Where No One Has Gone Before

[00:00:02] Welcome to Next Gen, the 15 minute rewatch podcast of Star Trek The Next Generation that

[00:00:16] gives you more time to watch More Trek.

[00:00:20] I'm Bill Smith.

[00:00:22] And I'm Jamie Rogers.

[00:00:23] This episode we examine the season one episode where no one has gone before, where we get

[00:00:28] our introduction to good old lobster claws, The Traveler.

[00:00:32] Well, before we look at where no one has gone before, let's take a look at the library computer data.

[00:00:39] Where no one has gone before written by Diane Dwayne and Michael Reeves.

[00:00:43] Now, Diane Dwayne is a longtime Star Trek novelist.

[00:00:47] So no shock that she finally got a chance to contribute to a Star Trek series.

[00:00:51] The episode was directed by Rob Bowman, and it aired originally on October 24th, 1987.

[00:00:58] The Enterprise has catapulted more than a billion light years from its galaxy when a test on the

[00:01:03] ship's propulsion systems backfires.

[00:01:06] Wow, that's not putting too fine a point on it, huh?

[00:01:10] But Jamie, you're going to tell us all about this particular episode in your world famous

[00:01:14] and much heralded two minute recap, which starts now.

[00:01:19] The Enterprise meets with the USS Fearless in order to take on a propulsion specialist

[00:01:23] who will make upgrades to the ship's warp drive.

[00:01:26] Riker, who is not convinced about the success of the experiment,

[00:01:29] meets Kaczynski in the transporter room along with Troy and Chief Engineer Argyle.

[00:01:34] Kaczynski, who is very arrogant, demands to be taken to engineering.

[00:01:39] Troy comments that she is unable to sense anything from Kaczynski's mysterious assistant.

[00:01:45] In engineering, Riker and Argyle question Kaczynski while Wesley watches Kaczynski's

[00:01:50] assistant at the engineering station and offers him some suggestions on how to improve the formulas.

[00:01:57] Picard instructs LeForge to proceed at warp 1.5 to begin the experiment.

[00:02:01] The ship has a massive burst of speed as LeForge tells the captain that they have passed warp 10.

[00:02:08] The assistant grabs his console and starts to phase in and out of view,

[00:02:12] however it is only Wesley who happens to notice.

[00:02:15] After Picard orders the engines to reverse, LeForge reports that they have traveled 2,700,000

[00:02:22] light years from their previous position and it will take them over 300 years at maximum warp to get home.

[00:02:28] Kaczynski comes to the bridge pleased with the results of the experiment. Wesley,

[00:02:32] who is down in engineering and talking to the assistant, realizes he is the one who

[00:02:37] is behind all the upgrades, not Kaczynski. Picard orders Kaczynski to bring them home.

[00:02:43] While in engineering Wesley tries to tell Riker about what he is known,

[00:02:48] however Riker does not listen to him. They begin their warp experiment again and this time the

[00:02:54] experiment fails as the assistant phases again and then collapses on the console. Being even

[00:03:00] farther away from their original destination the crew begins to start to see things that

[00:03:04] cannot be there. Worf sees a targ, Yar sees a cat from her home colony, and Picard even

[00:03:10] sees his mother drinking tea. As the assistant is brought to sickbay Picard tells Crusher to

[00:03:15] wake him. He identifies himself as a traveler from another plane of existence. He tells Picard that

[00:03:22] he will try and get the ship back home. He also privately tells Picard that people like Wesley

[00:03:28] are why he travels, he compares him to Mozart and asks Picard to encourage Wesley and his

[00:03:34] ability. Picard returns to the bridge and tells the crew to support the traveler with

[00:03:38] their thoughts as they begin the experiment again. The traveler begins to phase as the enterprise

[00:03:43] hurdles back through space. He disappears completely as the enterprise arrives back where it

[00:03:48] started. Mindful of the traveler's advice Picard invites Wesley to the bridge and announces that

[00:03:54] he is now an acting ensign. Great job there Jamie, I mean I really think you summed up

[00:04:00] everything that happened in just over two minutes. Probably better than I could do so great job.

[00:04:05] Thank you sir. Let's step into the observation lounge and talk a little bit about what worked for

[00:04:13] us and what didn't, and I'll be happy to go first. As far as what worked I have to say that establishing

[00:04:19] the potential for Wesley early on really worked for me in the scope of this episode

[00:04:25] despite the fact that we've already had a few episodes of Wesley Trek so far where he

[00:04:29] saves the day repeatedly. It gave him a more realistic path for his character I thought.

[00:04:37] Yeah, no I 100% agree with you. In fact it was one of the things that I mentioned that

[00:04:41] worked as well, the growth of his character and I like this character being introduced

[00:04:47] of the traveler to kind of propel Wesley's arc further. I think it was an excellent step by

[00:04:54] the producers of the show. You know the other thing that works for me really well I have to

[00:04:58] say is the visual effects in this episode. This is 1987. We're seeing a lot of stuff on

[00:05:05] television that really before was reserved for films and you can tell that a house like

[00:05:10] Industrial Light and Magic is working on this particular series because they are at the

[00:05:16] time probably the top visual effects house in the world. It says a lot about the money

[00:05:22] being put into next gen but it gives it a look like something we've never seen before which

[00:05:28] I think is important for this episode. Yeah, no absolutely and I mean I think that if I would

[00:05:33] have seen this which I think I'm going to mention in a little bit but if I would have

[00:05:37] seen this as the first episode of TNG as the pilot it would have really made sense to me

[00:05:43] and really been visually stunning. I still even to this day appreciate the practical effects

[00:05:50] that we see on TNG and to me those effects still hold up even to this day.

[00:05:56] Absolutely so that's what worked for me. What else was in your what works column there Jamie?

[00:06:01] Well I know we talked about the growth of Wesley but I also like the growth between

[00:06:05] Picard and Riker's relationship. We see that they're starting to get away from that formality

[00:06:12] of the command and the first officer and we see there's a comfort level there especially I'm

[00:06:18] kind of referencing the beginning sequence where they're basically having a discussion and

[00:06:23] it's not formal like it was in the first few episodes there's an informality there and

[00:06:29] they're more on a personal level and I'm really starting to appreciate that and I like the growth

[00:06:34] of their friendship you know. And really the last thing that really worked for me is and I know

[00:06:40] you're not a big fan of The Traveler but I thought I liked his arc and I like the establishment

[00:06:45] of his arc in the beginning as we see him make other appearances later on in the show.

[00:06:50] I think he was an excellent character. Very interesting and that's going to

[00:06:55] you know kind of springboard me into the what doesn't work because my first on the list of what

[00:06:59] doesn't work for me is the character of The Traveler. I think it's a little too much mystery

[00:07:06] honestly. How can he do these things? And it's just there's a lot left to the imagination

[00:07:14] and I get that we've never seen somebody from his race before but you think there would be

[00:07:17] something a little more concrete around it plus I mean I don't find The Traveler all that compelling

[00:07:25] as a character. I largely think he's pretty dull when he's on screen so I don't feel compelled

[00:07:31] to root for him if that makes sense. Yeah no it absolutely makes sense and I mean there are

[00:07:36] definitely some holes in the development of the character of The Traveler in general.

[00:07:41] I mean how is Starfleet allowing this guy to basically go gallivant from ship to ship

[00:07:48] with Kaczynski to you know work on warp drive propulsion and the warp drive systems when

[00:07:54] really nobody knows anything about his origins or where he comes from or maybe some of the concerns

[00:08:01] and it kind of leads to the thought too as well as what exactly happened when they were on

[00:08:06] these previous two ships. Yeah. You know if the experiment went this horribly wrong

[00:08:13] what happened previously and the fact that it takes Wesley to kind of point things out to him

[00:08:19] even on the Enterprise just I agree is definitely some holes in the character as well.

[00:08:25] Well there's some vast holes in the Kaczynski character as well. You know The Traveler

[00:08:30] comes aboard as his assistant Kaczynski is credited as the guy with the new method

[00:08:34] and the technology to improve the Enterprise's warp engines but really he has no idea what's

[00:08:40] going on. Starfleet is an organization based on science you would think they would have said

[00:08:46] show us the data what you did and why before we start implementing this across our fleet of

[00:08:51] starships and I just don't get the sense that that happened here you know. No absolutely and

[00:08:57] to me he doesn't work either just his whole manner I think really goes against the early

[00:09:02] concept and TNG of no personal conflict I just think that it was kind of a misstep to make him as

[00:09:09] arrogant as he was. I mean he clearly knows he's not the one even though he seems to think in his

[00:09:14] own mind that he's the one who's causing all these great warp field experiments he's really

[00:09:19] not the one that's doing that by any stretch and I just think that how they portrayed his

[00:09:25] character doesn't work at all. No it really doesn't it's just it's it sets the they're

[00:09:31] not really adversaries I mean they're not bad people they're just they add to the drama that

[00:09:38] is in this episode and the situation the Enterprise has put in but then it's all kind of resolved a

[00:09:43] little janky and I think you have at least one point relating to that.

[00:09:49] You know Bill the other thing that really kind of didn't work for me was this whole

[00:09:54] people's thoughts affecting the outcome of the story and I kind of liken it to the

[00:09:59] to my the Peter Pan type element where you know Peter Pan if you believed you could fly you could

[00:10:05] fly well I just that didn't work for me in this plot. I thought it was enough to carry the plot that

[00:10:12] they were where no man has gone before and I think it would have made more sense if maybe they

[00:10:16] encountered some sort of entity that they had never encountered before as opposed to saying well

[00:10:22] we're in an area where our thoughts are going to create different sorts of things and I get

[00:10:27] it they were trying to do this whole thought of you know thoughts affecting how the traveler

[00:10:33] does things but I just I didn't like it as part of the story. You know for me it's a little too

[00:10:39] Peter Pan because essentially the traveler is Tinkerbell and we're the audience having to

[00:10:43] think good thoughts in order to let Tinkerbell come in and save the day and I really think

[00:10:49] you sum it up really greatly there because that's really what this script comes down to

[00:10:54] you know free your mind from everything else but think about the traveler

[00:10:59] because that's what's going to get us through this it just doesn't quite work.

[00:11:04] Yeah and it's like anything else when you tell somebody not to think about something

[00:11:09] they're gonna think about it you know it's human nature and when someone asks you if

[00:11:17] you're a god ray you say yes. Yes you know Bill the other the other thing that really didn't work

[00:11:25] for me either was how everybody treats Wesley I mean and it goes from Kaczynski to Picard to

[00:11:32] Riker I mean it's it's ridiculous like they can't even use his name half the time they're calling

[00:11:38] him boy why is this boy over here why is this boy in the you know in sick bay I mean it's just

[00:11:46] it's ridiculous I and I get it that they're trying to you know say something they're trying to

[00:11:53] almost protect us from the fact that Wesley is going to save the ship every week they're trying

[00:11:57] to kind of downplay that a little bit but I just it's just it's embarrassing how they portray

[00:12:03] adults in the 24th century this early on. I don't disagree with you one bit you know it kind of

[00:12:09] reminds me of how Star Wars continually refers to characters as young Skywalker

[00:12:14] he's got a name why do we have to pick on the fact that he's young because ultimately he's going to be

[00:12:19] the savior of everything that's going on here so let's take a look at this episode's inner light

[00:12:24] Jamie and we're going to ask what we learned about the characters the Trek universe or possibly even

[00:12:30] ourselves in this episode now let you go first. Well Picard and Riker's relationship and I know

[00:12:36] I touched on it earlier really has matured to the point where they can freely speak

[00:12:41] their mind with one another and it isn't so much of a formality like we saw early on

[00:12:47] with Encounter at Farpoint. Yeah I would agree with that I think that and it's interesting to have it

[00:12:52] happen kind of nine episodes in or six episodes in I'm sorry where they are becoming this

[00:12:59] comfortable it tells me that Picard is putting the right people around him and that there's a

[00:13:03] level of trust that's forming. Yeah no absolutely you know something else that kind of really

[00:13:11] kind of I noticed when I was watching this episode as I as I watched this one especially closely is

[00:13:17] I really truly feel bad for Tasha Yarr as a character. Yeah you know I mean I like the

[00:13:25] fact that they built up her background story where we got to kind of see a visual of what she

[00:13:29] went through and I think it's better than what we saw in Encounter at Farpoint where she was

[00:13:37] basically yelling at Q about how bad her life was so it's better than that but they are really just

[00:13:44] not giving her much to work with at all and it's just it's so it's so frustrating and I

[00:13:50] really I never understood Denise Crosby but the more I watch these intently I can

[00:13:56] understand her frustration. I mean there's points in this episode where she is literally

[00:14:01] just standing there with no dialogue at all. Yeah it's really kind of sad I mean Tasha Yarr was a

[00:14:07] character with such potential and promise and really had the opportunity to sort of set herself

[00:14:13] apart as a female character in Star Trek and unfortunately I mean I can't begrudge Denise

[00:14:20] the desire to want to leave and do something else because there was just nothing there

[00:14:26] in spoiler alert because that doesn't happen to later in the season but yeah it's obvious that

[00:14:33] the writers are struggling with figuring out the Yarr character.

[00:14:37] No absolutely you know this episode really kind of reminds me a lot too of the man trap and

[00:14:43] I know maybe not for how the plot is but I like how the man trap even though it was created

[00:14:50] after the pilot it was kind of stuck in as the pilot and we kind of just pick up

[00:14:54] right where the crew is and I almost feel like this episode could have been a pilot so to speak.

[00:15:00] That we could have gotten dropped right in there and it kind of to me it kind of would have worked

[00:15:06] pretty well as a pilot. The sci-fi concept could have worked I mean obviously as you know I'm not

[00:15:12] a big fan of the Peter Pan element but I like the character development with Wesley as a pilot

[00:15:18] episode. No I have to agree with that it would have been very interesting to see this as the very

[00:15:25] first episode and perhaps with a little tweaking because I think that there's no way you really get

[00:15:30] two hours out of this story unless you introduce Q in the middle kind of like the way Gene did

[00:15:36] with Dorothy Fontana script for Encounter at Farpoint that we talked about before.

[00:15:41] I think it would have been much more interesting. I think you would see a crew that kind of

[00:15:45] feels like it belongs together unlike in Farpoint where it's just people who don't know each other

[00:15:50] so yeah I have to agree with that. I'm going to go on and say that as far as the inner light of this

[00:15:55] episode you know the things that humans have seen and done really are just a drop in the bucket

[00:16:01] and there is so much more to discover in Star Trek and kind of in the here and now. I think

[00:16:08] we have to remember that we don't have all the answers and I think that's partly because

[00:16:13] we don't even know all the questions at this point. We're kind of still figuring out what we are as a

[00:16:19] race of humans, you know beings and it'll be interesting to see where we go in the future

[00:16:25] but man Jamie do we have so much further to go. Absolutely the show really only gets better

[00:16:31] as time goes on. It really does and that's going to do it for this particular episode

[00:16:37] of Next Gen. Jamie why don't you tell us about our next episode we're watching of Star Trek

[00:16:42] the next generation. Well Bill it's a lonely one we get to see Crusher's awesome medical cap

[00:16:48] and a possessed Captain Picard. It's the season one episode it's lonely among us.

[00:16:54] Ah so good I can't wait to talk about that one in the meantime thanks for joining us for this

[00:16:58] episode of Next Gen to leave us feedback click on the more button here in the app and send

[00:17:03] us an email and as always live long and prosper.