One of Star Trek‘s most famous phrases actually has multiple iterations and multiple meanings. Nearly every episode of Star Trek: The Original Series begins with an opening speech recited by William Shatner that ends with the phrase: “To boldly go where no man has gone before.” This speech during TOS’s title sequence describes the overall plot of the show, making it easier for a viewer to jump in and easily follow any episode. This made sense for the episodic television of the 1960s, but it has since become so iconic that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continues to use the opening speech today.

With Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry depicted an optimistic view of humanity’s future where humans travel through space not for conquest or in search of resources, but simply for the purpose of exploration and learning. Star Trek’s opening monologue perfectly conveys that mission and remains one of the most recognizable (and parodied) quotes in popular culture. Roddenberry and the other producers of Star Trek went through several variations of the monologue, before deciding upon the final version —

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.

The 2 Meanings Of Star Trek’s Where No Man Has Gone Before

It’s an introduction and an episode title.

Although variations of Star Trek’s iconic introduction have popped up in literature and historical sources prior to its use in Star Trek, the exact origin of the phrase “where no man has gone before” remains unknown. Regardless, Star Trek is what made it famous. In-universe, the phrase was attributed to Dr. Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), the inventor of warp drive technology, as seen in the Star Trek: Enterprise premiere, “Broken Bow.” Star Trek’s opening monologue has since become a staple of the series, and it perfectly encapsulates the franchise’s mission of exploration for the sake of it.

After the initial pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series, entitled “The Cage,” was rejected by NBC, the studio ordered a second pilot, which took the key phrase from Star Trek‘s introduction as its title, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Officially aired as the third episode of Star Trek season 1, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” sees the Starship Enterprise travel beyond the Milky Way galaxy by crossing the galactic barrier. Due to the effect of the barrier, helmsman Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) and psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Dehner (Sally Kellerman) are granted telekinetic powers. As both officers become increasingly powerful, they must be killed to save the Enterprise and its crew.

Why Star Trek: TNG Changed It To Where No One Has Gone Before (& Why It’s Better)

TNG updated “Where no man has gone before”

In 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation ushered in a new era for the Star Trek franchise, while still building on the history that came before. While Gene Roddenberry wanted TNG to distinguish itself from TOS, the show still used the same opening monologue (with a couple of significant changes). Now delivered by Patrick Stewart, the new speech changed “five-year mission” to “continuing mission,” presumably to avoid putting a definitive timeline on TNG’s run. But the more important change was altering “where no man has gone before” to “where no one has gone before.”

Starfleet crews are, of course, composed of men, women, and nonbinary humans, as well as many different species with different gender identities. Not only is “where no one has gone before” more gender inclusive, but it also works better for Roddenberry’s vision of the future. Using the word “man” as a substitute for “mankind” feels outdated even today (especially so in the 24th century), and also fails to account for the diversity present in every Starfleet crew. Since the change from “man” to “one” for TNG, Star Trek has kept to that phrasing, which only makes sense for a universe that is so varied and diverse.

Star Trek: The Original Series & Star Trek: The Next Generation are available to stream on Paramount+.

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  Star Trek: The Original Series

  Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew – Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) – with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas.

  Cast

  William Shatner
  , Leonard Nimoy
  , Deforest Kelley
  , Nichelle Nichols
  , James Doohan
  , George Takei
  , Walter Koenig

  Release Date

  
  September 8, 1966
  

  Seasons

  3

  Showrunner

  Gene Roddenberry

  Where To Watch

  Paramount+

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  Star Trek: The Next Generation

  Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.

  Cast

  Patrick Stewart
  , Marina Sirtis
  , Brent Spiner
  , Jonathan Frakes
  , LeVar Burton
  , Wil Wheaton
  , Gates McFadden
  , Michael Dorn

  Release Date

  
  September 28, 1987
  

  Seasons

  7

  Showrunner

  Rick Berman
  , Michael Piller
  , Jeri Taylor

  Where To Watch

  Paramount+