{"id":3924,"date":"2013-06-17T15:18:26","date_gmt":"2013-06-17T15:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13-Where-No-Man-Has-Gone-Before"},"modified":"2013-06-17T15:18:26","modified_gmt":"2013-06-17T15:18:26","slug":"13-where-no-man-has-gone-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2013\/06\/17\/13-where-no-man-has-gone-before\/","title":{"rendered":"1.3 — \u201cWhere No Man Has Gone Before\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

1.3 — \u201cWhere No Man Has Gone Before\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holy tonal shifts, Batman! Here is the second pilot for Star Trek<\/em>, filmed in 1965, after the rejection of “The Cage,” but before the show was picked up as a series. Gah! The mock turtlenecks are back! Gold is definitely not<\/em> Mr. Spock\u2019s color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thanks to the late Lt. Mitchell, we get a fair amount of back story about Kirk. He isn’t portrayed as a disillusioned man ready to walk away from Starfleet and try his hand at intergalactic slave trading like Capt. Pike. I like the image of him as a pile of books with legs teaching courses at the Academy (although he still appears to be in his young thirties–there must be interesting career trajectory opportunities\u00a0in Starfleet). Mitchell talks about Kirk being a ladies man, but so far\u00a0these three episodes he\u2019s kept his hands to himself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I don\u2019t get this galactic barrier business. Does it surround the whole galaxy, or is it just hanging out in the vicinity of the wreckage of the Valiant? I also don’t recall any subsequent talk in Star Trek<\/em> about humans having ESP. The science is a bit dodgy in this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The episode has 12 casualties–is that how they tried to make it more exciting for NBC? Considering the average attrition rate so far, I\u2019m not sure how Kirk kept his command. The deaths include three prominent command staff officers, which did not become the norm for the later series.\u00a0 Among them, lamentably, is Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, psychiatrist (but not the deathly dull medical officer they wisely replaced with Leonard McCoy). I\u2019m not sure the Enterprise<\/em> needs a psychiatrist (perhaps a counselor?), but it sure could have used a few more intelligent, self-possessed, professional women. I\u00a0give Rodenberry credit that his take on the future at this time had a place for such women, although he apparently assumed they would still have to resist sexual advances in the workplace as\u00a0a matter of routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Both Mitchell and Dehner would have made good series regulars.\u00a0I guess, however,\u00a0after failing to get picked up the first time, the producers\u00a0wanted to maximize their dramatic opportunities and leave everything on the field. The show got picked up, so it must have worked!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The production feels rough to me, though. Although it has fewer casualties and fistfights, I thought \u201cThe Cage\u201d was more exciting.\u00a0 The plot of this episode is too airy fairy for me, with Spock and the others reasoning out a trajectory for Mitchell and his strange superpowers out of very thin evidence. There’s a lot of huh? Why? Because the writers said so. The theme of lost innocence gets worked pretty hard. Taking the first step outside the galaxy is like killing your childhood. Or burying it alive in your own gravesite with your best friend from school!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But it\u2019s not completely terrible. I was glad to see Scotty’s first appearance, and the old fashioned tech was cool. Books on tape? Hilarious! What did you think?<\/p>\n\n\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Where_No_Man_Has_Gone_Before<\/a>