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The Cage (Star Trek)

"The Cage"
Star Trek: The Original Series episode
Episode no. Episode 1
Directed by Robert Butler
Written by Gene Roddenberry
Featured music Alexander Courage (uncredited)
Production code
  • 001 – Restored Version
  • 099 – Original Version
Original air date
  • February 1965 (1965-02) (First screened to NBC)
  • October 14, 1986 (1986-10-14) (VHS Release)
  • October 4, 1988 (1988-10-04) (TV Premiere - Restored to full color)
Guest appearance(s)

"The Cage" is the first pilot episode of the American television series Star Trek. It was completed in early 1965 (with a copyright date of 1964), but not broadcast on television in its complete form until late 1988. The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Butler. It was rejected by NBC in February 1965, and the network ordered another pilot episode, which became "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

Much original footage from "The Cage" was later incorporated into the first-season two-parter, "The Menagerie".

"The Cage" had many of the features of the eventual series, but there were numerous differences. The Captain of the starship USS Enterprise was not James T. Kirk, but Christopher Pike. Spock was present, but not as First Officer. That role was taken by a character known only as Number One, played by Majel Barrett. Spock's character differs somewhat from that seen in the rest of Star Trek; he displays a youthful eagerness that contrasts with the later more reserved and logical Spock. He also delivers the first line in all of Star Trek: "Check the circuit!" followed by, "Can't be the screen then." The weaponry used in the pilot was also different from that seen in the series proper, identified as lasers rather than phasers, and different props were used for the communicator and handheld weapon (which made the change to "phasers" easy to retcon as an upgraded technology).

NBC reportedly called the pilot "too cerebral", "too intellectual", and "too slow" with "not enough action". Rather than rejecting the series outright, though, the network commissioned a second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". This was accepted and Star Trek began production.


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