star trek original pilot

The Cage: The Star Trek Pilot That Wasn’t (Quite)

“The Cage” was the original Star Trek pilot that later became part of the double episode “The Menagerie,” which was first broadcast in November 1966. “The Cage” had received the green light two years earlier, in September 1964. Months of preparation had gone into it. Gene Roddenberry had rewritten the story again and again, obsessing over every detail. Production costs were estimated to be in excess of half a million dollars — an extraordinary high amount for a television series pilot at the time, especially for a small studio like Desilu.

By the time the episode was completed, costs had soared to $630,000. Roddenberry admitted that it was an “abnormal amount”, but argued in The Making of Star Trek :

We had to realize that we were building the interior of a spaceship, doing complex opticals of ships in flight and transporter effects and so forth, all props had to be built from scratch, all costumes had to be designed from scratch. To be quite honest, I don’t think the “powers that be” at the studio were aware of how much we were spending until after it was spent. But we spent it making a good product.

The network’s executives were less sure. When they watched “The Cage” in February 1965, almost ten months after they had first expressed an interest in Star Trek , they turned it down.

Not because they didn’t like it. To the contrary, NBC was impressed with Roddenberry’s work. But they felt the show would go over the heads of most of their viewers. Star Trek , they thought, was “too cerebral.”

“Looking back,” Roddenberry recalled in The Making of Star Trek , “they probably felt that I had broken my word.” He had pitched Star Trek as a “wagon train to the stars”, but “The Cage” was light on action and adventure.

I had known the only way to sell Star Trek was with an action-adventure plot. But I forgot my plan and tried for something proud.

Roddenberry’s casting choices raised some eyebrows. Not everyone was sure if the audience would accept a female first officer and a racially mixed crew. On this, Roddenberry stood his ground. “This approach expressed the ‘message’ basic to the series,” he wrote.

We must learn to live together or most certainly we will soon all die together.

The character of Spock was particularly unappealing to NBC. “They were afraid his satanic appearance would repulse people,” according to Roddenberry. He was adamant about keeping the Vulcan.

My own idea on that was, in a very real sense, we are all aliens on a strange planet. We spend most of our lives reaching out and trying to communicate. If during our whole lifetime we could reach out and really communicate with just two people, we are indeed very fortunate. And this is exactly what Spock is trying to do. Literally tens of thousands of letters have come in to Spock, saying, “Yes, I understand. I’ve had the same problem all my life.”

Keeping Spock was clearly the right choice. He became the most popular character of the franchise by far.

Roddenberry did relent and give up his female “Number One”. Her role was deemed “too domineering” and her cold and logical attributes were given to the alien science officer instead.

The decision to eliminate “Number One” wasn’t the network’s, Producers Herb Solow and Robert Justman reveal in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story . NBC supported a strong female lead but didn’t think Majel Barrett — Roddenberry’s girlfriend and future wife — could pull off the role.

Other female actors you may not have noticed played the Talosians. Their voices were dubbed by men. The episode’s director, Robert Butler, reckoned it would lend the Talosians an alien-like androgynous quality. Roddenberry suggested that the women’s lighter builds might suggest that the Talosians had allowed their bodies to atrophy while concentrating on the development of their brains.

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: The Original Series (referred to as Star Trek prior to any spin-offs) is the first Star Trek series. The first episode of the show aired on 6 September 1966 on CTV in Canada, followed by a 8 September 1966 airing on NBC in America. The show was created by Gene Roddenberry as a " Wagon Train to the Stars". Star Trek was set in the 23rd century and featured the voyages of the starship USS Enterprise under Captain James T. Kirk .

Star Trek was later informally dubbed The Original Series , or TOS, after several spin-offs aired. The show lasted three seasons until canceled in 1969 . When the show first aired on TV, and until lowering budget issues in its third season resulted in a noticeable drop in quality episodes and placed in a 10 pm Friday night death slot by the network, Star Trek regularly performed respectably in its time slot. After it was canceled and went into syndication , however, its popularity exploded. It featured themes such as a Utopian society and racial equality, and the first African-American officer in a recurring role.

Ten years later, Star Trek: The Motion Picture reunited the cast on the big screen aboard a refurbished USS Enterprise . They appeared in five subsequent films, ending with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991, during production of the spin-off series Star Trek: The Next Generation and shortly before Gene Roddenberry's death. Several original series characters also appeared in the seventh movie, Star Trek Generations , and in other Star Trek productions.

• 1 Opening credits
• 2.1 Starring
• 2.2 Also starring
• 2.3 Co-stars
• 3 Production crew
• 4.1 First pilot
• 4.2 Season 1
• 4.3 Season 2
• 4.4 Season 3
• 5.1 Concept
• 5.2 The first pilot
• 5.3 The second pilot
• 5.4 The series begins
• 5.5 The first season
• 5.6 Syndication
• 5.7 Reception
• 5.8 Remastered
• 6 Related topics
• 8 External links

Opening credits [ ]

• Main Title Theme (Season 2-3) file info (composed by Alexander Courage )

Main cast [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Captain Kirk

Jeffrey Hunter , who portrayed Captain Pike , was the only star listed in the original pilot 's opening credits.

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

DeForest Kelley was listed as a co-star from 1966 through 1967 before appearing in the opening credits as "also starring" from 1967 through 1969 .

Co-stars [ ]

• James Doohan as Scotty
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• George Takei as Sulu
• Walter Koenig as Chekov ( 1967 - 1969 )
• Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as Christine Chapel
• Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand

Production crew [ ]

• Gene Roddenberry – Creator, Writer, Producer, Executive Producer
• Gene L. Coon – Writer, Producer
• John Meredyth Lucas – Writer, Producer, Director
• Fred Freiberger – Producer (1968-69)
• Robert H. Justman – Associate Producer (Season 1-2), Co-Producer (Season 3), First Assistant Director (two pilots)
• D.C. Fontana – Writer, Script Consultant (1967-68)
• Steven W. Carabatsos – Writer, Story Consultant (1966)
• John D.F. Black – Associate Producer, Writer, Story Editor (1966)
• Arthur H. Singer – Story Consultant (1968-69)
• Byron Haskin – Associate Producer (first pilot)
• Walter "Matt" Jefferies – Production Designer, Art Director
• William E. Snyder – Director of Photography (first pilot)
• Ernest Haller – Director of Photography (second pilot)
• Jerry Finnerman – Director of Photography (61 episodes, 1966-1968)
• Keith Smith – Director of Photography (1 episode, 1967)
• Al Francis – Director of Photography (16 episodes, 1968-1969), Camera Operator (61 episodes, 1966-1968)
• Jim Rugg – Supervisor of Special Effects
• Rolland M. Brooks – Art Director (34 episodes, 1965-1967)
• Fred B. Phillips – Make-up Artist
• Robert Dawn – Make-up Artist (second pilot)
• William Ware Theiss – Costume Designer
• Gregg Peters – First Assistant Director (Season 1), Unit Production Manager (Season 2-3), Associate Producer (Season 3)
• Claude Binyon, Jr. – Assistant Director (third season)

Episode list [ ]

• List of TOS episodes by airdate
• List of TOS remastered episodes by airdate

First pilot [ ]

Season 1 [ ].

TOS Season 1 , 29 episodes:

Season 2 [ ]

TOS Season 2 , 26 episodes:

Season 3 [ ]

TOS Season 3 , 24 episodes:

Behind the scenes [ ]

Concept [ ].

Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry, whose interest in science fiction dated back to the 1940s when he came into contact with Astounding Stories . Roddenberry's first produced science fiction story was The Secret Weapon of 117 , which aired in 1956 on the Chevron Theatre anthology show. By 1963 Roddenberry was producing his first television series, The Lieutenant , at MGM .

In 1963, MGM was of the opinion that "true-to-life" television dramas were becoming less popular and an action-adventure show would be more profitable (this prediction turned out to be right, and led to series such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E ). Roddenberry had already been working on a science fiction concept called Star Trek since 1960 , and when he told MGM about his ideas, they were willing to take a look at them. As the production of The Lieutenant came to an end, Roddenberry delivered his first Star Trek draft to MGM. The studio was, however, not enthusiastic about the concept, and a series was never produced.

Roddenberry tried to sell his " wagon train to the stars " format to several production studios afterward, but to no avail. In 1964 , it was rumored that Desilu was interested in buying a new television series. Desilu was a much smaller company than MGM, but Roddenberry took his chances, greatly aided with the help of Desilu Executive Herb Solow . This led to a three-year deal with Desilu in April 1964 .

The first attempt to sell the Star Trek format to broadcasting network CBS (Desilu had a first proposal deal with the network) failed. CBS chose another science fiction project, Irwin Allen 's more family-oriented Lost in Space instead of Roddenberry's more cerebral approach. But in May 1964 , NBC 's Vice-President of Programming Mort Werner agreed to give Roddenberry the chance to write three story outlines, one of which NBC would select to turn into a pilot.

One of the submitted story lines, dated 29 June 1964 , was an outline for " The Cage ", and this was the story picked up by NBC. Now, the daunting task that Roddenberry and his crew faced was to develop the Star Trek universe from scratch. Roddenberry recruited many people around him to help think up his version of the future. The RAND Corporation's Harvey P. Lynn acted as a scientific consultant, Pato Guzman was hired as art director, with Matt Jefferies as an assisting production designer. This phase of creativity and brainstorming lasted throughout the summer, until in the last week of September 1964 the final draft of the "The Cage" script was delivered to NBC, after which shooting of the pilot was approved.

The first pilot [ ]

In early October, preparations for shooting "The Cage" began. A few changes in the production crew were made: Roddenberry hired Morris Chapnick , who had worked with him on The Lieutenant , as his assistant. Pato Guzman left to return to Chile and was replaced by Franz Bachelin . Matt Jefferies finalized the design for the Enterprise and various props and interiors. By November 1964 , the sets were ready to be constructed on stages Culver Studios Stage 14 , 15 , and 16 . Roddenberry was not happy with the stages, since they had uneven floors and were not soundproof, as Culver Studios had been established in the silent movie era when soundproofing had not been an issue to consider. Eventually, in 1966 , the rest of the series was shot on Paramount stages 9 and 10 , which were in better shape.

Casting of the characters was not a problem, apart from the lead role of Captain Pike (still known as "Captain April " at this point, later renamed "Captain Winter" before finally choosing "Pike") who Roddenberry convinced Jeffrey Hunter to play. Leonard Nimoy ( Spock ) had worked with Roddenberry on The Lieutenant . Majel Barrett , also a familiar face from The Lieutenant , got the part of the ship's female first officer, Number One . Veteran character actor John Hoyt , who had worked on many science fiction and fantasy projects before, was chosen to play the role of Doctor Phil Boyce . Young Peter Duryea and Laurel Goodwin were hired as José Tyler and Yeoman J.M. Colt , respectively. The extras were cast from a diversity of ethnic groups, which was significant because integration was not a usual occurrence in 1960s television, and segregation was still a reality in the United States.

To produce the pilot episode, Robert H. Justman was hired as assistant director; he had worked on The Outer Limits shortly before. Makeup artist Fred Phillips was brought in as well, whose first job it was to create Spock's ears. Another veteran from The Outer Limits was producer-director Byron Haskin , who joined as associate producer. On 27 November 1964 , the first scenes of "The Cage" (or "The Menagerie," as it was briefly known), were shot. Filming was scheduled to be eleven days, however the production went highly over budget and over schedule, resulting in sixteen shooting days and US$164,248 plus expenses.

But there were still a lot of visual effects to be made. An eleven-foot filming model of the USS Enterprise , designed by Matt Jefferies, was built by Richard Datin , Mel Keys , and Vern Sion in Volmer Jensen 's model shop , and was delivered to the Howard Anderson Company on 29 December 1964 .

In February 1965 , the final version of "The Cage" was delivered at NBC and screened in New York City. NBC officials liked the first pilot. Desilu's Herb Solow says that NBC was surprised by how realistic it looked, and that it was "the most fantastic thing we've ever seen." The reason the pilot was rejected was because it was believed that it would attract only a small audience, and they wanted more action and adventure. They also had problems with the "satanic" Spock and the female first officer (Number One). However, NBC was convinced that Star Trek could be made into a television series, and that NBC itself had been at fault for choosing the "The Cage" script from the original three stories pitched. Also, after spending US$630,000 on "The Cage" (the most expensive TV pilot at the time), they didn't want to have their money wasted. NBC then made the unprecedented move to order a second pilot.

The second pilot [ ]

For the second pilot, NBC requested three story outlines again. These were " Where No Man Has Gone Before " by Samuel A. Peeples , and " Mudd's Women " and " The Omega Glory " by Roddenberry. Although it was the most expensive of the three, NBC chose " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", as it had the most action and most outer space spectacle. However, the other two premises were also made into episodes of the series later.

Filming the second pilot began in July 1965 , and took nine days to complete. The entire cast of " The Cage " was replaced except Spock. Jeffrey Hunter chose not to reprise his role as Captain Pike, mostly by the advice of his wife, who felt that "science fiction ruins her husband's career". Roddenberry wanted both Lloyd Bridges and Jack Lord for the role of the new captain, however both declined. Finally William Shatner , who had previous science fiction experience acting in episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits , was chosen. The new captain was named James R. Kirk (later renamed James T. Kirk).

For the role of the chief medical officer, Roddenberry chose veteran actor Paul Fix . Canadian actor James Doohan got the role of chief engineer Scott , and young Japanese-American George Takei was featured as ship's physicist Sulu . The latter two reprised their roles in the upcoming series, though Sulu was a helmsman in the series. Other actors considered for being regulars were Lloyd Haynes as communications officer Alden and Andrea Dromm as Yeoman Smith , but neither of them were re-hired after the pilot.

Many of the production staff were replaced. Robert Dawn served as head make-up artist, however Fred Phillips returned to the position in the series itself. Academy Award winner cinematographer Ernest Haller came out of semi-retirement to work as the director of photography. Associate producer Byron Haskin was replaced by Robert H. Justman , who now shared double duties as producer and assistant director.

The Enterprise model was updated for the second pilot, and many new outer space effects shots were made, most of which were reused in the series itself. The sets were also updated a bit, most notably the main bridge and the transporter room. Most of the uniforms, props, and sets were reused from " The Cage ", however some new props (including the never-seen-again phaser rifle ) and a brand new matte painting (the planet Delta Vega ) were made specially for this episode.

" Where No Man Has Gone Before " was accepted by NBC and the first season of a regular series was ordered for broadcasting in the 1966-67 television season. History was made.

The series begins [ ]

Preparation for the first regular season began in early 1966 . All the Enterprise interior sets were updated, as well as the introduction of brand new uniforms. The look of the show became more colorful and more vivid. The Enterprise model was also updated once more. Also, the entire production was moved from Desilu's Culver City studios to the main Gower Street studio's Stage 9 and 10 ( Paramount Stage 31 and 32 from 1967 onward) in Hollywood.

Kirk (Shatner) and Spock (Nimoy) were kept as the series stars, with Grace Lee Whitney joining the two as Yeoman Janice Rand (replacing Andrea Dromm as Yeoman Smith). Whitney had worked with Roddenberry a year before on an unsold pilot titled Police Story . Publicity photos promoting the new series were made at this time, with the three of them, mostly using props left from the two pilots (most notably the aforementioned phaser rifle). Shatner and Nimoy wore their new uniforms on these photographs, while Whitney had to wear an old, pilot version.

Scott (Doohan) and Sulu (Takei) were also kept, the latter becoming the ship's helmsman instead of physicist. Two additions made the Enterprise main crew complete: DeForest Kelley was hired to play the new chief medical officer, Leonard McCoy , as Roddenberry had known him from previous projects, including the aforementioned Police Story . Actress Nichelle Nichols got the role of communications officer Uhura , who became a symbol of the racial and gender diversity of the show. Nichols was a last minute addition, weeks before filming began on the first regular episode.

Jerry Finnerman became the new director of photography, while Fred Phillips, Matt Jefferies, and Rolland M. Brooks returned to their former positions. Writer John D.F. Black was brought in as the second associate producer (next to Justman). While Roddenberry and Black handled the script and story issues, Justman was in charge of the physical aspects of production.

Filming of the first regular episode, " The Corbomite Maneuver " began on 24 May 1966 . Finally Star Trek debuted on NBC with a "Sneak Preview" episode at 8:30 pm (EST) on 8 September 1966 . NBC chose " The Man Trap " (the fifth episode in production order) to air first, mainly because they felt it was more of a "traditional monster story" and featured more action.

The first season [ ]

In August 1966 , several changes were made in the Star Trek production staff. Roddenberry stepped down as line producer and became the executive producer. His replacement was Gene L. Coon , who also regularly contributed to the series as a writer. While Black had also left the series, story editor Steven W. Carabatsos came in, sharing story duties with Roddenberry and Coon. To handle post-production, Edward K. Milkis was brought in by Justman. Carabatsos had left Star Trek near the end of the season, and was replaced by D.C. Fontana , formerly Roddenberry's secretary and a writer for the series.

Syndication [ ]

• See : Syndication

Due to the overall length of the episodes of The Original Series , several minutes of each episode are frequently cut during the show's reruns, notably on the Sci-Fi Channel . Starting in April 2006 , the G4 network began airing the full length episodes in "Uncut Marathons" on Saturdays. G4 stopped airing these full-length versions in November 2006, and has discontinued its run of Star Trek 2.0 , which was a trivia-oriented and interactive version of the show for the viewers.

For current airings see Where to watch .

Reception [ ]

The Original Series has been nominated for and won a number of awards over the years. Some of the awards include:

• The series was nominated for thirteen Emmy Awards during its run, but did not win any.
• It was nominated eight times for the "Best Dramatic Presentation" Hugo Award , sweeping the nominees in 1968. It won twice, and Roddenberry won a special award in 1968.
• The 2003 "Pop Culture Award" in the TV Land Awards .
• The 2005 Saturn Award for "Best DVD Retro Television Release."

Aaron Harberts and James Frain cited TOS as their favorite Star Trek series. ( AT : " O Discovery, Where Art Thou? ")

Remastered [ ]

On 31 August 2006 , CBS Paramount Television announced that, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek , the show would return to broadcast syndication for the first time in sixteen years. The series' 79 episodes were digitally remastered with all new visual effects and music. The refurbished episodes have been converted from the original film to high-definition video, making it on par with modern television formats.

Related topics [ ]

• TOS directors
• TOS performers
• TOS recurring characters
• TOS writers
• Character crossover appearances
• Undeveloped TOS episodes
• Desilu Stage 9
• Desilu Stage 10
• Star Trek Writers/Directors Guide
• Star Trek: The Original Series novels
• Star Trek: The Original Series comics (DC)
• Star Trek: The Original Series comics (IDW)
• Star Trek: The Original Series soundtracks
• Star Trek: The Original Series on VHS
• Star Trek: The Original Series on Betamax
• Star Trek: The Original Series on CED
• Star Trek: The Original Series on LaserDisc
• Star Trek: The Original Series on DVD
• Star Trek: The Original Series on Blu-ray

External links [ ]

• Star Trek: The Original Series at Wikipedia
• Star Trek: The Original Series at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Star Trek: The Original Series at StarTrek.com
• Star Trek: The Original Series at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek: The Original Series at the Movie and TV Wiki
• Public Radio Special: The Peace Message in Star Trek
• 1 Bell Riots
• 2 Unnamed Romulan military personnel (23rd century)

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Editorial Reviews

Watching "The Cage" is like visiting some parallel universe. That's the Star Trek theme song, and there's the Enterprise , and that's Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock... but wait--he's smiling and firing weapons. And who are the rest of these duds manning the controls? If this were any other series pilot, it would probably be laughed out of the galaxy with its wooden acting, silly costumes, and cheesy special effects. But this was Star Trek 's dry run, and so it is a must-own collectible for every Trekker, as well as instructive viewing for anyone interested in the evolution of a TV show. Now, there are some who staunchly believe that Jeffrey Hunter's Christopher Pike was the Enterprise 's best captain. Pike doesn't exactly inspire confidence in his leadership abilities; reflecting on a recent devastating battle, he anguishes, "I should have smelled trouble when I saw the swords and the armor." He is also "tired of being responsible for 203 lives" and is considering resigning his Starfleet commission. But Pike is roused from his ennui after the Enterprise answers a distress call on the planet Talos IV, and he is imprisoned by super-intelligent aliens with the telepathic power to manipulate memories. Susan Oliver guest-stars as Vina, whom the aliens select as Eve to his Adam. The lackluster (and virtually all-white) crew includes Marjel Barrett as a somber Number One and John Hoyt as Dr. Boyce, who dispenses martinis as well as advice. This episode never aired, but some scenes were used in the two-part original series episode The Menagerie . --Donald Liebenson

Product details

• Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.32 x 4.19 x 1.12 inches; 6.08 ounces
• Release date ‏ : ‎ November 25, 1997
• Date First Available ‏ : ‎ February 21, 2007
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Star Trek Original Series
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Paramount Studio
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 6300213056

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Published Sep 22, 2023

A Look Back at Star Trek's Second Pilot 'Where No Man Has Gone Before'

Let's re-examine the hour that convinced NBC to green light the series!

StarTrek.com

" Where No Man Has Gone Before " first aired on this date in 1966.

As most fans know, this episode, written by Samuel A. Peeples and directed by James Goldstone, was not the first Star Trek hour to run. "The Man Trap" and "Charlie X" ran first. However, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was a vitally important hour, as it was Gene Roddenberry's second pilot for the original series, and the one that convinced NBC to green light the series after having rejected Roddenberry's first stab at a pilot, "The Cage." In celebration of its anniversary, we're taking a deep dive into the episode!

"Where No Man Has Gone Before"

Almost Where It All Started

After NBC passed on "The Cage," it was Desilu Productions' Lucille Ball who persuaded the network to consider a second pilot . For her part, even though she didn't fully understand the project, she believed in its message as well as its creator.

While NBC liked what they saw with "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the network found the premise too cerebral to lead the series, opting for something with more traditional action out the gate, which was how it became the third episode of the first season.

Production Connections

Episode director James Goldstone was initially hired for his opinion on which of three scripts ("Where No Man Has Gone Before," "Mudd's Woman," and "The Omega Glory") should be made as the second pilot to present to NBC. Despite his best friend Stephen Kandel penning "Mudd's Women," he believed "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the strongest choice. It's also with this episode where we're introduced to one of the central themes of the series — the struggle between emotions and reason, as seen through Gary Mitchell's increasingly erratic behavior.

Academy Award-winning cinematographer Ernest Haller ( Gone with the Wind ) came out of semi-retirement at Goldstone's recommendation to DP the episode.

Gary Lockwood, who played Lt. Commander Gary Mitchell, had previously worked with Roddenberry on The Lieutenant . Lockwood, of course, went on to greater sci-fi fame with the film 2001: A Space Odyssey .

Sally Kellerman, who portrayed Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, went on to star as Major Margaret "Hotlips" Houlihan in the film M*A*S*H .

With Jeffrey Hunter's refusal to reprise his role as Captain Pike from "The Cage," the franchise gets its introduction to William Shatner's charismatic and confident Captain James Kirk.

Behind-the-Scenes Tidbits

The phaser rifle made its one and only appearance in this episode.

In the episode, Gary Mitchell states that "The Nightingale Woman" was one of the "most passionate love sonnets of the past couple centuries." In actuality, the poem was written by Roddenberry about the plane he flew during World War II.

The silver contacts worn by Gary Lockwood and Sally Kellerman were designed by Los Angeles optician John Roberts, who placed tinfoil between two lenses which covered the entire eye. While Kellerman had no difficulties with the lenses, Lockwood was unable to see through them unless he looked down while tilting his head upwards. He utilized this to his advantage to convey Mitchell's increasingly arrogant behavior.

This is the only episode where Spock and Scotty wear gold and tan tunics instead of their better known blue and red, respectively.

Speaking to StarTrek.com about the episode, Star Trek 's longevity, and her and Lockwood's enduring association with Trek , Kellerman said, "(Lockwood and I) had no idea we’d be talking about it (50) years later, but it’s really great. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving. We really had nothing to do with it. We just happened to be in the episode."

Memorable Lines

One of the best lines in the episode was Kirk's frustrated plea to Spock regarding the decision to maroon Mitchell, "Will you try for one moment to feel? At least act like you've got a heart."

Another memorable bit of dialogue, uttered by Mitchell to Kirk, "You should've killed me while you could, James. Command and compassion are a fool's mixture."

The opening scene of a game of three-dimensional chess between Kirk and Spock quickly established the differences in humans and Vulcans:

Have I ever mentioned you play a very irritating game of chess, Mr. Spock?" "Irritating? Ah, yes. One of your Earth emotions.

Kirk and Spock

"Above all else, a god needs compassion," pleads Kirk as he reasons with Mitchell.

Mitchell proclaims, "Morals are for men, not gods."

Kirk quotes the British historian, Lord Acton, to Elizabeth, "Do you like what you see? Absolute power corrupting absolutely?"

The Strange Energies That Saved Star Trek

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Star Trek Pilots Ranked From Worst to Best: From The Original Series to Strange New Worlds

There have been a whopping twelve different pilots for various Star Trek series through the decades, and we rank them all, from The Original Series' false start all the way through the modern days of Discovery and Strange New Worlds!

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What is the best Star Trek pilot? We aren’t asking “what is the best Star Trek series” (at least not yet). Star Trek pilots rarely sell what the series delivers, with plenty of shows taking two or three years to evolve into the eventual classics they become, while other promising starts quickly fumble the ball.

Instead, we are looking at the pilot episodes themselves, and how they stand on their own merits. This ranking includes every pilot episode ever produced, including both pilots for The Original Series, “The Cage” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (although the nerdiest among you will notice we excluded the first Star Trek episode to actually air , “The Man Trap”, because as the sixth episode produced it really stretches the definition of “pilot,” and while a case could be made that “The Corbomite Maneuver” is the first episode of the show that truly felt like Trek, by then it wasn’t in the pilot stages).

Of the twelve Star Trek pilots we have counted in this ranking, eight of them feature a ship called “Enterprise” (and half of those are the Enterprise NCC-1701), four of them feature Mr. Spock (five if you include appearances from his immediate family), and three of them feature Captain Picard. Finally, a whopping five of them feature the crew encountering an entity with mysterious God-like powers.

Now, to rank these episodes we have asked each of our Den of Geek Star Trek Brain Trust to provide their own rankings, before scientifically collating them to produce a list so accurate, so precise, so objectively correct that nobody could ever disagree with it. Don’t even bother going to the comments, all they will say is “Yes. I agree with this.”

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12. Star Trek: Discovery – “The Vulcan Hello”/“Battle of the Binary Stars”

Whatever else you think of them, Star Trek: Discovery ‘s “The Vulcan Hello” and “Battle of the Binary Stars”, provide the most polished and well-produced pilot episodes that the franchise had seen until that point. But they also broke rules. Instead of introducing a hero ship, a crew, an obstacle for them to overcome and the promise of more adventures to follow, the plot revolved around one protagonist who was not even the Captain, and we don’t even get to see the ship.

That’s forgivable, brave even, but Trek is also a show about teams working together, so when that protagonist launches a mutiny (an act her brother is so embarrassed by that when he is asked if there has ever been a mutiny on a Federation ship, he only says there is “Absolutely no record of such an occurrence”), gets her Captain killed and ends up in jail, viewers are understandably skeptical.

11. Star Trek: The Animated Series – “Beyond the Farthest Star”

There remains controversy over whether this series is even canon, although it had the same cast and writing team as the live action series. So to save time – Lower Decks features a giant Spock skeleton and a Kzinti crewman, and a Pandronian . It counts.

Despite those common elements, Star Trek: The Animated Series was a completely different ballgame to The Original Series , with wildly imaginative settings and aliens far beyond even the current live-action series, but half the run-time and a cast with only three facial expressions and about six animated actions each.

“Beyond the Farthest Star” was the first episode of the series to air and it gives the crew of the Enterprise a mystery to solve with an epically-sized alien ship, its unknown alien crew wiped out by a mysterious threat. It has brilliant designs and writing that is unmistakably Trek. It deserves its place in the pantheon, but modern viewers will still have a challenge getting past the animation quality.

10. Star Trek: Enterprise – “Broken Bow”

These days, the idea of a Star Trek prequel feels pretty commonplace. But, in 2001, Enterprise boldly attempted the impossible: Do a soft reboot of the entire franchise, set a century before The Original Series . Because an early scene features a Klingon getting blasted with a shotgun by a farmer in a cornfield, the overall vibe of Enterprise was very clear: This show was trying to bring Star Trek back down to Earth. The attempt at casual realism in Enterprise mostly backfired. While Captain Archer’s NX-01 baseball cap was pretty fly, the rest of the tech seemed like it was a couple of decades ahead of Kirk and Spock, rather than a century behind. 

That said if you think of Enterprise as the retroactive beginning of the newer canon which was continued by Discovery , and now, Strange New Worlds , it works perfectly. “Broken Bow” is also a solid Star Trek pilot episode, setting up a big idea for the entire series (the Temporal Cold War) while establishing all the characters quickly, and making us like everyone instantly. In many ways “Broken Bow,” is better than the rest of the show’s first season, but isn’t the worst introduction to the Star Trek canon as a whole.

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Because Enterprise is still the furthest point in the past of the Trek canon — including the reboot movies — “Broken Bow” has become more and more foundational as time goes on. You’ve got Klingons, a ticking clock, a little ship named Enterprise , and a last-minute “beam me up” escape. What more do you want?

9. Star Trek: The Next Generation – “Encounter at Farpoint”

Oh “Farpoint,” you grand, ambitious, beautiful doofus, you. Has there ever been anything, before or since, that is more Star Trek than this episode? Yet, it is also a demonstration that Star Trek is a spirit in need of a mixer.

Let’s be honest, a lot of this episode is pretty rough, with painful dialogue and agonizing pacing. Anyone who complains about the Enterprise fly-by in Star Trek: The Motion Picture hasn’t seen Farpoint’s saucer separation sequence.

The ingredients of the Star Trek: The Next Generation we know and love are here but they have a long way to go. Patrick Stewart is still figuring Picard out, playing him as grumpy old man who just wants to give the galaxy a good telling-off. Wesley Crusher instantly earns a generation’s internet hatred. But the episode’s saving grace is John de Lancie as Q, who immediately realizes the only thing that can save this pilot is oodles of camp.

8. Lower Decks – “Second Contact”

From its first episode, Star Trek: Lower Decks proved many of the naysayers wrong. As a mosaic of every Star Trek series, ever, Lower Decks is the one series more inclined to remind you why you like Star Trek more than any other. But, its pilot, “Second Contact,” is a breezily efficient introduction to this low-stakes iteration of Trek. We’ve all heard about making first contact with aliens, but what happens after that? Who goes back and gets the aliens used to being part of the Federation? 

The pilot episode of Lower Decks answers that question hilariously and brilliantly. Come for the introduction of Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford, but stay for the deep cuts about Gary Mitchell . If someone wanted to learn about Star Trek without watching other Star Trek, the pilot of Lower Decks is here to say, that’s just fine. And we’re gonna have a lot of fun along the way.

7. Picard – “Remembrance”

After Discovery , it didn’t seem possible that another Star Trek debut episode could stir up more controversy. And yet, somehow, the debut of Picard did just that. That said, for all you Picard haters out there, “Remembrance” is much better than some might say, and really only has one flaw: Its second part, “Maps and Legends,” should have been aired as one episode. In fact, the first three episodes of Picard , all directed by Hanelle Culpepper, feel like the true pilot for the series. Because “Remembrance” ends with the death of Dahj (Isa Briones) it feels incomplete, but if you consider “Maps and Legends” to be part of the pilot, the whole thing feels more complete.

The biggest criticism of Picard , by and large, is that fans felt that the series has been too dark to be part of the legacy of The Next Generation . But, when you consider that Picard was always poised to be the Star Trek version of Logan , “Remembrance” does exactly what the series is trying to attempt; make a grounded, more realistic sequel to TNG , in which everything is not what it seems. Plus, everyone knows the best Picard moments in TNG involved Jean-Luc losing his temper, and this episode has plenty of that. Jean-Luc might drink his Earl Grey decaf in “Remembrance,” but that’s also the point.

6. Prodigy – “Lost & Found”

Like Discovery , Prodigy ’s pilot also breaks a lot of rules. Aside from a couple of fan-pleasing continuity deep cuts it doesn’t remotely feel like Star Trek. But then, what does the Star Trek universe feel like outside of the warm light of the Federation? The answer, basically, is Star Wars. It doesn’t hurt that Prodigy is beautifully animated, and is light years beyond what that other Star-franchise has managed to pull off in this format.

But that is the trick Prodigy pulls. Trek always started from the Federation and ventured outwards, but in Prodigy the Federation is the unknown, and its characters learn about that world at the same time its much younger audience does.

For everything that is different on the surface, the bones of Star Trek are here. There is something very Trek about the universal translator turning on and transforming a rock monster into a shy little girl. As the series continues, Prodigy becomes more and more obviously a Star Trek show , but this pilot shows it already understands the assignment.

5. Voyager – “Caretaker”

“Caretaker” was the third Star Trek pilot created by this production team in the space of eight years, and that is where all the episode’s strengths and flaws lie. This episode feels like a sizzle real of what you want from Star Trek, while admittedly starting to show the limitations of its ’90s form.

Encounter a bizarre alien trader in space? Check. Mysterious abduction to a place that looks oddly like historical Earth? Check. Away mission to a desert planet? Yep. Underground alien city? We got you. Super-advanced alien who has evolved into a sort of CGI jelly mold? You got it.

Yes, the Kazon are little more than rubbish-looking Klingons and the Maquis aren’t quite the loophole past Rodenberry’s “no conflict” rule that they’re supposed to be. To a certain extent it feels a bit by-the-numbers, but it hits all of those numbers with absolute confidence and polish , and only TOS and DS9 have so effectively and efficiently introduced its new cast and characters.

4. The Original Series – “Where No Man Has Gone Before”

The difference between “The Cage” and “Where No Man Goes Before” is in the opening shot. “The Cage” starts in space, and zooms in to look down on the crew in the bridge, “Where No Man Goes Before” starts in space, then pulls out to reveal it is on a monitor in the ship’s rec room.

Star Trek , proper, begins with Kirk and Spock playing 3D chess, establishing the “humanity vs. logic” conflict that is the heart of The Original Series , if not Star Trek itself. When we do see the bridge it is not from the ceiling, but through the turbo lift doors.

Sci-fi writer Charlie Jane Anders has even argued this episode is Kirk’s origin story , as he struggles to choose between the coldly logical, but unerringly practical Spock, or his more fun but douchey best friend, Gary Mitchell, before Kirk ultimately follows Spock’s advice to save the day and become the Captain he needs to be.

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“The Cage” (more on that in a minute) brought proper, adult science fiction to serialized TV, but “Where No Man Goes Before” grounded it in human relationships.

3. Strange New Worlds, “Strange New Worlds”

This could have been the best pilot. Like “Encounter at Farpoint” it is a pure Star Trek story, so much so that you spend a lot of the episode feeling like you have seen this story before even though you never have. Like “Where No Man Goes Before” it understands that the show will live or die by its characters and their relationships.

It introduces the Enterprise as a familiar, lived-in ship and delivers a simple, self-contained plot that shamelessly steals from The Day the Earth Stood Still and adds some added Prime Directive-flavored frosting. It gets the wonder of exploration, the camaraderie of the crew, the way that humanity has advanced to become something better than it is and the terrible things that befell it before it was able to.

The only place it falls down is that for some reason it feels like it has to tie into Discovery , shoehorning in mentions to a convoluted, season-long arc that new viewers are unfamiliar with and old ones are well over.

But even with that, “Strange New Worlds” is a nearly perfect piece of Trek .

2. Deep Space Nine – “Emissary”

Without a doubt, a masterful series premiere, the only fault of “Emissary,” is that it slightly misrepresents what Star Trek: Deep Space Nine eventually became by its seventh season. Still, in terms of tonal consistency, DS9 is remarkable in that its pilot episode is honored throughout the show with very few plot threads left abandoned.

As a series that was essentially a spinoff/sequel to The Next Generation , “Emissary” ran the risk of being way too in-the-weeds for a casual viewer, right from the first scene. Because the very first scene began inside the most famous TNG episode ever, “The Best of Both Worlds,” DS9 demanded a degree of Trek literacy immediately. And yet, the paradox of “Emissary,” is that it’s so well written that all of these continuity barriers vanish right away.

Most of this is a credit to the brilliant casting. Avery Brooks carries the episode as Benjamin Sisko, who, as we learn, doesn’t want this job, and doesn’t care for Jean-Luc Picard, either. This choice was brilliant and set DS9 apart not just from TNG , but from the basic idea of what Trek was supposed to be. It was okay for people to disagree. It was okay for Sisko to change his mind, and everything we thought we knew about the Star Trek galaxy was blown wide open by a wormhole. From Odo to Kira to Dax, Bashir, O’Brien, and Quark, the new characters are introduced quickly, but thoughtfully. In all the Trek shows, you’re never more excited for the next episode than you are after the debut of Deep Space Nine .

1. The Original Series, “The Cage”

So here we are. Possibly the only pilot episode credited with being the pilot for two individual TV shows ( Star Trek and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ) as well as launching the entire 11 TV series, 13 movie franchise.

It’s the original, but is it really the best?

“The Cage” is a strange watch today. Everything is grittier than we are used to in Star Trek, the colors are washed out, the Captain is weighed down by trauma and duty, and the biggest smile we see in the episode is probably cracked by Spock.

But from the start “The Cage” expertly sets out Star Trek ’s primary mission, one the franchise has occasionally forgotten: To bring big, thoughtful, hefty science fiction ideas to a mainstream TV audience.

The other thing it captures that perhaps Trek has lost over the decades, is its sheer weirdness .

The psychedelic angles, lighting, and music are all extremely ’60s, but also unworldly and strange in a way that Star Trek should maybe strive for again.

It is telling that when we see the Talosians again in Discovery , they have lost their androgyny to become more obviously gendered, their huge veiny craniums replaced with a more Voyager -esque ridged forehead, and the weird splashes of color replaced with a very uniform-looking blue light.

With its singing plants and alien palaces, “The Cage” leaves viewers in no doubt that this is a strange and heavily-populated universe, far more so than the automated mineral processing plant on a lifeless moon we see in “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

While the Enterprise crew here are perhaps a bit more sterile than we are used to, “The Cage” introduces us to a universe we immediately long to explore, which is probably why we have done so for nearly 60 years.

What are your favorite Star Trek pilots? Let us know in the comments!

Why Star Trek's Original Captain Pike Actor Jeffrey Hunter Quit The Series

Before there was William Shatner, there was Jeffrey Hunter. The actor may not be a household name today, but when "Star Trek" was in its infancy, he was a rising star in Hollywood – and an undeniable heartthrob. Hunter famously played the Enterprise's original captain, Christopher Pike, in Gene Roddenberry's first "Star Trek" pilot, but he didn't return when the show was given a second chance to perfect its first impression, leading Roddenberry to come up with the Captain Kirk character instead. The reason for Hunter's exit? Well, it depends on who you ask.

The second "Star Trek" pilot was made nearly 60 years ago at this point, so it's no surprise that some of the details of its creation have been muddled or lost over the years. There's no shortage of information about Hunter's involvement with the show, but accounts of his exit differ wildly. It's common knowledge that when "Star Trek" mastermind Roddenberry started working on a new series pilot, Hunter didn't come back to portray Captain Pike . Instead of recasting the character, Roddenberry conceived of an entirely new captain and crew, with only first mate Spock (Leonard Nimoy) overlapping between the two versions. Eventually, audiences would see chunks of the initial pilot episode, initially titled "The Cage," in the season 1 two-parter "The Menagerie."

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy shared one version of the story

Actor Sean Kenney played Pike in additional footage shot for "The Menagerie," while Anson Mount went on to breathe new life into the character in the recent Paramount+ hit "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." Hunter left the show before it actually started, due to what several accounts cite as an issue involving his then-wife Joan Bartlett. In Leonard Nimoy's 1995 memoir "I Am Spock," the actor notes that he was the only character to return after the initial pilot, "because Jeff Hunter was let go when his wife began to represent him and made what Gene [Roddenberry] considered excessive demands."

Shatner also touched on this story in his own "Trek" book, the 1993 volume "Star Trek Memories." In that account, he notes that the official story at the time was that Hunter wasn't available for the series by the time the pilot was being re-shot, but that wasn't the case. "In truth, Hunter wasn't so much 'unable to commit to the series' as he was fired," Shatner wrote. "Apparently there were problems with Jeffrey. Not while he was shooting or on the set or anything like that, but afterward." Shatner said that when the second pilot was in development, Hunter's wife "suddenly started coming to production meetings." His account says that she "hated the first pilot, and as a result she began to frequently storm into Gene's office, loudly making demands like 'from now on, my Jeff must only be shot from certain angles.'"

At the time, the official word was that Hunter was just unavailable

The Captain Kirk actor said Roddenberry once confided in him that Hunter and his wife were tough to deal with, and he decided they should part ways after facing too many "tantrums, restrictions and ultimatums being laid out on the table." This is a fun, sensational take on the situation, but it doesn't fully match up with other sources. Some sources, like "The Star Trek Encyclopedia," simply note that Hunter was "unavailable" for the new "Star Trek" timeline, a typical problem actors face when one pilot episode eventually turns into a years-long commitment. One source, Brian J. Robb's "A Brief Guide To Star Trek," states that NBC didn't like Hunter's casting, and that coupled with the actor's hesitance at committing to a full series led to his option not being picked up for the second pilot.

Other firsthand accounts shed more light on the story Shatner and Nimoy parroted. The "Trek" blog Fact Trek obtained audio of an interview featuring Oscar Katz, who was Executive Vice President for Trek company Desilu at the time of the second pilot. At an early fan convention, Katz told attendees that Hunter hadn't actually seen his "Star Trek" pilot by the time the show was set to make a second one, but the studio was desperate to keep him on board after spending over half a million dollars on the footage that featured him previously. "Before he re-signed, he wanted to take a look at it," Katz explained. "A screening was set up where Gene and I — I think [fellow Desilu executive] Herb Solow was there — in a very large screening room at Desilu, invited Hunter in to see 'The Menagerie.'"

Star Trek producers shared differing memories of the same pilot screening

Katz said that Hunter and his wife screened the episode with the three men who wanted him back on the show, and he could tell from the whispering between them that "at least one of them hated it." After the screening, Katz got word that Hunter didn't want to do the show anymore, as he didn't like the way it had turned out. Initially believing this was a negotiating strategy, Katz instructed the business affairs department to try to keep working with Hunter's agent. "Weeks went on ... our business affairs department and his agent were miles apart and finally we were running out of time, and worse than that, our tempers were getting short," Katz recalled. "One day I said, 'Well, forget it, we'll sign another lead. Forget the $645,000 worth of film.'"

Yet another account, from Solow and producer Robert H. Justman's book "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story," insists that Hunter didn't actually show up for the screening at all, but his wife did. "As the end credits rolled, and the lights came up, Jeff Hunter's wife gave us our answer," they wrote. "'This is not the kind of show Jeff wants to do, and besides, it wouldn't be good for his career,'" they recalled Bartlett saying. "'Jeff Hunter is a movie star.'" At least one detail of this account is incorrect, as the book called Bartlett "Sandy" when her nickname was actually "Dusty." But there does seem to be one primary source proving that this screening happened (with or without Hunter): Fact Trek found an invitation from Roddenberry to Hunter, in which the "Trek" creator wrote that the network was interested in the show but "a little afraid to do something this unusual."

Everyone agrees that Hunter passed on the show

Roddenberry seemed to be trying to convince Hunter to give the show a chance in the letter, as he continued, "In any case, I think it is important that you see the film. You and I may have to sit down someday soon and it would be impossible for us to talk objectively unless you had viewed it and had time to digest it." A later letter from Roddenberry to Hunter, obtained by site Star Trek Fact Check and originally shared in "Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry," shows that Roddenberry got the news that Hunter passed on the project secondhand. "I am told you have decided not to go ahead with Star Trek," he wrote. "This has to be your decision, of course, and I must respect it."

The TV creator added that he harbored "no grudge or ill feelings" and that he would "continue to reflect publicly and privately the high regard I learned for you during the production of our pilot." It sounds like in the end there were no hard feelings between the men, at least not on the record. As for why exactly Hunter (or Bartlett) decided they were no longer into the admittedly cheesy greatness that was "Star Trek"? Well, one additional source ventured a guess: in his Roddenberry biography "The Man Who Created Star Trek," author James Van Hise said that ultimately, "Hunter's wife convinced the actor that science fiction was beneath him." Unfortunately, this may have been a miscalculation: Hunter's biggest roles in films like "The Searchers" and "King of Kings" turned out to be behind him by the time he was given the chance to play Captain Pike full time. He passed away in 1969, having appeared in just one episode of "Star Trek."

All About the Lost Star Trek Pilot

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Original Star Trek Pilot Episode

On September 8, 1966, the original science-fiction series Star Trek aired its first episode, "The Man Trap." The episode introduced characters such as William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as First Officer Spock, and DeForest Kelley as Doctor Leonard "Bones" McCoy. However, "The Man Trap" wasn't the original pilot for the series. The original pilot was called "The Cage." When the network saw this original pilot, they didn't like it and ordered a new one. Viewers eventually got to see some of "The Cage" as an episode of the first season called "The Menagerie." But the content of "The Cage," the reasons why it was replaced, how it was lost and eventually found, have become the stuff of legend. Let's explore the history of this fascinating and mysterious episode.

Writer and producer Gene Roddenberry approached several TV networks with his concept for a new and realistic science fiction series called Star Trek. Like all TV series, Roddenberry needed to provide the network with a description of his new show, called a "pitch." The pitch included a list of potential episodes to prove the show had staying power. "The Cage" was one of twenty-five proposed stories for Star Trek . At the time, the concept was simply: "The desperation of our series lead, caged and on exhibition like an animal, then offered a mate."

Originally, the pilot was supposed to be sixty minutes, but the pitch meeting to NBC went poorly. In an attempt to sell the series, co-producer Herbert Solow suggested they film a ninety-minute pilot instead of a one-hour pilot. If it didn't go to series, he argued, NBC could air it as a TV movie to recoup their investment. The network agreed, and “The Cage” was selected as the story to be the pilot.

In the original pilot, almost none of the regular cast members appeared. The captain was Christopher Pike, not Captain Kirk. The first officer was a woman known only as Number One, played by Majel Barrett. The doctor, Philip Boyce, was played by John Hoyt. In fact, the only regular character to survive to the full series from "The Cage" was Mister Spock, who wasn't the first officer.

Plot Overview of "The Cage"

When the episode was written, "The Cage" became about the starship USS Enterprise investigating a distress call from a remote planet Talos IV. When the ship sends an away team to the planet's surface, they discover a group of old men and one woman who claim to be stranded. But before they can take the survivors back to the Enterprise , the captain is kidnapped and imprisoned. He finds himself trapped in an alien zoo by a group of powerful alien beings . The alien Talosians possess incredible psychic powers, capable of making anyone see or feel anything they want. As his crew tries to rescue him, the captain is forced into a series of illusions, from his recent attack on Rigel VII to his hometown on Earth. As Pike tries to escape from an ever-changing prison of horrific and idyllic surroundings, he finds himself seduced by a mysterious human woman imprisoned with him.

The alien Talosians were thin beings with enormous pulsating heads. They were originally supposed to be crab-like creatures in the script. This was changed to be cheaper and to avoid the stigma of “bug-eyed monsters” in cheap science fiction movies at the time. The Talosians were played by women and voiced by men to give them an androgynous feel. Ironically, the big-brained psychic alien has itself become a cliché.

Another interesting moment came when the human woman Vina appears to Pike as a green-skinned Orion slave girl. Behind the scenes, her makeup caused some unnecessary headaches. The makeup team spent three days painting the actress various shades of green, but the test film kept coming back a normal flesh color. On the third day, they discovered the processing lab thought the green was a mistake and kept adjusting the skin color back to normal.

One striking difference many viewers notice in the episode is that Spock is much more emotional than usual. At one point, he even laughs. According to Nimoy, the idea of Spock being unemotional wasn't in his character. Number One was intended to be calm and stoic, and Captain Pike was restrained as well. Spock being more energetic and vibrant was a way to balance them out.

"The Cage" ended up costing more than $500,000, a huge amount for the fledgling studio. It also cost more than any other episode in the original series. However, NBC rejected the pilot.

"The Cage" Was Rejected for a Number of Reasons

For one thing, network executives thought the episode was too cerebral. Much of the episode explores themes of the conflict between illusion and reality. Also, this was a time when shows like Lost in Space with flying saucers and alien monkeys were the standard of science fiction. A show like Star Trek's "The Cage" with its military structure and psychic aliens seemed far too deep.

The network also thought the show was too sexy. The moment where Vina dances seductively as a slave girl, and the Talosians openly saying they wanted Captain Pike to "mate" with her left the network uncomfortable with its overt sexuality.

Third, the network thought the pilot didn't have enough action. Other than a brief fight with a giant warrior and some laser cannon fire, there isn't too much excitement in the story. In particular, the story ends with both parties separating peacefully. Roddenberry himself later said, "I should actually have ended it with a fistfight between the hero and the villain if I wanted it on television [...] because that's the way shows were being made at the time. The great mass audience would say, 'Well, if you don't have a fistfight when it's ended, how do we know that's the finish?' and things like that." 

The network also wasn't happy with the female first officer. While this has often been criticized as sexist, it seems the network objected more to Majel Barrett as a poor actress than her being a woman. The fact she was also having a public affair with Roddenberry probably didn't help. Though Majel ended up leaving the regular cast, she returned to the show as a recurring character, Nurse Chapel.

Changes to the Original Star Trek

Even though they didn't like the pilot, it seems like "The Cage" convinced the studio the concept could work. Reportedly, Lucille Ball (the co-owner of Desilu Studios) herself convinced NBC to make the rare move of paying for a new pilot. The second pilot was "Where No Man Has Gone Before." "Where" focused on the Enterprise crossing the edge of the Galaxy , and becoming caught in a "magnetic space storm." The storm grants two crew members god-like powers, which causes them to turn on the ship. The network demanded the firing of almost the entire cast, except for Leonard Nimoy as Spock and Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike . However, Hunter declined to return, convinced by his wife that the show was "beneath him." William Shatner was hired as Captain James Kirk to replace him.

There were also a lot of minor changes. For instance, in the original pilot, female Starfleet officers wore pants just like the men. In the new pilot, the female crew wore extremely short mini-skirts. While some people criticized this as being a sexist move by the studio, it was actually initiated by a cast member. Grace Lee Whitney (who played Yeoman Rand) wanted to show off her "dancer's legs," and the crew liked it so much that they made the miniskirt standard uniform for all the women on the ship.

Struggles and Survival With Network

Though "Where No Man" was approved and took the show to series, it ended up airing as the second episode. The first aired episode became "The Man Trap," about a shape-shifting alien disguised as a human who ravages the ship and crew. The original pilot was shelved until later in the first season. The studio was having trouble coming up with enough episodes to fill NBC's order, and footage from "The Cage" was used to save money. Instead of filming an entirely new episode, "The Cage" was cut into a framing story about Spock seizing control of the Enterprise to return Pike to Talos. "The Cage" became a flashback in the episode. The result was a two-part episode called "The Menagerie." While this allowed fans to see much of the original pilot, there was a disastrous side effect. The master copy of "The Cage" was cut into the negative of "The Menagerie," and any scenes not used for the episode were lost.

After three seasons, the show was canceled in 1969. Gene Roddenberry was left out of work for most of the 1970s while struggling to sell various failed pilots like Planet Earth and Genesis II . While he struggled to try to produce other TV shows, Roddenberry supported himself by lecturing at colleges and Star Trek conventions. Roddenberry often screened his personal black-and-white 16mm print of "The Cage" for audiences. His copy was thought to be the only remaining version of the original pilot. But in 1987, a film archivist named Bob Furmanek found an unmarked print in the archives. It turned out to have the missing pieces of the original color print of "The Cage." Paramount was able to combine the new color film strips with the negative of "The Menagerie" and audio from Roddenberry's print to restore the full episode.

In 1988, a strike by the Writer's Guild halted production on Star Trek: The Next Generation . During the strike, no episodes could be written, leaving the season started without enough time to write four episodes. In order to make up for the missing episodes, Paramount decided to air the newly restored episode of "The Cage." Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard on TNG) introduced the two-hour special, The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation to the Next . It included "The Cage" in color on television for the first time ever.

While "The Cage" wasn't well received at the time, it's since been praised by the cast and crew. In her 1994 autobiography Beyond Uhura , Nichelle Nichols wrote, "Viewing it today [...] the show stands as the purest earliest representation of what Gene hoped Star Trek would achieve." In 1996, Grace Lee Whitney listed "The Cage" as one of her favorite TOS episodes, alongside "Charlie X", "The Devil in the Dark," and "The City on the Edge of Forever." In 1997, Majel Barrett named "The Cage" as her favorite episode of TOS, along with "The City on the Edge of Forever." She thought both episodes "are more Star Trek than anything else that has been conceived" and "pure Star Trek ." Now that the full episode is available, we can all enjoy it.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_Cage_(episode) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cage_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)

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Screen Rant

How star trek would've been different with the cage's original cast.

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Star Trek Officially Brands a Surprising Deep Space Nine Hero as a War Criminal

After 57 years, star trek settles the truth about trelane's godlike species, star trek's new warp drive breaks the prime directive in a way no-one expected.

Where would the  Star Trek franchise be today if the original cast that starred in "The Cage" had never been replaced? More than 50 years after warping onto television screens, the world of  Star Trek  is as popular and visible as ever. After a rebooted series of blockbuster movies, CBS are now in the process of developing an array of new  Star Trek TV  adventures to sit alongside the currently-running  Star Trek: Discovery . While the future certainly looks busy,  Star Trek 's past has not been forgotten, and  Star Trek: Picard is set to bring back Patrick Stewart's Enterprise-D captain after a lengthy hiatus. Reaching even further back, the days of William Shatner's Kirk and Leonard Nimoy's Spock retain a lofty status within popular culture.

After developing the concept for  Star Trek  in the 1960s , Gene Roddenberry wrote "The Cage" as the pilot episode for his brand new undertaking. Noticeably different from what would now be recognized as old-school  Star Trek , "The Cage" was rejected by TV networks and Roddenberry was sent away to try again. The visionary returned with "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and the rest is science fiction history. But how would  Star Trek have been different if the cast of "The Cage" had stayed on and the first pilot was used as the starting point for the original series?

Related: Star Trek: How Fast Warp Speed Is (And How It Compares To Hyperspace)

The biggest and most obvious change would've been Jeffrey Hunter's Christopher Pike taking over the role of  Star Trek 's Enterprise captain instead of William Shatner's James T. Kirk. The two protagonists have much in common: bravery, a strong moral compass and the respect of their crew mates, but Kirk and Pike were very distinct personalities. Hunter's Pike was characterized as the straighter captain - less of a maverick than the brash and hot-headed Kirk. Without those qualities in its leading man, Star Trek 's weekly moral conflicts would've lacked a key, combustible element.

William Shatner's unique acting style could also be considered a key part of Star Trek 's early success. Jeffrey Hunter is patently a very capable actor, but played his Starfleet captain in a straighter, more serious fashion. Shatner's exuberant and fun approach might not be the finest example of the theatrical arts, but his charismatic performance helped Star Trek carve a legacy none the less. Another major element of that legacy is the holy trinity of Kirk, Spock and McCoy - something that no other trio could've replicated.

The Enterprise's captain isn't the only position that would've been vastly different with the cast of "The Cage." Leonard Nimoy's Spock is the only character carried from the original cast into the full series, but his performances differ greatly between the two. In "The Cage," Spock is more excitable and human, free of the cold, hard logic so closely associated with the character today. Instead, the more robotic emotions are saved for Number One, the second-in-command on Pike's Enterprise. In rejigging the  Star Trek setup, the Number One character was amalgamated into Spock, but if the cast of "The Cage" had remained in place, the Vulcan couldn't have developed the same iconic persona that Nimoy portrayed so well for half a century.

The primary reason for "The Cage" being rejected was its more intellectual storytelling approach compared to other sci-fi offerings of the era. Roddenberry returned with a more even blend of science fiction and action, and this formed the basis of the early  Star Trek formula. Since finally airing in full in the 1980s, "The Cage" has been consistently labelled one of  Star Trek 's strongest ever episodes , and this suggests that the original series would've still found a loyal, core fan base, even with the cast seen in "The Cage." By pitching at a more cerebral level, however,  Star Trek would've lost mainstream appeal and lacked an entry point for younger fans. It could also be argued that  Star Trek 's more complex storylines only gained appreciation  after the series was already established.

Evidently, the landscape of the  Star Trek franchise would've been very different if "The Cage" cast had stayed in their roles, and it's also very likely that Roddenberry 's creation wouldn't have found the same level of success and may been a little too ahead of its time to find success in the 1960s.

More: Picard Can Unite Star Trek's Divided Fandom

Star Trek: Discovery season 3 is currently without a release date. More news as it arrives.

• SR Originals

This Rejected Star Trek Pilot Still Ended Up in the Show

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The Big Picture

• "The Cage," the first pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series , was initially rejected by NBC for being too cerebral and was later reworked into a two-part episode titled "The Menagerie."
• Lucille Ball's involvement and financial support played a crucial role in convincing NBC to order a second pilot and ultimately launch Star Trek: The Original Series .
• "The Cage" was largely inaccessible for decades until its release on home video in 1986 to commemorate the franchise's 20th anniversary, and it later aired in its original form in 1988.

On September 8, 1966, the world first caught sight of the USS Enterprise and its crew of cosmic explorers when Gene Roddenberry 's Star Trek: The Original Series premiered on NBC. Igniting what would become a multimedia empire made up of television, films, novels, comic books, and video games, Roddenberry's original series laid the foundation for a cultural milestone revered by devoted and casual fans around the world to this day. But like all iconic entertainment, Star Trek's road to pop culture glory had its share of bumps along the way, not the least of which included behind-the-scenes hurdles predating its premiere as a series. While The Original Series is often — and deservedly — championed for prioritizing progressive ideas and richly defined characters over action and spectacle, the seminal sci-fi franchise hasn't always received the warmest welcome from viewers preferring genre thrills, and Gene Roddenberry found this out the hard way when the series' first pilot, "The Cage," was met with crickets by NBC's network brass.

Star Trek: The Original Series

In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.

What Is "The Cage" About?

Written by Roddenberry and produced nearly two years before Star Trek: The Original Series officially debuted, "The Cage" follows the USS Enterprise as it investigates a distress signal from a distant planet. Aside from Leonard Nimoy , the actors who would ultimately comprise the series' crew were not featured, and in the Captain's chair was Jeffrey Hunter as Christopher Pike. After beaming down to the planet Talos IV, Pike and his crew discover a group of scientists stranded eighteen years before. Particularly taken with the beautiful Vina ( Susan Oliver ), Pike suddenly finds himself captured and held by the Talosians, a subterranean, humanoid alien race.

Harnessing their telepathic ability to construct and project powerful illusions into the minds of others, the Talosians alter Pike's perception of Vina, presenting her as a seductress in hopes of using the couple as breeders to repopulate the planet with slaves. Battling their persistent efforts to break him down and entice lustful desires, Pike confounds the Talosians by consistently displaying anger and resistance to the notion of captivity, exhibiting primal human instincts that render their telepathic powers ineffective. Realizing they won't succeed with their plan, the otherworldly beings release Pike, and Vina, whose true appearance is revealed to be a far cry from the fetching presentation the Talosians projected into the Captain's mind, opts to remain on the planet so long as she can maintain her beautiful yet illusory self-image.

NBC Rejected "The Cage" and Ordered a Second Star Trek Pilot

While "The Cage" features numerous hallmarks that would define Star Trek — philosophical ideas, aliens, a green space girl, phasers — NBC reportedly considered the $600,000 pilot to be "too cerebral." In his book The Making of Star Trek , Stephen Whitfield writes , "NBC felt the show would go over the heads of most of the viewers, that it required too much thought on the part of the viewer in order to understand it." In an unprecedented move at the time, the network ordered a second pilot and recast it with the performers who would play the Enterprise's iconic crew across three seasons and six subsequent feature films.

A crucial yet perhaps little-known bit of trivia surrounding the second pilot, titled "Where No Man Has Gone Before," was Lucille Ball 's involvement. Alongside husband Desi Arnaz , Ball oversaw Desilu Productions and the studio space where "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" were shot. She was instrumental in persuading NBC to order a second Star Trek pilot and contributed to its financing . According to executive Ed Holly , "If it were not for Lucy, there would be no Star Trek today." To boost its chances of avoiding anything overly heady and logistically complex, NBC considered three screenplays and reduced the episode's budget from $600,000 to $300,000. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was completed in January 1966 and, having won the approval of the network, Star Trek: The Original Series was given the green light to premiere the following fall.

"The Cage" Was Later Incorporated Into a Two-Part Star Trek Episode

Though it was promptly scrapped in early 1965, "The Cage" would be resurrected via a two-part episode midway through Star Trek: The Original Series ' first season. Written by Gene Roddenberry and dubbed "The Menagerie," the first half introduces Captain Pike who, after suffering an accident, is physically paralyzed but retaining cognitive function. Having served alongside the Captain 13 years before, Spock (Nimoy) hatches a plan to take Pike back to Talos IV, where, under the Talosian's powers of perception, he could live out the remainder of his days in peace and a healthy physical condition. Obscuring his true intentions from Captain Kirk ( William Shatner ) and Starfleet, Spock absconds with Pike, takes control of the Enterprise, and sets a course for Talos IV.

Employing a bit of cleverly structured storytelling , "The Menagerie" incorporates "The Cage" via flashbacks. During a hearing to determine whether Spock will be the subject of a court-martial for his mutinous actions, Kirk and other officers view the events of "The Cage" onscreen, and audiences are bounced back and forth between Pike's experience on Talos IV and that of the present moment. Upon learning the truth surrounding Pike and Spock's history, and realizing the court-martial hearing was an illusion put on by the Talosians to buy time for their journey, Kirk allows the ailing Captain to reunite with Vina on the planet. Seamlessly fusing two narratives, "The Menagerie" retroactively incorporates the series' rejected pilot into its current canonical timeline, honoring the original material while simultaneously giving Captain Pike a circular narrative arc that ends with closure. Despite its inclusion in a highly-rated installment of Star Trek's original series, the story behind "The Cage" as its first pilot would not be widely known for years.

"The Cage" Wasn't Accessible In Its Original Form for Decades

After its inclusion in "The Menagerie," "The Cage" was largely unavailable as a standalone episode for twenty years. According to The Hollywood Reporter , "The Cage" was seen by only a handful of avid fans at Star Trek conventions until 1986, when it was released on home video to mark the franchise's 20th anniversary. It later aired in color and its original form for the first time in 1988 as part of a special hosted by Patrick Stewart . While it may have been relegated to relative obscurity in the decades since Star Trek: The Original Series ' debut, the seemingly abandoned pilot's eventual revival greatly contributed to one of the series' more favorable and creatively ambitious episodes, thanks in no small part to an ingenious and resourceful use of previously scrapped content.

Star Trek: The Original Series is currently available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Watch on Paramount+

• TV Features

Here's what you need to know about Star Trek pilot The Cage - the Original Series episode featured in Star Trek Discovery

Confused about that old school montage at the beginning of Star Trek Discovery season 2, episode 8? We explain

If you've caught the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery season 2 chances are you either loved the mind-blowing opener... or were very, very confused. Depending on how well you know Star Trek, the old school montage which kicked off Star Trek Discovery season 2, episode 8 might have been the best call back to the Original Series in the show so far or meant literally nothing to you. 

If it's the latter, don't worry, because we're here to help with a quick explainer about the Original Series episode that was referenced and the even better news that it's on Netflix right now! Read on for everything you need to know, but beware of spoilers if you're not up-to-date.

Back in 1965, a TV pilot was made for a new sci-fi series about a starship full of explorers called Star Trek. It was called The Cage and its star was Captain Christopher Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter. Along with his First Officer (simply known as Number One and played by Gene Roddenberry's future wife Majel Barrett) and his Science Officer, a Vulcan named Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy), Pike investigates a distress call from Talos 4 where they discover a group of survivors from a scientific expedition, including a beautiful young woman named Vina (played by Susan Oliver). 

Ring any bells? If you've watched the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery then it certainly should. Long story short, the 'survivors' are actually the local aliens called Talosians who have incredible mental abilities that can make you see and feel anything. Vina is human, but she's terribly scarred from the crash which brought her to Talos 4 and it's the Talosians who make her feel whole again. 

Predictably, Pike and Vina fall in love and Pike asks her to leave with him, but she can't leave the planet without reverting back to her true form, which she's not willing to do, so Pike and his crew leave and Talos 4 becomes a restricted planet due to the potentially dangerous abilities of its locals.

This original Star Trek pilot was rejected by NBC for being "too cerebral", "too intellectual", "too slow", and with "not enough action", so they commissioned a new pilot, which later became Where No Man Has Gone Before, starring a completely different captain: one Captain James T. Kirk played by William Shatner. 

Star Trek viewers were eventually introduced to Captain Pike in Original Series two-parter The Menagerie, which sees Spock abduct his former commander (here played by Sean Kenney), who is terribly disfigured and confined to a wheelchair, and take him to the forbidden planet of Talos 4. Once there, the Talosians use their mental abilities to give Pike a life without his crippling injures and he lives out the rest of his days with Vina. While The Menagerie actually continued Pike and Vina's love story from the original Star Trek pilot, viewers didn't know that at the time and a lot of footage from The Cage was actually used in the two-parter to save money.

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The Cage remained under lock and key for some time until it eventually aired in 1988, with Star Trek well and truly back in the public consciousness thanks to the movie series and the newly launched Star Trek: The Next Generation. Now another Star Trek show has incorporated the story into its timeline. 

It's clear from the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery that the events of The Cage are a part of this Pike's (now played by Anson Mount) past, but will we see him eventually follow the same path of The Menagerie and end up terribly injured, but eventually living happily ever after with Vina on Talos 4?

If the short montage from The Cage at the beginning on Star Trek Discovery's latest episode has given you a taste for the Original Series then you can now watch the original pilot, as well as the rest of the Original Series and indeed all the other Star Trek series (!), on Netflix now. Just be prepared... it's very different from the Star Trek you know and love.

What did you think of the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery? Maybe it should make it onto our list of the best Star Trek episodes of all time...

Lauren O'Callaghan is the former Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar+. You'd typically find Lauren writing features and reviews about the latest and greatest in pop culture and entertainment, and assisting the teams at Total Film and SFX to bring their excellent content onto GamesRadar+. Lauren is now the digital marketing manager at the National Trust.

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Where No Man Has Gone Before

• Episode aired Sep 22, 1966

The flight recorder of the 200-year-old U.S.S. Valiant relays a tale of terror--a magnetic storm at the edge of the galaxy. The flight recorder of the 200-year-old U.S.S. Valiant relays a tale of terror--a magnetic storm at the edge of the galaxy. The flight recorder of the 200-year-old U.S.S. Valiant relays a tale of terror--a magnetic storm at the edge of the galaxy.

• James Goldstone
• Samuel A. Peeples
• Gene Roddenberry
• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• Gary Lockwood
• 67 User reviews
• 10 Critic reviews

Top cast 15

• Captain James T. Kirk

• Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell

• Dr. Elizabeth Dehner

• Yeoman Smith

• Lt. Lee Kelso

• Doctor Piper
• Lieutenant Hadley
• (uncredited)
• Bridge Crewmember
• Sciences Crewman
• Operations Division Lieutenant

• Lieutenant Leslie
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia The change in Gary and Elizabeth's eyes was accomplished by Gary Lockwood and Sally Kellerman wearing sparkly contact lenses. They consisted of tinfoil sandwiched between two lenses which covered the entire eye. Wearing the lenses was difficult for Lockwood. He could only see through the lenses by looking down while pointing his head up. Lockwood was able to use this look to convey Mitchell's arrogant attitude. The lenses were made over a weekend by Los Angeles optician John Roberts, who was hired by Associate Producer Robert H. Justman. Justman felt obligated to try wearing them before asking any actors to do so and managed to for several hours. He found them to be incredibly uncomfortable, but as long as they were only worn for brief periods, they were safe.
• Goofs Gary Mitchell makes Captain Kirk's "headstone" which reads: "James R. Kirk." In all other Trek references, his name is "James Tiberius Kirk".

[last lines]

Capt. Kirk : Captain's Log, stardate 1313.8: add to official losses Doctor Elizabeth Dehner - be it noted she gave her life in performance of her duty; Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell, same notation.

Capt. Kirk : I want his service record to end that way; he didn't ask for what happened to him.

Spock : I felt for him, too.

Capt. Kirk : [amazed] I believe there's some hope for you after all, Mr. Spock.

• Alternate versions The original version of the pilot, produced to convince NBC to buy "Star Trek" as a series, runs approximately 5 minutes longer and has a different introduction, several additional lines of dialogue and reaction shots, transitional introductions a la Quinn Martin ("Act I", "Act II", etc.), and different opening and closing credits. This has never been shown on television, but has circulated among "Star Trek" fans worldwide. It has been unofficially released on public domain videos, and was released on the 2009 Blu-Ray set of the original series (in the Season 3 collection)
• Connections Edited into Star Trek: Catspaw (1967)
• Soundtracks Star Trek Theme Composed and conducted by Alexander Courage

User reviews 67

• Apr 23, 2014
• September 22, 1966 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• RKO Studios - 780 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
• Desilu Productions
• Norway Corporation
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 50 minutes

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Star Trek being forced to recast Christopher Pike saved the franchise

S tar Trek fans may be familiar with the story involving Jeffrey Hunter; the franchise's first captain. Hunter played Captain Christopher Pike in the first Star Trek pilot, "The Cage". It was later soundly rejected and a re-shoot was ordered. This time Hunter wasn't interested in appearing in the series anymore, and so series creator Gene Roddenberry and crew went and cast William Shatner to be the new lead.

Shatner of course played James T. Kirk and he'd head a mostly new cast in the next pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". It faired much better, and a franchise was born. From that casting switch fans got six films featuring the original cast, a spinoff in The Next Generation, and further spinoffs in Deep Space Nine and Voyager, followed by a prequel in Enterprise. Plus, two other film franchises and a whole new slate of shows starting in 2017.

None of that would've been possible without the change from Hunter to Shatner. We're not being hyperbolic, either. Quite literally, had Shatner not taken over the reins from Hunter, there wouldn't have been a Star Trek heading into 1970.

At least not one you'd recognize. The reason why Star Trek was revived in the 70s, nearly a decade after its cancelation is because of the support the cast had from the fandom. Every from Shatner to Leonard Nimoy to Nichelle Nichols and everyone else you could think of was beloved. The thought of doing more Star Trek without someone from that original crew reprising their role was a non-starter for many.

Sadly, that's where things become too clear. You see, Hunter suffered an accident in 1969, and died on May 27, just six days before Star Trek: The Original Series broadcasted its last episode. Had Hunter stayed on with the project and the show met the same success with him at the helm as with Shatner, then it's fair to say that the series would've died with Hunter.

Fans right now, ourselves included, are debating how Star Trek 4 should handle the horrible passing of Anton Yelchin, a young and tremendous actor who died weeks before the premiere of Star Trek: Beyond. Yelchin's passing shocked fans, and now we're not sure if there should be another version of Pavel Chekov in this specific universe.

Imagine trying to recast the lead of an ultra-popular show. There's no guarantee fans would've wanted it. It may have ceased to exist like so many other shows before it. So while Hunter's passing was sad, the fact that Star Trek had Shatner at the time likely saved the franchise.

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as Star Trek being forced to recast Christopher Pike saved the franchise .

Why Majel Barrett Was Known As 'The First Lady Of Star Trek'

If there's one person that's more important to the "Star Trek" universe than names like Kirk, Spock, Picard, and any other character that's graced the deck of an Enterprise ship, it's Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the now 58-year franchise . He molded a universe of brave heroes and explorers that sought out new life and new civilizations, changing science fiction forever in the process. It also left its mark on Majel Barrett, who would go on to marry Roddenberry and become what fans aptly dubbed The First Lady of Star Trek.

Though she and Roddenberry met prior to the show's creation, Barrett found her place among the stars when she was cast on the original "Star Trek" series as Nurse Christine Chapel after portraying Number One in the show's pilot episode. While not as prominent as some other characters, she remained a staple of "Trek" lore, appearing in all three seasons of the original series as well as "Star Trek: The Animated Series." The character of Chapel has regained greater prominence in the last few years as a key member of Captain Pike's (Anson Mount) team in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," though this time  Jess Bush has brought the character to life . However, when it comes to the original cast member behind the crew member, Barrett is one of the few original "Star Trek" legends who had multiple roles throughout the franchise's history.

Majel Barrett returned as the mother of Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation

In 1979, Barrett reprised her role as Chapel (who had at this point become a doctor) in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and then again in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" in 1986. A year later, Barrett returned to space in a brand-new role that would become just as beloved.

Appearing in nine episodes beginning with "Star Trek: The Next Generation" Season 1, Episode 11, she portrayed the legendary and incredibly flirtatious Lwaxana Troi, mother of Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). The character, who would also go on to make multiple appearances in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," was a far cry from her previous role, which was exactly why Barrett had so much fun playing her.

In an interview for the show's official magazine in 1988 (via StarTrek.com ), Barrett said, "She's a much more fun character, and I can play her forever, because I'm at an age where that's totally believable. I would like to continue to do that." That being said, Barrett still held a special place in her heart for Chapel as well. "I could leave Chapel very easily. However, if somebody gave me the chance to do her again, of course I would." Lwaxana would be Barrett's last on-screen acting role in the "Star Trek" universe, but there was still an integral part of the franchise that she was responsible for since 1966. And through TV and movie magic, she was able to stick with it even after her passing in 2008.

Majel Barrett voiced the Starfleet computer

In addition to nursing injured members of the Enterprise's crew back to health, Majel Barrett was also the voice of the Starfleet Computer, a role she held since the original "Star Trek" series. If life signs needed to be read or food had to be ordered, it was Barrett's voice that responded to the crew's request. It's a detail that, once you know it, can't be unheard if you watch a lot of "Star Trek."

Thanks to Roddenberry's foresight of where technology was headed, and with his wife's voice guiding the way, major companies that would make these fantasies a reality got in touch with her years down the line. Before her death in 2008, Rod Roddenberry (son of Majel and Gene) revealed the big names in the world of smart devices that tried to beam Barrett in to work on their products. "​​Those companies actually reached out to her. Apple, I believe, and I know Google did before she passed," he told Cinema Blend . "Everyone had the same idea, which is still a great idea, 'We should have Majel Roddenberry, the voice of the Star Trek computer, be the voice of all our automated machinery out there.'"

While that didn't come to pass, Barrett's voice maintained its position in "Star Trek" right up until J.J. Abrams big screen reboot of the franchise in 2009, proving that, just like her husband, the First Lady of Star Trek and her legacy would echo through space even after she was gone.