Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 16: The Menagerie Part I & II [VHS]
As if guided by the frugal wisdom of schlockmeister producer-director Roger Corman,Trekcreator Gene Roddenberry found a clever way of using, instead of losing, extensive and costly footage from the then-unseen, discardedStar Trekpilot, "The Cage." Roddenberry's solution was to integrate pieces of "The Cage" into a whole new story context, and the fascinating and surprisingly moving result was the two-part drama "The Menagerie." First, a bit of background: "The Cage" starred film actor Jeffrey Hunter (King of Kings,The Searchers) as Christopher Pike, the original captain of theEnterprise. Among Hunter's costars was Leonard Nimoy as Science Officer Spock, who eventually carried over, of course, into the reconfigured series starring William Shatner. Rather than write off "The Cage," Roddenberry conceived of a story line in which Captain Pike would reappear on the show in a badly disfigured, paralyzed, and mute form--the result of a terrible accident in which the character saved a number of lives but took a pounding in the process. In "The Menagerie," Spock hijacks theEnterpriseto transport Pike to a secret destination. During court-martial proceedings for this crime, Spock's defense is presented via archival footage of an old, pre-Kirk mission aboard theEnterprise. That footage, of course, is a reedited "Cage." A must-see forStar Trekfans, "The Menagerie" is a stellar example of Roddenberry thinking on his feet.--Tom Keogh