The Cage

1x00 Turnabout Intruder Star Trek: The Original SeriesSeason 1

 WRITTEN BY

Gene Roddenberry

 DIRECTED BY

Robert Butler

 AIRED ON

October 4, 1988

 RUNTIME

1 hour 3 minutes

 STARRING

Leonard Nimoy

Spock

 VIEWS

562

 LAST UPDATE

2024-09-19 04:24:27

 PAGE VERSION

Version 16

 LIKES

2

 DISLIKES

0

 SUMMARY

The Cage, the original pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, follows Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the USS Enterprise as they respond to a distress signal from the planet Talos IV. Upon arrival, Pike is captured by the Talosians, an alien species with powerful telepathic abilities who seek to use him in their experiments to repopulate their ravaged planet. Through a series of illusions, the Talosians attempt to manipulate Pike into staying, but he ultimately resists. The episode explores themes of reality versus illusion and the nature of freedom, setting the stage for the philosophical and adventurous spirit of the Star Trek franchise.

 STORY

No story yet.

 BEHIND THE SCENES

• Gene Roddenberry's Vision: "The Cage" was created by Gene Roddenberry, who envisioned a series that combined science fiction with social commentary. This pilot reflected his desire to tell complex, thought-provoking stories.
• Different Captain: The pilot featured Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike, rather than William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk. This marked a significant difference from the rest of the series.
• Majel Barrett's Role: Majel Barrett, who later played Nurse Chapel and the voice of the computer in subsequent Star Trek series, appeared in "The Cage" as Number One, Pike's second-in-command. Her character was one of the earliest examples of a strong female leader in science fiction TV.
• Spock's Changes: Leonard Nimoy's Spock is present in "The Cage," but his character is quite different from the one fans came to love. Spock smiles and shows more emotion compared to his later, more stoic portrayal.
• Spock is the only character who survived this first pilot.
• Studio Rejection and Rework: NBC initially rejected "The Cage" for being "too cerebral," "too intellectual," and "too slow," but they were impressed enough to commission a second pilot, leading to the creation of "Where No Man Has Gone Before."
• Recycled Footage: Footage from "The Cage" was later incorporated into the two-part episode "The Menagerie" during the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series, allowing audiences to see the original pilot within the context of the show's narrative.
• Innovative Special Effects: "The Cage" featured groundbreaking special effects for its time, including the depiction of the Talosians' telepathic abilities and the various illusions they created.
• Cultural Impact: Despite being shelved initially, "The Cage" has since been recognized as a significant piece of television history, showcasing early ideas that would become central to the Star Trek universe.
• Remastering: In later years, "The Cage" was remastered with improved visual effects and sound, giving fans a chance to experience the episode with modern enhancements while preserving its original narrative and style.

 QUOTES

Captain Christopher Pike: The devil're you putting in there, ice?
Dr. Boyce: Who wants a warm martini?
Captain Christopher Pike: What makes you think I need one?
Dr. Boyce: Sometimes, a man'll tell his bartender things he'll... never tell his doctor.

Captain Christopher Pike: The point is that this isn't the only life available. There's a whole galaxy of things to choose from.
Dr. Boyce: Not for you. A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he... turns his back on it and starts to wither away.
Captain Christopher Pike: Now you're beginning to talk like a doctor, bartender.
Dr. Boyce: Take your choice. We both get the same two kinds of customers - the living... and the dying.

Number One: She's replacing your former yeoman, sir.
Captain Christopher Pike: No, she does a good job, all right; it's just that I... can't get used to having a woman on the bridge.
[Number One gives him a look]
Captain Christopher Pike: No offense, Lieutenant, you're... different, of course.

Vina: You appear to be healthy and intelligent, captain. A prime specimen.

Captain Christopher Pike: My name is Christopher Pike, commander of the space vehicle Enterprise from a stellar group at the other end of this galaxy. Our intentions are peaceful. Can you understand me?
First Talosian: [talking about Pike, who is being held in a Talosian prison cell] It appears, Magistrate, that the intelligence of the specimen is shockingly limited.
The Keeper: This is no surprise, since his vessel was baited here so easily with a simulated message. As you can read in its thoughts, it is only now beginning to suspect that the survivors and encampment were a simple illusion we placed in their minds.
Captain Christopher Pike: You're not speaking, yet I can hear you.
The Keeper: You will note the confusion as it reads our thought transmissions.
Captain Christopher Pike: All right then, telepathy. You can read my mind, I can read yours. Now, unless you want my ship to consider capturing me an unfriendly act...
The Keeper: You'll now see the primitive fear threat reaction. The specimen is about to boast of his strength, the weaponry of his vessel, and so on. Next, frustrated into a need to display physical prowess, the creature will throw himself against the transparency.
[Pike does so]
Captain Christopher Pike: If you were in here, wouldn't you test the strength of these walls, too? There's a way out of any cage, and I'll find it!
The Keeper: Despite its frustration, the creature appears more adaptable than our specimens from other planets. We can soon begin the experiment.

Dr. Boyce: The inhabitants of this planet can read our minds. They can create illusions out of a person's own thoughts, memories and experiences, even out of a person's own desires - illusions just as real and solid as this table top and just as impossible to ignore.

Captain Christopher Pike: Why are you here?
Vina: To please you.
Pike: Are you real?
Vina: As real as you wish.
Pike: Oh, no. No, that's not any answer. I've never met you before, never even imagined you.
Vina: Perhaps they made me out of dreams you've forgotten.
Pike: But dressed you in the same metal fabric they wear?
Vina: Well I have to wear something. Don't I? Or I can wear whatever you wish, be anything you wish.
Pike: So they can see how their specimen performs? They want to see how I react, is that it?
Vina: Don't you have a dream, something you've always wanted very badly?
Pike: Or do they do more than just watch me? Do they... feel with me, too?
Vina: You can have whatever dream you want. I can become anything, any woman you've ever imagined. You can have anything you want in the whole universe. Let me... please you.

Vina: You're a fool!
Pike: Since you're not real, there's not much point in continuing this conversation, is there?

Vina: We're like Adam and Eve. If we --

Pike: 'Cause you either live life, bruises, skinned knees and all, or you turn your back on it and start dying.

Pike: We're in a menagerie, a cage.

The Keeper: Each of the two new specimens has qualities in her favor. The female you call Number One has the superior mind and would produce highly intelligent children. Although she seems to lack emotion, this is largely a pretense. She often has fantasies involving you.
Captain Christopher Pike: All I wanna do is get my hands on you. Can you read these thoughts, images of hate, killing?
The Keeper: The other new arrival has considered you unreachable, but now is realizing this has changed. The factors in her favor are youth and strength, plus unusually strong female drives.

Yeoman J.M. Colt: [to Pike] S-sir? I was wondering. Just curious. Who would've been Eve?
Number One: Yeoman! You've delivered your report.

Pike: What are we running here, a cadet ship, Number One? Are we ready or not?
Number One: All decks show ready, sir.
Captain Christopher Pike: Engage!

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 REVIEWS

The (sex) cage

Written by Pike on 2024-07-31
★ ★ ★ ★

CAPTAIN... PIKE?!
"The Cage" is the episode zero of the original Star Trek series. Instead of Captain Kirk, we get another Captain of the ship. Captain Pike. And I must say the actor is quite believable and that the (pre)pilot works very well.

WELL CRAFTED FOR ITS TIME
While the episode may feel dated when watched today, you can clearly see that the episode got quite a budget. Let's remember that this is 1965. This is before Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, before Planet of the Apes, both released in 1968. There are so many sets and well crafted, it's really astonishing.
Yes, it feels cheap when watching it sixty years later, but if you look beyond that and appreciate the episode for what it is, it is very enjoyable and at times even fun.

STORY
It all starts with Captain Pike and his crew receiving a signal that was sent out for 18 years. Soon after, they beam onto the planet and discover that this was "some sorte of a trap", as Spock says. Some aliens with a higher form of intelligence put Pike into a cage to study him while putting him in front of illusions. The story is quite interesting, I liked the way that the aliens are building alternate realities for Capt. Pike.

SEX
It may be pure science-fiction, but it relates, somehow to a sense of reality that is always highly important in such stories. We might be far into an unknown galaxy, facing endless possibilities and all we think about... is sex.
Let's be real, like perhaps everything in life, this episode is about sex. Captain Pike spends most of the episode trying not to succumb to his urges to penetrate Vina, the good-looking blonde fantasy. This desire reaches its culmination point when Vina dances for him in a lubricious pose, half-naked.

A few mundane things:
- The sounds in the ship are quite funny, whether the alarms or the doors closing and opening.
- The idea of the beaming system and its execution are brilliant.
- The back of the alien heads look really like... asses!
- Also, I've never seen an episode with so many actors having piercing blue eyes.

SUMMARY
I give it 4 out of 5. Excellent, imaginative and provocative. A great concept which, as with all sci-fi stories, will produce great episodes and horrendous ones. There's rarely a place for in-between when it comes to sci-fi.

Engage!
___________________________________________

When Space Cowboys Meet Big-Brained Aliens with Bad Wi-Fi

Written by lilly on 2024-09-15
★ ★ ★ ★

Ah, "The Cage," the original, unaired pilot of Star Trek, where Captain Pike first grumbles his way into the captain's chair and the bridge looks like it was designed by someone who really liked 1960s office furniture.

Right off the bat, you know this is a different breed of Trek. No Kirk, no Spock eyebrows doing the People's Eyebrow, and Captain Pike is basically Space Hamlet, brooding around his ship like he’s got 99 problems, and they’re all crew-related. He doesn’t even want to be a starship captain anymore! Can you imagine Kirk saying that? Kirk would probably respond to existential dread with, “Let’s seduce it!”

The alien villains? Big-brained, telepathic... toddlers. The Talosians look like they’ve been speed-reading How to Train Your Human but forgot to read the last chapter on proper headwear. Their giant craniums suggest they've either mastered the secrets of the universe or just have a really bad migraine.

Then there’s Vina, the supposed love interest who turns out to be a human space ragdoll made of spare parts. And how do the Talosians try to entice Captain Pike to stay? They show him a vision of an idyllic life... riding a horse! That’s right, they think the pinnacle of human fantasy is horseback riding in the desert. I mean, I get it—Pike’s basically the cowboy of space—but that’s not even the best vacation package!

Oh, and Spock? Spock smiles. He smiles. It’s like seeing a cat bark. Let’s just say it’s a good thing they decided to dial back the cheeriness in later episodes.

Overall, The Cage is a fascinating look at what could have been, but thank the stars someone decided to crank up the camp, toss in Kirk, and give us the Star Trek we know and love. It’s like they started with Shakespeare and then thought, “Nah, we need more space karate and green women.”

 TRANSCRIPT

[Bridge]
SPOCK: Check the circuit.
TYLER: All operating, sir.
SPOCK: It can't be the screen then. Definitely something out there, Captain, headed this way.
TYLER: It could be these meteorites.
ONE: No, it's something else. There's still something out there.
TYLER: It's coming at the speed of light, collision course. The meteorite beam has not deflected it, Captain.
ONE: Evasive manoeuvres, sir?
PIKE: Steady as we go.
GARISON: It's a radio wave, sir. We're passing through an old-style distress signal.
PIKE: They were keyed to cause interference and attract attention this way.
GARISON: A ship in trouble making a forced landing, sir. That's it. No other message.
TYLER: I have a fix. It comes from the Talos star group.
ONE: We've no ships or Earth colonies that far out.
SPOCK: Their call letters check with a survey expedition. SS Columbia. It disappeared in that region approximately eighteen years ago.
TYLER: It would take that long for a radio beam to travel from there to here.
SPOCK: Records show the Talos group has never been explored. Solar system similar to Earth, eleven planets. Number four seems to be Class M, oxygen atmosphere.
ONE: Then they could still be alive, even after eighteen years.
PIKE: If they survived the crash.
SPOCK: We aren't going to go, to be certain?
PIKE: Not without any indication of survivors, no. Continue to the Vega Colony and take care of our own sick and injured first. You have the helm. Maintain present course.
ONE: Yes, sir.

[Pike's quarters]

BOYCE [OC}: Boyce here.
PIKE: Drop by my cabin, Doctor. (Boyce enters with bag) What's that? I didn't say there's anything wrong with me.
BOYCE: I understand we picked up a distress signal.
PIKE: That's right. Unless we get anything more positive on it, it seems to me the condition of our own crew takes precedent. I'd like to log the ship's doctor's opinion, too.
BOYCE: Oh, I concur with yours, definitely.
PIKE: Good. I'm glad you do, because we're going to stop first at the Vega Colony and replace anybody who needs hospitalisation and also. What the devil are you putting in there, ice?
BOYCE: Who wants a warm martini?
PIKE: What makes you think I need one?
BOYCE: Sometimes a man'll tell his bartender things he'll never tell his doctor. What's been on your mind, Chris, the fight on Rigel Seven?
PIKE: Shouldn't it be? My own yeoman and two others dead, seven injured.
BOYCE: Was there anything you personally could have done to prevent it?
PIKE: Oh, I should have smelled trouble when I saw the swords and the armour. Instead of that, I let myself get trapped in that deserted fortress and attacked by one of their warriors.
BOYCE: Chris, you set standards for yourself no one could meet. You treat everyone on board like a human being except yourself, and now you're tired and you
PIKE: You bet I'm tired. You bet. I'm tired of being responsible for two hundred and three lives. I'm tired of deciding which mission is too risky and which isn't, and who's going on the landing party and who doesn't, and who lives and who dies. Boy, I've had it, Phil.
BOYCE: To the point of finally taking my advice, a rest leave?
PIKE: To the point of considering resigning.
BOYCE: And do what?
PIKE: Well, for one thing, go home. Nice little town with fifty miles of parkland around it. Remember I told you I had two horses, and we used to take some food and ride out all day.
BOYCE: Ah, that sounds exciting. Ride out with a picnic lunch every day.
PIKE: I said that's one place I might go. I might go into business on Regulus or on the Orion colony.
BOYCE: You, an Orion trader, dealing in green animal women, slaves?
PIKE: The point is this isn't the only life available. There's a whole galaxy of things to choose from.
BOYCE: Not for you. A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on, and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.
PIKE: Now you're beginning to talk like a doctor, bartender.
BOYCE: Take your choice. We both get the same two kinds of customers. The living and the dying.
SPOCK [on monitor]: Mister Spock here. We're intercepting a follow-up message, sir. There are crash survivors on Talos.

[Bridge]

GARISON: (reads) Eleven survivors from crash. Gravity and oxygen within limits. Food and water obtainable, but unless. The message faded at that point, sir.
PIKE: Address intercraft.
TYLER: System open.
PIKE: This is the captain. Our destination is the Talos star group. Our time warp, factor seven.
TYLER: Course computed and on the screen.
ONE: All decks have acknowledged, sir.
PIKE : Engage.
TYLER: On course, sir.
(Colt enters. Pike turns around and bumps into her)
PIKE: Yeoman.
COLT: Yes, sir.
PIKE: I thought I told you that when I'm on the bridge
COLT: But you wanted the reports by oh five hundred. It's oh five hundred now, sir.
PIKE: Oh, I see. Thank you.
ONE: She's replacing your former yeoman, sir.
PIKE: She does a good job, all right. It's just that I can't get used to having a woman on the bridge. No offence, Lieutenant. You're different, of course.
(The Enterprise arrives at a planet)
TYLER: We've settled into orbit, sir.
GEOLOGIST: Geological lab report complete, Captain.
SPOCK: Preliminary lab survey ready, sir.
PIKE: Spectography?
GEOLOGIST: Our reading shows an oxygen nitrogen atmosphere, sir, heavy with inert elements but well within safety limits.
PIKE: Gravity?
GEOLOGIST: Zero point nine of Earth.
TYLER: Captain? Reflections, sir, from the planet's surface. As I read it, they polarise out as rounded metal bits. Could be parts of a spaceship hull.
PIKE: Prep a landing party of six. You feel up to it?
SPOCK: Yes, sir.
TYLER: Yes, sir.
PIKE: Sorry, Number One. With little information on this planet, we'll have to leave the ship's most experienced officer here covering us.
ONE: Of course, sir.

[Transporter room]

PIKE: There's no indication of problems down there, but let's not take chances.
PITCAIRN: Yes, sir. There's a canyon to the left. We can set you there completely unobserved.

[Planet surface]

(the group explores until they find a rough settlement)
GARISON: Sir.
OLD MAN: They're men. They're humans.
PIKE: Captain Christopher Pike, United Space Ship Enterprise.
HASKINS: Doctor Theodore Haskins, American Continent lnstitute.
SURVIVOR: Is Earth all right?
PIKE: The same old Earth, and you'll see it very soon.
TYLER: And you won't believe how fast you can get back. Well the time barrier's been broken. Our new ships can
(He's struck dumb by the sight of a lovely young woman)
HASKINS: This is Vina. Her parents are dead. She was born almost as we crashed.
(The reunion is being watched on another screen, by three people with big bald heads)
PIKE: (as the survivors pack up the settlement) Enterprise.
ONE [OC]: Landing party, come in.
PIKE: We'll begin transporting the survivors and their effects up to you very shortly.
ONE [OC]: Quarters are being prepared, sir. Have I permission to send out scouting and scientific parties now?
PIKE: That's affirmative on the
VINA: You appear to be healthy and intelligent, Captain. A prime specimen.
ONE [OC]: I didn't get that last message, Captain.
PIKE: Er, affirmative on request. Landing party out.
HASKINS: You must forgive her choice of words, Captain. She's lived her whole life with a collection of aging scientists.
BOYCE: If they can spare you a moment, I'd like to make my medical report.
VINA: I think it's time to show the Captain our secret.
BOYCE: Their health is excellent. Almost too good.
HASKINS: There's a reason for our condition, but we've had some doubt if Earth is ready to learn the secret. Let the girl show you. We'll accept your judgment.
(Pike follows Vina up a slope to a ledge by a rock face)
VINA: You're tired, but don't worry. You'll feel much better soon. Don't you see it? Here and here.
PIKE: I don't understand.
VINA: You will. You're a perfect choice.
(Vina vanishes, and so do all the survivors and their encampment. A door opens in the rock face, Pike is knocked out and taken inside. At the settlement -)
TYLER: Captain!
(Everyone rushes over in time to see the door closing in the rock. They fire their phasers at it but it just blasts away the rock covering to show the metal underneath.)
SPOCK: Spock here.
ONE [OC]: Landing party, come in.
SPOCK: There is no survivors' encampment, Number One. This is all some sort of trap. We've lost the Captain. Do you read?

[Pike's cage]

(Pike wakes to find himself in a cell with a transparent wall blocking his escape. He tests it's strength, and notices other similar occupied cells. There's a fanged ape, a giant bird and other scary shadows. The three aliens arrive)
PIKE: Can you hear me? My name is Christopher Pike, commander of the space vehicle Enterprise from a stellar group at the other end of this galaxy. Our intentions are peaceful. Can you understand me?
(the aliens communicate with their minds, not voices)
TALOSIAN: It appears, Magistrate, that the intelligence of the specimen is shockingly limited.
MAGISTRATE: This is no surprise since his vessel was baited here so easily with a simulated message. As you can read in its thoughts, it is only now beginning to suspect that the survivors and encampment were a simple illusion we placed in their minds.
PIKE: You're not speaking, yet I can hear you.
MAGISTRATE: You will note the confusion as it reads our thought transmissions.
PIKE: All right then, telepathy. You can read my mind. I can read yours. Now, unless you want my ship to consider capturing me an unfriendly act
MAGISTRATE: You now see the primitive fear threat reaction. The specimen is about to boast of his strength, the weaponry of his vessel, and so on. Next, frustrated into a need to display physical prowess, the creature will throw himself against the transparency.
PIKE: If you were in here, wouldn't you test the strength of these walls, too? There's a way out of any cage, and I'll find it.
MAGISTRATE: Despite its frustration, the creature appears more adaptable than our specimens from other planets. We can soon begin the experiment.

[Briefing room]

SPOCK: The inhabitants of this planet must live deep underground, and probably manufacture food and other needs down there. Our tests indicate the planet surface, without considerably more vegetation or some animals, simply too barren to support life.
ONE: So we just thought we saw survivors there, Mr. Spock.
SPOCK: Exactly. An illusion placed in our minds by this planet's inhabitants.
BOYCE: It was a perfect illusion. They had us seeing just what we wanted to see, human beings who'd survived with dignity and bravery, everything entirely logical, right down to the building of the camp, the tattered clothing, everything. Now let's be sure we understand the danger of this. The inhabitants of this planet can read our minds. They can create illusions out of a person's own thoughts, memories, and experiences, even out of a person's own desires. Illusions just as real and solid as this table top and just as impossible to ignore.
ONE: Any estimate what they might want one of us for?
SPOCK: They may simply be studying the Captain, to find out how Earth people are put together. Or it could be something more.
TYLER: Then why aren't we doing anything? That entry may have stood up against hand lasers, but we can transmit the ship's power against it. Enough to blast half a continent.
SPOCK: Look. Brains three times the size of ours. If we start buzzing about down there, we're liable to find their mental power is so great they could reach out and swat this ship as though it were a fly.
TYLER: It's Captain Pike they've got. He needs help, and he probably needs it fast.
ONE: Engineering deck will rig to transmit ship's power. We'll try blasting through that metal.

[Talosian monitoring room]

(As Pike continues to explore his cell)
TALOSIAN: Thousands of us are already probing the creature's thoughts, Magistrate. We find excellent memory capacity.
MAGISTRATE: I read most strongly a recent death struggle in which it fought to protect its life. We will begin with this, giving the specimen something more interesting to protect.

[Rigel Seven]

VINA: Come on, we must hide ourselves. Come, come. Hurry. It's deserted. There'll be weapons and perhaps food.
PIKE: This is Rigel Seven.
VINA: Please, we must hide ourselves.
PIKE: I was in a cage, a cell, in some kind of a zoo. I must still be there.
VINA: Come on.
PIKE: They've reached into my mind and taken the memory of somewhere I've been.
VINA: The killer!
PIKE: It's starting just as it happened two weeks ago. Except for you.

[Fortress]

(The courtyard is scattered with lances and spears)
PIKE: Longer hair, different dress, but it is you, the one the survivors called Vina. Or rather the image of Vina. But why you again? Why didn't they create a different girl?
(The killer enters - a big humanoid with shield and axe)
VINA: Quick. If you attack while it's not looking.
PIKE: But it's only a dream.
VINA: You have to kill him as you did here before.
PIKE: You can tell my jailers I won't go along with it. I'm not an animal performing for its supper.
VINA: It doesn't matter what you call this, you'll feel it. That's what matters. You'll feel every moment of whatever happens to you. Please, don't you know what he'll do to us?
(so Pike fights the killer with mace and shield)
PIKE: Why would an illusion be frightened?
VINA: Because that's the way you imagined me.
PIKE: Who are you? You act as if this were really you.
VINA: Careful.
(Pike and Vina retreat up some stairs. The killer breaks Pike's spear and they throw objects at it. Pike gets knocked down into the courtyard. The killer grabs Vina and Pike throws a spear into it's back. Then it jumps down and spears itself on a wicked harpoon that Pike grabs just in time)

[Pike's cell]

VINA: It's over.
(Vina hugs her hero, then sees the Talosians watching them. The Talosians leave.)
PIKE: Why are you here?
VINA: To please you.
PIKE: Are you real?
VINA: As real as you wish.
PIKE: No, no. No, that's not an answer. I've never met you before, never even imagined you.
VINA: Perhaps they made me out of dreams you've forgotten.
PIKE: What, and dress you in the same metal fabric they wear?
VINA: I have to wear something, don't I? I can wear whatever you wish, be anything you wish.
PIKE: So they can see how their specimen performs? They want to see how I react, is that it?
VINA: Don't you have a dream, something you've always wanted very badly?
PIKE: Or do they do more than just watch me? Do they feel with me, too?
VINA: You can have whatever dream you want. I can become anything, any woman you've ever imagined. You can have anything you want in the whole universe. Let me please you.
PIKE: Yes. Yes, you can please me. You can tell me about them. Is there any way I can keep them from probing my mind, from using my thoughts against me? Does that frighten you? Does that mean there is a way?
VINA: You're a fool.
PIKE: Since you're not real, there's not much point in continuing this conversation, is there.

[Planet surface]

(A big laser cannon is aimed at the door in the rock.
ONE: All circuits engaged, Mister Spock.
SPOCK [OC]: Standing by, Number One.
ONE: Take cover.
SPOCK [OC]: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
(The laser cannon blasts away)
ONE: Increase to full power! Can you give us any more?
SPOCK [OC]: Our circuits are beginning to heat. We'll have to cease power.
ONE: Disengage. The top of that knoll should have been sheared off the first second.
BOYCE: Maybe it was. It's what I tried to explain in the briefing room. Their power of illusion is so great, we can't be sure of anything we do, anything we see.

[Pike's cell]

VINA: Perhaps if you asked me some questions, I could answer.
PIKE: How far can they control my mind?
VINA: If I tell you, then will you pick some dream you've had and let me live it with you?
PIKE: Perhaps.
VINA: They can't actually make you do anything you don't want to do.
PIKE: But they try to trick me with their illusions.
VINA: And, they can punish you when you're not co-operative. You'll find out about that.
PIKE: Did they ever live on the surface of this planet? Why did they go underground?
VINA: War, thousands of centuries ago.
PIKE: That's why it's so barren up there?
VINA; The planet's only now becoming able to support life again.
PIKE: So the Talosians who came underground found life limited here and they concentrated on developing their mental power.
VINA: But they found it's a trap. Like a narcotic. Because when dreams become more important than reality, you give up travel, building, creating. You even forget how to repair the machines left behind by your ancestors. You just sit, living and reliving other lives left behind in the thought record.
PIKE: Or sit probing minds of zoo specimens like me.
VINA: You're better than a theatre to them. They create the illusion for you, they watch you react, feel your emotions. They have a whole collection of specimens, descendants of life brought back long ago from all over this part of the galaxy.
PIKE: Which means they had to have more than one of each animal.
VINA: Please.
PIKE: They'll need a pair of humans too. Where do they get intend to get the Earth woman?
VINA: You said that if I answered questions
PIKE: But that was a bargain with something that didn't exist. You said you weren't real, remember?
VINA: I'm a woman as real and as human as you are. We're like Adam and Eve. If we. Don't. Please don't punish me! (disappears)
(Pike sees the Magistrate walk away)
(Pike continues to search the walls for a door when a hatch opens and a glass is placed on the floor)
MAGISTRATE: The vial contains a nourishing protein complex.
PIKE: Is the keeper actually communicating with one of his animals?
MAGISTRATE: If the form and the colour is not appealing, it can appear as any food you wish to visualise.
PIKE: And if I prefer
MAGISTRATE: To starve? You overlook the unpleasant alternative of punishment.
(Pike is surrounded by fire and brimstone, screaming in pain)
MAGISTRATE: From a fable you once heard in childhood. You will now consume the nourishment.
PIKE: Why not just put irresistible hunger in my mind? Because you can't, can you? You do have limitations, don't you?
MAGISTRATE: If you continue to disobey, from deeper in your mind, there are things even more unpleasant.
(Pike drinks the nourishment then launches himself at the glass wall. The Magistrate steps back in surprise)
PIKE: That's very interesting.
MAGISTRATE: Now to the female.
PIKE: You were startled. Weren't you reading my mind then?
MAGISTRATE: As you've conjectured, an Earth vessel did crash on our planet, but with only a single survivor.
PIKE: No, let's stay on the first subject. All I wanted for that moment was to get my hands around your neck.
MAGISTRATE: We repaired the survivor's injuries and found the species interesting.
PIKE: Do primitive thoughts put up a block you can't read through?
MAGISTRATE: It became necessary to attract a mate.
PIKE: All right, all right, let's talk about the girl. You seem to be going out of your way to make her attractive, to make me feel protective.
MAGISTRATE: This is necessary in order to perpetuate the species.
PIKE: It seems more important to you now that I begin to accept her and like her.
MAGISTRATE: We wish our specimens to be happy in their new life.
PIKE: Assuming that's a lie, why would you want me attracted to her? So I'll feel love in a husband-wife relationship? That would be necessary only if you intend to build a family group or perhaps a whole human community.
MAGISTRATE: With the female now properly conditioned.
PIKE: You mean properly punished! I'm the one who's not co-operating! Why don't you punish me?
MAGISTRATE: First, an emotion of protectiveness. Now one of sympathy. Excellent.

[Woodland glade]

(A picnic spread on a tartan rug, two horses standing by, a futuristic city in the distance)
VINA: You want some coffee, dear? I left the thermos hooked to my saddle.
PIKE: Tango! You old devil, you. I'm sorry I don't have any sugar. Well, they think of everything, don't they? (feeds lumps to the horse)
VINA: Hey, your coffee. Is it good to be home?
PIKE: They read our minds very well. Home, anything else I want, if I co-operate, is that it?
VINA: Have you forgotten my headaches, darling? I get them when you talk strangely like this.
PIKE: Look, I'm sorry they punish you, but we can't let them
VINA: My, it turned out to be a lovely day, didn't it?
PIKE: It's funny. It's about twenty four hours ago I was telling the ship's doctor how much I wanted something else not very different from what we have here. An escape from reality. Life with no frustrations. No responsibilities. Now that I have it, I understand the doctor's answer.
VINA: I hope you're hungry. These little white sandwiches are your mother's recipe for chicken tuna.
PIKE: You either live life, bruises, skinned knees and all, or you turn your back on it and start dying. The doctor's going to be happy about one part, at least. He said I needed a rest.
VINA: This is a lovely place to rest.
PIKE: I used to ride through here when I was a kid. It's not as pretty as some of the parkland around the big cities, but. That's Mojave. That's where I was born.
VINA: Is that supposed to be news to your wife? You're home. You can even stay if you want. Wouldn't it be nice showing your children where you once played?
PIKE: These headaches, they'll be hereditary you know. Would you wish them on a child or a whole group of children?
VINA: Foolish.
PIKE: Is it? Look, first they made me protect you and then feel sympathy for you. Now we have these familiar surroundings and a comfortable husband-wife relationship. They don't need all this for just passion. What they're after is respect and mutual dependence.
VINA: They say in the olden days all this was a desert. Blowing sand and cactus.
PIKE: But we're not here, neither of us. We're in a menagerie, a cage!
VINA: No.
PIKE; I can't help either one of us if you won't give me a chance. Now, you told me once they used illusions as a narcotic. They couldn't repair the machines left by their ancestors. Is that why they want us, to build a colony of slaves?
VINA: Stop it. Don't you care what they'll do to us?
PIKE: Back in my cage, it seemed for a couple of minutes that our keeper couldn't read my thoughts. Do emotions like hate, keeping hate in your mind, does that block off our mind from them?
VINA: Yes. They can't read through primitive emotions. But you can't keep it up for long enough. I've tried. They keep at you and at you year after year, tricking and punishing, and they won. They own me. I know you must hate me for that.
PIKE: Oh, no. I don't hate you. I can guess what it was like.
VINA: But that's not enough. Don't you see? They read my thoughts, my feelings, my dreams of what would be a perfect man. That's why they picked you. I can't help but love you and they expect you to feel the same way.
PIKE: If they can read my mind, then they know I'm attracted to you.

[Talosian monitoring room]

PIKE [on monitor]: I was from the very first moment I saw you in the survivor's camp.
TALOSIAN: A curious species. They have fantasies they hide even from themselves.
VINA [on monitor]: I'm beginning to see why none of this has worked for you. You've been home, and fighting as on Rigel. That's not new to you, either. A person's strongest dreams are about what he can't do. Yes, a ship's captain, always having to be so formal, so decent and honest and proper. You must wonder what it would be like to forget all that.

[Open air party]

(A band plays, and a green woman dances sensuously)
OFFICER: Nice place you have here, Mister Pike.
(The dancer is -)
PIKE: Vina? ORION: Glistening green. Almost like secret dreams a bored ship captain might have.
OFFICER: Funny how they are on this planet. They actually like being taken advantage of. Suppose you had all of space to choose from, and this was only one small sample.
ORION: Wouldn't you say it was worth a man's soul?
(Pike gets up and leaves. The door he walks through turns into a rock wall. Then Vina is there, holding a blazing torch)

[Transporter room]

SPOCK: We've located a magnetic field that seems to come from their underground generator.
GARISON: Could that be an illusion too?
ONE: Now, you all know the situation. We're hoping to transport down inside the Talosian community.
SPOCK: If our measurements and readings are an illusion also, one could find oneself materialised inside solid rock.
ONE: Nothing will be said if any volunteer wants to back out.
(Pitcairn energises but only Number One and Yeoman Colt dematerialise)
SPOCK: The women!

[Pike's cage]

ONE: Captain! Captain.
VINA: No! Let me finish!
ONE: But we were a party of six.
COLT: We were the only ones transported.
VINA: It's not fair. You don't need them.
PIKE: (grabbing Colt's laser pistol) They don't work.
ONE: They were fully charged when we left. It's dead. (communicator) I can't make a signal. What is it?
PIKE: Don't say anything. I'm filling my mind with a picture of beating their huge, misshapen heads to pulp, thoughts so primitive they black out everything else. I'm filling my mind with hate.
VINA: How long can you block your thoughts? A few minutes, an hour? How can that help?
COLT: Leave him alone.
VINA: He doesn't need you. He's already picked me.
COLT: Picked her? For what? I don't understand.
VINA: Now, there's a fine choice for intelligent offspring.
COLT: Offspring, as in children?
ONE: Offspring as in he's Adam. Is that it?
VINA: You're no better choice. They'd have more luck crossing him with a computer.
ONE: Well, shall we do a little time computation? There was a Vina listed on that expedition as an adult crewman. Now, adding eighteen years to your age then.
(The Magistrate approaches the cell)
VINA: It's not fair. I did what you asked.
MAGISTRATE: Since you resist the present specimen, you now have a selection.
PIKE: I'll break out of this zoo somehow and get to you. Is your blood red like ours? I'm going to find out.
MAGISTRATE: Each of the two new specimens has qualities in her favour. The female you call Number One has the superior mind and would produce highly intelligent children. Although she seems to lack emotion, this is largely a pretence. She has often has fantasies involving you.
PIKE: All I want to do is get my hands on you. Can you read these thoughts? Images of hate, killing?
MAGISTRATE: The other new arrival has considered you unreachable but now is realising this has changed. The factors in her favour are youth and strength, plus unusually strong female drives.
PIKE: You'll find my thoughts more interesting. Thoughts so primitive you can't understand. Emotions so ugly (stricken by pain)
MAGISTRATE: Wrong thinking is punishable. Right thinking will be as quickly rewarded. You will find it an effective combination.
(Magistrate leaves)
ONE: Captain.
PIKE: No. No, don't help me. I have to concentrate. They can't read through hate.

[Bridge]

SPOCK: Address intercraft.
GARISON: Open, sir.
SPOCK: This is the acting captain speaking. We have no choice now but to consider the safety of this vessel and the remainder of the crew. We're leaving. All decks prepare for hyperdrive. Time warp factor.
TYLER: Mister Spock, the ship's controls have gone dead.
(The lights go out)
SPOCK: Engine room!
GARISON: Open.
SPOCK: Mister Spock here. Switch to rockets. We're blasting out.
PITCAIRN [OC]: All systems are out, bridge. We've got nothing.
TYLER: There's nothing. Every system aboard is fading out.

[Pike's cell]

(The group are apparently dozing when the Magistrate opens the hatch to get the laser pistols Pike dropped there. He grabs him and pulls him into the cage, and starts to throttle him)
PIKE: Now you hold still, or I'll break your neck.
VINA: Don't hurt them. They don't mean to be evil.
PIKE: I've had some samples of how good they are.
(the Talosian appears to be a vicious monster)
PIKE: You stop this illusion, or I'll twist your head off. (it stops) All right, now you try one more illusion, you try anything at all, and I'll break your neck.
MAGISTRATE: Your ship. Release me or we'll destroy it.

{Bridge]

(The senior officers have taken the navigation console apart)
SPOCK: Nothing. But for the batteries we'd lose gravitation and oxygen.
TYLER: The computers!
(The monitor shows a montage of images - space capsules, the Moon, maps of Earth)
TYLER: I can't shut it off. It's running through our library. Tapes, micro-records, everything. It doesn't make sense.
SPOCK: Could be we've waited too long. It's collecting all the information stored in this fly. They've decided to swat us.

[Pike's cell]

VINA: He's not bluffing, Captain. With illusion they can make your crew work the wrong controls or push any button it takes to destroy your ship.
PIKE: I'm going to gamble you're too intelligent to kill for no reason at all.
(Pike hands the Magistrate over to Number One and picks up the laser pistols, firing them at the glass wall. Then he puts one to the Magistrate's head)
PIKE: On the other hand, I've got a reason. I'm willing to bet you've created an illusion this laser is empty. I think it just blasted a hole in that window and you're keep us from seeing it. You want me to test my theory out on your head?
(There is a hole in the window)
COLT: Captain.
(They all leave through the hole and get into the elevator to the surface)

[Planet surface]

(The top of the rocky knoll is split apart)
PIKE: Make contact, Number One.
ONE: They kept us from seeing this, too. We cut through and never knew it. Captain.
(The communicator isn't working)
MAGISTRATE: As you see, your attempt to escape accomplished nothing.
PIKE: I want to contact our ship.
MAGISTRATE: You are now on the surface where we wished you to be. With the female of your choice, you will now begin carefully guided lives.
PIKE: And start by burying you?
MAGISTRATE: That is your choice. To help you reclaim the planet's surface, our zoological gardens will furnish a variety of plant life.
PIKE: Look, I'll make a deal with you. You and your life for the lives of these two Earth women.
MAGISTRATE: Since our lifespan is many times yours, we have time to evolve you into a society trained to serve as artisans, technicians
PIKE: Do you understand what I'm saying? You give me proof that our ship is all right, send these two back, and I'll stay with Vina.
(Number One sets her laser pistol to overload)
ONE: It's wrong to create a whole race of humans to live as slaves.
MAGISTRATE: Is this a deception? Do you intend to destroy yourselves?
VINA: What is that?
PIKE: The weapon is building up an overload. A force chamber explosion. You still have time to get underground. Well, go on! (pushes Vina away) Just to show you how primitive humans are, Talosian, you go with her.
VINA: If, if you all think it's this important, then I can't go either. I suppose if they have one human being, they might try again.
(More Talosians arrive)
PIKE: Wait.
(Number One turns off the pistol)
TALOSIAN: Their method of storing records is crude and consumed much time. Are you prepared to assimilate it?
(The Magistrate nods, and the veins on his head throb)
MAGISTRATE: We had not believed this possible. The customs and history of your race show a unique hatred of captivity. Even when it's pleasant and benevolent, you prefer death. This makes you too violent and dangerous a species for our needs.
VINA: He means that they can't use you. You're free to go back to the ship.
PIKE: And that's it? No apologies? You captured one of us, threatened all of us.
TALOSIAN: Your unsuitability has condemned the Talosian race to eventual death. Is this not sufficient?
MAGISTRATE: No other specimen has shown your adaptability. You were our last hope.
PIKE: But wouldn't some form of trade, mutual co-operation?
MAGISTRATE: Your race would learn our power of illusion and destroy itself too.
ONE: Captain, we have transporter control now.
PIKE: Let's get back to the ship.
VINA: I can't. I can't go with you.

[Transporter room]

PITCAIRN: Sir, it just came on. We can't shut the power off.
SPOCK: Mister Spock here.
TYLER [OC]: All power has come on, Mister Spock. The helm is answering to control.
(The transporter platforms light up and first Colt, then Number One are beamed aboard)
GARISON: The captain?

[Planet surface]

(Vina changes into a scarred, misshapen older woman)
VINA: You see why I can't go with you.
MAGISTRATE: This is the female's true appearance.
VINA: They found me in the wreckage, dying. A lump of flesh. They rebuilt me. Everything works. But they had never seen a human. They had no guide for putting me back together.
MAGISTRATE: It was necessary to convince you her desire to stay is an honest one.
PIKE: You'll give her back her illusion of beauty?
MAGISTRATE: And more.
(Beautiful Vina and happy Pike go up the slope and into the elevator)
MAGISTRATE: She has an illusion and you have reality. May you find your way as pleasant.

[Transporter room]

PITCAIRN: Mister Spock, the system is coming on again.
(Pike is beamed aboard)
COLT: What's happened to Vina?
ONE: Isn't she coming with us?
PIKE: No. No, and I agreed with her reasons.

[Bridge]

(Pike, Number One and Spock enter)
BOYCE: Hold on a minute.
PIKE: Oh, I feel fine, just fine.
BOYCE: You look a hundred percent better.
PIKE: You recommended a rest, a change of pace, didn't you? I've even been home. Does that make you happy?
(He bumps into Colt again)
PIKE: Yeoman.
COLT: Yes, sir.
PIKE: I thought I told you that when I'm on the bridge I
(She hands him a clip-board stuffed with papers for his signature)
PIKE: Oh. Oh yes. The reports. Thank you.
COLT: Sir, I was wondering. Just curious. Who would have been Eve?
ONE: Yeoman! You've delivered your report.
COLT: Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir.
TYLER: Eve, sir? Yes, sir.
BOYCE: Eve as in Adam?
PIKE: As in all ship's doctors are dirty old men. What are we running here, a cadet ship, Number One? Are we ready or not?
ONE: All decks show ready, sir.
PIKE: Engage.

 HISTORY

2024-09-19 04:19:10 - Pike: Added an actor.
2024-09-19 04:15:36 - Pike: Added an actor & character.
2024-09-15 21:16:37 - lilly: New review added.
2024-08-22 19:21:40 - Pike: Updated the trivia.
2024-08-22 17:39:17 - Pike: Updated the summary.