(written from a Production point of view)
Robert Stanton "Bob" Butler (born 17 November 1927; age 96) directed the Star Trek: The Original Series first pilot episode, "The Cage". Butler was born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California from Irish Catholic parents. [1] He has built a long career in television, directing episodes of over 90 television series, notably The Twilight Zone (including "The Encounter" starring George Takei), Hogan's Heroes, The Fugitive, Batman (including two episodes guest-starring Frank Gorshin as The Riddler), Gunsmoke and Remington Steele. Butler seems to have made something of a specialty of directing the pilots of hugely successful series. Not only did he shoot the first ever Star Trek episode but he also directed the pilots of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (starring Teri Hatcher, K Callan, and Tracy Scoggins, and featuring Clyde Kusatsu, Kenneth Tigar, and Persis Khambatta), Moonlighting (featuring Robert Ellenstein), and Hill Street Blues (starring James B. Sikking).
Butler was chosen by Gene Roddenberry to work on the first pilot for Star Trek after he had directed some episodes of Roddenberry's previous series, The Lieutenant (starring Gary Lockwood). He also directed an episode of Have Gun – Will Travel which Roddenberry had written. However, Butler, not a fan of science fiction, was quite dissatisfied with Roddenberry's production decisions and the show itself, so he declined to direct more episodes (including "The Menagerie, Part I" and "The Menagerie, Part II"). He called the series "too square-jawed, heroic" for his taste, and opted for something more like The Twilight Zone. Butler wanted to add some dirt and rust to the sets (like they did later in Star Wars and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), but Roddenberry opted for the Enterprise to be perfectly clean and shiny. He also thought the title Star Trek to be pretentious and advised Roddenberry to change it, but he refused. [2] (Star Trek Monthly issue 6)
Star Trek credits
- TOS:
- "The Cage"
- "The Menagerie, Part I" (archive footage, uncredited)
- "The Menagerie, Part II" (archive footage)
Further reading
- "Robert Butler, King of 'The Cage'", Edward Gross, Starlog, issue 117, April 1987, pp. 54-55