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TOS The Cage (First Pilot)
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Pow
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Location: New York

PostPosted: Sun May 15, 2022 4:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A brief review by our British friend from the Sci Fi Freak Site.

This pilot is a reasonably pacey affair, but has much more in the way of thought than might have been expected. Even the outbursts of emotion are integrated into a plot that's more about reason and logic than action and adventure.

Jeffrey Hunter makes a dashing captain and handles the thinking side of it as well as the hero side of things.

Sidebar: Typical response by an American network. Give us a pilot long on action & adventure and short on intellectual complexities of any kind.

Probably why the creators of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, along with Star Trek, had many a battle with networks that just wanted scary stories, monsters, cool sets, and nifty visual effects. Bringing any thoughtful depth or profound dimensions was not what networks thought would lure in a large audience.

From everything I've read about Irwin Allen's SF TV series, he never encountered such fights with the networks. Other than keeping the budget costs down.

The reason being that Allen produced action adventure shows but was disinterested in scripts with any real meat to 'em. Mindless stories with loads of "running & jumping" was what he was all about. And that's probably why his four SF TV series have not dated well as the years have passed nor have the fan base Star Trek and other SF shows have to this day.

I also felt that Jeff made a terrific starship captain and would have done just as fine had he ended up accepting the role of captain when Trek became a weekly show.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2022 11:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Many years ago I wondered what Star Trek TOS would have been like if they'd done it somewhat like the series called The Name of the Game, which had several different leading men who were featured in their own story each week.

A version of Star Trek which had three different ships (all different types) would be interesting. Occasionally there would be stories which involved two of the ships — or even all three.

I realize now that this would be hideously expensive, so the concept would never have been considered by the networks back then. But I think the idea would appeal to the audience.

And one big advantage would be the fact that each episode about the individual ships would have a longer shooting schedule, because each ship and its crew would only be featured every three weeks.

If this version of Star Trek had been done, Jeffrey Hunter could play one of the three captains, and a woman could play the third one! Very Happy

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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2022 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Terrific concept, Bud. It's a fresh way of doing a brand new Star Trek show.

I've always been impressed with the Federation Starship Prometheus that was introduced on an episode of ST: Voyager.

The Prometheus was able to separate into 3 different sections, with each section capable of acting independently from one another. I believe that the main body of the ship was the only one to have a crew while the other 2 sections were unmanned.

My idea would be to have a ship that would have all 3 sections manned by a crew.

Each section could perform a different function with their own set of specialists. Each week's episode could focus on one, or two, or all three sections.

According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Writers/Directors Guide by SF author David Gerrold, here are Mission Suggestions.

Mapping/surveying.

Exploration-the pushing out of new boundaries of the final frontier.

Carrying supplies and cargo to outposts and distant colonies.

Carrying passengers.

Diplomatic and trade missions.

Patrol along marked or disputed borders.

Mediation and negotiation.

Responding to planetary emergencies.

Responding to ships in distress.

Scientific missions.

Defensive actions against threats to the Federation of Planets.

Military maneuvers.

Testing out of new equipment.

Training missions.

Serving as a police/security force where requested.

Serving as good will ambassadors/showing the flag.

Crisis control.

Terrorist/hostage rescue.

To seek out new civilizations and new life.

So the idea is that with a starship that is able to divide itself into 3 different parts, each part could perform its own unique mission. That way we have one ship able to perform three entirely different assignments simultaneously and getting more missions accomplished in a shorter time compared to the Enterprise which could tackle only one mission at a time.

Imagine one part of the ship acts as a combo of the 5 Thunderbirds rescue ships for space and planetary disasters. Another section could be flying medical vessel for medical emergencies and checkups, like the floating medical ships we have here. Those are a couple of ideas.

Such a show could bounce around from one ship section to another and another all engaged on their individual missions.

Or we could have an episode only focus on one of the sections entirely.

Or we have a situation where the entire ship is needed to be intact. So we'd have variety each week.

A very large cast would be required because each of the three sections would have its own highly trained specialists.

That aspect could make such a show unwieldly and too costly. Still, it's fun and exciting to imagine such a new idea applied to the Star Trek formula.

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