elements (like Captain Kirk). The rest of season one then builds a multi-story apartment complex on top of those foundations.

Brilliant post! I think you've hit the nail on the head

I especially love the last paragraph.

I second the plaudit for your succinct, but wonderfully cogent formulation. I think what the Cage would have done would to be present an audience with the scope, flavor, and imaginativeness in a generic sense of what a markedly different and invested scifi program could be like. Where plunges you headlong into the specific application of this promise with characters that are presented as having a history together, although we don't know them any more than Hunter et al. and a specific mission that communicates an organizational structure that perhaps is the official expression of humanity's quest for exploration and discovery.

On another point, I don't agree with the general negative reception that is accorded Hunter's portrayal of Pike. Does he lack Kirk's evident dynamism and willfulness. Well sure, but I don't think that is of necessity a bad thing. If the Cage had made the cut and was the initial episode broadcast, I can understand the ambivalence many might feel in their introduction to a leader voicing self-doubt, weariness and a seemingly sincere consideration of quitting his job. I don't find this downbeat introspection off putting or casting Pike in a weak or diminished light, however.

For me it seems a valid, human response to a fateful encounter that cost lives, a situation that I interpret as one that this much more veteran and sober commander has had to come to grips with a number of times in the past. As compared with the naively confident and cocksure neophyte that Kirk comes across as, Pike is someone who has faced life and death decisions, has made mistakes that he can admit to and examine thoughtfully, and despite the appearance of careworn jadedness that we might appear to see, clearly continues to be energized by finding challenge and engagement just around the corner, so to speak.

This is someone whose personal trek I would find compelling to follow and it wouldn't even require an instance, of let's say, having to have his shirt needing to be torn off. Of course, the fact that Hunter was a far superior actor than Shatner plays a large part in my preference. While not stated here directly, the intimation even that he would have been an analogue to Bujold playing Janeway is ridiculous.

 

[Trimm]

For me, it comes down to the fact that WNMHGB presents far more dynamic characters than The Cage. At the end of the day, the fastest way to draw someone into a television program is giving them characters that are interesting. For all of the intellectual virtues of The Cage, Vina is the only person on the screen that actually stands out. Where No Man gives us very clearly drawn people in Kirk, Spock, Mitchell, and Dehner by the end of Act One.

 

[Lance]

''The Cage'' is like Star Trek stripped down to it's basics. If you can imagine taking away decades of mythology-building, and just asking the question, ''What is Star Trek like?'', then the answers are all right there in ''The Cage''. It isn't quite yet what we recognise as The Original Series, but it *is* the recognisable grandpappy of all Star Trek, more broadly, across the whole franchise.

''Where No Man Has Gone Before'' is the grandpappy of The Original Series in particular. It takes what worked in ''The Cage'', and adds to it a visceral, seat-of-your-pants excitement that the former was essentially lacking, but which we saw time and time again in TOS.

Watching WNMHGB after watching The Cage is like seeing all the basic foundations of Star Trek fall into place, firstly the broader format, and then the more familiar elements (like Captain Kirk). The rest of season one then builds a multi-story apartment complex on top of those foundations.

The Cage is the Ivy League Bordeaux-drinking Uncle that needles you at the family holiday party because you chose Business or Engineering over Philosophy or Comparative Religion

Where No Man Has Gone before is the guy in the library trying to get chicks by using a Spinoza cover to hide his latest issue of Astounding Stories.

You seek the Uncle's approval once in a while, but enjoy hangin' with the Astounding Stories fella.

The Uncle's doctoral thesis was The Motion Picture

Your bud wrote Star Trek II.

True. Very true.

 

[Timo]

I'll allow (though i doubt) that Kirk might have been a commander, but there's no way a lieutenant was given command of that ship.

Given her relative size vis-á-vis most of the legacy hardware we see in the new movies, I have no problem with "Lieutenant" - only with the "Commodores" seen commanding this midgets later on!

The fun thing is, neither of the pilots establishes the relative or absolute significance of the hero vessels to mankind's quest to explore, dominate or survive outer space. These might be high-profile, high-expense spearheads, or then working ships for working stiffs. "The Cage" perhaps better conveys Roddenberry's idea of the ship being old and of space exploration being routine and even dull (save for the highlights seen in the episodes), but "Where No Man" can be seen in that light as well, if only through a greater context of regular eps and spinoffs and whatnot.

Timo Saloniemi