In this initial outing for most of the familiar Enterprise crew, Kirk, Spock, and others descend to a barren, arid planet on which only a scientist (guest star Alfred Ryder) and his wife (Jeanne Bal), a former flame of Bones, reside. Soon the crew discover that an alien presence is amongst them, one that craves salt and can change appearance at will. After it masquerades as a crewman, it ends up on board the starship and gets too much time to move about as it pleases.
After the original planned pilot 'The Cage' failed to be accepted by the powers-that-be (it was deemed to be "too cerebral"), this episode went on in its place. The actual approved pilot, 'Where No Man Has Gone Before', ended up being aired third after this and 'Charlie X'. Written by George Clayton Johnson, this story entertains solidly although it's not a great one. It does have its pleasures, and knows how to hook viewers early on, with the scientists' wife appearing as a different woman to Kirk, Bones, and expendable crewman # 1 (Michael Zaslow). Kudos, also, to the technical crew on 'Star Trek' for doing their able best to create these alien worlds on their budgets (even if you never really believe that the characters are outdoors). The performances proved to be ingratiating right from the start, with all of the actors who play both their original characters and the aliens' manifestations being appropriately off-putting in the latter incarnations.
If one is a newcomer to this original series, as this viewer is, they should find this to be agreeable entertainment.
Although a fair amount of the main cast appear here, only Shatner and Nimoy get proper billing during the main credits. It wouldn't be until season two that things changed in that regard.
Directed by TV veteran Marc Daniels, who guided 15 episodes of the series in total.
Seven out of 10.
After the original planned pilot 'The Cage' failed to be accepted by the powers-that-be (it was deemed to be "too cerebral"), this episode went on in its place. The actual approved pilot, 'Where No Man Has Gone Before', ended up being aired third after this and 'Charlie X'. Written by George Clayton Johnson, this story entertains solidly although it's not a great one. It does have its pleasures, and knows how to hook viewers early on, with the scientists' wife appearing as a different woman to Kirk, Bones, and expendable crewman # 1 (Michael Zaslow). Kudos, also, to the technical crew on 'Star Trek' for doing their able best to create these alien worlds on their budgets (even if you never really believe that the characters are outdoors). The performances proved to be ingratiating right from the start, with all of the actors who play both their original characters and the aliens' manifestations being appropriately off-putting in the latter incarnations.
If one is a newcomer to this original series, as this viewer is, they should find this to be agreeable entertainment.
Although a fair amount of the main cast appear here, only Shatner and Nimoy get proper billing during the main credits. It wouldn't be until season two that things changed in that regard.
Directed by TV veteran Marc Daniels, who guided 15 episodes of the series in total.
Seven out of 10.