Posted on 08/24/2016 4:07:53 AM PDT by iowamark
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek with its original pilot and first broadcast episode!
The 50th anniversary of Star Trek is almost here. Well, the official date. The original series premiered on September 8, 1966. But the world has been celebrating throughout 2016 — and that will continue through 2017 with the new series and upcoming cruise.
As we are the home of The Original Series, which airs weekly as part of Super Sci-Fi Saturday Night, MeTV is celebrating with two special broadcasts on Saturday, September 10.
First, at 9PM | 8C, we will air the first broadcast episode of Star Trek, "The Man Trap," in its regular time slot.
Stay tuned afterward at 10PM | 9C for a very special episode of Svengoolie, in which the beloved horror host will present the rarely aired original Star Trek pilot, "The Cage."
As you may know, there were two Star Trek pilots made. The original was rejected, and the series might never have made it to air without the backing of producer Lucille Ball. There are some fascinating differences between "The Cage" in 1965 and what would follow in 1966. For starters, there is no Captain Kirk. Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) is leading the Enterprise. Leonard Nimoy is there as Spock, alongside "Number One," played by Majel Barrett, later the wife of Gene Roddenberry.
While much of the footage was recycled for the two-part first season episode "The Menagerie," the full pilot was not seen for two decades.
On September 10, return to the final frontier — but certainly not for the final time.
Is it the one with Bill Clinton?
http://17663-presscdn-0-49.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CaptainBill.jpg
(Then the wacky Greg Gutfeld show, then off to bed).
Love Sven’!
Boop, boop.
It’s 5 year Mission,,,
To Go where No Man
has Gone BEFORE.
You can watch it on Netflix...It’s actually kind of stiff. The acting is awkward even though the storyline is pretty solid. Capt. Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) is a good actor, though I am not sure that the show would have done as well without Capt. Kirk (William Shatner).
Nearly identical tops. Same designer?
At the time, I think the studio believed all original color copies to have been lost. IIRC, they did later find a color copy and created a full color copy for DVD.
LOL! “Stop this illusion or I’ll twist your head off!”
I originally saw this back many moons ago, at a conference held by Gene Roddenberry himself..
The story I heard was that Rodenberry thought that he had two copies (full colour and sound) of the pilot, so he gave one to be chopped up so it could be glued into “The Menagerie” episode. It turned out, though, that he had only the one in addition to the black and white rough copy (that he later showed at various Star Trek conventions).
As mentioned by another Freeper, a colour negative was later discovered in Paramount’s archives, in addition to the master tapes of Alexander Courage’s soundtrack (also thought to be lost). What would one give to have been able to see “The Cage” in its original, unedited version? This would be with the Talosian’s voice (Malachi Throne, RIP) as it was originally before it was later modified for “The Menagerie”, as Throne played the Starfleet prosecutor. I believe also some small amounts of dialogue were removed from the colour version later released (probably because of the “Menagerie” modifications).
Link to trailer of “The Menagerie-Part 2” with the Talosian’s voice (curiously enough) unedited in this original TV spot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szw7eJbc6G8
Jeffrey Hunter quit the series because HIS WIFE TOLD HIM TO!
Svengoolie is a true gem in the vast wasteland of TV.
He is actually “The Son Of.....” the original being
conceived and played by Disc Jockey Jerry G. Bishop
back in the early 70s.
Corny jokes, great trivia and some truly classic films.
Sven is one of the best things Chicago has produced.
He can make you forget about the gangs, corruption and
insane taxation for a little while each week.
Believe it or not, he was in consideration for the role of Mike Brady on “The Brady Bunch” (in addition to Gene Hackman, also believe it or not). Apparently he was turned down because he was considered to be too handsome to be believable as an architect. Role of course later went to Robert Reed.
I think Jerry G. Bishop was a better Svengoolie, it seemed like his heart was into it, Rich Koz's looks to me like he is going through the motions. old screaming yellow theatre clip
Like I said, Hunter was a decent actor. I’m not sure how the show would have worked with him as the lead, but he was OK. In fact it might have worked out just fine. We will never know.
That his wife told him to leave the show...well, it was his choice to follow her advice.
Considering what happened to him in 1969, maybe it wasn’t such good advice.
Watching those old ST tv series on retro tv and seeing what they were using then and how we now have them. Example is that flip phone communicator for one, large flat screen for another.
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