Where No Man Has Gone Before (TOS episode)
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| Star Trek: TOS episode | |
| "Where No Man Has Gone Before" | |
 The Enterprise arrives at the edge of the galaxy, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" | |
| Episode no. | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 002 |
| Airdate | September 22, 1966 |
| Writer(s) | Samuel A. Peeples |
| Director | James Goldstone |
| Guest star(s) | Sally Kellerman Gary Lockwood Paul Carr Paul Fix Andrea Dromm Lloyd Haynes Eddie Paskey |
| Year | 2266 |
| Stardate | 1312.4 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Charlie X" |
| Next | "The Naked Time" |
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the second pilot episode of the Star Trek: The Original Series. The first pilot, "The Cage", was rejected by NBC; the second used the same crew uniforms (with collars the same color as the rest of the tunic, instead of black, as in subsequent episodes), which proved confusing to viewers[citation needed] when NBC chose to broadcast "Where No Man Has Gone Before" third in sequence on September 22, 1966. It was repeated on April 20, 1967.
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" was written by Samuel A. Peeples, and directed by James Goldstone. It is episode #3, production #2.
Overview: The Enterprise journeys to the edge of the galaxy, where two crew members develop dangerous psychic powers.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
On stardate 1312.4, the Starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is on an exploratory mission to leave the galaxy. This feat has never been successfully completed because there's a seemingly impenetrable energy barrier surrounding the entire disk of the galaxy. The last ship to attempt passage was the SS Valiant, which never reported back.
While the Enterprise is en route, the Valiant's "black box" recorder is detected, and the Enterprise beams the battered device aboard. The 200-year-old recorder is barely functional, but still holds data about the last moments aboard the ill-fated ship, and indicates that the crew had been frantically searching for information about extra-sensory perception (ESP) in the ship's library computer.
Shortly thereafter, the Enterprise enters the barrier region, which causes serious electrical damage to the ship's systems, and the vessel is forced to back off. At the same time, Navigator Gary Mitchell and ship's psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, are both knocked unconscious by the field's effect. After they awaken, Mitchell gradually begins to display psychic powers, and his eyes glow silver. Dehner's powers grow at a slower rate than Mitchell's, but she eventually develops the silver glow as well, and later develops powers that rival Mitchell's.
Mitchell and Kirk have known each other for many years. In fact, as a Starfleet midshipman, Mitchell was a student of instructor Lieutenant Kirk. He says the first thing he ever heard from an upperclassman was, "Watch out for Lt. Kirk. In his class, you either think or sink."
Over time, Mitchell becomes increasingly arrogant and hostile toward the rest of the crew, declaring he has become godlike. He enforces his desires with fearsome telepathic and telekinetic powers. Mr. Spock believes that the Valiant may have experienced the same phenomenon, and in turn, some of its crew members developed dangerous powers. The other crew members must have destroyed the ship to prevent the power from taking over the galaxy.
Alarmed that Mitchell may eventually take over the Enterprise, Kirk decides to have him marooned on an unmanned lithium-cracking facility on the remote planet of Delta Vega. Once there, the landing party tries to confine Mitchell, but his powers are too great. He eventually goes on a rampage, kills Helmsman Lee Kelso and escapes, taking Dr. Dehner with him.
Kirk follows and appeals to Dr. Dehner's humanity for help. As Mitchell prepares to kill Kirk with his psionic powers, Dr. Dehner attacks Mitchell to weaken him. Mitchell kills Dehner, but before he can recharge and use his powers, Kirk blasts down a rock slide that buries and finishes off Mitchell for good.
[edit] Background
Unlike the first pilot—which featured Captain Christopher Pike, a female second-in-command (Number One), Science Officer Spock and Chief Medical Officer Doctor Phillip Boyce—James T. Kirk is in command of the Starship Enterprise, with Lieutenant Commander Spock as his first officer. Doctor Leonard McCoy does not appear.
Gary Lockwood was chosen to play Lt. Commander Gary Mitchell. Lockwood had starred in the title role of Roddenberry's earlier series on ABC, The Lieutenant.
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. Despite the makeup used to hide them, they can still be seen in the later acts, as Kirk and Mitchell fight on the planet surface.[citation needed]
[edit] Canon and beyond
Kirk's middle initial is given as "R." in "Where No Man Has Gone Before"; when "T." was selected later, this fact was not considered (for reasons unknown). The explanation provided later was that Gene Roddenberry wanted, as a private joke, to have a character named Rice in every series he created, and Kirk's middle name was to be Rice.[citation needed] The "in show" explanation for the changing middle initial is that Mitchell, who created a tombstone with his captain's name inscribed on it, did not know Kirk's true middle name and, refusing to accept that there was something he did not know, simply supplied one of his own creation.[citation needed]
The 1994 novel Q-Squared by Peter David, though non-canon, would revisit the story and offer an alternative explanation for the source of Mitchell's and Dehner's godlike powers: the essence of the entity known as Q, mentally impaired and sent backwards in time by an assault from another member of the Q Continuum, scattered throughout the galactic barrier. The novel asserts that the pair's powers were caused by Q's essence inhabiting their bodies, in an attempt to regain the entity's lost mental faculties; but, the impaired Q was overcome by Mitchell's willpower and turned instead to Dehner, manipulating her to listen to Kirk and aid him in Mitchell's downfall. The essence of Q then left both humans, later reasserting itself.
[edit] External links
- "Where No Man Has Gone Before" article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki.
| Last produced: "The Cage" | Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 1 | Next produced: "The Corbomite Maneuver" |
| Last transmitted: "Charlie X" | Next transmitted: "The Naked Time" |
