'Star Trek: The Cage' (Episode 0x00) (1965)

'The Cage' is a curious product of the mid-1960s. It is both quintessential 'Star Trek' and its antithesis. 'The Cage' (TC) adheres to the humourless dramatic pattern of the time, while breaking other television rules at every turn. It has also got the iconic Orion slave girl, but that is something best left until later.

Is TC good? Yes. Is it good Trek? It depends on the definition of Trek that you use. The original cast material falls broadly into two categories: A - 'The Cage', the beginning of season one, most of the third season, and 'The Motion Picture'; B - The bulk of the first season, the entirety of the second, and the remainder of the movies. Category A has no character based humour at all, and B is where Trek made its name via intelligent naturalism characterisation on almost all levels. 'The Cage' is classical A material: Solid, durable, intelligent and ever so slightly dull. The lessons imparted by the latter producer Gene Coon had yet to come in and so we deal with the Roddenberry-ness of it all. (Note: There is also category C, which is the epically strange animated series and only the animated series.)

The interesting things about TC are the things that would change, and the iconic aspects that would shine through when it was re-edited into the two-part episode 'The Menagerie'. Yes, it's the Orion slave girl again, but also the unprecedented woman first officer who is only referred to as Number One. She would later be blackballed by skittish/cowardly network people and her characteristics smooshed into those of the already-present but far too shouty Mr Spock. A woman first officer? Unthinkable to the powers that were of the time, but a brave piece of universe building for 'Star Trek'. The third iconic aspect of the show is the starship itself, and the fourth the ubiquitous production budget saving transporter. It's a beautiful ship already, in this earliest incarnation, one of the best to ever be seen in film and television until its even more ludicrously beautiful replacement in 'The Motion Picture'.

Ultimately, even though it reflects poorly on me, the writer of the Quirky Muffin, once I had seen this the first time it was only ever going to be about the Green Girl. It is ironic that the Kirk cliche of romancing 'green alien space babes' only happened once for him, and that this more famous example was for an entirely different captain. A captain with a brown soul of durable cardboard, and who spends more time being angry than he does anything else. I wonder what kind of series would have sprung from this attempt at a pilot?

It's a really expensive show, with stellar production values. The story is smart and well written, although it is more of a B movie style production than a tv show. The cast is solid, everything is solid. It's all structurally sound. What it lacks is the energy that the infamous Shatner brought in massive amounts, from the next episode onwards... All I can say is this: Bring on the double fisted hammer blow and flying leg kick!

O.