Hunter didn't just "pass away", he'd sustained a concussion from an onset prop explosion, while in Spain, and was flown to the USA immediately for treatment. Later at home, he fell on the stairs hitting his head and suffering an intracranial hemorrhage and skull fracture. He was finally found by a friend, but died following brain surgery. So, actually, the guy was accidentally killed, it sounds like. He'd parted ways with his wife before all of this. Obviously, she wasn't the best judge of what was a good career move. But, to be fair, nobody could have known that Star Trek was going to be any kind of big success. Shatner proved to be a good choice.
And technically, at the time Trek was NOT a successful show. Rock bottom rating. Took a letter writing campaign to save it once. No one expected it to do so well in syndication.
Jeffrey Hunter was critically injured in November 1968 while on location in Spain. A stunt car explosion went wrong and he received a concussion with head injuries. He was flown to LA where while convalescing at home he fell down stairs, struck his head and died the next day. RIP Captain Pike.
@@badgerattoadhall His film career kept him booked up with work around the world. He was working during show planning so they waited until the last minute to bring in Shatner. In my opinion he would have made a great ships captain. Maybe better than Kirk.
Originally the pilot episode was entitled "The Cage." When there was a time crunch during the series, parts of "The Cage" were used to make a two-part episode, "The Menagerie."
I had a friend who was an actor in the Star Trek series who told me that Jeffrey Hunter’s wife convinced him that the Star Trek series wasn’t a good series for him. So he dropped out. Apparently, he later regretted the move.
Two ironic comments: 1.) Science fiction was beneath him, and 2.) Hunter was a movie star. At the time Star Trek was conceived, science fiction was considered low budget, repetitive, and on the way out. The same thing was said about westerns prior to the movie Stagecoach, which revolutionized movie westerns. What Star Trek did for science fiction was more round about. Star Trek (and later 2001: A Space Odyssey) made Star Wars possible. Star Wars, in turn, made the Star Trek franchise possible.
@@worldtraveler930 I don't, except for the first part of the head comment. It was many years earlier that influenced the rest: War Of The Worlds. Then Lost In Space gave it all a good push or kick forward. Dr. Who and The Jetsons had some influence, too, all of these were before Star Trek. What Star Wars did for fantasy and space movie-making can not be explained in a simple TH-cam comment, and for the sake of long arguments, it was and still is the paramount example of excellence in such movie-making.
The Star Trek franchise was still chugging along nicely before Star Wars. While SW was being filmed, Star Trek convention attendance was strong, Star Trek paperbacks were selling, merchandise was on the shelves . . . and Paramount was waffling, as studios are wont to do. The suits swung back and forth from TV series to movie and back for five years. When they finally decided on Phase II, Star Wars came out and changed the game, so then the suits said MOVIE. Of course Trek benefitted enormously by Star Wars, but to say that SW made a Star Trek franchise possible is an overstatement because Trek was a thriving (though niche) franchise already.
I just looked up his wiki page, didn't know he died so young. Caused by an accident on a set and the injury leading to him falling down the stairs later at home and hitting his head. Rough.
It is a shame that Jeffrey Hunter died so young, also that he only appeared in the first pilot. But "The Cage" was so well done and his performance so good that Roddenberry brought back "The Cage" in Star Trek TOS as the 2 parter, "The Menagerie" which cemented Christopher Pike as an important part of Star Trek lore and the character is still thriving today in multiple Star Trek franchises. Without Jeffrey Hunter's performance, Pike might have been lost altogether. Captain Christopher Pike. My 2nd favorite Star Trek captain, largely due to Jeffrey Hunter.
Such a great two-part episode, it had everything; kidnapping, mutiny, court-martial, super intelligent aliens, Mr Spock's loyalty and you might even say empathy for his former captain. He did have that human side, after all. And that great question whether it would be better to live as a captive and have your mind free of your crippled body or be "free" and completely paralyzed.
I think that it's also a shame that they didn't go forward with the spin off series featuring the alien secret agent character Gary Seven , his "cat" and his bumbing but intelligent human secretary portrayed by Terri Garr.
It's also a shame he didn't tell his bratty, meddlesome wife to get off her high-horse and learn her place. Her infantile drama queen tactics cost him that role.
@@Earthneedsado-over177 I didn't know this episode's back story when I first saw it. Interesting how Nimoy gave a different slant to Spock in the pilot.
I _LOVED_ "The Menagerie"! It is my absolutely favourite Star Trek episode! I loved the fact that Spock was willing to lay down his life in order to free his former captain from a life of handicapped confinement and deliver him to Talos 4 where he would be able to live out his life more or less normally. Even the aliens were happy to deliver Pike from his terrible confinement to a life of normalcy and love with the woman they reassembled after her space craft had crashed there. This episode simply bursts with the teachings of the Gospel from the Bible, like loving your neighbour as yourself, and laying down your life for your friends. I'm 66 now but I get emotional every time I think about it or see it. Simply the greatest Star Trek episode without question. 👀😮👌😉💖💖💖😇
The teachings of the gospels are basically the rules of maintaining human society, they are the product of necessity. Without rules society could not flourish. It is the product of the human condition, and not any particular religion. The Greeks believed in Zeus. The Romans believed in Jupiter. The Vikings believed in Odin. Y'all (I assume) believe in Jehovah. And you all believe you're right.
Version I heard, Mrs. Hunter was all, "Jeff wants this and Jeff wants that and Jeff wants the other thing." Rodenberry wrote. "I could have delt with Jeff alone. Or Jeff and his agent. Or Jeff and a gorilla."
to me, having the wife come into my job site, even to say hello, is totally embarrassing...Iv'e never met any of the wives/husbands at my job..ever! it's odd....
@@davidwright873 Of the seven people at my job site, only one person's wife would come into the office or job site to bother him. We all know who was in charge of his house.
Back then, acting in TV was considered a significant step down from film acting. There's no way he could have known at the time what he was missing out on. I love the way the pilot got cut into "The Menagerie", possibly the best ST episode ever.
@@damac5136 are there still "actors" in sci fi films today? I thought it as all CGI now and a few stupid lines delivered by "complete unknowns" (which might be a good movie about Bob Dylan, LOL) !! Less than Zero interest for me! With Avatar 2 being a perfect example! ;D
@@ronschlorff7089 Believe it or not, it has next-to-nothing to do with you. My comment reflected the attitude of the entertainment industry at large at the moment, although HBO's incredible steps forward to revolutionalize the quality of TV has bent that, to be sure. Regarding your issue, it disturbs me as well. For as visually brilliant and incredibly stylish as the recent Dune movies were, they are so inhumane and cold at the same time, and not in an intended way. Even when two (living and breathing) actors are talking, it sounds like they are rooms apart. They can't even simply record actors talking any more, even that "has to" happen line-by-line in front of a studio mic. 🤮 Mind you, it doesn't help when your lead actor is an emo stiff who has next-to-no personality or masculinity to offer to a masculine, sympathetic role. 🙄
@@damac5136 Can't disagree with a single word you said. I have read all the "Dune" books, by Herbert. It was a long slog, but I had no nothing better to do on a long commute on a bus, years ago, back and forth to work, so, I "devoured" many sci fi books by the "greats" then. Of course, I knew Dune would be impossible to make a film of, even a good one. I did see the older version, and, I think, the other forgettable remake, and they were pretty ok, and I did not try to envision comparing to the books at the time. But newer movies sometimes try too hard I think and miss the main theme of books and other things used for reference. Just tell the story as best you can, and make people care about the characters, the way you sometimes do in a book you read. Add the CGI, if you must, but your actors should be the "stars "of the film, not the sets and "special effects". Somehow "Star Wars", the original 3, got both things right, for example!
True. It would have been a good series with Hunter but much more forgetable like the Outer Limits, Lost in Space, etc. TOS was never a hit during its run. It only became legendary during syndication. Unlike the so-far immortal William Shatner, Hunter died young and would not have been available for the animated series or long string of films.
@@everythingstemporary603 I wrote "more forgetable". While,yes, SOME people remember Lost in Space, that does not compare to Star Trek which spawned 13 films and 12 TV spin-offs.
William Shattner has said he was homeless living in his car when he got the job and that nobody ever expected the show to last long at all, which the original didn’t last very long, and it was 20 years before it was restarted and bloomed a whole industry of space entertainment.
And after the series he was living in a pickup camper with his dog because he couldn't afford hotels while he went from one acting job to the other. A divorce probably didn't help either especially with three kids.
@@JohnDoe-yj5ng Thank you for pointing that out, I had actually forgotten actor James Doohan was Canadian (dumb me). I just went to wiki to read about his life. It's a fascinating read, In 1939, Doohan enlisted in the Royal Canadian Artillery, and landed at Juno Beach on D-Day. Oddly, he was of Irish decent but named Scotty in the series. His Scottish brogue was masterful for a lad raised in Canada.
@@jimmcluhan2455 Yes, James Doohan was shot five or six times late on the night of D Day, June 6, 1944, as he tried to recross Canadian lines by a nervous sentry with a Bren gun automatic weapon. It took away one of his middle fingers on his left hand, another bullet hitting him in the chest but luckily stopped by a silver cigarette case his brother had given him. Three or four more bullets hit him in his legs. Almost unbelievably he did not develop a limp from it all! Scotty landed with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles at Courseulles-sur-mer but at around 10 am, after the initial assault wave had gone through the meat grinder of terrible losses. The Regina Rifles landed just to the left of them and Scotty probably traversed the place in the town where the Juno Beach Centre stands today. Scotty concealed the loss of his middle finger on the left hand so successfully all through the Star Trek series that it is only evident in one scene in "The Trouble With Tribbles."
Jeffery Hunter was good. His wife looked down on television like a lot of movie people back then. TV favored the kind of eccentric characterization that Shatner was born to do. The whole world of film acting was changing then, and Hunter was inflexible. He might have caught up if he hadn't died in 1969 from an accident making an Italian movie. A sad ending even though we got Captain James T Kirk out of it.
Nimoy wasn't the only one from the original pilot,yes his character Spock was, but Majel Barrett who portrayed number #1 & later nurse chapel in the original Star Trek series & later in Star Trek the next generation as councilor Troy's mother.
@@FredScuttle456 He died young because of an on-set explosion during 1969 filming of a low-budget film in Spain that he probably wouldn't have made if he had stayed with Star Trek.
"Hunter was injured in an on-set explosion when a car window near him, which had been rigged to explode outward, accidentally exploded inward." - wiki later died of intercranial hemorrhage. am I the only one suspecting the ex-wife XD
@@LindaJack-u9fWait a minute, did he die from the imploding car window or from the fall on the stairs? Can’t imagine that both happened at the same time.
@@adamesd3699The exploding car window gave him a head injury which later caused him to black out while climbing outdoor stairs at his home. He fell onto brickwork and smashed his head.
I always like seeing pilot episodes and seeing how they not only replace or change the character traits. Spock is definitely more emotive in the pilot than he is for the rest of series. Kramer in Seinfeld was a guy suffering from agoraphobia and didn't leave the building in years in the pilot.
It was initially James R. Kirk. In the episode “Where no man has gone before” when Gary Mitchel creates a headstone for the grave he’s about to put Kirk in the stone says James R. Kirk.
I don’t think Star Trek Would have become the long lived and loved franchise that it is without William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk and of course Leonard Nimoy as Spock and DeForest Kelly as bones. Now I think I’m going to go and watch one of my favorite episodes. I feel a need for a galactic adventure and to meet some exotic woman.
Before Gene Roddenberry offered Shatner the role as Kirk he tried to get Jack Lord. But just like with the 007 series where he demanded equal billing with Sean Connery Lord made outrageous demands. He wanted 1/2 ownership of the Star Trek franchise. I heard he was a real dick on Hawaii Five O too but since he was the star they had to deal with him.
Jack Lord had a real problem on 5-0, most of the actors and crew were untrained locals. That must have been frustrating for a serious actor. I have been watching the original 5-0 since I discovered that the library had a complete set on DVDs. I liked it as a kid, I love it as an adult. Every season (that I have watched so far) had some great brilliantly innovative episodes. Although too many episodes end with a shootout with the bad guys always shooting first (Han Solo definitely shot Greedo first).
@@Foolish188 I only watched it in my teens, haven't seen it recently. I recall the local characters as being very likeable and engaging. Of course Jack Lord ruled the whole thing... Oh, yeah, all of us old timers who watched SW in the cinema back in 1977 know Solo shot first. Shame on Lucas for trying to change that.
Way back in the day, the given explanation (even repeated on stuff like TCM) was that he thought TV was "beneath him" and when it came time to do the second pilot, he had already committed to a movie role. I wouldn't be surprised if these things were true, but it was his wife who stated it rather than him.
Thanks for the info. I’ve heard some of this information, but not as much as you presented. I liked Jeffrey Hunter and portraying Jesus in The King of Kings in that time was huge. Jeffrey Hunter would have been justified in believing he was a top star. Gene Roddenberry came to our college campus in 75 and gave a very interesting background of himself and Star Trek. He paused his speech and started the original pilot with Jeffrey Hunter. The theater was completely silent and mesmerized by a very different Star Trek. It was quite an experience. At this point in time we have seen many Star Trek captains and crew members. William Shatner did an excellent job of portraying an intelligent, charismatic, smiling ambassador of Earth. But I think a Star Trek series with 2 ships and 2 captains would have been very interesting. We’ve come to accept that situation in newer versions of Star Trek’s
If anything this video is very interesting because it brings to light the situation with Jeffrey Hunter and the Star Trek franchise and every Star Trek convention I've been to that topic of conversation always comes up in one form or another to this day🖖
Jeff Hunter would have been great continuing as Captain Pike, although, in any other capacity, if the idea of recasting Captain Pike on a more modern capacity, Ray Liotta would have been ideal for the role as they very much look alike
Jeffrey Hunter and the Captain Pike character were very appealing. One of the major plot lines in the pilot was that he and Spock were very close and fond of each other, and as a result of the loss of his friend, it probably took Spock awhile to warm up to Captain Kirk. Also, I liked the way the pilot looked, felt and played like a classic '50s science fiction flick ("Forbidden Planet"?) and Hunter fit right in with that. In the pilot, that familiar eerie, wailing noise on the planet heard in so many '50s sci-fi movies is cleverly explained when the crew comes across those vibrating plants.
Hunter was handsome and a good actor. It's a shame that he and his wife could not envision the future of Star Trek, especially on the Big Screen. It has made Shatner a whole career and a boatload of money and prominence - even a "ride to the stars". All of that could have belonged to Hunter. If he had stayed with Star Trek, he would not have died when he did. He wouldn't have been injured by exploding glass that was set up incorrectly in a movie. One decision can affect a person's entire career and even lead to that person's death. I'm so sorry about his death and his loss of playing Captain Kirk, but I am glad that Shatner filled the void wonderfully for so many years.
Fate is the Hunter, no pun intended. Every life has would haves and could haves and what ifs. I think about it everyday; what would happen if I left home driving one minute earlier or one minute later? Might I have avoided a crash that I will never know about?
"All of that could have belonged to Hunter." Not necessarily. You can't hypothetically change a major ingredient of a TV show, such as the main star, and assume everything would have still happened the same way as it did in reality. Who's to say that Star Trek would have even made it past the first season with Hunter playing the captain?
Well, if Jeffery Hunter had remained Captain and passed away in 1969, there would have been a different path for the OS Star Trek, instead of all the OS Trek movies that we got. Who knows what might have happened.
It would've been a very different Star Trek and with his death, who knows how it would've carried on after the cancellation. Although, it's possible he wouldn't have died if he didn't have the previous head injury from that movie accident in late 1968. Sad.
If he had gone on with Star Trek he probably wouldn't have done the italian movie where the accident happened. Who knows...? At least he had the sense to divorce his troublemaking wife...
The accident that gave Jeff Hunter the severe concussion was from a poorly rigged stunt car explosion in Spain. This was in November of 1968. If he would have stuck with Star Trek, he would have been safely filming that TV show in Hollywood. Instead, in May of 1969, he had the intracranial hemorrhage that killed him while walking down the stairs of his home.
TV in its infancy was the haven for failed stars, 2nd and 3rd bananas, bit players, and character actors. The big studios, while on the verge of being taken over by corporate America, did not want any of their stable of stars accepting recurring roles in TV. John Wayne was asked to star in the TV version of the radio show Gunsmoke, but he turned it down and recommended James Arness, who had roles in B movies and a few John Wayne westerns. Of course, the rest was history. If you look back at the time, you see older H-town actors having starring roles on TV because their good looks had gone with age, and TV was a good fallback paycheck for them. One of Hollywood's biggest TV stars was Lucille Ball, who never really hit the jackpot as an actress in movies, but she did have recurring roles on two radio shows. Same goes for Desi Arnaz. As for Hunter, he was still working in movies. I can see that those involved felt TV was beneath him as an actor, but those were the times that prevailed.
I read a behind-the-scenes book about ST (authored by Roddenberry or a producer?) some years ago in which he wrote something like "WithThe Cage' we tried to be too proud" whatever that meant; perhaps he thought it was too long, over-complex or slowmoving, I don't know. In the same book in an "advice for scriptwriters" chapter it said "We want to maintain a fast pace" which presumably meant short, sharp to-the point episodes, a formula that worked well throughout the rest of the series..:)
Excellent point. It does seem that NBC was promised an "action/adventure" show with "action/drama" tales interspersed. The network did complain about the "slow pace". Yes, I believe the book you found was one that few Treksters have ever read before: the invaluable The Making of Star Trek, first offered in 1968. [It appears that subsequent editions cut out valuable material like the point you just made. Earliest possible editions are best].
I'm a bigtime fan of the 2-part Menagerie episode and to a lesser extent of the original pilot The Cage. Sci Fi at its best in writing, themes, intelligence, respect for science (which, imo, is sorely absent in all of today's Trek franchises) and layers of weirdness (tapped a bit from the original Outer Limits which ended a short time before Trek started). It was the best thing by far Gene Roddenberry did as a writer. But even I concede that Shatner's aggressive external energy suited the format of a series more. Part of me wished that Hunter had stuck around but, in fact, the dynamic between Spock and the Captain would probably not have devoped as it did. And THAT'S the one thing genuinely original about the entire ST series. Spock is the best thing that ever happened to the show.
@@GrumpyGringo When I first started watching STAR TREK (a few weeks in), the only thing I'd ever seen that it reminded me of was THE OUTER LIMITS. ST was like OL in color with a regular cast & setting. Especially the first half of season 1 (when Roddenberry was producing, before Gene Coon took over and made it more "viewer-friendly"). Turns out a lot of behind-the-scenes people worked on both shows. It also cracks me up that in "Arena", the voice of the alien is Vic Perrin-- "The Control Voice" from THE OUTER LIMITS. I like to joke that "Arena" was an OL-ST crossover episode. He forces the Enterprise crew to watch as Kirk battles the Gorn. "For the next hour, we will control all that you see and hear." 😆
Yes, to me Spock IS Star Trek, end of story. With all due apologies to the other bridge members of TOS Enterprise!! Uhura was always calm under pressure, so was Mr. Sulu, poor Chekov often freaked out, but was funny, and of course Spock would methodically do a detailed computer analysis to solve their problems, while everyone else was getting ready to die! And captain Kirk was good too, at faking being in command when he was far out of it, once by "playing some poker" when they were in the grip of the Huge alien ship Presarius, in the "Corbomite Maneuver", one of my faves; and all Scotty often needed was just "30 more minutes" to bend the laws of physics and prevent the Enterprise from "blowing up"!! ;D Right, the "Outer Limits", original 1960's series, was a gem! I often watch episodes of it when nothing else interests me on the "tube", which has become almost always now! Yes, TV today's "Ignorance makes me ill, and Angry", to quote a memorable line from "The Sixed Finger" episode, which I watched again recently!! Delivered, as an "evolved human" character, by the late great actor David McCallum. LOL ;D
@@ronschlorff7089 My favorite Outer Limits of all is the 2-part THE INHERITORS with Robert Duvall. One of the best pcs of sci fi ever written for tv. The creator of the series had a physics degree, so the show was always "smart" (even the weaker episodes). Lots of particle physics in the dialogue and plot elements. I think this lent precedence for Roddenberry's approach to Star Trek when he started developing his pilot. BTW, a moment of geek trivia here to embarrass myself: I think Outer Limits was the first American series ever to insert the word "damn" in the dialogue; in a still-repressed era when tv censors even made it a tough fight for Shatner to get away with "let's get the hell out of here" in City On The Edge Of Forever. And, in fact, it was a Shatner Outer Limits: Cold Hand, Warm Heart in the 2nd season (sort of a sci fictional version of Neal Armstrong, 'cept here he orbits Venus and comes back hallucinating); soldiers trying to pry open a jammed metal door to the treatment chamber where Shatner lies unconscious, n' one of 'em blurts, "man, this door's damn tough." It was such a throwaway line, it probably got passed the censors. (Btw, I used to not care much for this particular episode; but in more recent years having revisited it, I find it very enjoyable. A convincing fictional biography of an astronaut in early tv when NASA had only recently gotten us into orbit.)
@@robvangessel3766 Yup, all good stuff, I do like the "Cameleon" of TOL with Robert Duvall, (great scene of him killing that guy in the Mexican bar with a fly swatter, who knew it was such a great garroter, LOL) who was is a great actor of many genres, Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Lonesome Dove, etc. But, his all-time best line, for me, is: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning", as some Viet Cong are being roasted alive by it in the nearby jungle!! LOL :D. And of course, "THX1138" being a classic sci fi movie of the earlier years of his and Lucas' career, and still a first tier "go to" for me when nothing is on TV, like about every night, for example!! "Come with us, you have nowhere to go, ...you have Nowhere to Go", a starkly accurate statement that still applies for most of us, ...especially now!! ;D LOL
Don’t forget that Majel Barrett (later Majel Barrett-Roddenberry) came back as Nurse Christine Chapel. She’d played the First Officer (with long dark hair) in the pilot with Jeffrey Hunter.
Back in the early Star Trek days, there was a major stigma put on TV actors and actresses. Most movie stars felt it beneath them to get involved in TV shows.
And prior to the 80s, a movie star that stooped to doing commercials was basically disgraced. Doing a commercial was proof that they were strapped for cash. Things have really changed.
I often wondered why the captain changed from Pike to Kirk as well as why only the character, Spock, carried over from The Cage to the original series.
Exactly. Producers Herb Solow and Bob Justman's book, "Inside Star Trek", also backs up Shatner and Nimoy's stories that the wife was the issue. It's a good book that corrects a lot of previous rumors/stories. Some element of the fanbase (people who weren't there) are trying to paint it differently for some reason.
It wasn't just Spock that came back from the original pilot. Majel Barrett played number one on the pilot, and then nurse Chapel on the OS. She was married to Roddenberry.
Great actor was this gentleman. He played Jesus in 'King of Kings' (1961) which (I seem to recall) was the first time in a colour movie, that actually showed Jesus' face and full body. When the part of Jesus was played in movies prior to this one, it was rare (in fact unknown up to King of Kings) for an actor playing Jesus, to show his face, due to a 'loose' agreement with Religious entities, such as the Catholic church, that no living actor should display the face/eyes of Jesus on screen. So only the actors back, lower body etc. were shown by anyone playing Jesus. Jeffrey was brilliant as our Lord & Saviour, his blue eyes alone, pleased just about everyone who saw that film! How sad was it, the way he died aged just 42? He was badly diagnosed when he suffered a serious head injury, whilst in a scene which featured a bomb exploding in a car. The 'explosion' went badly wrong, and he suffered a severe concussion as a result. He went home to 'recover' but despite being hospitalised for a short while, the Doctors said that apart from the concussion, he was fine. Just 6 months later, he suffered an episode where he fell down a flight of stairs, fracturing his skull and he died shortly after from an intracranial haemorrhage! He was interred at Glen Haven Memorial Park in Sylmar, LA! Taken far too young! (Hope I haven't bored anyone, he was actually my cousin.) I can also say, without any doubts, _the story about Emily his wife interfering in the way described with the Star Wars director,_ *_has NO grounding in truth!_* They married in 1969 and Jeff died just 3 months later! She was in 'General Hospital' for almost 30 years, and she _never re-married, she still missed Jeff desperately until her own death!_ Due to ill health, she retired from 'General Hospital' in 1991 (March) and passed away 6 weeks later, I believe, from a broken heart!
AGREED! As a kid, I had NO IDEA what they'd done. In truth, production was beginning to run LATE, and "The Menagerie" gave them a chance to both get a week ahead, AND, use most of that expensive footage which had NOT been seen yet. By comparison, in the 70s, more and more pilots were made as "tv-movies" which were aired 6 months or a year before a show began, IF it was picked up at all. Before then, most unsold pilots were never seen by the public at all. Of course, with this in mind, it makes no sense that at least 2 earlier episodes were "held back" and not run until AFTER "The Menagerie"-- "Balance Of Terror" (which aired right after it) and "Court Martial" (aired about a month later). Most of the plot of "Court Martial" becomes REDUNDANT, if you watch it after "The Menagerie", rather than right before it, when it was made.
It's right up there among the best, but I still lean to "Balance of Terror," particularly Mark Lenard's role, in which he makes the Romulan commander a sympathetic enemy.
If Jeffery Hunter died before the end of the sixties then that would mean, by his perspective, Star Trek was JUST another TV show that had only modest success.. It was only after his death when Star Trek went into syndication and the long years of its resurgent popularity in reruns effectively created successful careers for the actors on the show. I doubt he spent much time regretting his decision. If he had lived a decent life span perhaps he might have.
Star trek of the 1960s was only a moderate success. It only had 3 seasons. While next Gen had 6 or 7 seasons plus voyager and ds9!!! Spin offs. Only in syndication did Star trek take off in the 1970s. They brought it back with a cartoon and then ultimately the movie in 1979.
The Menagerie set the stage for all OS installments. It was a nearly perfect Science fiction program. I believe it approached and surpassed Forbidden planet which to me was the “Enter the Dragon” sort of genre iconic moment in film. Let’s face it .. TOS was pure imagination, fun and new territory that redefined Science fiction for all time..
It is interesting how popular Star Trek has become. I heard that the series was basically a flop, and got cancelled after only 3 seasons. It was replayed in the early seventies when I was a little kid, and finally became popular.
"Relativity" and not just Albo's version. Back then actors had to act, and writers had to write. Special effects, dated, were added for "interest and relevance" to a basic script. Today CGI gets all the credit and any "acting" is pretty much an afterthought, just penciled in. That's why the sequels and remakes today of older sci fi suck, they all depend on CGI, to appeal to the kiddies. So, it's become a basic "chewing gum for the mind"!! LOL
...the series was not a flop...after the episode where kirk and uhura kiss,the KKK had all the southern states drop trek and they also lost ½there(racist)sponsers
I'm in my eighties. Jeffrey Hunter was a big movie star. He did "King of Kings" which was considered a pretty good movie about Christ. Common folks liked it. I always felt his performance in "Hell to Eternity" was great. He was a better actor than Shatner, but to see him doing TV shows was like seeing Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne doing a TV series. Although he did other TV programs, It seemed beneath him. The chemistry wasn't there until Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley showed up to make it a hit. Deforest did a lot of western movies but was never a leading man like Hunter. It all really doesn't matter because Star Trek was a hit that was not supported by NBC, but was later successful when they started doing movies.
More of a film "actor" than a star. Most of his movies after 1961's "King of Kings" are rather obscure, with many of them low-budget affairs filmed in Spain or Italy.
People forget the original Star Trek was a minor hit that lasted 3 yesrs. It resurected many years later and became movies and a mega franchise. Shatner was in obscurity for many years till the 1st ST movie.
@@fredneecher1746 "The Star Trek series was compulsory viewing in Britain in the 1980s, before the first Star Trek movie was made." The first Star Trek movie was released in 1979, which I'm sure you'll agree was before the 1980s.
"People forget the original Star Trek was a minor hit that lasted 3 yesrs. It resurected many years later and became movies and a mega franchise. Shatner was in obscurity for many years till the 1st ST movie." No, Star Trek became a big hit in syndication throughout the 1970s. The first Star Trek convention was in 1972, 3 years after the show was canceled. The big fan base the show acquired in syndication is was prompted the first Star Trek movie in 1979.
I LIVED the Star Trek history. To say the fans had no effect is the foolishness of your "point." WE also attended Star Trek conventions long before the original movie came out. Dude, you couldn't even spell LUCY correctly. EDUCATE YOURSELF, then focus on others. Try not to be stupid. It makes you look stupid. You give Trekkers a bad name. @tpl608
Technically Majel Barrett was in both. Just because. (I think she managed to be in most things Trek even after Gene passed away) She was the voice of the computer and Nurse Chapel in TOS.
@SlashFilm, some of your information is incorrect. You state that "only Leonard Nimoy's modified Spock coming back for the 2nd version of the show." -- FALSE. (See 1:04 , above.) Gene Roddenberry also brought back actress MAJEL BARRETT, who played nurse Christine Chapel (Dr. McCoy's loyal assistant) in the long-running series, but played Captain Pike's second in command, known as "Number One" in the original pilot series. Barett was a brunette in the pilot, and looked much different as a polite, talkative blonde in the series.
Christopher Pike. So weird that Captain Kirk was later played by actor Chris Pine in the later three Star Trek remake movies (all directed by Jar Jar Abrams).
I thought Jeffery Hunter was great in "The Searchers" and King of Kings." His portrayal of Captain Pike was more introspective than that of Captain Kirk, but still good in it's own way. Who knows how the series would have done with Hunter in the captain's chair. 🤔
I remember. An episode on the original series. Where they had that satellite that was looking for it's creator Captain Kirk. Told the satellite. That your creator. Was James Roy Kirk Not james t Kirk. That's when the satellite started having a meltdown.
Jeffrey Hunter is one of my favorites of that era, and I believe better-looking; interesting speculation as to what persona as the Captain, and his attending physician, as well, would have been
Often pilot actors don't continue into a series, unless the pilot was built around the comedy or drama of a particular actor. Pilot work paid bills and was typically a one off short job that doesn't tie you down since over half the pilots don't get picked up. Hunter had jobs in 1966 in movies that paid better than TV series work in the lowest paid studio Desilu. He starred in a SpyFi film that very year about a sexy secret agent with a time travel device. That too might become a series and was in vogue with all the spy films and shows of the mid 60s: Bond, The Saint, Avengers, Matt Helm, Flint... The next year he was in a major top tier studio western as 1st supporting actor. Then he did some international B movies has his movie peak was 1955 to 1967. Often the Star Trek people seeit all from their POV instead of seeing things from a bigger world of Hollywood. If For the People had been renewed for a 2nd season, then Kirk might have been Jack Lord...book em Spocko
Sounds like Hunter's wife was Star Trek's Yoko Ono. He'd likely had lived a much longer life and would have become a cultural icon as Kirk, as played by Shatner, eventually did. It's easy to see the similarities between Kirk and Pike. Hunter would have evolved Pike's character just as Shatner did with Kirk.
Captain Pike was a more serious character. Kirk gave a more comedic slant to it and looked good while fighting an alien, possibly with his shirt off. They had the prime directive to not interfere, and every episode ended with a fist fight between Kirk and the main alien, and the aliens agreeing to change their ways and do things Kirk's way from then on. It was so two-faced while acting all serious about it, a hilarious parody of government at that time.
William Shatner is the best thing to ever happen to Star Trek original series, that plus the great casting of Spock, McCoy and Scotty. Kirk played by Shatner was strong and charismatic (charming, with sometimes a dash of humor in some episodes), a better choice over Hunter's Pike portrayal which was more serious and dramatic. Hunter was still a great actor though, just different in tone.
Excellent critique. Shatner was all those things and had qualities that spanned the generations of his audience. As a teenager in the 60's my father then in his mid 50's would watch every episode equally enjoying together.
@@Patrick-yh5yd Nichelle Nichols was impressive to me too, as a kid. She was all about being a professional, which was weird to me as all the women I knew were housewives. [edit whoops, and teachers, some of them excellent]
It's sad that Hunter chose not to do the show. He was a much better actor than Shatner who made the character of captain into camp. The character of Picard brought back the sensibility and intellect with which a starship captain would actually have to perform. Roddenberry's choice of Patrick Stewart speaks volumes about what he actually wanted. As did the choice of Kate Mulgrew for Voyager.
I like the role he portrayed as "Lt.Tom Cantrell" in the 1960 John Ford movie, "SERGEANT RUTLEDGE." It was mentioned that he would have portrayed A TV DAD as "MIKE BRADY in THE BRADY BUNCH," but the role went to Robert Reed.
Take a view of how William Shatner acted in a scene in the second season episode "A Piece of the Action" where in captivity by Bela's goons, Kirk invents "Fizbin." In the way William Shatner acted out that scene I cannot picture any other actor and even those who were considered for the captain's role, like Lloyd Bridges, Jack Lord, or even Jeffrey Hunter could have played that scene better than William Shatner did. IMHO of course.
jeffery hunter was an absolute excellent pick to be the captain of the enterprise, great acting and a powerful presents, we all love shatner as kirk but jeffrey would have been just as good , captain pike was just a small flicker in the wind of history but he was so good we will never forget him, , , , , , hats off to shatner in his 90s now , and r.i.p. jeffrey , Godspeed
After seeing the pilot I believe the executives wanted everyone replaced. There had to be a fight to keep Spock. People can whine all they want about Shatner. He was exciting and entertaining, he has very powerful moments in the series. Jeffery was boring playing the same kind of character in other science fiction series that we don't talk about because they've been forgotten.
Hunter was good, but his portrayal of ship's captain was too dour and downbeat for what the network deemed was needed. Not Hunter's fault, just the "cerebral" tone that the first pilot set. It's because he was so good, and made such an impression, that a recasting was for the best. It would not have been good for Hunter's Pike to come back with a vastly different personality. Fortunately, Shatner's Kirk turned out to be the perfect choice for the direction NBC wanted to take.
"...wife started coming to production meetings..." Well, we all see that it happens even at the highest of levels, like Chill Bye-Den showing up to little joey's cabinet playtime, don't we?
We're so used to William Shatner i.e. James Kirk as captain that it would be hard to imagine anybody else as captain of the TOS Enterprise, even Jeffery Hunter continuing as Captain Pike.
Star Trek would have been different with Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike but it would have been just as good. Perhaps better because Hunter was a much better actor than Shatner (who couldn’t find subtlety in the middle of a snowstorm in winter).
Why would anybody watch a TV show from the 1960s in the 1980s and 1990s, let alone in the 21st century? By then, the special efx (like the talking shoebox for a computer) looked like a kindergarten drama production. The show would need a unique quality, not just good acting. Subtlety? Captain Kirk was ridiculous, banging alien women all over the universe, swaggering around the galaxy like Ceasar of the Stars. Shatner is the only actor who could make that work.
Hunter also did a secret agent / Science Fiction film called "Dimension Five" with France Nuyen in 1966. So it seems SciFI was not below him as a reason for passing on Star Trek.
I read the 1969 star trek book into the production of the series. It is an Amazing read for the 50 cents I paid for it. Roddenberry did amazing things with what little he had and changed the WORLD..!!!!!
My second cousin (my mother's cousin) was a neighbor of William Shatner's back when the original Star Trek series was popular. I think they lived next door. He didn't talk about it but his son, my second cousin, once removed, told me about it. LOL! My second cousin was in advertising and moved back to the east coast a few years later.
More the role was made for Shatner. In the original pilot for Shatner Kirk is lot more like Pike. Much more introspective and, er, depressed. There is very little of the poker player playboy. Come "The Corbomite Maneuver" and we literally have Kirk the poker player in charge. The reason, I understand, is the Shatner's own personality started to come to the fore and it made it's way into the scripts. So Shatner, somehow - I was not there, I was not born then, i was not even in the USA - got the scripts to adapt to his style and personality.
Color TVs were very rare in the 1960s. They started to catch-on around 1970. That's when the show took off. By then Jeffrey Hunter had already died of a heart attack.
This reminds me of a story about Philip K Dick. When he first tried writing SciFi his girlfriend said something like "You're better than this. Why are you wasting your talent writing for people with pimples". Dick's reply: "People with pimples need literature too".
If memory serves,Spock wasn't the only character from the first pilot to go to the second pilot. Scotty and Sulu were also in the original pilot, with different duties than what they ended up with
@@michaelbaucom4019 That happens in Where No Man Has Gone Before, the second pilot. Only Spock (and the actress Majel Barrett playing a different character) went on into the series from the first pilot.
Hunter didn't just "pass away", he'd sustained a concussion from an onset prop explosion, while in Spain, and was flown to the USA immediately for treatment. Later at home, he fell on the stairs hitting his head and suffering an intracranial hemorrhage and skull fracture. He was finally found by a friend, but died following brain surgery. So, actually, the guy was accidentally killed, it sounds like. He'd parted ways with his wife before all of this. Obviously, she wasn't the best judge of what was a good career move. But, to be fair, nobody could have known that Star Trek was going to be any kind of big success. Shatner proved to be a good choice.
Back then, good episodes were matched with poor episodes.
He had a pretty serious alcohol problem as well.
Shatner = a GREAT choice.
Nimoy was the glue that held the show together. That, and Gene's writing, lol.
And technically, at the time Trek was NOT a successful show. Rock bottom rating. Took a letter writing campaign to save it once. No one expected it to do so well in syndication.
Despite him not coming back, he's well remembered among ST fans. He was great while he was in it.
At the time when the original series aired, the TV watchers of the show would have just assumed he was guest starring in a 2 part Star Trek story.
Typical Trekkers, they love every actor who played even a small part, like Hunter and for example Jason Alexander.
He is the ST version of Marvin Martian, one of the great stars who only appeared in one episode. Ok 2 but it was a re-cut.
Jeffrey Hunter was critically injured in November 1968 while on location in Spain. A stunt car explosion went wrong and he received a concussion with head injuries. He was flown to LA where while convalescing at home he fell down stairs, struck his head and died the next day. RIP Captain Pike.
@@shayjohnson5830 In 1976 I named my first son Christopher (after Chris Pike) How many boys were named after a Starship Captain?
Ok I heard he died and that is why he was not in the series.
@@badgerattoadhall His film career kept him booked up with work around the world. He was working during show planning so they waited until the last minute to bring in Shatner. In my opinion he would have made a great ships captain. Maybe better than Kirk.
I had no idea about all that. What movie was he filming in Spain?
@@Louis-iz8nq Cry Chicago
The original Menagerie was excellent and Jeffrey Hunter was great in the role.
Kirk was ultimately the better captain
Originally the pilot episode was entitled "The Cage." When there was a time crunch during the series, parts of "The Cage" were used to make a two-part episode, "The Menagerie."
@@wdd3141
Yes, I have the original pilot VHS tape of "The Cage".
@@DukeRhodes Hunter was a better actor. But his character might have been too dark for mass audiences then.
Of course.
However, you mean "The Cage".
The Menagerie is absolutely brilliant. Gene Roddenberry was an excellent writer in his own right.
And D. C. Fontana, too. She was an excellent writer!!!
The original Captain Kirk was Leonard Nimoy.
Wrote some damn good "Have Gun Will Travel" episodes.
Was fantastic
It was called the Cage, the 2 parter was called the Managerie
I had a friend who was an actor in the Star Trek series who told me that Jeffrey Hunter’s wife convinced him that the Star Trek series wasn’t a good series for him. So he dropped out. Apparently, he later regretted the move.
I saw a TV documentary which claimed Hunter's wife refused the series.
She said her husband was a movie actor, not a TV actor.
@@FredScuttle456:
Not to disrespect the guy but only a cuck lets his wife manage his career. Yes, sometimes it does work out, but not as a rule.
Kind of reminds me of how IBM approached Gary Killdal to license his version of DOS for IBM's personal computers, but his wife turned them away.
I wonder if she ever regretted her opinion , If he had lived longer and done the series how much bigger a “Star” he might have become
Captain should not have grabbed that P_ss y
Two ironic comments: 1.) Science fiction was beneath him, and 2.) Hunter was a movie star. At the time Star Trek was conceived, science fiction was considered low budget, repetitive, and on the way out. The same thing was said about westerns prior to the movie Stagecoach, which revolutionized movie westerns. What Star Trek did for science fiction was more round about. Star Trek (and later 2001: A Space Odyssey) made Star Wars possible. Star Wars, in turn, made the Star Trek franchise possible.
I second that motion!!! 🤠👍
@@worldtraveler930 I don't, except for the first part of the head comment.
It was many years earlier that influenced the rest: War Of The Worlds. Then Lost In Space gave it all a good push or kick forward. Dr. Who and The Jetsons had some influence, too, all of these were before Star Trek. What Star Wars did for fantasy and space movie-making can not be explained in a simple TH-cam comment, and for the sake of long arguments, it was and still is the paramount example of excellence in such movie-making.
as usual his wife had a say in his role as captain pike, she wanted him to do movies instead.
The Star Trek franchise was still chugging along nicely before Star Wars. While SW was being filmed, Star Trek convention attendance was strong, Star Trek paperbacks were selling, merchandise was on the shelves . . . and Paramount was waffling, as studios are wont to do. The suits swung back and forth from TV series to movie and back for five years. When they finally decided on Phase II, Star Wars came out and changed the game, so then the suits said MOVIE. Of course Trek benefitted enormously by Star Wars, but to say that SW made a Star Trek franchise possible is an overstatement because Trek was a thriving (though niche) franchise already.
Star Wars , sadly is to blame for Sci-Fi going down the tubes with so many crappy movies coming out now.
Jeff Hunter was a great captain and a good film actor. It's too bad he died so young.
He was in The Searchers alongside John Wayne. It is considered a great Western. I'm glad he got a great part in a Classic movie.
@@jadedbrad Yup, "The Searchers" was certainly one of Jeff Hunter's best roles and one of John Wayne's best too, imo.
I just looked up his wiki page, didn't know he died so young. Caused by an accident on a set and the injury leading to him falling down the stairs later at home and hitting his head. Rough.
@@kamuelalee Hell to Eternity is also a great role....I haven't seen it in years....
Worth Seeing It Again.
Hell To Eternity, Based On True WW2 Story Of
Pied Piper Of Saipan.
It is a shame that Jeffrey Hunter died so young, also that he only appeared in the first pilot. But "The Cage" was so well done and his performance so good that Roddenberry brought back "The Cage" in Star Trek TOS as the 2 parter, "The Menagerie" which cemented Christopher Pike as an important part of Star Trek lore and the character is still thriving today in multiple Star Trek franchises.
Without Jeffrey Hunter's performance, Pike might have been lost altogether.
Captain Christopher Pike. My 2nd favorite Star Trek captain, largely due to Jeffrey Hunter.
Such a great two-part episode, it had everything; kidnapping, mutiny, court-martial, super intelligent aliens, Mr Spock's loyalty and you might even say empathy for his former captain. He did have that human side, after all. And that great question whether it would be better to live as a captive and have your mind free of your crippled body or be "free" and completely paralyzed.
I think that it's also a shame that they didn't go forward with the spin off series featuring the alien secret agent character Gary Seven , his "cat" and his bumbing but intelligent human secretary portrayed by Terri Garr.
It's also a shame he didn't tell his bratty, meddlesome wife to get off her high-horse and learn her place. Her infantile drama queen tactics cost him that role.
@@Earthneedsado-over177 I didn't know this episode's back story when I first saw it.
Interesting how Nimoy gave a different slant to Spock in the pilot.
Hunter's performance was solid, but his life was not. His wife was a problem.
I _LOVED_ "The Menagerie"! It is my absolutely favourite Star Trek episode! I loved the fact that Spock was willing to lay down his life in order to free his former captain from a life of handicapped confinement and deliver him to Talos 4 where he would be able to live out his life more or less normally. Even the aliens were happy to deliver Pike from his terrible confinement to a life of normalcy and love with the woman they reassembled after her space craft had crashed there. This episode simply bursts with the teachings of the Gospel from the Bible, like loving your neighbour as yourself, and laying down your life for your friends. I'm 66 now but I get emotional every time I think about it or see it. Simply the greatest Star Trek episode without question. 👀😮👌😉💖💖💖😇
The teachings of the gospels are basically the rules of maintaining human society, they are the product of necessity.
Without rules society could not flourish.
It is the product of the human condition, and not any particular religion.
The Greeks believed in Zeus.
The Romans believed in Jupiter.
The Vikings believed in Odin.
Y'all (I assume) believe in Jehovah.
And you all believe you're right.
Agree totally. 'The Menagerie' is the best and most emotional episode of 'Star Trek.'
@@fubartotale3389 Why be blind? Read the first chapter of Romans and let the scales fall from your eyes.
One of my favorite episodes too
....reaching for a kleenex... got it.
Version I heard, Mrs. Hunter was all, "Jeff wants this and Jeff wants that and Jeff wants the other thing." Rodenberry wrote. "I could have delt with Jeff alone. Or Jeff and his agent. Or Jeff and a gorilla."
Good story!!
Or Jeff in spandex
Wow. Hunter suffered the Yoko Ono Effect.
Once again, brevity is the soul of wit.
Spot on Fred.
His character could have been played by Ray Liotta if they had rebooted the series in the early 90s.
Agreed, he really reminds me of a young Ray Liotta as well!
aw you beat me to it
RIP Ray Liotta!
He looks like Ray Liotta crossed with Chuck Woolery.
Imagine the goodfellas cast on the enterprise.
So Hunter's wife basically Yoko Ono'd his career.
to me, having the wife come into my job site, even to say hello, is totally embarrassing...Iv'e never met any of the wives/husbands at my job..ever! it's odd....
extremely well said 😂
@@davidwright873
Of the seven people at my job site, only one person's wife would come into
the office or job site to bother him. We all know who was in charge of his house.
@@davidwright873 Never met any wives and husbands at your job... That means you never met any of your employers or anyone else at your job...
Wife just there to make sure there are no girls hitting on her husband...
Back then, acting in TV was considered a significant step down from film acting. There's no way he could have known at the time what he was missing out on. I love the way the pilot got cut into "The Menagerie", possibly the best ST episode ever.
It still is.
@@damac5136 are there still "actors" in sci fi films today? I thought it as all CGI now and a few stupid lines delivered by "complete unknowns" (which might be a good movie about Bob Dylan, LOL) !! Less than Zero interest for me! With Avatar 2 being a perfect example! ;D
@@ronschlorff7089 Believe it or not, it has next-to-nothing to do with you. My comment reflected the attitude of the entertainment industry at large at the moment, although HBO's incredible steps forward to revolutionalize the quality of TV has bent that, to be sure.
Regarding your issue, it disturbs me as well. For as visually brilliant and incredibly stylish as the recent Dune movies were, they are so inhumane and cold at the same time, and not in an intended way. Even when two (living and breathing) actors are talking, it sounds like they are rooms apart. They can't even simply record actors talking any more, even that "has to" happen line-by-line in front of a studio mic. 🤮
Mind you, it doesn't help when your lead actor is an emo stiff who has next-to-no personality or masculinity to offer to a masculine, sympathetic role. 🙄
@@damac5136 Can't disagree with a single word you said. I have read all the "Dune" books, by Herbert. It was a long slog, but I had no nothing better to do on a long commute on a bus, years ago, back and forth to work, so, I "devoured" many sci fi books by the "greats" then. Of course, I knew Dune would be impossible to make a film of, even a good one. I did see the older version, and, I think, the other forgettable remake, and they were pretty ok, and I did not try to envision comparing to the books at the time. But newer movies sometimes try too hard I think and miss the main theme of books and other things used for reference. Just tell the story as best you can, and make people care about the characters, the way you sometimes do in a book you read. Add the CGI, if you must, but your actors should be the "stars "of the film, not the sets and "special effects". Somehow "Star Wars", the original 3, got both things right, for example!
@@ronschlorff7089 Yeah, exactly!
Hunter was a good actor, but he didn't have Shatner's idiosyncratic style, which makes Kirk memorable to this day.
True. It would have been a good series with Hunter but much more forgetable like the Outer Limits, Lost in Space, etc.
TOS was never a hit during its run. It only became legendary during syndication. Unlike the so-far immortal William Shatner, Hunter died young and would not have been available for the animated series or long string of films.
@@bbraat Lots of people still remember Lost in Space. :)
@@everythingstemporary603 I wrote "more forgetable".
While,yes, SOME people remember Lost in Space, that does not compare to Star Trek which spawned 13 films and 12 TV spin-offs.
If Hunter played in westerns, he would have won the wild West.
If Shatner, he would have impregnated Sacajawea.
that word does not mean what you think it does
William Shattner has said he was homeless living in his car when he got the job and that nobody ever expected the show to last long at all, which the original didn’t last very long, and it was 20 years before it was restarted and bloomed a whole industry of space entertainment.
And after the series he was living in a pickup camper with his dog because he couldn't afford hotels while he went from one acting job to the other. A divorce probably didn't help either especially with three kids.
Believe Shatner was invited to NASA once and soon after had to watch a space launch from his car (or caravan).
The original series was cancelled in 1969 and the first movie came out in 1979 - that's ten years, not twenty, surely?
@@stuunitt2947 Star Trek: The Next Generation
TV-14
TV Series
1987-1994
Action / Adventure
@@stuunitt2947 2 years off.
As a teenager, I lived for every next episode. As a Canadian, I was proud Capt James T Kirk was 'our guy'. Great history, thank you.
Acting was so much better than Star Wars.
Don't forget Scotty, another great Canadian!
@@JohnDoe-yj5ng Thank you for pointing that out, I had actually forgotten actor James Doohan was Canadian (dumb me). I just went to wiki to read about his life. It's a fascinating read, In 1939, Doohan enlisted in the Royal Canadian Artillery, and landed at Juno Beach on D-Day. Oddly, he was of Irish decent but named Scotty in the series. His Scottish brogue was masterful for a lad raised in Canada.
@@jimmcluhan2455 Yes, James Doohan was shot five or six times late on the night of D Day, June 6, 1944, as he tried to recross Canadian lines by a nervous sentry with a Bren gun automatic weapon. It took away one of his middle fingers on his left hand, another bullet hitting him in the chest but luckily stopped by a silver cigarette case his brother had given him. Three or four more bullets hit him in his legs. Almost unbelievably he did not develop a limp from it all! Scotty landed with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles at Courseulles-sur-mer but at around 10 am, after the initial assault wave had gone through the meat grinder of terrible losses. The Regina Rifles landed just to the left of them and Scotty probably traversed the place in the town where the Juno Beach Centre stands today. Scotty concealed the loss of his middle finger on the left hand so successfully all through the Star Trek series that it is only evident in one scene in "The Trouble With Tribbles."
No, Kirk will be born in Iowa.
Jeffry Hunter made incredible films , the Searchers , King of Kings , Hell to Eternity to name a few
Jeffery Hunter was good. His wife looked down on television like a lot of movie people back then. TV favored the kind of eccentric characterization that Shatner was born to do. The whole world of film acting was changing then, and Hunter was inflexible. He might have caught up if he hadn't died in 1969 from an accident making an Italian movie. A sad ending even though we got Captain James T Kirk out of it.
Correct assessment! Hunter's wife did not want him having anything to do with TV; she wanted to be married to a major movie star. How sad for Hunter.
Chris Hunter told me his dad regretted not doing the show.
He was married three times
His second wife was the problem causing him not to continue with star trek!
He didnt have the authority of
Jesus in real life over women!
Hunter would've ruined ST
The full truth probably incorporates bits of all of these issues. The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle and is rarely as simple as we like.
Nimoy wasn't the only one from the original pilot,yes his character Spock was, but Majel Barrett who portrayed number #1 & later nurse chapel in the original Star Trek series & later in Star Trek the next generation as councilor Troy's mother.
Majel Barrett was the first lady of Star Trek.
@@eburns2772It helped that she was Roddenberry'wife! 😂
@@stuunitt2947actually she was his mistress before she became his wife.
Nimoy was not the only actor, but Spock was the only character to remain.
Jeffery Hunter was great as the captain. Would have been good in a few episodes. RIP Jeffrey Hunter.🙏👍🇭🇲🦘✌️
I tend to agree he could have made a great Captain...based on the 1 st episode
@@holyspiritfilling Hunter died young. There might have been no further Star Trek movies if Shatner hadn't got the role.
@@FredScuttle456 He died young because of an on-set explosion during 1969 filming of a low-budget film in Spain that he probably wouldn't have made if he had stayed with Star Trek.
@@claudiahenry4183 Interesting.
Hunter also played Jesus in a movie, so maybe he came back to life three days later.
@@claudiahenry4183One would even say he wouldn’t have been there in ‘69 bc he would have accumulated enough fame to not have to do that.
Damn. Died at age 42. That is awful.
"Hunter was injured in an on-set explosion when a car window near him, which had been rigged to explode outward, accidentally exploded inward." - wiki
later died of intercranial hemorrhage.
am I the only one suspecting the ex-wife XD
He fell down a flight of stairs and fractured his skull, died the next day from a brain hemorrhage.
@@LindaJack-u9fWait a minute, did he die from the imploding car window or from the fall on the stairs? Can’t imagine that both happened at the same time.
@@adamesd3699The exploding car window gave him a head injury which later caused him to black out while climbing outdoor stairs at his home. He fell onto brickwork and smashed his head.
Being married to a narcissist will tend to do that.
I always like seeing pilot episodes and seeing how they not only replace or change the character traits. Spock is definitely more emotive in the pilot than he is for the rest of series.
Kramer in Seinfeld was a guy suffering from agoraphobia and didn't leave the building in years in the pilot.
Chemistry between Nimoy and Shatner was just so much better, they were the Abbott and Costello of sci-fi
Oh for a "Spock and Kirk meet Frankenstein" !
I think Kirk & Spock were a lot like Napoleon Solo & Ilya Kuryakin. 😉
How lucky were we to have been kids when this show came out.
The first year of Star Trek was amazing to watch, it had so much relevance to the news.
It was initially James R. Kirk. In the episode “Where no man has gone before” when Gary Mitchel creates a headstone for the grave he’s about to put Kirk in the stone says James R. Kirk.
Fascinating!
Gary Lockwood.
@@henrybrowne7248 The actor yes, the character was Gary Mitchell.
@BanterMaestro2-y9z That's right. I didn't know either until my TH-cam days began, I figgered it out somehow.
Nice trivia.
I don’t think Star Trek Would have become the long lived and loved franchise that it is without William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk and of course Leonard Nimoy as Spock and DeForest Kelly as bones.
Now I think I’m going to go and watch one of my favorite episodes. I feel a need for a galactic adventure and to meet some exotic woman.
How about an Orion female slave?
Which episode?
Truly, the Shat is TheShit.
@@Crazyuncle1 Enjoy it. I watch the original series all the time. It's the best.👍🇭🇲🦘✌️
Do your women have to be green?
Before Gene Roddenberry offered Shatner the role as Kirk he tried to get Jack Lord. But just like with the 007 series where he demanded equal billing with Sean Connery Lord made outrageous demands. He wanted 1/2 ownership of the Star Trek franchise. I heard he was a real dick on Hawaii Five O too but since he was the star they had to deal with him.
Equal billing with Connery?!? His character wasn't that important! Lord was out of his mind. Never knew he was such a d*ck...
Jack Lord had a real problem on 5-0, most of the actors and crew were untrained locals. That must have been frustrating for a serious actor.
I have been watching the original 5-0 since I discovered that the library had a complete set on DVDs. I liked it as a kid, I love it as an adult. Every season (that I have watched so far) had some great brilliantly innovative episodes. Although too many episodes end with a shootout with the bad guys always shooting first (Han Solo definitely shot Greedo first).
Had they gotten Jack Lord they may as well kept Christopher Pike as Jack Lord is a Jeffrey Hunter look-alike😅
@@Foolish188 I only watched it in my teens, haven't seen it recently. I recall the local characters as being very likeable and engaging. Of course Jack Lord ruled the whole thing...
Oh, yeah, all of us old timers who watched SW in the cinema back in 1977 know Solo shot first. Shame on Lucas for trying to change that.
@@VS-rv4tr My wife is a big Jeffrey Hunter fan, definitely disagrees.😂
Way back in the day, the given explanation (even repeated on stuff like TCM) was that he thought TV was "beneath him" and when it came time to do the second pilot, he had already committed to a movie role. I wouldn't be surprised if these things were true, but it was his wife who stated it rather than him.
Nobody went "beep," or "beep beep" better than Christopher Pike.
I always thought he went "boop" or "boop boop"!
MY WHOLE LIFE IS A LIE!!!
@@LordMondegrene There, there. You've still got the rest of your life.
LOL!! 😆
Well, there is South Park.
He could have done more than yes and no if he knew Morse Code. LoL
Thanks for the info. I’ve heard some of this information, but not as much as you presented. I liked Jeffrey Hunter and portraying Jesus in The King of Kings in that time was huge. Jeffrey Hunter would have been justified in believing he was a top star. Gene Roddenberry came to our college campus in 75 and gave a very interesting background of himself and Star Trek. He paused his speech and started the original pilot with Jeffrey Hunter. The theater was completely silent and mesmerized by a very different Star Trek. It was quite an experience. At this point in time we have seen many Star Trek captains and crew members. William Shatner did an excellent job of portraying an intelligent, charismatic, smiling ambassador of Earth. But I think a Star Trek series with 2 ships and 2 captains would have been very interesting. We’ve come to accept that situation in newer versions of Star Trek’s
Old Saying Never Star in Religious Movies Certain? War Movies or Star Wars ?
If anything this video is very interesting because it brings to light the situation with Jeffrey Hunter and the Star Trek franchise and every Star Trek convention I've been to that topic of conversation always comes up in one form or another to this day🖖
Jeff Hunter would have been great continuing as Captain Pike, although, in any other capacity, if the idea of recasting Captain Pike on a more modern capacity, Ray Liotta would have been ideal for the role as they very much look alike
Jeffrey Hunter and the Captain Pike character were very appealing. One of the major plot lines in the pilot was that he and Spock were very close and fond of each other, and as a result of the loss of his friend, it probably took Spock awhile to warm up to Captain Kirk. Also, I liked the way the pilot looked, felt and played like a classic '50s science fiction flick ("Forbidden Planet"?) and Hunter fit right in with that. In the pilot, that familiar eerie, wailing noise on the planet heard in so many '50s sci-fi movies is cleverly explained when the crew comes across those vibrating plants.
Everyone has regrets. Jeff Hunter's was not divorcing Bartlett sooner and not accepting the starring role in Star Trek.
Chris Hunter told me his dad regretted not doing the show.
🖖
If only he had never been to Spain...
Hunter was handsome and a good actor. It's a shame that he and his wife could not envision the future of Star Trek, especially on the Big Screen. It has made Shatner a whole career and a boatload of money and prominence - even a "ride to the stars". All of that could have belonged to Hunter. If he had stayed with Star Trek, he would not have died when he did. He wouldn't have been injured by exploding glass that was set up incorrectly in a movie. One decision can affect a person's entire career and even lead to that person's death. I'm so sorry about his death and his loss of playing Captain Kirk, but I am glad that Shatner filled the void wonderfully for so many years.
Fate is the Hunter, no pun intended. Every life has would haves and could haves and what ifs. I think about it everyday; what would happen if I left home driving one minute earlier or one minute later? Might I have avoided a crash that I will never know about?
Hunter didn't play Kirk, he played Pike - Shatner played Kirk. Two different characters.
"All of that could have belonged to Hunter."
Not necessarily. You can't hypothetically change a major ingredient of a TV show, such as the main star, and assume everything would have still happened the same way as it did in reality. Who's to say that Star Trek would have even made it past the first season with Hunter playing the captain?
Well, if Jeffery Hunter had remained Captain and passed away in 1969, there would have been a different path for the OS Star Trek, instead of all the OS Trek movies that we got. Who knows what might have happened.
If he had stuck with Star Trek it is unlikely he would have taken the role in a film that ended up killing him. 🤔
...if he stayed with star trek he wouldn't have gotten killed
Wow...great back story that as a Star Trek fan never knew! Thanks for sharing!
It would've been a very different Star Trek and with his death, who knows how it would've carried on after the cancellation. Although, it's possible he wouldn't have died if he didn't have the previous head injury from that movie accident in late 1968. Sad.
If he had gone on with Star Trek he probably wouldn't have done the italian movie where the accident happened. Who knows...?
At least he had the sense to divorce his troublemaking wife...
The accident that gave Jeff Hunter the severe concussion was from a poorly rigged stunt car explosion in Spain. This was in November of 1968. If he would have stuck with Star Trek, he would have been safely filming that TV show in Hollywood. Instead, in May of 1969, he had the intracranial hemorrhage that killed him while walking down the stairs of his home.
TV in its infancy was the haven for failed stars, 2nd and 3rd bananas, bit players, and character actors. The big studios, while on the verge of being taken over by corporate America, did not want any of their stable of stars accepting recurring roles in TV. John Wayne was asked to star in the TV version of the radio show Gunsmoke, but he turned it down and recommended James Arness, who had roles in B movies and a few John Wayne westerns. Of course, the rest was history. If you look back at the time, you see older H-town actors having starring roles on TV because their good looks had gone with age, and TV was a good fallback paycheck for them. One of Hollywood's biggest TV stars was Lucille Ball, who never really hit the jackpot as an actress in movies, but she did have recurring roles on two radio shows. Same goes for Desi Arnaz. As for Hunter, he was still working in movies. I can see that those involved felt TV was beneath him as an actor, but those were the times that prevailed.
I read a behind-the-scenes book about ST (authored by Roddenberry or a producer?) some years ago in which he wrote something like "WithThe Cage' we tried to be too proud" whatever that meant; perhaps he thought it was too long, over-complex or slowmoving, I don't know.
In the same book in an "advice for scriptwriters" chapter it said "We want to maintain a fast pace" which presumably meant short, sharp to-the point episodes, a formula that worked well throughout the rest of the series..:)
Excellent point. It does seem that NBC was promised an "action/adventure" show with "action/drama" tales interspersed. The network did complain about the "slow pace". Yes, I believe the book you found was one that few Treksters have ever read before: the invaluable The Making of Star Trek, first offered in 1968.
[It appears that subsequent editions cut out valuable material like the point you just made. Earliest possible editions are best].
I never saw the episode with Jeffrey Hunter, but fell in love with him in "the Searchers"--Still my favorite Western.
I'm a bigtime fan of the 2-part Menagerie episode and to a lesser extent of the original pilot The Cage. Sci Fi at its best in writing, themes, intelligence, respect for science (which, imo, is sorely absent in all of today's Trek franchises) and layers of weirdness (tapped a bit from the original Outer Limits which ended a short time before Trek started). It was the best thing by far Gene Roddenberry did as a writer. But even I concede that Shatner's aggressive external energy suited the format of a series more. Part of me wished that Hunter had stuck around but, in fact, the dynamic between Spock and the Captain would probably not have devoped as it did. And THAT'S the one thing genuinely original about the entire ST series. Spock is the best thing that ever happened to the show.
@@GrumpyGringo When I first started watching STAR TREK (a few weeks in), the only thing I'd ever seen that it reminded me of was THE OUTER LIMITS. ST was like OL in color with a regular cast & setting. Especially the first half of season 1 (when Roddenberry was producing, before Gene Coon took over and made it more "viewer-friendly"). Turns out a lot of behind-the-scenes people worked on both shows.
It also cracks me up that in "Arena", the voice of the alien is Vic Perrin-- "The Control Voice" from THE OUTER LIMITS. I like to joke that "Arena" was an OL-ST crossover episode. He forces the Enterprise crew to watch as Kirk battles the Gorn. "For the next hour, we will control all that you see and hear." 😆
Yes, to me Spock IS Star Trek, end of story. With all due apologies to the other bridge members of TOS Enterprise!! Uhura was always calm under pressure, so was Mr. Sulu, poor Chekov often freaked out, but was funny, and of course Spock would methodically do a detailed computer analysis to solve their problems, while everyone else was getting ready to die! And captain Kirk was good too, at faking being in command when he was far out of it, once by "playing some poker" when they were in the grip of the Huge alien ship Presarius, in the "Corbomite Maneuver", one of my faves; and all Scotty often needed was just "30 more minutes" to bend the laws of physics and prevent the Enterprise from "blowing up"!! ;D
Right, the "Outer Limits", original 1960's series, was a gem! I often watch episodes of it when nothing else interests me on the "tube", which has become almost always now! Yes, TV today's "Ignorance makes me ill, and Angry", to quote a memorable line from "The Sixed Finger" episode, which I watched again recently!! Delivered, as an "evolved human" character, by the late great actor David McCallum. LOL ;D
@@ronschlorff7089 My favorite Outer Limits of all is the 2-part THE INHERITORS with Robert Duvall. One of the best pcs of sci fi ever written for tv. The creator of the series had a physics degree, so the show was always "smart" (even the weaker episodes). Lots of particle physics in the dialogue and plot elements. I think this lent precedence for Roddenberry's approach to Star Trek when he started developing his pilot. BTW, a moment of geek trivia here to embarrass myself: I think Outer Limits was the first American series ever to insert the word "damn" in the dialogue; in a still-repressed era when tv censors even made it a tough fight for Shatner to get away with "let's get the hell out of here" in City On The Edge Of Forever. And, in fact, it was a Shatner Outer Limits: Cold Hand, Warm Heart in the 2nd season (sort of a sci fictional version of Neal Armstrong, 'cept here he orbits Venus and comes back hallucinating); soldiers trying to pry open a jammed metal door to the treatment chamber where Shatner lies unconscious, n' one of 'em blurts, "man, this door's damn tough." It was such a throwaway line, it probably got passed the censors. (Btw, I used to not care much for this particular episode; but in more recent years having revisited it, I find it very enjoyable. A convincing fictional biography of an astronaut in early tv when NASA had only recently gotten us into orbit.)
@@robvangessel3766 Yup, all good stuff, I do like the "Cameleon" of TOL with Robert Duvall, (great scene of him killing that guy in the Mexican bar with a fly swatter, who knew it was such a great garroter, LOL) who was is a great actor of many genres, Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Lonesome Dove, etc. But, his all-time best line, for me, is: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning", as some Viet Cong are being roasted alive by it in the nearby jungle!! LOL :D.
And of course, "THX1138" being a classic sci fi movie of the earlier years of his and Lucas' career, and still a first tier "go to" for me when nothing is on TV, like about every night, for example!! "Come with us, you have nowhere to go, ...you have Nowhere to Go", a starkly accurate statement that still applies for most of us, ...especially now!! ;D LOL
@@ronschlorff7089 Sure - I love THE CHAMELEON. Robert Towne wrote that one.
Don’t forget that Majel Barrett (later Majel Barrett-Roddenberry) came back as Nurse Christine Chapel. She’d played the First Officer (with long dark hair) in the pilot with Jeffrey Hunter.
Back in the early Star Trek days, there was a major stigma put on TV actors and actresses. Most movie stars felt it beneath them to get involved in TV shows.
And prior to the 80s, a movie star that stooped to doing commercials was basically disgraced. Doing a commercial was proof that they were strapped for cash. Things have really changed.
I often wondered why the captain changed from Pike to Kirk as well as why only the character, Spock, carried over from The Cage to the original series.
Exactly. Producers Herb Solow and Bob Justman's book, "Inside Star Trek", also backs up Shatner and Nimoy's stories that the wife was the issue. It's a good book that corrects a lot of previous rumors/stories.
Some element of the fanbase (people who weren't there) are trying to paint it differently for some reason.
Yes, an important book that made the best effort to dispel some myths.
It wasn't just Spock that came back from the original pilot. Majel Barrett played number one on the pilot, and then nurse Chapel on the OS. She was married to Roddenberry.
Great actor was this gentleman. He played Jesus in 'King of Kings' (1961) which (I seem to recall) was the first time in a colour movie, that actually showed Jesus' face and full body. When the part of Jesus was played in movies prior to this one, it was rare (in fact unknown up to King of Kings) for an actor playing Jesus, to show his face, due to a 'loose' agreement with Religious entities, such as the Catholic church, that no living actor should display the face/eyes of Jesus on screen. So only the actors back, lower body etc. were shown by anyone playing Jesus.
Jeffrey was brilliant as our Lord & Saviour, his blue eyes alone, pleased just about everyone who saw that film! How sad was it, the way he died aged just 42? He was badly diagnosed when he suffered a serious head injury, whilst in a scene which featured a bomb exploding in a car. The 'explosion' went badly wrong, and he suffered a severe concussion as a result.
He went home to 'recover' but despite being hospitalised for a short while, the Doctors said that apart from the concussion, he was fine.
Just 6 months later, he suffered an episode where he fell down a flight of stairs, fracturing his skull and he died shortly after from an intracranial haemorrhage! He was interred at Glen Haven Memorial Park in Sylmar, LA! Taken far too young! (Hope I haven't bored anyone, he was actually my cousin.)
I can also say, without any doubts, _the story about Emily his wife interfering in the way described with the Star Wars director,_ *_has NO grounding in truth!_* They married in 1969 and Jeff died just 3 months later! She was in 'General Hospital' for almost 30 years, and she _never re-married, she still missed Jeff desperately until her own death!_
Due to ill health, she retired from 'General Hospital' in 1991 (March) and passed away 6 weeks later, I believe, from a broken heart!
😢
You are mixing up his wives. He was married three times. They are talking about his second wife. You are talking about his third wife.
@@glenncordova4027 Yes sir, you are correct.👍
Pretty brilliant how they folded the episode "The Cage" in "Menagerie". That must have taken a lot of creativity.
by far the best trek episodes.....
AGREED! As a kid, I had NO IDEA what they'd done. In truth, production was beginning to run LATE, and "The Menagerie" gave them a chance to both get a week ahead, AND, use most of that expensive footage which had NOT been seen yet.
By comparison, in the 70s, more and more pilots were made as "tv-movies" which were aired 6 months or a year before a show began, IF it was picked up at all. Before then, most unsold pilots were never seen by the public at all.
Of course, with this in mind, it makes no sense that at least 2 earlier episodes were "held back" and not run until AFTER "The Menagerie"-- "Balance Of Terror" (which aired right after it) and "Court Martial" (aired about a month later). Most of the plot of "Court Martial" becomes REDUNDANT, if you watch it after "The Menagerie", rather than right before it, when it was made.
I always felt the Menagerie was the best episode of the original Star Trek. Even though they had other great episodes
It's right up there among the best, but I still lean to "Balance of Terror," particularly Mark Lenard's role, in which he makes the Romulan commander a sympathetic enemy.
Does the original pilot still exist
If Jeffery Hunter died before the end of the sixties then that would mean, by his perspective, Star Trek was JUST another TV show that had only modest success.. It was only after his death when Star Trek went into syndication and the long years of its resurgent popularity in reruns effectively created successful careers for the actors on the show. I doubt he spent much time regretting his decision. If he had lived a decent life span perhaps he might have.
Than he also definitely would have come back for guest appearances in TNG etc
Star trek of the 1960s was only a moderate success. It only had 3 seasons. While next Gen had 6 or 7 seasons plus voyager and ds9!!! Spin offs. Only in syndication did Star trek take off in the 1970s. They brought it back with a cartoon and then ultimately the movie in 1979.
The actor at 3:14 was not Jeff Hunter it was Gary Lockwood (Where No Man Has Gone Before S1 E3).
The Menagerie set the stage for all OS installments. It was a nearly perfect Science fiction program. I believe it approached and surpassed Forbidden planet which to me was the “Enter the Dragon” sort of genre iconic moment in film. Let’s face it .. TOS was pure imagination, fun and new territory that redefined Science fiction for all time..
It is interesting how popular Star Trek has become. I heard that the series was basically a flop, and got cancelled after only 3 seasons. It was replayed in the early seventies when I was a little kid, and finally became popular.
That's true, even if he stayed with ST he would not have seen the success and popularity until the 70s/80s reruns.
"Relativity" and not just Albo's version. Back then actors had to act, and writers had to write. Special effects, dated, were added for "interest and relevance" to a basic script. Today CGI gets all the credit and any "acting" is pretty much an afterthought, just penciled in. That's why the sequels and remakes today of older sci fi suck, they all depend on CGI, to appeal to the kiddies. So, it's become a basic "chewing gum for the mind"!! LOL
...the series was not a flop...after the episode where kirk and uhura kiss,the KKK had all the southern states drop trek and they also lost ½there(racist)sponsers
I'm in my eighties. Jeffrey Hunter was a big movie star. He did "King of Kings" which was considered a pretty good movie about Christ. Common folks liked it. I always felt his performance in "Hell to Eternity" was great. He was a better actor than Shatner, but to see him doing TV shows was like seeing Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne doing a TV series. Although he did other TV programs, It seemed beneath him. The chemistry wasn't there until Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley showed up to make it a hit. Deforest did a lot of western movies but was never a leading man like Hunter. It all really doesn't matter because Star Trek was a hit that was not supported by NBC, but was later successful when they started doing movies.
My father played with Jeffrey Hunter when they were children.
If Hunter's wife were not so demanding he probably would have been Capt Kirk and perhaps be still alive today.
He would be almost 98, so probably not
@@avengemybreath3084 You never know. William Shatner (aka Captain Kirk) is 93. There are always possibilities.
@@avengemybreath3084 We agree to disagree.
How would playing Captain Kirk avoid a catastrophic car crash?
@@thomashenebry8269 Sometimes taking a different path in life also changes your future. Only time will tell.
He wasn't a rising star by that time. He was a film star having to turn to TV to keep busy.
More of a film "actor" than a star. Most of his movies after 1961's "King of Kings" are rather obscure, with many of them low-budget affairs filmed in Spain or Italy.
No one mentions, in Mr Shatners first appearance with Mr Lockwood, as the Gravestone scene shows James R kirk
People forget the original Star Trek was a minor hit that lasted 3 yesrs. It resurected many years later and became movies and a mega franchise. Shatner was in obscurity for many years till the 1st ST movie.
The Star Trek series was compulsory viewing in Britain in the 1980s, before the first Star Trek movie was made.
@@fredneecher1746 "The Star Trek series was compulsory viewing in Britain in the 1980s, before the first Star Trek movie was made."
The first Star Trek movie was released in 1979, which I'm sure you'll agree was before the 1980s.
"People forget the original Star Trek was a minor hit that lasted 3 yesrs. It resurected many years later and became movies and a mega franchise. Shatner was in obscurity for many years till the 1st ST movie."
No, Star Trek became a big hit in syndication throughout the 1970s. The first Star Trek convention was in 1972, 3 years after the show was canceled. The big fan base the show acquired in syndication is was prompted the first Star Trek movie in 1979.
Shame he died so young. I'd always heard his wife was wearing the trousers and didnt like Science Fiction.
Thank you Licy for saving star trek 3 times
Save Star Trek was a fan driven mail drive that saved the 3rd season. We wrote hundreds of letters during recess.
@@uriahheep5665 your comment is true and has nothing to do with my point. Learn your star trek history
I LIVED the Star Trek history. To say the fans had no effect is the foolishness of your "point." WE also attended Star Trek conventions long before the original movie came out. Dude, you couldn't even spell LUCY correctly. EDUCATE YOURSELF, then focus on others. Try not to be stupid. It makes you look stupid. You give Trekkers a bad name. @tpl608
@@tpl608 she didn't save it once, nothing to do with her
@@peanut1001x Desilu was the company behind star Trek. Lucy ran it. How about knowing what is factual before posting?
Technically Majel Barrett was in both. Just because. (I think she managed to be in most things Trek even after Gene passed away) She was the voice of the computer and Nurse Chapel in TOS.
@SlashFilm, some of your information is incorrect. You state that "only Leonard Nimoy's modified Spock coming back for the 2nd version of the show." -- FALSE. (See 1:04 , above.) Gene Roddenberry also brought back actress MAJEL BARRETT, who played nurse Christine Chapel (Dr. McCoy's loyal assistant) in the long-running series, but played Captain Pike's second in command, known as "Number One" in the original pilot series. Barett was a brunette in the pilot, and looked much different as a polite, talkative blonde in the series.
Christopher Pike. So weird that Captain Kirk was later played by actor Chris Pine in the later three Star Trek remake movies (all directed by Jar Jar Abrams).
Pine was perfect. The whole cast was. Pine reminded me a lot of shatner.
I thought Jeffery Hunter was great in "The Searchers" and King of Kings." His portrayal of Captain Pike was more introspective than that of Captain Kirk, but still good in it's own way. Who knows how the series would have done with Hunter in the captain's chair. 🤔
Pike the prototype Picard?
Hunter played the role of Pike as it was written and directed. Hunter could do comedy, but not in a Shatner-esque way.
I remember.
An episode on the original series. Where they had that satellite that was looking for it's creator
Captain Kirk.
Told the satellite.
That your creator. Was James Roy Kirk
Not james t Kirk. That's when the satellite started having a meltdown.
Jeffrey Hunter is one of my favorites of that era, and I believe better-looking; interesting speculation as to what persona as the Captain, and his attending physician, as well, would have been
Often pilot actors don't continue into a series, unless the pilot was built around the comedy or drama of a particular actor. Pilot work paid bills and was typically a one off short job that doesn't tie you down since over half the pilots don't get picked up.
Hunter had jobs in 1966 in movies that paid better than TV series work in the lowest paid studio Desilu. He starred in a SpyFi film that very year about a sexy secret agent with a time travel device. That too might become a series and was in vogue with all the spy films and shows of the mid 60s: Bond, The Saint, Avengers, Matt Helm, Flint...
The next year he was in a major top tier studio western as 1st supporting actor. Then he did some international B movies has his movie peak was 1955 to 1967.
Often the Star Trek people seeit all from their POV instead of seeing things from a bigger world of Hollywood.
If For the People had been renewed for a 2nd season, then Kirk might have been Jack Lord...book em Spocko
Sounds like Hunter's wife was Star Trek's Yoko Ono. He'd likely had lived a much longer life and would have become a cultural icon as Kirk, as played by Shatner, eventually did. It's easy to see the similarities between Kirk and Pike. Hunter would have evolved Pike's character just as Shatner did with Kirk.
Captain Pike had a 60s look, Kirk didn't.
I suppose so, since it (Cage) took pace 17 years before Kirk took over, according to the "Menagerie" script!! LOL ;D
I remember Jeffrey Hunter from the great western movie, The Searchers.
Captain Pike was a more serious character. Kirk gave a more comedic slant to it and looked good while fighting an alien, possibly with his shirt off. They had the prime directive to not interfere, and every episode ended with a fist fight between Kirk and the main alien, and the aliens agreeing to change their ways and do things Kirk's way from then on. It was so two-faced while acting all serious about it, a hilarious parody of government at that time.
Like Hunter wasn’t hot!
An excellently observed perspective I hadn't really considered.
Will Gavin now attempt to ban it.?
🤣🤣🤣😉
I saw a load of this content as a boy. The memories are great.
William Shatner is the best thing to ever happen to Star Trek original series, that plus the great casting of Spock, McCoy and Scotty. Kirk played by Shatner was strong and charismatic (charming, with sometimes a dash of humor in some episodes), a better choice over Hunter's Pike portrayal which was more serious and dramatic. Hunter was still a great actor though, just different in tone.
Excellent critique. Shatner was all those things and had qualities that spanned the generations of his audience. As a teenager in the 60's my father then in his mid 50's would watch every episode equally enjoying together.
The radio operator not mentioned. She was good. I work with a woman who looks just like her.
@@Patrick-yh5yd Nichelle Nichols was impressive to me too, as a kid. She was all about being a professional, which was weird to me as all the women I knew were housewives. [edit whoops, and teachers, some of them excellent]
It's sad that Hunter chose not to do the show. He was a much better actor than Shatner who made the character of captain into camp. The character of Picard brought back the sensibility and intellect with which a starship captain would actually have to perform. Roddenberry's choice of Patrick Stewart speaks volumes about what he actually wanted. As did the choice of Kate Mulgrew for Voyager.
Hunter was good, but Shatner took that role and MADE it his!
I like the role he portrayed as "Lt.Tom Cantrell" in the 1960 John Ford movie, "SERGEANT RUTLEDGE."
It was mentioned that he would have portrayed A TV DAD as "MIKE BRADY in THE BRADY BUNCH," but the role went to Robert Reed.
Take a view of how William Shatner acted in a scene in the second season episode "A Piece of the Action" where in captivity by Bela's goons, Kirk invents "Fizbin." In the way William Shatner acted out that scene I cannot picture any other actor and even those who were considered for the captain's role, like Lloyd Bridges, Jack Lord, or even Jeffrey Hunter could have played that scene better than William Shatner did. IMHO of course.
if you only knew.
jeffery hunter was an absolute excellent pick to be the captain of the enterprise, great acting and a powerful presents, we all love shatner as kirk but jeffrey would have been just as good , captain pike was just a small flicker in the wind of history but he was so good we will never forget him, , , , , , hats off to shatner in his 90s now , and r.i.p. jeffrey , Godspeed
William Shatner was the best possible actor for a captain and leading actor, so it turned out well
After seeing the pilot I believe the executives wanted everyone replaced. There had to be a fight to keep Spock. People can whine all they want about Shatner. He was exciting and entertaining, he has very powerful moments in the series. Jeffery was boring playing the same kind of character in other science fiction series that we don't talk about because they've been forgotten.
Hunter was good, but his portrayal of ship's captain was too dour and downbeat for what the network deemed was needed. Not Hunter's fault, just the "cerebral" tone that the first pilot set. It's because he was so good, and made such an impression, that a recasting was for the best. It would not have been good for Hunter's Pike to come back with a vastly different personality. Fortunately, Shatner's Kirk turned out to be the perfect choice for the direction NBC wanted to take.
Hunter did not seem serius enough.
All these years, I thought he had died. I was an avid fan back in the day!
"...wife started coming to production meetings..." Well, we all see that it happens even at the highest of levels, like Chill Bye-Den showing up to little joey's cabinet playtime, don't we?
There is no one named Joey in President Biden's cabinet. What are you rambling about? Try staying on topic and shove the politics.
Huh?
Mixing a little political rhetoric in with the sci fi, guys? What losers. Why don't you join Russia's "Space Force?"😁 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇺🇸🇺🇦🇺🇸🇺🇦 @m.w.wilson234
We're so used to William Shatner i.e. James Kirk as captain that it would be hard to imagine anybody else as captain of the TOS Enterprise, even Jeffery Hunter continuing as Captain Pike.
Star Trek would have been different with Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike but it would have been just as good. Perhaps better because Hunter was a much better actor than Shatner (who couldn’t find subtlety in the middle of a snowstorm in winter).
Why would anybody watch a TV show from the 1960s in the 1980s and 1990s, let alone in the 21st century? By then, the special efx (like the talking shoebox for a computer) looked like a kindergarten drama production. The show would need a unique quality, not just good acting. Subtlety? Captain Kirk was ridiculous, banging alien women all over the universe, swaggering around the galaxy like Ceasar of the Stars. Shatner is the only actor who could make that work.
Hunter also did a secret agent / Science Fiction film called "Dimension Five" with France Nuyen in 1966. So it seems SciFI was not below him as a reason for passing on Star Trek.
I read the 1969 star trek book into the production of the series. It is an Amazing read for the 50 cents I paid for it. Roddenberry did amazing things with what little he had and changed the WORLD..!!!!!
I still have the book. "The Making of Star Trek" You can still find copies.
My second cousin (my mother's cousin) was a neighbor of William Shatner's back when the original Star Trek series was popular. I think they lived next door. He didn't talk about it but his son, my second cousin, once removed, told me about it. LOL! My second cousin was in advertising and moved back to the east coast a few years later.
As an original Trek fan (I was 16 when it debuted), Hunter's performance did not impress me. Shatner was made for the role.
More the role was made for Shatner. In the original pilot for Shatner Kirk is lot more like Pike. Much more introspective and, er, depressed. There is very little of the poker player playboy. Come "The Corbomite Maneuver" and we literally have Kirk the poker player in charge. The reason, I understand, is the Shatner's own personality started to come to the fore and it made it's way into the scripts. So Shatner, somehow - I was not there, I was not born then, i was not even in the USA - got the scripts to adapt to his style and personality.
Actually, the Enterprises original captain was Captain Robert April as noted in Star Trek the animated series.
Hunter was fired. Shatner was better.
Color TVs were very rare in the 1960s. They started to catch-on around 1970. That's when the show took off. By then Jeffrey Hunter had already died of a heart attack.
Always keep wife & business life separate.
Yes. My Doctor lets his wife run the office. She is terrible.
I tried to do a bit of business with my wife the other night, but she said she had headache!😢😢
This reminds me of a story about Philip K Dick. When he first tried writing SciFi his girlfriend said something like "You're better than this. Why are you wasting your talent writing for people with pimples".
Dick's reply: "People with pimples need literature too".
If memory serves,Spock wasn't the only character from the first pilot to go to the second pilot. Scotty and Sulu were also in the original pilot, with different duties than what they ended up with
Nope
@@skipstreet I've watched the first pilot numerous times , Scotty and Sulu are briefly in one scene, standing on the bridge
@@michaelbaucom4019 That happens in Where No Man Has Gone Before, the second pilot. Only Spock (and the actress Majel Barrett playing a different character) went on into the series from the first pilot.