markv@dartvax.UUCP (05/22/84)
<>
There have been a couple of questions about the Star Trek pilot.
Here's the story as I understand it:
The first pilot, which was originally called "The Cage", was the
story concerning Captain Pike et al on Talos IV. The network executives
liked the pilot, but thought it was "too cerebral" for T.V. They
wanted something more on the lines of an action-adventure show.
So, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was filmed, and it was this second
pilot was the one that sold the show.
However, Roddenberry still had the first pilot, and it was
too good to waste. So, a "framework" was constructed during
the "current time" of the show, where Spock takes over the ship
and abducts the crippled Captain Pike, and subsequently goes
on trial. During the trial he shows a story on the screen, which
is the first pilot, "The Cage". The whole thing ("The Cage" + framework)
became the two-part episode "The Menagerie".
--
Mark Vita
Dartmouth College
{decvax,cornell,linus}!dartvax!markvron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (05/24/84)
Don't forget to mention the unsuccesful MANTRAP pilot that was later redone as an episode. -Ron
barmar@mit-eddie.UUCP (Barry Margolin) (05/24/84)
Mark Vita writes:
However, Roddenberry still had the first pilot, and it was
too good to waste. So, a "framework" was constructed during
the "current time" of the show,
--------------------
This is not quite how I heard it. I heard that they were getting behind
schedule, due to the fact that they were so ambitious, and no one had
done such an elaborate TV show before. So, they realized that they
could make up some lost time by making a shorter new episode and filling
in the time with the unseen pilot.
--
Barry Margolin
ARPA: barmar@MIT-Multics
UUCP: ..!genrad!mit-eddie!barmarjackh@zehntel.UUCP (jack hagerty) (05/25/84)
>Mark Vita writes: >> However, Roddenberry still had the first pilot, and it was >>too good to waste. So, a "framework" was constructed during >>the "current time" of the show, -------------------- >This is not quite how I heard it. I heard that they were getting behind >schedule, due to the fact that they were so ambitious, and no one had >done such an elaborate TV show before. So, they realized that they >could make up some lost time by making a shorter new episode and filling >in the time with the unseen pilot. > Barry Margolin That is absoutely correct. To take things one step further, I remember distinctly during the first season's original airing that NBC re-ran an earlier episode ("What Are Little Girls Made Of", I believe) in February '67. I was a freshman in high school at the time and much more tuned in to TV than today. I remember thinking at the time that it was much to early to begin re-runs which *everyone* knows don't start 'till late March. Years later, when reading "Making of" I found out about all of the production problems the first season. It made perfect sense to me that they would re-run an earlier episode to buy time, but no one I've talked to remembers this happening. I refuse to believe that my memory has been tampered with. Can anyone save my sanity? A related trivia question: The very last original episode missed its air date by nearly three months. Why? -- Jack Hagerty, Zehntel Inc. !ihnp4!zehntel!jackh
markv@dartvax.UUCP (Mark Vita) (05/25/84)
>>Mark Vita writes: >> However, Roddenberry still had the first pilot, and it was >>too good to waste. So, a "framework" was constructed during >>the "current time" of the show, >-------------------- >This is not quite how I heard it. I heard that they were getting behind >schedule, due to the fact that they were so ambitious, and no one had >done such an elaborate TV show before. So, they realized that they >could make up some lost time by making a shorter new episode and filling >in the time with the unseen pilot. >-- > Barry Margolin This may well be true. But I'm sure that at least one of the motivations for making "The Menagerie" was that so much time and care went into the making of "The Cage" that Roddenberry wanted to see it used in some way. Also, I don't think they really added *too* much time to the length of "The Menagerie" by incorporating "The Cage". As I recall, only short clips of the older film are shown, in the courtroom scene. If you read the script of "The Cage" (which appears in "The Making Of Star Trek"), much more goes on than actually appears in "The Menagerie". Some of the cuts/changes were necessary to make the story make sense in the context of the "new" Star Trek scenario (i.e. with Kirk et al). -- Mark Vita Dartmouth College {decvax,cornell,linus}!dartvax!markv
barmar@mit-eddie.UUCP (Barry Margolin) (05/26/84)
-------------------- Don't forget to mention the unsuccesful MANTRAP pilot that was later redone as an episode. -Ron -------------------- This is the first I have heard about "Mantrap" having been intended as a pilot. I believe that the only notable feature of this episode is that it was the first episode that was broadcast. The first few episodes were shown in a different order than they were filmed. For those of you who don't recognize the title, this is the one where the Enterprise goes to a research planet where an old flame of McCoy's and her husband are working. She turns out to be a "salt vampire" who can appear to other people as anything she wishes. -- Barry Margolin ARPA: barmar@MIT-Multics UUCP: ..!genrad!mit-eddie!barmar