Spoilers Captain Pike
- Thread starter Starlocke
- Start date
For all intents and purposes Pike was a one appearance character little different than many others seen on TOS. But the way he was first seen in "The Menagerie" was a tantalizing glimpse into pre TOS history both in and out of universe.
It was the Trek series that never was--the road not taken. It was also a glimpse of voyages before the Kirk era.
We see just enough to pique our curiosity and makes us wonder what we have never seen: the further voyages under the command of Christopher Pike.
For myself my first viewing of "The Menagerie" gave me the impression there had been earlier TOS episodes I had never seen where things were different than what I was familiar with. And, I think, this is what remains interesting about the Pike era even though we know "The Cage" was all we would ever get to see of that version of Star Trek.
Others have obviously felt the same given we have gotten a number of novels and comic books set in the Pike era aboard the Enterprise. We have even seen some fan productions show us something of the Pike era.
From that I still have an interest to see an animated feature or series exploring the path NBC didn't take. Or perhaps even a fan production exploring the road not taken in a series of standalone thirty minute episodes.
It was the Trek series that never was--the road not taken. It was also a glimpse of voyages before the Kirk era.
We see just enough to pique our curiosity and makes us wonder what we have never seen: the further voyages under the command of Christopher Pike.
For myself my first viewing of "The Menagerie" gave me the impression there had been earlier TOS episodes I had never seen where things were different than what I was familiar with. And, I think, this is what remains interesting about the Pike era even though we know "The Cage" was all we would ever get to see of that version of Star Trek.
Others have obviously felt the same given we have gotten a number of novels and comic books set in the Pike era aboard the Enterprise. We have even seen some fan productions show us something of the Pike era.
From that I still have an interest to see an animated feature or series exploring the path NBC didn't take. Or perhaps even a fan production exploring the road not taken in a series of standalone thirty minute episodes.
To "Kor" and Mr. Cox: You've both reminded me that the easiest way to not find something is to assume it's not easy to find, and not bother looking.
Yes, I had that same feeling myself, briefly, until I read about ST's troubled gestation in The Making . . . and The World . . . . I think that may have been the inspiration for the hoaxes about ST existing as a forgotten movie serial before Roddenberry came along, and as a forgotten dime novel series before that.
I think that the hoaxes may refer to this collection of cover art from the series that never was.
http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-u-e-s-p-a-series-of-books.237106/
http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-u-e-s-p-a-series-of-books.237106/
I'm pretty sure the version that was a mixture of black and white and color was released on VHS sometime in 1986, I clearly remember renting it in the fall of that year.
I saw the debut of "The Cage" as a pay-per-view event on cable. I taped it on my VCR, complete with the Roddenberry prologue filmed on the movie Enterprise set. To this day, it's the only ppv I ever bought. Totally worth it.
It was incredible to see new scenes from Star Trek, the black and white parts, after memorizing the whole series in syndication.
Replying to Warp Core Breach: This wiki entry says it came out on VHS in 1986, and the full-color edition aired in 1988. If correct, this means that the pay-per-view I saw was in 1986, because it was the mixed color-and-b&w version on ppv.
I also bought the full color version on VHS, which must have been 1988.
It was incredible to see new scenes from Star Trek, the black and white parts, after memorizing the whole series in syndication.
Replying to Warp Core Breach: This wiki entry says it came out on VHS in 1986, and the full-color edition aired in 1988. If correct, this means that the pay-per-view I saw was in 1986, because it was the mixed color-and-b&w version on ppv.
I also bought the full color version on VHS, which must have been 1988.
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The color/BW hybrid version of "The Cage" was released in VHS and Beta along with ten of the regular episodes in October. Less known is that it was also (sans Roddenberry intro) screened at the Museum of Broadcasting (now The Paley Center for Media) in New York City during beginning August 7, 1986 (almost 20 years before today!) to September 18, 1986 which I remember viewing back then (though not the screening with GR speaking).
http://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/22/arts/a-first-showing-for-star-trek-pilot.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/22/arts/a-first-showing-for-star-trek-pilot.html
Technically, you cannot watch many episodes in any order. For example, in WNMHGB, the galactic barrier was encountered by Kirk's 1701 for the 1st time, so watching "By Any Other Name" before it (where Kirk says of the barrier, "Yes, I know. We've been there") would not make sense.
Yeah, but it's more true of TOS than any other Trek show, given the way it was written.
When I first watched TOS (and I still haven't seen all the episodes), I and my brother watched them out of order, just picking whatever sounded interesting. Granted, I'd already read the fotonovel versions of WNMHGB and TCOTEOF and seen other Trek series episodes, but I got things eventually. Reading and contributing to MA by way of Chakoteya and the occasional online real script helped, too.
When I first watched TOS (and I still haven't seen all the episodes), I and my brother watched them out of order, just picking whatever sounded interesting. Granted, I'd already read the fotonovel versions of WNMHGB and TCOTEOF and seen other Trek series episodes, but I got things eventually. Reading and contributing to MA by way of Chakoteya and the occasional online real script helped, too.
To a degree, but it was by no means serialized in the manner of modern shows. There were no continuing arc plots and any revisisted elements (like the galactic barrier) were presented in a manner that didn't really require any knowledge of the previous ep. Aside from that one throwaway line, there's nothing in "By Another Name" that requires you to be familiar with the tragic fate of Gary Mitchell or any of that.
Granted, it might be confusing to watch "Balance of Terror" after "The Enterprise Incident" since the cloaking device was introduced in "Balance." But, in general, TOS did not refer back to previous episodes much. Gary Mitchell was never mentioned again, Edith Keeler was never mentioned again, there are no season-finale cliffhangers, etc.. Most episodes are standalones like "Return of the Archons" or "Gamesters of Triskelion" or whatever that could fit in almost anywhere.
And the presence of Rand and/or Chekov helps indicate when an ep was filmed, but has nothing to do with the plot of any given episode. Rand never got a farewell episode; Chekov was never introduced. They're just there on the bridge--or not.
One of John Byrne's photo-manipulated comics actually imagines what Chekov was up to pre-navigator posting. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Mister_Chekov
I belabor this point, btw, just because the sixties were so long ago that one does occasionally encounter modern fans who (understandably) apply modern expectations to a show made some fifty years ago, in an era when TV had very different conventions.
Just the other day, in fact, I was chatting with a younger fan who was puzzled as to why a certain TOS plot line was wrapped up in a single episode instead of playing out over the course of a season or two, which is probably how it would be handled nowadays.
I had to explain that that was simply not how prime-time 1960s tv series worked.
Just the other day, in fact, I was chatting with a younger fan who was puzzled as to why a certain TOS plot line was wrapped up in a single episode instead of playing out over the course of a season or two, which is probably how it would be handled nowadays.
I had to explain that that was simply not how prime-time 1960s tv series worked.
Which plotline?
Honestly, I was vague on purpose so as to avoid seeming as though I was trying to embarrass anybody in particular. It wasn't on this message board, though. And the point was that I've run into this sort of misunderstanding before--from more than just one specific individual.
I wondered if that was why.
I've had conversations like that too, but not specifically about Star Trek.
Funny that a "generation gap" would be that wide when it comes to something so simple as a TV show.
I always found it hard to imagine the Enterprise before Captain Kirk. Even seeing The Menagerie flashbacks it felt weird. I guess it's because I'm so used to seeing the crews board their ships on their maiden voyages like in Encounter At Farpoint and Caretaker. To think Spock served on the Enterprise for 11 years before Kirk took command. He must have seen hundreds of senior and junior officers come and go before Kirk, Bones, Scotty, Sulu and Uhura arrived.
They could have and would have done stories that hearkened back to Spock's past on the Enterprise if TOS had story arcs.
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