Spock Was First Officer in the Second Pilot

[JE Smith]

The notion of Mitchell as XO comes mostly from fandom and was propagated by Trek Lit (comics and novels), especially in "All Those Years Ago ..." (DC Comics, "Star Trek" Annual #1) and in the novel Enterprise: The First Adventure, where Kirk wants Mitchell as his first officer but Admiral Nogura makes Spock first officer instead.

Y'know, I don't read a lot of Star Trek novels, but I read Enterprise, and there was a lovely little bit of writing on this point: basically, Admiral Nogura says, "I'm not going to make Gary Mitchell your First Officer because he's too much like you, and you share many of the same qualities. Mr. Spock will be a much better complement to your set of skills, and bring a different perspective to the command structure." (that's paraphrasing heavily, of course, and it's been years since I actually read it) I thought that was very nicely done, and sounded like something a military commander might actually say.

 

[LadyT'Anna]

I also say that the uniform choice is more like a major area of expertise than and absolute limit on what someone can do. It's easy with Spock and Scott, who's characters so clearly stated their preferences with Science and Engineering.

Agreed.

I don't think it's an unreasonable thing to say that either one of them could have been commanding their own ship at this point in their respective careers if that was their career goal, however, they were more concerned with their specialties than command, thus they are in those colors.

Indeed. Remember that the Romulan commander made much the same point to Spock when she offered him a command in "The Enterprise Incident."

 

[Karzak]

^ Exactly.

Right, because you're completely unbiased!

 

[Mudd]

The script quotation is definitive; Spock is Mitchell's superior officer.

 

[A beaker full of death]

The script quotation is definitive; Spock is Mitchell's superior officer.

Then Mitchell's name is Clark.

 

[T'Girl]

Generally, a captain gets to select his XO.

Let's see. Picard vetted several candidates and selected Riker.

Sisko request a local militia officer, but apparently didn't personally select Kira.

Archer had T'Pol shoved down his throat. It's not completely clear who his original first officer was going to be.

We have no idea one way or the other how Janeway came by her original first officer, and Chakotay coming to that position was the result of a compromise involving bringing the Maquis aboard as much needed crew.

In real life a naval captain can express a preference, but more often than not their first officer will simply be assigned to them.

 

[Timo]

Jellico seemed surprised that Picard had chosen a no-man instead of a yes-man. Was that because, given the chance, he would have chosen a yes-man? Or because he was given the same choice and did have a yes-man?

Picard is the one hero skipper who might have been in a position to make choices like that. He seemed to be gathering a menagerie of types fitting of the "UFP Flagship" PR status of his vessel: the Only Klingon and the Only Android certainly looked like pet projects that Starfleet would readily approve on political grounds. But Picard didn't seem to like Worf much at first... Was he chosen for him?

Picard also provided opportunities for people he liked professionally, so we can't be sure whether Tasha "Colonial Misfit" Yar and Geordi "Blind Man Flying" LaForge were in the freaks-for-display category or not. In today's terms, they might be, but there really shouldn't be much freakish about their nature in the 24th century, not enough to warrant putting them on the E-D bridge in a display of the inclusiveness of the Federation.

Was Riker the best man for the job (out of those Picard could access), professionally? The best-looking man, in PR terms? Or simply the one least likely to be a problem for Picard in the long run (for lack of spine or too much thereof)? We don't really know, but all the options have some support for them in Picard's other choices.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Harvey]

I know Dave's not one to toot his own horn, but I'm happy to do it for him -- he actually noted that Spock was described as Mitchell's superior in his Orion Press review of the script: http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2015/06/unseen-trek-where-no-man-has-gone.html

I'm embarrassed to note that I forgot this until recently.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I know Dave's not one to toot his own horn, but I'm happy to do it for him -- he actually noted that Spock was described as Mitchell's superior in his Orion Press review of the script: http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2015/06/unseen-trek-where-no-man-has-gone.html

I'm embarrassed to note that I forgot this until recently.

And here I thought I'd beaten everyone to the Kirk-fu punch.

 

[Mudd]

The script quotation is definitive; Spock is Mitchell's superior officer.

Then Mitchell's name is Clark.

You're wrong.

"Clark" is directly contradicted by something actually filmed and included in the show. Spock's status is not.

Pretty simple.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Even ignoring all of the evidence posted earlier (which is more than conclusive enough for me), I would think that if Mitchell was the first officer and his death meant a new job for Spock at the end of the episode, then it would have been made pretty explicit. It's not even hinted at in the episode. Just like how Captain Crane was introduced and given captaincy of the Seaview in the pilot for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, something as important as establishing a chain of command in the pilot of Star Trek would have been made a genuine story point. Not something to be debated 50 years after the fact.

Eh, Spock was always Kirk's first officer and science officer. The debate may be entertaining, but it's really meaningless.

 

[DavidGutierrez]

I agree, on-screen evidence is pretty conclusive that Spock was first officer in WNMHGB and Mitchell is at least senior helmsmen.

HOWEVER, I always wished Mitchell had been first officer and Spock had been second officer. Here's why: I think it makes perfect sense to put Spock in an inferior position in this pilot because it is a PILOT. Part of what happens in pilots is establishing the series. So, the pilot would have to answer: how did Spock become first officer? He replaced Mitchell.

Also, the scenes between Kirk and Spock play like Kirk is not used to following Spock's advice, something consistent with the "Mitchell XO" theory. BECAUSE the series had such a huge emphasis on Kirk and Spock's relationship, the pilot would have had to establish WHY. Why does Kirk trust Spock so much? Because of the events of this episode.

And, look at the way the dominos fall in the series proper, particularly with Sulu. Sulu is in physics in the pilot, but at the helm thereafter. Why? Because he replaced Mitchell!

It gave the series such depth to imagine Mitchell as this sort-of lynchpin to the crew. He was the first officer everyone liked. The crew had experienced a few adventures together, but not many yet. One thing was clear, though: they could always rely on Mitchell, the captain's best friend. Then, BAM! The events of the pilot turn that upside down and Kirk is left with a two-fold void: he needs a new first officer and he needs to be able to trust someone. Mitchell's downfall was clearly that his emotions overran his humanity, so who does Kirk trust now? Mitchell's opposite: Spock. Meanwhile, Spock finds himself in an unfamiliar position with a captain he isn't particularly close to. So, the series is about Spock and Kirk growing closer after the pilot. And, Sulu has to take Mitchell's place at the helm and, during the series, learns more about his own capabilities which eventually lead him to commanding the Excelsior.

See? On-screen evidence aside, I think Mitchell as XO greatly improves the pilot and the series.






But, no, Spock was clearly XO.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Well, it's a matter of personal preference, but the pilot doesn't have to explain how anyone got anywhere. All it has to do is get the audience all they need to know to follow the story and series premise. It only matter that they are there. We don't know how Kirk got command of the Enterprise, how and why Uhura and McCoy came on after WNMHGB, and so on. The series being patterned after the Navy, they simply were assigned and/or worked their way up the ranks. For me, it never mattered. And since the episodes were shown out of order, in fact they were expected to be shown out of order, there was never really a progression. Sulu became a helmsman because that's what Roddenberry wanted him to be, going forward. It put Takei in a much more prominent light and with a science officer on the bridge played by the second lead, a ship's physicist becomes redundant. You notice, after Mitchell died, Sulu wasn't at the helm, it was Scotty. Besides, wouldn't there be someone better suited to take the helm than a scientist?

I absolutely see your point, I just never felt it was actually necessary to fill in those blanks on screen. The later TV series went to great pains to bring everyone together, but none of those pilots were nearly as satisfying as WHNHGB for me.

YMMV

 

[CorporalCaptain]

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" isn't an origin story, but rather it's a prototype for future adventures. The trope of someone from Kirk's past figuring into this week's adventure is even revisited many times over the course of the series.

 

[DavidGutierrez]

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" isn't an origin story, but rather it's a prototype for future adventures. The trope of someone from Kirk's past figuring into this week's adventure is revisited many times over the course of the series.

I contest your use of the term "origin story" in this instance since a pilot usually establishes a character's origins - at least, insofar as is necessary to understand a character's motivations. "Origin story" in modern vernacular is usually used to refer to a story which takes place during or refers to a time before the pilot. Thus why all pilots don't start from a character's birth or something similar.

But, both "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" establish characters, motivations, trends, and rules. Even with the reality that Spock was XO and Mitchell was just Kirk's bff, WNMHGB completely establishes the origin of the Kirk/Spock relationship. As I mentioned before, Mitchell is ruled by his emotions - they are ultimately what he gives in to when he is absolutely corrupted. Moreover, he shows disdain for emotionless people (his "walking freezer unit" comment about Dehner). Kirk also begins the episode with a similar outlook (teasing and joking with Spock about emotions).

Yet, as Mitchell's transformation progresses, Spock offers his logical, dispassionate perspective, clearly not expecting Kirk to be very receptive. By the end, Kirk agrees with Spock and sets off to kill his best friend rather than let him leave Delta Vega - a pretty dang dispassionate act. Kirk chooses logic over emotion and symbolically chooses Spock over Mitchell.

All pilots are origin stories. It just depends upon how much of the origin is revealed to the audience.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

All pilots are origin stories.

No. I'm using "origin story" in its well-established sense, as reflected here, as it would apply in this situation:

In comic book terminology, an origin story is an account or back-story revealing how a character or team gained their superpowers and/or the circumstances under which they became superheroes or supervillains.

[...]

Notable examples

Heroes
Batman - His parents murdered by one of the muggers, Bruce Wayne used his vast family fortune to become Batman and wage a one-man war on crime.

Neither Star Trek pilot is an origin story.

 

[DavidGutierrez]

All pilots are origin stories.

No. I'm using "origin story" in its well-established sense, as reflected here, as it would apply in this situation:

In comic book terminology, an origin story is an account or back-story revealing how a character or team gained their superpowers and/or the circumstances under which they became superheroes or supervillains.

[...]

Notable examples

Heroes
Batman - His parents murdered by one of the muggers, Bruce Wayne used his vast family fortune to become Batman and wage a one-man war on crime.

Neither Star Trek pilot is an origin story.

Fair enough. I tend to think of the term "origin story" as a continuum. A pilot is an origin story until a later story comes along which provides deeper background or more details of a character's previously unseen past. Then, that story becomes the origin story.

But, we digress. I think Mitchell being XO would've added depth to the pilot and the series, but Spock is, like, totes the XO.

 

[Mudd]

The point of a series pilot/opening episode is to make the format of the series clear and to establish all elements - characters, locale, premises - that are necessary for the series. You have to "show the audience where the bathroom is."

The pilot may or may not "start at the beginning" where the characters or the situation are concerned. That depends very much on what the characters are required to do in forthcoming episodes.

The pilot episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer doesn't start at the beginning of the title character's career as, well, a vampire slayer and doesn't make absolutely clear how she came to it. The story references the fact that she's done this before, somewhere else, without going into great detail. The movie on which the series was based can't really be used as an introduction to the series because a great deal is changed between the film and the series.

Hill Street Blues, a series with rather complex storylines and a large cast of characters, began in media res - the viewer is thrown into an apparently random day in the lives of characters who've been doing their jobs for some time and have established relationships that we have to pick up on as the story goes. It wasn't considered necessary to explain how Furillo or his people came to work at that precinct, how long most of them had known one another or even how Furillo had come to be in a relationship with a prosecuting attorney.

 

[The Old Mixer]

You have to "show the audience where the bathroom is."

Something this series is infamous for never having done....

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

Well, it's a matter of personal preference, but the pilot doesn't have to explain how anyone got anywhere. All it has to do is get the audience all they need to know to follow the story and series premise. It only matter that they are there. We don't know how Kirk got command of the Enterprise, how and why Uhura and McCoy came on after WNMHGB, and so on. The series being patterned after the Navy, they simply were assigned and/or worked their way up the ranks. For me, it never mattered. And since the episodes were shown out of order, in fact they were expected to be shown out of order, there was never really a progression. Sulu became a helmsman because that's what Roddenberry wanted him to be, going forward. It put Takei in a much more prominent light and with a science officer on the bridge played by the second lead, a ship's physicist becomes redundant. You notice, after Mitchell died, Sulu wasn't at the helm, it was Scotty. Besides, wouldn't there be someone better suited to take the helm than a scientist?


YMMV

Actually, Scotty was at the Navigator's station not the Helm, from this picture someone in a blue tunic is at the Helm station, perhaps Communication's Officer Alden.

The picture of that scene is provided by www.trekcore.com.

In case trekcore disables the hot link to that picture, here is their webpage with that picture at Row 3, Column 2.


Navigator NCC-2120, USS Entente
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