Do you regard the Star Trek (original series) pilot episode "The Cage" as an official part of the series?

I can’t place that one off the top of my head. Can you refresh my memory? I saw them all on TV when I was a kid in the 60’s, so I should remember it.

@Dutchess_III It wasn’t originally aired in the 60s. I think they didn’t air it until the 1980s. Here is a clip of the episode.

“The Cage” was the un-aired pilot. If I remember correctly, Spock was the only character who survived into what became the Star Trek we think of. The Captain of the Enterprise was Christopher Pike, who has shown up in the Star Trek universe as the captain previous to Kirk.

The Cage was refashioned into a two part episode called “The Menagerie” where the footage was used as flashbacks to when Pike was the captain.

Personally I don’t see it as part of Season 1, since it took place before Kirk and the crew that we know were on the Enterprise. It would make a great pilot for a new series with Pike in command.

Yup.

(I consider “original episodes” to be the actual, original episodes from 1966 to 1969.)

The events of The Cage appear as memories or recordings in The Menagerie, so they have to be “official”.

The Cage is “official”, but it’s also pretty much included inside the two-part The Menagerie episode, so it’s not needed to watch separately. Complete-ists can start with The Cage and then watch the others, but it may make The Menagerie a bit repetitive. Maybe better to watch it without and watch The Cage later after you’ve seen the rest, if you’re interested. If I were buying a DVD set, I’d hope The Cage would be included.

Yes. There are novels that continue the Pike storyline, as well.

Yes, of course it is. Pike is part of the Canon.

No. The plot of “The Cage” is similar but different than “The Menagerie.” Spock is out of character of both himself and Vulcans in general. It might be of the Star Trek universe, but it is quite different. The fact that the ship is the same in both style and name are inconsequential, since the ship isn’t the main focal point of the plot.

@kritiper yes I agree with you about Spock and his characterisation. Especially when he was smiling while holding the flowers on the planet surface. Very out of character. I think Roddenberry was still figuring out his character at this point. I would assume Spok was somewhat of a blueprint for all Vulcans, despite him being half human.

I remember one episode where Spock lost it. He fell in love, he laughed, he played like a child! It was incredible! Later I listened to an interview he gave about that episode. He said his character was emotionally taxing to play and that episode was such a relief for him.

He was under the influence of an alien spore in that episode.

@Rarebear What a highly logical response