When the Enterprise receives a message from Fleet Captain Pike at Starbase 11, Captain Kirk diverts the ship... only to discover that the Starbase never sent any such message, and that Pike would have been particularly unable to have sent it. While conducting a routine inspection of a cadet vessel, Pike was exposed to severe radiation - leaving him completely paralyzed, unable to move or speak (handy that, as Jeffrey Hunter would have been both unavailable and out of the series' price range for a guest spot), only able to communicate from his full-body wheelchair by blinking once for "yes," twice for "no."
It isn't long before it becomes clear that the message was faked by Spock, who uses his considerable skills to take over the Enterprise and heads, with Pike, toward a forbidden destination: Talos IV. But when Kirk and Starbase 11's commander, Commodore Mendez, stubbornly pursue in a shuttlecraft, refusing to turn back even when they have reached the limit of their fuel reserves, Spock cannot bring himself to leave them to die. He rescues his pursuers and surrenders himself, making only one request: an immediate court martial.
The court martial is convened, with Kirk, Mendez, and Pike presiding. Spock's defense is an impossibly detailed chronicle of Pike's mission to Talos IV. But when it is discovered that Spock's chronicle is actually a transmission, being sent to the ship from the forbidden world, the situation goes from serious to dire. Any communication with Talos IV is punishable by death - meaning that Spock has literally put his neck in the hangman's noose, and may well drag Kirk's career down with him!
CHARACTERS
Captain Kirk: It is interesting to compare and contrast Pike and Kirk. Shatner is quite natural on-screen, commanding his scenes effortlessly. His interactions with co-stars Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelly, and even with the guest star playing Mendez, are marked by a warmth that was missing from Jeffrey Hunter's Pike - something very evident once Spock's court martial begins. There isn't anything as interesting going on with Kirk in the framing story as with Pike's weariness, burn out, and fascination with Vina in The Cage. But Kirk does seem like a more natural lead for a television series, and Shatner is pleasantly relaxed throughout.
Spock: It's also interesting to contrast the fully-formed Spock that Leonard Nimoy had perfected by this point in the series against the prototypical (and emotional) Spock of The Cage. It really hammers home how well Nimoy manages to portray a character who betrays no emotion, while at the same time finding ways to vary his performance to keep Spock compelling. I particularly liked the final scene of Part One, when Spock draws on his friendship with Kirk to keep the captain from shutting down the trial. "Don't stop me. Don't let (Mendez) stop me." Wonderful, quiet urgency.
Dr. McCoy: We see scenes showing him as a thoughtful doctor, particularly the one in which he laments the lack of insight into the workings of the human brain. We also see some of his relationship with Spock. His reaction to Spock turning himself over for arrest is a highlight. Despite their verbal sparring, it is clear that McCoy trusts Spock almost as intrinsically as Kirk does, and is absolutely floored at the thought of Spock having betrayed the captain's trust.
THOUGHTS
I had remembered The Menagerie as being largely just a "clip show," made up almost entirely of The Cage. As someone once said, "the memory cheats." The first part of this 2-parter is almost entirely made up of new footage. Spock's taking of the Enterprise is not rushed in any way. It's actually rather compelling stuff, and must have been truly startling for regular viewers - who had no idea what Spock's plan was, or why he was doing this - to have seen on first airing.
In fact, I would rate Part One as considerably the stronger half. It's fast-paced; Nimoy, Shatner, and DeForest Kelly all give creditable performances; and there is real intrigue and urgency to the proceedings. Part Two suffers partly on this viewing from me watching it so closely after The Cage. But in Part Two, even the new footage starts to falter, with Spock, Kirk, and company providing bland recaps of the action after each commercial fadeout, and with a "tag" scene that is considerably rushed (all I can say is, the transporter room must be directly adjacent to the room in which the court martial was held).
The Cage itself has been pruned a bit. Most of the non-Pike scenes are gone, probably not surprisingly. But there have also been tweaks within scenes, probably in part to keep viewers from questioning Spock's decision. Some notable examples I caught include: in the re-enactment of Pike's battle on Rigel 7, Vina no longer includes in her pleas with Pike to fight the giant, "Do you know what he'll do to me?" This may have been in part to cut a suggestion of a rape threat (I don't think simply "kill me" was what she meant), but it may also have been to prevent the suggestion that the Talosians would have allowed the illusion to play out to such an extent that, even though she cooperated, she would have been forced to experience such a simulation.
Later, in the "back home" scene, gone is the rather chilling exchange in which Vina tries to forestall Pike's questioning by reminding him of her "headaches," which Pike counters by reminding her that these "headaches" would be "hereditary." Again, while the Talosians' "punishment" remains in the episode, one senses that the new context of The Menagerie makes it less desirable for viewers to dwell on that aspect. Even the Talosian leader's final words to Kirk - a more or less direct lift from his (its?) final words to Pike at the end of The Cage - have been made more benign, complete with the addition of a kindly smile and head bow.
The results of this watering-down may fit better with the new footage, but they also make the old story slightly less interesting. I don't think it's entirely because of the rapid viewing of this after The Cage that the story seemed a lot less compelling as presented here. I think the distraction of (in Part Two, often pointless) Kirk/Spock/Mendez scenes, combined with the sanding off of some of the edges from the original, make the story intrinsically less compelling than when it stood on its own.
Despite these niggles, both old story and new are well-told stories, effectively-presented, and I find myself giving the resulting hybrid the exact same score:
Rating: 8/10.
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One problem I had with part 1 of this two parter was that Mendez's showing the Talos file to Kirk seems to come out of nowhere; Mendez doesn't explain why he's doing that.
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