Where No Man Has Gone Before
- Episode aired Sep 22, 1966
- TV-PG
- 50m
The flight recorder of the 200-year-old U.S.S. Valiant relays a tale of terror--a magnetic storm at the edge of the galaxy.The flight recorder of the 200-year-old U.S.S. Valiant relays a tale of terror--a magnetic storm at the edge of the galaxy.The flight recorder of the 200-year-old U.S.S. Valiant relays a tale of terror--a magnetic storm at the edge of the galaxy.
- Lieutenant Hadley
- (uncredited)
- Bridge Crewmember
- (uncredited)
- Sciences Crewman
- (uncredited)
- Operations Division Lieutenant
- (uncredited)
- Lieutenant Leslie
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe change in Gary and Elizabeth's eyes was accomplished by Gary Lockwood and Sally Kellerman wearing sparkly contact lenses. They consisted of tinfoil sandwiched between two lenses which covered the entire eye. Wearing the lenses was difficult for Lockwood. He could only see through the lenses by looking down while pointing his head up. Lockwood was able to use this look to convey Mitchell's arrogant attitude.
The lenses were made over a weekend by Los Angeles optician John Roberts, who was hired by Associate Producer Robert H. Justman. Justman felt obligated to try wearing them before asking any actors to do so and managed to for several hours. He found them to be incredibly uncomfortable, but as long as they were only worn for brief periods, they were safe.
- GoofsGary Mitchell makes Captain Kirk's "headstone" which reads: "James R. Kirk." In all other Trek references, his name is "James Tiberius Kirk".
- Quotes
[last lines]
Capt. Kirk: Captain's Log, stardate 1313.8: add to official losses Doctor Elizabeth Dehner - be it noted she gave her life in performance of her duty; Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell, same notation.
[to Spock]
Capt. Kirk: I want his service record to end that way; he didn't ask for what happened to him.
Spock: I felt for him, too.
Capt. Kirk: [amazed] I believe there's some hope for you after all, Mr. Spock.
- Alternate versionsThe original version of the pilot, produced to convince NBC to buy "Star Trek" as a series, runs approximately 5 minutes longer and has a different introduction, several additional lines of dialogue and reaction shots, transitional introductions a la Quinn Martin ("Act I", "Act II", etc.), and different opening and closing credits. This has never been shown on television, but has circulated among "Star Trek" fans worldwide. It has been unofficially released on public domain videos, and was released on the 2009 Blu-Ray set of the original series (in the Season 3 collection)
- ConnectionsEdited into Star Trek: Catspaw (1967)
- SoundtracksStar Trek Theme
Composed and conducted by Alexander Courage
Where No Man Has Gone Before is the second pilot episode of the original series and experimentation can be seen in its cast and production design. It looks and feels totally different to what we become accustomed to watching during majority of its episodes. This makes it unique and is one of the most interesting aspects about it.
The story has quite familiar themes that will be explored in plenty of other episodes throughout the franchise. We have characters with god-like power interacting with ordinary humans. In this case we see someone obtaining the power and a plot centred around a dilemma of what others should do about it. Key to this dilemma is a central theme that will drive many plots throughout the franchise, a decision between taking actions based on pure logic or those based on humanity and compassion. Spock and Kirk embody this dilemma in a script written before the introduction of Dr McCoy and the establishment of the central trinity.
What I like about what happens to Gary Mitchell is that its handled quite intelligently rather than stupidly reactive as things like this are in some of the lesser episodes. We have characters anticipating what is likely to happen and thinking about it before it happens. From Gary's perspective it even made me wonder what I would do in his position. This all builds nicely to a pretty exciting and somewhat menacing conclusion.
All the cast give solid and likeable performances. Shatner is magnetic as Captain Kirk and Nimoy is to coin a phrase fascinating as the logical Spock. Guest stars Gary Lockwood and Sally Kellerman are excellent in their transformation to an Adam and Eve state as two godly entities unsure of how to act with their new power.
I can only imagine that the utterly polarised world of the 1960s, with the devastation of two world wars in people's memories, must have been an era so full of subject matter for sci-fi writers to explore. Television was relatively uncharted space for artists and classical themes such as the corruption of humanity by power is a perfect example of what people needed to see.
- snoozejonc
- Oct 5, 2020
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