Star Trek: season one: episode three: Where No Man Has Gone Before

Summary:

The starship Enterprise encounters a ship, the Valiant, that went outside the galaxy, which is the mission of Enterprise. They encounter on a small lifeboat the Valiant’s ship record aboard. 

They encounter an unknown force field.  Ship’s electronic equipment fry, and two crew members get shocked, nine dead.  No warp ability.  The two that survive have ESP ability.  Gary Mitchell receives silver eyes and higher cognitive abilities, not only reads faster than ever but also memorizes what he reads, even watches Kirk watch him, can make things happen just by thinking about it. He suddenly knows how engineering works. 

Analysis with spoilers:

Spock surmises that Gary’s powers are accelerating and that Gary will become a superhuman and that will he’ll be an antagonist to the humans.  Spock suspects the Valiant suffered the same fate.  They need to maroon Gary on a nearby planet after refueling.

They sedate Gary and put them on the planet inside a force field while they refuel. The psychologist believes Gary is safe, Spock does not, but Kirk and Gary go back 15 years together as good friends so Kirk is hesitant to hurt him but has planted a bomb on the planet in case it becomes necessary.  Energy can drain him, briefly make him normal. The psychologist wants to stay behind with Gary, Gary kills a man shocks Kirk and Spock, and converts the psychologist into someone like himself.  Kirk orders neutron radiation of the planet if he does not survive trying to kill Gary.

Gary considers himself like a God.  Laser beams have no effect. He plans to kill Kirk, but the psychologist drains him of energy, so that Kirk can do him in. It would seem that the writers believe that the confrontation between superman and man must result in a battle – which means the little guy has to strike first.

This episode was written by Samuel A. Peeples, a Western novelist, which makes this a rather impressive achievement, therefore. He wrote some nice dialogue.

Notes:

1.       First appearance of Scottie.

2.       A psychologist has the ability to do ESP.

3.       The scriptwriters have a preoccupation with the Superman.

4.       McCoy is not the doctor on this trip.

5.       First classic Captain Kirk brawl.

6.       Star Trek the next generation may have plundered ideas from early episodes. Here we have ESP, ship psychologist and an all-powerful man like Q.

Quotes:

1.       Kirk: What makes you're right and the trained psychologist wrong?
Spot: Because she feels. I don’t.

2.       A man and compassion is a fool’s mixture.

3.       Morals are for men, not gods.