It is surprising that this episode didn't air before 1988, largely because much of the footage was used to make the two-part episode 'The Menagerie' at a later date. This story predates the era of Captain James T. Kirk; here Christopher Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter, captains the Enterprise. The only familiar face from the original series is Mr. Spock although he doesn't appear to be quite as emotionless in this pilot. He is not the only familiar voice however as Majel Barrett who plays Number One here will go on to provide the voice of the computers in many later series.
For anybody who hasn't seen 'The Menagerie' the plot involves a species of telepathic aliens who lure the crew of the Enterprise to the planet Talos IV with a false distress beacon from a ship that crashed their eighteen years previously. The beacon claims that there are several survivors and when they get there that appears to be the case until Vina, the sole woman in the group, lures Captain Pike away from the group then vanishes along with the other 'survivors'. Pike is captured by strange large-brained who put him in a glass-fronted cage. As part of their experiments on him they make him experience several illusions involving Vina. It turns out that she is real and they are hoping that Pike will be a suitable mate for her! Unlike later episodes this story mainly concerned just one member of the crew, namely the captain and Vina, the rest of the crew were very much secondary characters here. Jeffrey Hunter and Susan Oliver did a good enough job in the lead roles and the rest of the crew weren't too bad even if one or two of them were a little wooden. The special effects do look very dated and in the opening scenes I worried that might spoil the story but I soon found myself ignoring them, after all a decent story with good characters is more important than great special effects something that one or two directors these days seem to have forgotten.
While I don't imaging this would appeal to non Star Trek fans all people who enjoyed the various series, especially The Original Series, should check this out if they get a chance I wonder how different science fiction would have been today if the studio hadn't decided to give this series a second chance, albeit with a mostly different cast.
For anybody who hasn't seen 'The Menagerie' the plot involves a species of telepathic aliens who lure the crew of the Enterprise to the planet Talos IV with a false distress beacon from a ship that crashed their eighteen years previously. The beacon claims that there are several survivors and when they get there that appears to be the case until Vina, the sole woman in the group, lures Captain Pike away from the group then vanishes along with the other 'survivors'. Pike is captured by strange large-brained who put him in a glass-fronted cage. As part of their experiments on him they make him experience several illusions involving Vina. It turns out that she is real and they are hoping that Pike will be a suitable mate for her! Unlike later episodes this story mainly concerned just one member of the crew, namely the captain and Vina, the rest of the crew were very much secondary characters here. Jeffrey Hunter and Susan Oliver did a good enough job in the lead roles and the rest of the crew weren't too bad even if one or two of them were a little wooden. The special effects do look very dated and in the opening scenes I worried that might spoil the story but I soon found myself ignoring them, after all a decent story with good characters is more important than great special effects something that one or two directors these days seem to have forgotten.
While I don't imaging this would appeal to non Star Trek fans all people who enjoyed the various series, especially The Original Series, should check this out if they get a chance I wonder how different science fiction would have been today if the studio hadn't decided to give this series a second chance, albeit with a mostly different cast.