History Recap / StarTrekS1E0TheCage

* SignatureSoundEffect: Averted (in later episodes) with the "singing" plants of Talos IV. Pike and Spock verify (in a lovely bit of non-verbal acting) that the plants are the source of the low, eerie wailing heard in the surface scenes. Future episodes re-used the same sound on many -- if not most -- of the other planets the crew visited.

* LostInTransmission: A distress message inexplicably just "fades" away before it can explain a certain crucial danger. Rather than concealing a crucial plot point, this was just a lure by the Talosians to Pike, who had previously turned down answering the DistressCall.

* FTLRadio: Averted; the distress call has taken eighteen years to reach the Enterprise's current position.

* RecycledInSpace: The start of the ''Literature/HoratioHornblower In Space'' subgenre of sci-fi. Pike's ruminations on choosing which crewmen will live and die are remarkably similar to Hornblower's thoughts on being a Valkyrie "chooser of the slain" in ''Hotspur.''

* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The Talosians seem perfectly capable of seeing everything that goes on in the cell as well as reading minds, but the Keeper doesn't see Pike waiting to ambush him. Probably masked by Pike's anger and treachery. THAT should have been a big, fat, hint to the Talosians that the humans would prove unmanageable, but they might have been too desperate to save their race to recognize the hint.
* TechnoBabble: Spock's initial utterance sounds too simple, but it is used to establish that something "Techy" is going on. First ''Star Trek'' words recorded.

-->'''Spock:''' Solar system similar to Earth, eleven planets. Number four seems to be Class M, oxygen atmosphere. NOTE: In the series, "oxygen-NITROGEN" atmosphere is used, anyone familiar with the Apollo I tragedy knows the extreme fire hazard of a pure oxygen atmosphere!

* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The Talosians seem perfectly capable of seeing everything that goes on in the cell as well as reading minds, but the Keeper doesn't see Pike waiting to ambush him. Probably masked by Pike's anger and treachery. THAT should have been a big, fat, hint to the Talosians that the humans would prove unmanageable.

* IceQueen: Number One, whom Vina sarcastically compares to a computer when she's kidnapped as another potential mate. There are several hints that this is a façade however.
* InertialImpalement: How Pike finishes off the barbarian in the illusory battle.
* InMediasRes: The story begins as the ''Enterprise'' has completed a mission that resulted in serious casualties and is returning to base.
* InstantSedation: The aliens spray a gas in Pike's face and he falls down to the ground immediately.
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: As Pike foiled their plans for breeding a SlaveRace, the aliens just give up and accept their [[DyingRace fate of their failed civilization]]. To be fair, they indicate they had already tried out several other species (possibly the ones Pike saw in the zoo) but none of them had shown the same adaptability as humans. Pike was their "last hope".

The only winning move for Pike was to NOT PLAY (e.g, don't answer).

* MaleGaze: There's a shot of an off-duty female crewmember walking away from the camera in a pleated skirt.

* RefusalOfTheCall: Pike refuses to answer a fifteen year-old DistressCall because they have their own wounded to take care of (it's also implied that [[HeroicBSOD Pike is tired and his morale is low]] after recent events). Only when another message arrives confirming that there are survivors in need of help does he order the Enterprise there.

* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The Talosians seem perfectly capable of seeing everything that goes on in the cell as well as reading minds, but the Keeper doesn't see Pike waiting to ambush him.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: An in-universe example. The consoles on the ''Enterprise'' bridge are here fitted with what look like personal computer printers (which print out messages on paper), and the Yeoman is seen using a clipboard with paper sheets on it. The beam weapons are called lasers instead of the later phasers. And the weapon used in the attempt to blast the Talosian entrance is a bulky device transported from the ship instead of ship-mounted weapons. By the time of the series proper, both would be replaced by more futuristic devices. Medical science is presumably more primitive than it's portrayed in TOS, as Pike doesn't even speculate about the possibility that Vina's disfigurements might be repairable with ''Trek''-era medicine. But technology has also already marched on, as one crewman enthusiastically says to the "survivors": space travel is now incomparably faster than 18 years before.

* YourMindMakesItReal: According to the Talosians, Pike could visualize the vial of nourishment liquid provided by the Talosians as any meal he wished. Presumably, as long as he was able to somehow forget that it really was nothing more than a [[FoodPills vial of blue liquid]].

* AdamAndEvePlot: The Talosians kidnap Captain Pike, and then Number One and a female lieutenant, to act as breeding stock.

-->'''Spock:''' Solar system similar to Earth, eleven planets. Number four seems to be Class M, oxygen atmosphere.

* YourHeartsDesire: The Orion women are presented as a dark male [[FanService fantasy come to life]]. They're [[{{Orientalism}} exotic]], [[AllWomenAreLustful animalistic]] {{Sex Slave}}s, from a culture [[ArentYouGoingToRavishMe where they actually want to be taken advantage of]] so you don't have to feel guilty about doing so.

''Film/StarTrek2009'' takes place in an AlternateTimeline and predominantly takes place at about the same time as this episode, reimagining Pike as played by Creator/BruceGreenwood and a mentor figure for Kirk before showing the change of command. In the main timeline Captain Pike is [[TheOtherDarrin recast]] with Creator/AnsonMount as he shows up in the second season of 2017's ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', chronologically about two years after the events of this episode. In 2022 ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' debuted, set shortly after the events of ''Discovery'' and about 7 years before the first season of TOS.

Over fifty years later, the franchise would further explore Christopher Pike's tenure as Captain of the Enterprise, first in the second season of 2017's ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', then in 2022's ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'', where he is the main character.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Spock's emotional outbursts, such as his joyful reaction to hearing the singing plants on Talos IV and his panic when he realizes the women have been kidnapped, contrast with his later deliberately emotionless persona. According to Spock's actor Creator/LeonardNimoy, this is because he felt that Spock needed some warmth to balance out how Hunter played Pike. At this point, Spock was just supposed to be an alien, "probably half Martian". Vulcan heritage and stoicism weren't part of his character yet.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Everything, from the characters, to the uniforms, to some details of the USS ''Enterprise'' itself.

* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: The fact that humans would prefer death to any form of captivity is a sticking point on why they are unsuitable for the Talosians' plans. Pike tries to console the Keepers, suggesting some sort of mutual cooperation to solve their population problem. The Keeper, however is savvy enough to know [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves what will happen if humans eventually acquire the Talosian power of illusion]]. All of this at least explains why there is a General Order forbidding any contact with this planet.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Inverted, Boyce implies to Pike: "YOU need a freaking drink!".

* MovingTheGoalposts: Pike agrees to pick an illusion to share with Vina if she answers his questions. After she does, he says that he made a "bargain with someone that didn't exist" and it doesn't count, which forces her to admit that she was lying about being yet another illusion.

* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: The Talosians seem perfectly capable of seeing everything that goes on in the cell as well as reading minds, but the Keeper doesn't see Pike waiting to ambush him.

* UnusualEars: Mr. Spock is alien, of course. Don't you see the {{pointy ears}}?

* PointyEars: TheTropeNamer. Mr. Spock is alien, of course. Don't you see the pointy ears?

* DistressCall: One of these kickstarts the plot, with a radio wave keyed to trigger the sensors of a passing vessel (it initially appears to be an oncoming object) thereby drawing the attention of its crew. In a subversion, Pike's initial response is to ignore the signal, so the Talosians send another indicating that there are survivors in distress.

* CoolStarship: The ''Enterprise'' itself, the basis for the whole series where they use it to travel through the stars. This is our only look at the Pike-era ''Enterprise,'' distinguished by the spikes on the red warp nacelle caps.

* CoolStarship: The ''Enterprise'' itself, the basis for the whole series where they use it to travel through the stars.

* {{Expy}}: The main crew members have identifiable counterparts in the series that eventually developed. Pike is an early version of Kirk, [[CompositeCharacter Number One was combined with Spock]], Dr. Boyce is early [=McCoy=], and Colt is early Rand. Of course, this pilot came first, so it's technically the characters of the eventual series who are the expies.

** Yeoman Colt; ironically her presence makes Captain Pike uncomfortable as he's not used to having a woman on the bridge.

* AbsenteeActor: The entire regular ''Star Trek'' cast except for Creator/LeonardNimoy (and, though in a '' very'' different role, Majel Barrett). Justified in that most of them hadn't even been hired yet.

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Vina, Number One, and Colt, the three female characters in the episode, are respectively blonde-, black- and red-haired.

* CrossCastRole: Although male voices were dubbed in for the Talosians, three of the Talosian actors were actually women. Robert Butler and Creator/GeneRoddenberry struck upon using this casting method at about the same time as one another, Butler reckoning that it would lend the Talosian characterizations an alien-like androgynous quality. Roddenberry believed that the lighter builds of females might suggest that the Talosians had allowed their bodies to atrophy while instead choosing to concentrate on advanced brain development. Upon searching for suitable performers to play the parts, Roddenberry scoured Hollywood for short actresses with faces that he deemed to be interesting. Meg Wyllie was cast as the Talosian Keeper on Butler's recommendation, they having previously worked together.

* FieryRedhead: What seems to be implied by Yeoman Colt's "unusually strong female drives."

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

%%* IceQueen: Number One was designed to be this trope.

%%* LifeDeathJuxtaposition: Boyce while soothing Pike.%%Quotes are not context.
%%-->'''Pike:''' Now you're beginning to talk like a doctor, bartender.\\
%%'''Boyce:''' Take your choice. We both get the same two kinds of customers. The living and the dying.

* NondescriptNastyNutritious: One of the "sustenances" given to Pike while in the holding cell is a glass of blue mystery liquid, which the Talosian Keeper claims contains a "nourishing protein complex". They compensate for its blondes by using their mental powers to make it seem like whatever food is desired.

* PilotEpisode: A failed one, in fact, but it showed enough promise for the network to commission a second pilot. TropeNamer! When asked for an example of a pilot of a show, this episode is commonly used as an example.

* PointyEars: Mr. Spock is alien, of course. Don't you see the pointy ears? Trope namer.

%%* RaygunGothic: This episode is where the death of this trope began.

* YourMindMakesItReal: According to the Talosians, Pike could visualize the vial of nourishment liquid provided by the Talosians as any meal he wished. Presumably, as long as he was able to somehow forget that it really was nothing more than a vial of blue liquid.