# The Twilight Zone Episode "People Are Alike All Over" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [October 15, 2023, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twilight-zone-episode-people-are-alike-all-over/991588 "2023-10-15T06:04:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twilight-zone-episode-people-are-alike-all-over/991588/1 "2023-10-15T06:04:18Z")
I can’t believe I’ve never seen this one, or maybe I did and forgot, but did Star Trek blatantly rip this off in the pilot episode? I think it has the same actress coaxing him into his cage of illusion, hell the planet surface looks like the same damn set. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twilight-zone-episode-people-are-alike-all-over/991588/2 "2023-10-15T07:52:01Z")
[Here is what Wiki says about that episode of _Twilight Zone_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Are_Alike_All_Over). (I left the links in.) > **Influence** > > The original [pilot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_pilot) of _[Star Trek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)_ (“[The Cage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cage_(TOS_episode))”, later reworked into the two-part episode “[The Menagerie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Menagerie_(TOS_episode))”) included plot points similar to that touched upon in this episode, particularly the aspect of humans being put on display for study. Coincidentally, that pilot also co-starred [Susan Oliver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Oliver) in a similar role (Vina, a female has the task of making the captive feel more at ease). The _Star Trek_ animated episode “[Eye of the Beholder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eye_of_the_Beholder_(Star_Trek:_The_Animated_Series))” would also feature some of the crew of the USS _[Enterprise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701))_ being placed in a zoo by the inhabitants of Lactra VII. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twilight-zone-episode-people-are-alike-all-over/991588/3 "2023-10-15T20:10:09Z")
Coincidentally, “Lost in Space” had a two-part episode called “The Keeper” (Michael Rennie) , the title character of which a “menagerie” of various interplanetary life forms. January 1966. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twilight-zone-episode-people-are-alike-all-over/991588/4 "2023-10-15T21:59:08Z")
“The Cage” (retitled “The Menagerie”) was screened by NBC executives in February 1965. The two-part version of “The Menagerie” was aired on 17 and 24 November 1966. The first draft of the pilot story outline is dated 29 June 1964. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2023, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twilight-zone-episode-people-are-alike-all-over/991588/5 "2023-10-16T14:52:48Z")
How come this trope never ends with the astronaut throwing his poop at the alien spectators? ---
**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:** [October 16, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twilight-zone-episode-people-are-alike-all-over/991588/6 "2023-10-16T17:39:32Z")
If you’re trying to get me up to speed on “The Cage” having preceded “The Keeper” two-parter from “Lost in Space,” you’re about [21 years too late.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-treks-pilot-episode/127313) But maybe it will be news someone else. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twilight-zone-episode-people-are-alike-all-over/991588/7 "2023-10-16T18:10:31Z")
Not everyone knows that the title on the first draft of the story outline is “The Cage,” but (according to _ **The Making of Star Trek** _, published in 1968) Roddenberry changed the title to “The Menagerie” prior to shooting “because he felt the new title more closely described the situation in which Captain Pike (now renamed [from April]) found himself during the course of the story.” “The Menagerie” was kept for the two-parter, and (to avoid confusion) the original “The Cage” was restored to the first pilot when it was released on videotape in the '80s. I saw an uncut B&W print of “The Cage” in February 1986 when Roddenberry was making a tour to promote _ **Star Trek** _. (A few months later, it was announced that filming had begun on _ **TNG** _.) I also got to shake his hand as I was leaving the auditorium. At that time, it was apparently not known that an intact color print or negative was still in the vault in California. IIRC, it was the B&W version that was released first on videotape, and the color version followed about a year later.