The Menagerie Part 2 (Star Trek TOS - S1E13)

[Hailing Frequencies Open]

Trapped in a chair, trapped in Talosian mind games, and trapped listening to Spock explain himself again. This week we wrap up The Menagerie, Part 2 where illusions run wild, Starfleet rules get bent, and the real question is whether Pike is having the worst flashback episode ever. Expect feelings, philosophy, and several tangents that definitely wasn’t approved by Starfleet Command. 

[End Transmission]

Chapters

• 6:12 Initial Impressions
• 10:26 Treking Through the Episode
• 55:11 Final Thoughts
• 1:00:38 Tribble Tidbits
• 1:05:55 Episode Ranking
• 1:07:53 Turbolift Tease

Transcript

0:00

[MUSIC] Haley Infrequency is open and welcome aboard tracks and tangents. I'm your co-host Brian. And I'm your co-host Jackie. I'm the Star Trek movie, who tracks off on tangents. And I'm your Star Trek expert who is here to get the tangents back on track. Each episode we watch and talk about a different Star Trek episode. And this week we watched. Star Trek, the original series season one episode 12, the Menagerie part two. Welcome back to the second part of this two part episode break in Star Trek. Exciting. The first two part episode, thank you everyone who is sharing the podcast with their friends. Thank you for everyone who is commenting and reviewing the podcast. Wherever you choose to consume the podcast, it certainly helps with our engagement. It makes it more fun to do this. Yes, hearing back, you know, feedback and all kinds of positive. Or, you know, what we can do to improve. That's always fun to know. Yes, but with all of that out of the way, let's just jump on into it. And we'll pick up this plot with the Turbo Liftees from last week. Normally that's where we give Jackie the title of the episode and Jackie will try to guess the plot of this week's episode. But since it was a two part episode and since the plot was pretty obvious as to what we were going to be watching, we changed it up a little bit. We did a two part Turbo Liftees, the first Turbo Liftees question. We asked Jackie to guess or predict what the big reveal was going to be at the end of the episode, the big surprise. So what that means said, computer, what was Jackie's guess to what the big surprise and big reveal was going to be at the end of the episode? Jackie stated last week, okay, well, I would assume that the Tullotian people are a given. So the twist is going to have to be they have taken over Spock's body and are using it just like you said to infiltrate. So Jackie, how accurate do you think your guess was from last week? I was fairly close, but I went in the wrong direction. I think you started to go down that route. Spoiler, there's going to be more of a thought exercise episode unless of a plot centric heavy episode. So when I phrased or wrote the Turbo Liftees last week in reference to the big spoiler, obviously what I was referring to was the fact that Commodore Mendes on the Shuttlecraft and during the court marshal wasn't the real Commodore. They were a projection or an illusion from the big brain people, the Tullotians. So you went in an interesting route where you kind of leaped onto that idea of the Tullotians using their powers to simulate someone from a higher rank within Starfleet to do their bidding and to push their motives. But you went with Spock and not the Commodore. Well, I was just assuming since Spock was in trouble and pushing his narrative that he was the one it would be thought this time. And I think that's why it makes it a surprise or a big reveal is because Commodore Mendes is almost a background character. He's there to push the plot along and then to make him this focal point, I think really makes it an effective gotcha moment at the end of the episode. And it totally did get me because the Tullotians are totally playing each other off of Mendes' ideas. Like he's the one pushing back and Kirk is like, no, let's keep going. Like he's actually there. They fooled me big time. Right. So the second part of the TurboLift T's again, we'll just make it a two part guess since it's a two part episode. I asked Jackie to predict what in the replaying or the retelling of the plot of the cage, there was one part that they changed that maybe not significantly, but two a degree changes the outcome. And the overall plot of the cage and so I asked Jackie to predict what that was. So computer what was Jackie's guess to that. Jackie stated maybe Captain Pike is their god or Vena is going to have a humongous head as well, but they made her pretty she is still going to have her same beautiful blue eyes though. So Jackie, what do you think of your guess to this portion of the TurboLift T's? Well, I'm kind of like 10% right, but I really big big 10 failed. I think the only thing that we could say your 10% right was the Tullotians thinking that Captain Pike is their god. In the sense that the Tullotians would even have any kind of motivation to care enough about Pike to offer to let him back to Talos for in order to let him live out his life. Well, I agree with you on that. And I think that if they have the capacity for caring instead of just research. When we see when we reach back to the original cage, we saw them have like an interaction where they both begin to understand each other and how to communicate effectively without just like nitpicking everything. His actions surprised the Tullotians when they assumed they knew everything. Yeah, so then following that narrative plot, I guess we'll just give our initial impressions of the episode at this point of move away from the TurboLift T's. This is going to be a big episode of Tangents anyway, so it's okay. My kind of show on that plot point. Yes, we have to assume that the Tullotians motivation for all of this, the events of the menagerie is that they have somehow learned that Captain Pike has suffered this terrible accident. And they have to have some lasting impact impression of Captain Pike from their encounter with him during the events of the cage 13 years prior where after their attempt to enslave and use Captain Pike and other members of the Enterprise and Vena to create a new civilization of slave labor. Yes, they are now impressed with Captain Pike, his actions. Maybe they're even impressed with his self sacrifice that led to his injury. Certainly also, I would imagine motivated. Vena has now spent another 13 years in isolation without anyone of substance. I'm sure she has imaginary friends that the Tullotians are creating out of her imagination, but no one real. Right. So they have to have some motivation as well to give some kind of companionship to Vena. Yeah, I mean, she's kind of like Snow White in her own way. All of her friends are little characters, but no animals like it's no way. Right. And on that metaphor, she doesn't have seven doors. She has big headed Tullotians. Maybe three. I think we talked about it back in our coverage of the cage, whether there are only three because we only see three on screen. If there's more and we just don't see more of them, but yeah, in any case, what did you think of this episode overall overall? Overall, I really liked it more than the part one. I think I liked it more because I understood more of the cage because I totally didn't get it at the beginning when we first were going over it. And now that I could put more of my knowledge into what we're watching and then twist around all the current spark, Kirk relationship that we've seen. Now I think that's why I understood it and appreciated it more because nothing was as superficial. There was lots of deep layers. I liked this episode as well, much in the same way that I enjoyed the part one of the menagerie again coming into it with the mindset and the perspective of the cage was not something that had been aired in 1966. So the people watching the menagerie are not familiar with the plot point to the cage hadn't just seen the footage. So it's not truly a rerun show. Certainly this would not be enjoyable if the cage had just aired last week, two and a half months ago, same season. And people are now tuning back in and going, why are we rewatching this entire episode? So again, it is entertaining. It does give the cage more context. One might argue that if you take that context away, this is a slightly more boring episode because there isn't as much of that context of the court marshal. It is very much a lot more re showing and retelling of the events of the cage. It's certainly made preparing for this episode of the podcast for me a lot easier because I could skip through a lot of it. No, I completely agree with you, but it's still enjoyable, I think. And it certainly leads to some interesting thought exercises regarding the toologians and how all of that plays out, but I think we'll cover that as we get into the episode a little bit more. Sounds good. And with that, Jackie, why don't you walk us through the episode? So we open up the episode with Kirk writing like a personal log. It's not like his normal records, but more like a journal entry, how he's just reflecting on what's happened during the day. But spot could be as bestie. He is throwing himself under the bus, getting this court marshal. He is okay with being charged with mutiny with kidnapping with, I mean, you name it. And the possibility of death for even going to tell us for, but he is trying to also like give him the benefit of the doubt. Like, there has to be a reason because Spock is this logical being. So why would we be going there for no reason? And that all side track it by saying, yes, this is a cold opening that is designed solely to remind the viewer what they watched a week ago and what we're coming back into. Done very awkwardly in a level that feels like some kind of high school drama department where they're doing these very strange camera shots where it's it's not a pure narrative. It is characters staring off into space reciting lines very awkward. Yeah, it's like they just have to move their eyes just a bit more and maybe staring at us. Yeah, I don't think this one lands. I'll give them credit they could have very easily have just reused footage from part one of the menagerie. I know we keep retelling and repeating the names of the episodes. I'm trying to keep us on track between what is the menagerie and what is the cage. I think if for the second part the producers production all of that put in the original work and from part one, then there wouldn't really be anything for the actors to be doing for part two. Like they're just sitting there waiting for their last 30 minutes of work. Oh, true. The acting work of Spock Kirk, Commodore Mendez, all of that heavy lifting in this episode. Hey, hey, hey, and Captain Pike in a great job. Yes, with his with his blinking all of that heavy acting for them definitely comes at the very end of the episode. So so yeah, I'll give them credit that they didn't go the normal route of just re showing footage from the menagerie part one to catch the viewer back up to speed. I don't think it lands very well. I think they could have re filmed some of those scenes, but that's just me. So then we go to the opening credits, which I always fall in love with because those beautiful horn sections, but back to reality on the starship. So the court marshal reconvenes everybody Kirk, Mendez, Pay and Mr Spock are in their office. Yeah, and I'll point out of note that in part one before it is revealed that these historical records are in fact just transmissions from Talos for illusions created by the talosians. There's quite a few number of crew members in the court marshal proceedings. There's security personnel. There's a stenographer. I assume she's a stenographer. There's other enterprise crew members operating the screen. Now that we've reconvened and now that we have the knowledge that this is in fact forbidden transmissions from talos for. There's no one else in the court marshal proceedings extra. You're right because Robbie turned on the screen last episode. Correct. So now it is just Kirk, Commodore Mendez, Pike as the judges, the panel and Spock, the accused. There's no one else in there to witness these forbidden transmissions. So a significant change credit to the writers to recognize that what they're setting down for story. So again, Mendez tells Spock we ordered a contact with Talos for this is still happening. Why can't we just finish this up? And this is when we first when we actually learn that the keeper from the cage that like quote unquote zookeeper is the one sending to transmissions and throwing them up on the screen. How I don't know, but Spock refers to him as the keeper and also the keeper is well aware of Captain Pike's condition like his health. It's mentioned multiple times. Yeah. So then leading to the motivation of the talosians to do all of this. They're fully aware that they are trying to entice, lure, invite an injured unhealthy Captain Pike, not the healthy, vivacious Pike that they last saw 13 years ago. Also have note, yes, the the members there weren't in control of the view screen. They don't get to call up or even choose when the view screen turns on or off. The talosians have full control of that. I guess when the crew member earlier in the first part turned on the view screen. It was the talosians giving that appearance. Like magic like magic to keep up the sub to fuge. So the court martial proceeding resumes the talosians or the keeper begin showing the events from the cage on the view screen to to the court martial proceedings. We get a flashback as I'm referring to it of Pike waking up in his glass cell after he's been kidnapped on the surface of talos for the talosians come down the elevator. They introduce themselves kind of give some kind of introduction to why they're there. But the majority of this flashback is to focus on Pike's encounter on Rageal 7 with the monster, the Kalar, his introduction to Vena fighting and killing that alien establishing this idea that the talosians have the ability to make Pike experience alternate realities or illusions and the fact that Vena is there is the best way to describe it. She said damn so in distress exactly and then the screen shuts off and he's in mind as is like what's happening, but we noticed that captain pikes head has slumped over. He's not as alert as he usually is for how he is at the moment. Natalosians are aware that he is very fatigued and he needs to take a break or at least rest for the rest of the day and recombine one is a better time for him. Right, which establishes the idea that again reinforcing the talosians have empathy for Captain Pike again if the talosians get to choose and control the view screen and when to start and when to stop. And they have the ability to know in this moment that Pike is fatigued. They're not just beaming their thoughts to the view screen. They have the ability to be aware of what is taking place in this court martial. Like a talosians spy fly on the wall. Right. So yeah, don't know if they have that ability to know what's going on in the room because Commodore Mendes as we all know from watching the episode is in fact just a projection and illusion created by the talosians. If they're seeing what's going on through his eyes or if they have this omnipotent presence to know what's going on even without Commodore Mendes in the room. I would argue that they do have this omnipotent presence to understand and they don't have the need to create illusion spies which just makes them even more powerful and even more dangerous. Extremely scary because again, it's not addressed in the episode. How did they find out about Pike's injury? How did they find out that Pike was so unwell to then pull on their emotional heartstrings to orchestrate and cause this series of events to start where Spock is trying to get Pike back to talos for. And even the heartstring of the most logical in human being that they can find like he's half human but he's emerged is it you know like. Like a weak point. Yeah certainly certainly well they they motivate Spock to get him to do what he does because they're relying on his loyalty to Captain Pike that's been established in the first episode that Spock is incredibly loyal to Captain Pike to want to. Risk all of this almost definitely but it also again causes the question of how did the talosians after they learned of Pike's injury after they've decided to try to put this plan into motion. How did they ever getting contact with Fock? They didn't send out traditional communications. They didn't actually hail him because there's no record of that taking place. So they had to use their illusionary powers to reach out to Spock across the vast distance of space to communicate to Spock all that transpired on talos for which Spock knows. But to remind Spock hey we're here Captain Pike is now not living the best life. How about you bring him back to talos for and we can at least provide a better life for him. They had to have done that with their illusionary powers. They had to do that with some kind of telepathic communication. Why in the time frame from the cage to the menagerie in those 13 years have the talosians never done anything like that. What caused their restraint? That's exactly what Mendes asks of Spock but Spock refuses to answer saying we have to keep watching the transmission. And we'll know more when we arrive at talos for and very like you mentioned interesting that Commodore Mendes acts as the pushback. The character to argue against these normal proceedings and be the one to argue and push back against watching the view screen and the recap of the events of the cage when he in fact is just the talosians. But we get our first commercial break we come back from that commercial break with not a lot of continuing plot points we get a brief captains log from Kirk announcing that the court martial is reconvening pike has had time to rest in recoup the talosians turned back on the view screen. We get flashbacks of Venus first interaction with Pike after the events of Rageel seven and that fight and being saved by Captain Pike. She's there to please him because this is what the talosians want her to do because the talosians ultimate goal is for Pike and Vina to reproduce and start this new race of slave labor. We also get the very prolonged scene of when the enterprise crew beam down the giant laser and use that giant lasers a focal point for the enterprises energy to try to bust through the door which in the moment it is shown that it is not successful even though we know it is and it's just again the talosians creating an illusion to manipulate people into scene and doing what they want to do. I must admit my mouth did drop because I didn't realize that's what happened the first time we watched I was like wow I like that I like watching everything with the new point of view. Yeah again the menagerie provides the missing context to the cage to make it an entertaining piece of television. We get a very brief cut back to the Commodore to draw the conclusion that Pike was captured is breeding stock Pike confirms it this is just to serve as acknowledgement to the viewers own thoughts that this is in fact what is going on. It's to tie the cage and the menagerie together because again they can't go back and reshoot any of the scenes from the cage so just confirmation to the viewer this is what is happening. We get more flashbacks we get my favorite scene from the cage where Pike refuses to eat the food and the nutrients that is provided to him. The talosians then tell him a hunger strike is not going to work we will just punish you for a hunger strike we will not only force feed you but we will create unpleasant illusions for you to experience and we get that fantastic scene shot of Pike in literal hell and the talosians commenting that they pulled that scene from his brain from his theology. Fantastic scene in my opinion we also get I think Jackie will confirm her favorite scene where the talosians transport Pike and Vena to a picnic on the earth because we have the horse well two of them because they're having a picnic under the trees with both of his horses and I already forgot his horse's name but because this is his memory and his horse. He's like petting it and saying hi baby nice to see you again and his horse is nudging his pocket I don't have any sugar and then magically there's sugar in his pocket so we can give it to his horse. Right. And Vena who is you know she's trying to be any kind of these perfect ladies that he will finally settle down for and she even ask him what do you want I can be anything and that reminded me of pretty woman. Yeah do you happen to remember where on earth the picnic takes place I should remember I probably is on tip of my tongue. It was the Mojave desert even though it's all green and lush it's it's to show that earth and humans and starfleet have terraforming capabilities so they've transformed the Mojave desert into that rich green scenery it also again is the only time that we spend any kind of scene on earth in the original series. Yeah and even then it's just a illusion of earth and not actually on earth that's pretty cool. Yeah we get other examples of earth in the original series like we had the duplicate earth in Meary but they never actually go back to original earth in these three seasons but of course at the picnic scene we get the dialogue between Pike and Vena. Where Vena starts to go the opposite direction and say well if this version of me is not going to entice you to just give up and submit to what the talosians want then maybe I will create this illusion where you don't have to be all prim and proper you don't have to be in charge you can. Live a more non vanilla non vanilla more exciting exciting life we get the transition to the Orion slave trader palace where Pike is put into the role of that slave trader Vena is now the green skin Orion dancing girl with the mostly green body makeup. So bad for her she's my team she's so blotchy yeah when it's been remastered for modern day viewing definitely you can see where some of the paint has started to wear off but again they were just film in a pilot they were just trying to get the episode approved and so that the show could happen but it's also I think I mentioned it it's awkward because there's just very prolonged scenes of Pike and he's. To illusion companions complimenting him but just staring at Vena and Venus attempts to seduce Pike but now we get the added bonus where we have Kirk and Commodore Mendez and Spock we have the real Pike or I should say the modern current Pike we are now interposing scenes of them just staring at the view screen we get an awkward comment from Commodore Mendez. Commodore Mendez talking about how the Orion slave girls are supposed to be seductive women and irresistible again for the benefit of the viewer so that we understand the context as to why suddenly we see this woman slathered up in green paint and dancing around appreciate it also just very awkward moments of quote unquote silences they stare at her. It's actually kind of gross how this companions are like this stereotypical creepy dude but again this is the moment where the toologians are trying different methods to make him happy make him happy that's the context that we need is viewers that this is just another attempt to break Captain Pike 13 years ago to just get him to conform and to submit to the toologians. In and amongst all of this we get the confirmation to the viewers that we modern viewers already knew again the toologians motivation to all of this is they want Pike and Vena to reproduce to have offspring and to use them as the Adam and Eve to create a new society that the toologians can enslave as manual labor to feed the people. And then we get the labor to fix their machines to reclaim the surface of their planet that the toologians destroyed during nuclear war and make them do all the work because the toologians all of that knowledge for their technology as well as I assume much of their ability to perform manual grunt physical labor has atrophied over the centuries with them relying so much on their telepathic abilities. And we will be never see them use their arms this they're always like class in front of them. Yeah, I think the only time that we ever really see them do any kind of physical work is when they first subdue Captain Pike all the way back at the beginning when they use that little device to spray out that mustard cloud. And then they kind of as Pike is unconscious or about to become unconscious they kind of wrestle him into the elevator they have little baby to exams. No, I think they have regular full size arms. They're just scrawny. So yes, but we get another commercial break in the middle of that flashback to Vena as the Orion slave girl. And when we come back from commercial break, we just get a very brief description from Kirk saying that Pike is being tempted. We get the flashback that goes through the end of the Orion dancing girl scene where Pike resist the temptation. He jumps up and he runs off from the palisine he like goes behind a curtain. He ends up in this cave and it's kind of a dead end. He's looking for a way out. He's confused. He's disoriented. There's a brief moment where Vena still in the green paint appears in the cave and kind of confronts him is kind of a last ditch effort on this whole tangent of the world. And then the tangent of a way to try to entice Pike to submit hard cut to the whole part of the enterprise crew beaming down to try to rescue Pike again after they weren't able to cut through the elevator door with the laser. And targeting energy signals underground that they've been able to pick up and they think they're beaming down to that. However, number one and the unnamed yeoman end up in the glass cage with Pike and Vena. Obviously these energy signals were some kind of illusion that the talogeans were projecting to trap them again they've realized that Venus probably not going to succeed in seducing Pike. So let's get some other women down there to tempt him women. He actually knows correct again another attempt to find a way to seduce Pike. I think if I remember correctly again I skipped through much of the retelling of the cage as I rewatched the menagerie. I'll help you when number one and yeoman beam down and they end up trapped in that cage. Yes. Don't they beam down with other people? Don't they beam down with they're supposed to go with four other men with the landing party. But on enterprise only those two beam down and the people running the machine go no one and then we're back into into the glass cage where number one and are poor haircut. And then the young man has arrived. Vena is very angry. Vena is very angry because they're taking away her job basically. I think at this point Vena is not infatuated or in love with Pike. I don't think that happens until the very end of the cage. So I think Vena is just upset or scared that she'll be punished for failing in her duty. But to back to my original thing when number one and yeoman beam down and they get trapped and the men don't beam down. Obviously this is manipulation by the tolosians. It shows that they have control over technology which we knew and all of that. Why didn't the tolosians beam down the men and trap the men as well as more of an example. I think the answer to that is from the very beginning Vena only called Pike a prime specimen. A man of beauty, superiority, pretty much, you know, prime stake and everybody else would just chuck. Okay, I mean, think of it in this in this scenario, Pike is supposed to be strong and intelligent compassionate. Also the ability to lead. He's not easy lead to bend. He's very logical. All these things rap, bronze and beauty. My wrapped up into one where the others. I'm sure share the same capacity, but she did not see them as being as quality, quote, quote, animal. Yeah. I don't know. It just it seems to reach a point where the tolosians had other options at their disposal and refuse to use them and refuse to use them. So you have other male specimens that may be less suitable, but still able to reproduce with women to create this slave culture of slave labor. Do you really need them to be prime examples? Wouldn't you need more than Adam and Eve to avoid inbreeding the tolosians would maybe know about inbreeding? I completely agree with that process, but perhaps they didn't choose the other gentlemen because Pike knew too much like they couldn't back up because then they have to start the process all over again. And then we have a wandering person around space knowing all their secrets. Just kill them. You just kill Pike, not the prime specimen, beautiful person. Well, then you just keep them imprisoned. No, I totally get your point that I don't think about that either. Just as a thought process, they have an entire ship full of people that they seem to have the ability. Well, I take it back. They don't seem to have the ability to cause them or force them to teleport, but they just have this example where they're willingly teleporting back and forth and they only choose to kidnap the women. Instead of diverting the men to their own cage, the only other explanation I can think of is there literally is only three tolosians left and they don't have or they don't want to risk too many captives because if the prisoners outnumber the jailers eventually the prisoners take over the jail. Well, that makes sense also or they just thought it'd be really, really fun to just mess around and see what Pike would do. Does he save the pretty blonde chick who he just met or does he pick his like number whoever number one is does he choose the tall brunette or what about the red headed the little gals you super petite like what's he in the new. The tolosians even say I mean they even break down each woman basically to what they can provide for him as a mate right showing that they have I mean I think they've shown it before but through telepathic abilities they can read their thoughts in their minds, which leads to the whole sub plot of how Pike is able to escape. We'll get to that in a bit so so now we're back on the enterprise in current current time during the trial and the transmission just stops no reason why or anything and sparks doesn't know why it's just stopped so minda's demands I'm done with this I don't need to see anymore we need to just reach a verdict and the spot totally ignores what minda is doing and saying and go straight to Captain Pike and it's like asking him do you do you want to go there should we wait and get to tell us what do you want to do do you want to have a life like this or do you want to possibly get to tell us and be able to go back to Arizona and be whatever your dreams are pretty much but while they're talking Kirk interrupts and says why would he want to live like a zoo animal like a specimen scientific experiment like why would you want that to happen right because up until this point all the Kirk is seen of the events 13 years ago are the the talosians as bad jailers and keeping Pike hostage there's been no context at the end of the episode of how Pike escapes from the talosians and so forth and even at this point during the vote even I mean Kirk is very much on the side of he's guilty of mutiny think this is awful why would you do this yeah certainly from a standpoint viewing the letter of the law viewing the court martial you have to disregard spots motivation it is against starfleet law to go to talos for under any circumstances I think the only thing that ends up saving spot that will see here in a little bit is the fact that the talosians chose as part of their sub diffuge is to send these transmissions these illusions that show the events from 13 years ago not just to provide the context of why spot is doing it to show his motivation but the fact that it goes to others other than the enterprise it kind of makes the secret of talos for out there and ultimately I think that's what saves but in any case it comes down to a vote Pike and Mendes both vote spot guilty Kirk hesitates in a dramatic pause dramatic fashion but Kirk ultimately votes guilty as well again spot is guilty he has broken the law why does Pike say yes to being guilty like when he want to continue on with what the talosians are trying to do or again is he just following the law I think Pike vote spot is being guilty because that's all that you can do in a court martial proceeding also remember contrary to normal proceedings and it breaks the process of the court martial a bit spot has pled guilty that's true spot has admitted that he's broken the law he takes responsibility for it he's doing so in a way to show that maybe the law shouldn't apply in this circumstance but ultimately I think Pike votes that spot is guilty because he is and he's he's not going to vote for spot to not be guilty and ignore the law he has to follow the law in his position as an officer as an officer in part of the proceedings of the court martial that may sense but we get another commercial break we come back from commercial we get a report from the bridge to Mendes because keep in mind back in the first part of the menagerie when it was revealed that talos 4 was sending these transmissions and these communications out to the enterprise star fleet had ordered that captain Kirk be relieved of command of the enterprise and Mendes was in charge and Mendes was charged to stop the enterprise from reaching talos 4 which he couldn't because it's under computer control so that's why the report comes to Mendes and not Kirk that they've entered into orbit around talos 4 spot then says that the computer would have released control of the enterprise because it's finished its mission to reach talos 4 but now the talosians control the enterprise little bit of a stretch he tries to say that that's how it was 13 years ago that was an entirely how it happened but will give will give a little bit of narrative leeway to Mr. spot in the circumstance but we get at this point the rest of the flashbacks on the view screen from the talosians this was very eye-opening for me because you know I had to hard time finishing my own plot summary of this I was able to see it again and almost in like new light yeah and there's so many questions for me so very quickly we resume at the point where pike has blasted a hole into the glass cage opening he's bluffed his way past the talosians bluff they've gone back to the surface they threatened to overload a phaser if I remember correctly that would kill everyone on the surface the talosians have recapped that they've gone through the enterprises computer they recognize that humans are not good subjects to enslave and this was the last chance for the talosians at this ruse to create a race of slave labor they've accepted their fate they are going to become extinct we get the moment where we show venus true appearance she is horribly disfigured and scarred from her starship crashing 18 years prior fire remember correctly the talosians were able to heal vina but they didn't know what she was supposed to look like so they couldn't restore her physically they could only restore her beauty and keep her beautiful through their illusionary powers the talosians let pike in the away team in the enterprise go with the promise that they will allow vina to continue to exist in a form and live out her life in a way that would be most pleasing for her with her beauty intact and so forth and this is where we get the important distinction the second part all the way back to the turbo lift he's where I asked what is the difference that they omitted in the menagerie that slightly changes the plot of the cage we'll talk about it real quick because we've gone on a lot of tangents and I'm looking at the time for the episode it's been fun in the cage in the original episode of the cage that did not air we get to see that not only do the talosians promise to restore venus beauty they create an illusion of captain pike to act as a companion for vina and we get to see vina go back down the elevator to live with her illusionary companion this mere perfect image of captain pike in the menagerie they don't show that at this moment so that does slightly change the whole plot of the cage vina could have been alone or at least had to exist only with very shallow companions for company and not a full blown companion of this illusion of pike she might have got to experience some things with pike but I believe this is my belief it would have all been surface level she would not have been living out her life with pike she would have just got to have little touchstone moments with pike if anything basically vina for the last 13 years has been experiencing different illusions and not living a full life well all of her memories before the accident that led to her being on talos for all of those memories and then now she's remembering those with her sidekick but I mean is he warm is there like a body does she have to cuddle with him a night or is it just literally like a like an imaginary friend like those little my buddy from like when we were kids those little children yeah a doll yeah I mean that's kind of sad too yeah but this is where the flashback of the cage ends and this is where the heavy lifting for the remaining actors picks up for the rest of the episode Kirk realizes now that pike going back to talos for he will no longer be subject to subjected to sit in this wheelchair as a vegetable and only using his brain to say yes or no but he'd be able to live a full life of an unbroken body he would be able to be with vina who he did say was gorgeous and that he was attracted to and all these beautiful things while he was in the cage he would be free like a bird and he turns Kirk turns to Mendez and was about to say the same thing so excitedly but Mendez poof he disappears and we realized that Mendez was also an illusion yeah he was never there not even in the shuttle craft right the talosians communicate that to the remaining people I believe at this point it's just pike Kirk and Spock in the room but yeah communicates that they had created the solution of Commodore Mendez from the moment that Kirk started to chase the enterprise in the shuttle craft that was an illusion created by the talosians yeah even the whole we can't go too fast we're just gonna coast right here that was them being creepy and sneaky correct and but Kirk still questions like all of we went through all of this why couldn't you just ask me like we would have done whatever you needed to do to fulfill all of this he's just confused but Spock he couldn't just say this was my plan because then he would be risking the death penalty for everybody I mean even though it does stay in that file whoever steps you know whoever comes near talos 4 whether it's one or 500 on a ship all of y'all are gonna be in death penalty so that was kind of weird to put on yeah again I mentioned it last episode the purpose of that general order is not to punish a single individual not to be punitive for their decision the whole point of that order is they're trying to keep the talosians a secret they're trying to prevent word of the talosians in their illusionary powers from getting out into the universe they obviously fear the talosians being able to leave talos 4 and create havoc so they literally created the rule to silence anyone who gets knowledge of the talosians presumably the only way they could do so would be to visit talos 4 so they will kill everyone to keep that secret literal silence literal silence I will also point out that again if the talosians have the ability in the power to create messages and to talk to people like they did to Spock over the distance of space why over the course of the 13 years didn't they try something similar at which point everyone knows about the talosians it's an interesting thought true but Pike was an injured until recently right so they didn't need to yet right so well they are letting everything sink in to what's all happened the real Commodore Mendes who is still at star base 11 where they started he sends a message to the enterprise the enterprise where you horror receives it and that that same file that we were talking about general order seven has been suspended and that captain Kirk can do as he wishes but only for this one occasion correct it is still in place but here here you go for this one time courtesy so then Kirk goes to Pike and he asks him you know of course yes or no do you want to accept this offer do you want us to take you to talos for we can be wherever your mind wants you to be and he can't even finish the last word and he's like pressing yes like immediately and long too so there's those dashes right you could have used more code this whole time so and so Kirk happily asked Spock you know please escort your former captain to the transporter room and let's get him down to talos for Spock is very grateful for basically for Kirk I would presume not only believing in him but getting through this entire or deal like with faith and thanks also the most pikes perhaps and spike can't say thank you but then again yes and as they are you know how they always they have like playing back and forth I do love their relationship as Spock is starting to roll Pike out Kirk Commenceions I don't know you're kind of getting soft there I don't know about these emotions you've been showing and you know can be concerned about it and Spock just says it don't be and it's not insulting and that he will just be logical the whole time as he rolls them out so Spock takes Pike out of the room to beam him down to the surface it's immediate there's no pause but then the talosians invite Kirk to view the view screen one final time this is where we get that missing piece of footage from the cage where we see Vina fully restored to being beautiful at the end and now we see Captain Pike also healthy and in his old uniform I love that touch so he asked if it's an illusion but they go down the elevator to be together this is what we would have seen beginning to show that Vina was now going to live a life with her illusionary companion of Pike so that they can be together so this leads to the question this is where the so I'll just hear streaming down my face I'll just I'll leave it at that I'll say n transmission so that we can jump into our final thoughts to the episode what did you think Jackie of season one episode 12 the Menagerie part two like I said I was able to basically rewatch the cage for us 14th time but actually be able to see specific parts that I never understood so that was great I did think that there was a lot of the cage but then I also see I go off of my tangent supposedly nobody has seen the cage so they have to show all that footage and able to get the point across so I mean I love that they're able to connect the two together current and past but I wish there was a way to have more of the ending like the actors really doing a phenomenal job that they did in part one I just wish there was more of that but I love love the happy ending like you know it was just very Disney-esque fair enough I also enjoyed the second part of the I enjoyed the first part again adding of the context to the cage with the sub plot of spot kidnapping pike to bring him to Talos for to be able to live out a more fulfilling life to have his female companion Vena I'm assuming all of it of course leads to some questions that I've kind of peppered in throughout the again for the mythology of star track up to this point the toologians have been in isolation for 13 years star fleet has ordered under penalty of death no one can visit Talos for the motivation for star fleet is they don't want anyone to accidentally quote unquote rescue the toologians or give them the ability to escape out into the rest of the universe with their illusionary powers but they did but they do so then the toologians have the ability to learn that pike has been in this horrible accident to pull on their heartstrings if you believe that to invite pike to come be a guest and live out his life they have the power to communicate communicate with spot with their illusionary powers to tell Mr. spot please bring pike to us so that we can be humane and allow him to live out his life the toologians have the ability to transmit these thoughts onto the view screen of the enterprise to retail the events of the cage 13 years prior which only serves a purpose to explain to Kirk what happened because the toologians have the power to create this illusion of Commodore Mendez exactly the first one could argue the purpose of the transmissions as well since they sent it out to star base 11 to the real Mendez was to say don't kill spot in Kirk in the crew of the enterprise we're just trying to be nice and we're trying to get pike somewhere where he can be happy that makes sense but the whole point of the court martial then becomes to make Kirk understand what is happening not to convince a panel of star fleet commanders not to kill spot spot knows what happens on talus for pike knows what happens Commodore Mendez knew what happened in the moment because he's an illusion so it's just to explain to Kirk this is why spot betrayed you and come a dear the enterprise so I wonder just pop to my head maybe they can only get their thoughts out to other alien type beans because spot is half human half other bean is an interesting theory perhaps and Vulcans have the certainly don't have they're not telepathic they're not like beta so it's like beta so it's will get the baby will say don't don't have you yet but they're able to the Vulcans they can so do some kind of chit chat with the brain and body right well through the Vulcan mind meld but again that's more meditative I don't know I don't know they both play with the brain it's interesting well but then it OK so then your theory they can't communicate directly with humans so they have to create these illusions but they can communicate telepathically with other telepathic aliens why couldn't they use their powers to convince a beta so I don't know so anyway in one of your little tips and fun facts to call triple tidbits because you like triples and one of your triple tidbits do you explain why they're little membranes on the aliens move I thought that was awesome that would just be special effects well I loved it I never realized that in the first time it watched it yeah it's kind of creepy but I liked it so with that being said and again just looking at the time I didn't think we would spend this much time on the advisory part two it was fun for how much of a filler it was and how much we glossed over or how much I plan to gloss over the narrative of the events of the cage but anyway let's jump into our triple tidbits since you mentioned it first airing November 24th 1966 this is the only two part episode in the original series there's other two part episodes in later series certainly some more memorable than others I'll say that this one we got to watch two shows and one mentioning your comment to the audience all having t rex arms the talosians are all played by women that's awesome the voice of the keeper was the same actor actor Malik Kye thrown he's the same actor who plays the commenter Jose Mendez that's awesome you can be forgiven for not recognizing the voice of the keeper is being the same because they speed up his voice when he does the voice over for the keeper so it does sound a little bit different that makes a lot of sense awesome my only other things we've covered so much of this episode with our coverage our first episode when we did the cage and then our tidbits from part one but to tie into the thought that I left dangling at the very end again in the original footage in the original timeline of the cage we get a shot we get that shot at the very end of the talosians created an illusion of pike as a companion for Vina and they comment on that as well they mentioned not only are we going to return her beauty will make sure that she lives her life is happy we will also create a fake version of you to be her companion all of that is left out of the menagerie part two it is shown at the very end to Kirk when they show it though spot is only taken pike out of the room for a second or two so the question becomes how did spot have enough time to get pike and his wheelchair all the way to the transporter room beam down to the surface where he can start living out his life are we as the viewer supposed to assume that even though on screen it's only one or two seconds in reality Kirk spends several minutes 10 15 minutes in the room by himself standing alone standing alone it raises the question when the talosians show Kirk that image at the very very end of the episode is it real is it actually captain pike and Vina or did the talosians make up that image to show Kirk and if so why are they showing Kirk that this is what we promise as a promise of what we're going to do for captain pike and in turn Vina is it the talosians line no so if you dig deeper into the story of what happens to captain pike after he returns to talos for it's a happy ending thankfully I'll let you guys discover what happens on your own today make pretty babies I will let you discover on your own what happens so I don't think the talosians were lying for nefarious reasons it's just a weird cut and again the talosians are such an interesting alien species in star trek to me the whole idea that they are isolated so that they don't get out into the universe but they have the ability to reach beyond the planet that they live on to manipulate other things they never seem to use their power for that purpose even though they start his villains it's just an interesting place to end the episode showing Kirk this happily ever after image we were doing exactly what we said he's going to be our guest but it's shown so quickly after pike leaves the room that it potentially could be fake and Kirk never picks up on it again kind of a weird cliffhanger to end it on but those are your triple tidbits so you're hinting that we're going to see them again like we're seeing the gentleman from man's muds woman oh no absolutely not I don't think we ever see the talosians again in star trek I think I think this I think this episode absolutely leaves it in question in the minds of the viewer if you don't accept the happy Disney ending and you put all of these other pieces in and you speculate this could have been a completely different ending for how things end oh nice so this is normally the part of our episode where we give the episode a ranking where we assign a rank to the episode and pretend that it is a member of our fictitious starship for the season we discussed it off camera going into this recording and because we are short on time this week we are going to give the same grade or the same rank to the episode for part two as we did for part one so for Jackie's USS Galactic glitter be Jackie you are giving it a the commander I want them to be together safe and sound yep so part one and part two are going to be commander level for Jackie for similar reasons and for my starship the USS cosmic shark I give it one rank below a lieutenant commander again identical ratings to the same as part one for similar reasons and we can change them around this needed right yep as a reminder we can promote or demote at any point during the season if we so choose to and as a reminder to the listeners we will post a visual representation of our rankings on our patreon every Wednesday the day after the episode goes live at patreon.com/treksintangents just for comparison the I am D.B. rating for the menagerie part two as of this recording is an 8.1 out of 10 which is just point one points lower than the menagerie part one at 8.2 so I think everyone same idea I think everyone who watches this episode part one part two you either you have the same opinion of both parts you either love it or you hate it there's not a big difference between the two we'll be back next week to track through another episode but this is where we give our turbo lift ease or elevator pitch to next episodes plot this is where I'll give Jackie the title of the next episode and Jackie with no other information will give a brief pitch to the plot Jackie next week's episode is entitled the conscience of the king okay so we're gonna leave the zoo and we're going to go into a royal planet and of course Captain Kirk is going to have to help the royals make the right decisions for their people you know don't be all about me me me and think about your the people that you're the people that are serving you all right tune in next week to see how accurate Jackie's pitch is for the actual plot it's going to be a winner if you want more show information you can find and directly support our podcast on Patreon at patreon.com/treksintangents we do have as of this recording our first episode of the animated detours posted on our patreon for our crew members that's where we do a dive into the animated series for start track the episodes over there are pretty similar to I think this week's episode where we are less focus on the plot of the and we go off on a lot of different random thoughts I like this episode this week so if you like this structure go check out the animated detours promise we'll be back next week with our more regular structured format or maybe it'll be different or maybe this will change the podcast forever moving forward we shall see but yes thank you for those that do support us over at patreon we hope to see more people join us over there as well again on our patreon we also post every week the updated rankings for the episodes that you hear on the podcast you can also follow us on x at treks_tangents we're also on instagram and blue sky at treks and tangents Jackie working people find you and what are you up to? oh my 2026 is already booming I have instagram which you can find me as jibboum and I'll have music fashion I'm having a fantastic little countdown to my 20th anniversary of weight loss success so teaching how to adjust for your size dog training all of that fun things along with my music so if you need lessons hit me up and I have a what not store glitter bobo teak and that is all on the instagram bio with all the links I am looking forward to seeing you all there and you can watch me stream a variety of video games over at twitch.tv/pyritepoundtown I seem to be most active Sundays in the afternoons and early evenings trying to find in 2026 a more consistent schedule hopefully you join me on youtube I post video games and other random content on my main channel pirate pound town coin collecting and hobby content can be found on my secondary channel pirate treasure hunting whenever I have time to do that I post socially on blue sky at pirate pound town and I'm trying to be more active on instagram you can find me there as pineapple cannibal there's a story behind the name someday we'll get to it links to all social media mention can be found in the episode description thank you everyone for tuning into this week's episode we hope you had fun like we did we will see you all next week don't be a me at me we'll see you later and transmission you(upbeat music)(upbeat music)