Where No Man Has Gone Before

DVD, Star Trek S1 (Where No Man Has Gone Before)

I need to explain where I stand. I think it's ridiculous to watch 'The Original Series' in broadcast order, because it makes no sense to begin with 'The Man Trap' and hop around as they did on original transmission. Far more sense to view in production order, and that's what I always do. This was the second of two pilots for the series, the first having been rejected on the argument it was too cerebral and needed more action, but I sometimes wonder if I'm missing something, because to me 'The Cage' is much more the engaging, action-packed story, 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' a lot more plodding, but probably cheaper since they reused the sets from the previous pilot and remained mostly within them. It's a development towards the actual series, but still marks a transitionary stepping stone between the style of 'Cage,' and that of the series. The uniforms are the same subdued pastel colours, but I didn't remember the noticeable zips all over the place before. The ship is much the same, except the mini TV communicators that look like reading lamps had been stripped back a bit to some of the consoles and the Captain's chair, Kirk using it for announcements and possibly for the Captain's log. And obviously, Spock is more Spock-like and Kirk makes his debut in the centre position.

Things still aren't quite right, and seeing this episode again, I felt it doesn't hold up nearly so well as 'Cage,' or many a 'TOS' episode. It's the standard length, but it feels long, there's too much reliance on the guest stars, making the Captain less of the focus this time, yet still not infusing the story with an ensemble feel. 'TOS' never was an ensemble, it had two main stars, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, with DeForest Kelley eventually getting third billing. Yet both pilots are careful to build up a small section of the crew, usually younger characters, which could well have been given an episode centred around them as the later, more sophisticated series' did. Both pilots have a slightly awkward Yeoman for the Captain (the one in this, Smith, barely gets a line and mainly stands too close to the Captain, or holds Gary Mitchell's hand as they approach the barrier at the edge of the galaxy), both feature old Doctors, and both have a more emotional Spock than we're used to. At least in this one they do begin to concede to his alien attitudes, with him claiming he doesn't experience emotion, and that all he knows is logic, though his pacifist tendencies hadn't been added, as he's quite comfortable dishing out a punch when the need arises, carrying one of those 'hand lasers' from 'Cage,' and ordering a Phaser Rifle (the first mention of Phaser in Trek), from Scott to be used in an emergency against Mitchell!

In his first scene with Kirk, it's telling the pair are enjoying a game of tridimensional chess in (presumably), the rec room, rather than showing us the Bridge at full operation, Pike in the chair and the busy grind of starship life in full flow, as 'Cage' began. Here, we're introduced more gently, with a bit of banter to show how alien Spock is, not just displaying upswept eyebrows, a bowl cut and very pointed ears: he smiles at Kirk, commenting on human emotions, and I wondered if this was a card he played with each new Captain he worked under, to keep them off balance? They must have been aboard for a little while at least to be familiar enough to play a game, and Dr. Dehner claims Spock worked with Gary for years - I imagine that until fairly recently Pike had remained in command, with Mitchell serving under Pike with Spock, then Kirk has come to take over, perhaps after a layover of a few months or a year, although this is all purely speculative since we're never given concrete details. Spock shows some derision toward humanity, even noting that 'one of his ancestors' married a human female - either he was being absurdly nonspecific about his own Father, or he was deliberately keeping Kirk in the dark about how close to humans he really was! In reality they hadn't decided he was half human with a human Mother… Oddly, after wearing blue in 'Cage' Spock sports the gold command top and insignia, even though he's said to be science officer - maybe there weren't enough blue shirts to go around, what with Sulu, Dehner and Dr. Piper all in blue?

Only two other familiar characters make their debut with Kirk: Scott and Sulu, the first head of Engineering, naturally, the latter of Astro Sciences, with Dr. Piper replacing Dr. Boyce as department head of Life Sciences. None of them get a whole lot to do, but it is fun spotting these faces that would go on to be so strongly linked to Trek, while the third was completely forgotten. It's not that Piper is a bad character, he's just not written with much conviction, partly the fault of Dr. Dehner's starring role diluting his position (and being much more arresting, like a sixties version of Seven of Nine), compared to the old guy, and that he doesn't have much of a demonstrable friendship with his Captain as Boyce did with Pike. They're on first name basis, with Kirk calling him Mark when he's explaining he has to go after Mitchell and Dehner, but the friend of the Captain role is reserved partly for Spock, and also for Gary. I can't see Kirk's matey friendship with Gary lasting the course of their serving together - even before Gary gets changed into a powerful being I got a sense that he saw Kirk as an equal and it might have been difficult for him to follow his orders, eventually souring on each other. Spock has a much more promising connection to the Captain, not shying away from making hard observations and giving Kirk a tough decision to make on whether he will kill Gary or strand him for the safety of the ship and crew.

You can see the gaping hole, that missing piece that McCoy would fill, most notably in the final scene, very subdued and low key compared to most humorous end sequences. This is understandable for all that Kirk had just gone through, losing his best friend in a fight to the death, as well as a talented young Doctor and others of his crew, so it would have rung false to have him laugh long and loud. But he can have a little dig at Spock, who admits to feeling for Gary, and Kirk says there's some hope for Spock, but without McCoy it doesn't sit right. Spock is far from being unemotional and McCoy would have had a field day if he'd been around for this adventure: the Vulcan shouts a lot, and perhaps Nimoy was imagining, or had been told, that a lot of background noise and effects were going to be added so he needed to make himself heard, but when he's giving orders he's very strident and loud. You could say, as he probably would, that he wasn't being emotional but was simply raising his voice to ensure his orders were carried out, but regardless McCoy's homely presence and warmth of feeling was needed to fill the void.

The episode is also rather bland compared to the technicolor delights of 'Cage,' not helped by the uniforms which suited the previous episode down to the ground, but here, seen so much against bland walls on the Enterprise, fail to raise the wearers from their background. Even the matte, an effective image of the cracking station on Delta-Vega, while impressive, is merely functional, not inspirational as those in 'Cage' were. The Bridge Viewscreen is curved and ugly, the uniforms don't exactly fit right on most of the characters, probably because they were made for those in 'Cage,' and weirdly there are two shades of command gold, unless it was designed to be a different department, (red shirts still missing). We get the dark blue, the gold, and an oatmeal, porridgy variation. Piper gets to foreshadow Dr. Crusher's medical lab coat with a shorter jacket over his blue shirt during the Sickbay scenes, but that's about the most interesting development clothing-wise! That and Kirk getting his shirt ripped for the first time in what would become a running gag, except it was never for laughs, usually at a serious fight scene, but has gone down in history as a laughable trope. In reality it was merely a symbol that this Captain loves to get down and dirty, gets stuck in and doesn't waver.

The episode, especially early on, is carried by Kirk's confidence and feels slick and fast, best shown by the throwaway Turbolift scene where Kirk, Spock and Mitchell enter, ride it and exit onto the Bridge in a fluid motion that is the forefather of so many clever effects and use of sets - we don't even think about it, but they had to cut away or move the set to achieve that reality (still no handles in there, though!). If the episode, the look and some of the characters are a bit bland in comparison to what came before, they struck gold with Shatner, who replaced Jeffrey Hunter as Captain, after the actor decided not to return. He really shines as James R. Kirk– wait, whoa, hold up… James R. Kirk? It's arguably the biggest gaffe in Trek history (to rival Khan recognising the previously absent Chekov in 'Star Trek II'), when Gary magics a headstone into existence with that middle initial, when everyone knows he was James T. Kirk! The non-canon books long ago made it into an insult or an inside joke from Mitchell's and Kirk's backstories, and I can buy that, although, as in many things, it was a case of the fine details not being bolted down at this point, with room for manoeuvre. They didn't have a strong concept of canon and keeping things to a specific set of rules and facts, but things would become a lot more cleaner as the series progressed.

Though there are a lot of things about the episode I'm not as enamoured with, Kirk comes fists first, fully formed, shouting into existence, taking on the heavy mantle of Captain with aplomb, whether that be facing the threat of the galactic barrier (he doesn't do things by halves - his first episode and already he wants to leave the galaxy!), the possibility of having to kill his friend, or taking responsibility for that act personally so no more of his crew will be hurt, and if there's any way to save Mitchell you can bet he'll try to find it. It's not just his bravery and resolve that impress, but he gives us the first taste of the famous powers of persuasion that reduced many a false god or mechanical dictator to exploding logic circuits. This time it's Dehner, the ESP expert who, like Gary, has turned and continued to turn, into a silver-eyed godlike being of unknown power and magnitude. He fires shot after shot at her, verbally pounding her, exhorting her to remember being human and to be that way for a moment more, ultimately managing to convince her of the wrongness of Gary's attitudes to compassion and humility and using her power to distract him enough for Kirk to finish the job. It's a top finale, much stronger than the ending to 'Cage,' which folded quietly away. This goes out all guns (and fingers), blazing, and it is this final impression I have to assume was what swayed the decision to go to series.

There are plenty of other attractions: the history, for one. Just as in 'Cage' we dealt with the remains of an older vessel (although that was only eighteen years from the past), we find a beacon from the SS Valiant 200 years before their time. Since this is supposed to be the 23rd Century we can say the couple of centuries was a rough guide to its age, otherwise that would put it in the 21st Century, and though we know that warp vessels will be capable by the middle of that century (this century!), I'm not sure how accurate it would be to suggest it was a starship. There's also some date manoeuvring needed with Gary's love sonnet, as he states it was written back in 1996 and is one of the most passionate love sonnets of the past couple of centuries! The writers could never have conceived that the series would still be watched in 1996, thirty years later, and in fact would actively celebrate that anniversary with two special episodes from the crew's of TV shows being made then, and a third crew in a film! But again, we can take Gary's reference with a pinch of salt, and say he was referring to the two centuries before the one they're in.

Gary Mitchell could have been a much more interesting character, especially if we'd seen more of his buddying with Kirk - as it is we get to hear about how Kirk saved his life recently, and that Mitchell aimed a 'little blonde lab technician' at him, Kirk saying he almost married her. Could it have been Carol Marcus, creator of the Genesis weapon in 'Star Trek II' (the alternate version of which appeared in 'Star Trek Into Darkness')? It's well within the realms of possibility. We also hear Mitchell describe his academy friend as 'a stack of books on legs,' giving the lie to the Abramsverse depiction of Kirk as a hell-raiser who was brilliant, but scraped through with an attitude, rather than being a studied and conscientious graduate. Talking of the Abramsverse films, after the first one I was so convinced the villain of the second would be Gary Mitchell (they released a list of famous villains and said that one on the list would be used), I almost wrote it down and put it in an envelope so I could ceremoniously open it to the amazement of my associates. I'm glad I didn't, because it was embarrassing being lied to about Khan being the actual villain, but Mitchell as a cool guy, bantering older brother type would have been perfect for that alternate Kirk to deal with, something I could imagine vividly in that universe. Oh well.

For the first time we get a teaser as this pilot is more like a standard episode, clocking in at around forty-eight minutes, which for 'TOS' was pretty normal, though it didn't have the tensest of cliffhangers before the opening credits: the Valiant's beacon, described as a flight recorder, starts flashing so Kirk puts all decks on alert! At least we get the official font used for the title, though there is no 'These are the voyages…' opening monologue, and the theme tune sounds slightly different (the memorable use of clips from episodes in the end credits began here, with the Orion slave woman taking the end spot, though I think there's only about three episodes from which clips are taken - either they didn't want to give away too much or the sequence was created early in production when few had been completed). We get our first on screen episode title as would continue until the end of 'Enterprise' in 2005 (and hopefully with 'Discovery' in 2017). Other familiar tropes making their debut are the exploding consoles that deal out as much damage to the crew as an enemy, though in this case no one was hurt. There wasn't even any of the staple rolling around as they experienced severe turbulence approaching the galactic barrier - at least we get the familiar camera shake! The huge communicators continue to be used, what looked like the immortal redshirt, Mr. Leslie, was first seen (in blue at the cracking station), and as well as the Bridge and corridor sets (if a more detailed version with piping and coloured decorations), returning from 'Cage,' we also get the Briefing Room in the first pilot's style.

The theme of godlike beings was a recurring one for Trek pilots, as not only does the Talosians' attitude of amusement and underestimation at the lower form of life that is humanity get transferred to Gary, but having to deal with such entities continued in every pilot ('TNG' featured Q putting humanity on trial, 'DS9' had Sisko encountering the mystical Prophets, 'Voyager' dealt with an all-powerful caretaker of a planet, and 'Enterprise' guest-starred the never-to-be-revealed mystery man, Future Guy - will 'Discovery' buck this trend?). Gary's one of the worst in his rapid alteration into a man with powers to instantaneously transform barren rock (another 'Cage' set reused to good effect), into a blooming garden of paradise, although my personal favourite trick was the hovering 'force pull' move to bring his cup to him, Kirk grabbing it out of the air when he sends it away again, and I couldn't see any strings! His abilities make him arrogant and callous, claiming morals are for men, not gods (forgetting all about The Ten Commandments, and that God gave us morals in the first place!). The battle is really within Kirk over whether he can bring himself to kill what has become of his friend, and he goes for it full throttle when it comes down to it, denoting a strong resolve.

There were a lot less of the impressive visuals than 'Cage,' but I expect the silver eyes would have been quite uncanny and special back in the day. Even now the silver contacts are eerily effective, though it's more about Gary Lockwood's performance - at one point in Sickbay he actually kills himself for a few seconds just to see what it would feel like, and to impress Dr. Dehner, whom on first meeting he immediately has a bit of banter with, and to her credit she gives as good as she got, though Mitchell thinks of her coldly (it demonstrates if nothing else that the Bridge under Kirk is a lot more relaxed than it was under Pike). I liked the subtlety of how they show the wear to Gary, after throwing himself at a forcefield at the cracking station's brig (at least I assume it was the brig, though I'm not sure what an automated station would need with such a facility!), the silver fades for a second or two, enough time for the real Gary to show through briefly. Then as the episode goes on you notice his hair going grey with the strain of this transformation. One or two things don't appear to make much sense, such as the visual of the barrier suggesting it would be very simple to fly over or under it, but it could be that we only see something on the visible spectrum, and it stretches out well beyond that. And on Dehner's medical record we see her height as 5'2" when she's clearly above average, though it might have been her Mother's height as the card on screen doesn't make it clear and they'd never have expected people would one day have the ability to pause the screen to read it, let alone want to!

It's also a bit strange that in Trek's time, ESP (extrasensory perception), is an established fact in science, as that's more of a fantastical thing than hard science, I'd have thought. You certainly tended not to hear about such things in the other series', so maybe we can chalk it up to another unfinished element of the world they were creating. To be fair, teleportation is just as ridiculous and that had already been established as a mundane staple technology of a starship. Tractor beam technology also makes its debut which is how they pull the Valiant's beacon in, something that is being worked on in real science right now. The varied makeup of gender and racial roles on the Enterprise continues as before (it looked like it could have been the same asian Transporter assistant working at the console when Scott is introduced), though banter and innuendo in the workplace seems to still be acceptable by Gary's behaviour towards Dehner, and his and Kirk's references to her when they talk in Sickbay, although Kirk may have been partly humouring his injured friend. The soft focus lenses for beautifying female characters are still missing, but then there wasn't any love interest in the episode, aside from Gary and Dehner both changing into different beings together. It's stated that other crewmembers were affected, so I wonder why they didn't transition?

As a picture of what the series might have been I have to admit that this variation, of the three (first pilot, second pilot and series), was weakest. Kirk burst onto the screen as the man we know right away, the majority of the Enterprise and the technology was established, but everything else was unfinished, undeveloped. It would take one final push to mould the series into what we expect from 'TOS,' although it happened across a number of episodes in the first season as we shall see.

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