“The Menagerie Part I” and “Part II” are written by Gene
Roddenberry. “Part I” is directed by Marc
Daniels and “Part II” is directed by Robert Butler. They were filmed under production code 16, were
the 11th and 12th episodes of Star Trek Season 1,
and were broadcast from November 17-24, 1966.
“The Menagerie” is going to be a difficult story to
discuss. It’s the only story from Star
Trek to be shown over two parts and was devised by Gene Roddenberry as a
budget saver to have two episodes for less than the price of one, reusing
footage from the initial pilot “The Cage” and filming a frame narrative set in
the present on a couple of sets with a production time of only one week. From the behind the scenes side, it’s actually
quite a brilliant conceit to deal with the difficulty of the production schedule
in this way as well as making it so the original cast and conceit of Star
Trek could have their work shown to the world. “The Cage” does exist in its original form
and is included on home video releases, that does not mean “The Menagerie” has
no purpose or has become redundant. “Part
I” actually only has the basic setup from “The Cage” while “Part II” has the
most footage from “The Cage,” including altering some shots to provide an
ending to the episode in the present which is dubbed and presented cleverly
that you probably wouldn’t notice if you were watching at the time (not so much
with modern screens). Marc Daneils,
director of “The Man Trap” directs the frame sequence and his direction is
wonderful, elevating material that is clearly limited by very few sets and supporting
actors.
The frame story is set in the present of the show with
Kirk and Spock arriving on Starbase 11 in response to a call from former
captain of the Enterprise Christopher Pike, played by Sean Kenney in the frame
sequence and Jeffrey Hunter in the flashbacks.
Spock brings Pike to the Enterprise for a medical check and performs a
mutiny to take the ship towards the forbidden planet of Talos IV. Kirk chases in a shuttlecraft with Commodore
Mendez, played by Malachi Throne, and eventually put Spock on court martial
which leads into the footage of “The Cage”. This is essentially all of “Part I” and
honestly, it’s brilliant. The pacing is
amazing, Leonard Nimoy as Spock throughout manages to inject some subtle
emotion to his scenes as you really get to see that he’s doing these shady
dealings with the Talosians for his very old friend and colleague. Nichelle Nichols and DeForest Kelley as Uhura
and Bones both get to have these brilliant reactions to their colleague’s betrayal
while William Shatner gives his best performance yet in “Part I” where he grapples
with the fact he might be leading Spock to his death. “Part II” continues the court martial and is
where the frame story breaks down, mainly because instead of just letting the
footage from “The Cage” play and tell the story to the court, there is a
continual cutting back to the court martial scene to lead to commercial
breaks. This has a knock on effect that
means the present day plot doesn’t have nearly enough time to adequately wrap
up, eventually revealing that it has all been an illusion to stop Kirk from
taking the Enterprise away from Talos IV.
Then Pike is sent down to the planet to live his days
out and the story ends which really doesn’t work as a resolution and
exacerbates an issue the story, and Star Trek up to this point has been
having with blatant ableism. It is
revealed in “Part I” with Pike’s introduction that he was disfigured and
confined to a wheelchair unable to even communicate outside of blinking a light
to indicate yes or no. This is already a
not great piece of disabled representation, as at points in “Part I” characters
comment on how tragic and much of a loss it is for the character of life, but the
plot of “The Cage” reveals that the Talosians are the remnants of a race nearly
extinguished in a great war so they have been searching for new species to help
keep their culture alive through captivity (another issue with “The Cage” footage
itself). They have the power to alter
the perceptions and reality of those on their planet and in its vicinity so Pike
regains his ability essentially through magic.
This is treated in the denouement as the correct decision, even giving
him a romantic partner who was also physically disabled and made whole again. This continual thread of anyone who is not fully
able bodied being treated as lesser has honestly stood out more since the rest
of Star Trek’s politics so far have attempted to be progressive and these
two episodes continue to take away the agency of any disabled character. While some may say it’s just a reflection of
it’s time, it does not make it okay and really makes the ending of this story feel
awful.
The plot of “The Cage” that are shown through the two
episodes of “The Menagerie” on its own is actually quite good and an
interesting look at the original vision for Star Trek. Only Leonard Nimoy as Spock and Majel Barrett
from the show proper appear, with Spock being much younger and with different makeup
and Barrett playing Number One, the second in command on the Enterprise. Number One is atypical for a female character
of the 1960s in that she is given power and command when Pike is on the
planet. There is a character who you can
see the roots of Bones in Dr. Boyce played by John Hoyt who gets a nice little
character scene that perhaps doesn’t need to be included in “The Menagerie” but
would work in “The Cage”. Jeffrey Hunter
as Pike is also very charismatic as the leading man and able to show a real internal
struggle as he attempts to be free. The
design of the Talosians while a bit standard alien costuming, this is a point
in time where aliens like this hadn’t become so synonymous with sci-fi aliens
so it really works. The ending of “The
Cage” plot also does fall apart in the end, with the characters being let go
after the Talosians just decide they aren’t suitable which is really a shame since
it also doesn’t feel like a real resolution.
Robert Butler’s direction is also quite ambitious with what it tries to
do with the sets that aren’t nearly as polished as the show proper would be and
he must be commended.
“The Menagerie” is a story that starts off great but
doesn’t stick the landing. It makes
perfect sense why it was made but the resolution being so steeped in ableism as
well as being such an anti-climax, ending on a quip between Spock and Kirk that
just doesn’t land, means that it’s a story that doesn’t work. While I usually try to give a score for a
story of serialized television on the whole since these episodes are so
different the scores will be split so Part I gets a 9/10 and Part II a 4/10.
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