By GustavoLeao / 02:53, 18 January 2013 / Star Trek: Nemesis

49 years ago, in December 1964, then-movie star Jeffrey Hunter ('The Searches', 'King of The Kings') starred as 'Captain Christopher Pike' in the first STAR TREK pilot, 'The Cage'.

The seminal book THE MAKING OF STAR TREK by Stephen E. Whitfield cites the commencement date as December 12, 1964, with 12 days of shooting. And TrekWeb reviewer Bill Williams has some rare outtake footage of the pilot, featuring Hunter, shown in an E! Entertainment documentary where the clapboard is clearly dated 12-18-64.

Set 12 years before James T. Kirk assumed command of the ship, 'The Cage' can be seen, just like STAR TREK ENTERPRISE, as a true 'prequel' to THE ORIGINAL SERIES, featuring Pike in command of the U.S.S. Enterprise, in which crewmembers still used 'lasers pistols', with an emotional science officer named Lt. Spock (a very young Leonard Nimoy).

As parte of our The Cgae celebration of the first STAR TREK adventure ever, TrekWeb brings to you a list of Star Trek adventures in print, in books and comic books. Jeffrey Hunter died in 1969,

Captain Pike remains a popular character with TREK fans. Pike and his crew appeared in several Pocket Books novels and the cancelled STAR TREK EARLY VOYAGES comic book series from Marvel Comics. Here is a summary of the EARLY VOYAGES adventures (courtesy of Memory Alpha)

1. "Flesh of My Flesh"
2. "The Fires of Pharos"
3. "Our Dearest Blood"
4. "Nor Iron Bars a Cage"
5. "Cloak & Dagger"
6. "Cloak and Dagger, Part 2 of 2"
7. "The Flat, Gold Forever"
8. "Immortal Wounds"
9. "One of a Kind"
10. "The Fallen, Part One"
11. "The Fallen, Part Two"
12. "Futures, Part One"
13. "Future Tense"
14. "Futures"
15. "Now and Then"
16. "Thanatos"
17. "Nemesis"

The EARLY VOYAGES issues have beem published as a omnibus by IDW in 2011, very good qyality and a new cover.

Plus, Pocket Books published the following Christopher Pike novels :

VULCAN'S GLORY written by D.C. Fontana. The first Captain Pike novel. The never-before-told story of
a very young Mr. Spock, on his first mission aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. You'll also meet Captain Christopher Pike and his enigmatic first officer "Number One", as well as the ship's brand new engineering officer, Montgomery Scott.

LEGACY written by Michael Jan Friedman. A routine survey of the planet Alpha Octavius Four turns disastrous as Spock is attacked and poisoned by a huge creature and Kirk's landing party is trapped underground by a violent earthquake. As Spock fights for his life in sickbay, Scotty organizes a search for Kirk and his men.However, rescue efforts must cease when the USS Enterprise is called away to the Beta Cabrini system where a mining colony is under heavy attack. At Beta Cabrini, the USS Enterprise faces off against a Marauder named Dreen - a man that Spock had watched his former captain Christopher Pike defeat years before. Fighting the effects of the poison, Spock struggles to his feet and takes command of the ship. Soon, Spock and Dreen are locked into a deadly game of cat and mouse - a game driven by mad revenge that can have only one survivor!

THE RIFT written by Peter David. Every thirty three years, a rift in space connects the Federation with a mysterious race called the Calligar who live on a planet hundreds of light years away - much too far to travel in a starship. Captain Kirk and the USS Enterprise are dispatched to transport a Federation delegation of diplomats, scholars and scientists who will travel to Calligar directly during the brief period of time that the rift will be open. Mr. Spock leads the Federation party as they travel by shuttle through the rift just as a group of the aliens arrive in Federation space. The meetings go smoothly until the Calligar take Spock's party hostage and Kirk discovers that the aliens are keeping a deadly secret. With angry Tellarite and Andorian fleets ready to attack the Calligar, Kirk must save Spock and the others before war breaks out and the rift closes for another fifty years. As an added bonus, this story has its beginning in the time of Captain Pike, just after the events in "The Cage"; after a chapter or two, we move forward to a standard TOS story, set at some point after the fourth movie

CAPTAIN'S TABLE : WHERE THE SEA MEETS THE SKY written by Jerry Oltion. The first Pike story of the "modern" TREK era. Pike and his crew deal with the ecological mystery of the titans, a species of creatures nearly the size of the Enterprise that are used by the Aronnians as interstellar dirigibles. Unfortunately for them the creatures have not returned from their annual migration, and Pike is ordered to find out what is going on out there.

STARFLEET ACADEMY : CRISIS ON VULCAN written by: Brad and Barbara Strickland Assisting his father during a peace treaty negotiation, young Spock meets Starfleet officer Christopher Pike and is torn between accepting his position at the Vulcan Science Academy and applying to Starfleet Academy.

ENTERPRISE LOGS An anthology book by various authors. The Captain Pike story ("Conflicting Natures") is by Jerry Oltion, who has already written a previous Pike book (WHERE THE SEA MEETS THE SKY), and here he tells the story of Captain Pike, after engaging Klingons having to pick up an Eremoid that wishes to "observe" the crew in their day to day routine.

Finally, author Margaret Wander Bonanno wrote a standalone TOS novel, awhich was the definitive tale of Captain Christopher Pike. It was be published in 2006 as part of the fortieth anniversary celebration of THE ORIGINAL SERIES.

JOHN BYRNE wrote and drawn the IDW comic book mini series Star Trek Crew. a prequel to The Cage, foccusing on the character of Number One and Captain Robert April first officer, Commander Christopher Pike.

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