Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 1, Episode 101 - "The Cage"
Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
Roddenberry Entertainment
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 August 2012
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the premier of Mission Log, we begin with Star Trek: The Original Series episode, "The Cage." Is there anything better than sitting in a cave and watching TV? If it means giving up a large portion of your freedom, then according to Captain Christopher Pike of the starship Enterprise, you're damn right there is! Re-live Star Trek's mysterious, never-aired first pilot, "The Cage." Learn about who was No. 1 before No. 1? Find out where the show really began and more.
Hosted by John Champion & Ken Ray
Welcome to Mission Log, a Roddenberry Entertainment podcast where we explore the Star Trek universe one episode at a time. Each week, Mission Log examines a single episode of Star Trek, diving into its ethical subtext, metaphors, and cultural significance. From the show's most iconic moments to its hidden gems, we analyze what makes Star Trek one of the greatest science fiction sagas of all time...
In This Episode:
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Story recap and analysis of key moments.
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A discussion of the moral dilemmas presented.
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How the episode holds up and if the messages are still relevant.
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Produced by Roddenberry Entertainment. Edited by Earl Green.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Now entering nerdist.com |
| 0:04.8 | The Mission Log, a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast. |
| 0:34.6 | Our mission is to walk through every episode of Star Trek in order and figure out the |
| 0:39.7 | message behind the story. And then we log it. What are the points? What's the moral? How does |
| 0:46.0 | this whole thing hold up today? All of these questions and more are discussed by us. Me, |
| 0:50.7 | I'm Can Ray. And I'm John Champion. |
| 0:59.7 | In this edition, we're talking about the unaired first pilot for Star Trek, The Cage. |
| 1:06.4 | It's unique in Star Trek lore for having an almost entirely different cast than the one that became famous. And it's unique in TV history for being one of the only times a network ordered a second pilot after the first one was rejected. |
| 1:15.4 | And with that, we begin. |
| 1:19.8 | While you may know Star Trek, this is not the Star Trek you know. |
| 1:24.3 | Who are these people? And what are they doing on Kirk's ship? |
| 1:30.1 | The crew of the USS Enterprise, headed by Captain Christopher Pike, is smarting after a battle on Rijal 7. |
| 1:37.8 | On the way to tend to their wounded, they are sidelined by an old signal from the USS Columbia |
| 1:42.7 | lost some 18 years ago. |
| 1:45.0 | Now, 18 years is a long time, and Pike figures there's no one at the other end anymore, |
| 1:50.0 | but a second call comes through, so away they go to Talos IV, the source of the transmission. |
| 1:56.0 | Upon arriving, the crew are amazed to find a handful of survivors, most elderly, but one a beautiful young woman named Vina. |
| 2:04.3 | Suddenly, the Columbia crew disappear and Captain Pike finds himself separated from his own crew, |
| 2:10.7 | now trapped by the Toulosians, and essentially a zoo cage. |
| 2:14.7 | Appearing at his side sporadically is Vina, who explains that the Telosians are their |
| 2:19.3 | keepers, who can dole out punishment or reward based on how well they accept their captivity. |
| 2:25.6 | The plus side here is huge. Anything Pike can dream can be manifested, anything from being |
... |
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