The Menagerie, Part I
There’s mischief afoot, and you know exactly how it ends because this is one of the most famous episodes of TOS ever: The Menagerie, Part I (Memory Alpha; HD Video). And let me tell you, knowing the reason everything is happening is kind of detrimental to the suspense.
Kirk and Spock arrive at Starbase 11, summoned by a call from command. But there was no call, insists the starbase. All there was was people talking about poor old Fleet Captain Pike, who was once the captain on the Enterprise, but has now been delta-radiated in a tragic accident and cannot move or talk. It really sucks to be him.
Begin Spoilers
And that’s why Spock fakes that call, and fakes new orders to freight Pike half-way across the galaxy to Talos IV, where the two of them spent some quality time all those years ago when Pike and Spock were the Enterprise’s command staff. Back then, there was some crazy stuff going on. What stuff? Oh, that’s part two.
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Among other things, this episode contains the first mention of “Starfleet.” Previously, it’s been “Earth Command” or “United Earth” or other gibberish. But now we see a document that says “For eyes of Starfleet command only” and has the little swooshy arrow Star Trek logo, so that’s pretty much set in stone. (we see that document when Kirk is shown it, objects, and the Starbase Commodore says “Oh, I’m certifying I cleared you to read it,” as if that was good enough).
But whoever this newfangled “Starfleet” is, they sure have dumb rules. They have only one crime that deserves the death penalty, and that’s going to Talos IV.
Wait, More Spoilers
They also let the Commodore of the starbase and the Captain of a hijacked ship chase that ship together, alone, in a shuttlecraft. No, really.
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But despite it’s valiant effort to re-use the original pilot (with a smart in-universe rationale), this is only an okay episode. It’s got a nice mystery, but the mystery is simple enough that repeated viewing aren’t interesting. The mish-mash of old effects/costumes/sets with new ones is interesting in a meta sense but not in any other way. And Pike isn’t given a chance to be interesting in the flashbacks or in the present, which cuts down on how much we the audience cares.
But they certainly do a good job of tying the characters into the action such that it’s clear that they care a great deal. This seems like it’s a tough thing to do, but I’m looking at it as weaving the characters I know into the plots, whereas the writers on TOS were thinking more about creating the characters in the first place. So it was probably easier than I imagine, but it’s still good writing.
Best Unintentional Bit of Ironic Dialog
Pike: [after not assigning Number One to the landing party] Sorry, Number One, with little information on this planet we’ll have to leave the ship’s most experienced officer here covering us.
Grade
B+
