The silver things Uhura and Spock have in their ears are essentially Bluetooth earphones decades before any such thing became available to the public.

These were aired out of order. Where No Man Has Gone Before was the second pilot. Hope you like it.

Please keep in mind that the creators and actors don't have everything dialed in yet. They're still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't work. The next few episodes will be a learning experience for everyone involved.

The Star Trek episodes are quite diverse. Some are really heavy and even violent, while others are comedic, and others are very intellectual. There are also some romances. Not every episode has space battles. The diversity makes the series great.

"Action is fine, but i don't need action" is an extremely true Trekkie thing to say ❤ Also one of the reasons I like the TV series more than the majority of the movies

“Crater fucked that thing?!” Love your commentary from an adult perspective.

An interesting tidbit about this episode: they wanted to find some futuristic-looking salt shakers, to fit in with the 23rd-century trappings of the show. They found some really-odd looking salt shakers, but felt that the audience would not recognize them as salt shakers. So they used the ones Janice was using when Green was watching her shake some salt onto her food -- ordinary-looking ones (guess you can't reinvent the wheel, huh?) but the weird- looking ones became some of Dr. McCoy's medical instruments! Anyway, love your reactions! I've watched these shows in reruns since the 70s, and I'm interested to see what the younger crowd thinks of them. Have a nice day.

Whitney wrote that she and George Takei kept cracking up during the "botany" sequence.

Even though this is extremely early, this to me is quintessential Original Series. A self-contained episode, a mysterious planet, a unique new alien monster, some character bits with the crew, and Kirk, Spock and McCoy on full display as the "Big Three" characters. And I don't care how silly those sets can look, I absolutely love them. We have to remember that this is only, what, 15 years after television really blew up as a unique medium, and it initially was patterned not after cinema, but after theater. I think most of the early live shows were broadcast out of NYC, not LA, so their talent pool was heavily slanted towards Broadway and Off-Broadway, and the first original works for television tended to be either adaptations of stage plays or original scripts from established playwrights. So audiences were a lot more forgiving of fake-looking sets, in the same way that audiences for a play can accept that the stage sets are "real" for the purposes of the story and the characters even if they don't look "realistic." The story of the salt monster and Dr. Crater is weirdly poignant and tragic to me. Crater doesn't strike me as a nice guy, as you picked up, but he's not really a villain either. He just seems to be someone who thought he didn't need anyone else in his life, and gravitated towards a solitary profession, but then was lucky enough to fall in love with someone willing enough to accept a life like that, living alone sifting through the ruins of a dead world. And when he lost Nancy, he wasn't prepared for the pain he felt, and something inside him broke, and he rationalized living this lie with a shapeshifting animal, pretending it was his wife. He didn't even have the excuse of temporary insanity - he's consciously aware the entire time that "she" is not Nancy at all. He just can't stand being completely alone anymore, and is willing to play along. It's kind of a pathetic and horrible existence. Thanks again for doing this, looking forward to the next episode.

You’re doing a great job. You mentioned you like the “cerebral” stories best. You’ll find Star Trek the most intelligent, philosophical sci-fi ever on TV, even by todays standards. Each episode is its own contained story, and you’ll find a nice variety. Trek is an allegorical show where Humans have “figured it out” but aliens are used in the series to demonstrate todays social and moral dilemmas. The great thing is Star Trek doesn’t tell you what or how to think. It gives you something to think ABOUT.

Sulu was absent from nine consecutive episodes in the middle of the season 1, the result of a film George Takei was working on over-running.

Agreed, well written sci fi doesn’t “need” action to keep people interested.

I truly envy you getting to watch this for the first time! I hope you stay with it so we can continue watching the journey.

Yay, the adventure continues ... Thanks for allowing us to hop along for the journey!

I watched these episodes every day after school growing up. It drove my dad crazy.

Keep in mind that when these originally aired, most folks still only had a black & white tv that only measured 13-15" diagonally on average. Only really well-to-do folks could afford bigger, color TV's. And even then, the biggest console color TV's at the time were only 25" diagonally. They were more like a piece of furniture, the cabinets were made of heavy wood. Folks your age probably can't even imagine it. This was broadcast over the air, and you had a set of "rabbit ears" on top of your TV that you'd hafta move and set in different positions to get optimal tuning and reception. It was a completely different world we lived in. It was truly the best time to grow up in my humble opinion.

Well, as several people have pointed out now, and as I suggested in my comments re: "The Cage," there are two different viewing orders: "as aired" versus "as produced." And while this was the first episode ever aired, it was actually filmed nearly halfwaybthrough the first season. As I mentioned last time, the "production order" is a better viewing order, as things often don't "fit" otherwise, particularly during the first season. The second pilot is called "Where No Man Has Gone Before." And the first "regular production" episode is called "The Corbomite Maneuver." Both are far superior to "The Man Trap," which is in my opinion the weakest episode of the first season. However, NBC chose to air it first because it was the closest to how the execs viewed "science fiction" at the time... complete with rubber-suited monster. On the other hand, "Corbomite" turns that entire precept on its proverbial ear... I won't dpoil that for you but it really is far closer to the "spirit of Star Trek" I've loved since I saw these, first-run, as an infant! Seriously... "Production viewing order" matters.

The final version of Star Trek was essentially a space Western, pitched to the execs as "Wagon Train in Space." The action elements are basically the same as on the Westerns of the era.

Westerns were massive at the time. Gene Roddenberry sold the studio on the concept of a Western in space. He needed to somewhat deliver on that, at least until they 'got' his vision for what Star Trek should be. A bright future with an enlightened version of humanity venturing into a big galaxy. You talk about the emotional vs logical. Star Trek TOS actually has three leaders. Kirk, the overall leader, largely leads and motivates through emotional argument, an agent of pathos, but is also ethical and logical. When Spock ventures an opinion, which regularly sways the path the ship takes, he represents a logical or logos argument, but is also ethical. When Dr McCoy is involved in the decision making, he will always be arguing an ethical point of view first, and will therefore make an ethos-based argument often splashing in pathos and trying to ignore pure logic (he tries, but he isn't prone to being outright illogical either). And if the decision is a medical one, well sometimes his opinion actually trumps that of the other two. If you are a master of ethos, logos and pathos arguments and know how to use them together, you can pretty much persuade most people to your point of view!

Your study of ancient televisual artifacts is fascinating, please continue.

This show, along with its predecessors like "The Twilight Zone," were groundbreaking for their time. The better episodes tackled some tough sociopolitical and moral topics that were as important then as they are now. Given that Trek was produced at the height of Cold War tensions, the Klingons were a substitute for the Soviet government.

Fun Fact: The actress who played the Salt Vampire in "The Man Trap" (Sandra Gimpel) was also one of the Talosians in "The Cage"🙂

I have a small story to tell ya. Leonard Nimoy once told how a few decades ago he was walking about in public when he got a phone call. He pulled out his brand new flip phone, flipped it open, put it to his ear, and answered the call. But then he noticed that everyone around him was staring at him! Why? Then he realized. He had just repeated the same motion he had done for years as Spock answering his communicator. lol.

As someone who was a child counting the days when these first aired, it is awesome to kind-of re-live them again through you. Of course, by now I have seen them all countless times.

And to all of my original Trek fans out there - I HIGHLY recommend 'Star Trek Continues' which was aired as webisodes from 2013-2017 (this series wraps-up the 5 year mission of the original Star Trek). There are 10 episodes which are shot in the exact same manner as the original series with the same music as well. And they are really, really good! (the first episode even has the same actor who played Apollo in the original Trek). Can watch them all on the KZfaq 'Star Trek Continues' channel.

I am really enjoying your reactions to the original series, I look forward to enjoying the nostalgia of these episodes.

*There were two pilots: First Pilot: "The Cage/The Menagerie" and the Second Pilot: "Where No Man Has Gone Before". This episode ("The Mantrap") was not a pilot, however, but actually the 6th episode of Star Trek filmed. As such, this was also the premiere episode - or the very first episode that NBC chose to release for Star Trek's network television debut. Prior to "The Mantrap", Star Trek had never been seen before and so this episode was the public's very first glimpse of it. And the monster? Well, turns out a woman wore the monster suit and based on her photograph quite an attractive one.*

Great reaction! I saw all the TOS episodes in reruns in the early 1970's. Two Philadelphia TV stations would run an episode every weeknight, and at one point one of the stations was showing two per day. I saw all of them before I was a teenager, and many more times since then. The killing of the alien never made sense to me. The purpose of the Enterprise was "to seek out new life and new civilizations" and this creature was the last of its kind. Yes it had killed several crewmen, and perhaps it even preferred obtaining salt from people instead of from tablets--although it was clear that it could survive on salt tablets alone since Crater had lived with it for over a year. I always thought a trained Star Fleet crew would have attempted to negotiate once the alien had been stunned and lots of people were present (although it was capable of projecting illusions to multiple people at the same time it didn't seem to be able to paralyze multiple people at once). I suppose they just needed to end the episode and it was more dramatic to have McCoy kill an alien that looked like the woman he loved. Also, it was at the beginning of the series so a dramatic ending would be better at attracting an audience as opposed to a rational solution. Let's not forget that Star Trek was sold to the network as "'Wagon Train' to the stars" ("Wagon Train" was a western TV show), and westerns often ended with a shootout. However, note the contrast between this episode and "The Devil in the Dark" later in the season.

Happy to see another episode. The knuckle biting was a tell so the audience could identify the creature no matter what form it was in.

I hope this was filmed before you saw my post listing the episode production order. Just in case, here’s the order: (1) The Cage, (2) Where No Man Has Gone Before, (3) The Corbomite Maneuver, (4) Mudd’s Women, (5) The Enemy Within, (6) The Man Trap, (7) The Naked Time, (8) Charlie X, (9) Balance of Terror, (10) Dagger of the Mind, (11) What Are Little Girls Made Of?, (12) Miri, (13) The Conscience of the King, (14) The Galileo Seven, (15) Court-Martial, (16) The Menegarie Part 1 & 2, (17) Shore Leave, (18) The Squire of Gothos, (19) Arena, (20) The Alternative Factor, (21) Tomorrow is Yesterday, (22) Return of the Archons, (23) A Taste of Armageddon, (24) Space Seed, (25) This Side of Paradise, (26) The Devil in the Dark, (27) Errand of Mercy, (28) The City on the Edge of Forever, (29) Operation: Annihilate!

I enjoy your reactions! This episode, in addition to being the first piece of Star Trek that television audiences ever saw, has a couple of other anomalies: - There are four rooms aboard ship that comprise Dr McCoy's work environment. In the overwhelming majority of the episodes, that collection of rooms (McCoy's office, McCoy's medical lab, the examination room, and a room with beds for recuperating patients) is called "Sickbay." In this episode only, it's called the "Dispensary." I've never heard an explanation as to why. - I don't think we see McCoy's living quarters in any other episode. - There's a very atypical dynamic between Kirk and McCoy in this episode. In most episodes of the series, McCoy and Kirk are friends, and both express that friendship (and that is also the case in this episode). McCoy normally calls Kirk, 'Jim' as part of that friendship. Early in this episode, however, McCoy is off his game: he's unusually distracted by Nancy, and also fails to provide Kirk with timely information. (What killed Sturgeon?) When Kirk admonishes him, McCoy realizes that he's failed Kirk, and has failed to live up to his own usual standards. So as a consequence, McCoy retreats from his usual, privileged position (of being informal with Kirk) and repeatedly addresses Kirk as, "sir," which is not normally McCoy's style. As you'll see, the Kirk-McCoy relationship is similar to the one depicted between Captain Pike and Pike's own ship's Doctor, Dr. Boyce. Boyce and McCoy can get away with things that other ship personnel can't, when it comes to interacting with their respective Captains. This is often seen in the form of two-way advice that flows between the two men. Also, Kirk lets his guard down with McCoy from time to time, and expresses a deep vulnerability that he would not dare do with other crew members (unless under the influence of some outside force, as you'll see.)

As a huge fan of TOS, I'm very excited for you. I know what episodes you have to see this season. The show really comes together in the next few episodes to become the science fiction legend it is today. Always bear in mind this show ran from 1966-69. Focus on the story and characters. This is going to be fun 😊

Shows that Bunny knows more than 60's Network Executives. :D

You are going to see artistic and cast changes between the first pilot, the second pilot and the next few episodes as they work things out. The first pilot "The Cage" was rejected for different reasons but the second "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was commissioned because the first gave studio execs a realistic feel of being on a disciplined, military-like spaceship. This was a good thing since WWII (1941-1945 for the US) was still in adults memory. IRL navies, orders are barked out and repeated, officers and crew have informal titles which are restatements of formal titles (Number One, XO, Executive Officer all the same thing).

The 2. Pilot was "Where no man has gone before"! "The Man Trap" was the first episode to air on television on September 8, 1966. In the production order, it was the 5th episode in the first season!

FWIW, this was indeed the first regular episode of Star Trek when it made it to air, but it wasn't technically the second pilot. That was "Where No Man Has Gone Before", which eventually aired as the third episode. (You'll be able to tell when you get there from the cast and some different props and special effects.)

Fun little tidbit: The Great Bird of the Galaxy that Sulu mentions is a reference to Gene Roddenberry, as that was his nickname!

As you no doubt have learned already, "The Mantrap" was the first episode actually aired. Second pilot is called "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and airs a little later in the season (with some casting differences... Most notably no Dr. McCoy.) The very first episode filmed was called "Charlie X" which is also coming up shortly

Where No Man Has Gone Before is actually the second pilot, but these weren’t released in order as they were filmed. They’re pretty episodic so theirs no real continuity loss by doing so. You can kind of notice it still though in some of the episodes, as the actors get more comfortable and into their groove with playing their characters and their interactions with each other. Some of the early episodes seem kind of out of character at times because an episode may have been filmed earlier than another. It’s not just the audience they’re introducing their character traits to, but each other as well. Also keep in mind their budget was extremely low! Hence the plant that was clearly a hand in a glove and the sets that move around when someone stumbles into them lol That’s one of the things with Star Trek The Motion Picture and Wrath Of Kahn, their budget was way bigger so we were treated to better effects, props, makeup, and set design! Love your commentary! Can’t wait for more reactions

The Salt Vampire is a killer, of course. But note that it gave Crater what he needed, and responds to Uhura, aboard the ship. It is not completely cruel. It kills for salt, so it can sustain itself.

Nice reaction - I think one modification was having Kirk as a more action-oriented captain, tho I could have imagined them just having Pike do that - one interesting aspect of this show is how they set up these dilemmas - in many episodes, there's no real "villain" - each side has a strong reason for behaving as it does, and in the end, nobody "wins"; the show often resists reductive Good vs Evil scenarios - there's a spirit of inquiry and exploration - IMO the recent Master and Commander was closer to this spirit than the Abrams films

Love your final comment and tribute to your dad. I think they added action sequences because of network requests, but it does add excitement.

I love that the way they introduce Spock is “this guy is immune to the charms of a young woman and has no emotions but also Kirk is his bestest friend”

Welcome to the world of Star Trek. Ive been a fan since I was in (1974). My older brothers got me into Star Trek.

"Tell Jose he'll get his Chili Peppers when we get there." Kirk is Wrong for that! And it really made me laugh, mainly cause as a "Jose" I loves me some chili peppers!

You're doing wonderfully with TOS! And you honestly stated what we were all thinking Crater was doing with the Salt Vampire 😮 Keep it up!

I'm sure someone has already pointed this out in the comments, but just in case: "The Man Trap" was actually the 4th regular series episode produced. The second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" actually sold the series as more action-oriented and would be the third episode broadcast in 1966. When you get to it you will see it used many of the sets and costumes created for "The Cage." "The Man Trap" was chosen by the network as the first broadcast episode because it was felt it was the most action-adventury of the handful of episodes they had already produced. You will notice many subtle changes in costumes and character portrayal as the early episodes jump back and forth in production order. Eventually, around mid-season, things started to be more concrete and episodes were shown more in the order they were produced.

This was the first episode aired but the 6th one made. They went back and forth on which one to air first and they settled on this one. Unlike Strange New Worlds, the Original ST was done on a very low budget. The creature was a salt vampire. This episode left you wondering why they didn't take this last surviving member of this species to another planet where there was a lot of salt. Or for that matter, Prof. Crater should've told Star Fleet about this problem early on and they could've arranged to either give this creature a huge stockpile of salt or take it to another planet where salt was abundant.

Someone, or many someones, may have told you this already, but The Man Trap is not the second pilot, however it was the First Star Trek episode to be broadcast. The 2nd pilot was Where No Man Has Gone Before, but it was the third episode aired out-of-sequence. The Man Trap was also the first Star Trek episode I ever saw, in it's first broadcast. I barely remember it as I've never seen it since, until now!

Fun fact: The gold shirts worn by Kirk and Sulu were actually green but between the material, the lights, and the color process used on the show they appeared gold. Later on, Kirk gets a wrap-around tunic of a different material that looks very green.

Several others have mentioned that these were originally broadcast out of order, usually because of problems getting the special effects completed on time. Most streaming services present the series in the air date order, but the actual production order for the first episodes is: 1. Where No Man Has Gone Before (2nd pilot) 2. The Corbomite Maneuver 3. Mudd's Women 4. The Enemy Within 5. The Man Trap 6. The Naked Time 7. Charlie X 8. Balance of Terror 9. What Are Little Girls Made Of? 10. Dagger of the Mind 11. Miri 12. The Conscience of the King 13. The Galileo Seven 14. Court Martial 15/16. The Menagerie, Parts 1 & 2

OMG! I can’t believe I never noticed Yoeman Rand was totally eating Sulu’s food until you pointed it out! Love your comments.

Enjoying your great reactions to these Star Trek episodes. Early on you nearly came up with an excellent alternate title for this one, "There's Something About Nancy".

Thanks for sharing your time and this show with us. I always enjoy doing so and am grateful to you for the escape from the monotony of everyday life. Thanks Bunny.🥰

Being A Huge Star Trek & Star Gate Fan can say these shows are indeed Great Entertainment !!! I Still say it was the Original Star Trek that created so many spin-offs that were so successful !!! Demon in the Dark is one of my personal favorites !!! The scary Part is I own the entire original series , Generations , Deep space Nine & Enterprise all on DVD Hard copies along with The Star Gate Movies ,SG1 TV series & Atlantis & Yes the Original Star wars before Kathleen Kennedy !!!! Like Button Illuminated 😁

I think this was the first episode that was aired. But the actual 2nd pilot episode was where no man has gone before. There r lots of episodes where people aren’t there & then There the next. Remember space seed Chekov wasn’t in that episode but yet khan remembers him in Star Trek 2. “I never forget a face that runs past me in the hall”

This episode has a very "Radio Mystery Theatre" feel, especially the organ music.

SHE WAS A NEW FORM OF A SHAPE SHIFTER.

I'm sure others have said it, but, although this was the first story aired, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the Kirk pilot.

Trivia: “The Great Bird of the Galaxy “ was a nickname for Gene Roddenberry, the show’s creator.

I think TOS had a nice balance of more straight sci fi and the more thought provoking episodes. The first few do seem to represent the show "finding its way" which seems to be the norm for TV shows. You really caught on to what was up quite early, congrats! It's fun to watch your thoughts on these shows that I spent countless hours watching as a kid. And such a nice greeting to your dad at the end. I bet he's watching right along with you.

These were aired out of production order. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is the title of the second pilot. I agree, a cerebral show can hold its own and action isn't always needed. You will see some character dynamics get fleshed out over time including what it means to be a Vulcan.

I read Jeffrey Hunter (captain Pike) wasn’t reinstalled for the second pilot because he was committed to films and a salary couldn’t be agreed upon. Then an unfortunate special effects accident lead to his early death while filming an explosive scene for a movie. Captain Pike was written as the prior captain of the enterprise in the Star Trek cannon and is now in a new Star Trek series Strange New Worlds on Paramount+ which just wrapped up its second season. This series revolves around Pike as well as younger versions of some of the Kirk era crew.

Sulu says to Rand, "May the Great Bird of the Galaxy bless your planet." The Great Bird of the Galaxy later became a nickname for Gene Roddenberry.

George Takei (Sulu) was absent for about half of season two because filming on "The Green Berets", a movie he was in with John Wayne ran unexpectedly long. While he was gone many lines that were supposed to be Sulu's went to Walter Koenig (Chekov).

Hey there! Just thought I'd make a quick suggestion! A friend of mine (rolliepollie reactions) is also making his way through the star trek catalog. The way he's doing it, which i think is brilliant, is by looking at the most acclaimed episodes from each series, from which there are plenty, watching and reacting to those and then moving on to the next series. He also watches the rest of the episodes from each series on his own time to fill in the blanks. By doing it this way, you get to experience the very best and most relevant aspects of the show with your viewers while at the same time advancing your own knowledge of the lore, while simultaneously keeping things fresh and giving the viewers the best stuff to look forward to every week. He really seems to be getting a great response from it and I know I've super enjoyed that format! Just a thought!

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" is actually the second pilot. You'll notice that the uniforms are the same/similar as they were in "The Cage." Episodes were not aired in the order of production, mostly due to some episodes involved more SFX than others, thus more money. These episodes took longer to finish than others, therefore they would air the ones that were finished and ready to go to keep up with the weekly schedule. Things are done completely different in today's world, where each episode will have a month or two for production.

Good catch on the "nice heels." The Star Trek cosplay Holy Grail is a pair of black boots with the proper Cuban heel to fit the look of the series. 🙂 Great reaction! Lots of good insights. Looking forward to continuing this journey with you-I've been a huge TOS fan from the time I was old enough to watch TV; seeing it again through your eyes is a real treat!

When this was made people took salt pills when it was hot and they were sweating lots. It was considered necessary and healthy to have lots of salt in your diet. Things hace changed.

Your instincts are quite correct. This was not the second pilot (which I won't name). Nor was it supposed to be the first episode that Roddenberry wanted to air first after the series was picked up. NBC wanted to start things off with a more traditional sci-fi story. Things will get more Trek-like.

You are going to notice George Takei coming and going in various episodes. He was in several film productions during the first two seasons of Trek and wasn't always available to man the helm. (Thus Sulu's absence in "Space Seed.") Quite often some nameless redshirt will be steering the Enterprise on the weeks George was unavailable. It was one of the reasons a steady navigator character was created in the second season named Pavel Chekov.

OMG. Your reactions of Star Trek and now the series won't come fast enough lol. OMG I love this!!! Barely anyone does these and you're doing it all! Beyond awesome. Many peeps don't understand how good and influential Star Trek is to society. You get it now a bit and still seeing and it's so awesome to see your Trek through Trek lol. Love this!! I can not wait for more!!! Been seeing you do the few already of Trek and its so Fracking Awesome! And oh man hearing you say you miss and love your dad hit me. :)

The new Star Trek episode is here! The new Star Trek episode is here! 🤠

Throughout the series, Kirk continues to vary between being harsh and demanding when he needs to be while mostly being a genial dictator like any captain of a capital ship. Several times he walks back, something he said that was too harsh, very human. It is fun seeing your reactions; remembering my first reaction 57 years ago. 😊

Love the sign off to your Dad. It gets me every time.

Wow, I just finished the pilot review and this appeared in that time. Thank you.

I am happy that you are doing this, bunnytails. I am a trekkie from 1966. I first watched these episodes when they were first broadcast. Looking at your reaction videos is like re-living that part of my life. Boldly we go!!! 🙂

I don't think the network ever really understood what Star Trek was trying to do. Sci-fi on TV in that era was mainly people fighting Bug-Eyed Monsters (Lost in Space had a lot of this) and this episode was one the network actually understood and agreed to air. The they aired the other episodes that were available and made more.

Awesome review. Also later on in the series you notice a trend of crew deaths that primarily wear RED shirts. This led to a saying that still exists today that uninportant cast members or extras that quickly die off in an episode are RED SHIRTERS. As you watch this series you will notice the same thing. Also, each color of shirt means something different in this series: BLUE for sciences, YELLOW for command, and RED technical/security. Usually security personnel wearing RED shirts are the first to die off on any landing party.

absolutely love this series of reviews. focusing on Star Trek original series is an awesome direction, as it will give you the grounding in knowing about all that the Star Trek universe is about / has to offer. This may seem out of place, but I'd also recommend watching Star Trek the animated series (1973-75) , as it continued the original cast concepts, but surprisingly for children's Saturday morning cartoons. The stories were written by real sci fi writers, original Star Trek writers, and even cast member Walter "Chekov" Koenig. Surprisingly he was the only original cast member who was not allowed to join the cast.... as it was considered a cost saving measure. Oddly, 2 actors who portrayed characters in the series ( series antagonist characters Cyrano Jones and Harry Judd) joined the cast for a couple of episodes , Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel and Number One, the second in command from The Cage) reprised her role as Nurse Chapel in the animated series, and she and James "Scotty Doohan" reprised their roles as the voices of the ships computers (and they also did other random incidental voice over parts.) your assessments are really cool to see, and it's great to see someone do an assessment and review of the films and episodes. This is classic sci fi, and from the sound of it, it's awesome to see that you enjoy the series. As you pointed out, I loved the suspense filled side of this episode..... Kirk and crew not knowing who / what they were dealing with, and the alien moving amongst them , with its shape changing abilities, was definitely an interesting , and mildly creepy episode (a more modern take, to consider........ if you are into horror and haven't seen it yet, is the 1982 remake by John Carpenter , of The Thing...... highly suspenseful , but very gruesome.) another series recommendation , when you get done with watching Star Trek (any and all you plan on viewing) ...... I'd consider Space 1999, and Twilight Zone...... Twilight Zone was out prior (1959-64) to Star Trek and had individual stories of sci fi, suspense and horror , with (similar to Star Trek) messages and social commentary (and snap endings.) Space 1999 (1975-77) was an episodic show , like Star Trek, using science fiction to attempt to discuss perhaps more metaphysical issues/ spiritual issues, within a slightly harder sci fi story telling (in it's first season), and more action / sci fi edge in its second season . LOVE your reviews !!!!! Keep up the awesome show !

Hang in there, I think you'll find it's worth it. As with any show, there are some episodes that are classic, and some that are sub-par. Even the lesser episodes usually tap into that Kirk-Spock-McCoy relationship to some degree. Thanks for continuing on the journey!

Crater was using a laser pistol from the Cage.

Your thoughtful reactions are appreciated by fans of the content. You nailed it on the salt creature. Welcome to Star Trek.

I hadn't seen this episode but the concept of "The telepathic shapeshifting perfect mate" comes up again in other series, though with different twists. 16:23 Good ol' clasped-hands bashes, a Star Trek staple from the beginning.

Gene Roddenberry fought hard to keep it from becoming a "different monster every week" show but they did sprinkle in a few. For the shot at 9:05 he sent a guy shopping to find some "futuristic salt & pepper shakers". He came back with a selection and some of the ones not used were made into medical device props.

Welcome Bunnytails to the world of Salt Vampires. The last of its kind. The last of the buffalo.

This early one is a B Trek episode melodrama like some have said they were trying to find the feel early on My first one was an action blockbuster classic - The Gorn : BBC 1 1967? In B/W there was no colour TV in the UK untill 1969. I remember how excited every one was that the this new series was coming from America.

A few points: * You’re making the right choice by watching everything. Every episode of TOS has value, when the bad ones. And the movies have far more emotional weight with all the history and relationships of the entire TV series (and the animated series) behind them. *The original pilot episode never actually aired on TV, yet streaming services present it as “episode 1”. In fact, the show aired wildly out of filming order, for various reasons. “The Man Trap” (sixth episode filmed) aired first on TV as the series’ premiere episode, then “Charlie X” (eighth episode filmed), then “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (the second pilot episode), etc. *Most of the rejected, unaired pilot episode (“The Cage”) was later incorporated into “The Menagerie” two-parter (halfway through the first season) as a cost-saving measure. So, this episode became the canonical backstory of the series as we know it, with the pilot’s events established as taking place 13 years prior to the first season (thus justifying the huge differences in cast/sets/props). *You’re watching the CGI Remastered version of the episodes. Beginning in 2006, the original series was remastered in HD, and many of the visual effects were replaced or altered with CGI. I highly recommend seeking out the original, unaltered versions of the episodes (which are available on Blu-Ray and elsewhere) for the most authentic experience. The Remastered episodes do include revisionism of certain scenes/spaceships/moments, and the experience just isn’t the same as watching the episodes as they were originally presented. *The Kirk/Spock/McCoy relationship DID evolve organically, as the writers saw their chemistry in the early episodes, and began playing to that great strength as the show went on. Of course, since the episodes aired out of order, it seemed to the audience to be there right from the start.

I always loved the original series sound tracks and sound effects. Season 3, episode 9 called The Tholian Web is a classic for low action, gripping suspense and Spock/McCoy drama (McCoy stops antagonizing and starts working with Spock to save Kirk). The sound track is terrific ... when McCoy's hand passes through a dissolving table and then a corpse. By this time production had things figured out.

What a fun episode to watch!!! I enjoyed this one a lot, when I tell friends and family about Star Trek I usually talk about this episode and what I appreciate about the episode is you see everything that’s going on the starship enterprise. I feel like you are getting good tour of the ship. Great video!!! Glad to see you happy and enjoying this show.

Quote of the video - “Crater f*cked that thing?" I laughed out loud!

You will see the uniform change in the true second pilot. The executives insisted that this be the first episode that AIRED because it had a monster in it. (Twilight zone and outer limits were popular so they wanted something like that to be the first episode hook)

There are many things originally in the Star Trek universe that we are just recently getting in real life. I.e. earpiece earbuds, flip communicator cell phone their early version of tablets with a stylus.😂✌️♥️🖖

Watching Spock hit the creature over and over like that reminded me that at this point in time we didn't know just how strong Vulcans really are.

There are some episodes where George Takes (Sulu) is gone. Sometimes he was off shooting a movie. Sulu is there from Season 1. By the way Where No Man has Gone Before is the second pilot.

Although this wasn’t filmed as the first episode, I think it’s a good first episode (original aired order). It hits a lot of notes that convey what Star Trek is about and I think would pull in more viewers than the Cage or Where No Man Has Gone Before.

My friend George Clayton Johnson wrote "The Man Trap."

The shortcomings in the first pilot were not just about it being too "cerebral." There was a lot of that, but there were countless other nuances. This must be a case where I, being nowhere near any kind of expert in drama production, know enough, let's just say intuitively, to know there is a lot of complexity to straighten out to make the TV series work, even if I have little idea of how to do that. With all that said, the first pilot had enough going right to point the way toward something better. And the way they took part of it and worked them into The Menagerie was just brilliant. They made good use of what they already had, plugging parts into a new ep, without the whole thing looking dated.

As some have already stated NBC chose this episode first thinking this type of sci fi with a monster wreaking havoc would hook the audience. Another show called Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea which was entering it's third season sank (pun intended) to the monster of the week type of programming. Most likely it was that type of audience that NBC catered to.

The first, unaired, pilot was finally ordered to series in 2019 and began airing in 2022 as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The second pilot, aired as the third episode, had way more action. The first character to ever die on Star Trek was played by Michael Zaslow, who played memorable villains on soap operas (including my tied-for-favorite villain on my favorite soap, The Guiding Light, which also featured Kevin Bacon and TV's The Flash [the original from the '70s], John Wesley Shipp, the recent TV Flash's dad). Like Sulu, Uhura, and Scotty, McCoy started as a day player, but was added to the opening credits after the triumvirate was fully developed.