Sfx: Beep, beep.

Malachi Throne as Commodore José Mendez: “Two flashes mean no.”

DeForest Kelley as McCoy: “Blast medicine anyway. We’ve learned to tie-in to every human organ in the body except one – the brain – and the brain is what life is all about.”

Throne as Mendez: “There’s been subspace chatter about it for months.”

Leonard Nimoy as Spock: “Per Starfleet orders, this date, I have been placed in temporary command of the Enterprise.”

William Shatner as Kirk: “Computer control, come in.”

Sfx: Computer thinking.

Majel Barrett as the voice of the Enterprise computer: “Computer.”

Shatner: “This is the captain. On voice command, you will override all contrary instructions.”

Sfx: Computer thinking.

Barrett: “Unable to comply.”

Barrett, with no sound effects in the background: “Unable to comply.”

Throne as Mendez: “You have delibertately invited the death penalty.”

Nimoy: “Sir... I respectfully decline.”

William Shatner as Kirk: “Disengage computer control, Uhura.”

Nichelle Nichols as Uhura: “We can’t disengage, Captain. The helm does not respond.”

Shatner: “If there’s anything I can do for you...”

Sfx: Beep, beep.

Leonard Nimoy as Spock: "Please... don't stop me."

Throne as Mendez: “Present your evidence... Screen on.”

Throne as Mendez: “I thought you might make an exception for them.”

Sfx: Beep, beep.

Shatner: “Someone’s interferring with my command and my ship. I don’t know who it is, but I mean to find out.”

Julie Parrish as Miss Piper: “We’re forced to consider every possibility, Sir.”

Kelley: “I could run off half-cocked, given a good reason. So could you... but not Spock... It’s impossible.”

Nimoy: “Doctor, I regret they elected to keep certain things from you.”

Shatner: “Do you know what you’re doing? ... Have you lost your mind?”

Music: Dramatic background music, heavy on the drums.

Music: Mellow interlude.

Music: Abbreviated segue into a commercial break.

Nimoy: “I have never disobeyed your orders before, Captain, but this time, I must.”

Nimoy: “I have no choice.”

Shatner: “In all the years of my service, this is the most painful moment I’ve ever faced.”

Throne as Mendez: “That’s as much as that poor devil can do.”

Throne as Mendez: “I’m truly amazed at your technical prowess in somehow manufacturing all this. I congratulate you on your imagination.”

Throne as Mendez: “This court is in recess.”

Shatner: “I suggest the record tapes have been deliberately changed. A computer expert can change record tapes – duplicate voices, say anything, say nothing.”

Nimoy: “May I remain for a moment?”

Sfx: Beep.

Throne as Mendez: “You’re in no position to bargain... This is ridiculous.”

Shatner: “Screen on, Mr. Scott.”

Sfx: Screen coming on.

Throne as Mendez: “I’m sorry, gentlemen.”

Throne as Mendez: “The court is not obliged to view evidence without knowing its source.”

Shatner: “If I thought you had the technical know-how, I’d suspect you, but you don’t!”

Man: “This is top-secret and scrambled.”

(Note: This voice is believed to be George Sawaya as Chief Humboldt, but that is unconfirmed.)

Nimoy: “You must see the rest of the transmission.”

Throne as Mendez: “I just can’t understand this.”

Throne as Mendez: “It’s up to you. Do we continue under these conditions?”

Sfx: Beep.

Kelley: “Jim, forgetting how well we both know Spock, the simple fact that he’s a Vulcan means he’s incapable of telling a lie.”

Shatner: “He’s also half human.”

Nimoy: “Will you come with me, please.”

William Shatner as Kirk: “There, before our eyes... actual images from 13 years ago.”

Malachi Throne as Commodore José Mendez: “You will answer all questions put to you.”

Leonard Nimoy as Spock: “My answer to your question would be quite unbelievable, Sir.”

Nimoy: “You’ve asked me why. You’ll see the answer now.”

Throne as Mendez: “I must also vote guilty as charged.”

Shatner: “I find it hard to believe the events of the past 24 hours.”

Shatner: “Uh, Mr. Spock... When you’re finished, please come back and see me. I want to talk to you. This regrettable tendency you’ve been showing lately toward flagrant emotionalism...”

Nimoy, interrupting: “I see no reason to insult me, Sir. I believe I’ve been completely logical about the whole affair.”

Nimoy: “Gentlemen, a moment, please!”

Nimoy: “You have no choice, Sir... I’m sorry.”

Throne as Mendez: “They’re like animals... vicious, seductive... They say no human male can resist them.”

Sfx: Odd noise often heard in this episode to signify Talosian activity of various sorts.

Sfx: Ditto, but a different version.

Nimoy: “There’s more to it. Watch.”

Throne as Mendez: “I demand to know why.”

Malachi Throne as the voice of the Talosian Magistrate, a.k.a. the Keeper: “Excellent.”

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “We can soon begin the experiment.”

The Keeper’s Original Voice

There’s a bit of disagreement in cyberspace about who voiced the Keeper in The Menagerie, part 2. However, we all know who first voiced the character in Star Trek’s original pilot, The Cage, which was never aired in its self-contained entirety, and that was Malachi Throne. The Keeper is a male character but was portrayed by actress Meg Wyllie. To give the Keeper a male voice in the original pilot, the post-production team dubbed Throne’s voice in place of Wyllie’s. Throne can clearly be recognized as the Keeper’s voice in the 1986 “hybrid” version of The Cage in three different lines of dialog, so there is no question that Throne originally voiced the Keeper for the pilot in his normal speaking voice. So far, so good. (continued below)

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “A nourishing protein complex.”

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “You overlook the unpleasant alternative of punishment.”

New Voice Needed

However, a problem surfaced when the Menagerie episodes went into production because Throne was cast to play Commodore Mendez... Hmmm... Wouldn’t viewers be terribly confused to hear the Keeper sounding exactly like the Commodore? To avoid that confusion, the production team decided the Keeper should have a different voice for the character’s dialog in The Menagerie, part 2. How that was accomplished is where the disagreement starts. (continued below)

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “This is necessary in order to perpetuate the species.”

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “If you continue to disobey, from deeper in your mind there are things even more unpleasant.”

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “Wrong thinking is punishable. Right thinking will be as quickly rewarded. You will find it an effective combination.”

Two Theories

Some believe actor Vic Perrin was enlisted to provide the Keeper’s new voice and that Perrin’s voice was dubbed over Throne’s audio that had been recorded for The Cage. You can even find Perrin credited this way at IMDB.com (as of this writing). However, others believe that, for The Menagerie, part 2, audio engineers altered Throne’s original recordings of the Keeper’s voice to give that original audio a higher pitch that distinguishes it from Throne’s normal speaking voice. (continued below)

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “Is this a deception?”

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “Do you intend to destroy yourselves?”

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “We had not believed this possible.”

Which Is It?

Your humble webmaster believes the latter theory (the altered-pitch theory) is correct. Some believe the Perrin theory to be more plausible, given that Perrin provided voice work in a few other Star Trek episodes and the notion that, with the “primitive” technology available in 1966, such audio editing would have been much more difficult than simply hiring another actor to provide a new voice for the character. On that latter point, however, note that the Eltro information rate changer was patented back in the 1920’s and was extensively utilized for 2001: A Space Oddysey, just two years after the Menagerie episodes were produced. (continued below)

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “The customs and history of your race show a unique hatred of captivity. Even when it’s pleasant and benevolent, you prefer death.”

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “This makes you too violent and dangerous a species for our needs.”

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “Captain Pike has an illusion and you have reality. May you find your way as pleasant.”

Sfx: Strange noise signifying Talosian activity of various sorts.

Dueling Sound Bites

Listen carefully to this sound bite. A version of this line also appears in The Cage. In that pilot episode, Malachi Throne, while voicing the Keeper in his normal speaking voice, can be heard saying, “She has an illusion and you have reality. May you find your way as pleasant.” Now, when you listen carefully to this similar sound bite from The Menagerie, part 2, you can tell that the “Captain Pike” portion sounds somewhat different than the rest of the audio in that line, as if the “Captain Pike” portion has been dubbed-in. (continued below)

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “No other specimen has shown your adaptability.”

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “You were our last hope.”

Curiouser and Curiouser

It occurred to me that if Vic Perrin voiced the Keeper on his own, why would they need to dub “Captain Pike” into that “illusion versus reality” line? Wouldn’t Perrin just say the entire line himself? That’s when I decided to dig deeper. (continued below)

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “This is the female’s true appearance.”

Testing the Theory

As mentioned above, the “hybrid” version of The Cage contains three lines of dialog for the Keeper that are voiced by Throne in his normal speaking voice. I decided to test the altered-pitch theory, using those three sound bites. I altered Throne’s normal voice to discover what would happen if I made the pitch higher. Would that make Throne’s normal voice sound like the Keeper’s voice in The Menagerie, part 2? After all, according to the altered-pitch theory, that’s what should happen. (continued below)

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “What you now seem to hear, Captain Kirk, are my thought transmissions.”

Clarity Begins to Emerge

After altering the pitch of Throne’s audio for the “illusion versus reality” line from The Cage and comparing it to the audio of the similar line as it’s heard in The Menagerie, part 2, I found them to sound virtually identical in every way, except for the dubbing of “Captain Pike” in place of “she.” (continued below)

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “Captain Pike is welcome to spend the rest of his life with us, unfettered by his physical body. The decision is yours... and his.”

Three Out of Three

After that, I also changed the pitch of the other two Cage sound bites that contain Throne’s normal speaking voice. When you do that, it causes Throne’s voice to sound just like the Keeper’s voice as heard in The Menagerie, part 2. (continued below)

Throne as the voice of the Keeper: “His presence there was an illusion.”

That Settles It, at Least for Me

This convinces me that Throne is the only actor to have voiced the Keeper in any of these episodes and that the Perrin theory is wrong. That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it. By the way, all of the Keeper’s sound bites on this page were captured as they appear in The Menagerie, part 2, i.e., after the pitch of Throne’s voice had been altered by the show’s production team. All three Cage sound bites of Throne voicing the Keeper in his normal speaking voice can be sampled at WavSource’s “Cage Page” by clicking here. Furthermore, if you wish to hear virtually all of Throne’s surviving Cage audio of the Keeper before it was pitch-altered for The Menagerie, part 2, check out these two YouTube videos: here and here.

If you have an opinion about all this that differs from the webmaster’s, send an email to