| "Where No Man Has Gone Before" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: The Original Series episode | |||
 Kellerman as Dr. Elisabeth Dehner andWilliam Shatner as Capt. Kirk. | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 1 Episode 3 | ||
| Directed by | James Goldstone | ||
| Written by | Samuel A. Peeples | ||
| Featured music | Alexander Courage | ||
| Cinematography by | Ernest Haller | ||
| Production code | 2 | ||
| Original air date | September 22, 1966 (1966-09-22) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| |||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| Star Trek: The Original Seriesseason 1 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" is the third episode of thefirst season of the Americanscience-fiction television seriesStar Trek. Written bySamuel A. Peeples and directed byJames Goldstone, it first aired on September 22, 1966.
In the episode, after theUSS Enterprise attempts to cross the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy, two crew members develop powerfulESP abilities that threaten the safety of the crew.
The episode was the second pilot, produced in 1965 after the first pilot, "The Cage", was rejected byNBC. Reportedly,Lucille Ball, who ownedDesilu Productions (where the pilot was produced), persuaded NBC management to consider a second pilot, thereby exercising a special option agreement it had with Desilu, because she likedGene Roddenberry and believed in the project. The episode was eventually broadcast third in sequence, and it was the first episode to be shown in the United Kingdom by theBBC on July 12, 1969.[1]
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the first produced episode ofStar Trek to featureWilliam Shatner as CaptainJames Kirk,James Doohan as Chief EngineerMontgomery Scott, andGeorge Takei as Lt.Sulu (in this episode, the ship's astro scientist, whose character becamehelmsman in subsequent episodes). The episode also guest starsSally Kellerman (prior toher role onM*A*S*H) as Dr. Elisabeth Dehner, the ship’spsychiatrist. The episode title is the final phrase in theopening voice-over,[1] which characterizes the series and has entered popular culture.
TheUSS Enterprise is on an exploratory mission to leave the galaxy. En route, a damagedship's recorder of the SSValiant, an Earth spaceship lost 200 years earlier, is found. Its record is incomplete, but it reveals that theValiant had been swept from its path by a "magnetic space storm," and that the crew had frantically searched for information aboutextrasensory perception (ESP) in the ship's library computer. The recording ends with the captain of theValiant apparently giving aself-destruct order.
CaptainKirk decides that they need to know what happened to theValiant, and theEnterprise crosses the edge of the galaxy. There, it encounters a strange barrier that damages the ship's systems andwarp drive, forcing a retreat. At the same time, nine crew members are killed and both helmsmanGary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) and the ship'spsychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Dehner (Sally Kellerman) are knocked unconscious by the barrier's effect. When he awakens, Mitchell's eyes glow silver, and he begins to display remarkable psychic powers.
Mitchell becomes increasingly arrogant and hostile toward the rest of the crew, declaring that he has become godlike, enforcing his desires with displays oftelepathic andtelekinetic power.
Science OfficerSpock comes to believe that theValiant crew members might have experienced the same phenomenon, and destroyed their ship to keep the power from spreading. He advises Kirk that Mitchell may have to be killed before his powers develop further, but Kirk angrily disagrees - although he accepts Spock's alternate suggestion tomaroon Mitchell at a completely automated lithium cracking facility on the remote planet of Delta Vega. Once there, the landing party tries to confine Mitchell, but his powers have become too great. He kills navigator Lee Kelso by telekinetically garroting him and escapes by knocking out Kirk and Spock, taking with him Dr. Dehner, who has now developed ESP powers of her own.
Kirk follows and appeals to Dr. Dehner's humanity for help. Before Mitchell can kill Kirk, Dehner attacks him using her powers and weakens him. Mitchell fatally injures Dehner, but before he can recover from the effort, Kirk uses aphaser rifle to create a rock slide, killing Mitchell.
Back on theEnterprise, Kirk makes a log entry that both Dehner and Mitchell gave their lives "in performance of duty". He explains to Spock that he wants his friend's service record to end positively: "He didn't ask for what happened to him."
The original pilot ofStar Trek, "The Cage", was rejected in February 1965 by NBC executives. The show had been sold to them as a "Wagon Train to the stars", and they thought the first pilot did not match theadventure format they had been promised and was "too cerebral" for the general audience. However, NBC, having been persuaded by Desilu management (and reportedly by Lucille Ball herself), maintained sufficient interest in the format to order a second pilot episode in March 1965.[2][3]
Roddenberry wrote two story outlines, "The Omega Glory" and "Mudd's Women". He wrote theteleplay for the former and gave the latter to Stephen Kandel. Roddenberry asked long-time associate and veteran scriptwriterSamuel Peeples to submit ideas for another. Peeples came up with the premise and episode title for "Where No Man Has Gone Before", and was assigned to write it. Roddenberry rewrote Peeples's script several times. While he enjoyed working with Roddenberry, after seeing the pilot Peeples preferred his original version of the script. There was some discussion over who came up with the title "Where No Man Has Gone Before"; Peeples stated unequivocally that it was his idea, and not Roddenberry's.[4]
Kandel had fallen ill and his script was not finished in time; the other two were submitted to NBC for consideration. NBC preferred "Where No Man Has Gone Before" as a pilot. "Mudd's Women" was later made as the second episode in regular production, and "The Omega Glory" was made towards the end of the second season.[2]
Casting took place in June 1965.Jeffrey Hunter was unwilling to reprise his role as CaptainChristopher Pike.Lloyd Bridges andJack Lord were considered, butWilliam Shatner was finally cast as Pike's replacement, CaptainJames Kirk.[5] The character ofNumber One, the female second-in-command, was dropped on the insistence of the NBC network, and Science Officer Spock was given Number One's unemotional demeanor. NBC was worried about Leonard Nimoy's "satanic" appearance and pressured for his removal. As Roddenberry later explained at conventions, he felt he had a strong enough negotiating position to save one character, but not both. Roddenberry went on to muse that, had he done it the other way around, he could not have then married the losing actor (Majel Hudec, who changed her surname to Barrett and returned in the role ofChristine Chapel). Kirk, who became "James T. Kirk" for the main series, is "James R. Kirk" here, according to the gravestone Mitchell prepares for him on the planet.
Apart from Captain Kirk, the episode introduced two other regular characters to the show:James Doohan, a friend of directorJames Goldstone, was cast as the Chief EngineerMontgomery Scott (the name chosen after Doohan had tried various accents, and had decided that an engineer ought to be Scottish)[6] andGeorge Takei was cast as the ship's physicist.Sulu would become the helmsman in the regular series. LieutenantUhura and Dr.Leonard McCoy do not feature; the ship's doctor is insteadMark Piper (Paul Fix), who lost the role toDeForest Kelley.[7]
Gary Lockwood, as Lt. Commander Gary Mitchell, had starred in the title role of Roddenberry's earlier series onNBC,The Lieutenant;Sally Kellerman was cast as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner. Both actors needed silver eyes andscleral lenses were called for, which were produced by expert contact lens fabricator, John Roberts, who laminated wrinkled tinfoil between layers of the scleral lenses which covered the entire eye. These, outdated by the 1960s, could be painful, perhaps dangerous to the actors' eyes (modern scleral lenses can "breathe" and are oxygen permeable). Although Kellerman could insert and remove the prosthetics easily with no discomfort, Lockwood found them difficult to see through. He needed to raise his face and sight along his nose in order to see through tiny holes in the foil. He was able to use this to enhance his performance as the mutating Mitchell, the unusual gaze giving him an arrogant and haughty demeanor.[8]
Other cast members includedPaul Carr as Navigator Lee Kelso,Lloyd Haynes as Communications Officer Alden andAndrea Dromm as Yeoman Smith (Alden and Smith were intended to be regulars in the show, but were replaced by Uhura andJanice Rand, respectively).[8] The episode also is the first time long-running background actorEddie Paskey appeared; his character would later be identified as Lt. Leslie.[9]
The costumes from the first pilot were used in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" with the exception of the insignias in two respects – the outlines were gold in the first pilot but black in the second, and the insignia symbols for engineering and sciences were reversed for the series proper. Completely new uniforms and insignia would be unveiled when the series was approved, with the colors altered and black collars introduced. Most of theEnterprise sets were also reused from "The Cage", whileSickbay was the only major set constructed for the episode. Like "The Cage", the episode was shot at Desilu'sCulver City studios.[10]
The episode was directed byJames Goldstone. He was hired primarily to get his opinion on which of the first three scripts should be the second pilot. While his best friendStephen Kandel wrote "Mudd's Women", Goldstone agreed "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the right choice.[4]Ernest Haller, who had won the Oscar forBest Color Cinematography on the movieGone with the Wind (1939), served as director of photography for the episode. He had been brought in out of semi-retirement at Goldstone's recommendation at the last minute, after attempts to locate a cameraman had proved problematic.[11]Robert H. Justman was credited as assistant director.
Shooting started on July 19, 1965, several days later than originally scheduled.[2] During the filming of this episode, a wasp's nest high in the rafters of the studio was somehow disturbed, and many cast and crew members suffered stings as a result. As this happened on a Friday, the weekend break allowed time for the swelling to go down; Shatner, however, required additional makeup to hide the stings during shooting the following Monday.[3][8] Filming finished late on July 28, 1965; the final footage filmed was part of the fight between Kirk and Mitchell. While the schedule allowed seven days to shoot the episode, it required nine, which was Justman's original estimate.[3][8][10] The episode cost around $300,000, around half the money spent on making "The Cage".[8]
In a 1988 TV special,The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation to the Next, series creatorGene Roddenberry said that, as with the first pilot, this one still had a lot of science fiction elements in it, but at least it ended with Kirk in a bare-knuckle fistfight with Mitchell and that's what sold NBC onStar Trek.[12]
Post-production on the episode was delayed by Roddenberry's involvement in another pilot,Police Story. Post-production finished in January 1966 and the episode was presented to NBC for approval (which finally came in February 1966). This original version (production number 02a) differed from the later final broadcast cut (production number 02b, airing on September 22, 1966) in that each of the four acts had on-screen titles ("Act I", "Act II", etc.), as well as an epilogue. It also featured a much longer opening narration by Shatner. In some places alternate musical scores were used. In total almost five minutes of footage was removed to accommodate the original series' 50-minute network broadcast format to allow for commercials. The episode in its original version was seen by the public before the aired version, having been shown at the24th World Science Fiction Convention inCleveland, Ohio, on September 3, 1966—shortly before the premiere broadcast ofStar Trek on NBC.[13]
The studio did not retain a print of this original version, and it was officially thought to belost.[1][14] In 2009, a German film collector discovered a print of it and brought it to the attention of CBS/Paramount, which then released it under the title"Where No Fan Has Gone Before" – The Restored, Unaired Alternate Pilot Episode as part of theTOS season 3 box set onBlu-ray.[15][16][17][18]
The episode was adapted into a short story byJames Blish forStar Trek 8, published by Bantam in 1972.[19] It also became the second in Bantam's series ofFotonovels, published in 1977.[20]
The Galactic Barrier is later associated with theQ in the 1994 novelQ-Squared byPeter David and the 1998Star Trek: The Q Continuum trilogy byGreg Cox.[19]
Gary Mitchell does not appear again in the show. Several books, includingMichael Jan Friedman'sMy Brother's Keeper,Vonda N. McIntyre'sEnterprise: The First Adventure, andMargaret Wander Bonanno'sStrangers from the Sky, feature the character in adventures set before the events of the episode. The 2005Star Trek: Vanguard bookHarbinger is set immediately after the events of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and features a troubled Kirk musing on his friend's death. Friedman'sStargazer bookThe Valiant features two people who claim to be descended from theValiant's crew.[19]
Gary Mitchell (portrayed by Daamen J. Krall) appears in the alternate timeline depicted in the 2006-2008 mini-seriesStar Trek: Of Gods and Men.[21][22][23]
Gary Lockwood returned to the role of Gary Mitchell in the 2024 short film,765874 – Unification, appearing to use his godlike powers to help Kirk reunite with Spock in his dying moments.[24]
In 2013,Wired magazine ranked this episode one of the top ten episodes of the original television series.[25] They note famous lines such as Kirk's plea for compassion, and the absence of series regulars such asDr. McCoy,Uhura, andChekov.[25]
Zack Handlen ofThe A.V. Club gave the episode a 'B+' rating, describing it as "an awkward episode" but that "it's not without its charms."[26]
In 2016,IGN ranked "Where No Man Has Gone Before" number six in a top ten list of original series episodes.[27] They also ranked it the 17th best episode of allStar Trek series.[28]
In 2018,PopMatters ranked this the 4th best episode of the original series.[29]
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" was released onPAL-format LaserDisc in the United Kingdom as part ofThe Pilots collection, in April 1996.[30] This included the color version of "The Cage", "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "Encounter at Farpoint", "Emissary", and "Caretaker" with a total runtime of 379 minutes.[30]
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