Stardate: 41263.1
Original Air Date: October 24, 1987
Writers: Diane Duane & Michael Reaves
Director: Rob Bowman

“Space and time and thought aren’t the separate things they appear to be?”

The Enterprise-D has rendezvoused with the USS Fearless which is sending aboard a Starfleet propulsion expert and his assistant to conduct tests on the Enterprise’s warp drive engines and hopefully allow them to work at maximum capacity. This expert has completed similar adjustments on two other Starfleet vessels –the USS Ajax and the USS Fearless. Mr. Kosinski (Stanley Kamel) and his assistant (his actual name is unpronounceable by humans) beam over and immediately, Riker is concerned. Kosinski seems to behaves suspiciously and the specs he sent over seem to be “gibberish.”

Nevertheless, Lt. Commander Argyle is tasked with guiding this insufferable, arrogant expert around the Engineering Bay. When the test begins, something strange happens. Kosinski’s assistant begins rapidly disappearing and reappearing, while the Enterprise proceeds to the extraordinary velocity of Warp-10. When the ship finally slows down to a manageable speed, Geordi realizes that the Enterprise has left the galaxy and passed through two others and wound up on the far side of Triangulum, in a galaxy known as M-33 (Data notes they have traveled 2.7M lightyears). Now a new problem persists. Unfortunately, if they are to travel at maximum warp, it would take the Enterprise over 300 years to get back home. They attempt to transmit a message to Starfleet, but it will not arrive via subspace for approximately 51 years, ten months, nine weeks, and sixteen days. For now, they are trapped in deep space.

Clearly something mysterious has happened to Kosinski’s assistant. He befriends Dr. Crusher’s son, Wesley, who tries to ameliorate the situation –the assistant seems to be fascinated with Wesley. However, the assistant appears weak and exhausted after the recent exercise. Meanwhile, Kosinski admits to Picard that he made a mistake in the test. After dismissing him, Picard invites comment from his crew: Counselor Troi claims Kosinski does actually believe he is correct, Worf suggests they should not allow a mistake-prone man to make another mistake, Geordi makes the point that there are no other options for getting back home besides trusting Kosinski, and Data says they should remain for a period of time in this region and study it since there is a giant protostar in the process of forming and no other vessel has been out this far before (Picard smirks and says, “spoken like a true Starfleet graduate”).

Picard decides to order Kosinski to return the ship back home, and once again they fire up the warp drive and his exhausted assistant begins rapidly disappearing until he collapses and the Enterprise arrives at an uncharted and unknown place, “where none have gone before.” It is approximately a billion lightyears from their home galaxy and the crew begins experiencing strange hallucinations –Worf hallucinates about his childhood pet Klingon targ, Tasha Yar hallucinates about the colony where she grew up being chased by a “rape gang,” Picard hallucinates about nearly falling outside the ship into space (he also has a vision of his mother), other crew men play classical music, dance ballet, and believe they are chased by mysterious enemies or are on fire.

Meanwhile, Kosinski’s assistant lies unconscious and dying, but his life signs are unknown to Starfleet. Wesley tells the crew that it looked like he “phased,” or disappeared and then reappeared several times. Under orders from Picard, Dr. Crusher awakens the alien assistant, who then explains that he is merely a curious “Traveler,” one who wants to experience human reality as a visitor. He has been using thought to guide starships, but using thought like this can be chaotic and dangerous. Prior to this, his alien race found humans largely uninteresting until relatively recently. The Traveler then requests to speak privately with Picard –he explains that young Wesley is actually a genius, not unlike Mozart, at least with respect to the intricacies of time. He advises Picard to quietly cultivate the boy’s abilities.

Then, they attempt to break Warp-10 again in order to return home and this time they return to the exact spot where they were at the start of the episode back in their own galaxy. However, the Traveler phases out this time and entirely disappears. As the episode ends, Picard appoints Wesley Crusher an acting Ensign so that he may be seated with the officers on the bridge. A beaming Wesley takes his seat on the bridge and he is ordered to learn all he can about the Enterprise before entering Starfleet Academy in the future.

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My Thoughts on “Where No One Has Gone Before”

An experiment goes awry, while an insufferable Starfleet bureaucrat with an inflated opinion of himself faces his comeuppance, and a strange otherworldly alien presents the Enterprise with a unique glimpse of terror and awe within the far reaches of the cosmos –suffice it to say I thought this was a terrific episode. I find myself inspired by the scenes of Picard conferring with the varying opinions of his crew, deliberating over ideas, weighing different arguments in pursuit of the best strategy. In spite of a few frustrations –like Picard’s gruff, confrontational tone toward Wesley—this episode is a highlight of Season 1 thus far for me.  

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Writer/Director

Writer Michael Reaves worked together with Diane Duane to develop a script for this episode based on her Star Trek novel The Wounded Sky.

This was the first TNG episode directed by Rob Bowman (he went on to direct 12 more episodes).

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Star Trek Trivia:

• This episode was based on Diane Duane’s Star Trek novel The Wounded Sky.
• Mr. Kosinski’s assistant is from Tau Alpha C which Riker notes is “very distant.”
• Worf once had a pet Klingon targ when he was a child. It was portrayed by a wild boar nicknamed Emmy Lou.  
• The Traveler appears to be humanoid but with three fingers on each hand.
• Eric Menyuk plays The Traveler in this episode. He originally auditioned for the role of Data but lost to Brent Spiner. The Traveler appears in two more future TNG episodes: “Remember Me” and “Journey’s End.”
• This episode marks Biff Yeager’s first onscreen appearance as Chief Engineer Argyle (he appears twice in the first season).
• Herta Ware plays Picard’s mother during his hallucination in this episode.

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