Rating: 
Summary: Ten Stars to "The Cage" and zero to "Turnabout" = 5
Review: "Turnabout Intruder" is only watchable if you have both: a) consumed adult beverages immediately prior to watching; and b) are looking for something incredibly bad to laugh at. This one is so bad that when I saw it on TV I KNEW that the series was going to be cancelled. No more money for scripts. That's all there is to be said about that. On the other hand, "The Cage" is a wonderful find. As every Trekkie knows, this is the original pilot of the series, which was never presented on television because the TV executives told Roddenberry that he had to make changes. For example, the idea of a woman second-in-command was more than they could handle. Well, it was 1966. "The Cage" is a superb episode which captures the optimism and wonder that the best "Star Trek" episodes brought to the screen. Mankind has only been exploring other star systems a short time. The Enterprise encounters a new race with powerful mental abilities, which race has hostile intentions. All of the ingredients for a fine story, and that is exactly what this is. One of the flaws in The Original Series after awhile in my opinion was that the Galaxy became too well-known and well-travelled, the aliens too familiar. Here, the Enterprise is meeting a new race that is not known. And the Talosians (the new race) are plausible and believable. I loved William Shatner in the Trek series, but here we have a different actor--one Jeffrey Hunter. (He was dropped from the series, evidently the studio couldn't cut a deal with him). Hunter is a very different captain of the Enterprise. I thought he lacked chemistry with the other characters--he was more aloof than Kirk, and lacked Kirk/Shatner's ability to occasionally laugh at himself. Having said that, Hunter had his own strengths--I thought he did a good job projecting the notion that he was in command. He is a self-doubting, self-critical captain. Spock in this episode is quite different from the Spock of the actual series--he smiles occasionally, but nonetheless does not seem quite human as indeed he is not. I liked the technology and sets in this episode too: I always thought it was asinine that Landing Parties wore their aboard-ship uniforms down even to pretty hostile planets. In "The Cage" they do not do this. The worst "Star Trek" episodes in my opinion were episodes that refused to deal with the limitless possibilities of human travel to other worlds, and meetings with other civilizations. There is no need for time travel, stupid fantasy about magic, Greek Gods, the Roman Empire, etc. "The Cage" is a fine episode that deals with what the show was supposed to be about: seeking out new life and civilizations....! And it is a smashing episode.
Rating:
Summary: The First Shall Be Last, and the Last Shall Be First...
Review: "Turnabout Intruder" may be considered merely a bonus on this DVD - it's worth the price of admission just for the two versions of Star Trek's original pilot episode, "The Cage." Series creator Gene Roddenberry only ever wrote one great script, and "The Cage" is it. It's truly inspired. The Enterprise is brought to desolate planet Talos IV by a dim distress signal, where the landing party discovers survivors from a crash almost twenty years ago - only the survivors are a clever illusion, created by the subterranean inhabitants of the planet as a lure to abduct Captain Christopher Pike. As in most contemporary UFO reports, the Talosians are short, bald, frail creatures, that communicate telepathically and attempt to use their abductee for purposes of human procreation - their race perished in nuclear war, aeons ago, and they wish to create a race of humans to accomplish their labor for them and to vicariously live through. While the Enterprise desperately tries to find a way to breach the Talosians' underground city and recover their kidnapped captain, Pike is teased and tortured by illusions into cooperating with the superior - and ruthless - Talosians. This is a brilliant episode, beautifully produced, wonderfully written and splendidly acted. It's dramatic and emotionally engaging, suspenseful and fascinating from start to finish. Jeffrey Hunter manages to credibly walk a tightrope role as Captain Pike, alternately helpless and violently rebellious, and guest star Susan Oliver is excellent as Pike's tormented fellow captive and proposed breeding mate. Majel Barrett, who later played Nurse Chapel (and became Mrs. Roddenberry), plays the commanding second on the Enterprise, Number One, with a more emotional Spock in the slightly lesser role as merely the ship's science officer. The best thing about this DVD is that it provides both versions of this magnificent pilot. The patched black-and-white into color version shows those scenes and lines cut from the finished version due to the sexual mores of the time; the color version patches the same into an all-color whole, so you can't see the splicing. It's a piece of unique T.V. history, well worth a place not only on any Star Trek fan's shelf, but on the shelves of film and media students. "Turnabout Intruder," the series' final episode, is far less distinguished, but nowhere near as bad as many critics make it out to be. The plot is clever, about a woman jealous of Kirk's power utilizing an alien device to trade bodies with him and take over the Enterprise. Sandra Smith does a little bit better job of playing the Kirk-in-the-woman than William Shatner does of the woman-in-the-Kirk, the latter occasionally - though less often than you might think - coming off a bit campy, and Harry Landers is oddly kind of touching as Smith's long-suffering loyal helpmeet. A bargain, at half the price.
Rating:
Summary: Ten Stars to "The Cage" and zero to "Turnabout" = 5
Review: "Turnabout Intruder" is only watchable if you have both: a) consumed adult beverages immediately prior to watching; and b) are looking for something incredibly bad to laugh at. This one is so bad that when I saw it on TV I KNEW that the series was going to be cancelled. No more money for scripts. That's all there is to be said about that. On the other hand, "The Cage" is a wonderful find. As every Trekkie knows, this is the original pilot of the series, which was never presented on television because the TV executives told Roddenberry that he had to make changes. For example, the idea of a woman second-in-command was more than they could handle. Well, it was 1966. "The Cage" is a superb episode which captures the optimism and wonder that the best "Star Trek" episodes brought to the screen. Mankind has only been exploring other star systems a short time. The Enterprise encounters a new race with powerful mental abilities, which race has hostile intentions. All of the ingredients for a fine story, and that is exactly what this is. One of the flaws in The Original Series after awhile in my opinion was that the Galaxy became too well-known and well-travelled, the aliens too familiar. Here, the Enterprise is meeting a new race that is not known. And the Talosians (the new race) are plausible and believable. I loved William Shatner in the Trek series, but here we have a different actor--one Jeffrey Hunter. (He was dropped from the series, evidently the studio couldn't cut a deal with him). Hunter is a very different captain of the Enterprise. I thought he lacked chemistry with the other characters--he was more aloof than Kirk, and lacked Kirk/Shatner's ability to occasionally laugh at himself. Having said that, Hunter had his own strengths--I thought he did a good job projecting the notion that he was in command. He is a self-doubting, self-critical captain. Spock in this episode is quite different from the Spock of the actual series--he smiles occasionally, but nonetheless does not seem quite human as indeed he is not. I liked the technology and sets in this episode too: I always thought it was asinine that Landing Parties wore their aboard-ship uniforms down even to pretty hostile planets. In "The Cage" they do not do this. The worst "Star Trek" episodes in my opinion were episodes that refused to deal with the limitless possibilities of human travel to other worlds, and meetings with other civilizations. There is no need for time travel, stupid fantasy about magic, Greek Gods, the Roman Empire, etc. "The Cage" is a fine episode that deals with what the show was supposed to be about: seeking out new life and civilizations....! And it is a smashing episode.
Rating:
Summary: Ten Stars to "The Cage" and zero to "Turnabout" = 5
Review: "Turnabout Intruder" is only watchable if you have both: a) consumed adult beverages immediately prior to watching; and b) are looking for something incredibly bad to laugh at. This one is so bad that when I saw it on TV I KNEW that the series was going to be cancelled. No more money for scripts. That's all there is to be said about that. On the other hand, "The Cage" is a wonderful find. As every Trekkie knows, this is the original pilot of the series, which was never presented on television because the TV executives told Roddenberry that he had to make changes. For example, the idea of a woman second-in-command was more than they could handle. Well, it was 1966. "The Cage" is a superb episode which captures the optimism and wonder that the best "Star Trek" episodes brought to the screen. Mankind has only been exploring other star systems a short time. The Enterprise encounters a new race with powerful mental abilities, which race has hostile intentions. All of the ingredients for a fine story, and that is exactly what this is. One of the flaws in The Original Series after awhile in my opinion was that the Galaxy became too well-known and well-travelled, the aliens too familiar. Here, the Enterprise is meeting a new race that is not known. And the Talosians (the new race) are plausible and believable. I loved William Shatner in the Trek series, but here we have a different actor--one Jeffrey Hunter. (He was dropped from the series, evidently the studio couldn't cut a deal with him). Hunter is a very different captain of the Enterprise. I thought he lacked chemistry with the other characters--he was more aloof than Kirk, and lacked Kirk/Shatner's ability to occasionally laugh at himself. Having said that, Hunter had his own strengths--I thought he did a good job projecting the notion that he was in command. He is a self-doubting, self-critical captain. Spock in this episode is quite different from the Spock of the actual series--he smiles occasionally, but nonetheless does not seem quite human as indeed he is not. I liked the technology and sets in this episode too: I always thought it was asinine that Landing Parties wore their aboard-ship uniforms down even to pretty hostile planets. In "The Cage" they do not do this. The worst "Star Trek" episodes in my opinion were episodes that refused to deal with the limitless possibilities of human travel to other worlds, and meetings with other civilizations. There is no need for time travel, stupid fantasy about magic, Greek Gods, the Roman Empire, etc. "The Cage" is a fine episode that deals with what the show was supposed to be about: seeking out new life and civilizations....! And it is a smashing episode.
Rating: 
Summary: Saving the first and last for last... um, yeah.
Review: As a final treat for the Trekkies, we see Shatner display Kirk's feminine side in the series swan song, 'Turnabout Intruder', as an old flame takes revenge-- and control of the Enterprise-- by trading bodies with our esteemed starship skipper! Granted, it's sortuva psycho 'Fatal Attraction'-style feminine side, but at least he finally got a role with some real acting range... heh. Sadly, Uhura's absent from the final go-round, and Nurse Chapel has suddenly become a brunette (which I believe is Majel Barrett's natural hair color)! Fortunately, Spock is as logical as ever in this not-half-bad third season eppie. True, it still has a certain degree of hokiness & cheese that makes Star Trek's final year so memorable, but I think it holds up fairly well. It's definitely worth a watch! Then there's most-anticipated eppie on this platter: the original pilot that didn't quite make the cut. 'The Cage' features a crew of completely-different folks, save for a certain pointy-eared individual. In this adventure, retro-Spock displays a small bit of emotion-he cracks a smile when he touches some vibrating plants, and shouts in surprise when the Talosians steal the women away from the stranded landing party. Nimoy's Boston accent also pokes through on occasion-- listen for his pronunciation of "can't" at the beginning right after the opening credits. This little linguistic characteristic would pop up from time to time in the first season, but eventually waned as the series went on. Both the black-and-white and full-color versions of 'The Cage' are available here. Although the full-color show is the one I prefer to view, the B/W eppie includes an intro by Gene Roddenberry. I found his anecdotes regarding his early struggles with the networks regarding the pilot to be amusing and informative. His spoken memories kinda reminded me of grampa tellin' the young'uns stories of the good ol' days. It's also interesting to see what 'Star Trek' might have been like had NBC given the series a green light with the first pilot. Oh, the unrealized possibilities... 'Late
Rating:
Summary: DON'T MISS THIS WAGON-TRAIN TO EXCITEMENT!
Review: Before STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, before STAR TREK: VOYAGER, before STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, before even STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, there was STAR TREK.
Rating:
Summary: Not too bad
Review: I only give this one four stars because the final episode--"Turnabout Intruder"--was pretty lame. Bad way to end the series. The inclusion of two versions of "The Cage" makes the DVD worthwhile, however, along with Gene Roddenberry's little featurette. One point of contention with Jared's review: "The Cage" has, in fact, aired during reruns. While I still have my "all-colour collector's edition" VHS copy, it was played at least once on the Sci-Fi Channel, back when Sci-Fi ran sort of a 23rd-century two-hour program block (Star Trek the first hour, and Babylon 5 the second, which is when I actually got into J. Michael Straczynski's television gem). I only watched the the B&W/Color version of "The Cage," once for the novelty of it.
Rating:
Summary: Not too bad
Review: I only give this one four stars because the final episode--"Turnabout Intruder"--was pretty lame. Bad way to end the series. The inclusion of two versions of "The Cage" makes the DVD worthwhile, however, along with Gene Roddenberry's little featurette. One point of contention with Jared's review: "The Cage" has, in fact, aired during reruns. While I still have my "all-colour collector's edition" VHS copy, it was played at least once on the Sci-Fi Channel, back when Sci-Fi ran sort of a 23rd-century two-hour program block (Star Trek the first hour, and Babylon 5 the second, which is when I actually got into J. Michael Straczynski's television gem). I only watched the the B&W/Color version of "The Cage," once for the novelty of it.
Rating: 
Summary: I wish they had made separate DVD's
Review: I wish they had put "The Cage" on its own DVD, that way there would be no chance of even accidentally seeing "Turnabout Intruder". TI was a sad way for Trek to bow out its run, with maybe the most overused & tired cliche in SF: The Gender Switch.
Rating:
Summary: I would have given my right arm for this as a boy in 1973!!
Review: I would have given my right arm for this DVD as a boy in 1973! This is the stuff of dreams for the original Trekkers. We had only vague notions, glowing descriptions from Those Fortunate Few who saw it at private screenings by Roddenberry himself. "The Cage" is probably one of the best science fiction movies made. Its influence on all that followed is obvious, even beyond the Star Trek series itself.
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