“Where No Man Has Gone Before” 60th-anniversary reflections

On a mission to the edge of the galaxy, the Enterprise recovers the disaster recorder of the SS Valiant, an Earth ship lost two centuries earlier. Its final entries point to a frantic search for information on ESP—extrasensory perception—and a captain ordering the destruction of his own ship. Captain Kirk takes the Enterprise into the galactic barrier and the ship encounters strange activity that may have been what did in the Valiant. As electric charges strike the bridge, Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner are struck. Mitchell's eyes glow silver, and he begins to exhibit unusual powers that grow by the hour. His contempt for the mere mortals around him grows as well, and Kirk must decide whether to maroon his old friend on a barren rock—or kill him while he still can.

In this episode of Standard Orbit, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue our 60th-anniversary retrospective that takes you through all of the original Star Trek, one episode at a time. In this installment, we continue Season 1 with the third aired episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” as we discuss a second pilot, the handoff from “The Cage,” the need for compassion, human nature, fists over philosophy, and whether the story holds up six decades later.

Chapters

A Second Pilot (00:03:16)

The Handoff (00:07:38)

Compassion is Needed (00:12:34)

Human Nature (00:25:14)

Fists Over Philosophy (00:36:46)

Does it Hold Up? (00:43:24)

Final Thoughts and Ratings (00:45:55)

Hosts

C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing

Production

C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer and Editor)

Social

Twitter: @Trekfm

Instagram: @Trekfm