"The Cage", the original and unaired pilot for this series, was a great episode. The episode didn't go to waste, as the producers found a way to 'splice' most of that episode into a two-part story, "The Menagerie". This story has one of the best and most uplifting endings of any Star Trek episode-- a way is found to help a crippled officer live a (relatively) normal life.
Having seen "The Cage", I learned there are some parts that were deleted for this version, including the memorable line that "Number One" (Majel Barrett) has secret fantasies about Captain Pike! That was one of my favorite lines that didn't make it to this version.
There's a fair amount of padding in these two episodes to make them "fit" into a two-episode slot, but that was reasonably well done. The fiction of the court-martial doesn't quite make sense, but it served its dramatic purpose of creating tension and consuming time.
Unfortunately, I felt like I had to downgrade the episode somewhat due to one major problem with the story: the total failure to explain just WHY the Talosians would want to help Pike. In the original "Cage" script, of course, Pike never got crippled and never returned to Talos, so there was no need for any such explanation. And it's pretty hard to come up with a reason that they would help him.
What did they get out of it? Why would they suddenly be benevolent and helpful to a man who was now totally incapable of producing any children? Not to mention the fact that Vina was probably in her 50's by that point and past childbearing age (an "adult" when she crash landed, as stated by Number One; 18 years before Pike first met her, which was 13 years prior to the events of "The Menagerie"). And the Talosians didn't seem particularly "altruistic" nor did they owe any debt to Pike; just the opposite. It is rather difficult to think of a rationale for the Talosians to act in that way, which is probably why the writers didn't even try to fashion some excuse.
Having seen "The Cage", I learned there are some parts that were deleted for this version, including the memorable line that "Number One" (Majel Barrett) has secret fantasies about Captain Pike! That was one of my favorite lines that didn't make it to this version.
There's a fair amount of padding in these two episodes to make them "fit" into a two-episode slot, but that was reasonably well done. The fiction of the court-martial doesn't quite make sense, but it served its dramatic purpose of creating tension and consuming time.
Unfortunately, I felt like I had to downgrade the episode somewhat due to one major problem with the story: the total failure to explain just WHY the Talosians would want to help Pike. In the original "Cage" script, of course, Pike never got crippled and never returned to Talos, so there was no need for any such explanation. And it's pretty hard to come up with a reason that they would help him.
What did they get out of it? Why would they suddenly be benevolent and helpful to a man who was now totally incapable of producing any children? Not to mention the fact that Vina was probably in her 50's by that point and past childbearing age (an "adult" when she crash landed, as stated by Number One; 18 years before Pike first met her, which was 13 years prior to the events of "The Menagerie"). And the Talosians didn't seem particularly "altruistic" nor did they owe any debt to Pike; just the opposite. It is rather difficult to think of a rationale for the Talosians to act in that way, which is probably why the writers didn't even try to fashion some excuse.