STAR TREK:
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- The Next Generation (TNG)
- Deep Space Nine (DS9)
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THE NEXT GENERATION:
- TNG Season One
- TNG Season Two
- TNG Season Three
- TNG Season Four
- TNG Season Five
- TNG Season Six
- TNG Season Seven

Season One:
-101: "Encounter at Farpoint"
-104: "Code of Honor"
-106: "Where No One Has Gone Before"
-109: "Justice"
-110: "The Battle"
-112: "Too Short a Season"
-115: "Angel One"
-116: "11001001"
-117: "Home Soil"
-123: "Symbiosis"
-124: "We'll Always Have Paris"
-126: "The Neutral Zone"


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Where No One Has Gone Before

(Star Trek - The Next Generation story no. 4)
(episode production code 106)
  • written by Diane Duane & Michael Reeves
  • directed by Rob Bowman
  • music by Ron Jones

Where No One Has Gone Before

This episode is just too cool to not mention here. As with the better initial episodes of the original series in the sixties, it really does stamp itself as science fiction, rather than just another drama in an established future arena. And as with the best of science fiction, it informs itself with the latest thoughts from our society on many ideas, drawing once more from much in the New Age sphere of influence.

The dramatic core of the story gains much from the archetypal opposite natures of the story's two main guest stars. One is noisy, boastful, unwilling to listen, and placing too much faith in traditional science because it brings him gains. The other is quiet, graceful, helpful, humble, accepting, and ultimately far more powerful, influential, and memorable. The episode ultimately shows us that powers of thought and emotion have important effects on where you end up in the universe after breaking certain time/space barriers, and although it does gloss over ideas of training the mind to a certain level of discipline, one can assume that Starfleet personnel of the 24th century are, as they should be, a bit better at it than human beings of the 1980's in order to achieve the rapid results we see.

Another nice touch is the Traveler's lack of a firm Prime Directive that he might apply to Federation society. Where he is from, they probably don't need laws to vainly attempt to control actions. Instead they each trust they will naturally be putting forth their best while following their own excitement, and in doing so, the Federation has only just become "interesting". Brilliant.



Ron Jones composes the music for this story, elevating the atmosphere of the piece as he so often did during his all-too-brief time on the early years of this show. Here again, the wonderment of both the external and internal encounters comes to the fore, primarily through the dreamy/spacey new age characteristics of the musical sound. Very nice work. A lot of really nice optical effects are on display as well, showcasing the fantastic new places that the Enterprise goes to. The spirit of exploration, itself the real heart of good science-fiction, is rekindled in this episode better than most others in Star Trek. Nice one.
The score from "Where No One Has Gone Before" is available on
audio CD and .mp3 download here:

The Ron Jones Project
Disc 1 of 14

Where the story is still rough is best evidenced by the underdevelopment of the Starfleet characters. The regulars are getting a bit more solid, but very few of them have much to do in this one. Although Wesley and Worf will be absent in many of these earliest instalments, this episode squeezes in all nine series' regulars, and then proceeds to hand out many roles to complete unknown "extras" amongst the Enterprise crew as though looking for dodgier performances. And the episode also highlights one of season one's biggest oversights in not having a regular Chief Engineer amongst the main cast. The actor we get isn't bad at all, but strange that it's someone completely different to the engineer we had in "The Naked Now" two stories ago. You wonder who you'll see next week, while poor Geordi is struggling to find a scene with a decent number of lines.

Ah, but it's season one, and one of the best episodes that the Next Generation had that year. It contains many good points that later years of Star Trek seemed to have forgotten to try to include. This was sci-fi. Let's celebrate. :-)



This Next Generation Season One story is available on DVD and Blu-ray:

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season One (1987-1988):

Includes the double-length 92 minute pilot plus 24 episodes @ 46 minutes each.
Click on the Amazon symbol for the desired disc format and location nearest you for more information:
DVD U.S.

DVD Canada

DVD U.K.
(regular)
7-disc DVD set
DVD U.S.

DVD Canada

DVD U.K.
slimline

DVD Extras include:

  • "The Beginning" origins Featurette
  • "Selected Crew Analysis" cast Featurette
  • "Making of a Legend" production featurette
  • "Memorable Missions" key episode featurette
Blu-ray U.S.

Blu-ray Canada

Blu-ray U.K.


Blu-ray


6-disc Blu-ray box set

Blu-ray features add:

  • Energized! Taking TNG to the Next Level (HD, 23 min.) detailing the high-definition restoration for Blu-ray.
  • Stardate Revisited: The Origin of TNG (HD, 93 min.) with
    Patrick Stewart (Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Riker),
    Brent Spiner (Data), LeVar Burton (Geordi), and
    producers Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman,
    Robert Justman, and D.C. Fontana.
    • Part 1: Inception
    • Part 2: Launch
    • Part 3: The Continuing Mission
  • Gag Reel (8 min., standard definition)
  • Star Trek: TNG Archives: The Launch
  • Promos for each individual episode
  • plus, all featurettes from the DVD version.


Article & reviews written by Martin Izsak. Comments are welcome. You may contact the author from this page:

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Read our next Star Trek review: The Battle



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