Named for the central theme of the episode, wherein Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) is trapped in a cage on Talos IV. At one point, this first pilot episode was to be entitled "The Menagerie", but was changed to "The Cage" when an epsiode by that name aired in November of 1966.
From the opening monolouge, as read by William Shatner (Captain James Kirk):
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her five-year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Reffering to a plot device in the episode, the Corbomite Maneuver, where Captain Kirk bluffs his way out of the destruction of the Enterprise.
Named after the lead character, Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel), who appears in this episode, along with three women. Hence, "Mudd's Women".
In this episode, Captain Kirk is split into two halfs, a good Kirk and an evil Kirk. This latter half is "The Enemy Within".
On planet M-113, the Enterprise encounters a salt-sucking monster with the ability to transform itself into human form, becoming "The Man Trap".
Charlie Evans is the lone survior of the crash of the crago ship Antares. The Thasian race, finding him on Thasus, has given him special powers, and made him no longer human, so in this episode's title, he is called "Charlie X" to emphasize this distinction.
This epsiode was based on two submarine warfare movies, Run Silent, Run Deep and The Enemy Below (AA). The term "balance of terror", also known as "balance of power", refers to a stagnantion of warfare in countries who are equally matched in firepower, and each possessing the ability to destroy each other. Most vividly seen in the Cold War between the United States and Russia in the 1950s through the 1980s, where neither side would attack each other for fear that the other would unleash a nuclear attack.
"'What Are Little Girls Made Of?' comes from the following familiar nursery rhyme:
What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails and puppy dog's tails;
That's what little boys are made of.
What are little boys made of?
Sugar and spice and everything nice;
That's what little girls are made of.
"In this episode we learn that Christine Chapen is made of sterner stuff than 'sugar and spice,' and that she will stand by her captain just as any other crew member would. Nurse Chapel is not the pushover that some may think."
Featuring a "neural neutralizer", this episode features a "Dagger of the Mind", a device that can render anyone insane.
"'Dagger of the Mind'...derives from this passage in Macbeth:
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me cluth thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art though not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight, or art though
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-opressed brain?Macbeth, II.i.33-39
"There are several ways of viewing this allusion in light of the episode's story. First, of course, is Dr. Adam's treatment room, truly a 'dagger of the mind.' The mental pain of the subject in the char can be so great that he can die of loneliness. Also, like the dagger in the play, the 'chamber of horrors' at the Tantalus colony is a 'fatal vision'. And, like Macbeth, Tristan Adams commits terrible crimes and eventually has to pay for them. His 'false creation' becomes all too real, and eventually kills him."
Named after a principle character, Miri, a little girl, entering puberty, who has a crush on Captain Kirk.
"Another first-season episode title that derives from Shakespeare is the 'The Conscience of the King.' In fact, this episode is replete with homage and allusion to his works, including Julius Caesar and Macbeth as well as Hamlet, from which the title comes. Hamlet suspects his uncle of murdering his father (as Captain Kirk suspects Karidian of being Kodos the Executioner), and he plans to confirm his suspicions:
I have heard that guilty creaturessitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaimed their malefactions,
For murder, though it hav no tounge, will speak
With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle. I'll observe his looks.... If 'a do blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be a devil....I'll have grounds
More relative than this. The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the kingHamlet, II.ii.596-612.
"Hamlet is tormented by the spirit of his father, just as Kirk is tormented by the memories of those massacred by Kodos. (Jim Kirk is also likened to Julius Caesar-"Caesar of the stars"-and Kodos to Macbeth.) But Kirk, again like Hamlet, has doubts: 'I must be absolutely sure." To discover Kardian's true identiyu, Kirk has him play the part of Kodos for the ship's voice analyzer. Kirk observes Karidian, as Hamlet observes his uncle. Both men use the fiction of a play within a 'play' to 'catch the conscience of the king'"
This episode takes place on, and is named after, the Enterprise's main shuttlecraft, "The Galileo Seven".
Named after the central event of this episode, "Court-Martial" features a court-martial against Kirk.
A synonym for "The Cage", "The Menagerie" is that first pilot of Star Trek, wrapped in a shell involving a court-martial of Spock.
In this episode, the crew of the Enterprise takes "Shore Leave" on a planet capable of creating entertainment from the thoughts of "vacationers".
"'The Squire of Gothos' is so named for the title that the supreme being Trelane gives himself." (TB)
Kirk is forced to fight the Gorn in a contrived battle in this episode, hence the title "Arena".
This epsidoe involves time travel, hence "Tomorrow is Yesterday".
The U.S.S. Archon was destroyed on the planet Beta III a century ago. The episode was probably named due to this ship.
"'This Side of Paradise' (a title used earlier by F. Scott Fitzgerald for his first novel) is also an intruiging title. One who is under the influence of the spores might say that the planet Omicron Ceti III is 'the best thing this side of paradise.' Later, we realize that we are seeing another aspect of 'paradise,' and this side of paradise is not a pretty one. Once we achieve 'paradise,' we realize it is a trap: it only seems like Heaven when we view it with uncritical eyes."
Note: This episode was originally called "The Way of the Spores".
"The most popular Star Trek episode of them all is 'The City on the Edge of Forever.' Though it is not my personal favorite, 'City' is my choice for best Star Trek title. Harlan Ellison's script, rewritten by Gene Roddenerry, was one of the best-written Star Trek segments, and the title of the show is correspondingly poetic. The ancient, ruined city surrounding the Gaurdian of Forever is the city to which the title refers; but for Jim Kirk, New York City also become 'a city on the edge of forever.' This powerful phrase is suited to a story that is both tragic and fascinating.
Note: This episode was originally called "Operation: Destroy".