1.3 Where No Man Has Gone Before

When the Enterprise finds a distress signal from the S.S. Valiant, the crew heads into an anomaly to investigate why the Captain had chosen to destroy his own ship. The anomaly changes Gary Mitchell and the crew is forced to deal with his increasing ESP powers.

Plot Summary
Stardate: 1312.4-1313.8 Spock decodes the message from the ship recorderAs the Enterprise continues on its voyage, it encounters a distress signal from a ship that went missing 2 centuries ago. When they reach the signal, they find only a ship recorder. Based on the damage to the recorder, Spock deduces that the ships had been destroyed. When the recording device is brought on board, it automatically begins transmitting its information and the crew is the put on alert. When Spock decodes the message, he learns that the crew of the Valiant had become frantic about learning esp in humans after entering an unknown force. He becomes confused when the message tells him that the captain had ordered a self destruction of his ship. To prevent other ships from meeting the same fate as the Valiant, the Enterprise enters to anomaly to investigate what had happened. As the ship travels through the anomaly, Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner are knocked back by a force. Consequently, the ship becomes damaged and the ship has to rely on impulse thrusters until the main engines are repaired. When Gary Mitchell opens his eyes, Captain Kirk is surprised to find that he has silver eyes.

After Mitchell is taken into the sick bay, Spock notices that only those with a significant esp rating were affected by the anomaly. At the sick bay, Kirk checks on Mitchell health. He becomes alarmed with Mitchell spoke to Kirk in an echoing voice. Kirk returns to the deck and Spock reports to Kirk that Michell has been reading faster than is humanly possible. Kirk orders Mitchell to be put on watch. Doctor Dehner listens to Mitchell's heart.Later, Dr. Dehner interviews Mitchell. She is disturbed when Mitchell demonstrates how he can stop his pulse for almost 22 seconds and memorize passages from books he had read in minutes. Suddenly, Dehner's interview with Mitchell is interrupted by Kelso, who happened to be passing by. Kelso briefly mentions the status of the repairs on the ship. Mitchell then tells him that he should check the impulse packs on the ship.

At meeting of the crew, Kelso informs Kirk that Mitchell had been right even though he had not been in the same room. Other reports from the other officers indicate that Mitchell's powers had been increasing rapidly. Spock and the other officers fear that Mitchell may become corrupt with power and may one day turn it against the crew. After the meeting, Spock gives Kirk an ultimatum: Kirk can either maroon Mitchell on a planet called Delta-Vega or kill him before he becomes too powerful. Kirk then order Spock to set Delta-Vega. Mitchell is sedated by Dehner.When Kirk, Spock and Denher enter sick, Mitchell is already able to read minds and is able to see what Kirk and Spock's intentions are. When Kirk tries to restrain Mitchell, he is hit with psychic wave that knocks him down. Mitchell also hits Spock with the same wave when he tries to restrain Mitchell. Gary Mitchell reveals that he knows the ship is orbiting Delta-Vega and he wants to live on a planet more suitable for his god-like abilities. When Mitchell gets up from his bed, Spock and Kirk are able to restrain and sedate him. Before being beamed to the planet, Mitchell awakens to tell the crew that he would crush them like insects. He is then sedated once more and beamed to the planet.

On the planet, Kirk instructs his crew to put Mitchell in a cell and to rigg fuel bins to explode should Mitchell ever escape. When Mitchell regains consciousness, he tells Kirk that about his comment about crushing the crew members like insects was made under the influence. He then tries to escape from his cell, but is blocked by lasers and briefly loses his powers. Then he promises that he will only get stronger.

Soon, the the crew is able to repair the Enterprise's engines. Meanwhile, Mitchell is able to strangle Kelso with a cord using his power, preventing him from detonating the fuel bins. Mitchell is then able to release himself from his prison and knock out Kirk and Spock with a psychic wave. Mitchell then takes Dehner to a mirror and shows her that she has the silver eyes as well. Dehner betrays Mitchell by shooting him.Kirk is later revived by Dr. Mark Piper. When Kirk wakes up, he instructs to Piper to revive Spock later and goes after Mitchell by himself. Meanwhile, Mitchell and Dehner travel across the valley. Mitchell demonstrates his increasing power by creating plant life on a desolate planet. Mitchell soon senses Kirk and sends Dehner to talk to him. Kirk spots Dehner and he asks for her help by pleading to her humanity. When Mitchell interrupts their chat, Kirk fires his laser rifle, but finds that it has no effect on Mitchell and his rifle is knocked away by Mitchell's powers. Mitchell mocks Kirk by creating a grave for him and forcing Kirk to bow before him in prayer. Suddenly, Dehner decides to betray Mitchell by shooting him with a psychic wave and the two engage in a battle. Mitchell is then weakened to his normal state while Dehner is weakened to a point where she cannot even stand up. Kirk engages Mitchell in a fist fight.Kirk is soon able to grab a hold of his laser rifle and is able to crush Mitchell in the grave by shooting into the stone cliff. When he goes to see Dehner she dies from the injuries caused by Mitchell. Kirk records his captain's log.Kirk calls the Enterprise and is beamed up. In his log, Kirk records that Dehner had died in performance of her duty. He also adds the same notation to Mitchell because he did not asks for what had happened to him. Spock tells Kirk that he had felt for Mitchell and Kirk remarks that there is hope for Spock.

Production Notes
"Where No Man Has Gone" was meant to be the second part of the pilot episode "The Cage." However, NBC had rejected the "The Cage" because it was too " cerebral." "Where No Man Has Gone was then re-edited and broadcast as the third episode on September 22, 1966. The original unedited "Where No Man Has Gone" episode has still never been broadcast, but it can be found on the blu-ray version of the series.