Movies - TV
The Alternate Cut Of Star Trek’s Pilot Most Fans Have Never Seen
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
“Where No Man Has Gone Before” was “Star Trek’s” rewritten second pilot aired on NBC on September 22, 1966, and presented as the show's third episode.
However, some Trekkies will tell you that the aired version of “Where No Man” is actually a different cut than the original pilot that creator Gene Roddenberry wrote.
The original cut aired once at a sci-fi convention in Cleveland featuring a lengthier narration from William Shatner with different music, and was five minutes longer.
Sadly, the original cut was haphazardly archived in 1966. Subsequently, it wasn't seen for decades and was considered lost.
However, this longer cut was protected by The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum when it invited Roddenberry to donate various “Star Trek” ephemera to the institute.
The institute felt that “Star Trek” presented science and scientific thinking more powerfully than any of its contemporaries, and Roddenberry, happy to hype up the series, obliged.