The Cage

"The Cage" is the original pilot episode of the Star Trek science fiction franchise. It was made in 1964, but never broadcast on television until 1988. The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Butler.

Trivia

• The episode featured the first appearance of green-skinned Orion Slave Girls. An episode of ' titled Borderland, broadcast in 29 October 2004, featured the first on-screen appearance of male Orions, 40 years after their species was first mentioned.
• The uniforms worn by Starfleet personnel differ in one substantial way from most future series in that the outfit includes a hat or a cap, though no one is shown wearing one in this film. (One can be seen in Pike's quarters). The idea of a cap being part of the Starfleet uniform would be revived (in an on-again, off-again manner) in the prequel series, ', which takes place roughly a century earlier than The Cage.
• Jeffrey Hunter was invited to return as Capt. Pike in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" but declined, opening the door for William Shatner to be cast as Captain Kirk. Hunter subsequently died in an accident in 1969, leaving Trek fans to ponder how different the later revival of Trek might have been had Hunter continued into the series, if a revival even happened.
• A later episode of the Star Trek series, "The Menagerie", would establish that the events of The Cage take place about 11 years prior to the series, or 13 years prior to "The Menagerie".