This two-part story is based on the televised pilot episode
of the original Star Trek TV series (although it was the
third episode broadcast, on
September 22, 1966).
This story opens on stardate 2258.56 (approximately; Scotty
doesn't seem too sure of the date!). This suggests that
the year is also 2258 according to the new stardate system
used in the Kelvin timeline. If true, then this story is taking
place seven years earlier than it did in the original
timeline; The Star Trek Chronology by Michael and Denise
Okuda states that
the TV series version of "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
takes place in the year 2265 and original stardate 1312.4.
Scotty remarks in his log about the potential damage
suffered by the ship after having escaped the grip of a
spontaneous black hole. This is a reference to events at the
end of "The Vengeance of
Nero".
On page 3, Kirk and Gary Mitchell are playing
three-dimensional chess, a game first seen in the original
televised episode; in the episode Kirk was playing Spock,
not Mitchell.
Page 4 introduces Ensign Lee Kelso, first seen in the original
televised episode (as a lieutenant).
Kirk is stated here to have been friends with both Mitchell
and Kelso at the Academy. Yet the two have not appeared in
any of the Starfleet Academy novels (so far,
anyway).
On page 6, Mitchell and Kelso relieve Sulu and Chekov at
helm and navigation, placing them in the positions they were
in in the original episode.
| The beacon-marker from the S.S.
Valiant seen on page 6 is
nearly identical to the one that appeared in the original
episode. |
 |
 |
The galactic barrier encountered by the Enterprise
in this issue is green whereas in the original episode it
was a reddish-pink.
The ship's medical officer in the original episode, Dr. Mark
Piper, does not appear in this story, with Dr. McCoy already
on board.
The recent psychologist transfer to the Enterprise of Dr.
Elizabeth Dehner in the original episode has not happened in
this revised story. It is hinted here that she withdrew her
transfer because she'd had a romantic past with McCoy and
did not wish to re-encounter him.
Chekov suggests they can make it to an outpost, an old
lithium cracking facility, on Delta Vega in a few days on
impulse power. This is also where the Enterprise heads to in
the original episode. The planet apparently shares the name,
but nothing else, with the icy world on which Spock-Prime
was stranded by Nero in "A
Perfect View".
Unanswered Questions
Why did the writer choose to leave Dr. Dehner out of the
story? Are there plans to explore her past with Dr. McCoy
later?
Back to Star Trek
Episode Studies
