The Cage (Episode)

The Cage

"The Cage"

Episode	00
Production Number	01
Released	Unaired, 1965 (Released 1989)
Advertising	Amazon

Stardate Unknown: Captain Pike and his crew are lured to Talos IV by a race capable of creating powerful illusions.

En route to the Vega Colony following an incident on Rigel VII, the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 investigates a distress call from Talos IV. An attraction quickly forms between Captain Pike and one of the survivors, Vina. When Vina lures Pike to a rock formation to show him the secret of how the survivors stayed in perfect health for nearly twenty years, several Talosians emerge from a concealed elevator, render Pike unconscious, and drag him into their underground chamber.

Pike awakens in a small enclosure, where he is transported by way of the Talosians' telepathic powers of illusion, to a number of locales, all of which feature Vina as an object for him to protect, desire, and even love. The Talosians have lured the Enterprise to their planet so that Pike can serve as a mate for Vina, enabling the Talosians to breed a race of Humans they can use as slaves.

The Talosians allow Number One and Yeoman Colt to beam down, reasoning that perhaps the captain would be more attracted to one of his crewmates. Pike, having discovered that the Talosians cannot probe into hostile emotional moods, deliberately assumes an attitude of mindless anger, which he uses to cloud their telepathy as he plans the group's escape. The Talosians confide to Pike that they never wanted slaves; they only wished to perpetuate their heritage in the offspring of Pike and Vina. Finding Humans to be unsuitable for their goals, Pike and his crew return to the Enterprise, though Vina, who was horribly injured and disfigured during the crash of the S.S. Columbia, chooses to remain behind, where the Talosians can continue to give her an illusion of beauty. Back aboard the Enterprise, Pike refuses to discuss what had happened, and the Enterprise resumes course for the Vega Colony.

Image Gallery

Related Data

Astrometrics	Delaware; Earth; Mars; Maryland; Mercury; Milky Way Galaxy; Mojave, California; The Moon; Orion colonies; Regulus; Rigel VII; Sol; Sol system; Talos Star Group; Talos IV; Vega Colony; Venus; Virginia; Washington, D.C.
Chronology	Prime Timeline; 1789; 1797; 1861; 1865; 1953; 1961; 1963; 2236; 2254^[1]
Culture	Bible; devil; Hell; marriage; religion; soul; Ten Commandments; theatre
Education	American Continent Institute; doctor
Food	alcohol; chicken-tuna sandwiches; coffee; martini; sandwiches
People	Adam; Aldrin, Buzz; Armstrong, Neil; Boyce, Phillip; Colt, J.M.; Eisenhower, Dwight; Enterprise Geologist; Eve; Garrison; Haskins, Theodore; Johnson, Lyndon; The Keeper; Kennedy, John F.; Lincoln, Abraham; Moses; Number One; Pike, Christopher; Pitcairn; Spock; Tango; Tyler, José; Vina; Washington, George
Politics	Starfleet; Starfleet Ranks (Chief Petty Officer, Ensign, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Captain); United Federation of Planets; Yeoman
Science & Technology	Apollo program; armor; axe; batteries; blood; Class M planet; communications; communicator; computer; continent; deflector; generator; gravity; gravity plating; ice; impulse drive; laser; laser cannon; life support; mace; magnetism; meteorites; nitrogen; Orbiting Geophysical Observatory; Orbiting Solar Observatory; oxygen; protein; radio; sand; satellite; sensors; spear; speed of light; shield; sword; telepathy; thrusters; time barrier; torch; transporter; tricorder; warp drive; warp nacelle; water; zoology
Ships & Vehicles	Apollo 11; S.S. Columbia; Constitution class; U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701; Ranger program
Xenology	cacti; flies; Horses; Humans; Kalar; Orions; Talosian singing plants; Talosians; Vulcans
Miscellaneous	bartender; bridge; distress call; headache; narcotics; Number One; picnic; Red Alert; slavery; Starfleet Uniforms (2254); telepathy; thought records; zoo

Episode Credits

Starring
Jeffrey Hunter

Guest Star
Susan Oliver

Star Trek Created by
Gene Roddenberry

Directed by
Robert Butler

Written and Produced by
Gene Roddenberry

Co-Starring
Leonard Nimoy as Mister Spock
Majel Barrett, John Hoyt, Peter Duryea, Laurel Goodwin

Uncredited
Associate Producer
Byron Haskin

Guest Cast
Clegg Hyot, Adam Roarke, Malachi Throne, Meg Wyllie

Notes and References

↑ The year that "The Cage" takes place, 2254, is derived from information given in "The Menagerie." Spock states that it has been 13 years since the incident on Talos IV, and that he served under Captain Pike for 11 years. Therefore, the episode is in the second year of Captain Kirk's five-year mission, which began in 2265, per the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Q2." Therefore, "The Menagerie" is set in 2267, and thirteen years prior to that is 2254.

Star Trek"Where No Man…"

[Dating-1] The year that "The Cage" takes place, 2254, is derived from information given in "The Menagerie." Spock states that it has been 13 years since the incident on Talos IV, and that he served under Captain Pike for 11 years. Therefore, the episode is in the second year of Captain Kirk's five-year mission, which began in 2265, per the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Q2." Therefore, "The Menagerie" is set in 2267, and thirteen years prior to that is 2254.

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