"Where No Man Has Gone Before"

[Havok]

So the remastered version is on. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw this and it is pretty cool to see it again.

Some things I took note of:

-I forgot that McCoy wasn't in it and that Hotlips Hoolihan was.

-Sulu makes mention of pennies and no one asks what the fuck they are. They also all got the millionaire reference.

-They have fully automated space stations that only get visits every 20 years.

-The first damage we see in Star Trek are exploding bridge consoles.

-They make no mention of Starfleet and Spock refers to things we would consider Starfleet as "Human".

-I'm glad they moved away from the funky turtlenecks, but I didn't see any Red shirts.

-The original phaser pistols are way cooler looking than the black ones. Also the rotating cocking mechanism on the phaser rifle made me laugh.

-Shatner's trademark acting style is born in the very first episode in the forced praying scene.

-As is the first rule of Star Trek... Torn shirt Kirk never loses.

-The original communicators were fucking huge.

-It is the only Star Trek episode where I can remember anyone having a bandage on.

-There were no mini skirts to be seen.

-I also forgot that Uhura and Chekov hadn't made their first appearances.

All in all, I have to say, it was still enjoyable to watch and didn't really seem old or stale even after 30+ years. I wonder how the series would be received today if it was new? Would it be changed so much that we wouldn't even recognize it?

[Bounty]

Yeah, WNMHGB holds up pretty well. I guess it helps that it was specifically written to be a pretty straightforward action episode.

Did you see The Cage by any chance? It's a very different Star Trek. Still good, mind, but WNMHGB is far closer to TOS than the first pilot.

-The first damage we see in Star Trek are exploding bridge consoles.

Hehe. It's funny when people point to ST2 as the start of the sparking consoles when they've been around since pretty much day one.

-They make no mention of Starfleet and Spock refers to things we would consider Starfleet as "Human".

That happened all through the first season. No-one had bothered to write up a background for who or what the Enterprise was working for, so you have Kirk telling people he works for Earth, UESPA, Starfleet, and probably a few others. "Starfleet" and "Federation" weren't settled on until well into TOS.

-I'm glad they moved away from the funky turtlenecks, but I didn't see any Red shirts

The uniforms are leftover from the first pilot episode; they showed up a few more times in TOS for background characters (hey, they were on a budget) but for the series proper, the producers settled on something more colourful. The red didn't come in until the series proper.

[tim31]

-The original phaser pistols are way cooler looking than the black ones. Also the rotating cocking mechanism on the phaser rifle made me laugh.

At least they didn't digitally add in ACOG or red dot sights for the remaster.

-The original communicators were fucking huge.

Ha, remember cellular telephones back in the eighties? How far we've come. Can't wait until we wear out mobiles where the shirt pocket used to be

[Stofsk]

Did you see The Cage by any chance? It's a very different Star Trek. Still good, mind, but WNMHGB is far closer to TOS than the first pilot.

There is something about The Cage that really appeals to me. I really liked it, and I thought it was interesting.

In particular, I liked how at the start of the episode, Captain Pike was introduced to us as a tormented, second-guessing character, pining for the simple life after his crew had experienced a terrible encounter on a planet recently, and then by the end of the episode - after experiencing all the illusions the Talosians had projected into his brain - he realises that he would much rather prefer the ups and downs of real life than an illusion any day.

There was a dignity to Captain Pike's character which I found interesting. I often wonder what might have been, if this original vision of Star Trek had become the mainstay. (Don't get me wrong, I also love Kirk.)

[Alyeska]

Has The Cage been remastered like the other episodes?

[Bounty]

The episode was remastered, but I don't know if it's been broadcast yet. The schedule was a bit haphazard.

[Havok]

According to the Wiki, it was scheduled to be the first remastered episode shown, but then was pulled.

But yes Bounty, I have seen the Cage, in fact, I have clear memories of that episode. Just for whatever reason, WNMHGB has eluded me for something like the last 15 years until randomly stumbling upon it last night.

Like Stofsk, there is something unique about The Cage that I find very appealing, however, I have to say that I rather enjoy The Menagerie more. I like the loyalty that Spock shows to Pike and the fact there can be conflict between he and Kirk.

[tim31]

The aspects of The Cage that we find appealing are of course the reasons it was rejected; it was considered 'too cerebral' for your average viewer, a mindset that would haunt Trek for years to come...

[Uraniun235]

Inside Star Trek should be required reading for every TOS fan.

"Too cerebral" was the NBC party line - what really concerned them was the "eroticism" of the pilot (and what that could mean for future episodes), Roddenberry's known womanizing (and insertion of his extra-marital girlfriend as a leading role), and Sales' insistence that Spock was going to come off as a demonic monster to the Bible Belt.

What really matters is that The Cage so impressed the NBC execs that they asked and paid for a second series pilot, to "properly showcase the series' potential".

[tim31]

That's more like it, thanks U.

[Patrick Degan]

I've seen screencap clips of the remastered WNMHGB. I hate it that they redid the flight of the Enterprise into the Barrier. The classic image of the ship headed into that mysterious ribbon of energy in the distance is one of the most evocative in Star Trek history.

The bridge consoles did not explode, they shorted-out. You had electrical fires at worst. It would be decades before the Exploding Plasma Consoles of Doom™ would make their appearance.

You also notice that Spock still allows himself a smile during his chess game with Kirk in the opening teaser.

Mr. Alden, the communications officer, was played by Lloyd Haines, who would later be one of the main cast of the ABC high school drama Room 222.

[Havok]

Uh no. I just watched it. They exploded. Electrical fires don't force the consoles up and out or spread debris on the deck.

[Patrick Degan]

Uh no. I just watched it. They exploded. Electrical fires don't force the consoles up and out or spread debris on the deck.

Really:













If Kelso's console had exploded, he should have gotten a face full of shrapnel. The worst he contends with here is some sparks and smoke. If the other consoles had exploded, the damage should have been far greater than what we see in these screencaps and there should have been shrapnel casualties all over the bridge. Clearly, that did not happen.

[Bounty]

The bridge consoles did not explode, they shorted-out. You had electrical fires at worst. It would be decades before the Exploding Plasma Consoles of Doom™ would make their appearance.

Oh puh-leaze. Sparks is pretty much all the later series did too, and people have been getting their panties twisted over that for years. So now it's less bad because... TOS did it? or was the constant whining about EXPLODING CONSOLES overblown after all?

[Havok]

Uh no. I just watched it. They exploded. Electrical fires don't force the consoles up and out or spread debris on the deck.

Really:

Really...
Pic 1
pic 2
pic 3
pic4
pic 5
pic 6

If Kelso's console had exploded, he should have gotten a face full of shrapnel. The worst he contends with here is some sparks and smoke. If the other consoles had exploded, the damage should have been far greater than what we see in these screencaps and there should have been shrapnel casualties all over the bridge. Clearly, that did not happen.

I didn't say it was a high fucking explosive charge, but the consoles exploded. If I had my own copies, I would provide better screen caps than this.
Oh and look, debris... from the "electrical fires at worst".

P.S. I can't see the links of the screen caps you posted. Go look at the HD screencaps on that site, not just the DVD caps. Or y'know, actually watch the episode.

Edit: Weird. Once I look at them on Trek Core, I can see them here.

[Drooling Iguana]

Has The Cage been remastered like the other episodes?

Even if it hasn't, the special effects (and overall design in general) in The Cage hold up substantially better than what we got in the series that followed.

As for whether the series would have worked if they'd stuck to the original cast, I don't think it would have. Remember that this was the '60s and the idea that television sci-fi could be anything other than a nonstop cheese-fest was pretty much unheard of. The Cage cast worked well when they had a good script behind them, as they did in that pilot, but Shatner, Nimoy and Kelly had enough raw charisma and chemistry to carry even the sillier episodes that we eventually got when Star Trek was picked up as a series.

However, if they decided to make a series based on that original crew now, when more serious takes on sci-fi have become the norm, I think it could work quite well.

[Patrick Degan]

I didn't say it was a high fucking explosive charge, but the consoles exploded. If I had my own copies, I would provide better screen caps than this.
Oh and look, debris... from the "electrical fires at worst".

Oh look —very minor damage and NO shrapnel casualties from the "exploding consoles".

Nice backpedal, BTW.

P.S. I can't see the links of the screen caps you posted. Go look at the HD screencaps on that site, not just the DVD caps. Or y'know, actually watch the episode.

Cute. Quite obviously, you can't tell the difference between explosions and electrical shorts in the same episode I've watched countless times but you've only just seen once in a blue moon.

[Flagg]

You're full of shit, there is glass shrapnel all over the place per the pics Hav posted.

[erik_t]

Degan, we've never seen shrapnel casualties from bridge explosions as far as I can remember. We see people tossed about, as Mitchell was. We never see blood unless it'd being drawn by a silly-looking Klingon knife.

From where I sit, you seem to be holding these explosions/fires/whatever to an awfully high standard of evidence.

[RedImperator]

The only casualty I ever remember seeing from shrapnel was in "Yesterday's Enterprise", when Riker wound up with a big chunk in his neck after the tactical console exploded.

EDIT: Ha!

[Havok]

I didn't say it was a high fucking explosive charge, but the consoles exploded. If I had my own copies, I would provide better screen caps than this.
Oh and look, debris... from the "electrical fires at worst".

Oh look —very minor damage and NO shrapnel casualties from the "exploding consoles".

Nice backpedal, BTW.

Backpedal from what? I said the consoles exploded. They did. I said there was debris, there is. Are you denying that? You are the one that brought up "face full of shrapnel" and "shrapnel casualties", not me. So what exactly am I backpedaling from?

P.S. I can't see the links of the screen caps you posted. Go look at the HD screencaps on that site, not just the DVD caps. Or y'know, actually watch the episode.

Cute. Quite obviously, you can't tell the difference between explosions and electrical shorts in the same episode I've watched countless times but you've only just seen once in a blue moon.

Countless times? Fine, when was the last time you saw it, because I watched it two nights ago. And if you had seen it countless times, then why didn't you know that there was debris on the floor surrounding Mitchell?

Edit: OK. WTF? Now I can't see Degan's pics or mine.

[Batman]

Um-I can still see yours (whereas Degan's didn't even show up as links from the word go far as I can tell). And all they show in the way of debris is a moderate amount of splinters, with apparently no noticeable damage being done to the person operating the console at the time.
Yes, the console obviously exploded (sort of.Technically, firecrackers explode too). That's a far cry from the TNG+ exploding consoles which physically hurl people across the bridge.
The reason for the 'Exploding Console' meme isn't the fact that the consoles explode period. It's the fact that they explode WAY TOO VIOLENTLY in TNG+.

[Uraniun235]

There was one other casualty of bridge consoles in TNG - some luckless redshirt who went flying after the third salvo from the second appearance of the Husnock ship in The Survivors.

youtube link


EDIT: Wait, there was another! One of the bridge officers was killed by console explosion in TNG Disaster.


And then of course there was the big one in Generations. And the Pasteur's helm officer from the Q-future in All Good Things.

[Ted C]

More TNG console shrapnel... "Disaster"

+http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/ ... ter041.jpg
+http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/ ... ter055.jpg

Lethal hit from the console.

[Batman]

Ted? 403:Forbidden if I try to access those links.