Star Trek: Discovery airs for the first time in just four days, and for the subsequent week, the entire series will be judged on the two-part pilot episode. Pilots are important to any series. They set up the story arc and introduce us to the people who will guide us through a brand new world over the coming years.
Discovery, of course, comes on the heels of over 50 years of Star Trek. But, the entire franchise was at one time judged on just two episodes. The original pilot, “The Cage” looks today like some kind of distant relative of the TOS we came to know. The episode, which starred Jeffrey Hunter as captain of the Enterprise, didn’t quite sell the show to the network, and so “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was created; a second pilot to appease the network’s desire for more action and a less broody lead.