Star Trek – Where No Man Has Gone Before

★★★★ September 22, 1966 Season 1 Episode 3

If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog. 

This episode was written by Samuel A. Peeples and Gene Roddenberry

Absolute power corrupts. In an energy field Kirk’s friend Gary Mitchell is endowed with astonishing powers of ESP and telekinesis, Kirk and Spock grow alarmed as he starts to test his ability to take over the Enterprise. Spock urges Kirk to maroon Mitchell on Delta Vega, an uninhabited planet, or kill him. At first, Kirk is outraged at even the suggestion, but eventually accepts the cold logic of this solution as Spock warns him, “we’ll never reach another earth base with him on board.”

This episode probably should have been the debut of Star Trek…it was the second pilot filmed but this one was aired 3rd. It truly is bizarre that this story wasn’t used for the first broadcast episode on September 8, 1966, instead of The Man Trap. It worked out in the end but this would have been a stronger episode. 

It was the first one filmed with Captain Kirk. Spock looks close to what he looked like on the pilot which no one saw at the time. In the other episodes, he looks like the Spock we have come to know. This episode has a different doctor (Paul Fix) than DeForrest Kelley.

It’s a strong episode with a very good storyline and acting. My favorite interaction was this between Kirk and Spock about what to do with Gary Mitchell. After telling Kirk his friend needs to be marooned on a planet before he destroys them all…this short snippet took place.

Kirk: Doctor Dehner feels he isn’t that dangerous. What makes you right and a trained psychiatrist wrong?
Spock: Because she feels. I don’t. All I know is logic. In my opinion, we’ll be lucky if we can repair this ship and get away in time.

That sums up Spock rather nicely. 

Sally Kellerman Star Trek

Sally Kellerman was in this episode as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner. Kellerman would go on to star in M*A*S*H the movie. Also, Gary Lockwood who played Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell would be in 2001: A Space Odyssey a few years later. 

From IMDB

The 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 that 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 phaser rifle that Kirk uses appears for the first and only time in the series. However, it can be seen on many pre-season 1 promotional photos.

Leonard Nimoy is the only actor to appear in both this, the second pilot, and the original pilot episode Star Trek: The Cage (1966). That being so, and the fact that he is in all the rest of the episodes, makes him the only actor to appear in all 79 episodes of the series (80 for those who count “The Cage”).

The gap in time between filming this and the rest of the series explains some of the apparent inconsistencies, notably some changes in the Enterprise architecture, the fact that most of the female crew members wear trousers and Mr Spock’s distinctive yellowish skin tone.

The reason this episode wasn’t broadcast first, despite being a pilot, is that the network felt it was “too expository”, and would not have made a good premiere episode for the series.

This was filmed more than one year before it was aired on TV.

Summary

When the Enterprise attempts to penetrate a space barrier, it is damaged and creates a potentially worse problem. Two crew members, including Kirk’s best friend, gain psionic powers that are growing exponentially. This leaves Captain Kirk with the difficult choice; either maroon them or killing before they get so powerful they lose their humanity and become truly dangerous.

CAST

William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk
Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock
Sally Kellerman … Dr. Elizabeth Dehner
Gary Lockwood … Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell
George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu
James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott
Lloyd Haynes … Alden
Andrea Dromm … Yeoman Smith
Paul Carr Paul Carr … Lt. Lee Kelso
Paul Fix  … Doctor Piper
Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited)
Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

21 thoughts on “Star Trek – Where No Man Has Gone Before”

    1. That is true…and you brought up something important…I haven’t seen Dr Strangelove in at least 4-5 years….time for a refresh.
      I’ve never seen The Manchurian Candidate…maybe it’s time.

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    1. The two shows do have a similiar feel…some of the same writers wrote for both.
      This is the second pilot….the first one was The Cage…and both were really good.

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  6. I see the big differences not only in the staffing but the uniform styles and colors. In a 5-year mission I just don’t think there would be that many uniform changes — unless they had an onboard seamstress lol. It’s too bad they jumped all over the place at the very start of the series. Also having a different set of navigators in the 2 front seats (with Sulu being the most consistent) throws it a little off. I was wondering the other day about Spock’s first name. I just got to an episode where someone asks him his first name and he says, “you couldn’t pronounce it.” I think that’s a very pertinent social comment. I was also thinking, after being almost done with watching S1, that it really is Kirk and Spock as co-leads rather than just Kirk at the helm. This show wouldn’t be what it is without both of them.

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    1. Yea they couldn’t decide what to wear for the longest time. This one was filmed early so that had something to do with it I guess…but after this we have it I believe.
      I’ve seen a documentary and Nimoy and Shatner got along well but they both went to the producers and asked…who is the star of the show…and they told Nimoy that Shatner was…which no…like you said…it was partnership that ran it.
      Without Spock it would not be Star Trek.

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  9. Have you dug into Captain Robert April & the S.S. Yorktown? The Enterprise was originally supposed to be the Yorktown and April is in the Star Trek book as being the Enterprise’s first Captain, prior to Pike.

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      2. I thought about just going over it in one post…I have written about it before but I may do it…..but not one by one no.

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  11. This screened in summer of 1969 in the UK and was the first episode of Star Trek I ever saw. Suddenly my mind was blown and i was an instant Trekkie. Obsessive. Sadly no sooner had the BBC started screening the show we all flew off to Singapore for 2 years where I was gutted to find out it wasnt on TV! So I eventually bought James Blish novelisation of some episodes and got to enjoy them 2 years before I saw them on TV. Got back in 1971 to Spectre Of The Gun season 3 IN COLOUR! WOW! That was a real moment for me though it wasnt near as good as this episode. Got to see season 1 eventually though late 1973 yay! Still a massive fan then and since

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