star trek wiki galactic barrier

Galactic Barrier

The Galactic Barrier is an energy field composed of negative energy surrounding the rim of the Milky Way Galaxy . It appears as a purple/pink band of energy. No form of transmission can penetrate the barrier. (TOS: "By Any Other Name") Warp travel through the barrier causes extreme sensory distortions. (TOS: "Is There in Truth No Beauty?") The barrier has been encountered on several occasions by Earth and Starfleet vessels.

The first encounter involving an Earth vessel occurred in 2065 with the SS Valiant. The ship was swept into the barrier by a magnetic storm. Subsequent events resulted in the destruction of the Valiant and the loss of all hands, leaving the barrier's formal discovery to wait two hundred more years.

In 2265, the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Kirk discovered the recorder-marker ejected from the Valiant. Decoding its message, they retraced the Valiant's path, being almost destroyed in the process. At that time the barrier did not register at all on the Enterprise's sensors, although the ship's deflectors did react to it.

Entering the barrier was extremely hazardous. Shields could not block all the energies of the barrier; the leakage was sufficient to heat up the hull to over 2,000 degrees, (TOS: "By Any Other Name") damage several systems and disable the warp drive of the Enterprise. Also passing the shields and hull were strange electric shocks to the nervous systems of the human crew members with high esper ratings. In most cases this caused death from brain damage. Individuals with the highest ESP ratings such as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner's 089 and Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell's 091 survived the shock and were altered as a result. They developed a multitude of psionic powers at a geometric rate. They began to view their former friends and shipmates as lower lifeforms. This transformation is known to have happened at least three times, with the best known example being Mitchell. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")

In 2268, Kelvans from the Andromeda Galaxy entered the Milky Way Galaxy through the barrier. Their advanced multigenerational ships were damaged by the barrier and subsequently destroyed. The Kelvan survivors of one ship required a new vessel for the journey home. They hijacked the USS Enterprise and refitted it to survive the barrier and the intergalactic journey. Presumably, due to improvements in sensor technology, this time the Enterprise's sensors registered the barrier as negative energy, but of such magnitude that all instruments were off the dials.

The option to flood the Enterprise's warp nacelles with positive energy through control valves was available to Kirk, but not taken, during the passage through the barrier. Combination of that positive energy and the negative energy of the barrier would have destroyed the ship. (TOS: "By Any Other Name")

Later that year, the Enterprise left the Milky Way Galaxy when Larry Marvick, driven mad by the sight of Medusan Ambassador Kollos, sought to escape his tormenting visions. During that excursion the ship was stranded inside a space-time void deep within the barrier. No sensor data or reference points were available to exit the void in the right direction. Fortunately, Kollos was able to help pilot the ship out. (TOS: "Is There in Truth No Beauty?")

In the latter two occasions no one was affected in the same manner as Mitchell was just three years earlier.

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Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Faces The Frontier In “The Galactic Barrier”

| February 24, 2022 | By: Anthony Pascale 136 comments so far

“The Galactic Barrier”

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, Episode 10 – Debuted Thursday, February 24, 2022 Written by Anne Cofell Saunders Directed by Deborah Kampmeier

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

With a lot of flash and filler, “The Galactic Barrier” is more of a setup for what comes next than a fulfilling standalone episode. Ostensibly focused on galactic sci-fi action, the episode’s true strength turned out to be a more personal exploration of some of the lingering character arcs of the season.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

“Frontiers are always cool”

Book and Tarka blowing up the DMA has rushed the first contact mission, so Dr. Kovich brings some universal translator props along to a bigwig meeting to make the point they don’t even know where to start when it comes to communicating with Species 10-C. He wishes the mission luck as he is going to stay behind to remain mysterious, introducing quirky communication specialist Dr. Hirai to go in his stead. The new DMA is more DMA-y than the last, giving them just 12 hours before it moves on. President Rillak volunteers herself for the mission, deciding her authority and skills are needed, with an ominously touching goodbye with Admiral Vance. Gulp. Suru has an equally ominous goodbye with Bryce. Double gulp. With the Disco loaded up and upgraded with Galactic Barrier shielding, Captain Burnham and the Prez negotiate divided responsibilities with Michael handling the ship and Rillak in charge of diplomacy.

With a nice little speech complete with some classic callbacks and her new catchphrase, off they go to the actual final frontier, finding the barrier in its roiling awesome and terrifying beauty. The new programmable antimatter shielding will prevent everyone from going all silver-eyed crazy , but they find getting through harder than expected. Thankfully, Stamets has a brand-new plan for the ship to ride through, protected inside a giant technobabble space bubble, requiring this finely tuned crew to work together in an impressive bridge ballet. While they await the crossing, Vance sends word to Burnham and Rillak that time is running out, the DMA is on the move—and, naturally, headed straight to Earth and Ni’Var (née Vulcan). As the leaders debate telling the crew the news, right on cue, their space bubble gets caught in an epic “traffic jam”… one that could take weeks.

“That’s who you are dealing with ”

After epically screwing up the destroy-the-DMA plan last week, Book is set to dump Tarka off on some random pre-industrial planet, but the wily scientist worms his way back, arguing he can get them through the barrier to take down the DMA from the source. He even knows where they can find a “stash” of that programmable antimatter for the shielding—and that location is a former Emerald Chain work camp. Sure, let’s keep trusting this “a—hole” (hey, he said it). Turns out this was the camp where Tarka was held prisoner and forced by Osyraa to work on a dilithium alternative warp drive, paired up with another alien scientist. Oros is that friend Tarka talked about a few episodes ago, the one he wants to reunite with.

Over a couple of years, Oros and Tarka bonded over math and grew close… apparently very close. They hid programmable antimatter as they secretly worked on an interdimensional transporter that could take them to “Kayalise,” a mythical parallel universe that turns out to be a real “paradise.” But of course, Tarka had a backup plan, betraying his friend to The Chain. When their escape attempt failed, they got separated. Oros forgave Ruon, who has been returning every year to this alien world in hopes of  a reunion, convinced his old companion made it to that paradise. And with the power of the DMA, he can too. Now re-shielded and re-bonded, the pair is ready to head out of the galaxy.

“I cannot envision any situation more awkward”

Even with all the sci-fi action and backstory revelations, the episode found some time for some character catchups. Saru and T’Rina’s budding romance had an awkward moment as the Kelpien got Vulcan-blocked by some aide after trying for his own ominous goodbye, only later to find T’Rina on the mission, as her delegate didn’t make it to HQ in time for departure… oh boy. Good thing he has his new wingman Culber around to advise him that “beginnings can be messy” and it’s all going to work out, just like it did with Paul.

Speaking of Stamets, he is creating his own awkward moments, being the overly proud dad, boasting to the Captain about his returned adopted kid Adira, back from their time away on Trill (with Gray left behind). As Paul beams, Adira is ready to puke from embarrassment in front of the Captain. Later, Stamets admits he lays on the enthusiasm a bit thick as his way to help Adira cope with leaving Gray behind, which turns out is not a biggie. But the cuddly curmudgeon admits his dad wasn’t there for him, so he is going to be “extra” there for them… aww.

“We have to support each other”

The bubble holdup solution is to find another faster bubble, but getting there isn’t going to be easy on the bridge’s flame throwers and spark generators. As systems fail one by one and shields dwindle, the crew shares some on-the-nose stories about what they want to do when they get back home to Earth, that planet they don’t know is in peril. With some impressive flourishes by the crew and the visual effects team, they make it with a whole six seconds to spare. In another calm in the storm, Captain and POTUFP have yet another mid-mission sidebar in the ready room. Michael argues for the truth, showing how her connection to both threatened worlds only keeps her focused. Rillak reveals her own personal connections to Earth, including the news that her partner is currently on the Moon.

The Disco eventually makes it past the barrier, and with the crew elated to venture where few have tread, the President decides it’s time to tell them the truth. The DMA is days away from the home systems, and she feels their pain. Things wrap up with Saru consoling T’Rina, who really needs his special brand of “comforting presence.” Burnham and Rillak also have a moment, where these two powerful women finally bond in their shared determination and trust. Together they all face the uncertainty that lies before them.

Let’s talk

“The Great Barrier” is another one of those mid-season Discovery episodes where a lot of things are going on, but much of the action is in service of what comes next. After much setup, it appears the show is once again leaving the big reveals to the end, spending much of this episode just getting through that titular barrier. It took the time to set up even more for the final three episodes with intriguing mysteries like Kovich’s more important project, Bryce’s unfinished communication project, and the mention of a new extragalactic planet with potential Species 10-C clues.

While some of this can get frustrating, the episode shined through a focus on the characters, which has always been a strength of writer Anne Cofell Saunders. Perhaps the real “Great Barrier” was the one of communication, which was finally broken through in a number of storylines, like Rillak and Burnham moving past their conflict to shared respect, Saru finally making that connection with T’Rina, and Tarka revealing what truly motivates him. This recurring theme was set up at the start with Kovich’s show-and-tell of the various translator devices, then driven home at the end by the on-the-nose comment by Michael, “If we can’t communicate with each other, what chance do we have with them?”

And Culber talking Saru through his insecurities sends a nice message to all those who ever felt awkward knowing they are not alone, which has always been an important message built into Star Trek. The season theme of uncertainty (mentioned out loud twice during this episode) had some political allegory woven into it this week with Burham’s message about how leaders (like the President) need to show how they are “not rattled by uncertainty or overwhelming odds.” But the mention of confirmation bias (even in a sci-fi context) seemed out of place. All of this is a reminder this season was written early on in the pandemic, which is this season’s muse.

Going home again

“The Galactic Barrier” didn’t do much in terms of worldbuilding, but we did learn a lot more about Tarka, making him a bit more sympathetic. It turns out the “home” he keeps talking about is just another name for Kayalise, the paradise universe where he hopes to find his friend Oros. Even Tarka’s bad people skills were explained; turns out he was held in isolation for years by the Emerald Chain. Reconnecting with Oros, perhaps the only real connection he has ever had, is what drives him. Although why he needs the super-massive power of the DMA is now even less clear as apparently Oros’ transporter was powered through geothermal energy and a warp drive. Perhaps, although Tarka might not admit it, he lacks the same scientific skill as Oros.

We learned the spore drive is limited to work within the galaxy as the mycelial network “thins out” at the edge. This makes the USS Discovery just another ship out there beyond the edge. And this episode did seem to make a big deal out of crossing that line with a number of moments highlighting the risk they were taking and telegraphing that not everyone may be coming back. We get some nice added dimensions to the bridge crew as they share what they will do once they get back home; however, such declarations are often ominous signs. And in this case, the whole segment was a bit hammy coming right after Michael’s talk about the crew’s connection to their home planet.

Final thoughts

Strong performances, especially Shawn Doyle (Tarka) and Chelah Horsdal (Rillak), and outstanding visual effects elevate this tenth episode just enough to recommend it. But after four seasons, it’s clear Discovery may work better with their arcs playing out over shorter seasons, and this will actually be the case for season five, which will have ten episodes. “The Great Barrier” will probably play very well as part of a binge-watch; unfortunately, for now, we have to wait to see how the final three episodes of season four play out.

Random bits

• This is the fourth Discovery screenwriting credit for co-executive producer Anne Cofell Saunders, who joined the series in season three.
• This is the first Star Trek credit for director Deborah Kampmeier, who was mostly known for writing, producing, and directing independent films before starting to direct for television in 2019.
• The titular Galactic Barrier was first encountered in the second Star Trek pilot, “ Where No Man Has Gone Before .”
• There is another reference to that episode (and Star Trek’s opening narration ) in Captain Burnam’s speech, saying “When I was a child, I like many of you, dreamed of going where no one has gone before.”
• Vance says that the Discovery is “leaving the galaxy,” adding “we have never done that.” The USS Enterprise did so in “By Any Other Name,” and there have been some other examples of extragalactic travel in Star Trek, however, he may have just been speaking about more recent history with the 32nd century Starfleet.
• Main cast member Blu del Barrio returns as Adira after being absent for two episodes.
• Book said he got the coordinates for the 10-C system from Haz Mazaro , from the episode “All In.”
• President Rillak was an ambassador for 20 years.
• Stamets told Captain Burnham she should “thank Heisenberg” for his plan to use get through the Galactic Barrier, referring to German physicist Werner Heisenberg and science of Quantum Fluctuation derived from Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.
• The golden ratio discussed by Oros and Tarka is the mathematical ratio defined as “the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities.” The Greek letter phi (as seen in the episode) symbolizes the golden ratio.
• Dr. Hirai is a specialist in astrolinguistics , xenophonology , and theoretical semiotics , all of which are real disciplines; however, xenophonology currently is related to “ conlangs ,” or created languages (like Klingon).
• Michael’s mother Gabrielle Burnham is not in danger, as she is still on the monastic world Pijar with J’Vini, who is serving her sentence of rehabilitative meditation.
• The alien planet Book and Tarka visited was shot at The Lafarge Quarry outside of Toronto, which the series has now used multiple times .
• Do traffic jams still exist in the 32nd century (or 23rd)?
• Kovich mentions Vulcans studied humans for “almost a century” before making First Contact, which tracks with the story told in Enterprise’s “Carbon Creek” set in 1957, almost a century before First Contact in 2063.
• Kovich says leaving the galaxy for members of the First Contact Committee will be like a “three-hour tour,” indicating Gilligan’s Island reruns continue into the 32nd century.
• In addition to Ni’Var President T’Rina (Tara Rosling) and Earth General Ndoye (Phumzile Sitole), the Committee delegation included an uncredited Ferengi, with no lines of dialogue.
• A collection of universal translators/communicators featured on Star Trek: The Original Series , The Next Generation , Voyager / Deep Space Nine , Enterprise , and Picard were arrayed on the table for the committee.

More to come

Every Friday, the TrekMovie.com All Access Star Trek Podcast  covers the latest news in the Star Trek Universe and discusses the latest episode. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify ,  Pocket Casts ,  Stitcher and is part of the TrekMovie Podcast Network.

New episodes of  Star Trek: Discovery premiere on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Fridays where Paramount+ is available around the world. In Canada, it airs on CTV Sci-Fi Channel on Thursdays, and streams on Crave on Fridays. Starting November 26, Discovery also streams on Pluto TV in select countries in Europe and is available as a digital download in additional international territories .

Keep up with all the news and reviews from the new Star Trek Universe on TV at TrekMovie.com .

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With a lot of flash and filler, “The Galactic Barrier” is more of a setup for what comes next than a fulfilling standalone episode. 

This describes many episodes of Discovery. Maybe 13 episodes a season is still too many if everything is going to be serialized now?

Addendum: I overlooked that Anthony concluded this also at the end of the review. Season 5 will only have 10 episodes, so maybe that will help streamline out filler episodes like this one.

I still hope they come to their senses and change the formula for S5 and beyond, something in the vein of ENT S4, with mini-arcs of 2- and 3-parters instead of season-long arcs.

That ship has sailed. The streaming convention is one long story, and P+ is not in a situation with their subscriber numbers to start bucking convention.

Except that they’ve indicated that STRANGE NEW WORLDS will not be one long story. They would do very well to have it emulate ENT season 4, which I think is, overall, the best season of Star Trek.

But the barely serialized TNG and Voyager are the most popular legacy Trek shows in streaming.

Agreed. They have maybe 3 episodes worth of plot, and the test is filler character work that could be condensed

I don’t know… I would prefer that format myself. It might improve the show. But I honestly think the ship that has sailed for this show is really the quality ship.

When all is said and done, I’d love to see someone edit the episodes down to the basic plot / storyline into 1 or 2 episodes.

Yep, this has been Discovery all season long. It’s a pretty much 2-3 episode arc drawn out over the entire season. Totally unnecessary. It tells me the writers really have no imagination.

“Kovich says leaving the galaxy for members of the First Contact Committee will be like a “three-hour tour,” indicating Gilligan’s Island reruns continue into the 32nd century.”

Or he’s a time traveler, lol…

Or he’s a time traveler, lol…

I know you’re joking, but you may turn out to be close to the truth. Like I’ve suggested in previous comments, Kovich’s anachronistic and archaic glasses/tie/suit outfit may be a clue that the guy is originally from the 20th or 21st century (or he’s spent a lot of time there).

I expect Kovich to turn out someone we know in a different shape. Maybe someone like Gary Seven, Flint or even a Q.

I found that comment to be a weird analogy. Why would he reference an element of a dead medium from 1200 years earlier that NO ONE would get except a handful in the audience watching this show? Again, I feel like this is writers thinking they are being clever when they are really just being absurd.

Using a reference that nobody will understand seems to be in character for Kovich.

Rather like “only Nixon could go to China” is an ancient Vulcan proverb? I doubt in 300 years anyone will get the analogy. Hell, I wish someone would remember it *today*.

Good call. That was something done purely for the audience. Perhaps it is my bias but I accept it that sort of thing much easier in TUC than I do for Star Trek Discovery. Likely because Star Trek Discovery hasn’t earned it.

Haven’t seen the episode yet, but…..programmable anti-matter??!!??

Why not? In isolation, antimatter behaves just like “normal” matter, so given anti-elements more complex than anti-hydrogen, there’s no conceptual obstacle to anti-mechanisms. We wouldn’t be able to synthesize them, since our only available tools consist of normal matter (and having your fingers go “poof” in a spray of pions and gamma rays is inconvenient), but it’s a reasonable extrapolation that Trek forcefields and replicators — between the 24th and 32nd centuries, presumably — can stack anti-atoms into nanomachinery.

Honestly I sorta feel like the only thing in the show that could make sense is when they come up with some sort of super magic like tech. There just isn’t nearly enough of that to make me, a viewer, believe they are in the 32nd century.

I was pretty disappointed with the re-interpretation of the Barrier in the remastered WNMHGB — how did it come off n this episode?

So that’s not conceptual art, that’s an actual final image? (haven’t watched the show since end of s2, had hoped things improved visually at least.)

Oh my, I LOVED the remastered barrier in TOS-R. This one here is a tad off. Still nice but I need my fix of magenta :-)

On the other hand. The issue with that barrier is that it doesn’t really make any sense because it’s some sort of band. Why going through it if you could easily dive below or above? But that was screwed up in 1965…

The original effect to me was reminiscent of an aurora from a distance, and a lethal zone of hellish radiation while the Enterprise was embedded within it. The remaster struck me as just one more generic CG particle cloud, rather like the “badlands” effect in the Voyager pilot.

This new version at least looks more interesting, but I’d have to see it in motion to really judge its effectiveness.

And fwiw I’ve never had an issue with the logic of its appearance — it comes across as a band in those shots because it conforms to the shape of the galaxy, which at its outer edge is a flat disk. Attempt to get around it by leaving the galactic plane of the ecliptic and you’ll just run into more of it.

I am pretty disappointed they continue to use a non-existent feature of the real Milky Way. Sci-fi is supposed to have plausible basis in reality. Even programmable anti-matter seems somewhat more plausible than this.

Well, c’mon now. The galactic barrier has been canon in this franchise since 1965. It’s not great science, but when Isaac Asimov pointed that out at the time Samuel Peebles did a pretty decent job defending the concept in his script as dramatic license, as even Asimov himself acknowledged. If hard-science accuracy is what you’re going for I’d suggest you skip Trek altogether and stick with “The Expanse,” even with the disappointing final season.

Remember that the galactic barrier isn’t detectable to sensors until you get close. I have come to the conclusion that the barrier isn’t visible until you get close to it. That’s why we can see other galaxies, despite there being a barrier all around. It becomes visible in reaction to your matter getting close to it, so there will always be edges to the visible manifestation of it because it is only visible where you are.

I like the explanation from the TNG Q Continuum novels that the barrier was made by the Q Continuum to keep the being 0 out of our galaxy. The fact that it is Q technology partially explains the effect of giving godlike powers to certain sensitive people. I would love if a canon story would simply declare that it is not a natural phenomenon. That would add really cool menace and mystery to it. If it is natural, it makes no sense. Galaxies aren’t isolated bubbles filled with stars.

@ JEffect – those ideas certainly help to explain the idea of ‘our’ galaxy having a ‘galactic barrier’ around it.

It’s not something that troubles my own ‘personal canon’ though, as I prefer to look on the original TOS show’s ‘fantasy’ universe as being just an alternate universe to our own actual universe, even though many elements are similar from our recent world history and other aspects. And the original show’s universe is showing a ‘future’ unlike ours, and just happens to have a ‘galactic barrier’ around it’s particular ‘Milky Way’ galaxy. ;)

I have to say this episode was infuriating to watch. What should’ve been the most interesting episode – they’re travelling on a dangerous mission where the stakes are at their highest into the most unknown region of space; the galactic barrier and beyond – was just another expensive, emotionally manipulative soap opera filled with over-emotional dialogue, scoring and irrelevant nonsense.

Why oh why was there a few minutes dedicated to Saru saying goodbye to that random crew member? I don’t even know his name and literally asked aloud “Who TF is that?” and forgot that he had been in it before. What are we supposed to feel from saying goodbye to someone we don’t even know?

Also giving Tarak, or whatever his name is, a backstory this late in the game, and during all of the high stakes, also felt like an unwanted distraction. And actually let me get this characters “motivation” straight; so his whole thing is that he feels super guilty for ratting out his friend to the syndicate folk, although he wasn’t his friend yet when he did, because he wanted to help him escape, but ultimately he did free him and he thinks that he escaped anyways…. but yet feels bad and THAT’S the motivation behind the character? He wants to find his friend? That does not make any sense and as motives go it’s up there with the Burn as just stupid. In the end he still helped him escape. Yes it was messy, but they were prisoners in a messy situation. He could be dead, he could be alive, who cares, those were the stakes of the situation and you freed him!

Why is the writing so bad?!

And why was the “will we tell the crew/won’t we tell the crew” Michael/president scenes even a thing, let alone drawn out so much? DURING ALL THE CHAOS OF THE GALACTIC BARRIER? Have we not had enough of these two bickering and ultimately being best friends at the end? Why do they keep going in circles with these two? WE GET IT. THEY CAN WORK TOGETHER DESPITE THEIR DIFFERENCES. Jesus.

I actually ended up painting my nails during the latter half of the episode. They turned out really nice, so I guess there was one upside to sitting through this mess.

I agree with everything you said. I also wanted to add that the melodramatic moment with Burnham and the pres at the end of the episode made my audibly roll my eyes. Who the hell writes this soap opera cringe?

Kirk and his crew didn’t have this much trouble with the galactic barrier when the went looking for God’s facsimile. They just had the Klingons, which is still more entertaining then this.

That wasn’t the galactic barrier though, as they were traveling to the center of the galaxy. With that being said, the less of Star Trek V the better.

star trek v is gold next to this mess

That’s because that wasn’t the galactic barrier.

I agree with your comments on that guy’s backstory. At this point, I honestly do not care why he’s doing it. I don’t think it matters one iota. I found his explanation scattered anyway. But admittedly it could be because it was hard to pay attention to his boring monologs and flashbacks.

Also agree with the President/Burnham’s tell-them-or-not stuff. Again, that was a non-issue to me. What the hell difference does it make? I guess in the sense that it should have been the Captain’s call because the Captain would know if it would motivate or distract the crew. But again, it was a bit thing over something very very small.

I actually enjoy the character drama filler like between Burnham and Rillak. I personally find this stuff entertaining.

What I cannot understand is why the writers seem to hang an entire season on flimsy core story ideas. Ruon Tarka’s goal—to get access to a power source that’s beyond anything we’ve ever seen so he can do something that his friend did with stuff cobbled together in prison—feels like it’s taking us to an insulting plot resolution as nonsensical as last season’s explanation for the Burn. I really hope we’re actually going to be surprised by a brilliant plot twist that irons-out the wrinkles in this weak plot. Otherwise, this show has so much promise that could be better explored with classic stand alone episodes rather than taking us on a long ride to nowhere.

I think the send-off was because the Bryce actor, Ronnie Rowe jr., is leaving the show.

So it was probably more out of respect to him that it was included rather than as a story point.

“Why is the writing so bad?!”

Based on my own experience working for a Big Dumb Corporation, it’s probably because CBS management is over-relying on stuff like focus group studies to determine the content of the episodes. My guess is they have a team that tries to predict social media trends, and has an internal list of “values” they need to satisfy with every episode. While these things may not be bad in and of themselves, they are usually counter to good storytelling.

The simple truth is, not everyone is going to like or understand your art. You have to risk people not appreciating what you write, if you want to write anything of significance or impact. You have to risk offending people, even.

If you try to make sure your stuff is consumed by a large portion of the population, you’ll end up writing by committee. Even if ostensibly there is a single writer for a given script, that script gets passed through the hands of a number of chefs, each of whom must have his or her input validated. If one person doesn’t grok something, the assumption is the audience won’t either, so it gets stupified. The “show” part of “show, don’t tell” gets replaced with more “telling,” since that’s less ambiguous. Stuff gets left out, only to be shoehorned back in later. Plot holes are missed, since dealing with them takes time, and it’s assumed they can be patched with more “telling” later on as well. In the end, any good ideas the script originally had is lost under a mountain of clunky exposition and missed opportunities.

It’s a plague that effects a lot of modern media.

@ Chris – very much agree, unfortunately.

That was a boring, empty episode. I feel like nothing happened. A lot of episodes are that way this season.

This will always be the case with series that insist of having a single story arc span across an entire season. There will bound to be a couple ‘filler’ episodes just to pad out (re: drag out) the season.

Frankly, it gets very tiring and my patience with Discovery as a whole is wearing very thin. I used to be one of it’s biggest supporters but now I’m not so sure.

They’d be better off throwing in standalone episodes that don’t greatly affect the arc. DS9 was doing that in seasons 6-7 and Enterprise in seasons 3-4. It worked well, I thought.

Some people have been excusing the haphazard character work on this show as being the result of having shorter seasons and not enough time, but clearly there was room to tighten the overall story and service the characters better and more evenly if 13 episodes feels padded! That’s probably a reason why the ancillary characters are getting more to do, especially as the main cast is so small now, but it’s been clumsy how most have been integrated.

Yep. The character problems are NOT the result of having 13 episodes. Last season they wasted two on Georgeau and the MU. That could have been done in less than one.

I remember people complaining about DS9 doing that, too. They kept whining about episodes like “Take Me Out to the Holosuite” during the war. I’m fine with whatever format a show wants to use to tell its story. I don’t really feel like the pacing is slow, because I actually prefer the character stuff most in any show, so I just eat that up.

Sure, -good- character stuff is lovely. This show has very little of it.

I thought the seasons of the new Trek series were reduced from 24 to 13 episodes to avoid such filler episodes…

There are filler episodes no matter how many shows in a season there are.

I wonder if ‘Kayalise’ could be the Nexus? Or will it turn out to be the opposite of a paradise setting up some sort of multiversal conflict for season 5?

Khaleesi? :-)

I’m calling it now. ‘Kayalise’ is somewhere in that hyper field and it’s not another universe.

What is the point of the back story for Tarak or what ever sob story of the wk that he regales us to endore? This character has no point to this story. Book could have destroyed the mining menace without him. Now we are supposed to feel sorry for him. Puuulllease! Isn’t the galactic barrier where the Kirk and crew meet a facsimile of God?

Isn’t the galactic barrier where the Kirk and crew meet a facsimile of God?

No that one was in center of the galaxy… This one is the energy field that turned Gary Mitchell into a ransom God :-)

Anybody else think the planet Burnham mentions will be the same one Gary Mitchell is on?

Wasn’t he left on Delta Vega? On the UFP side of the barrier?

I want to know why no one on Discovery got turned into a god!

No. The Enterprise never actually got to the other side of the barrier. The planet he was left on was a mining planet called Delta Vega.

Has anybody figured out how many worlds are called Delta Vega? (assuming the D-V seen in trek09 was not located at the edge of the galaxy, as that would have been a pretty huge detour from being between Vulcan and Earth.)

Let’s not question the galactic geography used in the KU features. They played VERY fast and loose with that.

No. The galactic barrier is from three episodes of TOS.

I was laughing by myself this morning. The whisper is true. Is not only Burnham, now many are whispering! :D

It’s terrible.

Some of you folks don’t seem to understand what whispering actually is. Speaking in a low tone of voice is not the same thing as whispering.

Well but Burnham clearly whispers…

This show is so tragically underwritten, there is just nothing here. It’s dull, repetitive, cliche, and cringe inducing melodrama. They don’t have a full cast, and their most important characters have nothing to do. Problems get solved instantly and over-explained to the point of eye-rolling convenience. Their instant understanding and explanation of the bonkers galactic barrier bubbles was just stupefying and nauseating. And this is another episode where I was constantly rewinding the scenes to catch what they said because the exposition was so abrupt with muddy on-set audio. I can’t believe how much I’ve grown to outright hate this show, and I use to love it. This season is the worst because it’s a snoozer and they are constantly farewelling their few remaining crew members. I’m just dumbfounded at what little has actually happened this season, easily the worst so far because it’s boring and meaningless.

And every season they promise the support Cast will have more to do

This season really is spinning its wheels, isn’t it? It’s a solid story, but it’s taking forever to get there. Also, the writers need to do a bit more homework, as their knowledge of extragalactic travel in Star Trek has holes in it. There have been several episodes in which ships have left the Milky Way, including not only TOS’s “By Any Other Name” but also TNG’s “Where No One Has Gone Before.” That’s just off the top of my head. There are probably other examples.

TOS’s “ Is There In Truth No Beauty ” went… somewhere else.

Theory on Kovich! Forgive me if someone has already put this forward, but I think Kovich is an adviser/problem solver to the federation and Starfleet, because he is an android and like Picard a successful human consciousness transfer or an android from the beginning and has been around hundreds of years. This could explain why he doesn’t seem to have any concrete position, knows so much and everyone is deferential to him. Or He could be a Q! 😁

I don’t see it, sorry. :)

There’s one (HEAVILY;) thing on my mind I want to mention. Now that paramount, viacom and cbs merged and moved into a financially HEAVILY stronger situation and the change in industry that streaming numbers became HEAVILY more of importance than physical disc selling numbers and least but not last with the new star trek cherishing ceo of Paramount, the chances of DS9 and VOY remasterings also raised HEAVILY with it!

I think everyone needs to stream the TMP: Director’s Edition when it comes along to sell that appeal.

I thought that the Paramount+ exclusivity of remasters was more likely when all of its competitors still had licenses to stream DS9 and Voyager. Now that they’re making Star Trek an exclusive Paramount+-only offering with just Netflix still carrying DS9 for now, I wonder if they’d consider it a waste of money to remaster the SD shows since they’ve already “got” us.

They got us right. But so I think they don’t want to loose us. Honestly these 90’s video tape quality took away A LOT of enjoyment for me of watching these shows. In 2022 on a 4k screen this quality does not match. Especially for a Sci-fi show playing in the future and with ACTUALLY great looking sets if one could see them as they supposed to be seen clear and shiny.

TNG is still on Netflix.

And I have no intention to stream the TMP director’s edition. I wand a BD. If there is no BD then I will just live with my DVD.

TNG is still on Netflix, but I think it’s the last place with either of the SD shows still.

You missed my point that was not what I meant. I too want to have a 4k blu ray of TMP and the TNG films and they will come out. I also want ds9 & voy on blu ray. But my point is that paramount don’t have to rely on good disc selling numbers anymore to engage the remasterings. It’s streaming now.

OK. I just wanted it out there that I am interested in an HD blu ray. Not 4K. Which is fine but I haven’t upgraded to that. If there is no BD then, as I said, I will just have to be happy with my DVD.

Um…… what?

I loved this episode and the focus on the characters. Especially enjoyed the scenes between Burnham and Rillak.

Honestly, you love anything that Discovery puts out there. You’re not picky. And that’s too bad.

I did not enjoy this episode for several reasons.

• I get it it’s 900 years in the future. Tech is better and can withstand more of a beating. But if Discovery has explosions and fires throughout its bridge in episodes 1, 2, and 3, then the galactic barrier should be visually beating the hell out of the ship. It’s inconsistent and annoying.
• When the ship switches from normal matter bubble to anti-matter bubble can that have some effect on the crew visually? There was barely any consequence. I never had any concern about Discovery being lost in this episode, because they managed to keep their shields the entire time. Crew should be injured. There should be some consequence to this.
• You need two hours to go tell family members goodbye? They all live on the station or the ship. Also, why are you wasting time? The faster you get to the barrier the quicker you can make contact.
• Enough with all of the excessive over-the-top emotionalism. We don’t need to talk about how we feel every 30 seconds. How does anyone get anybody get anything done constantly needing to take a break to cry? Suck it up.
• And the 3-hour tour reference was awful. I guess people in the 32nd century are watching Gilligan’s Island now.

I’m sorry. This episode had such potential to add some real stakes to the situation, with Discovery leaving the barrier going into the unknown injured and weak, trekking forward despite injury and chaos to save the universe. And how do we end this episode? Everything is all good. We’re fine and heading toward a planet.

This is the first time in a season and a half where I have actually been disappointed in a Discovery episode.

Enough with all of the excessive over-the-top emotionalism. We don’t need to talk about how we feel every 30 seconds.

I have to agree. The scenes between Stamets and Adira dragged on endlessly; the Oros-Tarka scenes weren’t much better. This is not exactly taut writing.

Any chance this could be the Kelvins from TOS?

The showrunner has said in interviews it’s something new.

i do not care if it’s something new. not anymore. this whole season winds up the long road to total boredom. sorry.

This episode was the best of a season of horrible episodes, but still a 6 of 10 at most. The most compelling part of the episodes was the background story about Tarka. Sean Doyle was masterful.

As usual, the Burnham character was underwhelming, with her long-winded speeches and whisper lines.

Discovery is horrible – the story arcs with the big bad of the season don’t work well. They could, but the writing is horrible.

I’m so sad for Star Trek. Discovery stinks. Picard season 1 was not good. Lower decks is a stupid childish show.

Agreed on the bottom 3 paragraphs. The only saving grace at the moment is that Prodigy doesn’t suck.

Actually, I like Lower Decks. Of the three shows you mentioned, Lower Decks is the most Trek-like of all of them.

How are we supposed to see other galaxys through this galactic barrier? Why are they having all the communicators on the table… just to make a point?

This was not good!

You could ask the same question the three previous times the Galactic Barrier appeared in TOS. If anything, this version was far less opaque than it was depicted in TOS.

True. I think the concept of the galactic barrier is Not auch a great thing.

There ist Always that “Wall” of Energy. But what is With all the rest? All the Other directions.

You can see other galaxies through the galactic barrier because it isn’t apparently visible or detectable until you get close to it. It becomes visible in reaction to your matter getting close to it. That’s why there are edges to the visible manifestation of it, because it is only visible where you are. This is consistent with the writing in TOS, but is made clearer in the non-canon TNG Q Continuum novels where the barrier was made by the Q Continuum to keep the being 0 out of our galaxy. It would be so much better if they discover this season that the galactic barrier is really alien technology.

I’m really liking the relationship between Rillak and Burnham. The stated theme of the season is uncertainty. That’s what the producers have told us. That’s abundantly clear in the text and subtext of the episodes so far, but I’d say that complementary themes to that one, as seen in the season so far, are themes of transparency and good faith. It’s something that goes back at least as far back as the first season finale, something that Pike certainly demonstrated as captain in season two, and something Burnham finally fully integrated after “Unification III,” having to relearn that lesson several times before that.

The two had a discussion in which they clearly, but respectfully, delineated boundaries. Burnham is in command of the ship, and will not be questioned on the bridge. Rillak must navigate the delicate political situation as she sees fit. By granting Rillak the shipwide address, she allowed Rillak to make the choice to divulge the contents of the update regarding the DMA.

I liked how the Tarka/Oros story was kind of like DSC’s riff on the classic DS9 episode “Hard Time.” Tarka and his friend, Oros were prisoners at a work camp run by the Emerald Chain. As in “Hard Time,” Oros was already there when Tarka was detained. The two gradually bond over science, particularly over the digits of the Golden Ratio. They use their engineering powers to develop an interdimensional transporter. It fails and alerts the guards. As in “Hard Time,” Tarka betrays Oros, this time by having previously told the guards and Osyraa that he would tell them what Oros was working on, in exchange for freedom. As in “Hard Time,” Oros forgives his friend. Though Tarka defeats the guards, Oros is severely injured so he begs Tarka to make a break for it. That was the last Tarka saw of him. He’s returned every year since, hoping for any sign that Oros is even alive, or if he managed to make any progress traveling to an alternate universe. One major difference from “Hard Time,” is that Tarka is the calming influence, rather than the veteran prisoner.

It certainly doesn’t excuse anything that he’s done. It would be fruitful to contrast this with J’Vini from “Choose to Live,” who was intent on saving a species, leading her to kill Starfleet officers to get dilithium. Burnham wanted justice served, despite her and Tilly helping J’Vini save that species. She had to settle for turning her over to Ni’Var. At this point, Burnham only knows that Book and Tarka did not comply with the conditions Book agreed to. Before “All In,” she thought Tarka coerced him. Now, she probably has to assume that Book lied to her. It’s kind of the opposite side of the coin.

First off, I think the conceit behind the ‘Galactic Barrier’ is dumb and we know it’s not based in any kind of modern science… I think it could have been ignored. It’s a minor complaint,,.. but this is the episode I have been waiting to see. Actual plot movement along things that intrigued me and want to know more.. some interesting questions. More of this kind of episode please.

It’s from three TOS episodes, so it’s well established. Ignoring it would have been a big mistake.

I’m agnostic on whether or not it should have been used. But if they did want to go the route of rejecting it, they could have said it dissipated in the centuries since Gary Mitchell.

I wonder if this season’s plot won’t be used as a way of getting rid of the barrier. I agree, it IS dumb, but ignoring it altogether simply isn’t a valid option.

There has been some talk of “filler” episodes from time to time over the last few years when discussing the short seasons vs the longer ones. This episode is the very definition of “filler” episode. The main thing that caught my attention was that the galactic barrier sure has evolved over the last 900 years! Before the Enterprise got through in a few minutes with little more than bumps and bruises and maybe a crew member or two turning into a god. Later Sybok claimed the danger in the barrier was only an illusion. And the ship sailed through with nearly no difficulty. So I see Star Trek Discovery continues the tradition of the Galactic Barrier being what the script needs it to be.

And then there was that awful moment where the bridge crew, in yet another failed attempt to make them seem like they are more than just scenery, there was that useless banter of what they like about Earth. Good GOD this crew picks the oddest times to speak up about things. Nearly every time we have a “bridge crew moment” it results in a face palm reaction.

Anyway, in the end this entire episode felt like a GIANT waste of 50 minutes of show time.

And I am still wondering what species 10B is that they decided to call this completely unknown one 10C.

In “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, the Enterprise didn’t actually make it through the barrier but was thrown back. So we don’t really know how far in they penetrated. In Star Trek V, you’re conflating the galactic barrier at the edge of the milky way with what was in the movie, which was some type of barrier at the center of the milky way. Presumably different phenomena, although admittedly neither one is explained well at all. The Enterprise did, however, make it through the barrier in the episode “By Any Other Name”. No explanation is given, but as a guess maybe the modifications the Kelvins did to the ship to have it go faster also protected the ship and crew from the effects of the barrier.

It finally hit me last week why the tone and style of Discovery ‘s storytelling irks me when I realized that Discovery is what happens when you mix Star Trek with Grey’s Anatomy.

It’s more later seasons Grey’s with rando side characters who you barely know their names, forced emotional scenes where people’s relationships are being torn apart by their devotion to their work, and the main character ends up in a room near tears or whispering thoughtfully with someone almost every other episode . If you just put scenes of Meredith and Michael side-by-side during the fourth act of an episode the dynamic is nearly the same.

I find the entire Book/Tarka subplot really dumb. It’s a storyline that was unneeded, since there’s enough tension that could come from the DMA itself that there was no need to create artificial tension about Michael’s and Book’s love story.

Beyond that, there are a dozen other ways that are more interesting to do this storyline than just two dudes with grief issues potentially screwing up first contact. What if one of the other major powers had objected to the Federation’s plan and sent their own delegation? What if one of the other major powers wanted to go on the offensive against Species 10C? Written intelligently, that could be interesting drama where maybe hey the other side has a point. But what we have is two dudes outmaneuvering Starfleet, making the organization look somewhat incompetent, and I never believe Book and Tarka might have the right idea because their reasons are so personal and petty. They don’t believe in what they’re doing because they think it’s the right course of action. They believe in what they’re doing because of vengeance and wanting to transport to paradise-alt-universe land.

There need to be actual characters to attach to any point of view expressed in the show. There can’t be a show where it’s just delegates debating their points of view. It has to be attached to consequences we see affect specific characters we get to know. For example, Odo spent the first two seasons trying to figure out who his people were. When the producers were developing the Dominion, they decided they had to make the people running the Dominion Odo’s people. That would make Odo’s dream of finding his people a nightmare. It would propel his entire arc for the rest of the series, forcing him to grapple with where his loyalties lay, how he feels about Kira, whether or not he wants to rejoin the Great Link. As the Female Changeling said about returning Odo to the Link being more important than the entire war, the producers felt that Odo’s arc was similarly a higher priority than the minutia of galactic politics.

Star Trek, like literally every other show in existence, is about its characters first and foremost. Literally every other element of the show, no matter the genre, is designed specifically to support that, not the other way around. One of the directives given to potential Star Trek writers has always been: “can this story be written the same way, whether or not it’s science fiction.”

They have 13 episodes over which they can introduce new characters, if necessary, to tell whatever story they want and expand their universe, and have the views of those new characters come up against the beliefs of the ones we already know.

Yes, Deep Space Nine laid a foundation for Odo’s background, but they also introduced new characters (Martok, Weyoun, etc.) and new factions (The Maquis, The Breen, Section 31) to broaden the issues the core characters confronted when they needed it, instead of just trying to contort the situations of galactic importance to depend on the interpersonal relationships of the ones we know. Beyond that, the episodic nature of Star Trek in both the TOS and TNG eras was able to delegate points of view to the guest star of the week while expanding and deepening the characterization of the leads by having the main characters have to confront those differences over 40+ minutes.

When you boil a sweeping galactic threat down to a reason for character moments in Book’s and Michael’s love life that causes multiple whisper-cry moments in dimly lit rooms, it makes the Star Trek universe so small and limited, while cheapening the threat. You end up with the worst of both worlds in a boring relationship story and what could be an interesting threat that takes the backseat to characters acting stupidly.

Are you really comparing Odo’s arc to any of the characters on Disc?

I get what you’re going for by saying there needs to be a direct link to the characters we know for anything to matter, but you’re literally just ignoring the fact that Tarka was introduced just a few episodes ago and given a backstory literally in this episode, all simply to be shoehorned into this recent one storyline they’ve got going on. Same with Relick being introduced at the start of the season. It’s all just to serve this season-long story and we hardly know them outside of this story.

Odo was a character who was fleshed out long before the Dominion story-arc was created and that’s what gave his connection to the that storyline weight, because we already knew who he was and were invested in his journey.

These characters on Disco only exist to serve the storyline. It’s why Grey was dropped after the burn was resolved. They literally had no purpose anymore. And probably why Adira now feels totally irrelevant. It’s storyline/catastrophic galactic circumstance first, character second with Disco and that just does not work because there is zero weight to any of the drama. They’ve literally only really developed Saru, Michael, and Tilly over four seasons – and they’ve dropped Tilly. Yes Culbert and Stamas have also been developed, but they’ve kinda dropped the ball on those two IMO lately. Sorry if my spelling of their names are wrong but I’m not even sure what their names are after four seasons. And that’s the problem.

Anyhow, the original comment from Edward is SPOT ON. I never thought of it before but your comparison to Grey’s Anatomy is so correct. That is exactly what this show is. High melodrama at it’s worst. Maybe if we view Disco through the lens of a high-budget space telenovela it wont be so painful to watch?

Ugh, it’s actually shocking that these “writers” are getting seriously big bucks to spew out such bad writing week in and week out.

I don’t mind serialized seasons. Battlestar Galactica did a superb job with this. I didn’t appreciate how they wrote previous shows where a character would die one week and everyone was fine the next (like when Tasha Yar died). But Discovery needs a better season-long arc. Last year it was the Emerald Chain. This year it’s the DMA. It just goes from bad to worse and it’s too bad because I actually love the ship and the characters.

Beautiful episode! My favorite so far.

It was the best out of what has been a season of snooze-worthy episodes.

This episode stated off quite well, and I see almost everything people here are taking issue with. What really drew me out was the crew shots during the speeches. I really think the apex haa been reached: they should have been listening and working at the same time. They are on a deadline! That would have helped build tension.

I really didn’t like the bubbles, felt like fantastic voyage mixed with a big pharmaceutical ad.

It’s tough tho. The writing here is just odd enough to kill scenes where the writing is good. Culber is a horrible therapist. Is he always talking about himself? It’s like telling a virgin, hey, I got laid, you can too. But are there any good therapists on Star Trek?

I thought that Ezri Dax was quite good, but she didn’t have much time to be a counselor once she got thrust into the Dominion War with everyone else on DS9.

Are Earth and Vulcan (sorry, ne’ver calling it Ni’Var) close enough for a new DMA to be able to threaten both? That seemed off to me.

Or is the idea that it’s on a trajectory that could take it to either one depending on which way it goes?

I don’t believe it’s ever been explicitly stated in canon, but Vulcan’s system is supposed to be the star 40 Eridani A.

This is kinda confirmed in an episode of Enterprise, when Trip goes along with T’Pol when she returns home and states he traveled “16 light-years,” the distance between the Sun and 40 Eridani A.

Yeah, Ni’Var is only 16 lightyears from Earth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars_and_brown_dwarfs

Fair enough! Thanks for the clarification.

40 Eridani is first mentioned as the location of Vulcan in James Blish’s adaptation of “Tomorrow is Yesterday.” Not canon, exactly, but Blish often based his adaptations on earlier-draft scripts rather than what eventually aired, so it’s at least a decent possibility that Dorothy Fontana, the queen of all things Vulcan, put that factoid in her script but later dropped it for time.

In any case, that the Enterprise was able to divert to Vulcan without seriously disrupting its scheduled arrival at Altair in “Amok Time” pretty much settles that (by Trek standards) it must be pretty close to Earth.

As a young fan (and young member of the Planetary Society) I sort of remember wondering how much astronomy science went into designing the planets the Enterprise visited. I feel like there were once attempts.

Although there were some points of interest in the episode and it was not as disappointing as last week, I have to rate E10 as a 6 out of 10 at the most. IMO, Tarka’s backstory was not very compelling. It reminded me a little of Soran who was willing to destroy entire star systems in order to reach the nexus. Somehow we are supposed to feel sorry for Tarka and endangering billions is somehow justified because of a single personal loss. That is absolutely ridiculous! Also they could have taken one or two scenes to tell the backstory – instead they dragged it out for the entire show – once again, ridiculous. Finally Book accepts Tarka’s loss as a justifiable reason to fire on the DMA, for the third time… ridiculous. The writers could have filled the time saved with a couple of scenes about the galactic barrier (since it was the title of the episode), first referencing the Kelvin technology that should allow them to safely traverse the barrier. Second, after sensors unexpectedly found the barrier to be larger and more dangerous than anticipated – Burnham could have called for a briefing with the senior staff asking for options, alllowing Stametts and Adira to shine. So far, IMHO two of the last three final episodes for S4 have come up short – let’s hope the season finale can makeup for these last two weeks.

Unfortunately for me I have to say I really didn’t like this episode and easily the worst of the season so far

It just felt too much like filler and nothing happened. What’s sad is when I read the title of the episode I predicted it would just be getting through the barrier…and nothing else. The FX looked cool but all the character stuff just felt too tedious. And no real stakes. It was obvious they were going to get through it just fine. “Stormy Weather” had a similar feel but just did a much better job heightning the tension even if everyone still made it.

The problem is they are just dragging the mystery out to the point of frustration. I said that about last week’s episode but this one really confirmed it. I think the DMA storyline is interesting but it’s just not enough story for an entire season. I thought this season could be the second best fourth season of the franchise for me after Enterprise but instead it’s fallen to the last so far. Not horrible just nearly not as strong as the others.

Praying to Kahless next week they finally reveal Species 10c already.

This show puts so much emphasis on the storyarcs to the point of living or dying on how effectively that arc is drawn out and concludes.

But even trying to look at this through the lens of how this storyline affects the characters first, I am struggling to find any of this compelling.

Captain Foley on Trekyards made a great point discussing this season and that it should’ve been more like Enterprise in season 3 where you had 4-5 different plot lines going within the bigger story. And that included the Xindi themselves which had their own plot line within it so we weren’t just hearing about this elusive species for 90% of the season until we finally met them. Yeah Enterprise had more episodes so it had to think bigger, but even with just 13 episodes this season Discovery feels like it’s really, really lagging.

Stuff like Book’s grief and Tarka trying to get to another universe is OK, but it’s really not compelling enough to hang an entire season on either.

The writing just feels pretty lackluster at this point and they are just filling time than anything until the big reveal.

Let me get this straight: the threat is that the planet Vulcan (aka Ni’Var) will be destroyed by a piece of futuristic mining equipment? What an original concept! We’ve never seen anything like that in Trek before!

You know, now that you put it like that, it kinda rings a bell or two.

Haven’t seen the episode yet… If at least it was a probe… ;-)

OMG! You’re right! LMAO!

So this season has 13 episodes? I keep hearing its 12.

Quite possibly the most drawn-out, tedious season to date… This story/production format is ridiculously boring and overly dramatic. The latest episode could have been shrunk into 30 mins without the exposition. Discovery stands alone amongst Star Trek series in poor storytelling.

CBS Viacom needs to re-think their approach to Trek. Predecessors, particularly TOS, TNG, and VOY, did a good job with bottle episodes — or at least making significant progress within a two-part episode. This seems like a super-drawn out effort. And the numerous scenes where the characters are standing, with painted facial expressions and limited range of acting, no thanks to poor scripting, were so. gdamn. tedious.

I couldn’t finish last season due to this. I’m serious about not watching the finale. Not hyperbole, but saying this as yet another audience member who is neither invested in Discovery, nor going to waste time by re-watching any episodes. (And I am a life-long Trek fan of all series, save this one–and much of Picard.)

Really sad. Even the “Galactic Barrier” was incredibly bad. From the look of it, why not fly above or below it? How did the TOS Enterprise cross the barrier in “By Any Other Name”–but Discovery has a completely different experience? Drama for the sake of drama.

Ironic that this episode aired on the same day that Sally Kellerman (Dr. Elizabeth Dehner) from TOS “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (the first appearance of the galactic barrier) passed away. Rest In Peace.

Hear, hear.

They probably won’t touch the effects of the barrier as it’s too similar to ‘The Force’ – specifically the Sith – even though WNMHGB predates SW by well over a decade.

RIP Sally Kellerman (Dr Dehner, WNMHGB)… An incredibly sad coincidence. She died the very same day another crew crossed the Galactic Barrier she had crossed first back in 1965. Now she has crossed another barrier.

I actually didn’t know she lost her daughter to infamous Club27 in 2016, the same year we lost Anton Yelchin to that club…

I’m ashamed to say it, but this has become the only Trek series I’m not excited to watch every week. It’s almost a chore. And I don’t like that. From a British perspective it feels like the old Helen Mirren Prime Suspect or anything written by Jed Mercurio: all hype, little substance. And boring as heck.

I don’t begrudge the enjoyment of those who like it, but for me there’s not enough tension or stakes. The characters are flat. The setting feels void. It’s leaving me as cold as the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

You can almost feel the writers’ room hitting waypoints. Like we’ve got to get here, and that means it is what it is. It’s written like Season 6-7 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars more than DS9 – there’s our destination to heck with why and how we get there.

I would marathon all of Prime Suspect in a heartbeat before rewatching a single season of Discovery! Actually, once I’m done with Poirot, maybe I will!

What is sad and regretable about S4 of Discovery is that the season started with so much promise and despite a few mis-steps, up until E9, the season was IMO, pretty good. After a terrible E9, I was hoping for a much better E10, but instead the Galactic Barrier came up way short of what it could have been.

For the most part, IMHO Discovery has improved after a disasterous first half of S1 and I really thought in S4, the show had really found its place in the Trek universe, but over these past two episodes, the writers have really let the cast and crew down.

Perhaps what is most sad is that the show which most embodies the principle of IDIC, has been sabatoged by terrible scripts and poorly written characters. Discovery’s final legacy is still to be written, but at this point the biggest positive of the show is that it helped spawn Short Treks, SNW, Picard, Prodigy and the quirky LDs.

My fingers are crossed that the final two episodes of this season will somehow pull S4 out of the fire and make up for these past two episodes.

What’s odd about species 10c and the DMA heading towards earth and vulcan: if that species is fron another galaxy and the DMA is just a mining device: how do they know who the federation, earth and vulcan are? We know nothing about them (except asuming they are a species and from another galaxy) but they know who targeted their device and where earth and vulcan are? And how can that “mining device” NOT be a weapon? Either they are a omnipotent, omniscient species, or they must be known or they have a spy in the federation. Kovich maybe? And we still haven’t heard anything from the BORG nor the klingons. (except that joke about universal translators and klingon language). Or is species 10c related to something we see in PICARD next week?

Who says that the DMA is traveling towards Earth and Ni’var as revenge? Neither Earth nor Ni’var were responsible for the destruction of the DMA. Book is from Kwejian and Tarka is from Risa. The DMA is moving across the galaxy mining Boronite. It’s possible that nobody is actively steering it.

But that’s what I find odd: The DMA reappears and is accidently heading towards earth and Ni’var. The DMA is very big but so is the galaxy too. In that context the crew can’t perceive it as coincidence and sees it as revenge. (Even if Book and Tarka were responsible.) Which leads to the conclusion that the federation must be known outside the galaxy or/and there is a spy.

Screen Rant

Star trek's 4 quadrants & galaxy explained.

Along with the Milky Way Galaxy's quadrants, the Star Trek universe encompasses galactic barriers, further galaxies, and even a mythological core.

Most of the action in Star Trek takes place in the real-world Milky Way Galaxy which is roughly divided into four quadrants, named after the first four letters of the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. These are the galactic regions that include significant planets like Vulcan, Qo'noS, and of course, Earth. While Gamma and Delta still bear planets with ominous origins, the Alpha and Beta Quadrants are perhaps touched upon the most within the Star Trek mythos. Despite this common division, The Next Generation also referred to a new quadrant known as Morgana. But not much is known about this certain quadrant as it is not mentioned any further.

Even beyond the Quadrants, ardent Star Trek fans can spot the Galactic Barrier and several other celestial objects that are present in other galaxies like the Andromeda Galaxy (yet another real-world phenomenon) that are still yet to be explored more by the franchise's protagonists. While most of these galactic quadrants can be seen as astronomical phenomena rooted in scientific explanation, the mythos can also incorporate near-godly beings like the Sha Ka Ree in regions such as the so-called "Great Barrier." The two Barriers carry within them such heavenly mysteries that deserve explanations of their own.

TOS Invented Star Trek's Best Time Travel

Alpha Quadrant

The Star Trek galaxy explained that the Alpha Quadrant contains more than 60 home worlds, and this includes Captain Kirk's home planet Earth itself (which Trekkers would call Terra or Sol III). Other major planets include the Tellarite native planet Tellar Prime, Trill, which houses both the eponymous humanoid species and the non-humanoid Trill symbionts, and Betazed, which is inhabited by the Betazoids, a humanoid species that boasts warp-capable space vessels. Even though the majority of territories under the Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire fall in the Beta Quadrant, the two forces join the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union to constitute the four great powers in the Alpha Quadrant in the late 24th century.

Beta Quadrant

The Star Trek galaxy explained that apart from the Romulans and the different versions of the Klingons , the Beta Quadrant's highlight is Vulcan, the native planet of Spock and other members of the Vulcan species. Multiple Star Trek encyclopedias suggest that Vulcan is located in a Sector of the same name within the Beta Quadrant. The 2002 publication Star Trek Charts also estimates Vulcan's exact position to be somewhere in the 40 Eridani star system that really exists 16.3 light years from Earth's Sun. Much like Spock, the inhabitants of Vulcan can be identified with their raised eyebrows and pointy ears. Mostly devoid of emotions, the Vulcans are known for leading a life on the basis of logic and reasoning.

The Klingon homeworld Qo'noS and the Romulan Empire's native planet Romulus also fall under this galactic quadrant. The former has a chaotic weather system with frequent thunderstorms and a rocky landscape characterized by numerous dormant volcanoes and caves. The native warrior species of Klingon are bound by their martial traditions and value honor in combat. As for Romulus, the planet served as the second home for Romulans ever since they migrated from Vulcan. The biological cousins of the Vulcans, they had to move back to their original homeworld after Romulus' sun exploded in 2387. According to The Next Generation , Risa is also a part of this quadrant. Known as the pleasure planet, Risa is known for its sexually liberated culture.

Gamma Quadrant

The Star Trek galaxy explained that the Gamma quadrant includes several Star Trek planets such as Brax, Yadera, Meridian, and others. As seen in Deep Space Nine , the Quadrant also houses the Dominion, an aggressive ensemble of several alien species commanded by the shape-shifting Changelings (AKA the Founders). Several territories of the quadrant are under the Founders' control even though they have had only two home worlds. The first home world of the Founders was a rogue planet that housed the Founders who were, at that time, escaping prosecution from the "solids" (how they referred to non-shape shifters). By 2372, the Founders shifted to a second home world.

Related: Star Trek - Spock's Entire Prime Universe Timeline, Explained

Delta Quadrant

The Star Trek galaxy explained that Star Trek: First Contact confirms the origin of the Borgs from Delta but doesn't name their home planet. This is the case for many other species of Delta, a quadrant that is relatively unexplored by the United Federation. Only Voyager offers the most details about the planets within the quadrant. Delta is also known as the domain of antagonistic species like the Borgs, the Kazon, and the Vidiians. The cybernetic Borgs are mostly linked through a hive mind known as the Collective. As for the Kazon, they are nomadic in nature which makes it difficult to trace their planet. Vidiians are similarly migratory and sport-scarred faces as a result of the terrible Phage pandemic.

The Galactic Barrier

The Star Trek galaxy explained in the original series what is known as Star Trek 's Galactic Barrier . In the subsequent years, Trekkers have called it by many names ranging from Great Barrier to the Energy Barrier, but there is still much debate and discussion regarding the origin of this energy field that surrounds the Milky Way Galaxy. The origins behind its creation are still hotly debated so it is uncertain whether the Galactic Barrier was created by a natural process or by artificial means. Most of the conventional spaceships that have tried crossing this barrier in the Star Trek universe have often been destroyed with the crew even gaining psychoactive traits while nearing the barrier.

The Andromeda Galaxy

Progressive exploration of the Star Trek galaxy explained that the Milky Way Galaxy is definitely not the final frontier , as several other galaxies lie beyond it, such as the Andromeda Galaxy. This serves as a home for the planet Kelva, the capital of the Kelvan Empire. The Kelvans are highly intelligent shapeshifters. Because of their intellectual superiority, the Kelvans feel that it is their duty to rule over other species. The same galaxy also includes the humanoid species simply known as the Makers, creators of service robots and outposts in both the Andromeda and Milky Way Galaxy. The outposts were a residential necessity given how a supernova had destroyed their homeworld.

The Extragalactic Species

The Star Trek galaxy explained that the spanning areas of planets and species that border Star Trek 's Galactic Barrier from the galaxies beyond the Milky Way are still vague in Star Trek canon. Still, some information has been obtained on a few humanoid and non-humanoid extragalactic species. Species 10-C is a major case in point. A highly-advanced non-humanoid race with members much larger than humans, the species is responsible for creating the heavily destructive Dark Matter Anomaly. With their bodies adapted to float in gas layers, Species 10-C belong to a homeworld near the Galactic Barrier. Other such examples of extragalactic species include the "space amoeba" Nacene, the physically fragile Ornithoid, and immortal races like the Q and the Douwd.

Related: Star Trek Just Created A Second 25th Century Timeline

The Center Of The Galaxy

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier reveals the presence of the mythological planet Sha Ka Ree right at the center of the galaxy that doesn't fall under any quadrant. An equivalent of the concept of heaven, Sha Ka Ree is regarded in Vulcan mythology as the realm of all creation. But owing to humankind's fear of exploring the unknown and the second Galactic Barrier, the exact physical nature remains unexplored and is regarded as a mythical entity. It goes to prove how the mysteries of Star Trek 's chief galaxy don't just go beyond its exterior but its very core too.

Multiple Alternate Realities And Timelines

Not only is there several quadrants, but the Star Trek galaxy explained that there are also several alternate timelines in the franchise's world. In the Paramount+ series Picard , there is an alternate reality that completely rewrites Star Trek's history . The movies, from the original series to the Next Generation, take place in what is known as the Prime Universe. The J.J. Abrams movies take place in what is known as the Kelvin Timeline.

Abrams showed this in his movies by having the Kelvin Timeline Spock meet a Spock from a different timeline. This allowed Star Trek to move on with any story it wanted to tell by explaining the characters are from different timelines with new and fresh histories. There is also a Mirror Universe, an alternate timeline ruled by the fascist Terran Empire instead of the Federation. With so many quadrants, they all likely ended up very different in each timeline, making the Star Trek stories endless.

More: Why TOS Never Got A Series Finale Until Star Trek VI

Star Trek: What Is The Galactic Barrier?

What secrets does Star Trek's galactic barrier hold? A mystery guarding the Milky Way, its origins and purpose remain shrouded in intrigue.

In Star Trek , there exists a formidable force known as the galactic barrier, which surrounds the outer reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy. This phenomenon was first revealed in the second pilot episode of The Original Series, titled "Where No Man Has Gone Before." It defies both technological sensors and the human eye, but upon closer approach, it emanates a captivating surge of negative energy.

Fueled by unyielding curiosity, the valiant crew of the USS Enterprise, led by the intrepid Captain James T. Kirk, confronts their most daunting ordeal. Driven by a thirst for knowledge and hunger for exploration, they traverse the threshold and plunge fearlessly into the unknown. While rarely witnessed or acknowledged throughout the Star Trek narrative, the galactic barrier stands as an indelible cornerstone of the Trek canon.

RELATED: Star Trek’s Original Series Shows That Science Fiction Has Always Been Political

Location Of The Galactic Barrier

The galactic barrier is at the rim of the Milky Way Galaxy, forming an energy field around the galaxy's edge. It guards the uncharted territories that lie beyond. Although its exact location within the galaxy remains somewhat ambiguous, it serves as a threshold separating the familiar realms of known space from the unexplored.

In terms of appearance, the galactic barrier cannot be seen through ordinary perception. Advanced sensors and the naked eye are incapable of perceiving its true nature. However, for those daring enough to venture closer, the barrier reveals itself in a mesmerizing display. Emitting a distinctive wave of negative energy, it bathes the immediate vicinity in color. The barrier's radiance transitions from a commanding shade of purple to a softer, more delicate pink. This captivating phenomenon serves as a testament to the unseen forces guarding the uncharted frontiers of the Milky Way . In Where No Man Has Gone Before," the galactic barrier is likened to the aurora borealis. The true essence of the barrier remains elusive, inviting debates and controversies regarding its composition.

However, as The Original Series progressed, revelations emerged. In the episode "By Any Other Name," the ambiguity was dispelled. The characters and the viewers learned that the barrier was composed of negative energy. This clarified that the barrier encompassed not merely the absence of energy, but rather a distinct form of energy resolute in its negativity.

This vital revelation became apparent through the destruction of the USS Enterprise . By venting positive energy into the barrier, an explosive reaction was triggered. This desperate strategy exposed the barrier's vulnerability to opposing forces, reinforcing the notion that it thrived with negative energy, drawing strength from its antithesis.

The Purpose Of The Galactic Barrier

In the expanded universe of Star Trek novels (specifically, The Next Generation - Q Continuum novel series), an intriguing explanation emerges regarding the galactic barrier. According to this storyline, the barrier was not a natural occurrence but rather a deliberate creation by the omnipotent beings known as the Q Continuum . These entities possessed immense power and knowledge, and purportedly fashioned the barrier half a million years ago with a specific purpose: to impede the return of a powerful and mysterious entity referred to as "0."

In this lore, "0" is an enigmatic being whose nature and intentions are shrouded in uncertainty. Recognizing the immense threat that "0" posed, the Q Continuum devised the galactic barrier to prevent its reentry into the Milky Way Galaxy. It stands as a cosmic wall, designed to obstruct and bar the path of this powerful entity, ensuring its isolation beyond the confines of the galaxy.

This revelation adds another layer of intrigue to the nature of the galactic barrier, intertwining it with the machinations of the Q Continuum. It hints at a grand cosmic chessboard where powerful entities maneuver and manipulate the fabric of reality to safeguard against existential threats. However, it is essential to note that the information regarding the galactic barrier's origin as depicted in The Q Continuum novels exists in the realm of non-canonical expanded materials . Though it offers an intriguing perspective, it falls outside the officially recognized Star Trek canon. Its inclusion within the broader Star Trek lore remains a matter of personal interpretation and preference.

Historical Encounters With The Galactic Barrier

In Star Trek canon, the first encounter involving a vessel from Earth occurred in the year 2065, featuring the ill-fated SS Valiant. Trapped in a magnetic storm, the ship found itself ensnared within the alluring grasp of the barrier. Subsequent events unfolded in a disastrous manner, leading to the Valiant's demise and the loss of all crew members. As a result, the revelation of the barrier's existence had to wait for an additional two centuries.

Fast-forward to the year 2265. The USS Enterprise, under the command of the resolute Captain Kirk , stumbled upon a remarkable artifact: the disaster recorder expelled from the ill-fated Valiant. Embarking on a mission to decipher its encoded message, the crew retraced the Valiant's trajectory, risking destruction themselves. The barrier's presence eluded the sensors of the Enterprise, concealing its ethereal essence. However, the ship's resolute deflectors reacted to it, a testament to the power emanating from the boundary.

Captain Kirk ventured through the galactic barrier three times in The Original Series surviving despite the damage inflicted upon the starship and its shields. These encounters showcased his unwavering determination and the resilience of his crew. Their triumph over adversity left an indelible mark on Star Trek lore, symbolizing humanity's unyielding pursuit of exploration.

MORE: Star Trek: Kirk's Biggest Mistakes & Failures

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In honor of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 2, a tour of the physics

Regina G. Barber

Berly McCoy

Rebecca Ramirez

Season 2 of the critically acclaimed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiered June 15 ( streaming on Paramount+ ). So today, Short Wave boldly goes where many, many nerds have gone before and explores the science — specifically the physics — and the science- fiction of Star Trek . Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber chats with two Trekkie physicists about why they love the franchise. Astrophysicist Erin Macdonald is the science consultant for Star Trek , and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is a theoretical physicist and author of the book The Disordered Cosmos .

This episode, the trio discusses the feasibility of warp drive, global cooperation and representation and how the transporters that beam crew members from the surface of a planet to the ship might be breaking fundamental laws of physics. They end at the galaxy's edge — and discuss why its portrayal in Star Trek might be problematic, scientifically.

Space is vast – it takes years for real spacecrafts to travel within our solar system! In Star Trek, characters zip around the galaxy in their starship vessels thanks to warp drive, which let spaceships travel faster than the speed of light. But physics puts a speed limit on anything with mass. These objects have to move slightly slower than the speed of light, which itself has a speed limit. So what's the loophole here?

According to Erin, good ol' suspension of disbelief isn't necessary because, "the math checks out." For that reason, it's one of Erin's favorite pieces of sci-fi in the series. Spacetime is the three dimensions we humans are used to living in, plus time. The universe is situated in the four dimensional fabric of spacetime, with heavier objects "pulling" that fabric down more than lighter — or, weightless, in the case of light — objects. So, spacetime itself could be a loophole to this speed limit. Erin says that to bypass the cosmological speed limit of light, you could simply, "build a bubble of space time around your ship, and then that pushes you faster than the speed of light. " This is the various warp speeds . One bubble for warp 1, another bubble around that first bubble for warp 2 and so on.

Of course, Erin and Chanda both point out that using spacetime in this way requires an extraordinary amount of energy — well beyond what humans are capable of at this moment in time.

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 2 is a classic sci-fi adventure

Transporters.

It would be great to teleport to work, as Star Trek characters do thanks to their transporters. Upside? No traffic. Downside? The fear that once you've been broken down into particles and beamed across the city, you might not be rearranged in the right order.

In order for a transporter to work, users would have to know both where a given particle is and its velocity. Unfortunately, this is not possible due to a well known physics conundrum, the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle . Star Trek plugs this plot hole with something they call a Heisenberg Compensator that is connected to their transporter mechanics. How it works is never explained. All we need to know is that, in the Star Trek universe ... it does!

So, transporters require a little more suspension of disbelief than warp drive — or good-humored humility if you're Chanda. "I don't think transporters will ever be a thing that we can do. But I always say that it's important for me as a scientist to be humble, and so it may be that there is some science beyond the uncertainty principle that we are just not aware of at this point," she quips.

Galactic Barrier

Warp drive can get ships to light speed and faster in the Star Trek world but space is still HUGE. The Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light years across so, even at Warp 9, it would take the Star Trek crew years to travel the galaxy. It's pretty rare that any starship gets near the edge of our galaxy, but in the 1960s, Star Trek writers had the crew arrive at the " galactic barrier ." According to the show, this barrier doesn't let communication signals through, is dangerous and gives characters " strange energies ."

Chanda says that the impenetrability of signals is what winds her up most about this fake barrier. "But we see other galaxies all the time, and those are signals," she says. "We see radio observations. We see across the electromagnetic spectrum."

These three sci-fi concepts barely scratch the surface of what "science" — and science — Star Trek uses throughout the series . There's so much physics we didn't cover — and so there will be much more science to dissect in the future.

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify , Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts .

Questions about the "scientific" underpinnings of other pop culture? Email us at [email protected] . We'd love to hear from you!

This episode was produced by Berly McCoy, edited by Rebecca Ramirez and fact checked by Katie Daugert. Josh Newell engineered the audio. Johannes Doerge is our main legal duderino.

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Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers ! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Discovery and Prodigy , the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG , Star Trek: Infinite and Star Trek Online , as well as other post-57th Anniversary publications such as the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant . Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{ spoiler }}, {{ spoilers }} OR {{ majorspoiler }} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

The Galactic Barrier

• View history

"The Galactic Barrier" is the 52nd episode of Discovery , in the show's 4th season , released on Paramount+ in North America on 24 February 2022 .

• 1 Description
• 2.1 Characters
• 2.2 Starships and vehicles
• 2.3 Locations
• 2.4 Races and cultures
• 2.5 Other references
• 3.1.1 Timeline
• 3.2 External link

Description [ ]

References [ ], characters [ ], starships and vehicles [ ], locations [ ], races and cultures [ ], other references [ ], appendices [ ], connections [ ], timeline [ ], external link [ ].

• " The Galactic Barrier " article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 The Chase
• 3 Preserver (race)

Where No Man Has Gone Before (episode)

• View history

While exploring the energy barrier at galaxy's edge that crippled an earlier ship, Kirk's long-time friend and crewmate Gary Mitchell begins mutating into a god-like entity disdainful of the "mortals" around him. ( Second pilot )

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 The second pilot
• 4.2 Story and script
• 4.3 Production
• 4.4 Sets and props
• 4.5 Cast and characters
• 4.6 Effects
• 4.7 Preview
• 4.8 Reception
• 4.9 Apocrypha
• 4.10 Remastered information
• 4.11 Production timeline
• 4.12 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Guest stars
• 5.4 Featuring
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 Stunt doubles
• 5.7.1 S/COMS references
• 5.7.2 Unused references
• 5.8 External links

Summary [ ]

" I'll have you checkmated your next move… "

In the briefing lounge , Captain James T. Kirk and Lieutenant Commander Spock are playing three-dimensional chess . Spock warns the captain that he's about to checkmate him on his next move, but the captain is preoccupied with awaiting the bridge 's update on the unexplained Earth-vessel distress signal. The captain notes that Spock plays a very "irritating game of chess", to which Spock responds with " Irritating? Ah yes, one of your Earth emotions . " Captain Kirk makes a move that surprises Spock, and smiles, to which Spock simply turns to look at him. " Certain you don't know what irritation is? " Kirk says wryly. As Spock begins to state that despite the fact that one of his ancestors married a Human female , Kirk interrupts him and jokingly chides him, saying it must be terrible to have bad blood like that. Just afterward then, a call comes over the comm. Navigator Lieutenant Lee Kelso informs the captain that the object is now within tractor beam range, and that it is only about a meter in diameter, too small to be a vessel or an escape pod . Kirk tells him to lock on to it, and the two of them head out.

SS Valiant disaster recorder

In the transporter room , Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott is fine tuning the transporter , preparing to beam the object aboard. Kirk gives the order, and Scott transports the device into the transporter chamber. The captain immediately recognizes it as an old-style ship recorder , one that would be ejected in the event of an emergency. Spock agrees, but states that, based on the level of damage the object seems to have sustained, something must have destroyed the ship. Scott tries to feed the tapes into the computer when the marker begins transmitting a signal. Captain Kirk orders red alert , and the crew go to their stations.

Act One [ ]

Throughout the ship, the crew is reporting to their emergency stations. Kirk and Spock enter a turbolift to go to the bridge, and Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell enters just as the doors are closing. Kirk and Mitchell joke about Kelso sounding nervous, and Spock's chess skills, showing that they're comfortable being around each other even in times of red alert.

The Enterprise approaches the barrier

The three officers enter the bridge, Mitchell taking his station as Spock scans for the message. As they approach the edge of the galaxy, Kirk orders all stop. Captain Kirk announces ship-wide that what they picked up was a disaster recorder launched from the SS Valiant two hundred years prior . Department heads report to the bridge as ordered, and Captain Kirk is given introductions. Smith , whom he mistakenly addresses as " Jones ", is his new yeoman . Sulu reports astrosciences ready, Scott reports the engineering division ready, "as always", and Chief Medical Officer Doctor Mark Piper reports life sciences ready, then introduces the USS Enterprise 's new psychiatrist , Dr. Elizabeth Dehner , who came aboard the vessel back at the Aldebaron Colony to study the long-term effects of space travel on the crew. Spock points out he's been able to get a signal from the recorder, as Mitchell tries to flirt with Dr. Dehner, who rebuffs him only to overhear him call her a "walking freezer unit".

Spock interprets the Valiant 's message: that they had encountered a magnetic storm and were pulled out of the galaxy, and that the crew accessed computer records on " ESP " in Humans , frantic to find information about it. The captain asks Dr. Dehner her opinion, and she mistakes the question as asking whether she has ESP. She reports that there are some Humans who can see "backs of playing cards and so on", but it is never very powerful. Spock goes on to explain that several crewmen had died aboard the Valiant , which had suffered severe damage. The Valiant crew continued researching ESP, until it seems the captain ordered a self-destruct . As future vessels will someday be coming out this far into space, Captain Kirk decides to go ahead anyway and engages warp factor 1.

Mitchell is struck

The crew reacts with mixed emotions as the Enterprise heads out of the Milky Way Galaxy . The ship encounters a strange field and Spock orders a full array of scans – deflectors indicating something in front of them while sensors say there's nothing. Smith and Mitchell hold hands to comfort each other as the ship enters the field. Flashes of light fill the bridge and electric discharges penetrate the hull , causing several consoles to explode. Kirk orders Mitchell to reverse course, but, before he can carry out the order, Dr. Dehner and he are struck by a mysterious electric charge which drops them to the deck. With no one in control of the Enterprise , Spock dashes over to the helm console and pilots the starship clear of the energy field.

Taking damage reports, Spock informs Kirk that main power is out, the Enterprise is on emergency power cells, and nine crewmen are dead. Captain Kirk tends to Dehner and Mitchell, only to find that while Mitchell feels a little weak, his eyes are glowing an eerie silver…

Act Two [ ]

Alden and Kelso repair the helm console as Kirk looks on

Captain Kirk, while supervising repairs being made to the bridge, proceeds to the science station where he finds Spock reviewing medical records of the dead crew members, and the crew members who survived but seem to have been affected in some way. Spock is looking at ESP ratings of Dr. Dehner and Gary Mitchell. Both of the officers had high scores on ESP tests given by Starfleet Medical , Mitchell's having ultimately read as the highest in the crew.

Dr. Dehner approaches Captain Kirk and provides an autopsy report of the nine dead crew members. She mentions that in all cases, there was damage to a specific region of the brain. Kirk shares the fact that all of the dead crew members, as well as Dehner and Mitchell, had high ESP ratings. Spock also mentions that the captain of the Valiant was frantically searching through their records for information on ESP. Spock then reports that the Valiant 's captain seems to have given a self-destruct order. Dehner defends those with ESP, stating that the ability is not harmful. Spock, however, reminds the doctor that there are the more extreme (and dangerous) abilities of ESP, such as the ability to see through solid objects or cause spontaneous combustion.

In sickbay , Mitchell is reading text on a viewer, trying to pass the time. Kirk enters the room, and Mitchell greets him by name without actually looking to see who it is. Kirk and Mitchell talk about some past experiences; it is obvious they have known each other well for many years. Mitchell mentions that he feels better now than he's ever felt in his life, and he's catching up on his reading, including Spinoza, which surprises Kirk. Mitchell finds Spinoza simple, almost childish, to him. The two continue to reminisce about their days at Starfleet Academy and Mitchell says that he "aimed that little blonde lab technician" at Jim. Kirk replies, " You planned that?!? I almost married her. "

" Is that Gary Mitchell? The one you used to know? "

Kirk informs Mitchell that he's assigned Dr. Dehner to work with him. Mitchell doesn't seem happy, since Mitchell and Dehner have already gotten off to a tense start. As Kirk moves to leave, Mitchell, in an echoing voice, says, " Didn't I say you'd better be good to me? ", prompting Kirk to pause and eye him with uncertainty.

Once Kirk leaves the room, Mitchell continues reading books on the viewer, at a steadily-increasing rate that soon far exceeds normal pace; the on-screen pages are nothing but a black-and-white blur. Kirk enters the bridge to find Spock monitoring Mitchell's viewer. Kirk assigns 24-hour security to keep an eye on Mitchell. Kirk approaches the science station viewer to look closely at Mitchell, and Mitchell looks directly at the security camera, seemingly aware that Kirk is watching him.

Dr. Dehner enters sickbay and acknowledges the fact that she realizes that Mitchell doesn't like her very much. He apologizes to her for calling her a "walking freezer unit." She asks him how he feels. Mitchell jokingly says that everyone thinks that he should have a fever or something and proceeds to change the vital signs monitor in sickbay with his mind. Then, he makes the readings show that he is dead. All indicators fall to zero, to Dr. Dehner's surprise and horror. Moments later, Mitchell awakens, and starts telling Dr. Dehner of some of his other abilities, like being able to read quickly, going through half of the Enterprise 's database in less than a day.

Dr. Dehner decides to test his memory, and shows Mitchell the title of a record tape, asking him to recite what's on page 387. Mitchell recites, " My love has wings, slender feathered things with grace and upswept curve and tapered tip " from the poem " Nightingale Woman ", written by Tarbolde on the Canopus planet back in 1996 . Mitchell wonders out loud why she happened to choose that particular poem, which is considered to be one of the most passionate poems written in recent centuries. He then pulls Dehner close to him, and asks her how she feels. Her reply, that she only fell and that nothing else happened, is seemingly disbelieved by Mitchell, but the conversation is cut short by the arrival of Lieutenant Kelso, awkwardly entering at a time which might have seemed like an intimate moment. Mitchell smiles and invites him in, joking that his eyes are merely lit up "due to the lovely doctor."

Kelso reports that the main engines are in bad shape. Mitchell warns Kelso to check the starboard impulse engine packs, which Kelso jokingly dismisses. Mitchell snaps (once again in his "booming" voice) that he isn't joking, and that if they activate those engines that the entire impulse deck will explode. Kelso leaves sickbay and Mitchell tells Dehner that he could see the image of the impulse packs in Kelso's mind and that he is a fool not to have seen it.

" Our subject is NOT Gary Mitchell. "

In the briefing room, Kelso shows Kirk the burned out impulse circuit, which he had checked on Mitchell's recommendation, noting with puzzlement that their condition was exactly as Mitchell described. Dr. Dehner enters late, says she got held up observing Mitchell, and attempts to defend him in the face of Spock's and Kirk's seemingly cold assessment of him. She reports her observations of Mitchell's ability to control certain autonomic reflexes and increased memory. Scott reports that bridge controls had started changing on their own about an hour prior, and Spock adds that each time it happened, Mitchell could be seen smiling on the surveillance monitors set up in sickbay. Kirk is annoyed that Dehner hadn't reported Mitchell's new powers earlier, but she argues that no one has been hurt, furthermore saying that someone like Mitchell, with such powers, could give rise to "a new and better kind of Human being."

Following an awkward silence, Sulu adds that the growth of Mitchell's abilities is a geometric progression, meaning they would increase at an exponential rate. Spock concludes that Mitchell would become uncontrollably powerful within a month. Kirk tells those present to not discuss their findings openly before dismissing them. After the others have left the briefing room, Spock advises taking the Enterprise to the planet Delta Vega , only a few light days away, where they can adapt the lithium cracking station's power packs to try to repair its damaged systems, and also strand Mitchell there. Kirk strongly disagrees with the plan, stating Delta Vega is uninhabited and automated, and ore ships only visit every twenty years. Spock informs Kirk the only other choice he has is to kill Mitchell before he overpowers the entire crew. Kirk tries appealing to Spock's conscience, saying Mitchell is his longtime friend, but Spock merely reminds him that the captain of the Valiant probably had a similar dilemma about his afflicted crew members but made his decision to self-destruct too late. Kirk reluctantly orders the Enterprise course set for Delta Vega.

Act Three [ ]

Delta Vega's lithium cracking station

In sickbay, Mitchell's telekinetic power continues to grow. Feeling thirsty, he moves a plastic cup below a faucet and dispenses water from it with his mind. Kirk, Spock, and Dr. Dehner enter to see Mitchell's levitate the filled cup towards his outstretched hand. Mitchell senses worry in Kirk and Spock's continued urging for the captain to kill him while he still can. Mitchell quickly subdues both Kirk and Spock with an electric shock and informs them he knows the Enterprise is orbiting Delta Vega but won't allow them to force him down there. As he postures about what kind of a world he can use, Kirk and Spock jump him and hold him down long enough for Dr. Dehner to tranquilize him.

In the transporter room, preparing to beam down, Mitchell regains consciousness and proclaims " You fools! Soon I'll squash you like insects! " before being sedated again. After transporting down, Mitchell is confined to a holding cell as Lieutenant Kelso and the engineering team begin to salvage the needed components from the outpost to restore the Enterprise engines to full capacity.

Mitchell attempts to escape

As Mitchell regains consciousness, he reminds Kirk of how he saved his life on the planet Dimorus , taking poisonous darts meant for the captain and nearly dying from it. He wonders why Kirk should fear him now. Kirk retorts that Mitchell has been testing his ability to take over the Enterprise and reminds him of the threat he made in the transporter room to squash the crew like insects. Mitchell defends himself by pointing out that he was drugged at the time, then snaps back that mankind cannot survive if a true race of Espers like himself is born, and attempts to escape the force field of the cell. Kirk pleads with him to stop, but, Mitchell refuses and is jolted back, draining the light in the eyes. Gary pleads out to " Jim… ", but, it doesn't last and the maniacal power that has now totally consumed Mitchell returns and he sneers that he'll " just keep getting stronger. "

Back on board the Enterprise , the repairs are nearly complete as Scott beams a phaser rifle down to Spock. Kirk resents Spock's callousness towards Gary, but Spock retorts that he's just being logical and he believes that the crew will be lucky just to repair the Enterprise and get away from Mitchell in time. Kirk, finally seeing Spock's viewpoint, instructs Kelso to wire a destruct switch to the power bins of the outpost, an explosion that will destroy the entire valley and hopefully kill Mitchell, and orders him to hit the button if Mitchell escapes.

Act Four [ ]

" You should have killed me while you could, James. "

As the landing party prepares to return to the Enterprise , Dehner, completely transfixed on Mitchell, announces she's remaining on Delta Vega with him. At the same time, Mitchell uses his powers to remotely strangle Lieutenant Kelso with a cable. As Kirk orders Dehner to return to the ship, Mitchell turns to the captain and taunts him that Kirk should have killed him while he still had the chance. With that, he shocks both Kirk and Spock and easily eliminates the force field holding him. Dehner takes no action to stop him, and he slowly walks her over to a mirror, where she can now see the light in her own eyes.

Kirk opens fire on Mitchell

A short time later, Dr. Piper revives Captain Kirk and informs him that Kelso is dead and that Mitchell and Dr. Dehner have left the facility. Kirk advises Piper not to revive Spock until after he's left as Kirk now blames himself for not listening to the Vulcan's warning. Taking Spock's phaser rifle, Kirk orders that Piper and Spock return to the Enterprise and to give him twelve hours to signal the ship. Failing that, Kirk recommends that the Enterprise proceed at maximum warp to the nearest starbase with his recommendation that the entire planet be subjected to a lethal concentration of neutron radiation . When Piper protests, Kirk firmly tells the doctor it is an order and leaves.

" Time to pray, Captain. Pray to me! Pray that you die easy! "

In an open valley, Mitchell (now sporting greying sideburns due to premature aging as a consequence of the stress from his advanced powers) conjures up Kaferian apples and water for himself and Dehner. He begins to sense Kirk approaching them, as does Dehner. Mitchell invites Dehner to talk to the captain and begin to realize just how unimportant Humans are compared to what they (Mitchell and Dehner) have become. Dehner appears before Kirk and advises the captain to retreat while he still can. Kirk appeals to what's left of Dehner's humanity and her profession as a psychiatrist and asks her what she believes will become of Mitchell if his power is allowed to continue to grow. Dehner begins to see the wisdom of Kirk's words, but, before she can decide anything, Mitchell appears before both of them. Kirk opens fire with his phaser rifle, but, it has no effect on Mitchell who easily casts the weapon aside.

Taunting Kirk, Mitchell creates a grave for his "old friend", saying he deserves a decent burial, at the very least. Completely convinced of his power and his superiority, with absolute power corrupting absolutely, Mitchell uses his powers to force Kirk to pray to him as a god and for an easy death.

Kirk fights Mitchell

Dehner, now realizing that Mitchell is inhuman and becoming more and more dangerous, helps Kirk by blasting Mitchell with some of her power, stunning him. Mitchell turns away from Kirk and counters Dehner's attack, however, the battle drains both of them and they both collapse, Dehner's attack being sufficiently powerful enough to weaken Mitchell who temporarily loses his powers. As Dehner implores Kirk to hurry, the captain begins to attack his former friend, pummeling him to the ground. With a heavy rock raised high and preparing for the death blow, Kirk begs Gary to forgive him for what he must do. However, the captain's hesitation is enough for Mitchell to regain his powers and easily tosses Kirk away. With Kirk no longer able to cope with Mitchell's physical strength, he dives at him, sending both into the open grave. Kirk, scrambling to the discarded phaser rifle, is able to blast the rock face above Mitchell, sending him into the grave and entombing him, therefore ending Mitchell's threat forever.

Kirk, with his uniform torn, and beaten and battered, walks over to Dehner and kneels beside her. She apologizes to the captain for her actions, but offers that KIrk had no idea what it was like to be almost a god, before finally dying herself. Silently mourning Dehner's sacrifice, Kirk opens his communicator and hails the Enterprise .

" I believe there's some hope for you after all, Mr. Spock. "

Back on the Enterprise , Kirk, sitting in his chair with a bandaged hand, laments to Spock that he wants Mitchell's service record to end with dignity as he didn't ask for what happened to him. Spock admits he felt for Mitchell as well. With a smirk, Kirk remarks that maybe there's hope for Spock after all, as the Enterprise continues to journey where no man has gone before.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2265

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Have I ever mentioned you play a very irritating game of chess, Mr. Spock? " " Irritating? Ah, yes. One of your Earth emotions. "

" Terrible, having bad blood like that. "

" The first thing I ever heard from upperclassmen was: Watch out for Lieutenant Kirk. In his class, you either think or sink. "

" My love has wings. Slender, feathered things with grace in upswept curve and tapered tip. "

" Don't you understand? A mutated superior man could also be a wonderful thing! "

" Will you try for one moment to feel? At least act like you've got a heart. "

" The captain of the Valiant probably thought the same thing. And he waited too long to make his decision. "

" If you were in my position, what would you do? " " Probably what Mr. Spock is thinking now: kill me, while you can. "

" You fools! Soon I'll squash you like insects! "

" There's not a soul on this planet but us? " " Nobody but us chickens, Doctor. "

" My friend, James Kirk. "

" In the sickbay, you said if you were in my place you'd kill a mutant like yourself. " " Why don't you kill me then? Mr. Spock is right and you're a fool if you can't see it. "

" Man cannot survive if a race of true espers is born. "

" Dr. Dehner feels he isn't that dangerous! What makes you right and a trained psychiatrist wrong? " " Because she feels. I don't. All I know is logic. "

" If Mitchell gets out, at your discretion, Lee, if sitting here makes you think you're the last chance, I want you to hit that button. "

" You should've killed me while you could, James. Command and compassion are a fool's mixture. "

" Above all else, a god needs compassion! MITCHELL!! "

" What do you know about gods? " " Then let's talk about Humans! About our frailties! "

"What's your prognosis, Doctor?! "

" Morals are for men, not gods. "

" Time to pray, Captain. Pray to me. " " To you? Not to both of you? " " Pray that you die easily! " " There'll only be one of you in the end. One jealous god. If all this makes a god, or is it making you something else? "

" Do you like what you see? Absolute power corrupting absolutely? "

" For a moment, James… but your moment is fading. "

" I'm sorry. You can't know what it's like to be almost a god. "

" He didn't ask for what happened to him. " " I felt for him, too. " " I believe there's some hope for you after all, Mister Spock. "

Background information [ ]

The second pilot [ ].

• This was the second Star Trek pilot. However, it has aired in syndication as the third regular series episode, after " The Man Trap " and " Charlie X ". In their book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , Robert H. Justman and Herbert F. Solow explain that because this segment was "too expository" in nature – a common fault with pilots – it would not have made a good premiere episode for the series.
• Although NBC rejected " The Cage ", they felt that the series concept was strong enough to give Star Trek a second chance, despite having already spent an exorbitant US$630,000 on the first pilot. The network ordered three scripts, from which they would choose one to be developed into an unprecedented second pilot. The three scripts were " The Omega Glory " by Gene Roddenberry , " Mudd's Women " by Roddenberry and Stephen Kandel , and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" by Samuel A. Peeples . The advantage of "The Omega Glory" was that it showcased Roddenberry's "parallel worlds" concept and could be filmed using existing studio sets on the back lot as well as stock wardrobes. "Mudd's Women" was mainly a shipboard tale and could also be shot using the existing Enterprise sets left over from "The Cage". In addition, both required a minimum of new outer space effects shots. However, "Mudd's Women" guest starred "an intergalactic pimp", selling women throughout the galaxy, exactly what NBC didn't want, and "The Omega Glory" wasn't very good. The network finally chose "Where No Man Has Gone Before" which, although it required many new special effects, sets, props, and costumes, was the most powerful and compelling of the three scripts. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , pp 65-66; The Star Trek Compendium , p 17)
• There is a different, pre-broadcast cut of this episode in the archives of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum . This unique cut includes a few brief scenes trimmed from the aired cut of the episode, different opening titles, and a unique opening and closing theme. The alternate themes can be heard on the GNP Crescendo CD Star Trek: Original Series (Volume 1) "The Cage" / "Where No Man Has Gone Before" . This version was the one screened as the second pilot to NBC executives in the tail-end of 1965, and was originally available in bootleg form only, screened at numerous conventions , before becoming available commercially on the TOS Season 3 Blu-ray set. [1] James Doohan was credited as "Engineer", Paul Fix as "Ship's Doctor", George Takei as "Physicist", and Paul Carr as "Navigator" in the end credits of the original cut. It was in effect the Institution itself which had already recognized the cultural significance of Roddenberry's creation; in a rare move – considering the highly contemporary nature of a television series of such recent date – the Institution invited Roddenberry in 1967 to submit both pilots and assorted production material, such as still photography, scripts and story outlines, for safekeeping for posterity. This the consummate (self)promoter Roddenberry did in a formal presentation at the Institution, pursuant the conclusion of the series' first season . ("Smithsonian Seeks TV Pilot", Los Angeles Times , 13 June 1967, p. C19)
• A second different title sequence resulted from the fact that the main responsible visual effects director, Darrell Anderson of effects company Howard Anderson Company , suffered a third nervous breakdown, brought on by the stress he was under to deliver the new opticals in time and on budget. As Justman recalled, when he and Roddenberry came calling on Anderson in August 1966 to check on the status of the Enterprise footage for the title sequence, for the series slated to start its run on 8 September and "Where No Man" scheduled to air third, " We had seen maybe six good shots and some others that were partially usable. We had expected many more angles, some of which were badly needed for our series main title. "Where's all the other shots, Darrell?" Darrell began to shake. He jumped to his feet, screaming, "You'll never make your first airdate." Bursting into tears, he ran out of the room, still screaming, "You'll never make your first airdate! You'll never make your first airdate!" Gene sat there in shock. I raced after Darrell and caught him outside. He was weeping. And no wonder. We later found out he had been working both day and night for months, trying to satisfy our needs. That afternoon, Darrell went to Palm Springs for a rest cure. " Roddenberry and Justman managed to compose a title sequence from the footage already shot, the same day. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p. 281) This was the version as originally aired by NBC on 22 September 1966. The more sophisticated final title sequence was produced (with Anderson returned to his duties) for subsequent episode airings and replacing the improvised sequence for those episodes where it was utilized in reruns. Incidentally, Darrell Anderson suffered his second nervous breakdown while working on the second pilot the year previously, from which he needed two weeks to recover. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 27, No. 11/12, p. 69)
• The aired version of this episode features a different version of the first season opening credits, which does not have William Shatner's opening narration, and uses a different orchestration of the main and end title themes. These orchestrations were used until mid-season during the original run and the initial syndication showings. However, in the 1980s, Paramount withdrew the prints from syndication and redistributed remastered and pre-cut episodes with standardized opening and closing credit music for the first season (using the Fred Steiner arrangement created for the back half of the season). These remastered prints were also used, in their uncut form, for the video and laserdisc releases. Only this episode was permitted to keep the original Alexander Courage arrangement. The 1999 DVD volumes, and later season sets, however, restored the opening credits to their original form, while leaving the end credits in their altered state (again, except for this episode which remains as originally aired).
• The original narration spoken by Shatner was:
• After NBC saw this episode, they were pleased with the results and decided that Star Trek would be a weekly television series. Gene Roddenberry said that, like " The Cage ", "Where No Man Has Gone Before" still had a lot of science fiction elements in it, but that it was the bare knuckle fist fight between Kirk and the god-like Gary Mitchell that sold NBC on Star Trek . ( The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation To The Next [ page number? • edit ] )
• This was the first episode of Star Trek to be shown by the BBC in the UK when the series premiered on 12 July 1969 .

Story and script [ ]

• TNG adopted a gender-neutral and species-neutral version of this episode's title for TNG : " Where No One Has Gone Before ".
• This episode sets the original series record for Enterprise crew members killed: twelve (Mitchell, Dehner, Kelso, and the nine who Spock says died when crossing the galactic barrier).
• Kirk says he's been worried about Mitchell "ever since that night on Deneb IV." Coincidentally (or not), TNG's pilot episode " Encounter at Farpoint " takes place on Deneb IV , home of the Bandi .
• Gary Mitchell states that the "Nightingale Woman" poem was written in 1996 and that it is one of the "most passionate love sonnets of the past couple of centuries". Taken literally, this line of dialogue seems to suggest that "Where No Man Has Gone Before" takes place no later than the end of the twenty-second century, which in turn would imply that the Valiant was launched during the twentieth.
• In reality, the poem ("My love has wings…") was written by Gene Roddenberry about his World War II airplane.

Production [ ]

A moment from the first day of filming this episode

• Bob Justman anticipated that the second pilot would take nine days to shoot. However, after "The Cage" went severely over schedule and budget, Desilu's "old guard" executives worried about the same situation regarding the second pilot. To avoid these fears, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was scheduled to be filmed in seven days. The "old guards" skeptically expected that it will take ten or even eleven days. Filming began on Monday, 19 July 1965 . As expected, filming the pilot went over schedule, finally resulting in eight days and an extra day of shooting pickup shots and "inserts" – nine days, exactly as Justman expected. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p 85).
• Just as "The Cage", the second pilot was filmed at Desilu 's Culver City studios. For the series itself, the entire production was moved to Desilu's main Gower Street facilities in Hollywood. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story pp 113-116)
• On the fifth day of filming, Friday, 23 July 1965 , a swarm of bees attacked the set, causing delay in filming, and injuries to William Shatner and Sally Kellerman , who were both stung by the bees. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p 83)

Sets and props [ ]

• The gravestone Mitchell creates for Kirk reads " James R. Kirk ". According to D.C. Fontana in the introduction for Star Trek: The Classic Episodes 1 , when the mistake was discovered, Gene Roddenberry decided that if pressed for an answer on the discrepancy, the response was to be " Gary Mitchell had godlike powers, but at base he was Human. He made a mistake. " The gravestone also suggests that an important event marked "C" took place on stardate 1277.1; Kirk may have assumed command of the Enterprise on this stardate.
• Their crew files show that Mitchell and Dehner were born in cities called " Delman " and " Eldman ."
• The mountainous backdrop painting from "The Cage" is reused in this episode.
• In this episode, the helm console from the bridge was moved to the transporter set to double as the transporter console. Thus, the three levers used to "energize" are not yet in place.
• When he complies with Kirk's order to "Address intercraft," i.e. put open the intercom, Mitchell merely wipes the edge of his hand over his navigation plotting board and does not manipulate any buttons or switches.
• A bit of the transporter chamber was changed from "The Cage." The center of the ceiling was "hollowed out," allowing white light to pour down onto the platform when the "materializer" was not in operation. After this episode, however, the dark, grilled ceiling from "The Cage" was restored and remained in place throughout the series.

• The phaser rifle that Kirk uses appears for the first and only time in the series. However, it can be seen on many pre- season 1 promotional photos being held by Kirk performer William Shatner , who had especially been taken with the prop rifle. It was designed and created by Reuben Klamer , who, being subcontracted, received no credit for it. ( Julien's Auctions presents: Star Trek )
• In this episode, the sickbay walls are green.
• The alert light on the helm console is of a different shape in this episode.
• A large panel seen in the background of the Delta Vega control room was recycled as part of the main engineering set in the series itself.
• Spock carries a laser pistol (somewhat modified) as first seen in "The Cage".
• This episode features the goose-neck tubes also used in "The Cage".
• The communicator Kirk uses at the episode's end to hail the Enterprise is the Lucite-encased, circuit board-filled version from "The Cage".
• The insignias for the Sciences and Engineering divisions were opposite in this episode of what they were in every other episode.

Cast and characters [ ]

• It was the first appearance for Trek mainstays Kirk, Sulu, Scott, and Leslie. Other regulars McCoy and Uhura did not appear until the next episode . In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , Uhura is said to be a twenty year space veteran as of 2285 , suggesting that she began her career sometime around this episode.
• Leonard Nimoy (Spock) is the only actor to appear in both this episode and the first pilot, " The Cage ". His pointed ears are a bit smaller than in the first pilot, and his eyebrows are severely slanted (yet not as bushy as in "The Cage"). Most importantly, his hairstyle is reworked to show the bangs typical of his race – and that of eventual nemeses, the Romulans .
• William Shatner was actually the third actor to be considered for the role of James T. Kirk . Jack Lord and Lloyd Bridges were each offered the role before him. ( The Star Trek Compendium [ page number? • edit ] )
• Veteran character actor Paul Fix got the role of the ship's doctor, replacing John Hoyt . Gene Roddenberry wanted to cast DeForest Kelley in the part, whom he originally wanted to play Doctor Boyce in " The Cage ". Then, he was overruled by director Robert Butler 's suggestion. Here again, Fix was recommended by director James Goldstone . Roddenberry thought Fix didn't work out well in the role, and decided that if Star Trek became a weekly series, he would cast Kelley as the ship's doctor. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , pp 74-75, 152)
• Andrea Dromm replaced Laurel Goodwin in the role of the captain's yeoman . According to Herb Solow and Bob Justman, her role was actually a "non-part" and Roddenberry claimed he cast her so he could "score with her". They added, it was not just a "non-part", but a "non-score" as well. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p 75) Dromm didn't return to the series, and was replaced by Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Rand .
• Roddenberry, Solow, and NBC were all happy about the casting of Lloyd Haynes as communications officer Alden . Haynes was one of the first African-Americans hired to play an important role in a network series pilot. However, he was not rehired for the series itself, as the production staff saw the role as dull and uninteresting. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p 75-77, 153)
• This is the only episode of the series in which James Doohan (Scott) appears but DeForest Kelley (McCoy) does not.
• This is the only episode where Spock and Scott wear gold and tan tunics instead of their better known blue and red, respectively.

Effects [ ]

• The matte painting of the lithium cracking station was created by matte artist Albert Whitlock for this episode. A still exists showing the entire landing party in the doorway within the matte, but only the shot of Kirk and Dehner ended up being used. The matte painting was later altered and reused in " Dagger of the Mind ". The image of the matte painting later appeared on the March 1953 issue of the Incredible Tales magazine in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " Far Beyond the Stars ".
• Film trickery enabled Kirk, Spock, and Mitchell's elevator ride to look like an actual ride from one deck to another, without relying on editing. When Mitchell jumped in, there was a gray wall outside the door that hid the bridge set. When the doors closed, the wall was removed by the stage crew, and then seconds later, they're on the bridge. The turbolift in the background after this scene sports "double doors" like modern elevators – the inner one is gray and the outer is red. This feature survived into " The Corbomite Maneuver " and at least until " Tomorrow is Yesterday ", but then was phased out.
• When Kirk, Spock, and Mitchell emerge from the turbolift, the main viewscreen can be seen in its "off" setting – a kind of "psychedelic" visual effect that was never used again.
• The voices of damage control personnel responding to the emergency situation were reused many times in subsequent episodes. These voices were provided by Gene Roddenberry, Robert Justman, Majel Barrett , Herb Solow , and other production staff members, including some from Mission: Impossible . Roddenberry can be heard saying, " Communicator, we need more lines to the impulse deck! " in subsequent episodes. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , pp. 190-191)
• Except for the shot of the Enterprise leaving the Barrier – which was shot using the three-foot unlighted model – all other ship fly-bys were produced using the eleven-foot model used in all subsequent episodes. At the time, this model still had no sparkling effects on the front of the nacelles. It also had a larger sensor dish, grilles on the backs of the nacelles, and not as many lighting effects. This footage was re-used in later episodes, often mixed in with shots of the improved model that is on display in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. In the standard side-to-side fly-by, two lights on the angled pylon (which connect the two hulls) go out, followed one second later by two near the shuttlebay.
• The original "bridge zoom-in" Enterprise shot from the beginning of "The Cage" is reused from stock footage in this episode, making it the only shot from the original pilot to appear in the second one.
• The same shot is also used when the Enterprise hits the barrier with added purple background and lightning effects.
• Stock footage of the Enterprise in the barrier was reused in " By Any Other Name " and " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ". These are the only three original series episodes in which the Enterprise leaves the galaxy.

Preview [ ]

• The preview contains a Captain's Log recorded solely for the preview: " Captain's log, stardate 1312.4. The next mission of the Enterprise takes us into an unknown force field which affects the destiny of my closest friend. "

Reception [ ]

• A print of the pre-broadcast version of this episode was taken by Roddenberry to the annual World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland, Ohio to be presented to the convention goers. This marked Star Trek 's second showing to the general public, on 4 September 1966 with Harlan Ellison having premiered a color print of one of the unaired episodes (those in attendance give conflicting reports on exactly which one of the early episodes was shown) earlier at the San Diego Westercon 19 the previous July. (" What We Did On Our Visit To Desilu " by John & Bjo Trimble , ST-PHILE #1, Jan 1968, p. 33) Allan Asherman , author of The Star Trek Compendium , was present among the audience. He recalled, " There must have been 500 people in that audience. When the Enterprise hit the galactic barrier, 1,000 eyes opened wide. Five hundred respiratory rates accelerated with that wonderful pleasure that comes over lovers of all things when they see their favorite subject being treated well. (…) If he [Roddenberry] could have read our minds at any moment during the screening, he would have been the happiest producer in the world. (…) Here was a future it did not hurt to imagine. Here was a constructive tomorrow for mankind, emphasizing exploration and expansion. This was a science fiction television series we all wanted to see. We were extremely impressed. (…) In fact, we liked everything about the episode more than anything else shown at the convention. (…) Roddenberry seemed to have no idea of the effect his show was having on us. (…) He asked for the audience's opinion; we gave him a standing ovation. He smiled, and we returned the smile before we converged him. We came close to lifting the man upon our shoulders and carrying him out of the room. " ( The Star Trek Compendium , pp 2-3)
• Later, a group of the audience asked Roddenberry if he had brought any other episodes of Star Trek with him. He had a black-and-white copy of "The Cage", which was then screened to the audience. ( The Star Trek Compendium , p 3)
• Herb Solow commented on Gene's success: " "Where No Man," unlike the other television and theatrical films screened, was well received. The science-fiction aficionados at the convention were entranced by the new show. But in four days, the series would premiere on television to a national audience that thought science fiction was comic books of busty women being dragged away by alligator people, or a giant purple blob intent on dissolving Tokyo. " ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p 263)
• Bjo Trimble and her husband, John, were members of the audience at the convention, and it was the first time they'd met Roddenberry. They persuaded him to allow the Star Trek costumes he brought along to be displayed during the fan-made costume competition. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p 378)
• Isaac Asimov was also a member of the audience. At the start, Roddenberry shushed a loud man to be silent, not knowing that the man was actually Asimov. [2] When Roddenberry found out it was Asimov, he was horrified. ( Inside Star Trek with Gene Roddenberry [ page number? • edit ] )
• Roddenberry picked this as one of his ten favorite episodes for the franchise's 25th anniversary. ( TV Guide August 31, 1991)
• Jason Isaacs also cited this as one of his favorite Star Trek episodes, remarking that he "loved" it. Regarding the transformation to god-like status that happens to Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner in this episode, Isaacs joked, " I tried for years to do that. In fact, I still try sometimes, in quiet moments. " [3]
• The book Star Trek 101 (p. 17), by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block , lists this episode as one of "Ten Essential Episodes" from the original Star Trek series.

Apocrypha [ ]

• An alternate explanation for the "James R. Kirk" reference is given in Peter David 's novel Q-Squared , which suggests that the events of this episode take place in a parallel universe where Kirk's middle initial is indeed R (and not T as we now know it to be). This same book suggests that Gary Mitchell's god-like powers were a result of him being temporarily possessed by Q , and the powers simply drove Mitchell insane.
• Another explanation for the R as Kirk's middle initial comes from Michael Jan Friedman's three-part novel series, My Brother's Keeper . In it, Kirk claims his middle name to be "Racquetball" to Mitchell upon an early meeting. Later, Mitchell "changes" it to "Rhinoceros" after Kirk steamrolls through a conversation. The grave is thus explained by Kirk as an in-joke.
• Mandala Productions' Fotonovel #2, in its cast of characters section, identified the captain for this episode as "James R. Kirk", even though all the other Star Trek Fotonovels listed him as "James T. Kirk".
• The alternate reality 's version of events in this episode were depicted in issue 1 and issue 2 of IDW Publishing 's ongoing Star Trek comic book. In this version, only Mitchell is affected – Dehner was a former lover of Dr. McCoy, and after the affair ended badly, their relationship was so strained that she rescinded her requested transfer to the USS Enterprise after finding out he was on board. Also, while Mitchell was in sickbay, Spock mind melded with him and reported to Kirk that he found " No consciousness. No sentience of any kind. "
• The Pocket TNG novel The Valiant acts as a prequel and sequel to this episode, telling the story of the SS Valiant 's demise and reveals that some of the crew did survive the self-destruction.

Remastered information [ ]

• The remastered version of this episode premiered in syndication the weekend of 20 January 2007 and featured shots of a digital version of Enterprise , consistent with the model used in this episode, which had a slightly different appearance from both the version seen in the production of the series and that seen the original pilot, " The Cage ". Enhanced effects also included more detailed shots of the barrier, Delta Vega from space as well as on the surface, a subtle touch-up to a phaser shot during Kirk and Mitchell's fight, and an opening titles sequence featuring the pilot-version Enterprise .
• While the final frontier speech was absent from the original, it was brought into the remastered opening.

Production timeline [ ]

• Episode commissioned by NBC: 26 March 1965
• Story outline by Samuel Peeples : first week of April 1965
• Revised story outline: second week of April 1965
• First draft teleplay by Peeples: late- April 1965
• Revised first draft teleplay: 27 May 1965
• Second draft teleplay by Gene Roddenberry : 16 June 1965
• Final draft teleplay: 26 June 1965
• Revised final draft teleplay: 8 July 1965
• Additional revisions: 12 July 1965 , 14 July 1965 , 15 July 1965
• Day 1 – 19 July 1965 , Monday – Desilu Culver Stage 15 : Int. Recreation room , Corridors , Transporter room , Briefing room
• Day 2 – 20 July 1965 , Tuesday – Desilu Culver Stage 15 : Int. Turbolift , Bridge
• Day 3 – 21 July 1965 , Wednesday – Desilu Culver Stage 15 : Int. Bridge
• Day 4 – 22 July 1965 , Thursday – Desilu Culver Stage 15 : Int. Bridge , Sickbay
• Day 5 – 23 July 1965 , Friday – Desilu Culver Stage 15 : Int. Sickbay ; Desilu Culver Stage 17 : Int. Delta Vega control room
• Day 6 – 26 July 1965 , Monday – Desilu Culver Stage 17 : Int. Delta Vega control room , Security area , Ext. Beam down area
• Day 7 – 27 July 1965 , Tuesday – Desilu Culver Stage 17 : Int. Delta Vega security area ; Desilu Culver Stage 16 : Ext. Planet surface site
• Day 8 – 28 July 1965 , Wednesday – Desilu Culver Stage 16 : Ext. Planet surface site
• Day 9 – 29 July 1965 , Thursday – Desilu Culver Stage 15 , Stage 16 & Stage 17 : Extra pickup shots
• Score recorded: 29 November 1965
• Original airdate: 22 September 1966
• Rerun date: 20 April 1967
• First UK airdate (on BBC1 ): 12 July 1969
• First UK airdate (on ITV ): 20 September 1981
• Remastered airdate: 20 January 2007

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original US Betamax/VHS release: 28 February 1985
• Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 2 , catalog number VHR 2210, release date unknown
• As part of the UK Star Trek - The Three Beginnings VHS collection: 31 January 1994
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• As part of the UK Star Trek - The Four Beginnings VHS collection: 1995
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 1.1, 24 June 1996
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 1, 17 August 1999
• As part of the TOS Season 1 DVD collection
• As part of the TOS Season 1 HD DVD collection
• As part of the TOS Season 1 Blu-ray collection
• As part of the TOS Season 3 Blu-ray collection, entitled "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" – The Restored, Unaired Alternate Pilot Episode
• As part of the Star Trek: The Original Series - Origins Blu-ray collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock

Guest stars [ ]

• Gary Lockwood as Gary Mitchell
• Sally Kellerman as Elizabeth Dehner

Featuring [ ]

• George Takei as Sulu
• James Doohan as Scott
• Lloyd Haynes as Alden
• Andrea Dromm as Yeoman Smith
• Paul Carr as Lt. Lee Kelso
• Paul Fix as Doctor Piper

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• John Burnside as Operations crewman
• Darren Dublin as Sciences crewman
• Robert Metz as Technician #1
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Bridge crewman
• Bridge guard
• Command crewman #1
• Command crewman #2
• Command officer
• Command technician
• Engineering technician
• Maintenance engineer ( scenes cut and reused in " The Man Trap ")
• Sciences lieutenant
• Technicians #2 , #3 , and #4

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Dick Crockett as stunt double for William Shatner
• Hal Needham as stunt double for Gary Lockwood

References [ ]

1996 ; 21st century ; 22nd century ; 203-R ; 2065 ; 2242 ; 2244 ; 2250 ; 2260s ; 2265 ; ability ; address ; Aldebaron Colony ; amusement ; ancestor ; annoyance ; answer ; area ; argument ; assignment ; astrosciences ; auto-destruct ; autonomic reflex ; autopsy report ; battery ; blasphemy ; blindness ; blonde ; blonde lab technician ; blood ; body ; book ; brain ; breed ; briefing lounge ; bridge engineering ; burial ; button ; " by comparison "; call letters ; Canopus Planet ; case ; casualty ; century ; chance ; checkmate ; chicken ; choice ; class ; coffee ; coffee break ; compassion ; computer ; computer record ; consciousness ; Constitution -class decks ; contact ; control room ; counterorder ; crew ; crystal ; damage ; damage report (aka damage control report ); dart ; day ; de Spinoza, Benedict ; deck ; deflector ; Delta Vega ; Delta-Vega Station ; Deneb IV ; density ; department head ; destruct button ; dial ; diameter ; Dimorus ; disaster recorder ; dispensary ; distress signal ; duty ; earphone ; Earth ; Earth base ; electrical charge ; electricity ; emergency ; emergency condition ; emergency power cell ; emergency stations ; emotion ; energy ; Engineering Deck 3 ; engineering division ; engineering staff ; Enterprise casualties ; esper ; Ethics, The ; extrasensory perception (aka ESP or ESP power); evidence ; evil ; eye ; fact ; faucet ; feeling ; fever ; fire ; fire alert ; fission chamber ; fool ; force field ; freezer unit ; fuel bin (aka power bin ); g ; galactic barrier ; Galactic Mining Company ; galaxy ; glove ; god ; gravestone ; gravitation ; gravity control ; Grayson, Amanda ; heart ; helmsman ; hour ; hull ; Human ( Human being ); hundred ; idea ; image ; impulse deck ; impulse engine ; impulse pack ; indication ; information ; initials ; insect ; intercraft ; irritation ; jealousy ; Jones ; Kaferian apple ; Kaferian apple planet ; lab technician ; landing party ; lateral power ; lead ; learning ; leg ; lifeboat ; life sciences ; light day ; light year ; lithium ; lithium cracking station ; logic ; longhair ; love ; magnetic space storm ; marooning ; marriage ; mathematics ; materializer ; maximum warp ; medical examination ; medical officer ; medical test ; memory bank ; metaphysics ; meter ; Milky Way Galaxy ; million ; millionaire ; mind ; mineral ; monitor screen (aka screen ); monster ; moral ; mutant ; name ; neural circuit ; neutron radiation ; night ; " Nightingale Woman "; officers' quarters ; object ; observation ; orbit ; order ; ore ship ; overcompensation ; page ; patient ; penny ; person ; personnel file ; phaser ; phaser rifle ; pill ; place ; playing card ; points ; Pointed Peaks ; poison ; power ; power ; power cell ; power pack ; prayer ; professional ; prognosis ; psionic energy ; psychiatrist ; psychiatry ; question ; radiation ; repair party ; restricted area ; rodent ; "rodent things" on Dimorus ; rook ; Sarek ; science officer ; search ; second ; sensor ; sensor beam ; service record ; sharing ; shaving ; ship's library ; shock ; signal ; silver ; solid object ; sonnet ; soul ; space warp ; speaking ; speculation ; spontaneous combustion ; standard orbit ; " stand by "; starboard ; stardate ; Starfleet Academy ; strange energy ; strangulation ; street ; subject ; tape ; Tarbolde ; telekinesis ; thief ; thing ; thought ( thinking ); three-dimensional chess ; toy ; tractor beam range ; transporter room ; type 3 phaser ; transporter ; upperclassman ; Valiant , SS ; SS Valiant personnel ; valley ; vessel ; visual contact ; voice ; Vulcan ; Vulcan (planet); warning ; warp factor ; white mice ; wings ; wisdom ; worry ; wristwatch ; year ; yeoman ; zipper

S/COMS references [ ]

aperception quotient ; birthplace ; card ; College of Medical Sciences ; date of birth ; Dehner, Gerald ; Delman ; Deneb IV inhabitants ; Duke-Heidelburg quotient ; Eldman ; esper rating ; father ; first name ; foot ; general knowledge quotient ; generation ; grade school ; guessing game ; height ; inch ; last name ; lineage ; magic ; magician ; metaphysics ; Mitchell's ancestors ; mother ; permanent address ; personnel file ; PhD ; present address ; secondary school ; spiritual reading ; thesis ; Tri-Planetary Academy ; vocational training ; weight

Unused references [ ]

4-0 ; energy ; galactic survey cruiser ; Johanson ; matter ; mile per hour ; Parsons ; Q-signal ; space law regulation

External links [ ]

• " Where No Man Has Gone Before " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Where No Man Has Gone Before " at the Internet Movie Database
• " Where No Man Has Gone Before " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "Where No Man Has Gone Before"  at Orion Press
• " Where No Man Has Gone Before " at Wikipedia
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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First Look: Star Trek: Discovery - The Galactic Barrier

Your first look at the upcoming episode

Get your first look at the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery season four episode, "The Galactic Barrier."

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and also airs on Cosmote TV in Greece. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.