andrew@alberta.UUCP (Andrew Folkins) (07/20/85)
"The Menagerie" was shown recently here, and a friend of mine presented the idea that Captain Pike's adventures on Talos IV comprised the original pilot of the Star Trek series. I told him that there was no pilot for the series, and the list of ST episodes distributed recently on the Net does not mention one. So, the question is, is he on drugs, or what? Trivia question : How many ST episodes show scenes from the history of the ST universe, i.e. before Kirk became Captain of the Enterprise? (Hmm. A paradox. In those series with time travel, parts of the story take place chronologically before Kirk became Captain, but at the same time he _is_ Captain.) And finally, that everpresent generic background chatter : "ER section, we read only 4.5 here. Do you confirm? Gravity is down to .8" -- Andrew Folkins YABS : If you think education is expensive, ihnp4!alberta!andrew consider the price of ignorance.
alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (07/20/85)
You are quite wrong, there were three pilots to Star Trek. The first, The Cage, was what was cut up to make The Menagerie when Paramount couldn't make episodes for those two weeks. The second is in ''Where No Man Has Gone Before'' (thank God they didn't use that!). The third, of course, is what you see now.
eac@drutx.UUCP (CveticEA) (07/22/85)
>"The Menagerie" was shown recently here, and a friend of mine presented the >idea that Captain Pike's adventures on Talos IV comprised the original pilot >of the Star Trek series. I told him that there was no pilot for the series, >and the list of ST episodes distributed recently on the Net does not mention >one. So, the question is, is he on drugs, or what? It is true that a pilot for Star Trek was never shown as such on TV, however, two were indeed filmed. The first one no longer exists and was never shown (what a shame!). The second was the Pike story which does not exist anymore in its original form. It was recut with the additional footage added to become "The Menagerie". Betsy Cvetic ihnp4!drutx!eac
mda@whuxcc.UUCP (07/22/85)
** THIS PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK ** Star Trek was (and probably still is) one of the only TV shows that had TWO pilots. The first pilot, submitted to NBC around 1964 or so, was the 70-minute-long "Menagerie," written by Gene Roddenbury. As you may have guessed, it consisted of the film that is transmitted to the Enterprise by the Talosians in "The Menagerie, Parts I and II" and featured, among other things, the Satanic-looking Mr. Spock, Captain Christopher Pike, and Majel Barrett (sp) playing Number 1, who was Captain Pike's first officer. NBC, despite some of it's executives shouting "Great!", rejected the pilot, but they asked Roddenbury to make a second pilot. The second pilot featured the almost-complete Enterprise crew, especially Bill Shatner as Captain Kirk, and Salley Kellerman guest-starred in "Where No Man Has Gone Before," which later became a ST episode in its entirety. NBC accepted this pilot, and I guess the rest is history. Mark Abramowitz Bell Communications Research Morristown, NJ ...!ihnp4!whuxcc!mda
herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong [DCS]) (07/23/85)
In article <3319@drutx.UUCP> eac@drutx.UUCP (CveticEA) writes: >It is true that a pilot for Star Trek was never shown as such on TV, however, >two were indeed filmed. The first one no longer exists and was never shown >(what a shame!). The second was the Pike story which does not exist >anymore in its original form. It was recut with the additional footage >added to become "The Menagerie". not true, as i'm sure many people will point out. "The Cage" was the first pilot and eventually became part of the two part show "The Menagerie". the second was "Where No Man Has Gone Before". WNMHGB was aired as the third show in the series. the order and naming of the two pilots is confirmed by "The Making of Startrek", which was written between the second and third seasons of ST. Herb Chong... I'm user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble.... UUCP: {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!water!watdcsu!herbie CSNET: herbie%watdcsu@waterloo.csnet ARPA: herbie%watdcsu%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa NETNORTH, BITNET, EARN: herbie@watdcs, herbie@watdcsu
brown@utflis.UUCP (Susan Brown) (07/23/85)
In article <593@alberta.UUCP> andrew@alberta.UUCP (Andrew Folkins) writes: >"The Menagerie" was shown recently here, and a friend of mine presented the >idea that Captain Pike's adventures on Talos IV comprised the original pilot >of the Star Trek series. I told him that there was no pilot for the series, >and the list of ST episodes distributed recently on the Net does not mention >one. So, the question is, is he on drugs, or what? "The Cage" was the first pilot, which the network did not buy. It was used to expand "The Menagerie" into two episodes when the budget required it. (Otherwise we could speculate on the de-aging of Spock; a sort of Deadly Years in reverse.) The second pilot was "Where No Man Has Gone Before". NBC bought it, obviously. So, the question is, are you on arrogant pills, or what?
demillo@uwmacc.UUCP (Rob DeMillo) (07/24/85)
> "The Menagerie" was shown recently here, and a friend of mine presented the > idea that Captain Pike's adventures on Talos IV comprised the original pilot > of the Star Trek series. I told him that there was no pilot for the series, > and the list of ST episodes distributed recently on the Net does not mention > one. So, the question is, is he on drugs, or what? > > Andrew Folkins YABS : If you think education is expensive, > ihnp4!alberta!andrew consider the price of ignorance. ...'fraid your friend is quite right. There were two ST pilots. Captain Pike was the original Captain of the Enterprise in the Roddenberry pilot "the menagerie." (same name) I cannot remember the whole story, but it necessitated Roddenberry making a new pilot. By this time (1 year later) the fellow who played Pike moved on to other projects, and Roddenberry had some other idea...like taking the non-emotions from Number One and giving them to Spock. (The original idea for Spock, and Vulcans in general, was to have them WILDLY emotional.) The changes are evident in the new captain, the new Spock, the new look of the Enterprise in the second pilot... (can anyone guess?) "Where No Man Has Gone Before." At some point, Roddenberry thought it would be neat to use the old Menagerie footage in a new ST episode...thereby making the two-parter that we all know and love... -- --- Rob DeMillo Madison Academic Computer Center ...seismo!uwvax!uwmacc!demillo / =|-- = \ = [][][] "...I don't know what this thing does, but it's pointing in your direction."
stevenh@tekig4.UUCP (Steve Herring) (07/24/85)
> > >"The Menagerie" was shown recently here, and a friend of mine presented the > >idea that Captain Pike's adventures on Talos IV comprised the original pilot > >of the Star Trek series. I told him that there was no pilot for the series, > >and the list of ST episodes distributed recently on the Net does not mention > >one. So, the question is, is he on drugs, or what? > > It is true that a pilot for Star Trek was never shown as such on TV, however, > two were indeed filmed. The first one no longer exists and was never shown > (what a shame!). The second was the Pike story which does not exist > anymore in its original form. It was recut with the additional footage > added to become "The Menagerie". > > Betsy Cvetic > ihnp4!drutx!eac Whoa! My understanding is: The first pilot is/was the Pike story used to make the Menagerie story. I believe the original pilot is still around somewhere but is only in black and white or something like that. Can someone verify this? Is there anyone out there who has seen the Pike story in its original form and would like to fill us in on the parts that aren't in the Menagerie? The second pilot is the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before." This is the episode with ESP. Also this is the only episode that McCoy doesn't appear in since it was a pilot and Deforest Kelley (no spelling flames) hadn't been cast yet. Trivia question: Who played the doctor/surgeon in this episode? Also, this is the only episode where we see a phaser rifle. If I'm mistaken, send flames to ...!tektronix!tekig4!stevenh since Tektronix no longer lets us read net.flame. Steve Herring ...!tektronix!tekig4!stevenh
chrisa@azure.UUCP (Chris Andersen) (07/24/85)
In article <3319@drutx.UUCP> eac@drutx.UUCP (CveticEA) writes: > >>"The Menagerie" was shown recently here, and a friend of mine presented the >>idea that Captain Pike's adventures on Talos IV comprised the original pilot >>of the Star Trek series. I told him that there was no pilot for the series, >>and the list of ST episodes distributed recently on the Net does not mention >>one. So, the question is, is he on drugs, or what? > >It is true that a pilot for Star Trek was never shown as such on TV, however, >two were indeed filmed. The first one no longer exists and was never shown >(what a shame!). The second was the Pike story which does not exist >anymore in its original form. It was recut with the additional footage >added to become "The Menagerie". Huh? I think you may have your story a little screwed up here. The first pilot for Star Trek was "The Cage". It was rejected by NBC for various reasons but the project was given a second chance when they gave the go ahead for the second pilot "Where No Man has Gone Before". This episode was shown on TV and the rest is history. But they didn't want to waste all that had been put into the original pilot so they sliced it into a two hour episode called "The Menagerie". The only color prints of the cage left are those that are a part of "The Managerie". There are complete copies of the original pilot but they are in black and white (I saw it once when Roddenberry came to our school. It was great and would have made a great series, even without Kirk or McCoy). Chris Andersen -- tektronix!azure!chrisa
tli@oberon.UUCP (Tony Li) (07/27/85)
In article <593@alberta.UUCP> andrew@alberta.UUCP (Andrew Folkins) writes:
"The Menagerie" was shown recently here, and a friend of mine presented the
idea that Captain Pike's adventures on Talos IV comprised the
original pilot
of the Star Trek series. I told him that there was no pilot
for the series,
and the list of ST episodes distributed recently on the Net does
not mention
one. So, the question is, is he on drugs, or what?
You're both on drugs. There were two pilots. The first was "The Menagerie"
or "The Cage". NBC didn't particularly like it so they sent Gene back to do
it again. That was "Where no man has gone before."
--
Tony Li ;-) Usc Computer Science
Uucp: ...!{{decvax,ucbvax}!sdcsvax,hplabs,allegra,trwrb}!sdcrdcf!uscvax!tli
Bitnet: tli@uscvaxq, tli@jaxom, tli@ramoth
Csnet: tli@usc-cse.csnet
Arpa: tli@usc-ecl.arpadoug@escher.UUCP (Douglas J Freyburger) (08/08/85)
> The first pilot is/was the Pike story used to make the Menagerie story. > I believe the original pilot is still around somewhere but is only in > black and white or something like that. Can someone verify this? Is > there anyone out there who has seen the Pike story in its original > form and would like to fill us in on the parts that aren't in the > Menagerie? > Steve Herring > ...!tektronix!tekig4!stevenh I saw the original pilot at a Star Trek convention I went to in Niagara Falls 8-10 years ago. It is in color, but it is on a poor copy in 16mm film. Sparks and streaks, and a little wobble, but still watchable. I didn't notice any major cuts compared to the double TV version, but little scenes and pieces of scenes could well have been missing. The studio had detroyed all copies of the film they had after the show was cancelled, but someone had a 16mm copy in their closet somewhere. Someone got hold of it and started making copies, so there are plenty out there now (as of several years ago). Some of the controls on the bridge are more interesting looking in the old version. The individual viewscreens are on stalks like the bendable-neck desk lights that used to be popular. More oo-ah than those odd things that fold out with the buzzing noise. There was an added shimmer in the main viewscreen coming in and out of warp drive, too. I guess their computer image generation wasn't supposed to be as nice as the on used by Kirk and Co. Doug Freyburger DOUG@JPL-VLSI, DOUG@JPL-ROBOTICS, JPL 171-235 ...escher!doug, doug@aerospace, Pasadena, CA 91109 etc.