Soldato
As I noted in one of the Star Trek: Discovery threads on here, I've been KonMari-ing my TV series viewing and one of the casualties was indeed STD. It never brought me joy (false dawn of the "An Obol For Charon" A-plot aside) and even the snarking about it was getting to feel like work.
I'm still watching Picard, though even with that the running commentaries that I've been posting started to feel a bit too much like I was doing them for the sake of doing them. I'll probably go back through Picard at the close of Season 2 and pick up doing them again, since a second viewing always helps for spotting stuff to moan about But in the meantime, I figured why not go back to Trek that I've watched a lot of and praise it/poke fun at it/*Spock eyebrow* at it/get under the bonnet of it.
And if I'm gonna do that, then why not start where it all began? Especially with Strange New Worlds coming along soon.
Ladies, gentlemen and other folk...
Star Trek - "The Cage" (first pilot)
Commentary
1) Quick word before I hit 'play'. The version I'm watching is the remastered one CBS put out when they refreshed TOS. So the VFX shots aren't the originals. I do have pretty vivid memories of the original shots, however. And the team that did TOS Remastered were pretty sparing in their reworking of stuff.
2) The Courage fanfare...
3) This is something I miss in modern Trek. An intro with a ship belting across the screen to a memorable piece of music.
4) Love this shot, pushing in on the bridge from outside. Loved it in the original version as well (originally it was done in stop motion, and was a bloody difficult shot to do back in '64...). Does amuse me that you can see the bridge interior doesn't line up with the exterior though - the turbolift is offset to the aft-port side on the bridge set for dramatic/filming purposes, but is on the centreline of the ship on the outside!
5) "Check the circuit." Spock with the opening line of the series.
6) A very different Spock to the later portrayal. A bit louder, rather more emotional.
7) A very different bridge as well. More muted colours.
8) Crew getting a bit panicky about the screen interference.
9) Turns out it's a distress signal. Which Pike knew (might have wanted to let your people know that Chris, save them some worry). A ship crashed.
10) Spock bringing up info at his science station using gestures. Ver' futuristic for '64! Somewhat less futuristic is the guy handing Pike a paper printout from the computer
11) First mention of Class M in Trek, referring to planets capable of supporting life.
12) Pike not minded to go chasing potential ghosts. Bridge crew nonplussed. And a mention of the ship having its own "sick and wounded" to take care of. Clearly the Enterprise is not newly out in space here.
13) Damned silly shape for a corridor
14) And what's going on with that couple that Pike passes? They look like they're on their way to the beach!
15) Pike gone down to his quarters. Pretty spartan place. Later Treks will depict officers quarters having rather more personalisation. And the first use of the flip-open communicator in Trek - quite why he needed to use that when his quarters have a perfectly good comm system tie-in is beyond me
16) Doctor Boyce arrives. Series laying the groundwork here for the later Kirk-McCoy friendship.
17) Another not-so-futuristic touch - the clipboard Pike has his notes on.
18) I love this scene between these two. Jeffrey Hunter playing a Chris Pike who's very over the idea of leading men and women out into space to get hurt (or worse), pining for a quiet life back home on Earth. John Hoyt's Boyce able to provide wise counsel and a decent martini. Shatner's Kirk would later jettison most of the brooding nature of the captain here - it pops up from time to time, notably during "Balance of Terror" in that wonderful scene with him and De Kelley's McCoy as Kirk wrestles with the idea of risking interstellar war with the Romulans. But, in the main, it's relegated to the movies when Kirk is older.
19) Some exposition and backstory here, by the way.
20) And some great lines.
21) Spock cutting in on the comm system - there apparently are survivors from the crash on Talos.
22) Again with the paper printouts on the bridge
23) Pike with his 'action stations' look on his face.
24) Back when warp factors were called time warp factors.
25) And the first warp jump of the Starship Enterprise in Trek. Bit of theatre about it as well, with the Courage theme, the superimposed stars, Pike hovering over navigator José Tyler who glances back and holds fingers up to confirm them getting up to speed...
26) Ah, Laurel Goodwin as Yeoman Colt...
27) Amusing interplay between Pike and Number One
28) Arriving at Talos. Pike still being handed paper printouts
29) Getting a landing party together. And - heavens! - leaving a woman in charge of the ship. Progressive stuff for the mid '60s.
30) Landing party jackets won't be a thing again until the first movie. That guy's backpack with the aerial on it won't ever be a thing again
31) One of the transporter techs losing his glasses between shots
32) Bit of theatre about the beaming down as well. Needs two men on console, the room humming with the sound of the power being used for the systems.
33) A matte painting background, a bunch of fake-looking rocks...yep, it's Star Trek alright
34) Spock with a limp from the previous adventure Pike and Boyce were talking about (you can also see bandages and the like on other crew members, Tyler has his wrist bandaged for example). And then we see him smiling at the singing plants. Not something you could imagine Nimoy's later portrayal of the character doing.
35) The survivor camp.
36) "Captain Christopher Pike, United Space Ship Enterprise." The 'USS' would later change to become 'United Star Ship'.
37) Quick pause. Tyler here telling the survivors that 'the time barrier has been broken', implying that whatever drive system the Enterprise employs is a pretty recent invention (within the 18 years since the Columbia crashed on Talos). Obviously canon later established that humanity gained warp drive in the 2060s, this episode is set in 2254. I and others prefer to think that Tyler here is referring to a step change in warp drive performance - the NX-01 Enterprise was the first warp 5 ship in the 2150s, perhaps NCC-1701 and her sisters were the first to be able to achieve better than warp 7. On the original series scale that would be an increase in top speed from 125 times the speed of light to 343C, so definitely not something to be sneezed at.
38) Hoo boy. Vina, played by Susan Oliver. Praise be to Bill Theiss' costuming, and the 'Theiss Theory of Titillation' - take an essentially non-sexual part of the body (Susan Oliver's legs in this case) and show nearly all of it, combine with a costume that looks like it could fall away but never does
39) Aliens are watching
40) Pike still taken by Vina. Who wouldn't be?
41) Boyce figuring out that something weird is going on - the survivors are too healthy.
42) Pike firmly grabbing hold of the idiot ball here, going off alone with Vina to see the 'secret'.
43) Vina disappears (!). So does the survivor camp (!!). And the Talosians who were watching on-screen earlier stun Pike to cart him off (!!!).
44) Spock figuring out the obvious.
45) Pike waking up in a cell. Getting locked up without communicator or phaser would become a trope of the series.
46) Other creatures in other cells. Costumes that I believe were used in "The Outer Limits"!
47) Here come the Talosians again.
48) Pike claiming that the Enterprise comes from 'the other end of this galaxy'. Chalk it up to early instalment weirdness, given how far that would be.
49) Another trope - aliens having no respect for the intelligence of humans.
50) Badass boast from Pike - "there's a way out of any cage, and I'll find it".
51) Meanwhile on the ship - a briefing.
52) Boyce with a cautionary note regarding the mental power of the Talosians.
53) Spock using remarkably human expressions - 'buzzing around', etc.
54) Number One in charge, so she has to make the call. Again, progressive for the time.
55) Back on the planet, the Talosians about to test Pike with an illusion of Rigel VII (where he was two weeks ago).
56) Except now Vina's with him.
57) Exposition from her.
58) And a brutal fight with the warrior on the fake Rigel VII ends with Pike and Vina back in the cage.
59) A spot more exposition.
60) Pike musing on the puzzle. And you can see the gears turning as he thinks his way through the problem.
61) Another landing party, this time with a Big Gun™ - presumably one of the ship's own laser banks (yes, this was before phasers were a thing). Powered by some kind of microwave beam from the ship in orbit.
62) Boyce pointing out that they have no way of knowing if the weapon even worked on the door, such are the powers the Talosians have. Hell of a fix to be in.
63) Vina with more exposition in answer to Pike's questions. And some very intelligent dialogue.
64) Before the Talosians snatch Vina away to punish her for explaining things to Pike, who gets to stare moodily.
65) Pike still testing the cell walls.
66) The lead Talosian now actually talking to Pike rather than using telepathy.
67) A taste of their punishment.
68) Pike still figuring out the limits of the Talosians and their powers.
69) Nice.
70) Exposition and backstory from the Talosian, while Pike continues to probe.
71) Another illusion, this time of Earth.
72) Something Pike shares with Kirk, a fondness for horses.
73) Title drop. Both titles, in fact - the original, and what the episode became ("The Menagerie", with these events as a flashback).
74) Pike has figured out one limitation of the Talosian powers (can't read through negative emotions). Vina confirming it for him, but explaining the futility of it.
75) Scene shift. Now the illusion is something a bit more alien.
76) And Vina as an Orion slavegirl, green skin an' all
77) Another landing party attempt.
78) But only Number One and Yeoman Colt beam out. Followed by Spock exclaiming "The women!"...more early instalment weirdness
79) Number One and Colt materialise in Pike's cell, interrupting wherever the Orion illusion had gotten up to. Clearly hadn't gotten to the properly sexy part because Vina is upset
80) And she's definitely not happy about having any female competition for Pike.
81) Who has his plan pretty much figured out now - think violent thoughts to prevent the Talosians getting into his mind, and hope that one of them gets close enough when trying to retrieve the lasers that Number One and Colt brought with them.
82) Vina continues with the jealousy. Number One with the arithmetic on Vina's real age (a bit of foreshadowing).
83) The Talosian leader back, with some exposition that basically killed this version of Trek. I'll come back to why later.
84) Pike still trying to block them out, so gets punished. They might find that this has just reinforced his plan, of course.
85) Back on the Enterprise, and a mighty fine plan to escape dies a death when the Talosians produce the illusion that all the ship's systems are dead. Spot more weirdness with Spock referring to hyperdrive, rockets etc.
86) But here's the Talosians' first real slip-up, and now Pike has a hold of the leader.
87) Who resorts to threats about the safety of the ship.
88) Up on the Enterprise, the Talosians running the ship's records. Spock again with the very human speech patterns.
89) Pike has it all figured out.
90) Enterprise's laser did indeed blow through the door at 61). And took the top of the hill off.
91) Pike going with the noble thing - offering to stay on Talos if they'll release the ship and let Number One and Colt go. Number One of course has a better idea - blow them up with an overloading laser.
92) Now that's got the Talosian leader worried.
93) "The customs and history of your race show a unique hatred of captivity...even when it's pleasant and benevolent, you prefer death." Trek as social commentary.
94) A bit more social commentary.
95) And the removal of the Vina illusion. Not a young, healthy woman after all. An older, crippled one.
96) But she's going to get to retain her illusion. And an illusion of Pike to live with.
97) "She has an illusion and you have reality. May you find your way as pleasant." Great line.
98) Pike is back onboard.
99) Boyce collaring Pike as he arrives on the bridge, another bit reminiscent of Kirk-McCoy later.
100) Colt's question adding to 83).
101) Amusing bit though.
102) And the Enterprise flies on to the next adventure.
Thoughts
"The Cage", for me, is a fascinating 'what if?' story with Trek. What if the network had actually decided 'yeah, this is what we want to show'. It never could have been, of course, as I noted at 83). And I'll get to why in a bit.
The episode does a lot of things right. We begin after an off-screen adventure that injured seven and killed three of the Enterprise crew. We're presented a Captain Pike who is brooding over that mission, picking over his choices, wondering if he still wants the life of a starship captain. His doctor and friend urging him to continue because that's the life that he is made for. A mystery to solve, an adventure had and Pike is rejuvenated. It's a great story with some fantastic dialogue that's very well acted, IMO. Tight direction from Robert Butler. A superb score from Alexander Courage. Set design...well, the rocks down on Talos were never going to look very good But the Enterprise sets are excellent, the underground bits we see on Talos look alright, the glimpse of 23rd century Earth is fun. The visual effects...well, the remastered show certainly looks great. The original VFX and glimpses of the ship that The Howard Anderson Company produced must still have been something incredibly special at the time though. Especially the stop-motion shot that goes from the ship exterior flyby through the dome onto the bridge.
The Talosians are powerful without being truly omnipotent. Yes, their powers of illusion are formidable but they have their limits. They can't make you do something, but they can trick you into choosing to do it. They can read your mind, but strong negative emotions act as a block. Physically they are flesh and blood, like a human. They aren't invincible, which helps to make them interesting.
We're introduced to a crew that's been together long enough to develop a good working relationship and loyalty to one another. The aforementioned relationship between Pike and Dr Boyce. Tyler's anger at the kidnap of the captain and advocation of a rescue plan. The respect Pike has for his first officer Number One.
But...here's the problem that I alluded to at 83) and then 100). You have an episode that puts the captain in a situation like this with two female subordinates, and then outright states that both of them have fantasised about a relationship with him! What the hell d'you do in the next episode now that it's been established that the first officer wants to jump the captain's bones? And that his personal yeoman also has the hots for him? That's not a remotely sustainable situation.
Rather famously the network rejected "The Cage" as being 'too cerebral' for the audience of the time. Now, I firmly believe that they were doing the audience a disservice with that but I can't honestly say that it was a bad idea to do a second pilot with a (mostly) new cast. Star Trek gained more than it lost with that decision.
Still though. What if?
Plans
I'm not gonna do these for every episode of TOS. But I'll probably do a few more of my favourite episodes before I move on to ones from later Trek series.
I'm still watching Picard, though even with that the running commentaries that I've been posting started to feel a bit too much like I was doing them for the sake of doing them. I'll probably go back through Picard at the close of Season 2 and pick up doing them again, since a second viewing always helps for spotting stuff to moan about But in the meantime, I figured why not go back to Trek that I've watched a lot of and praise it/poke fun at it/*Spock eyebrow* at it/get under the bonnet of it.
And if I'm gonna do that, then why not start where it all began? Especially with Strange New Worlds coming along soon.
Ladies, gentlemen and other folk...
Star Trek - "The Cage" (first pilot)
Commentary
1) Quick word before I hit 'play'. The version I'm watching is the remastered one CBS put out when they refreshed TOS. So the VFX shots aren't the originals. I do have pretty vivid memories of the original shots, however. And the team that did TOS Remastered were pretty sparing in their reworking of stuff.
2) The Courage fanfare...
3) This is something I miss in modern Trek. An intro with a ship belting across the screen to a memorable piece of music.
4) Love this shot, pushing in on the bridge from outside. Loved it in the original version as well (originally it was done in stop motion, and was a bloody difficult shot to do back in '64...). Does amuse me that you can see the bridge interior doesn't line up with the exterior though - the turbolift is offset to the aft-port side on the bridge set for dramatic/filming purposes, but is on the centreline of the ship on the outside!
5) "Check the circuit." Spock with the opening line of the series.
6) A very different Spock to the later portrayal. A bit louder, rather more emotional.
7) A very different bridge as well. More muted colours.
8) Crew getting a bit panicky about the screen interference.
9) Turns out it's a distress signal. Which Pike knew (might have wanted to let your people know that Chris, save them some worry). A ship crashed.
10) Spock bringing up info at his science station using gestures. Ver' futuristic for '64! Somewhat less futuristic is the guy handing Pike a paper printout from the computer
11) First mention of Class M in Trek, referring to planets capable of supporting life.
12) Pike not minded to go chasing potential ghosts. Bridge crew nonplussed. And a mention of the ship having its own "sick and wounded" to take care of. Clearly the Enterprise is not newly out in space here.
13) Damned silly shape for a corridor
14) And what's going on with that couple that Pike passes? They look like they're on their way to the beach!
15) Pike gone down to his quarters. Pretty spartan place. Later Treks will depict officers quarters having rather more personalisation. And the first use of the flip-open communicator in Trek - quite why he needed to use that when his quarters have a perfectly good comm system tie-in is beyond me
16) Doctor Boyce arrives. Series laying the groundwork here for the later Kirk-McCoy friendship.
17) Another not-so-futuristic touch - the clipboard Pike has his notes on.
18) I love this scene between these two. Jeffrey Hunter playing a Chris Pike who's very over the idea of leading men and women out into space to get hurt (or worse), pining for a quiet life back home on Earth. John Hoyt's Boyce able to provide wise counsel and a decent martini. Shatner's Kirk would later jettison most of the brooding nature of the captain here - it pops up from time to time, notably during "Balance of Terror" in that wonderful scene with him and De Kelley's McCoy as Kirk wrestles with the idea of risking interstellar war with the Romulans. But, in the main, it's relegated to the movies when Kirk is older.
19) Some exposition and backstory here, by the way.
20) And some great lines.
21) Spock cutting in on the comm system - there apparently are survivors from the crash on Talos.
22) Again with the paper printouts on the bridge
23) Pike with his 'action stations' look on his face.
24) Back when warp factors were called time warp factors.
25) And the first warp jump of the Starship Enterprise in Trek. Bit of theatre about it as well, with the Courage theme, the superimposed stars, Pike hovering over navigator José Tyler who glances back and holds fingers up to confirm them getting up to speed...
26) Ah, Laurel Goodwin as Yeoman Colt...
27) Amusing interplay between Pike and Number One
28) Arriving at Talos. Pike still being handed paper printouts
29) Getting a landing party together. And - heavens! - leaving a woman in charge of the ship. Progressive stuff for the mid '60s.
30) Landing party jackets won't be a thing again until the first movie. That guy's backpack with the aerial on it won't ever be a thing again
31) One of the transporter techs losing his glasses between shots
32) Bit of theatre about the beaming down as well. Needs two men on console, the room humming with the sound of the power being used for the systems.
33) A matte painting background, a bunch of fake-looking rocks...yep, it's Star Trek alright
34) Spock with a limp from the previous adventure Pike and Boyce were talking about (you can also see bandages and the like on other crew members, Tyler has his wrist bandaged for example). And then we see him smiling at the singing plants. Not something you could imagine Nimoy's later portrayal of the character doing.
35) The survivor camp.
36) "Captain Christopher Pike, United Space Ship Enterprise." The 'USS' would later change to become 'United Star Ship'.
37) Quick pause. Tyler here telling the survivors that 'the time barrier has been broken', implying that whatever drive system the Enterprise employs is a pretty recent invention (within the 18 years since the Columbia crashed on Talos). Obviously canon later established that humanity gained warp drive in the 2060s, this episode is set in 2254. I and others prefer to think that Tyler here is referring to a step change in warp drive performance - the NX-01 Enterprise was the first warp 5 ship in the 2150s, perhaps NCC-1701 and her sisters were the first to be able to achieve better than warp 7. On the original series scale that would be an increase in top speed from 125 times the speed of light to 343C, so definitely not something to be sneezed at.
38) Hoo boy. Vina, played by Susan Oliver. Praise be to Bill Theiss' costuming, and the 'Theiss Theory of Titillation' - take an essentially non-sexual part of the body (Susan Oliver's legs in this case) and show nearly all of it, combine with a costume that looks like it could fall away but never does
39) Aliens are watching
40) Pike still taken by Vina. Who wouldn't be?
41) Boyce figuring out that something weird is going on - the survivors are too healthy.
42) Pike firmly grabbing hold of the idiot ball here, going off alone with Vina to see the 'secret'.
43) Vina disappears (!). So does the survivor camp (!!). And the Talosians who were watching on-screen earlier stun Pike to cart him off (!!!).
44) Spock figuring out the obvious.
45) Pike waking up in a cell. Getting locked up without communicator or phaser would become a trope of the series.
46) Other creatures in other cells. Costumes that I believe were used in "The Outer Limits"!
47) Here come the Talosians again.
48) Pike claiming that the Enterprise comes from 'the other end of this galaxy'. Chalk it up to early instalment weirdness, given how far that would be.
49) Another trope - aliens having no respect for the intelligence of humans.
50) Badass boast from Pike - "there's a way out of any cage, and I'll find it".
51) Meanwhile on the ship - a briefing.
52) Boyce with a cautionary note regarding the mental power of the Talosians.
53) Spock using remarkably human expressions - 'buzzing around', etc.
54) Number One in charge, so she has to make the call. Again, progressive for the time.
55) Back on the planet, the Talosians about to test Pike with an illusion of Rigel VII (where he was two weeks ago).
56) Except now Vina's with him.
57) Exposition from her.
58) And a brutal fight with the warrior on the fake Rigel VII ends with Pike and Vina back in the cage.
59) A spot more exposition.
60) Pike musing on the puzzle. And you can see the gears turning as he thinks his way through the problem.
61) Another landing party, this time with a Big Gun™ - presumably one of the ship's own laser banks (yes, this was before phasers were a thing). Powered by some kind of microwave beam from the ship in orbit.
62) Boyce pointing out that they have no way of knowing if the weapon even worked on the door, such are the powers the Talosians have. Hell of a fix to be in.
63) Vina with more exposition in answer to Pike's questions. And some very intelligent dialogue.
64) Before the Talosians snatch Vina away to punish her for explaining things to Pike, who gets to stare moodily.
65) Pike still testing the cell walls.
66) The lead Talosian now actually talking to Pike rather than using telepathy.
67) A taste of their punishment.
68) Pike still figuring out the limits of the Talosians and their powers.
69) Nice.
70) Exposition and backstory from the Talosian, while Pike continues to probe.
71) Another illusion, this time of Earth.
72) Something Pike shares with Kirk, a fondness for horses.
73) Title drop. Both titles, in fact - the original, and what the episode became ("The Menagerie", with these events as a flashback).
74) Pike has figured out one limitation of the Talosian powers (can't read through negative emotions). Vina confirming it for him, but explaining the futility of it.
75) Scene shift. Now the illusion is something a bit more alien.
76) And Vina as an Orion slavegirl, green skin an' all
77) Another landing party attempt.
78) But only Number One and Yeoman Colt beam out. Followed by Spock exclaiming "The women!"...more early instalment weirdness
79) Number One and Colt materialise in Pike's cell, interrupting wherever the Orion illusion had gotten up to. Clearly hadn't gotten to the properly sexy part because Vina is upset
80) And she's definitely not happy about having any female competition for Pike.
81) Who has his plan pretty much figured out now - think violent thoughts to prevent the Talosians getting into his mind, and hope that one of them gets close enough when trying to retrieve the lasers that Number One and Colt brought with them.
82) Vina continues with the jealousy. Number One with the arithmetic on Vina's real age (a bit of foreshadowing).
83) The Talosian leader back, with some exposition that basically killed this version of Trek. I'll come back to why later.
84) Pike still trying to block them out, so gets punished. They might find that this has just reinforced his plan, of course.
85) Back on the Enterprise, and a mighty fine plan to escape dies a death when the Talosians produce the illusion that all the ship's systems are dead. Spot more weirdness with Spock referring to hyperdrive, rockets etc.
86) But here's the Talosians' first real slip-up, and now Pike has a hold of the leader.
87) Who resorts to threats about the safety of the ship.
88) Up on the Enterprise, the Talosians running the ship's records. Spock again with the very human speech patterns.
89) Pike has it all figured out.
90) Enterprise's laser did indeed blow through the door at 61). And took the top of the hill off.
91) Pike going with the noble thing - offering to stay on Talos if they'll release the ship and let Number One and Colt go. Number One of course has a better idea - blow them up with an overloading laser.
92) Now that's got the Talosian leader worried.
93) "The customs and history of your race show a unique hatred of captivity...even when it's pleasant and benevolent, you prefer death." Trek as social commentary.
94) A bit more social commentary.
95) And the removal of the Vina illusion. Not a young, healthy woman after all. An older, crippled one.
96) But she's going to get to retain her illusion. And an illusion of Pike to live with.
97) "She has an illusion and you have reality. May you find your way as pleasant." Great line.
98) Pike is back onboard.
99) Boyce collaring Pike as he arrives on the bridge, another bit reminiscent of Kirk-McCoy later.
100) Colt's question adding to 83).
101) Amusing bit though.
102) And the Enterprise flies on to the next adventure.
Thoughts
"The Cage", for me, is a fascinating 'what if?' story with Trek. What if the network had actually decided 'yeah, this is what we want to show'. It never could have been, of course, as I noted at 83). And I'll get to why in a bit.
The episode does a lot of things right. We begin after an off-screen adventure that injured seven and killed three of the Enterprise crew. We're presented a Captain Pike who is brooding over that mission, picking over his choices, wondering if he still wants the life of a starship captain. His doctor and friend urging him to continue because that's the life that he is made for. A mystery to solve, an adventure had and Pike is rejuvenated. It's a great story with some fantastic dialogue that's very well acted, IMO. Tight direction from Robert Butler. A superb score from Alexander Courage. Set design...well, the rocks down on Talos were never going to look very good But the Enterprise sets are excellent, the underground bits we see on Talos look alright, the glimpse of 23rd century Earth is fun. The visual effects...well, the remastered show certainly looks great. The original VFX and glimpses of the ship that The Howard Anderson Company produced must still have been something incredibly special at the time though. Especially the stop-motion shot that goes from the ship exterior flyby through the dome onto the bridge.
The Talosians are powerful without being truly omnipotent. Yes, their powers of illusion are formidable but they have their limits. They can't make you do something, but they can trick you into choosing to do it. They can read your mind, but strong negative emotions act as a block. Physically they are flesh and blood, like a human. They aren't invincible, which helps to make them interesting.
We're introduced to a crew that's been together long enough to develop a good working relationship and loyalty to one another. The aforementioned relationship between Pike and Dr Boyce. Tyler's anger at the kidnap of the captain and advocation of a rescue plan. The respect Pike has for his first officer Number One.
But...here's the problem that I alluded to at 83) and then 100). You have an episode that puts the captain in a situation like this with two female subordinates, and then outright states that both of them have fantasised about a relationship with him! What the hell d'you do in the next episode now that it's been established that the first officer wants to jump the captain's bones? And that his personal yeoman also has the hots for him? That's not a remotely sustainable situation.
Rather famously the network rejected "The Cage" as being 'too cerebral' for the audience of the time. Now, I firmly believe that they were doing the audience a disservice with that but I can't honestly say that it was a bad idea to do a second pilot with a (mostly) new cast. Star Trek gained more than it lost with that decision.
Still though. What if?
Plans
I'm not gonna do these for every episode of TOS. But I'll probably do a few more of my favourite episodes before I move on to ones from later Trek series.