The Cage (Star Trek: The Original Series) - 40th Anniversary Remastering

40th Anniversary Remastering

Although not aired in this form as part of the original series (1966–69), this episode was remastered in 2006 and had been scheduled to air April 26, 2008, as part of the remastered Original Series. It was to be preceded a week earlier by the remastered "Mudd's Women" and was to be followed a week later by the remastered "Assignment: Earth." However, at the last minute the episode was pulled and was first broadcast the weekend of May 2, 2009, as part of the promotions leading to the release of the new Star Trek film the following weekend. It is included as part of the Third Season Remastered DVD set.

Changes include:

• New CGI exterior shots of the pilot version of the USS Enterprise.
• New version of the shot that zooms in from the outside of the ship, in through the dome to the interior of the bridge. The entire bridge and all characters were recreated in CGI and blended in with the live action shots which begin with Spock's first line of dialogue.
• A moving starfield is visible from the window in Captain Pike's quarters.
• New computer images during the scene in which the Talosians scan the Enterprise's memory banks. Included were images of events that had not occurred yet when the pilot was filmed in 1964, such as the Apollo 11 moon landing.
• Reformatted main and end title credits to conform to the rest of the series.
• In the syndication version scenes with Spock showing emotion were left out (Spock smiling when first seeing the Talosian flowers and showing panic when the Yeoman and Number One beamed off the ship without the men).