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The Cage Page - Rare pictures from the first pilot

This webpage is dedicated to The Cage, Star Trek's first pilot. Below are recently restored clips and artwork showing rare and deleted scenes. Although incomplete, it gives us yet another unique look into the production of Star Trek.

The cage was shot at culver studios on December 12th for 12 day in 1964 for the sum of $630,000. In today's dollars the cost would be over $4,000,000.

Test Shots
This first picture is from test footage of actress Laurel Goodwin who is cast as Yeoman Colt in the pilot. The fabrics she is wearing will be evaluated for contrast, reflection and patterns in the materials to determine their suitability when they appear in black & white. This process was not uncommon as many of the televisions were monochromatic (black and white TV was the colloquialism) in 1964.

Leonard Nimoy's prosthetic ears were not yet perfected at the time this make-up test was filmed. The model next to Nimoy shows the contrast between his make-up and that of a fair complexion.

The last picture in this b/w sequence shows Majel Barrett testing the Orion green make-up which would later be used on Susan Oliver (Vina). If you click on "Play" you can see the effect in color.

This dramatic shot looked so nice I thought it would make a great desktop wallpaper or screensaver for the computer. Click here to download a 1064x768 picture for your computer.

Pike's Fantasy Illusion

The next series of clips are from an extensive scene which was cut from the Vina dance sequence. More of these clips will be shown as they become available and restored.

A very special thank you to contributors Dave T. of North Carolina and Jason M. of Rhode Island for providing these clips. These clips were on the cusp of being lost forever. An enormous amount of image manipulation was needed to restore these pictures.

Thanks to Dave E. and Audrey A. for providing the script excerpt.

From Roddenberry's script FINAL DRAFT, November 20, 1964:

VINA (continuing)
... he must wonder what it would be like to forget all that.
EXT. ORION COURTYARD - NIGHT - MATCHING Pike The transition catching him still seated. He's startled by the SOUND of strange music and wild merriment. He is now on a pillowed floor at a long low table piled high with exotic foods. His attire is rich silk robes, almost like those of an Oriental potentate. And he becomes aware he is being anxiously attended, even fawned upon, by two who have something of the "slave" in their garb and manner. Their skin has a color like Mr. Spock.

SPACE OFFICER'S VOICE
You used to be Captain of the Enterprise, didn't you?
CAMERA PULLS BACK to reveal the speaker is a uniformed space officer (not from the Enterprise) seated at the table. The other man is an Earth trader dressed similar to Pike but less luxuriously. Each of these men is being served by a slave woman. Around all this, a scene of barbaric splendor with an almost Oriental flavor. The MUSIC comes from a quartet seated near a fountain pool, playing unusual instruments. Here and there in the courtyard are richly exotic plants with unusual shapes.

EARTH TRADER
Matter of fact he was. Used to stop here now and then... (smiles at Pike) ...and then send Earth a blistering report... (pretended report) "the Orion traders taking shocking advantage of the natives..."
Good-natured laughter interrupting this.

SPACE OFFICER (to Pike)
Do any of you have a green one? They're dangerous, I hear. Razor claws, and they attract a man like a sensation of irresistible hunger...
Pike is perceptible startled by the familiar term: "Irresistible hunger". And why had Space Officer emphasized the words, and why is he giving Pike that searching look? The Earth Trader is also giving Pike a knowing look. He indicates Pike to the Space Officer.

EARTH TRADER
Now and then comes a man who tames one. (to Space Officer) He'd stumbled into this dark corridor, and then he saw flickering light ahead. (to Pike) Almost like secret dreams a bored ship captain might have, wasn't it? There she was, holding a torch, glistening green...
Aware now the Talosians are definitely baiting him through the images of these two men, Pike angrily rises. But his female servant has moved to sound a NOTE on a hanging cymbal.

PIKE
Get out of my way, blast you!
The MUSIC changes now, louder, a slow throbbing rhythm. Pike's attention is attracted by an exclamation of astonishment from the seated space officer. He turns to see:
ANGLE - VINA Wild! Green skin, glistening as if oiled. Her fingertips are long gleaming razor-edged scimitars, her hair not unattractive but suggesting a wild animal mane. She is moving out to the open rectangle in front of the table, eyes wild. We feel she's larger than before, immensely strong. The female slaves have hurried off, frightened. But one is slower and Vina suddenly pivots with a CAT SOUND, bars a frightened female slave's escape. Pike's male servant has grabbed a whip, leaps out to intercede and Vina turns, snarling at him. The man slave swings back to lash at her.

PIKE
No!
Vina turns at the voice, eyes Pike for a long moment.

CLOSE SHOT - Pike returning the look, fascinated.
ANGLE - VINA Now, her gaze riveted on Pike, she moves to the center of the rectangle, lets the slow-powerful beat of the MUSIC reach her, the slow surging beat forcing movement out of her as a reed flute takes possession of a cobra. She SHRIEKS (dubbed wild animal cry) and the rhythm moves faster, her movements following the barbaric MUSIC.

CLOSE SHOT - Pike unable to tear his eyes from her.

ANGLE - VINA now dancing wildly, animal beautiful.
EMPHASIZING Pike as the Earth Trader looks up toward Pike, again meaningfully:

EARTH TRADER
Wouldn't you say that's worth a man's soul?
Space Officer turns to eye Pike similarly.

SPACE OFFICER
It makes you believe she could be anything. Suppose, you had all of space to choose from, and this was only one small sample of...
Pike tears himself from these words, turns and brushes past his retainers, hurrying into the exit door behind.. .

Another short deleted scene:

NUMBER ONE
Nothing will be said if any volunteer wants to back out.
The group turns to the cubicle, as Number One turns to Colt.

NUMBER ONE
Colt, you're new to our ship...

COLT
I've had the same training as anyone. And I'm his yeoman.
Number One hesitates, then she and Colt move with the group into the transporter cubicle. The Transporter Chief moves to his control panel.

Special Effects

Seen here for the first time is a clip showing a rejected transporter special effect.

This animation is made from salvaged, individual frames. Although not perfectly color corrected or match framed, it does give us an idea on what this effect looked like.

So why was this clip not used? A memo from Roddenberry to the optical effects company explains it all:

SPECIAL EFFECTS SCREENING COMMENTS 12-28-64

Appearances and disappearances of crew:
Eliminate the thick line around the crew members as they are transported. Have a subtle suggestion of sparkle rather than the Peter Pan sparkle being used. Get rid of the colored outline. Have crew members slowly dissolve. Maintain whole image with slight flickering of color instead of present solid color. All the actors should have the same color effect instead of the present individual assortment of colors.
- G.R.

Roddenberry's feelings about the effects shots for the laser cannon appear to be the opposite. The first picture on the left shows a subdued, less colorful version. The effects were redone with a more vibrant, colorful version.

Dissolves

The b/w clips are dailies/rushes and are quickly cut together from the previous days work. The creation of a dissolve or special effect is time consuming and as rushes are needed to be viewed in a timely manner grease pencil marks are used to indicate where dissolves and effects are to be placed. This marking is known as a streamer, called so because when projected it resembles a streamer trailing across the screen. This trim is a film historical artifact. The streamer indicates where the illusion effect takes place preceding the Vina dance sequence.

This is the scene with Vina (Susan Oliver) being punished by the Talosians. This is pre-effects footage showing Oliver doing her being tortured bit, then leaving the camera frame. In the finished effects sequence she dissolves via a special effect and all that remains is her clothing, however you can still see her shadow as she sits up during the effect.

Multiple Use Prop

This deleted bridge scene has a prop in the foreground that ends up being used as a targeting scanner on the laser cannon and during the series run appears as the shuttlecraft(s) astrogator.

Planet Creation

Anderson Effects testing rear screen projection of the Talos IV planet. On closer examination Talos IV appears to be a colorized picture of the moon with airbrushed clouds.

Evolution of a matte painting

Shown here are some of the steps taken creating a matte painting combined with live action.

Jeffrey Hunter interview excerpts

Los Angeles Citizen News
January 30, 1965

Male Call by Joan Schmitt

Jeff's big enthusiasm at the moment is a pilot he's just finished for a new Desilu television series that will hopefully be on the air in the fall. It's a science fiction show -- year 2000, with Jeff playing an American cosmonaut who patrols the galaxy in a 190,000-ton space city. The 'ship' carries a crew of 203 people, who visit American colonies in space as well as unexplored planets.

"We run into pre-historic worlds, contemporary societies and civilizations far more developed than our own," he said. It's a great format because writers have a free hand -- they can have us land on a monster-infested planet, or deal in human relations involving the large number of people who live together on this gigantic ship.

"We should know within several weeks whether the show's been sold. It will be an hour long, in color with a regular cast of a half-dozen or so, and an important guest star part each week. They're calling it 'Star Trek.' The thing that intrigues me most about the show is that it is actually based on the Rand Corp.'s projection of things to come. Except for the fictional characters, it will almost be like getting a look into the future and some of the predictions will surely come true in our life-time.

"With all the weird surroundings of outer space the basic underlying theme of the show is a philosophical approach to man's relationship to woman. There are both sexes in the crew, in fact, the first officer is a woman."

Sex in orbit? How intriguing. It's comforting to know there are some things that just won't ever change!

The Milwaukee Journal
July 4, 1965

Happy In Hollywood by J.D. Spiro

Milwaukee's Jeffrey Hunter recently appeared with Tippi Hedren on a "Kraft Suspense Theater" play "Trains of Silence," and made a "pilot" film for a possible new television series.
.
The TV pilot film bears the title "Star Trek" and it is an hour science fiction fantasy in color. Produced by Gene Roddenberry in association with NBC at Desilu, it was aimed at the 1965-66 market, but did not make the fall schedule. An unusually costly pilot with a budget of approximately $500,000, it is now being held for the 1966-67 season, and another segment for the projected series is soon to be filmed. The cast of this will not, however, include Hunter, who says he has bowed out of the venture.

"I was asked to do it," he said, "but had I accepted, I would have been tied up much longer than I care to be. I have several things brewing now and they should be coming to a head in the next few weeks. I love doing motion pictures and expect to be as busy as I want to be in them."

Hunter has a new home at Huntington Palisades in the Santa Monica area that he and his family moved into last summer. It's a two story, five bedroom stucco house of Mediterranean design surrounded by an acre of ground and many oak trees.

He now lives there with his wife, the former Joan Hamilton Killian Bartlett, and four sons ranging in age from 2 years to 13. The oldest, Christopher was born to him and his first wife, actress Barbara Rush. They were divorced in 1955 after five years of marriage. Next is Steele, 11, a son of Mrs. Hunter by a previous marriage. The other two boys are Herman Henry McKinnies III, age 6, named after Hunter's father and Scott, 2.

Hunter attended Whitefish Bay high school, where he was president of the student body in his senior year and co-captain of the school's first suburban championship football team. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. McKinnies, live at 7450 Skyline Lane, River Hills, Milwaukee.

Jeffrey Hunter Obituary
November 25, 1926 - May 27, 1969

Jeffrey Hunter was born Henry Herman McKinnies Jr. (nicknamed Hank McKinnies), on November 25, 1926 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The only child of a sales engineer and his wife, Hunter was raised in Milwaukee, WI. While still in high school, Hunter acted on Milwaukee radio station WTMJ; this led to summer stock work. His career was interrupted by service in U.S. Navy at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois, 1945-46 until his medical discharge.

He then attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois where he received a bachelor’s degree from the School of Speech. He continued his stage appearances and was featured in the 1949 film version of "Julius Caesar", which starred Charlton Heston. Attending UCLA on a scholarship, Hunter was spotted by Hollywood talent scouts while appearing in a school production of "All My Sons" in May of 1950. He made a screen test at Paramount, but was hired by 20th Century Fox where he made his first "mainstream" film appearance in Fox's "Fourteen Hours", a film which also served as the debut for Grace Kelly. His movie career gained momentum after he co-starred with John Wayne in the Western classic The Searchers (1956).

Hunter was married to actress Barbara Rush on December 1, 1950. They had one child, a son Christopher. Although they were divorced on March 29, 1955, Rush would remember him fondly and said she considered him to be the handsomest man she ever met. On July 7, 1957 Hunter married Joan "Dusty" Bartlett a former model. They had two sons, Todd and Scott. He also adopted Steele, Dusty’s son from a previous marriage. This marriage ended in divorce in 1967.

In 1961, Hunter was cast in the difficult and challenging role of Jesus Christ in "The King of Kings". His reverent performance earned Hunter considerable praise, although the actor's youthful appearance prompted industry wags to dub the picture "I Was a Teenaged Jesus,” while in fact Hunter was 33 at the time.

In 1963, Hunter signed a two-year contract with Warner Brothers. At Warners, he starred in the western TV series "Temple Houston". Nearly 30 episodes of the hour-long series were filmed before the series was canceled in 1964. Hunter’s 1963 film "The Man From Galveston" was originally the pilot episode of this television series. Hunter was cast as Captain Christopher Pike of the U.S.S. Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" television pilot in 1964, but turned down the option to continue the role in the series. The pilot was later incorporated into a two-part episode in "Star Trek’s" first season.

During the next several years, he acted in several films in Europe and Asia. After a whirlwind courtship, Hunter married actress Emily McLaughlin on February 4, 1969. She is best known for her role as Nurse Jessie Brewer on the ABC soap opera "General Hospital".

With his career on hold, Hunter desperately lobbied to be cast as Mike Brady for the TV series "The Brady Bunch." Producer Sherwood Schwartz would not consider him as he thought him to be "too good looking to be an architect." Ironically, Hunter died just months before the show premiered in 1969.

While in Spain to film the Chicago Mafia story, Viva América! (1969), Hunter was injured in an on-set explosion, suffering facial lacerations from broken glass and powder burns. Later, an old friend, a former British Commando, accidentally hit Hunter on the chin with a Karate chop when Hunter, who knew judo, failed to defend himself in time. Then, while on the plane with his wife returning to the United States, Hunter's right arm suddenly became semi-paralysed and he lost the power of speech. He was taken directly off the plane upon landing, to a hospital in Los Angeles. An examination showed that a vertebra in his neck was out of place. He was released after a couple of weeks. Shortly after signing to co-star with Vince Edwards in The Desperados (1969), Hunter suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while on a short flight of steps in his living room, and collapsed, injuring his head in the fall. He was found unconscious an unknown length of time later. He died, without regaining consciousness, the following day, following surgery to repair the skull fracture, at age 42.

Thanks to Christopher B. for the Vina "cat" clips and matte painting clips.
Thanks to Dave T. for the deleted transporter room scene and the Talos IV effects clip.

StarTrekHistory.com The Cage Page - Rare pictures from the first pilot