The vast majority of TV pilots either air as the show’s very first episode or never see the light of day at all, but Star Trek boldly did things differently. “The Cage” impressed network bosses enough to earn Star Trek a second pilot, which ultimately aired as “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” but that first effort didn’t go to waste, as the footage was turned into a series of flashbacks for a later two-parter called “The Menagerie.”

Compared to the rest of Star Trek: The Original Series, “The Cage” is a very different beast. Spock is the lone cast member present throughout, and the tone roots itself more in science and philosophy. Those aspects shifted ahead of the second pilot attempt, with Star Trek replacing its cast, in addition to incorporating more action and adventure. It’s also very obvious in “The Cage” that some ingredients in the Star Trek formula were yet to be set in stone, with Leonard Nimoy’s character showing far more expression and emotion than Spock ever would again.

Despite “The Cage” often feeling like a completely different show, it retains a place in the hearts of Star Trek fans, remembered fondly not just for its vision and ambition, but also for being a genuinely good slice of Trek. The pilot comes with imperfections, of course, but has all the sci-fi intellect, awe-inspiring imagination, and allegorical depth that would later define the franchise. It speaks volumes that “The Cage” has been fully embraced as a pre-Kirk chapter of Star Trek‘s timeline, even providing the basis for an entire series in the shape of Strange New Worlds.

“The Cage” is so good, in fact, that when Star Trek‘s third and final season rolled around, the story was pretty much repeated with William Shatner’s Captain Kirk taking Pike’s place.

Star Trek Season 3’s “The Empath” Is Basically “The Cage” With Captain Kirk

It’s no secret that Star Trek was prone to reusing story formats during the 1960s. It’s astounding just how many alien races modeled themselves after periods from Earth history because someone from Starfleet went and broke the Prime Directive. Even so, the parallels between “The Cage” and “The Empath” run deeper than just sharing a similar narrative premise.

The first comparison you notice as a viewer is the design of the Vians in “The Empath” being extremely close to the Talosians in “The Cage.” Both are humanoids with enlarged, hairless craniums, and dressed in silver or gray robes. It’s impossible not to clock how much the Vians resemble Star Trek‘s first alien antagonists on the outside, but once you do, more similarities quickly unfold. The Vians and the Talosians both possess psychic abilities. Both races ensnare the Enterprise crew members as pets to be caged and experimented upon. And both are coldly scientific in their indifference to making subjects suffer.

Also like the Talosians, the Vians aren’t truly evil. The plot of “The Cage” is that the Talosians want Captain Pike to stay with them as the ‘Adam’ in a new race that will prevent their extinction. They fail to understand humans’ need for freedom, and let the Enterprise go after realizing their mistake. Their methods are wrong, but their cause prompts sympathy. In “The Empath,” the Vians need human subjects to test the viability of saving another race from an extinction-level event. Again, bad methods; understandable mission.

Just as Pike helps the Talosians understand the morality of keeping humans confined, Kirk and his friends show the Vians the error of their ways, and reach a peaceful conclusion without the need for William Shatner to dropkick anyone into a rock.

Do both episodes have a mysterious woman working reluctantly alongside the alien races? You bet your last tribble they do. Both Vina in “The Cage” and Gem in “The Empath” are discovered by the Enterprise landing parties upon arrival. Both women have been rescued by the aliens they’re living with, both are central to the experiments being carried out, and both help to save the Enterprise officers being held prisoner.

Which Star Trek Episode Is Better: “The Cage” Or “The Empath?”

“The Empath” benefits from having Kirk, Spock, and McCoy together for most of its running time. Whereas “The Cage” mostly functions as a Christopher Pike solo story with other Enterprise crew members occupying supporting roles, the presence of Star Trek‘s original golden trio brings those unmistakable elements of camaraderie and friendship that made them such a great team. The three-way debate over which of them will sacrifice themselves to the Vians sums up their bond as well as anything else in Star Trek.

On every other count, it’s “The Cage” that comes out as the superior episode. It’s a script that speaks far more loudly to the audience’s emotional spectrum, with Vina desperate for human connection after years spent alone, and Pike visibly tempted by the illusory paradise promised by the Talosians. The tragic backstory explaining Talos IV’s destruction asks the question of whether reality matters as much as happiness, and refuses to provide a clean answer, letting that topic sit with the viewer hours after the end credits.

“The Empath” (ironically, considering the title) never really connects on that same level. Gem doesn’t receive as much characterization as Vina, and the trials inflicted upon Kirk and co. are more brutal, but not as personal as those suffered by Pike. By their respective third acts, it’s “The Cage” that has its audience awaiting most eagerly for a conclusion.

And where “The Cage” aims for outright science fiction, “The Empath” is a little trippy, replacing the Talosians’ sterile labs and holding cells with abstract sculptures, eerie museums, and torture chains hanging from high in the air. It’s almost like director John Erman was anticipating the style of David Lynch a decade or so early, and combining it with something from an Alice Cooper music video.

Having said that, “The Empath” can still be considered one of the highlights in Star Trek‘s middling third season, its unique visual style and dark storyline offering a reprieve from the Enterprise’s standard week-to-week antics. The episode might have been a disaster were it not for the franchise-defining chemistry shared between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, but it’s far from the only Star Trek episode where that’s the case.

Release Date

1966 – 1969-00-00

Showrunner

Gene Roddenberry

Directors

Marc Daniels, Joseph Pevney, Ralph Senensky, Vincent McEveety, Herb Wallerstein, Jud Taylor, Marvin J. Chomsky, David Alexander, Gerd Oswald, Herschel Daugherty, James Goldstone, Robert Butler, Anton Leader, Gene Nelson, Harvey Hart, Herbert Kenwith, James Komack, John Erman, John Newland, Joseph Sargent, Lawrence Dobkin, Leo Penn, Michael O’Herlihy, Murray Golden

Writers

D.C. Fontana, Jerome Bixby, Arthur Heinemann, David Gerrold, Jerry Sohl, Oliver Crawford, Robert Bloch, David P. Harmon, Don Ingalls, Paul Schneider, Shimon Wincelberg, Steven W. Carabatsos, Theodore Sturgeon, Jean Lisette Aroeste, Art Wallace, Adrian Spies, Barry Trivers, Don Mankiewicz, Edward J. Lakso, Fredric Brown, George Clayton Johnson, George F. Slavin, Gilbert Ralston, Harlan Ellison