Was Gary Mitchell Originally the First Officer?
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Noncanonly Kirk wanted Mitchell to serve as his Executive Officer when he was assigned to the Enterprise; however, Starfleet didn't want this because they felt Kirk and Mitchell were too much alike. Because of this Command assigned Spock as first officer despite Kirk's objections.
As far as I'm concerned, he was.
Mitchell does not seem to be First Officer at all in WNMHGB. He's the cocky, but lovable, helmsman.
No reason* why a helm officer can't be the first officer, though, just as there's no reason the science officer must be.
*One could argue that a helm officer is more vital to his post than a science officer and thus shouldn't be pulled to take the center seat but it never stopped Sulu.
*One could argue that a helm officer is more vital to his post than a science officer and thus shouldn't be pulled to take the center seat but it never stopped Sulu.
Well, if Spock had the command star in WNMHGB and Mitchell didn't then I'll concede that Spock was 1st officer from the get go. It only stands to reason.
It seems as if Spock was the First Officer, based on his behavior.
...The real question probably is, was Spock the Science Officer at that point? It's never stated out loud in "Where No Man", and the Sciences Department seems to be headed by Sulu in that episode. Or at least, when Department Heads are summoned to the bridge, Sulu appears wearing the Sciences blue, but no other blueshirt does (besides CMO Piper) - so Sulu probably doesn't just head Astrophysics, he heads Sciences in general (and Astrophysics and other stuff are just sub-Depts under Sci Dept), freeing Spock of that particular chore.
(Since I'm sort of fond of interpreting the "Where No Man" rank stripes as following the TOS system and not, say, representing a brief hiccup in a system that ENT suggests was in place long before Kirk and TNG establishes was in place long after Kirk, I might be forced to argue that Spock only wore a single stripe, marking him as Lieutenant. Nothing wrong with that - many top officers in many Trek incarnations were Lieutenants. It just means that he'd theoretically be lower in rank than Mitchell who gets called Commander once and is posthumously referred to as Lieutenant Commander, so perhaps this would support Mitchell as the XO. But that's a bit convoluted.)
Timo Saloniemi
(Since I'm sort of fond of interpreting the "Where No Man" rank stripes as following the TOS system and not, say, representing a brief hiccup in a system that ENT suggests was in place long before Kirk and TNG establishes was in place long after Kirk, I might be forced to argue that Spock only wore a single stripe, marking him as Lieutenant. Nothing wrong with that - many top officers in many Trek incarnations were Lieutenants. It just means that he'd theoretically be lower in rank than Mitchell who gets called Commander once and is posthumously referred to as Lieutenant Commander, so perhaps this would support Mitchell as the XO. But that's a bit convoluted.)
Timo Saloniemi
I swear there's a line of dialogue during the scene where the senor staff are discussing Gary Mitchell, that confirms Spock is the Science Officer. It goes "Pleasant or unpleasant, it's my science officer's job to see that I'm provided with that." Kirk then urges him to continue speaking despite Dr. Denher's outburst.
The idea of Spock also being the First Officer no doubt comes from him wearing the Gold, which is one of the novelties I love about this Pilot. Somewhere from the Pike era, to here and then onto the regular series, I've always wanted to know why he shifts from blue and back again... besides minute details not being tied down yet. Maybe there's just a regulation where an officer filling two jobs can pick whichever dept colour he likes, so long as he sticks with it.
The idea of Spock also being the First Officer no doubt comes from him wearing the Gold, which is one of the novelties I love about this Pilot. Somewhere from the Pike era, to here and then onto the regular series, I've always wanted to know why he shifts from blue and back again... besides minute details not being tied down yet. Maybe there's just a regulation where an officer filling two jobs can pick whichever dept colour he likes, so long as he sticks with it.
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Kirk does refer to Spock as his Science Officer during the briefing room scene before the others leave. Spock still refers to himself as Second Officer in a log entry as late as "Dagger of the Mind."
Mitchell acts like a First Officer by informing Kirk that the department heads are reporting on the Bridge as ordered. Spock keeps his comments basically to the scientific phenomena of the energy barrier and decoding the recorder-marker. It's only after Mitchell is shocked that Spock leaps in and takes over the helm and coordinates the damage reports and reports the info to Kirk.
I say that Mitchell was First Officer and Spock was Second Officer.
Mitchell acts like a First Officer by informing Kirk that the department heads are reporting on the Bridge as ordered. Spock keeps his comments basically to the scientific phenomena of the energy barrier and decoding the recorder-marker. It's only after Mitchell is shocked that Spock leaps in and takes over the helm and coordinates the damage reports and reports the info to Kirk.
I say that Mitchell was First Officer and Spock was Second Officer.
Actually, one should note that Kirk sees no fault in Spock's doings here, nor is he defending Spock for providing unpleasant data since he has provided none - instead he's specifically chastising Dehner for not providing unpleasant data. So his words, not directly addressed to anybody in the semantic sense, should be taken in this context; they are addressed to Dehner in the logical sense.
Thus it's quite possible that Dehner is Kirk's science officer (one of the many, as the ship must have dozens) in this bit of dialogue, not Spock.
Nothing explicit against Spock being both (chief) SO and XO in this early episode, of course. There's just the strange fact that he chooses to wear sciences blue later on, and has worn it in "The Cage" previously, but is wearing the command colors for the duration of this one episode. This might well mean that Spock isn't the CSO at this precise time...
As for Mitchell's "acting like XO", I'd say announcing the arrival of the Dept Heads is more akin to Uhura's usual job. OTOH, Mitchell obviously isn't big on formalities, and might be usurping jobs left and right much like he's grabbing girls, even when on solemn duty...
Timo Saloniemi
I got the impression from the original monolog that the Enterprise's duties up to that point mirrored those of the navy or coast guard... and that this mission of exploration was something of a change for them.
So the idea that you would have a first officer acting as the lead science officer to coordinate ships resources for the science divisions on board seems logical. And the change in crew size might have been a result of the change in the defined mission of the ship. In Pike's time the Enterprise may have mainly patrolled space around the colony and Federation systems, so the first officer was more about keeping the ship as a whole functioning properly.
looking at the pilots (including things that were dropped from them) gives us some great What If scenarios to play with.
So the idea that you would have a first officer acting as the lead science officer to coordinate ships resources for the science divisions on board seems logical. And the change in crew size might have been a result of the change in the defined mission of the ship. In Pike's time the Enterprise may have mainly patrolled space around the colony and Federation systems, so the first officer was more about keeping the ship as a whole functioning properly.
looking at the pilots (including things that were dropped from them) gives us some great What If scenarios to play with.
I've, personally, always taken that to mean second-in-command rather than literally Second Officer. I know "Second Officer" is what he says, but Star Trek could be rather vague about this sort of thing at times. Also, I believe Kirk had a surprising penchant for referring to Spock as his "second in command" rather than first officer. So Spock is officer # 2 in the command chain, like Kirk is officer # 1.
FWIW, the Trek format from "TMoST" that still had Robert April, Number One, Boyce, et al in it notes that Spock is the "first lieutenant" and therefore the captain's right hand man, responsible for the day-to-day operations of the ship, so the original idea about what the duties of first officer and "first lieutenant" encompassed seemed to have started out a bit different than what we're used to. It seems as if when Number One was eliminated and her character traits grafted onto Spock, their responsibilities were also consolidated.
I still maintain Spock was science officer in "The Cage" and XO and science officer in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." It may be that the reason Kirk was leery of Spock was because he was pulling double duty. (And the suggestion that Kirk wanted Mitchell originally to be his XO may have also caused Kirk to show favoritism towards Mitchell.) Had Mitchell stuck around, he may have filled the "first lieutenant" role, which may have amounted more to second officer.
I always thought that Gary Mitchell was originally the second officer (instead of Scott). 
McIntyre based that on actual onscreen dialogue, though: in "Where No Man", it is revealed that Kirk asked for Mitchell on Kirk's first command.
It's not revealed in the episode whether Kirk got what he wished, or whether the Enterprise was this first command. McIntyre gives one version, compatible with the aired factoids, but other interpretations are also possible.
Timo Saloniemi
Doesn't the writer's guide say that Kirk commanded a ship analogous to a destroyer before he was put in command of the Enterprise?
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