ST Recap: The Menagerie, Parts One and Two

[azriona]

Before Star Trek was the big franchise we all know and love, they were just like any other new television show, scrambling for funding from their network, trying desperately to save a few pennies. Halfway through the first season, the producers realized they were running dangerously low on funds

Comments

[azriona]

I admit there's times - particularly when we some spectacular view of a planet - that I do agree with Bill that the frames may have been retouched. Not in this episode, but others - I'll try to post them when I see them so you can see what I'm talking about. As I didn't see the original broadcasts, and don't really remember them in syndication, I'm relying on everyone else's memories!

Oh, costume department, surely you could have come up with something other than that?

My guess is because it was the pilot, the costume department didn't want to spend the money at that point. They did bother with less contemporary clothing for the civilians once the show was in production. Those two above, though, look like they were wearing what they wore to the studio!

I keep forgetting that Majel also played Lwaxanna Troi. She was awesome, especially whenever she was with Picard

[durayan]

I actually kind of like this episode--there are worse ways to do reuse old footage.

The Talosians were respectably creepy, at least to me as a child. And for generations of trek fanfic writers before the internet, this was Proof of the Depth of Spock's Ability to Feel.

[azriona]

Oh, it was definitely a creative way of doing it, particularly since flashback episodes weren't really the thing at the time. It's not that I hated the episode - just that it wasn't one of the ones I was itching to watch a second time.

A good point about this episode really showcasing Spock's human side. I mean, that's loyalty, that Spock is willing to defy orders and risk court martial for the emotional well-being of a captain he worked with a decade previously. How can anyone say that Spock doesn't feel things, and very strongly too?

[lordofthechaos]

Re: Pike in the wheelchair - one of the best things about the new film was that despite it being a 'reboot,' they found a way for the universe to basically wind up as we knew it - Kirk's the capitan, Spock's the first officer, and Pike's in a wheelchair. It's like the universe is auto-correcting to preserve the logic of its timelines. Best yet, they didn't feel the need to club us over the head with this point, which is something the old Star Trek would have probably done.

Plus, Spock-Uhura!

[azriona]

One could argue that the Pike in the movie is actually better off than the Pike in the TV show, since he's still able to communicate and doesn't resemble a Dalek without the headgear.