Was Gary Mitchell a Force User?

I guess I won't be telling any more jokes to god.

 

Ha! As a fan of both universes - but always Star Trek first - I love this. Well done.

 

Different time, different galaxy.

 

Thanks!

 

I say no, because Jedi cannot manifest objects like Mitchell does with the headstone and grave and earlier with the garden and the apples that Dehner eats. And, unlike Jedi, there's no evidence that Mitchel gained any precognitive powers. Clairvoyance, yes, but he couldn't see the future (thankfully for Kirk).

As for George Lucas getting Jedi ideas from this particular episode, I don't buy it. Telepathy, telekinesis, and clairvoyance were all staple sci-fi powers going back at least to pulp sci-fi magazines and dime novels from George's childhood. There's nothing really original in the list of Jedi powers, Lucas just managed to package the ideas in a way that hadn't quite been done before. (After all, the Jedi aren't quite the Bene Gesseritt). But the use of these powers in "WNMHGB" is hardly original either.

--Alex