Information about Where No Man Has Gone Before

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"Where no man has gone before" is a phrase used in the title sequence of most episodes of the science fiction television series. It refers to the mission of the original starship Enterprise. The complete introductory sequence, which was read by William Shatner at the beginning of every episode of Star Trek except "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before", is:

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.

History in Star Trek

The phrase was first introduced into Star Trek by Samuel Peeples, who is attributed with suggesting using it as an episode name.^[1][2] The episode became "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second pilot of Star Trek. The phrase itself was subsequently worked into the show's opening narration, which was written after the episode. Indeed, the introductory sequence was devised in August 1966, after several episodes had been filmed, and shortly before the series was due to debut. It is the result of the combined input of several people, including Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and producers John D. F. Black and Bob Justman.^[3] Under their influence, Roddenberry's original narrative:

This is the adventure of the United Space Ship Enterprise. Assigned a five year galaxy patrol, the bold crew of the giant starship explores the excitement of strange new worlds, uncharted civilizations, and exotic people. These are its voyages and its adventures.

went through several revisions, such as Black's:

Space, the final frontier. Endless. Silent. Waiting. This is the story of the United Space Ship Enterprise. Its mission: a five year patrol of the galaxy. To seek out and contact all alien life. To explore. To travel the vast galaxy, where no man has gone before. A Star Trek.

before settling on the one used in the TV series. In the final shot of , as the camera pulls back and up from the coffin of Spock to space, finally showing the newly-formed Genesis Planet, Leonard Nimoy reads a version of the quote which adds the word "continuing" between "the" and "voyages", replaces the words "its five-year" with "her on-going", and adds the word "forms" after "life":

Space, the final frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her on-going mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life forms and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.

Five years later after the release of The Wrath of Khan, a slightly altered version of the introduction was included in the title sequence of . The new version replaced the word "man" with the gender-neutral "one". The new introduction, which was read by the Enterprise's new captain, Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart), at the beginning of every episode of that series, was:

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.

A first-season episode of that series was also called "Where No One Has Gone Before". It is worth noting that, despite the similar names, the plot of this episode bears no connection to that of "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

Other parts of the narrative have also been used to name films and episodes. These include the original series' film , and two episodes, "Strange New World" and "These Are The Voyages...". This last episode, the finale of Enterprise, closes with a voice-over of the quote, segueing from Picard's Next Generation opening to Kirk and then closing with Archer using the original series' gender specific version.^[4] Also, a 1996 book written to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Trek is called Star Trek: These are the Voyages....^[5]

Fictional backstory

The quote has been used numerous times by various Star Trek characters, and has in fact been given a complete backstory within the show. It is shown to become corrupted as time passes in the series, and to be willingly changed to reflect the political climate of the various time-periods covered in the Star Trek universe.

The backstory states that the phrase, and in fact the entire mission statement of Kirk's Enterprise, originates from a speech given by Zefram Cochrane at the dedication of the Warp 5 Complex in 2119, and shown in the episode "Broken Bow":^[6]

On this site, a powerful engine will be built. An engine that will someday help us to travel a 100 times faster than we can today. Imagine it. Thousands of inhabited planets at our fingertips. And we'll be able to explore those strange, new worlds. And seek out new life and new civilizations. This engine will let us go boldly where no man has gone before.

In the fictional timeline, the quote became corrupted by the use of the split infinitive "to boldly go" at some point before 2151. At that point, it was adopted as the motto of the Enterprise and engraved on its dedication plaque with the split infinitive, although it was impossible to make out in normal episodes.^[7]

By the 23rd century, the quote had been adopted as the motto of Captain Kirk's Enterprise, although it did not appear on its simple dedication plaque.<ref name="memalphaplaque" /> The quote did appear on the dedication plaque of the later Enterprise-A,<ref name="memalphaplaque" /> and was also engraved on the base of a non-functional decorative ship's wheel found in the ship's lounge and seen in .^[8]

Following the events of , which dealt with cross-species racism, the word "man" was changed to the gender- and race-neutral "one" by Kirk:

Captain's log, stardate 9529.1. This is the final cruise of the starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man... where no one has gone before.

The new quote "where no one has gone before" was then adopted as the mission and motto of the following starships Enterprise. It is engraved on the dedication plaques of the Enterprise-B, Enterprise-D and Enterprise-E.<ref name="memalphaplaque" /> Other parts of Cochrane's speech also became cultural icons — according to Captain Janeway in the episode "Equinox", the oath that Starfleet officers take includes the directive "to seek out life".

Origin of the quote

It has been suggested^[9] that the quote was taken from a White House booklet published in 1958. The Introduction to Outer Space, produced in an effort to garner support for a national space program in the wake of the Sputnik flight, read on its first page:

The first of these factors is the compelling urge of man to explore and to discover, the thrust of curiosity that leads men to try to go where no one has gone before. Most of the surface of the earth has now been explored and men now turn on the exploration of outer space as their next objective.^[10]

Interestingly, the situation came full circle in 1989, when NASA used the Star Trek version of the quote to title their retrospective of Project Apollo: Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions.^[11]

Use in popular culture

The quote has gained popularity outside of Star Trek. It is sometimes used as a name, in a tongue-in-cheek manner, by replacing the word "man" by something else. For example, an episode of Futurama that dealt with a character's devotion to Star Trek is named "Where No Fan Has Gone Before".^[12] Likewise, a futuristic level in the videogame is called "Starbase: Where No Turtle Has Gone Before".^[13] In the same line, there is also an episode of DuckTales entitled "Where No Duck Has Gone Before", which parodies Star Trek.^[14]

The split infinitive "to boldly go" has also been the subject of jokes. British humorist and science-fiction author Douglas Adams describes, in his series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the long-lost heroic age of the Galactic Empire, when bold adventurers dared "to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before."^[15] And in his book The Physics of Star Trek, author Lawrence M. Krauss begins a list of Star Trek's ten worst errors by quoting one of his colleagues who considers that their greatest mistake is "to split an infinitive every damn time."^[16]

See also

• Cultural impact of Star Trek

References

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Star Trek: TOS episode
"Where No Man Has Gone Before"
The Enterprise arrives at the edge of the galaxy
Episode no.	3
Prod. code	002
Remastered no.	17
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	2265
Stardate	1312.4
Previous	"Charlie X"
Next	"The Naked Time"

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" is the second pilot episode of the television series (later known as Star Trek: The Original Series). It was produced in 1965 after the first pilot, "The Cage", had been rejected by NBC. The episode was eventually broadcast third in sequence on September 22, 1966, and was re-aired on April 20, 1967.

Where No Man Has Gone Before was written by Samuel A. Peeples, directed by James Goldstone, and filmed in July 1965. It was the first episode of Star Trek to feature William Shatner as Captain James Kirk, and also introduced James Doohan ("Scotty") and George Takei (Sulu). In the episode, the Starship Enterprise journeys to the edge of the galaxy, where two crew members develop dangerous psychic powers. The episode's title was adopted as the final phrase in the opening credits' voice-over that famously characterizes the Star Trek series, and has entered popular American culture.

Plot

The Starship USS Enterprise, commanded by Captain James T Kirk, is on an exploratory mission to leave the galaxy. While en route, it discovers the "black box" recorder for the SS Valiant, a lost Earth starship, and beams the battered device aboard. The 200-year-old recorder is barely functional, but indicates that the Valiant had been swept from its path by a "magnetic space storm". It holds data about the last moments aboard the ill-fated ship, and shows that the crew had been frantically searching for information about extra-sensory perception (ESP) in the ship's library computer. The tape ends with the captain of the Valiant giving a self-destruct order.

Kirk decides that they need to know what happened to the Valiant, and Enterprise crosses the edge of the galaxy. It encounters a strange barrier, 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 psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Dehner are both knocked unconscious by the field's effect. After they awaken, Mitchell's eyes glow silver, and he soon begins to display remarkable psychic powers. 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; 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 that such powers were developed by its crew as well. 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.

Back on the bridge, Kirk places in the official log that both Dehner and Mitchell gave their lives "in the performance of duty."

40th anniversary remaster

This episode was remastered and first aired January 20 2007, as part of the 40th anniversary remastering of the Original Series. It was preceded a week earlier by "Wink of an Eye" and followed a week later by "For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky". Along with remastered video and audio, the all-CGI animation of the USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions was used. The establishing shot of the Enterprise was given a nebula cloud in the background, while the pink band of the Great Barrier was revised and given an animated storm-cloud appearance. Scenes within the barrier also were revised.

The planet Delta Vega was given a face-lift, and its exterior matte painting enhanced with slow-moving clouds in the sky. Color corrections also were done, and a green tint was added to the command tunics worn by Kirk and Spock.^[17]

Production

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 action-adventure format they had been promised and was "too cerebral" for the general audience. However, NBC maintained sufficient interest in the format to order a second pilot episode in March 1965.^[1][2]

Gene Roddenberry said later in a 1988 TV special that as with the first pilot, this pilot still had a lot of science-fiction elements in it, but at least it ended with Kirk in a bare knuckle fist fight with the god-like Mitchell and according to Roddenberry that's what sold NBC on Star Trek.

Series creator Gene Roddenberry wrote two story outlines, "The Omega Glory" and "Mudd's Women". He wrote a teleplay for the former, and gave the latter to Stephen Kandel to write. 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.

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.<ref name="creator" />

Casting took place in June 1965. Jeffrey Hunter was unavailable to reprise his role as Captain Christopher Pike, and William Shatner was cast as his replacement, Captain James Kirk. The character of Number One, the female second-in-command, was dropped. The only character to be retained from the first pilot was Science Officer Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, who was given Number One's unemotional demeanor. Spock was retained despite pressure from NBC, who were worried about his "Satanic" appearance.

Apart from Captain Kirk, the episode introduced two other regular characters to the show: Jimmy Doohan was cast as the Chief Engineer—the name Montgomery Scott was chosen after Doohan had tried various accents, and had decided that an engineer ought to be Scottish—and George Takei was cast as Ship's Physicist Sulu, who would become the ship's helmsman in the series. Uhura did not appear, nor did Dr. Leonard McCoy; the ship's doctor is instead Mark Piper (Paul Fix). Piper was intended as a regular, and DeForest Kelley—who played McCoy in the series proper—was considered for the role.

Gary Lockwood, chosen to play Lt. Commander Gary Mitchell, had starred in the title role of Roddenberry's earlier series on ABC, The Lieutenant. The other major guest part was Elizabeth Dehner, played by Sally Kellerman. Both actors needed silver eyes, which were produced by placing tinfoil between two contact lenses.^[20]

Other cast members included Paul Carr playing Lee Kelso, Lloyd Haynes as Communications Officer Alden and Andrea Dromm as Yeoman Smith (Alden and Smith were intended to be regulars in the show, but were replaced by Uhura and Janice Rand, respectively).^[20] The episode also is the first time long-running background actor Eddie Paskey appeared; his character would later be identified as Lt. Leslie.^[21]

The costumes from the first pilot were used in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" but would be changed in the series proper, with the colors altered and black collars introduced. Most of the Enterprise sets were also reused from "The Cage", while Sickbay was the only major set constructed for the episode. Like "The Cage", the episode was shot at Desilu's Culver City studios.^[22]

The episode was directed by James Goldstone. Ernest Haller, who had won the 1939 Oscar for Best Color Cinematography on the movie Gone with the Wind, served as director of photography for the show. 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. Robert H. Justman was credited as assistant director.

Shooting started on July 19 1965, several days later than originally scheduled.<ref name="creator" /> 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.<ref name="making" /><ref name="inside" /> 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.<ref name="making" /><ref name="inside" /><ref name="commentary" /> The episode cost around $300,000, around half the money spent on making "The Cage".<ref name="inside" />

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; that version differed from the final broadcast cut in that each of the four acts had on-screen titles ("Act I," "Act II," etc.), as well as a titled prologue and epilogue, in the manner of Quinn Martin's television productions. It also featured a much longer opening narration by Shatner.^[23] Approval came in February 1966, and the series proper ramped up for production for broadcast in September 1966. The episode was shown at the 24th Worldcon in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 3, 1966, shortly before the debut of Star Trek on NBC, where it received a standing ovation.<ref name="creator" /> "Where No Man Has Gone Before" aired as the third episode of the series on September 22, 1966.<ref name="compendium" />

Continuity

The episode's name is the first usage of the phrase "Where No Man Has Gone Before" in Star Trek. The phrase would be incorporated into the opening credits sequence in following episodes, as part of the famous "" speech given by Captain Kirk.<ref name="compendium" /> The phrase would also be used (with "man" changed to the more inclusive "one"), in the credits voice-over of .

Kirk's middle initial is given as "R." in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and is seen clearly on the gravestone fashioned by Mitchell for Kirk; subsequent episodes use "James T. Kirk", and later made official the middle name "Tiberius" (used previously in "Bem", an episode from the ). Various suggestions have been made to explain this discrepancy; Michael Jan Friedman's My Brother's Keeper trilogy speculates this results from an in-joke between Mitchell and Kirk.^[24] Roddenberry cited human error on Mitchell's part. Peter David's novel, Q-Squared, placed the events of this episode in a parallel universe in which, among other differences, Kirk's middle initial was indeed R.

The episode contains the first stardate (1312.4) and makes the first reference to the Academy, at which Kirk taught Mitchell. The "lithium crystals" mentioned in the episode would later be renamed to the fictional "dilithium crystals". The episode opens with Kirk and Spock playing a game of 3D chess.^[25]

The episode, although it aired third in sequence, can be dated, through changes in cast, sets and costumes, between "The Cage" and the rest of the first season. Michael and Denise Okuda's Star Trek Chronology sets the episode in 2265, 300 years after its production. ^[26]The Galactic Barrier is mentioned in a subsequent episode, "By Any Other Name".<ref name="encyclopedia" />

Many changes to the Enterprise bridge were made after this episode was produced. Among these were a new forward viewscreen and an updated helm/navigation console. Also, the positions of the helmsman and navigator were swapped (in this episode, the navigator sat on the port side of the console, and the helm officer was to starboard. In the regular series, the opposite was the case).

In this episode the transporter room console does not have the sliding controls which feature in later episodes.

This sickbay in this episode uses conventional sheets on the beds, later episodes used more "futuristic" materials.

Sequels and adaptations

The episode was adapted into a short story by James Blish for "Star Trek 8", published in 1972. ^[27]It also became the second in Bantam's series of Fotonovels, published in 1977.^[28]

The galactic barrier is later associated with the Q, in two non-canon novels; 1994's Q-Squared by Peter David, and Greg Cox's 1998 Q Continuum novels, which suggest that the galactic barrier had been created to exclude a malevolent being, 0, from the galaxy.<ref name="ayers" />

Gary Mitchell does not appear again in the show. Several books, including Michael Jan Friedman's My Brother's Keeper and Vonda M. McIntyre's , feature the Mitchell character in adventures set before the events of the episode. The 2005 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 book The Valiant features two people who claim to be descended from the Valiant's crew.<ref name="ayers" />

References

External links

• article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
• First Draft Script Review
• Final Revised Draft Script Review

Last produced: "The Cage"		Next produced: "The Corbomite Maneuver"
Last transmitted: "Charlie X"		Next transmitted: "The Naked Time"