Before Star Trek was a fully fledged religion, a multimedia behemoth spanning 5 show, 12 films (and counting), books, video games and the like, it was an unproven, vulnerable and daring concept. Few audiences ever get a chance to appreciate their favorite shows' test runs, and Star Trek again goes the distance by not just unearthing its long lost pilot, but even giving it the extra polish it deserves.
The Cage was rejected as a pilot for being too cerebral and low on action, so while many of its traits came to define the series - transporter beams, phasers, pastel-costumed aliens, class M planets (strangely abundant it seems) - others did not. Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter), less likable but more interesting than Kirk, jumped ship, and the crew was reshuffled. The sometimes quaint technology was also given a small update, so exit 23rd century fax machines.
What is striking, though, is how firmly it sets its tone and grasps its limitations, using exploration and adventure as subtext to its central dual of wits. There's a mean edge to the plot and some of the characters that would come to define what Star Trek can be at its very best, while making us marvel at how out of our depth we might be in the vastness of the universe.
Nearly 50 years on, this stand-alone episode could well be one of the finest science fiction films ever made, never mind the glorious retro-kitsch masterpiece it equally qualifies as. Even despite the limited means, one can feel the creators' total commitment to the universe they are just beginning to explore before our very eyes, and the huge sense of possibility.
Whatever your feelings are about Star Trek, if you have any interest in science fiction, you owe it to yourself to see this. What we have here isn't just some dated television milestone, but a hugely rewarding piece of entertainment in its own right.
The Cage was rejected as a pilot for being too cerebral and low on action, so while many of its traits came to define the series - transporter beams, phasers, pastel-costumed aliens, class M planets (strangely abundant it seems) - others did not. Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter), less likable but more interesting than Kirk, jumped ship, and the crew was reshuffled. The sometimes quaint technology was also given a small update, so exit 23rd century fax machines.
What is striking, though, is how firmly it sets its tone and grasps its limitations, using exploration and adventure as subtext to its central dual of wits. There's a mean edge to the plot and some of the characters that would come to define what Star Trek can be at its very best, while making us marvel at how out of our depth we might be in the vastness of the universe.
Nearly 50 years on, this stand-alone episode could well be one of the finest science fiction films ever made, never mind the glorious retro-kitsch masterpiece it equally qualifies as. Even despite the limited means, one can feel the creators' total commitment to the universe they are just beginning to explore before our very eyes, and the huge sense of possibility.
Whatever your feelings are about Star Trek, if you have any interest in science fiction, you owe it to yourself to see this. What we have here isn't just some dated television milestone, but a hugely rewarding piece of entertainment in its own right.