"Where No Man Has Gone Before" is the third episode of the first season of the American science-fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Samuel A. Peeples and directed by James Goldstone, it first aired on September 22, 1966.
In the episode, after the USS Enterprise attempts to cross the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy, two crew members develop powerful ESP 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 by NBC. Reportedly, Lucille Ball, who owned Desilu 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 liked Gene 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 the BBC on July 12, 1969.
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the first produced episode of Star Trek to feature William Shatner as Captain James Kirk, James Doohan as Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, and George Takei as Lt. Sulu (in this episode, the ship's astro scientist, whose character became helmsman in subsequent episodes). The episode also guest stars Sally Kellerman (prior to her role in M*A*S*H) as Dr. Elisabeth Dehner, the ship’s psychiatrist. The episode title is the final phrase in the opening voice-over, which characterizes the series and has entered popular culture.
Contents
Plot
The USS Enterprise is on an exploratory mission to leave the galaxy. En route, a damaged ship's recorder of the SS Valiant, an Earth spaceship lost 200 years earlier, is found. Its record is incomplete, but it reveals that the Valiant had been swept from its path by a "magnetic space storm," and that the crew had frantically searched for information about extrasensory perception (ESP) in the ship's library computer. The recording ends with the captain of the Valiant apparently giving a self-destruct order.
Captain Kirk decides that they need to know what happened to the Valiant, and the Enterprise crosses the edge of the galaxy. There, it encounters a strange barrier that damages the ship's systems and warp drive, forcing a retreat. At the same time, nine crew members are killed and both helmsman Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) and the ship's psychiatrist 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 of telepathic and telekinetic power.
Science Officer Spock comes to believe that the Valiant 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 to maroon 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 a phaser rifle to create a rock slide, killing Mitchell.
Back on the Enterprise, 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."
Production and casting
The original pilot of Star 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 the adventure 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.
Roddenberry wrote two story outlines, "The Omega Glory" and "Mudd's Women". He wrote the teleplay for the former and gave the latter to Stephen Kandel. Roddenberry asked long-time associate and veteran scriptwriter Samuel 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.
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.
Casting took place in June 1965. Jeffrey Hunter was unwilling to reprise his role as Captain Christopher Pike. Lloyd Bridges and Jack Lord were considered, but William Shatner was finally cast as Pike's replacement, Captain James Kirk. The character of Number 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 of Christine 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.
Original cut
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 the 24th World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 3, 1966—shortly before the premiere broadcast of Star Trek on NBC.
The studio did not retain a print of this original version, and it was officially thought to be lost. 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 the TOS season 3 box set on Blu-ray.
Non-canonical related works
The episode was adapted into a short story by James Blish for Star Trek 8, published by Bantam in 1972. It also became the second in Bantam's series of Fotonovels, published in 1977.
Non-canonical books
The Galactic Barrier is later associated with the Q in the 1994 novel Q-Squared by Peter David and the 1998 Star Trek: The Q Continuum trilogy by Greg Cox.
Gary Mitchell does not appear again in the show. Several books, including Michael Jan Friedman's My Brother's Keeper, Vonda N. McIntyre's Enterprise: The First Adventure, and Margaret Wander Bonanno's Strangers from the Sky, feature the character in adventures set before the events of the episode. The 2005 Star Trek: Vanguard book Harbinger 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's Stargazer book The Valiant features two people who claim to be descended from the Valiant's crew.
Non-canonical mini-series
Gary Mitchell (portrayed by Daamen J. Krall) appears in the alternate timeline depicted in the 2006-2008 mini-series Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.
765874 – Unification
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.
Reception
In 2013, Wired magazine ranked this episode one of the top ten episodes of the original television series. They note famous lines such as Kirk's plea for compassion, and the absence of series regulars such as Dr. McCoy, Uhura, and Chekov.
Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a 'B+' rating, describing it as "an awkward episode" but that "it's not without its charms."
In 2016, IGN ranked "Where No Man Has Gone Before" number six in a top ten list of original series episodes. They also ranked it the 17th best episode of all Star Trek series.
In 2018, PopMatters ranked this the 4th best episode of the original series.
Releases
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" was released on PAL-format LaserDisc in the United Kingdom as part of The Pilots collection, in April 1996. 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.