Was this the better pilot ? I think so, yes. It was deeper, more meaningful. Who can say how the characters would have evolved. Maybe we would have taken them to heart as we did the other cast.
One thing I have to put in. I was laughing when Pike said he can't get used to women on the bridge. It was still the 60s of course. But think about it concerning SNW. He's literally sourrounded by women there. So, in hindsight you could either say the writers of SNW completely ignored his stance or it stems exactly from that earlier time. Funny how things work out both ways.
In an effort to memorialize Gene Roddenberry's vision and all of the work of the artists who helped him realize his vision, they've digitized the sets and done interviews with original cast members and the director of the pilot...here's a short YouTube video and a link for more info about, "The Roddenberry Archive."
https://youtu.be/65ZtLReySGo
https://home.otoy.com/roddenberry_archive_may2022/
Far better pilot than what they went with IMO
Finally, after all these years having enjoyed TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise, I'm giving TOS a shot.
This is the pilot, so obviously first impressions here don't count for all that much. Still, I'll write my thoughts down here, since it'll be fun going back to, once I finish the show.
It's a '60s show, so obviously I knew it was going to be a sausage fest, where every single woman secretly wants the captain. Knowing that before going in, it was of course still annoying to watch. But I'm fortunate to be watching it on Netflix, which has the speed-up feature, which I can use in those moments.
Other than that the only thing that annoyed me was the inconsistency of Vina saying that they couldn't put her properly together.
They found me in the wreckage dying, a lump of flesh. They rebuilt me. Everything works, but they had never seen a human. They had no guide for putting me back together.
We know from Number One, that Vina was already a full-grown woman, when the ship crashed.
There was a Vina listed on that expedition as an adult crewman. Now adding 18 years to your age then--
They couldn't use her memories of how humans look from her mind?? Even if Vina was so messed up from the crash, is their technology so limited, that they couldn't fix her up afterwards? I may be nitpicking, but it was a point that annoyed me. Especially since I really appreciated Pike being so rational and methodical in this approach earlier in the episode, when trying to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the Talosians' powers. But that's just how things are with older Star Trek and their self-contained episodic format.
I look forward to starting The Man Trap, and really getting into season 1.
This is available on Paramount+.
The make up and prosthetics on the big heads looks really good.
The farther we get from the 4:3 era of film and television, the more the strengths of the format stand out. Even with a pilot like this, a putative space epic that surely would have benefited from the spread of a wider aspect ratio, the more confined compositions made possible by the narrow box more than make up for the (supposed) lack of scope. For talking heads scenes, the over-the-shoulder shot-reverse-shots ubiquitous in today's 16:9 world simply can't compete with the kind of more intimate blocking that was inevitably lost with the move to widescreen.
Colors and uniforms are vibrant. Stage design is already brilliant although some elements look like a 60s IKEA catalogue (except the picnic scene: that one looks stupid). Characters are not yet worked out very well (which doesn't really matter since the cast changes anyway after the pilot) We learn nothing about the peculiarities of Spock and next to nothing about crew dynamics. Best Special effects: lasers and the vibrating vene in the alien's head. Low point: the ape/werewolf costume . The whole episode design is a bit too much of a western/sandal movie though.
The main plot is intriguing, though. Being trapped in a prison, in a zoo, in a science experiment by a mind manipulating superior alien species sets the tone of the whole franchise: it's dangerous out there in space and you will encounter the unexpected. But there's hope: mankind possesses some qualities that come in unexpectedly handy in dangerous situations.
Good to see that #1 is a woman. I didn't recall that. I always thought it's Beverly and Dianna who were the first characters depicted as second in line of command.
I had forgotten about this episode. It was surprisingly good.
Shout by WebSorveBlockedParent2017-01-03T10:43:20Z
The original pilot episode of Star Trek lacked the intensity, wit and charisma of TOS's compelling characters. However, you'll be able to identify some of the elements that made this show great and why it stood the test of time. It's worth the watch, even though a huge chunk of it was used in the subsequently released two-part episode "The Menagerie".