I was Executive Producer of this original Paramount Home Video programming of "The Cage". The late Rick Hauser was the Producer/Director. Rick worked tirelessly to gather lost footage and reconstruct this pilot. Gene came out off of the golf course and out of retirement to do the intro and tag. He was reluctant until he met us and felt confident in our work and respectful of Rick to shepherd him through this production. He was extremely nervous but so pleased to be making "The Cage" available to the StarTrek fans. He sent me an autographed picture of himself surrounded by life masks of the lead characters, thanking me for "leading him safely through the cage." The reconstruction of this pilot could not have happened without the vision, talent, and dedication of Rick Hauser. 11/18/1939 - 04/07/2022

@rsmith02

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing your story, Sondra.

@captainharris8980

Жыл бұрын

I'll assume everything you said is true, but during the 70s and early 80s when the two part episode with Spock on trial aired, it was all in color. So I always wondered what the big deal was about this being in color.

@DanielSaner

9 ай бұрын

@@captainharris8980 Roddenberry hints at this in the video. The Menagerie was always in colour, but it didn't use the entire footage of The Cage. The colour film of the parts it didn't use were thrown away, and not yet rediscovered by the time this special aired. So for this reconstruction, those had to be taken from what they thought was the only surviving copy of The Cage, which was a black-and-white print.

@sansheth

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing, Sondra👍

@jonathankirsch2121

7 ай бұрын

Thank goodness you and Rick did so!!! I don't remember where I've seen this footage before (I'm assuming the DVD from the early 2000s?) but it definitely stuck with me as, wow, I'm with Gene Roddenberry himself on the Enterprise - how cool. So as an impressionable young boy, this sequence was memorable enough for me to remember it 20 years since I've last seen it and made me want to look it up on YT to find it, and of course here it is in all its glory. Very appreciative of your work, as I'm sure generations of fans will be forever!

Star Trek wasn't just a tv programme it changed the world

I love The Cage. I think Jeffrey Hunter made a fine captain. I'm glad when Shatner came they made him a different captain so Pike could remain and have his story.

Thank you, Lucille Ball, for funding this series!

Barrett was really good as number one. It's a loss that we didn't get a series with her in that role.

2024 and Star Trek is still telling great adventures for all generations... Thank You GENE! I was a child in the 60s when Star Trek came on TV, in two days I turn 62 & still believe that one day, just maybe...

R.I.P. gene creator of a TV series ahead of it's time.

@apollothefirst

4 жыл бұрын

Insert drums here

@purefoldnz3070

3 жыл бұрын

yes but he was a bit of curmudgeon.

Nearly 50 years on and Trek still gets an audience. A testament to Roddenberry's vision and intuition.

@FLAME4564

7 жыл бұрын

Indeed. Infact I couldent agree more. All these years and Star trek is still going strong :D. All I can say is Long live Star trek. Past, Present AND Future.

When I watch Star Trek TOS, I feel like all is well in my world.

I met Gene Roddenberry and gave him a five-second pitch of a story that was stuck in my head. He stuck his big finger in my chest and said, "Write it!" So I have.

RIP "The Great Bird of the Galaxy".

Truly, he went where no man had gone before. He took us in to space and we took him in our hearts.

Star trek is not just good and smart television. Star trek is a vision. The vision of a bright future, the one we hope for : a future with women leading a crew, a future with all kind of people living together in peace, a future of respect, of kindness, of technology used to do good things... Thank you Gene.

Yes, "The Cage" was superb, a Hugo winner.

Roddenberry died the year I was born. Rest in peace Mr Star Trek.

@FLAME4564

8 жыл бұрын

yet he died 3 years after I was born O.O.

@divinaestisluxmundi8981

2 жыл бұрын

same

The fact that The Cage was rejected and other series that were even more ridiculous tells you everything you need to know about network executives.

@jgvillan01

Жыл бұрын

I just love that Roddenberry still snuck the pilot in as part of the Menagerie 2 part story in TOS. Even now, Pike's adventures are on Strange New Worlds. Cerebral my @$$.

@BrownEyePinch

Жыл бұрын

Sooo scifi didn't exist yet sooo

@wisdomriver3476

Жыл бұрын

@@jgvillan01 I hope that strange New World ties into the pilot episode that would be freaking amazing

@jarrodskufcagaming5203

Жыл бұрын

@@wisdomriver3476 Star Trek SNW is post "The Cage"

I was so glad that Paramount CBS actually released that on the DVD seasons of TOS. I've heard he showed it on fan conventions back then, as 16mm copy, a few times. It's so sweet thinking about that and having such a great relationship with the fans.

@TucsonDude

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I have them on DVD. All in contained in cases the shape of tricoders.

Not many people realize that Gene Roddenberry also created "Earth: Final Conflict" And "Andromeda". Both were co-produced by his wife Majel Barret. She was Number One, Nurse Christine Chappel, Doctor Chappel, Lwaxana Troi and more in several series and movies and the computer voice in practicaly all of Star Trek, including computergames. Note that Spock was still allowed tot smile on the first pilot "The Cage".

@pacetti07

7 жыл бұрын

T. Versteeg Gene Roddenberry co-producing those shows with his wife isn't possible. He died several years before the premiere of EART: FINAL CONFLICT.

@t.versteeg3723

7 жыл бұрын

pacetti07 Gene didn't produce them, he created the original ideas for those shows.

@-M0LE

7 жыл бұрын

T. Versteeg andromeda suuuuuuucked

@michaelmclaughlin261

5 жыл бұрын

He also did the pilot movies "Genesis II" and "The Questor Tapes" -- both explorations on the nature of Man

@Walm89

4 жыл бұрын

T. Versteeg She also voiced M'Ress :)

I always say that there's no such thing as someone is ahead of their time. It's just a world which changes too slow or even refuses to change.

The fact that Gene Roddenberry pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable to the networks. it is what made the original series so successful. a glimpse into the future was something that people were going to have to accept. with all the changes in society and they ultimately did. thanks to Gene Roddenberry he was a true visionary. Mr Spock's eyebrows were definitely different, I'm glad that they toned them down some, it's amazing I can still remember the opening monologue perfectly.

I love The Cage - it's probably in my top 5 episodes of any Star Trek series

@csle1962

7 жыл бұрын

Me, too.

In a way Lucille Ball was part of the reason they got a second pilot shot. Desilu was her studio.

@zapkvr

10 жыл бұрын

Tom V Not in A way, in EVERY way. With Lucy signing on the series was dead in the water. Read your history.

@ClassicTVMan1981X

6 жыл бұрын

Lucille Ball then sold Desilu to Gulf+Western in 1967, who then merged it with Paramount Pictures, renaming the studio Paramount Television.

My favorite part of this was that we get to see bits and pieces of the ST movie sets that we never saw in the films. (He filmed this shortly before they remodeled the sets for TNG.)

@danbasta3677

5 жыл бұрын

Hate that cheesy next generation stuff, stupid and childish show. The Original Star Trek series is the ONLY BEST STAR TREK OUT THERE, NOTHING ELSE MADE AFTER IT WAS ANY GOOD.

@ens0246

3 жыл бұрын

@@danbasta3677 That's the kind of open minded attitude that Star Trek represents! :D :D

@aleksandarmarkovic221

3 жыл бұрын

@@danbasta3677 shut up, Next Generation and DS9 were leagues above the original show

@ChrisRoth1972

Жыл бұрын

The movie sets for Star Trek 1-4 looked so realistic like Shatner & Company were on a real Star Ship & unfortunately when the sets were remolded to the TNG Sets they looked to much like TV Sets & didn’t feel like they were on a Starship as much as I liked TNG. The sets could have been made better. It is what it is.

The character of Number One was ahead of her time.

All the sets he was walking around made for the TMP in the 1970s, were used in all of the movies, in TNG, and Voyager as well.

@ChrisRoth1972

Жыл бұрын

Those sets look so Theatrical made for a movie & its to bad that the last two Star Trek movies had to use mainly TV show sets.

It's very nice to hear it from the man himself!

I had this as part of the VHS tape of The Cage in 1986. Now I have it again as part of the blu-ray box set featuring all 3 seasons plus different versions of The Cage pilot.

Thanks for posting, I remember this. It was on the beginning of the VHS of The Cage the first time it was ever released in it's entirety

@SFtheGreat

7 жыл бұрын

The episode or this intro? I have the colour version on VHS and it doesn;t have this intro.

Gene Roddenberry was a thoughtful man.

holy shit i havent seen this intro since i was a kid and got it out on vhs

Roddenberry had a lot of help in making Trek what it was. It's nice to see him as a messianic figure who single handledly did something wonderful, and indeed it was his initial idea that sparked it all, but let's not forget the dozens and dozens of people on the original series that made so many important contributions to making Trek as entertaining and enduring as it was. Writers, directors, craftsmen, set designers, conceptual artists, visual effects artists, and actors all together.

@captainharris8980

Жыл бұрын

He was not messianic. Trek is a police show for a smarter audience to expose them to some health care and police strategies, and inspire younger viewers to go into law enforcement, military or the sciences, notably health care.

@johnarthurlawrence4860

Жыл бұрын

Don't forget Star Trek's "Godmother", Lucile Ball, whom convinced NBC (and sponsored/funded) to allow Gene Roddenberry to make a second pilot after NBC rejected The Cage. The second pilot was "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

@rsmith02

Жыл бұрын

@@captainharris8980 Too reductive. Did you base that on Harlan Ellison's comments? It was a glimpse into a post-scarcity utopia to try to inspire us to transcend our fixation with petty differences to our fellow man.

@captainharris8980

Жыл бұрын

@@rsmith02 No, I did not. All shows are education in relations or law-enforcement. Star Trek then is no different, only it focuses on dilemmas and criminals that are more difficult to tackle than by your average PD and detectives. A lot of bad guys in old school Trek were psychopathic. Others were just smarter than average people, and so it took the Enterprise to tackle them.

This is the first time I've actually heard Gene Roddenberry speak...

Stationed in Mayport, Fla, when in the Navy, I got to see the Original pilot of Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry had come to Jacksonville and was talking about his creation. He brought the original pilot, “The Cage” and showed it to the audience that attended. Like in this video, he said this pilot had never been shone. It was a great show and “ The Menagerie “ episode , a two parter... later came out. He also talked about how the powers that be talked about the Spock character and nobody would by him. Also no one would by the woman as second in command. So, he changed and gave Spock her logic, intelligence that were part of her character... then he married her, Majel Barret. Later she would become Nurse Chappel.

Never knew of the late Jeff Hunter and how he was the original captain until this video! Spock looks awesome too !

The last time we saw the movie sets before they were converted for use on other shows.

I miss you Gene

Thanks for sharing. 😊 I used to have this on VHS a long time ago.

50 years later and he is still ahead of his time

I am very thankful for Gene and all that he created. Star Trek has become a connection to friends and family.

Wow. I'd like to think that those were his last words -- on screen, at least: "For us, no limits."

Gene - you'll be remembered as one of the good guys. BTW, his health started failing in the 80s. That's why he appears fragile at points.

Big respects to Gene Roddenberry... a true visionary.

I can't believe that less then 4,000 people have watched this vid, Thank you so much for posting this, It was great to see.

My niece was his physical theripist when he was in the hospitial.

There was also "you have to wait an hour after eating before going into the swimming pool, or you'll get the cramps". I had an aunt who enforced that for a while.

Love you Gene, Star Trek is my life. Thank you

R.I.P Gene Roddenberry

a simple thought to be shared... [Gene Roddenberry] "R" (Sir forward) "Pop's Roddenberry", love this momentum"

One rub of his nose, plus awareness of the well-documented fact that for the last 20 years of his life, Roddenberry had a massive coke problem. THAT'S why he struggled to find employment after Star Trek, it had nothing to do with the reception of the original series, he was just seen as a massive liability by every studio due to his growing drug dependency.

Thanks for the Post! Loved it!

I remember seeing a full color version of "The Cage" at least twice on TV (in Germany & The Netherlands), so either it wasn't lost or it was restored after this video was made.

@tinblue

7 жыл бұрын

The complete colour footage was found a few years after this was made.

@AvengerII

7 жыл бұрын

The full-color 35mm network presentation was found 2-3 years later AFTER the 1986 VHS release of the partial B & W reconstruction of "The Cage" if I remember correctly. The presentation version of the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," was located in a German fan's film archive some years ago. This is the edit of the second pilot (NOT what aired on network TV) that won the series production contract for Star Trek. That was released for the first time, OFFICIALLY, a few years ago as an extra on the third season Blu ray set of Star Trek: TOS... Before that, crummy quality copies transferred from a 16mm dupe were sold on VHS -- without authorization from Paramount. So, technically, both pilot's original, full-color 35mm edits were "lost" for quite a while. The saga of those film reels had a happy ending... Unlike another long-running sci-fi series I could mention which is missing large portions of the serials from the First and Second Doctors.

@SFtheGreat

7 жыл бұрын

The Doctor's missing parts are entirely the fault of BBC to wipe out and reuse tapes, they should have been written into Guinness World Records book for "most stupid idea ever".

@MrAnswerification

5 жыл бұрын

​@@SFtheGreat The BBC also recorded over The Beatles Top of the Pops appearance which is now lost as well, along with a bunch of top bands at the time. Tragic.

Actually, this is the intro included on the early-80s VHS version (before DVDs) and before they found a full-length color version in the late 80s. Something else I noticed, it says MCMLXIV (1964) on the Desilu title card, not 1965.

The second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," was definitely NOT a "space western"

R.i.p gene Roddenberry 😢😞😖😭😔😿🙀

Wow I've always wondered what he sounded like lol he died so early that you don't see real interviews and stuff with him. This is cool :).

I remember when this first pilot came out as its own entity for the first time in the fandom. I distinctly recall thinking that it really was shockingly good ...

Rare Classic Video Interview, With Mister Gene Roddenberry, Talking about The Enterprise and Saving The Planet Earth and Voyages Beyond The Stars!

i was born just a few years ago compared to star wars, so i haven't watched any of it bcz the story became hard to follow from the beginning, but this guy definetely sounds a genius.

As a pilot, I preferred the Menagerie/Cage over the Second Pilot Where No man has gone before. I thought the former was little more thought provoking. However, I think the show was better Shatner than it would have been with Jeffery Hunter.

Oh course Gene cast Majel as Number One, Chapel, and the Computer, she was his mistress at the time! He was still married to someone until the end of TOS. The whole time he was cheating on his wife with Majel, he was also cheating on her with Nichelle Nicols and then on TNG with Susan Sacket

Hello every one, I watched "The Cage" and posted my reaction video. This is, in fact, my first video on my channel. I have to say I loved this episode and had many great surprises while watching it! I specially loved the subject, even tho it was called "too cerebral". It would have been well accepted nowadays in my opinion. :)

so sorry about what Douche Robot and CBS did to your show, Gene

@sias9546

3 жыл бұрын

Oh you mean Bad Reboot? ;^)

New to the series.... and I looooove it! Thanks. How is it that this video only has 4,00 views?

Absolute genius.

Gene....thanks your your talk.

Happy 100th Birthday and Rip Gene Roddenberry

Very good Thank you...

Grazie gene

Best spelling of acknowledged ever.

Roddenberry tells it the way is! That’s how TV shows get made. Even though Gene Roddenberry started out with the idea, I think the NBC guidelines of that time, together with the unique overall production shaped the show into what audiences saw and thats why Star Trek became so popular. The newer shows lacked a lot of what the original Star Trek was. Even Roddenberry was DENIED creative control over the new series “ Star Trek the Next Generation “ by Paramount ( the copy write owner). I felt if Roddenberry were given control over Star Trek: The Next Generation, the show could have and would have been much better, like the original 1966 NBC TV show.

@Tokopol

Жыл бұрын

He was given control, though. He ran the first and second seasons of TNG before his health failed, and had a final veto over creative decisions right up until he died at the beginning of the fifth season.

@rsmith02

Жыл бұрын

He wanted the show to have minimal conflict which wouldn't make for compelling stories and wanted his characters to be all-to-perfect archetypes. The mid seasons of TNG outside his control and DS9 show what the series could do in storytelling.

"Forbidden planet."

This is great

What a great guy!

Seems so kind Mr Roddenberry...rip

Those corridor sets were perfect. I hated the way they added seafoam green carpet & painted the doors peach for TNG. Looked like the god damn Golden Girls living room set

I wonder if that Dead Cat on top of Gene's head went into space with his ashes! LOL!

BRAVO!!!! CMGUS

"All Copyrights Acknlowedged?" Guess people still can't use spellcheck in the future.

@videoholic50s60s70s

7 жыл бұрын

OK, that was MY bad!!

#orsen12 www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=10702591&postcount=40 Gene's coke habit in the 80s is mentioned several times in Susan Sackett's memoir, but I haven't read anything about such habits happening during the original series.

It's good it was rejected really, or we wouldn't have what it went on to be

The Cage,Strange New Worlds

Well done Gene.

“And if that wasn’t enough, back in those days ... I put a women second in command”

....and the future is still the beginning, with the new Trek series coming next year

I had the cage on vhs. Had the same intro

I have "The Cage" as a Colour edition on VHS, but it does not contain this intro. But is in far better quality than this, it's seriously from the DVD? Nevertheless, I think everybody would agree that the pilot was indeed very good, but as usual, decisive heads of companies were too much rooted in what had been to see the potential, similar to the story of The Beatles and Decca.

It's been a long time since I saw this, my copy is on VHS. My ex bought it for me a long time ago.

@ClassicTVMan1981X

6 жыл бұрын

Yes, it was first released in 1988 on that medium. The black and white version was first widely broadcast in 1986.

😍😍😍😍

he stepped into the light in the end :..(

I miss this Engine Room along with the ideals behind Trek that seem to have been lost. Anthough the space behind the intermix chamber doesn't look right. Was this filmed on a modified movie set with original set pieces or a mockup?

Could it also be that Star Trek was his Frampton Moment too? How could he possibly top that? I don't know about Roddenberry's vices, but I do know the end result of Berman.

3:28 that actress played mother of Deanne Troi 20 years later

So much for the old wive's tale of itchy feet, you'll walk on strange ground, itchy palms, you'll either come into money or spend it. (Dependant on which palm gets the itch.) Itchy nose and you're either going to get angry or disappointed.

Probably dropping the dishrag for the company, but dropping a knife ment that a man would soon be at your door. I love those old superstitions. : )

There 's a little similarities betweens star trek and lost in space and i've always wondered which one was the firt. I know though star wars came after.

What an awesome Episode,....& who does human kind meet ?......The Star Child,...The Annunaki,.......very weird......

This actually looks like it's from a C-Band transmission.

If memory serves, scratching the nose meant that company was coming. Or was it when you dropped the dishrag? :)

Is there a surviving copy of the entire original 1st pilot, 'The Cage'? Is it avaiable anywhere?

@folx2733

6 жыл бұрын

andyrauf it was remastered and out on bluray in color. I have seen it before you have left that comment.

@RA-VEN8

6 жыл бұрын

Netflix.

@danbasta3677

5 жыл бұрын

I have the Original Star Trek series as it was aired in the 60's and quite frankly, in that DVD set, after Turnabout Intruder, it was on it. Prefer the Original Star Trek series of the aired 60's version of over that enhanced stuff. Also, some interesting facts here. In 1986, there was a dumpster full of old films slated to be destroyed forever, until someone discovered an old beat up, rusty film casing. And within that old film casing, contained this episode that both CBS and NBC both viewed, and both rejected, CBS saw it, however went in favor of that silly, childish lost in space crap, NBC watched it and called it too cerbrial, so, out in the shelf it sat for years, after exerts of this episode were made into the first season episode, parts one and two, The Menagerie. Trivial information there for you folks.

@TheTcat1000

5 жыл бұрын

u can down load the all "coto movie"...the full show is on there

You can see they were in the process of converting the transporter for tng lol