Star Date: 3013.2 (given 15 minutes into the episode)
Summary: Spock's court-martial continues for kidnapping Christopher Pike, former Captain of the Enterprise, staging a mutiny to take control of the Enterprise, and tampering with the ship's computer and charting a course to Talos IV, a planet with which Starfleet has forbidden all contact. In his defense, Spock presents a series of video transmissions coming from Talos IV, portraying the events when the Enterprise had been there 13 years earlier under Pike's command, with Spock serving as Science Officer. The judges of the court martial are Captain Pike, who is severely injured and unable to move or speak, Captain Kirk, and Commodore Jose Mendez of Starbase 11.
We learn that the Talosians are a race of humanoids who had destroyed the surface of their planet in a war many years before, and were forced to live underground. After many centuries, they developed amazing mental abilities, such as the ability to read the minds of others and present extremely detailed and realistic illusions. We also learn that the Talosians had been systematically imprisoning members of various species from around the galaxy for years, so that they can be entertained by reading their thoughts and feelings. Pike was captured to be a mate for a human female named Vina, the sole survivor of a spaceship crash which had occurred 18 years before Pike's visit.
In the earlier visit to Talos IV, Pike was eventually able to escape to the surface with Vina, at which point the Talosians made it clear that they had hoped Pike and Vina would serve as an "Adam and Eve" for the planet, populate it with humans, and restore the surface of the planet to the point where it can once again sustain life. However, when the Talosians learn of the violent history of the human race, they lose interest in Pike and Vina as Adam and Eve. They allow Pike and the rest of the Enterprise crew to leave the planet, and resign themselves to the extinction of their race.
Returning to Spock's court martial in the present day, Kirk is moved to reconsider Spock's guilt when he realizes Spock's purpose in taking Pike to the forbidden planet was to allow him to spend his remaining years living out one fantasy after another rather than confined to a wheelchair. When Kirk turns to ask Mendez his opinion, Mendez disappears. We learn that Mendez had never actually come aboard the Enterprise, and was actually just an illusion placed there by the Talosians. After Kirk receives a message from the real Mendez back at Starbase 11 informing him that the rules regarding Talos IV would be suspended, we see a young, healthy Captain Pike holding hands with Vina on the surface of Talos IV.
Okay, so here's my process for critiquing these shows. One day, I watch the show. I don't write anything down, I just watch it. The next day, I first write down all of my thoughts about the show I'd seen the previous day. Then I watch the show a second time, pausing periodically to make notes here and there. This means that, as a result of "The Cage" being incorporated into "The Menagerie", I've now seen the whole Talos IV thing four times, and I can't get over the absurdity of the premise.
So. There's this race of Talosians, who have been living underground (by Vina's account) for "thousands of centuries". As a result, they've developed spectacular mental powers of illusion and telepathy. Fine. All well and good. And apparently they're concerned about dying out because --- well, that part is unclear. Here's a conversation Vina has with Pike in his cell:
Vina: But they found it's a trap, like a narcotic. Because when dreams become more important than reality, you give up travel, building, creating. You even forget how to repair the machines left behind by your ancestors. You just sit, living and re-living other lives, left behind in the thought record.
Pike: Or sit probing the minds of zoo specimens, like me.
Vina: You're better than a theater to them. They create an illusion for you, they watch you react, feel your emotions. They have a whole collection of specimens, descendants of life brought back long ago from all over this part of the galaxy.
This is absurd on its face. If their mental powers are like a narcotic, then they would eventually die out because they sit around all day immersed in their own hallucinations. Only, that's not what they do. They've made the effort to collect specimens "from all over this part of the galaxy", and they're trying to find another race to repopulate the planet and make the surface habitable again. So, the whole narrative contradicts the notion that they're on the brink of being destroyed by their own mental powers.
Moreover, if they have these wonderful abilities to create illusions, then holding creatures against their wills and torturing them is probably the least effective method possible of repopulating the planet. If the Talosians really get off on voyeuristically experiencing the thoughts and emotions of other species, and if they can create the illusion of any kind of paradise that pleases someone, then why don't they set themselves up as the Las Vegas of the galaxy? Bring in 1000 visitors for free, let them experience the wonder of Talos IV, then tell everybody to go home and tell their friends! They would be rolling in dough, they could afford to bring in terraformers to actually transform the planet's surface if they wanted to, and as a bonus, there would be thousands and thousands of species from all over the galaxy coming voluntarily to stay on Talos IV --- the Talosians would have more thoughts and emotions to eavesdrop on than they would know what to do with!
So the whole premise of the Talosians' motives is beyond weak.
However, taking that at face value, there's also the question of why the Talosians want Pike back. It becomes clear near the end of part 1 that the Talosians are actually beaming video signals to the Enterprise in real-time, doing everything they can to help Spock get Pike back to Talos IV. But why? They've already decided they don't want to breed humans, so what do they have to gain? They just want one more human to eavesdrop on? Or do they want to do something nice for Pike, after they imprisoned and tortured him 13 years before?
And in case the Talosians changed their minds about using humans as a breeder race, well, it's unlikely Pike and Vina will be able to oblige them. We learn that Vina was an adult when her spaceship crashed on Talos IV, which was 18 years before Pike's first visit to the planet, which was 13 years before the present day. Assuming Vina was 20 when her ship crashed (the youngest member of the Enterprise crew, that we know of, was Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in "Where No Man Has Gone Before", who was 21), that would make her 51 in the present day. So her child-bearing years are just about over.
And then there's Pike, who can't even raise a finger. Not too likely he'll be breeding with Vina.
Anyway, after watching part 1 of this episode, I had asked five questions. I've re-printed them below, along with the answers we get in part 2:
- How do Spock/Kirk/Pike persuade Mendez to view more forbidden video from Talos IV? Turns out, they don't. Mendez starts part 2 by reminding Spock that communication with Talos IV is forbidden, and there are no exceptions. Spock simply says "You have no choice, sir. I'm sorry," and goes on his merry way. Of course I suppose it helps that Mendez is just an illusion.
- Why did Spock and Pike recommend banning future travel to/communication with Talos IV? We don't get an answer to this, so we must assume it's the reason given by The Keeper (the head Talosian) at the end of the show; humans who linger too long on Talos IV would learn the Talosians' mind tricks, and be doomed as a race just like the Talosians. Of course, that's absurd, as explained above, but even if it were a valid concern, it apparently took the Talosians "thousands of centuries" to develop their minds in this fashion. So even if humans did get wise to it, it might take, oh, let's say hundreds of centuries for humans to use it effectively --- hardly an imminent threat, and hardly sufficient reason to make travel to Talos IV a capital offense.
- Early in part 1, Spock tells Pike he has "no choice" but to stage this mutiny. Why? This question also is not answered. It's clear Spock wants to return Pike to Talos IV so he can live out his life in pleasant illusions with Vina, but it's far from clear why Spock has to go about it in such an extreme way. Considering the ban on travel to and communication with Talos IV only exists as a result of Pike and Spock's recommendation, it seems like a bureaucratic approach would be the most effective (and logical!) way to go about it. Not good television, no, but believeable television, anyway.
- Why does Kirk forgive Spock for his actions? At this point, I really don't see how he could. This part, at least, is plausible. It turns out Spock didn't really put Kirk's career in jeopardy, so I can see Kirk looking past Spock committing a few crimes on behalf of his former Captain.
- How does Spock get off the hook? You got me. He gets off the hook for the court martial on the Enterprise because Mendez was never really there, therefore the whole proceedings were invalid. And it's possible, though extremely unlikely, that if Kirk chooses to let the matter of mutiny drop, then Starbase 11 would be willing to look the other way as well. But the whole communication with/travel to Talos IV thing? Not so much. Granted, there's never a good explanation as to why travel to Talos IV is a capital offense, but that's the way things are, and capital offenses are almost never shrugged off with a wink and a nod. And even if we accept that Starfleet is willing to ignore the capital offense and the mutiny, Spock should still be prosecuted for assaulting the two men in the computer room on Starbase 11.
The Moral of the Story: The ends justify the means, even when the means are incredibly contrived.
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