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51. James Riberius Kirk (TOS 1.03)

“Hey, we’ve just encountered something new and unknown to us. Let’s kill it!” Ah yes, proper Star Trek.

t’s almost unheard of for a network to reject a pilot, only to request a new one. But Star Trek always was a bit special. Anika and Liz are here to discuss “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, the second – and successful – Star Trek pilot. And we have to ask – is this real Star Trek, or just a generic action-adventure story wearing a Starfleet uniform, a shameless money grab, a blatant jumping of the shark?

  • But seriously, this is a strangely violent and callous episode!
  • Anika points out the ways it revisits ideas from “The Cage”
  • Gary Mitchell is THE WORST; he’s also, essentially, fanon!Kirk
  • #ElizabethDehnerDeservedBetter
  • Anika’s paean to Chris Pine, The Best Kirk
  • Was Tilly at the Academy with Kirk and Mitchell? (Yes.)
  • Is this all an elaborate plot by Spock to replace Gary Mitchell as Kirk’s BFF? (Also yes.)
  • Can we make this decades-old episode all about Admiral Cornwell? (Absolutely.)
The distracted boyfriend meme. We are the distracted boyfriend, turning away from "Whatever aspect of Star Trek we're meant to be talking about" to look at "Having feelings about Admiral Cornwell".