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.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the Price of Admission for Historical Value!
Review: I'm just gonna go ahead & skip any kind of review of "Turnabout Intruder". More eloquent slams of this episode have been made by others, so there's no need to go into it again. The primary reson to buy this DVD (whether you're a die-hard Trek geek or just a casual sci-fi fan) is to see the unaired, uncut 1964 pilot, "THE CAGE", and Roddenberry really had it on the money with this one. Jeffrey Hunter's turn as Captain Christopher Pike exudes the stern, stoic demeanour that would become such a trademark of Jean-Luc Picard, yet he does manage to showcase a glimpse into his humanity, which he keeps hidden from most of the crew, as every good captain must. There are moments in this pilot that act as harbingers of things that audiences would take for granted some thirty years hence on other incarnations of TREK, but they'll more than likely fail to remember or appreciate that it ALL began here. Without this pilot, there would be no Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, or Archer. The SPFX in this show, while cheesy by today's ILM-on-Steroids standards, were surprisingly good & still manage to impress, even today. This pilot, which was ultimately refused by NBC (Shatner's "WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE" was what finally sold the suits on the show), is TREK at its most distilled. There was really no guideline to go by, no Prime Directive, no purists' / revisionists' history, no continuity to adhere to, no writers' staff to make sure everything fit in the box -- just plain ol', good character-driven science fiction TV. It's a shame that there wasn't an opportunity to see where Jeffrey Hunter & HIS Enterprise crew would have gone, but thank goodness he was there at all.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the Price of Admission for Historical Value!
Review: I'm just gonna go ahead & skip any kind of review of "Turnabout Intruder". More eloquent slams of this episode have been made by others, so there's no need to go into it again. The primary reson to buy this DVD (whether you're a die-hard Trek geek or just a casual sci-fi fan) is to see the unaired, uncut 1964 pilot, "THE CAGE", and Roddenberry really had it on the money with this one. Jeffrey Hunter's turn as Captain Christopher Pike exudes the stern, stoic demeanour that would become such a trademark of Jean-Luc Picard, yet he does manage to showcase a glimpse into his humanity, which he keeps hidden from most of the crew, as every good captain must. There are moments in this pilot that act as harbingers of things that audiences would take for granted some thirty years hence on other incarnations of TREK, but they'll more than likely fail to remember or appreciate that it ALL began here. Without this pilot, there would be no Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, or Archer. The SPFX in this show, while cheesy by today's ILM-on-Steroids standards, were surprisingly good & still manage to impress, even today. This pilot, which was ultimately refused by NBC (Shatner's "WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE" was what finally sold the suits on the show), is TREK at its most distilled. There was really no guideline to go by, no Prime Directive, no purists' / revisionists' history, no continuity to adhere to, no writers' staff to make sure everything fit in the box -- just plain ol', good character-driven science fiction TV. It's a shame that there wasn't an opportunity to see where Jeffrey Hunter & HIS Enterprise crew would have gone, but thank goodness he was there at all.
Rating:
Summary: Bowing In/Bowing Out
Review: In 1964 Gene Roddenberry pitched his Star Trek idea to NBC executives as "Wagon Train to the Stars." Expecting a western set in space, they gave Roddenberry the go-ahead and set him to work. When they viewed The Cage in early 1965, they must have been surprised. After complaining it was "too cerebral," the suits issued a litany of other complaints: the female second in command (Number One) was unacceptable, and there were too many females in general on the ship ("people will think there's a lot of fooling around going on up there"); the presence of minorities would offend NBC affiliates in the South, who would refuse to air the program; and "that guy with the ears" had to go. Roddenberry was willing to concede the female second in command, but thereafter he dug in his heels: minorities and aliens continue to be a presence in Star Trek to this day. Watching The Cage from a 21st Century perspective, one wonders what the NBC suits were in a ringer about. The episode is not appreciably higher in concept than many original series episodes, and the whole affair has an appealing "New Frontier" Kennedy-esque flavor. Somewhat like an Ed Wood movie, Turnabout Intruder is unintentionally humorous. The story idea is ludicrous, the dialogue cringeworthy, and the acting has to be seen to be believed. William Shatner's realization of Kirk's body under the control of Janice Lester (which includes filing his nails and walking with a mincing gait) is the single most over the top performance in all of Trek. He comes across as Joan Crawford on Psilocybin. How his intensely homoerotic moments with guest actor Harry Landers got past the network censors will forever remain a mystery. This story is the greatest camp masterpiece since Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. How does this DVD look? The full color version of The Cage is a true restoration, not merely a remastering. The print has been carefully cleaned and color corrected, and various sound elements (dialogue, music, and sound effects) have been remixed from the original sources. Generally it wears its age well, although portions of the dialogue sound fuzzy. The Black & White/Color amalgamation of The Cage is also included. This version has had no rework done, which makes the restoration of the all-color version all the more stunning. Gene Roddenberry's introduction from 1986 is also included, a nice touch.
Rating:
Summary: Bowing In/Bowing Out
Review: In 1964 Gene Roddenberry pitched his Star Trek idea to NBC executives as "Wagon Train to the Stars." Expecting a western set in space, they gave Roddenberry the go-ahead and set him to work. When they viewed The Cage in early 1965, they must have been surprised. After complaining it was "too cerebral," the suits issued a litany of other complaints: the female second in command (Number One) was unacceptable, and there were too many females in general on the ship ("people will think there's a lot of fooling around going on up there"); the presence of minorities would offend NBC affiliates in the South, who would refuse to air the program; and "that guy with the ears" had to go. Roddenberry was willing to concede the female second in command, but thereafter he dug in his heels: minorities and aliens continue to be a presence in Star Trek to this day. Watching The Cage from a 21st Century perspective, one wonders what the NBC suits were in a ringer about. The episode is not appreciably higher in concept than many original series episodes, and the whole affair has an appealing "New Frontier" Kennedy-esque flavor. Somewhat like an Ed Wood movie, Turnabout Intruder is unintentionally humorous. The story idea is ludicrous, the dialogue cringeworthy, and the acting has to be seen to be believed. William Shatner's realization of Kirk's body under the control of Janice Lester (which includes filing his nails and walking with a mincing gait) is the single most over the top performance in all of Trek. He comes across as Joan Crawford on Psilocybin. How his intensely homoerotic moments with guest actor Harry Landers got past the network censors will forever remain a mystery. This story is the greatest camp masterpiece since Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. How does this DVD look? The full color version of The Cage is a true restoration, not merely a remastering. The print has been carefully cleaned and color corrected, and various sound elements (dialogue, music, and sound effects) have been remixed from the original sources. Generally it wears its age well, although portions of the dialogue sound fuzzy. The Black & White/Color amalgamation of The Cage is also included. This version has had no rework done, which makes the restoration of the all-color version all the more stunning. Gene Roddenberry's introduction from 1986 is also included, a nice touch.
Rating: 
Summary: Turnabout Intruder - a horrible episode superbly acted.
Review: It is obvious that Turnabout Intruder was meant to be a slap in the face of the NBC suits who tried to kill Star Trek. The plot and story were cliche in the extreme; I can't imagine Gene Roddenberry signing off on something like this if he wasn't completely offended by the way NBC treated him and his creation. That being said, anyone who says William Shatner cannot act should screen this episode. One could tell that there was considerable effort expended in getting the acting job "just right." This wasn't just any "contractual obligation" job; this was art. As for the pilot, I always thought the tone was a lot closer to Star Trek - The Next Generation. The bridge was a lot quieter than it usually was in the original series, and the acting was far less "over the top." With a little more work, and a lot more money, this could easily have been done to cinematic standards. One can easily imagine a remake directed by Stephen Spielberg.
Rating:
Summary: Turnabout Intruder - a horrible episode superbly acted.
Review: It is obvious that Turnabout Intruder was meant to be a slap in the face of the NBC suits who tried to kill Star Trek. The plot and story were cliche in the extreme; I can't imagine Gene Roddenberry signing off on something like this if he wasn't completely offended by the way NBC treated him and his creation. That being said, anyone who says William Shatner cannot act should screen this episode. One could tell that there was considerable effort expended in getting the acting job "just right." This wasn't just any "contractual obligation" job; this was art. As for the pilot, I always thought the tone was a lot closer to Star Trek - The Next Generation. The bridge was a lot quieter than it usually was in the original series, and the acting was far less "over the top." With a little more work, and a lot more money, this could easily have been done to cinematic standards. One can easily imagine a remake directed by Stephen Spielberg.
Rating:
Summary: Turnabout 2 stars, The Cage 3 1/2
Review: Roddenberry's original pilot plus the reworked version which showed up as the two part episode The Menagerie are included on this DVD. The former shows a television series with promise. It's a solid, very good pilot episode although it was missing important elements. It's clear why NBC rejected the original;most of the cast lacked the chemistry of Shatner-Nimoy-Kelly. When it was reworked into The Menagerie, the wrap around story devised by story editor John D. F. Black provieded added punch to the original pilot; there was the seeming betrayal of Kirk by Spock and the tragedic accident that disabled Christopher Pike. This episode won a Hugo (much deserved I might add) for the efforts of Roddenberry and Black (although Black never received credit and, assuming Roddenberry would take care of him, never took it to arbitration. It never happened). The Menagerie focuses on Spock highjacking the Enterprise to take Pike back to a planet where an alien race once imprisoned him. The dying race hoped to pass along their values and use Pike as breeding stock in an effort to survive. They pitted him against real incidents from his past and imaginery situations using the power of illusion to try and break him down. Kirk catches up with Spock and a Court Martial is initiated against Kirk's first officer. Spock, in his defense, wants to show Pike's story to give the other officers an understanding as to why he behaved the way he did. It turns out that Federation ships are forbidden to visit the planet which complicates matters for Spock. Everyone gives terrific performances particularly Shatner, guest star Thorne and Nimoy. The material is reworked into a powerful episode. Turnabout Intruder was the last episode of the original series broadcast. It's based on a story by Roddenberry. Unfortunately, it's not the best episode and the only highlight is the terrific acting from the regular and guest cast. 3 1/2 stars for the original pilot, 4 1/2 for the reworked version and 2 stars for Turnabout Intruder with an average of 3 1/2 stars for all three.
Rating:
Summary: Alpha & Omega
Review: See the episode that started the Star Trek Phenomenon...see who ALMOST was captain of the Enterprise..."The Cage" shows us where it all began. Jeffrey Hunter turned down the role of the captain. I wonder if he regretted it later. "Turnabout Intruder"...Kirk's "energy" is transferred to a woman's body. (I wonder if he tried to seduce himself) The last episode of TOS...TRIVIA: Shatner had a intense fever during the filming of this episode.
Rating:
Summary: STAR TREK THE ORIGINAL SERIES ENDS WITH A WHIMPER!
Review: The final DVD of The 40 volume Star Trek DVD series contians the series incredibly weak and uneven finale and special treat: the unaired original pilot that NBC rejected which is what really sells this one. It's a real shame that the Star Trek series couldn't have ended a little better than TURNABOUT INTRUDER but sadly it's this awful episode that ends a TV series that still had a ton of promising aspects left in it. Looking back it's easy to say that Star Trek should never been cancelled so early. It's also easy to say that an episode this bad should have never ended the series. TURNABOUT INTRUDER does have to be one of the worst Star Trek episodes to go into production. The plot is simply goofy and weak. A deranged woman swapping her soul into Kirk's body in order for her to fufill her dreams on running a starship is a bad enough idea. However having William Shatner act like a lady trapped inside a man's body is just a sad joke. Shatner (who at the time was suffering from a severe fever during the filming of this episode) turns in perhaps his worst acting performance ever in the series. It's so bad that it's laughable but this episode is downright boring and I wouldn't doubt that poor William Shatner (who I feel is generally a decent actor) begged for another episode of Star Trek to end the series on a stronger note. Unfortunetly this never happend. The real reason to buy this DVD is of course the unaired pilot THE CAGE. It's not really available anywhere else and has never been included in the TV reruns. It's interesting to watch and see Jeffrey Hunter as Cpt.Pike and a younger more emotional Spock. The episode is pretty good but is ment more for historical or cult purposes. Still it what saves this DVD from being awful. In conclusion this DVD is still a must despite the awful sad finale. The pilot is essential for Trekkies and is a must see anyways for fans of the Original series like me. This is classic Trek despite the depressing ending of the series so it's recommended but mainly for the Pilot. *I can't believe I reviewed all forty volumes!*
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