Customer Reviews

Where No Man Has Gone Before

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It is incredible that this second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", was the "dumbed down" version of the original Star Trek concept demanded by the network. Although not quite as deep and layered as "The Cage", this tele-novella far exceeds even the high standards of the best of the series' subsequent product. Stellar performances from Sally Kellerman, Gary Lockwood and William Shatner, with Leonard Nimoy very good but still feeling out his role; almost equivalent to the magnificent cameos of Agnes Moorhead, Carol Burnett and Joan Crawford in the Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Night Gallery, respectively. Also pristine production values with the original pilot sets, livery and saturated colors before network money was poured in for the original series renovation. Very worthwhile for anyone interested in the series itself, classic early color television production, and American popular science fiction in its post-war/early civil rights prime.

Star Trek's second pilot episode - Where No Man Has Gone Before - replaces the stiff Captain Pike with Captain James R. Kirk, played by William Shatner. Along with Doctors Piper, Elizabeth Dehner (Sally Kellerman), and a pointy-eared alien named Mr. Spock - one of the only cast members to return from the first pilot 'The Cage'. The rest is history... the Enterprise explored the barrier at the edge of the galaxy which has the strange effect of boosting the mental powers of those with high latent ESP abilities. Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood - pre-'2001'), and Dr. Dehner are most strongly affected - their mental powers taking on a 'god-like' dimension. Kirk realizes that human jealousy, anger, and weaknesses and god-like powers don't mix well, and schemes to abandon Mitchell on planet Delta Vega. It climaxes in a fisty-cuffs battle in the desert of Delta Vega, and Kirk's tunic is torn displaying his 1966 network-censor approved 'shaved chest'. Mitchell and Dehner die, and everyone is strangely at peace with the outcome. But a TV series that took viewers "where no man has gone before" was born. Check it out for yourself! The Unbox download was painless, and I was able to start watching in no time.