These are a couple episodes that I've seen before: Menagerie Parts I and II. We get our first glimpse of a starbase in this episode (Starbase 11) and meet the previous commander of the Enterprise, Captain Pike. He's been horribly disfigured and disabled in an accident while heroically saving the lives of others and we find that Spock served with him for years prior to Kirk taking command of the Enterprise. Which makes one wonder why they didn't just promote Spock to be captain. But we'll leave that aside.
Essentially, if I recall correctly, these episodes boiled down to a way to use the footage from the pilot so it didn't go to waste. The actor prior to Shatner was the captain in the pilot didn't end up being the regular captain, for whatever reason, and this was a way to include him, use the old footage in a flashback and make a two-part episode that turns a lot of our expectations on their heads. Fun times after the jump.
Spock tells us and the old captain that he will disobey orders and do something, which seems a bit out of character for him. Edgy! Of course, we're not really supposed to believe that he's doing something nefarious, but rather doing something just, but illegal.
Another instance of the Vulcan neck pinch. And Spock starts tampering with the computers.
Another yeoman turns up and gives Kirk the glad eye. Turns out some other officer has been talking about Kirk and spreading the news about him somehow.
Second neck pinch as Spock gets caught in the act of sending the fake orders to the Enterprise.
I don't think McCoy has yet evinced his distaste for beaming yet.
Once again there's no regard for command realities, the commodore and Kirk both set off in a tiny shuttle to chase the Enterprise.
Scotty's wearing his red shirt for the first time, I believe.
The computer has a female voice, but it's deliberately "robotic". It's not the classic voice from TNG for dang sure.
We have a little Law and Order-style lawyering at the beginning of Spock's court-martial. The Starfleet dress uniforms are idiotic, by the way.
And here's the flashback where they start to use the pilot footage.
They explain the nature of the recording by implying that it was out of the ordinary even for Starfleet.
I'm surprised that this got made into a series after seeing this pilot again. It's over the top.
Apparently the "Engage" command dates all the way back to the pilot. Captain Pike started it.
In the pilot they have special clothes for the away team as well as a different animation and sound for beaming. It is still the standard styrofoam-rock planet.
Spock smiles at Pike when they discover a plant that emits tonal noises as it vibrates.
Those Talos-brainiacs are creepy. Weren't they parodied on MST3K?
Apparently the moniker "Number One" for the First Officer comes from the pilot as well. Nifty.
To be continued in the next post.
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