Rigel VII was an M-class world, the seventh planet in the Rigel star system.
In 2254, a landing party from the starship USS Enterprise, led by Captain Christopher Pike, visited Rigel VII. While inside an apparently abandoned fortress, Pike and crew were attacked by the native Kalar warriors. Three crew members, including Pike's personal yeoman, were killed. Seven more were injured (including Spock, Navigator Tyler and a ship's geologist); some of these were so severely wounded that they required treatment at the Vega colony. Pike later regretted his decision to enter the fortress, stating that "the swords and the armor" should have alerted him to the possibility of a trap. (TOS: "The Cage", "The Menagerie, Part I", "The Menagerie, Part II")
There was a song called "Moon over Rigel VII," apparently inspired by a large, natural satellite orbiting the planet. Captain Kirk proposed singing it around a campfire while taking shore leave at Yosemite National Park on Earth with Captain Spock and Doctor McCoy in 2287. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
During the 2360s, Kobliad fugitive Rao Vantika used a subspace shunt to access and purge everything in the active memory of computer systems on Rigel VII. He later attempted the same on Deep Space 9 in 2369. (DS9: "The Passenger")
A view of the surface of Rigel VII was depicted on several viewscreens on Deep Space 9's Promenade and replimat, (DS9: "The Muse") advertising a visit to the "spectacular castles of Rigel VII". (DS9: "What You Leave Behind")
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Appendices
Background information
In the story outline for "The Cage" (as reprinted in The Making of Star Trek, pp. 47-65), this planet's name was given as Endrex II. (The Making of Star Trek, p. 51) Analysis of the script for "The Cage" indicates that the planet's name was then changed to Rigel 113. Before it finally became Rigel VII, Harvey P. Lynn – a physicist from the RAND Corporation who served as an unofficial adviser on both "The Cage" and, later, the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series – suggested to Gene Roddenberry that he consider changing Rigel 113 to Vega 113, due to Rigel being "mighty far away." (The Making of Star Trek, p. 95)
In the second revised final draft script of "The Cage", it is notated that the Rigel fortress "suggests a medieval civilization, but carrying strange symbols and odd décor which suggests things quite alien from Earth." The script similarly describes the fortress' courtyard; "The feeling here is as outside, a feudal-level civilization but with its weapons and architecture somewhat different from Earth."
In "The Cage" and "The Menagerie, Part II", the surface of Rigel VII, including the exterior of the Rigel fortress, was depicted with a matte painting that was created by Albert Whitlock. The Rigel fortress' exterior also involved live-action footage that was filmed on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer backlot and the fortress' interior was a set. ("The Menagerie, Part II" text commentary, TOS Season 1 DVD) The matte painting used to depict Rigel VII was re-used, unaltered, for Holberg 917G in the original version of TOS: "Requiem for Methuselah" (though it was replaced by a new CG matte painting for that episode's remastered version).
Apocrypha
In the short story version of "The Cage" (titled "The Menagerie" and published in Star Trek 4), this planet's name was Rigel VIII.
According to the comics series Star Trek: Early Voyages, the building was named the Zemtar fortress, and the Kalar warriors attacked because of their reluctance to see their homeworld join the peaceful Federation. None of these facts were derived from any actual production information, however; they were instead devised solely for the non-canon comic.
In Decipher's Star Trek Roleplaying Game, the green Orion race was from Rigel VII.
The reference work Star Trek: Star Charts identified Rigel VII as a Class M (Terrestrial) planet in the Beta Orionis system. 725,000 individuals lived on this world in 2378, and the dominant species was the humanoid Kalar. The Federation starship USS Enterprise made first contact with the Kalar in 2254. This planet was quarantined. (class designation pages 26, 54; planet data page 54)
Location
The reference work Star Trek: Star Charts identified this planet as the seventh planet of the primary star in the Beta Orionis system. This planet was located in the Beta Quadrant, and was approximately 773 light years from Sol. (page 54, 59)
Alpha and Beta Quadrant star chart which depicts the UFP
In the episode "Conspiracy", there was a galactic map. This map showed the locations of several stars and planets from Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Animated Series. In this map, Rigel was located in a block set between 349 and 350, and four blocks from the galactic edge. (Sol was located in a block set between 348 and 349, and two blocks from the galactic edge.)
In the episodes "Child's Play" and "The Haunting of Deck Twelve", this system was seen on a star chart in astrometrics. The system was shown in relation to Pollux IV, Jouret IV, Vega, and Organia.
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