What was the title of the first pilot episode?

What was the title of the first pilot episode? The first pilot was “The Cage.” Written by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Butler, the episode was completed in January 1965 and introduced an early version of the Star Trek universe. Jeffrey Hunter played Captain Christopher Pike, with Majel Barrett as Number One and Leonard Nimoy as Spock.

NBC rejected “The Cage,” reportedly considering it too cerebral, but the network was sufficiently impressed to commission a second pilot. That follow-up, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” featured William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and became the basis for the broadcast series. Spock was the only major character retained in the same role from the first pilot.

“The Cage” was not broadcast in full during the original run. Much of its footage was reused in the two-part first-season story “The Menagerie,” which aired in 1966. A complete home-video release followed in 1986, and the restored full-color version was televised in 1988. The episode’s unusual release history explains why some viewers first encountered it as part of “The Menagerie.”