In the Star Trek pilot episode The Cage, Captain Christopher Pike has been captured by the Talosians. In a subsequent conference aboard the Enterprise, the officers realize how thoroughly they have been duped. The Talosians not only lured the Enterprise to their planet with a faked distress signal, but used their powers of illusion to make the landing party interact with crash survivors who weren’t really there. While one crewman argues that they should mount a rescue effort immediately, Mr. Spock warns against attempting to outsmart the Talosians. Using a drawing of a Talosian head, he points out that their brains are three-times larger than the human norm. He warns: If we start buzzing about down there, they could swat our ship as if it were a fly.
After their first attempt to break into the Talosian underground fails, a second landing party gathers in the Transporter room. They’ve located a magnetic field that may come from an underground generator, Mr. Spock says. However, if their measurements and readings are just illusions, they could find themselves materialized inside solid rock.
The team members take their places. The transporter hums into operation. Dematerialization takes place. Then Mr. Spock realizes that only Pike’s yeoman and Number One are gone: once again, the Talosians have outsmarted them. This time, they opted to pluck the two females members of the landing party. Worse, in his superiors absence, the Talosians have made Mr. Spock responsible for the safety of Pike’s ship and the two hundred who crew her.
As a Vulcan, Mr. Spock has striven to let logic be the sole determinate of his choices and actions. Yet he is half-human, and so must constantly battle the emotions that would influence him. When he realizes the Talosians have used their mental powers to capture Pike’s yeoman and Number One, Mr. Spock takes no time to logically assess or discuss what has just occurred. Instead, in what may rank as one of the most dramatic moments in television history, this half-Vulcan/half-Human throws up his arms (including the hand holding his irrelevant phaser) and shouts, “The women!”
What is new, what strikes Mr. Spock so forcefully, is that the aliens have invaded their ship, their fragile home among the stars, and plucked from it any additional captives they desired. Clearly, if they can do that, the Talosians can do with the Enterprise as they wish, and the crew are powerless to defend themselves.
All of us occasionally face situations beyond our control. No matter how hard you try to ignore your emotions and assess the situation logically, it is natural to feel fear when blind-sided by an overwhelming event. Yet fear can be beneficial. After all, like a lighthouse, fear alerts us to potential dangers that lay in our path. So the next time you feel fear, pause to acknowledge it as a welcome warning, and use all your resources to chart a safe path through the dangers.
Then resume your journey.
After their first attempt to break into the Talosian underground fails, a second landing party gathers in the Transporter room. They’ve located a magnetic field that may come from an underground generator, Mr. Spock says. However, if their measurements and readings are just illusions, they could find themselves materialized inside solid rock.
The team members take their places. The transporter hums into operation. Dematerialization takes place. Then Mr. Spock realizes that only Pike’s yeoman and Number One are gone: once again, the Talosians have outsmarted them. This time, they opted to pluck the two females members of the landing party. Worse, in his superiors absence, the Talosians have made Mr. Spock responsible for the safety of Pike’s ship and the two hundred who crew her.
As a Vulcan, Mr. Spock has striven to let logic be the sole determinate of his choices and actions. Yet he is half-human, and so must constantly battle the emotions that would influence him. When he realizes the Talosians have used their mental powers to capture Pike’s yeoman and Number One, Mr. Spock takes no time to logically assess or discuss what has just occurred. Instead, in what may rank as one of the most dramatic moments in television history, this half-Vulcan/half-Human throws up his arms (including the hand holding his irrelevant phaser) and shouts, “The women!”
What is new, what strikes Mr. Spock so forcefully, is that the aliens have invaded their ship, their fragile home among the stars, and plucked from it any additional captives they desired. Clearly, if they can do that, the Talosians can do with the Enterprise as they wish, and the crew are powerless to defend themselves.
All of us occasionally face situations beyond our control. No matter how hard you try to ignore your emotions and assess the situation logically, it is natural to feel fear when blind-sided by an overwhelming event. Yet fear can be beneficial. After all, like a lighthouse, fear alerts us to potential dangers that lay in our path. So the next time you feel fear, pause to acknowledge it as a welcome warning, and use all your resources to chart a safe path through the dangers.
Then resume your journey.
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