https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6j25lb
The Cage is what they called the pilot episode. This episode didn't have Captain Kirk. They had a Christopher Pike. The actor for this character choose Broadway instead of Star Trek. Leonard Nimoy was initially annoyed. I don't know how much he put that annoyance on William Shatner, but he often makes much of it in interviews. The original Starship Enterprise Captain also died around 1969. Star Trek did a Menegerie with Captain Kirk rediscovering Captain Pike. They also made a few plays on Captain Pike in other episodes.
The Cage also didn't have "Bones" the Doctor, and lots of other characters - Uhura, Chekov, Scotty the engineer, Sulu.
The Cage was notably white. It's not true that Star Trek was the first to have AFrican American characters. The Day the Earth Stood Still had a few. That would be the earliest Sci Fi movie I know of. But, Star Trek would bring in more extras beyond just Uhura - some would be Admirals.
- The Cage, in my opinion was one of the best Star Trek's, from the original series. Honestly, it's the only one I know. There were plenty of other good Star Trek's. But, the Cage was one of the best Sci-Fi concepts. Lots of Star Trek's were a bit silly - lots of kids and such.
