Top Ten Star Trek Episodes (TOS), no. 9

Coming in at number nine is the season one, two part show, "The Menagerie." It was originally titled "The Cage" and the pilot for the series but NBC felt that it was too cerebral and ordered a second pilot be made. Do you hear that J.J. Abrams? Star Trek is not Star Wars. But I digress. This is a Gene Roddenberry script and he ingeniously adds a framing story to the footage of "The Cage." In the episode, Spock hijacks the Enterprise, kidnaps his former captain, Christopher Pike and takes the ship to Talos IV. Going to Talos IV is so dangerous that it carries the death penalty. Spock is court martialed. When you watch this episode, you get the basic Star Trek conventions, intelligent science fiction and a need to understand other alien races.

Here is "The Menagerie, Part One."

Here is "The Menagerie, Part Two."