Star date: 3012.4 (not given until halfway through the show)
Summary: The Enterprise arrives at Starbase 11 after Spock informs Kirk that a request came from Fleet Captain Christopher Pike to fly there. However Commodore Jose Mendez, who is in charge of Starbase 11, not only insists that no such request was made, such a request is impossible, since Christopher Pike --- Captain of the Enterprise before Kirk --- is now an invalid, and can only answer "yes" or "no" to questions via a flashing light. We quickly discover that Spock is in the process of staging a mutiny, to take control of the Enterprise and fly with Pike to Talos IV while leaving Kirk behind.
Shortly after Spock's mutiny is discovered, Kirk and Mendez chase after him in a shuttle craft which isn't meant for deep-space travel. When Kirk and Mendez get stranded in deep space with only 2 hours of oxygen available to them, Spock has no choice but to tow their shuttle in with a tractor beam, confess his mutiny, and turn himself in to McCoy --- now the senior officer on the Enterprise. But before he turns himself in, Spock programs the ship's computer to continue its course to Talos IV, instructions which Kirk are unable to override once he comes aboard.
Spock is then put on trial for mutiny, and risks being convicted of a capital offense, because visiting Talos IV is the only offense in Starfleet which is punishable by death. The episode ends with Kirk being relieved of command and the ship on its way to Talos IV, with the conclusion to follow in the next episode.
There were 30 episodes in the series' first season, and The Menagerie episodes were part of the reason why. Because NBC wanted more episodes, the two-part "The Menagerie" basically re-packaged the footage from the original pilot, "The Cage". Interestingly enough, although this episode is predictably clunky given its origins, it still holds together better than most of the the shows in the series to date.
Having only seen half of the show, it's premature to judge it. However, perhaps the most obvious difficulty with this episode is the fact that the footage from "The Cage" is not presented as a flashback at Spock's court martial. Instead, it is presented as video at the court martial, with Spock refusing to explain where it comes from. At first, this seems remarkably awkward; why did the writers decide to present it as video? In the end we learn that the video is coming from Talos IV, a fact which results in Kirk being relieved of command, since any communication with the planet is forbidden. Even though Kirk had no knowledge of the video's origin, the buck stops at the top.
However --- how did Spock obtain this video? It's unlikely the Talosians just happen to be broadcasting it to the Enterprise just as Spock needs it at his trial. But if it's a recording of an earlier transmission, then Spock have been communicating with the Talosians for some time. "Hey, guys, this is Spock, remember me? Could you please send along any video you might have from the time you kidnapped Captain Pike 13 years ago? I've just kidnapped him myself, and it would really help me out. Thanks."
And if the Talosians are sending out the video, we would expect them to send a video more sympathetic to their perspective, and as we know, "The Cage" certainly doesn't cast the Talosians in a positive light.
Another interesting thing I noticed has to do with the Starfleet order prohibiting travel to/contact with Talos IV. At Starbase 11, Mendez shows Kirk a document about Talos IV, which reads, in part:
The only Earthship that ever visited planet Talos IV was the U.S.S. Enterprise commanded by Captain Christopher Pike with Half-Vulcan Science Officer Spock.The document goes on to indicate that the recommendation to place Talos IV off limits in the first place came from Pike and Spock --- which makes it all the more puzzling that Spock has now decided to violate that regulation.
Parenthetically, the document twice refers to "Half-Vulcan Science Officer Spock". Is it really necessary to emphasize Spock's race that way? And it appears that Spock has no first name. Also, the document makes no mention of Pike's female second in command, referred to in "The Cage" only as "Number One", which seems odd.
Other observations:
Spock is able to take control of the computer room at Starbase 11 far too easily. And he has an amazing supply of recordings of Kirk's voice conveniently saying anything Spock happens to need.
The standard Starfleet symbol isn't standard after all --- at least not at this point in the series. Mendez and others at Starbase 11 have a sun symbol on their shirts. And at the court martial, their special uniforms have a funky mosaic of colored triangles on their left breasts.
There was a time when not everyone in Starfleet wore this emblem.
It seems out of character with Starfleet's high ideals to have a death penalty on the books for any reason, especially for simply visiting a planet. It seems the writers just threw in this detail to increase the dramatic tension of Spock's trial.
Pike indicates during the Enterprise's visit to Talos IV 13 years before, there were 203 people aboard. In "Charlie X", Kirk says there are 482 aboard.
Finally, I'll be interested to learn the answers to the following questions:
- How do Spock/Kirk/Pike persuade Mendez to view more forbidden video from Talos IV?
- Why did Spock and Pike recommend banning future travel to/communication with Talos IV?
- Early in this episode, Spock tells Pike he has "no choice" but to stage this mutiny. Why?
- Why does Kirk forgive Spock for his actions? At this point, I really don't see how he could.
- How does Spock get off the hook?
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