General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20265 min read

Where no man has gone before

"Where no man has gone before" is the closing clause of the opening narration of the original Star Trek television series, spoken by William Shatner as Captain Kirk: "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!" The words were first heard on television on September 8, 1966, at the opening of the series' premiere episode, and the phrase has since become synonymous with the show and with space exploration generally.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
First broadcast	September 8, 1966, opening the premiere episode of Star Trek¹
Claimed origin	A 1958 White House pamphlet produced to garner support for the then fledgling space program²
Gender-neutral revision	Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) changed the line to "where no one has gone before"³
Episode title	"Where No Man Has Gone Before," the second pilot, written by Samuel A. Peeples, which convinced NBC to green-light the series⁴
NASA use	NASA borrowed the phrase in a 1989 retrospective publication detailing the Apollo Project²

The narration and its wording

The full monologue, delivered by Shatner over the original series' opening credits, announces the Enterprise's five-year mission to explore new worlds, to seek out new civilizations, and to "boldly go where no man has gone before."¹^•⁵ According to one account, the tag line appeared beginning in 1966 and in every episode but the pilot.²

Where the line came from. The exact origin is uncertain. One account traces it to a 1958 White House pamphlet produced to build public support for the then fledgling space program.² A later retrospective describes the question as complicated, noting that the title of the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before," penned by Samuel A. Peeples, is one thread in the line's history.⁶

Grammar. The split infinitive "to boldly go" was a standing target for grammatical purists. Most authorities now accept the phrase and rarely complain about it publicly.³

"No man" and its revision

By 1966, criticism of the phrase had shifted from grammar to the implied sexism of "no man," and the show's producers received complaints on that ground. Defenders invoked the tradition that "man" means "human," but by the time Star Trek: The Next Generation aired in 1987, the producers had adopted the revised closing line "where no one has gone before."³ During that series' development, producers had pledged to eliminate the gender biases of the first series, and changing the prologue was part of that show of good faith.⁷ The revision was in place from the beginning of The Next Generation in 1987.⁸

The change carried symbolic weight: it signaled that the new series would carry forward the franchise's utopian optimism and expand on its progressive political implications.⁹ The phrase has also been adapted in the other direction, as in "to boldly go where no woman has gone before," used in discussions of women in STEM research, running large companies, or winning a United States presidential election.¹⁰

The episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before"

The phrase's most visible title use is the Star Trek: The Original Series episode of the same name. It was the second pilot made for the series, commissioned after the first pilot, "The Cage," failed to sell the show to NBC. The network asked for a simpler, less erotic action-adventure story and a somewhat different cast. Gene Roddenberry solicited scripts, and out of three possibilities, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" by Samuel A. Peeples, "Mudd's Women" by Stephen Kandel, and "The Omega Glory" by Roddenberry himself, the network selected Peeples's script for production. After viewing the finished film, NBC was sold, and the series was officially green-lit.⁴

Although it sold the series, the episode did not open it. NBC found the premise too cerebral to lead the series and wanted something with more traditional action, so "The Man Trap" and "Charlie X" ran first, and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" became the third episode of the first season, first airing on September 22, 1966.¹¹ It is nonetheless the debut of William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, since Jeffrey Hunter declined to reprise his role as Captain Pike from "The Cage."¹¹

The story follows the Enterprise as it recovers a recording from the missing ship SS Valiant and then encounters a force field at the edge of the galaxy. Helmsman Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) and psychiatrist Elizabeth Dehner (Sally Kellerman) are struck by a blast of cosmic energy that grants Mitchell escalating psychic powers, forcing Kirk to choose between loyalty to his friend and loyalty to his ship.¹² Lockwood went on to star in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Kellerman later played Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the film *M*A*S*H*.¹¹

Cultural reach

The phrase outgrew its source. NASA's relationship with the franchise became close enough that the agency borrowed the line for a 1989 retrospective publication on the Apollo Project, and the association between the fictional universe and the agency's real activities has been reinforced over the years.²^•¹ The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum built its 2016 "Boldly Go 50" exhibition around the show's message of going where no one has gone before.¹³

References

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026