Talk:Gary Mitchell

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

[edit] Medical profile

Mitchell medical profile from the "computer display" in "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

[edit] Helmsman!

It is not at all clear that Mitchell was the navigator on this voyage. Granted, he is seated at what will become the navigator's position, but the dialogue is inconsistent with this assumption. First, Kirk ordered warp to be neutralized and Mitchell responded, "Neutralized warp, sir." Next, Kirk said, "We're leaving the galaxy, Mr. Mitchell. Ahead, warp factor 1." Finally, after the energy barrier has begun to wreak havoc on the ship, Kirk instructed the helm to get the ship out of there. At that moment, we see that Mitchell is struck by some force and he falls. Kirk then yelled, "Helmsman!" and ordered lateral power. By this time, Spock had taken over Mitchell's station, and Enterprise was thrown back to the relative safety of the Milky Way.

By definition, the "helm" is responsible for managing the ship's propulsion. All of Kirk's orders regarding speed are directed to Mitchell. Moreover, when Mitchell is stricken, Kirk says "Helmsman!" It is my position that either Mitchell is recognized as the helm or recognition is given to this ambiguity. --GNDN 03:45, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Paul Carr was credited as "Navigator" in the end credits of the original cut of "Where No Man Has Gone Before", currently available on YouTube.com. --GNDN 23:47, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

You know, I've always wondered about this... and in light of this new evidence, I think it's safe to say that we can change Mitchell's position aboard the Enterprise from navigator to helmsman. --From Andoria with Love 03:35, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

funny because in TNG, the two front positions were also switched for one episode only, Encounter at Farpoint had the conn on the left and ops to the right. seems that TOS had done the same thing 25 years before.

To be fair, the original story pitch for Star Trek called José Tyler and navigator, and he sat in what became known as the navigator position. -- Captain M.K.B. 05:28, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree that the off-screen evidence, coupled with Tyler laying in the course to Talos IV, strongly suggests that he was a navigator. The switch in positions could be attributed to giving guest-star Gary Lockwood the more prominent position for sight lines and action. If this is a valid consideration, it is interesting to note that navigator Dave Bailey was the first guest star of the first regularly-produced episode, "The Corbomite Maneuver". --GNDN 05:47, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Father

There is no indication in his records that his father has the same name. There is simply a field "Name" that says "SAME", but it does not say "Father's Name". In fact, you can see from Dehner's record that the very next line is for the father's name, and she also has "SAME" listed under "Name". That would mean that her father's name is Elizabeth! But we know it's Gerald. It is not clear what this field means, since there is another "Name" field, but in contemporary records there is sometimes a field for maiden name, which would make sense for women, and men would use the same form. Maybe it's for name at birth, which would usually be a woman's maiden name, and usually the same name for a man, unless it was changed for some reason; some men today do change their name upon marriage, as well. --OhEidhin 21:25, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

This has been brought up (oddly enough, also by OhEidhin just 14 minutes before) on Talk:Gary Mitchell (senior), and because of that was brought up for deletion by Alan del Beccio (see this page). Any further comments should go to one of those two pages.--Tim Thomason 01:12, 24 January 2007 (UTC)