Until I watched Start Trek from the beginning in order, I never paid much attention to the episode “Where no man has gone before.” In fact, I thought The Menagerie was the original series second pilot. Where no man has gone before was the second pilot.
I’d never cared much for this episode because it was missing some key crew members: Dr. McCoy, Lt. Uhura, Yeoman Rand. Also, the plot seemed a bit flat compared to the other episodes. NBC didn’t air it as the first episode because they said it was too “expository”. I didn’t see it as explaining or describing much of anything in the new universe.
In fact, recent clips of deleted scenes shows why the execs thought it was giving to much explanation. However, I liked the back story and setting the context. That’s just my opinion. I’m sure some people really like this episode as is and it does have some redeeming qualities. But let’s get into the plot first.
The Plot
The mission of the Enterprise is to leave the galaxy and explore “what is out there” beyond the border. As they approach the border of the galaxy, they receive a signal. It turns out to be an damaged recorder from the SS Valiant, a ship that was lost 200 years ago.
They bring the recorder on board and get a broken transmission about certain crew members being killed as they passed the border. One survived. Then frantic requests for information about ESP (extra sensory perception).
As they pass the border, the Enterprise experiences the same damage as the SS Valiant. Two members survived the electrical shock: Lt Cmdr Gary Mitchell and Dr Elizabeth Dehner. Gary Mitchell’s eyes are glowing immediately after the force field shock.
Gary is taken to sick bay and Dr. Dehner is assigned to monitor him. Gary begins exhibiting psychic powers. He can change the medical read outs. He sees the mental image of damaged impulse engine packs in Kelso’s mind and warns him. He reads at the speed of — warp? And remembers it!
Gary’s growing powers are considered to dangerous to keep him on board. They divert to Delta Vega to repair the Enterprise and leave Gary. On Delta Vega, Gary is in a cell behind a force field. He attempts to escape, but his eyes go back to normal. But not for long.
Repairs complete, the crew begins returning to the Enterprise. Dr Dehner informs Kirk she is staying with Gary. Kirk orders her to return to the Enterprise. Gary shocks Kirk and Spock, knocking them out. He eliminates the force field with a wave of his hand and we see Dr. Dehner in the mirror with her eyes glowing also. Ta Da! She’s got it too! Gary and Dr. Dehner leave the facility.
Dr Piper revives Kirk, tells him Kelso is dead and which direction Gary and Dehner went. Kirk tells Dr Piper not to revive Spock until he is gone. He realizes Spock had been correct, he should have killed Gary when he had the chance. Kirk takes the phaser rile and goes after the pair. He finds them. Kirk is alomst killed by Gary until Dehner intervenes, using her powers against Gary.
A fist fight ensues, Kirk wins.
Lessons and Thoughts
In the previous two episodes the public has seen, we got glimmers about Spok’s character, but here we learn he is half human. The episode opens with Kirk and Spock playing 3D chess. Spock informs Kirk he is about to be checkmated. There is some light-hearted banter about Kirk’s irritating illogical chess game and human emotions.
The opening conversation makes the conversation between Uhura and Spock in The Man Trap a lot more understandable. In fact, we are beginning to see one of the underlying themes of Star Trek — the message that we are going to have to learn to embrace diversity.
Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but to take special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms. […] If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, to take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind, here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.
Gene Roddenberry
There are two significant historical trends of the 1960s, the Civil Right’s movement and the Women’s Liberation movement. Gene had to pick and choose his battles with the TV Execs. They did not think a woman would be believable as the second in command of a Star Ship; hence, Majel Barrett as Number One did not continue into the series. That is kind of ironic in that Star Trek was produced at Desilu Studios and it was Lucile Ball who championed to give Star Trek a second pilot.
Gene fought for and kept the character of Spock. He didn’t want the crew of the Enterprise to be a group of US Citizens traveling the stars.
In the above clip, Leonard Nimoy discusses the development of the character of Spock and how in the second pilot they started developing the character to be more logical.
In Where no man has gone before, we see the discourse between Kirk and Spock. Spock advises to kill Gary before he is too powerful to handle. Kirk resists. Kirk is the Captain. He makes the decisions. He is ruled by his emotions and the long friendship with Gary Mitchell.
In one conversation, Kirk asks Spock how can he understand what is happening to Gary better than a trained psychiatrist. Spock answers, because she feels. Spock is showing in this one exchange that even though he is logical, he can still understand emotions. He has already identified that Dr Dehner is falling in love with Lt. Mitchell.
In the mid-1990’s, I was applying for a job as a technical writer and was asked what type of team I would like to work with. My answer was a crew like Star Trek: the Next Generation. As I watch Star Trek: The Original Series, I’m comparing the work team dynamics of the 1960s to today. When Dr. Dehner was introduced, Gary Mitchel mutters under his breath “Walking Freezer Unit.” Elizabeth Dehner responds that professional women often overcompensate. She is not offended by his remark.
In today’s workforce, blatant sexism is not tolerated. Women would not accept and explain it. I recently read a paper presented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2012, “Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students” by C.A. Moss Rasusin, J.F. Dovidio, VL Brescoll, MJ Graham, and J Handelsman. They performed an experiment with STEM faculty members. In short, the STEM faculty members consistently offered lower salaries and less mentorship to female candidates who had equal credentials to their male counterparts. The study highlighted that female candidates, even today, must consistently go that extra mile. There is no sisterhood of the STEM.
For those of us who got to watch the episodes out of order, Where no man has gone before, does not stand up to the later episodes. However, seen in the light of it being the second pilot along with the fact that the entire crew is not in place yet, we see the vision of what Star Trek inspired to be — a group of people courageous enough to explore space, to be the first to see and experience the new and incredible worlds and people we would meet out there. We see the development of Spock. We see Kirk’s first fist fight and torn shirt. We get the flavor of what the series is to become.