Star Trek: The Original Series - Pilot 1: The Cage

This seemed the right place to begin, despite a disrupted timeline of the universe, where the last series somehow became the first. An almost sacrilegious comparison, but ala Star Wars 4-6 and Star Wars 1-3.  During my childhood, I saw several Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes and I am looking forward to seeing it in its entirety, but starting at the very origin of Star Trek feels right.


What you'll find here is not an episode-by-episode geek chronology or an evaluation of the episodes. What you will find are notes that I make for myself that I feel have some relevance in the maze of my geek mind. It might also just be things that spark a geek chord in my knowledge and I'm somehow making that connection. These are to record what I have learned on this journey.


Pilot 1 - The Cage
A new viewing experience for both myself and my husband. He had never seen the pilot. I was unaware that there was a pilot that contained a cast other than what I've come to know the original crew as.

The interesting pieces of information I've gleaned:

• Velour! When Pike reclined on the bed, we couldn't help but notice how the material on his shirt was strangely. . . Brannigan-esque. At the same time, my husband and I exclaimed "VELOUR!" 
• A ship whistle? Really? I'm going to "ah" or take a drink every time I hear it.
• I've met Christopher Pike! Now I know. . .oh wait... not the pseudonym for a childhood young adult horror author?
• Big heads? Pulsing, psychic veins? Talosians anyone? 
• Where are the red velour shirts? 
• Inside the communicators? A neat little tidbit.

For my own well-being, I'm also going to draw attention to my favorite geek show, Mystery Science Theatre 3000. My husband spent alot of time creating a web of interconnectedness within the MST3K universe and I wanted to share that here. I've been an MST3K fan since I was a very little girl and could watch MST3K on television at my grandparents house in Wisconsin. Fangirl to the end! I'll include these whenever there are connections. . . and there are lot of them. Links will mostly take you to my husband's entries on the episodes or, if there is not a completed entry yet, to a film page about the movie (not the MST3K episode).

• John Hoyt (Dr. Phillip Boyce) appears in Episode 208: The Lost Continent as Rostov.
• Peter Duryea (Lieutenant José Tyler) appeared in Episode 204: Catalina Caper. 
• Bob Johnson (the voice of Talosian #1) was the narrator, among other voices, in Episode 113: The Black Scorpion.
• Joseph Mell (Earth Trader) was Dr. Wagner in Episode 809: I was a Teenage Werewolf. 
• Robert Phillips (Space Officer from Orion) was Chief Pallin in Episode 512: Mitchell. 
• Adam Roarke (Chief Petty Officer Garrison) was Harris in Episode 104: Women of the Prehistoric Planet.