… Captain Pike, Explained
"In 1965, the very first Star Trek episode, "The Cage," went into production as the initial realization of Gene Roddenberry's idea for a "Wagon Train to the Stars." But the captain chosen to lead this voyage wasn't William Shatner's James T. Kirk. Instead, the part of Captain Christopher Pike was played by Jeffrey Hunter.
Shatner was ultimately the right choice to headline the original series alongside Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, and the rest of the cast. Star Trek wouldn't be a global phenomenon without them. And yet the potential of a Star Trek series following Pike's Enterprise remained unfulfilled, until the recent announcement that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will dive into this largely unexplored era of Trek lore. It's also a remarkable turnaround for Pike, who will now take his rightful place among the great captains of Star Trek.
Almost the entire cast of "The Cage" was released after the original pilot was rejected, and Hunter left the series behind to focus on making movies before his untimely death in 1969. But Nimoy remained, and his presence in the original Star Trek pilot helped solve a problem for the producers. To keep up with the grind of making new episodes, the creative team repurposed footage from "The Cage" into the two-part episode "The Menagerie." Those episodes also gave fans a glimpse of a more youthful and exuberant Spock, which was in stark contrast to his more reserved persona. But this was the first time that viewers met Pike, although Hunter didn't reprise his role for the newly created scenes set years after the initial story…"
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