Star Trek (1966) 1.12

The Menagerie - Part Two

Kirk and the others continue to watch broadcasts of the Enterprise's visit 13-years earlier to Talos IV. Captain Pike is imprisoned with Vina. He tries to resist the commands of the Talosians who are able to read his mind. Vina does what she can to try and make his imprisonment a happy one but Pike continues to resist.

The crew of the Enterprise try to break into the underground lair where the Talosian's are keeping Captain Pike. The phaser canon they use seems to have no effect although they consider the possibility that it is effective but that the Talosians are using the power of illusion to lead them to believe that it is not.

The crew of the Enterpise regains control of the ship. They attempt to beam a landing party down into the Talosians' lair. The transporter is activated but only Number One and Yeoman Colt, the other female member of the landing party, are the only ones who are beamed down. The Talosians suggest that Captain Pike pick one of them in place of Vina. He rejects that option.

Finally, after Captain Pike has proven how much he rejects the notion of remaining on Talos IV and almost kills one of the Talosians, they agree to let him and the others leave. Vina opts to stay. Number One and Yeoman Colt are transported back aboard the Enterprise.

Vina explains her reasons for staying to Captain Pike. He learns that her appearance up to this point has been an illusion. She was badly injured when the spaceship she was in crashed. The Talosians saved her. They did their best but they had never met a human before.

The broadcast from Talso IV ends as the Enterprise starts to orbit around Talos IV. Commodore Mendez is revealed to have been an illusion cast by the Talosians. Captain Pike accepts an offer from the Talosians to beam down to Talos IV and live the rest of his life with Vina, where they can both live with the illusion that they are not disfigured.

Thoughts

There are all sorts of questions in my mind about this story. I expressed some of them in my notes about Part One but there are others. Shouldn't they have been able to fix Vina's appearance if she returned to Earth? Why was it that the Talosians allowed Number One and Lieutenant Colt to beam down with weapons?

There are plot holes in this story but I really, really like it. I remembered how it ended and knowing that made it that much more powerful to watch. This is my favorite story that I have watched up to this point. It isn't perfect but this is much better in my eyes than any of the episodes that have come before it and raises the bar quite a bit.