Star Trek: The Original Series S01E03, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1965/1966) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Today I'm here to talk about the second pilot episode of Star Trek, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Despite rejecting "The Cage", NBC felt Star Trek had a strong enough concept that they ordered a second pilot, which was unprecedented at the time. There will be spoilers, given that this is an almost sixty year old show. Let's get into it.

The weirdest thing about this episode for me is that, despite it being the pilot for TOS, it aired as the third episode of the series, on September 22nd, 1966 (September 20th in Canada), a full two weeks after the series premiere, "The Man Trap". According to Memory Alpha, because this episode had alot of exposition, either the network or Desilu decided it wouldn't make a very good premiere episode. Yet, it's jarring having it come out as the third episode since the uniforms are different, the Bridge looks slightly different, and Uhura, Rand, Chapel, and McCoy aren't in the episode. Sulu and Scotty are, along with Kirk and Spock.

I actually remember watching this episode on CBC when I was a kid. Because of the different uniforms, Uhura, Rand, Chapel, and McCoy being absent, and the fact that the opening "Space the final frontier..." monologue is missing from the opening credits sequence, though it was added into the remastered version in 2007, which is the version I watched on DVD last night. 

The thing is, I remember watching TOS when I was a kid, even before I saw a bunch of episodes in the 2000s, when it first aired on Space Channel, but there's only one or two episodes, because, unlike TNG, I didn't have alot of episodes on VHS, and we didn't tape the episodes off the TV. I'll be honest, I appreciate what TOS did for TV in the '60s, and the fact that it started this amazing franchise that I love so much, but I'm not a big TOS fan. I prefer the six original TOS movies over the show, and TOS walked so that Star Trek as a franchise could run. I also just had way more exposure to TNG when I was a kid in the early '90s because, not only were new episodes still airing, but we had so many episodes taped off TV, AND I had most of the first season on VHS thanks to family members buying the tapes for me for Christmases and birthdays right up through 1996 or 1997. 

Having said that, I do enjoy this episode. It's still pretty raw in terms of Star Trek lore and the cast figuring out their characters, but it's a really good episode. For example, Spock steps up when Kirk is doubting whether he should kill Gary Mitchell, played by Gary Lockwood, after Gary gets turned into a god-like being during the Enterprise's trip through the barrier at the edge of the galaxy. As Spock says when Kirk asks him why he thinks he's right when Doctor Dehner, played by Sally Kellerman, who is a trained psychologist, says that Gary isn't a threat, "Because she feels, I don't". And that sums up who Spock is extremely well, even this early in the show. I feel like, outside of background details and personal history, Spock is the most fully formed character this early in TOS and that's why he feels right in this episode. Gene Roddenberry knew what he wanted Spock to be, and was able to get that almost right away, even as Leonard Nimoy was figuring out how to play Spock. 

Gary Mitchell, a character who shows up here, and then isn't mentioned again until the season 2 premiere of Lower Decks, "Strange Energies", is on the verge of being unlikable. Aside from how he treats Dehner before they get zapped, the way he treats Kirk in Sickbay when Kirk first visits him, and then the way he talks to Kelso, played by Paul Carr. And that's Lieutenant Lee Kelso, not Michael Kelso. Just in case you get confused with that. 

Dehner was a good character, but was wasted in this episode. Same with Yeoman Smith, played by Andrea Dromm. Honestly, Smith had less to do than Janice Rand, played by Grace Lee Whitney, did in the entirety of the first season of TOS, and the two movies she appeared in. Yeah, women in '60s TV were not written well, even in a show as progressive as Star Trek was. 

Overall, this is a pretty good episode, though if I'm being honest, I think "The Cage" is a better episode. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is still good though. I just think it could've been better. But hey, it convinced NBC to pick Star Trek up as a series, so that's pretty good.

Alright my friends, that's it for me for this week. I'll be back soon with lots more reviews and posts. So until then, have a great rest of the weekend and I will talk to you later. Take care.