"The Cage" - Where No One Had Gone Before Quiz

Answer: Mr Spock

The opening shot of the episode, following the main title sequence, involved the camera alongside the Enterprise as it was on course and at speed, before zooming in close to the main bridge, where the image would transition from the exterior dome to a shot of the interior of the bridge.

This shot was incredibly intricate to undertake, and was the very last one produced for the episode before it wrapped completely. Upon the scene transitioning into the bridge, the very first line is delivered by Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock - "Check the circuit".

Answer: SS Columbia

The SS Columbia is described as a survey ship. The mission that the ship was on when it crashed was led by Dr Theodore Haskins of the American Continent Institute. The distress signal that is intercepted by the Enterprise is an old-style radio wave transmission that takes eighteen years to travel from the crash site.

However, with no indication in the message of survivors, Pike decides not to investigate, and instead deal with his own crew's wounded first.

Answer: Martini

Having decided not to investigate the distress signal, Captain Pike seeks the counsel of his friend Dr Philip Boyce, the ship's chief medical officer. Boyce subsequently visits Pike and, in an effort to get the stoic captain to open up, makes him a martini, with the rationale that "sometimes a man will tell his bartender things he'll never tell his doctor". Dr Boyce was played by John Hoyt.

Answer: Rigel

Two weeks prior to the events of "The Cage", Pike had led a landing party to the planet Rigel VII, where they had engaged in combat with native warriors of the planet, the Kalar. The result saw three members of the landing party, including Pike's yeoman, killed, while another seven, including Mr Spock, Jose Tyler and Geologist Fisher, were all wounded.

It is this that leads to Pike's introspection, and his admission to Dr Boyce that he is considering resigning from the service as he is tired of the awesome responsibility of being a starship captain.

Answer: Colt

J.M. Colt was Pike's new yeoman following the incident on Rigel VII. Her presence is something of a distraction for Pike, who states that he is unused to having women on the bridge of his ship, his executive officer Number One being "an exception of course".

The Talosians read Colt's thoughts and realise her attraction to Pike, going on to manipulate the events of the crew's attempt to rescue the captain to beam her and Number One down to the planet, offering Pike a choice of potential 'mates'. Yeoman Colt was played by Laurel Goodwin.

Answer: Malachi Throne

Gene Roddenberry's original vision of the Talosians was of a crab-like species. However, it was soon realised that this would likely be beyond both the budget of the episode and the available technology of the period. So, he reworked the concept into a humanoid race with slim bodies and elongated heads, indicated evolved mental powers. To accomplish this, women were cast to play the Talosians on screen, with Roddenberry saying that this could make it appear that the Talosians had allowed their bodies to atrophy in favour of developing their mental abilities. Meg Wyllie was cast in the role of the lead Talosian, known as The Keeper. Roddenberry then had male voices dubbed into the dialogue of the Talosians, to further display the "other-worldliness" of the characters, with actor Malachi Throne cast to voice The Keeper. Throne would later go on to appear as Commodore Mendez in "The Menagerie", the two-part "Star Trek" episode that was produced as a way of showing the footage from "The Cage".

Answer: Mojave

The town of Mojave was originally founded in 1876, and is an unincorporated community located 50 miles east of Bakersfield, California. By the time shown in "The Cage", which is set in the year 2254, Mojave has become a bustling metropolis surrounded by what is described as fifty miles of parkland.

The illusion presented shows Pike and Vina as a couple enjoying a ride through this green belt before stopping to have a picnic lunch - in the scene, the city can be viewed in the distance. This was the first and only appearance of 23rd century Earth throughout the entirety of the eighty produced episodes of "Star Trek: The Original Series".

The next time Earth was seen during the period contemporary to the series was at the beginning of 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", with a scene set at Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco.

Answer: Orion

Vina's illusionary appearance in "The Cage" was the first glimpse of the green-skinned, overtly sexual Orion female that were referred to in the episode's script as "green animal women", who males were unable to resist. This illusion is presented to Pike as a result of one of his half thought ideas of what to do if he were to resign, the idea being that he might become a trader on Orion.

The green make-up that was to be used was initially tested on actress Majel Barrett, who played Number One in the episode, before being used on Susan Oliver, who portrayed Vina. During the days when she was made up as the Orion, Oliver noted a change in the attitude of the largely male crew, who, rather than banter with her as they had, "stared or averted their eyes as though it were immoral to look at such a woman."

Answer: Geologist Fisher

In "The Cage", the majority of the members of Pike's crew that are featured go unnamed on screen; the only ones referred to by name are Captain Pike, Mr Spock, Number One and Dr Boyce. However, there are a number of other characters who have significant roles in the episode, one of whom is the ship's geologist, played by Edward Madden, who is one of the crew members injured on Rigel VII, and who subsequently forms part of the landing party to Talos IV. Seventeen months after production of "The Cage" wrapped, Madden was again cast in an episode of "Star Trek", "The Enemy Within", in which he played Geologist Fisher.

Although there is no direct link between the two portrayals, it has been assumed that they are in fact the same character, as the same actor portrayed a geologist in both episodes.

Answer: False

Although a significant proportion of footage from "The Cage" was reused in the 1966 two-part story "The Menagerie", the only public showings of the full episode were by Gene Roddenberry, who owned a black & white 16mm film copy and occasionally had it shown at conventions.

A full colour version of the original was not believed to exist, as those pieces that were cut from the original for use in "The Menagerie" were believed to be lost. In 1986, as part of "Star Trek"'s 20th anniversary, Paramount decided to release "The Cage" on VHS for home release, and cut together the surviving colour elements from "The Menagerie" with Roddenberry's black & white version for a full length copy of the entire episode.

However, in 1987, film archivist Bob Furmanek discovered the missing 35mm colour footage that had been removed from the production of "The Menagerie". Upon being returned to Paramount's archive, the company recut "The Cage" into a restored, full-colour version. On 4 October 1988, as part of a two-hour documentary special looking at the history of "Star Trek" up to that point, "The Cage" had its premiere on US television.