imagine that you could have anything you want and go anywhere you wish and be anything you would ever dream of be through think alone . now imagine yourself share this gift with the love of your life . what would you do . would such power be worth your soul . this be the dilemma present to captain christopher pike in the cage the now legendary pilot episode of the original star trek series . famously deem too cerebral and too cold by nbc brass and reject and the cage be nevertheless the most ambitious and costly pilot ever make in the history of the network at the time and and gene roddenberry do not want to let all that effort and expense go to waste and with the result be this truly classic star trek episode and which embed the cage into a frame story which deepen and extend the emotional and philosophical depth of this haunt tale and a landmark in tv history and one of the first truly serious sci fi story ever film for the small screen . star date 3012 represent the uss enterprise diverts to starbase 11 after mr. spock receive an urgent message from the former commander of the enterprise . surprisingly and the message can not be from captain pike after all and a he be now confine to a wheelchair and mute and horribly disfigure after a tragic accident . kirk and starbase command officer commodore mendez attempt to get to the bottom of the mystery and but before the matter can be clear up and spock for reason a yet unknown commits an act of open mutiny and kidnap the helpless captain pike and hijack the enterprise via a brilliantly think out and time plan aid by a few vulcan nerve pinch . soon and the enterprise be head for the remote and forbidden planet of talos iv . mendez informs kirk that talos iv be under interdiction and and any contact with the planet by starfleet vessel or personnel carry an immediate death sentence and meaning that spock appear to be deliberately destroy himself and and kirk as well and give that the captain will be hold responsible for the ship activity . appal and kirk and mendez give chase in a shuttlecraft and which itself become dangerous when the enterprise refuse to answer their call or pick up the craft until power and oxygen be nearly go . spock know that kirk must be the one follow the ship be of course unable to consign the captain to certain death . after order the craft to be retrieve and the occupant beam aboard and spock reveals what he have do to mccoy and demand to be arrest and after have set the starship on an irreversible course to talos iv . upon reassuming command and kirk demand an explanation and whereupon spock request immediate court martial by a tribunal of starfleet command officer of whom there be three on board mendez and kirk and and the cripple invalid captain pike . spock encyclopedic knowledge of starfleet regulation enable him to manipulate the tribunal into allow him to present otherwise inadmissible evidence . spock present video recording of the only contact ever make between the federation and the inhabitant of talos iv a journey take 13 year earlier by the enterprise itself under pike command . kirk express doubt about the authenticity of the video due to it extreme detail and but the reality of the event depict be confirm by pike himself and who turn out to have be lure to talos iv by a distress call from the alleged survivor of a federation research vessel which crash there 18 year previously . among the survivor be vina and a stunning beauty say to have be bear just before the disaster . pike be attract to the girl and allow her to lure him to an isolated spot and whereupon he be waylaid and capture by the talosians and a race of androgynous humanoid with enormous cranial capacity and the power to transform thought into virtual reality . after pike capture and the rest of the survivor vanish a none of them really exist except vina . the episode end when the tribunal learns that spock evidence be in fact be transmit to the enterprise directly from talos iv and in violation of starfleet regulation . starfleet order an immediate halt to the transmission and and we wonder what will happen next . to be continue in a review of the menagerie represent part ii .