Part Two of “The Menagerie” is mainly dominated by the bulk of the first Star Trek pilot, “The Cage.” As is standard practice here, I am going to assume that you, the reader, are already familiar with the show and have seen it.
The frame story here is not meant to be thrilling at all, but maybe rather just compelling. Sure, Spock is on trial for his life (I could go off on a whole side rant about why the death penalty still exists in the 23rd Century…), but I guess we’re just intrinsically supposed to worry that Spock might get obliterated before the hour is over.
In hindsight, the whole experience of this two-part episode is really good. I enjoyed it the first time I saw it, and I continue to enjoy it to this day. The 1966 version of me would no doubt have felt the same way.
Next Thursday, Star Trek was preempted on NBC for a Jack Benny special. So, in my attempt to restore the original look of the previews that aired each time, in this case, “The Conscience of the King,” I think it might have looked like this:
By the way, I will be writing a blog post next Thursday (at least.) Stay tuned…