Ranking Star Trek Pilots From Every Series Worst To Best

8. It Took Two Tries To Get To Where No Man Has Gone Before, But This One Landed

Star Trek The Original Series Where No Man Has Gone Before
NBC

They look so young, don't they?

The second pilot of Star Trek was a spiritual sequel to The Cage, but it would reflect what Star Trek's first incarnation would embody best. It had action, it had mystery and it had Kirk's shirt torn almost completely off. If anything, Where No Man Has Gone Before was the epitome of Star Trek's first twenty years, summed up in an hour.

Spock was now the cold Vulcan that we would come to know and love, as opposed to the more emotional man of The Cage. He had also received a promotion, ousting Majel Barrett's Number One to the position of first officer. Thinking about it, maybe it was Leonard Nimoy who had a quiet word in the network's ear about that first pilot....

Whoever is responsible, we got an iconic scene where James R. Kirk faces off against the superhuman, Gary Mitchell (recently name-dropped in Lower Decks) and also features the only appearance of the Original Series phaser rifle. A very solid start to what would become Star Trek: The Original Series

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Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"