This is going to be a short intro because I don’t know the full story of this edition. Still, I thought this compilation of videos was a good connection to our recently completed look at the guide and original sales pitch for the original Star Trek.

“Where No Man Has Gone Before” is the first official episode of Star Trek, although “The Man Trap” was the first one aired. “Where No Man…” was also the second pilot, NBC having rejected “The Cage” and asked for certain changes, which led to the Star Trek we know and love.

Recently I stumbled up a collection of 4K. 48 frames per second remasters by Tales From SYL Ranch DARKROOM on YouTube. This is how they describe what we’re about to see:

There is an edit of STAR TREK’s second pilot known as the STUDIO EDITION that has a number of differences from the aired edit. It was screened only to studio and network execs. This is the first scene, now remastered to 4K/48fps, fresh from the Tales From SYL Ranch DARKROOM! 👍

Original Shooting Date: July 19, 1965 I

IMDB Entry For Aired Version: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061027/

Remastered With:

So my guess is, like we saw earlier this week with Knight Rider, this was a version screened for the network executives who didn’t have time to watch the full version, or this was a partially completed one so they didn’t spend all their time on all the details until they got the greenlight for the version we eventually saw. “The Cage” would of course show up later, reworked into “The Menagerie” as stock footage while the original finally made it to television when Sci-Fi Channel did a tribute marathon for the show’s anniversary.

Tonight I’m bringing you those clips, and you can go the clips’ respective YouTube pages to see the comments and further information. Remember that this isn’t the full episode. Someone doesn’t want to get sued by Paramount or whoever ends up buying them as of this writing. I’m surprised this is up given all the games I had to play just to keep the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles intros around and I’m afraid to check to see how many are dead video embeds now. Still, this is rather fascinating. Enjoy.

Here’s the opening scene, with a slightly different intro that we’re used to. Not just the credits and theme song, but how the episode itself opened.

Video two jumps ahead. The heads have met on the bridge instead of the usual briefing room, with an interesting appearance by Mr. Sulu. Instead of the helmsman he’s the head of astrophysics, much like we saw a less accented Scotty in the transporter. There was also the pre-McCoy medical officer everyone forgets, Mark Piper, and important character to this story Dr. Elizabeth Dehner. We rejoin the story after the logs tells us the captain of the other ship destroyed his own vessel due to something involving ESP.

Interestingly, there’s another version of this on their channel, possibly from the episode itself given that the “special edition” Enterprise external shots are used. I hope the new owners go back to the original effects. However dated they are, they reflect how the show looked back then and anyone who can’t accept them probably never watched this franchise to begin with. Like the people at Secret Hideout and Bad Robot. We come in on Act II. The ship is a mess, and it’s time to figure out what hit Gary, Dehner, and a few others around the ship.

Our heroes find an abandoned mining colony they can make repairs on and refuel the ship, but during this time Gary has been growing in power and shrinking in morality. Kirk doesn’t want to believe his friend could turn evil, but Spock at least gets him to consider the threat Gary is slowly becoming. On the mining colony they’re prepared to leave him behind, even blow the place up if necessary, as Gary goes back and forth between trying to convince Kirk it’s the right move and preparing to take over the human race. He’s about to find an ally, while Scotty found his accent.

Unfortunately we do not get the eventual final battle between Gary and the teaming up of Dehner and Kirk. I would love to compare the studio edition to the finally aired edition, though I don’t know if they’re adding effects in these “remasters”. (They’re not using the actual masters because they most likely don’t have access. It’s just episode footage upscaled.) We do get the epilogue, as Kirk morns the loss of two friends (Kelso there was also Kirk and Gary’s friend, showing you how far gone Gary Mitchell had become). We do get the studio version of the end credits.

What do you think, folks? Would that theme song be as well remembered as the one we know and love? Odd to see George Takei listed as “astrophysicist” and James Doohan as just “chief engineer”. Both would get a name, and Sulu a new position, for the actual series. So if ‘The Man Trap” aired first, I’m sure somebody wondered what Sulu was doing in astrophysics but then goes back to just flying the ship for the rest of the season and following seasons. We also learn that the “ancestor” who married a human was Spock’s dad, but that wouldn’t be until next season. I wouldn’t mind seeing the full studio edition, upscaled or not so long as its clean enough to enjoy, at some point in the future. They must have gotten that version’s footage from somewhere.

Tales From SYL Ranch On the Internet:

Posted by on February 1, 2025 in Saturday Night Showcase, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

Leave a comment

Unknown's avatar

About ShadowWing Tronix

A would be comic writer looking to organize his living space as well as his thoughts. So I have a blog for each goal. :)

Leave a comment