# Star Trek's pilot episode

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-treks-pilot-episode/127313>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 6, 2002, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-treks-pilot-episode/127313 "2002-09-06T18:02:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-treks-pilot-episode/127313/21 "2002-09-09T14:41:25Z")

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By the way, just a personal opinion is that Star Trek’s first (unaired) pilot “The Cage” was greatly inspired by Lost in Space’s two-part episode “The Keeper,” about a space traveler (long-time Jonathan Harris bud Michael Rennie) who has his own menagerie.

And the “official” pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” reminded me somewhat of the two-part “Outer Limits” episode “The Inheritors.”

Just some opinions. You know there are only seven plots or something like that anyway.😃

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**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-treks-pilot-episode/127313/22 "2002-09-09T14:53:58Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by pugluvr \*  
> \*\*I would have liked Jeff Hunter to continue as captain. He was a babe. \*\*

Yes, but if he did, there would likely have been no ST movies and no ST:TNG, etc. Hunter died in 1969.

Zev Steinhardt

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-treks-pilot-episode/127313/23 "2002-09-09T15:45:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mjollnir \*  
> \*\*By the way, just a personal opinion is that Star Trek’s first (unaired) pilot “The Cage” was greatly inspired by Lost in Space’s two-part episode “The Keeper,” about a space traveler (long-time Jonathan Harris bud Michael Rennie) who has his own menagerie. \*\*

Except that “The Cage” was written and filmed in 1964, **Lost in Space** didn’t go on the air until September 1965, and the two-part episode “The Keeper” aired in January 1966. Oops!

A more likely inspiration was the **Twilight Zone** episode “People Are Alike All Over” from 1960. And who was one of the guest stars in that episode? Susan Oliver, four years before she guess starred in “The Cage”.

A plot summary:  
[http://www.tvtome.com/TwilightZone/season1.html#ep25](http://www.tvtome.com/TwilightZone/season1.html#ep25)

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