Where No One's Gone Before

by Lee A. Hart

In the height of the 13th century
We marched from Venice to the China sea
Our brave explorers crossed the land
Through heathens strange, adventures grand
Returning with exotic spices,
Gunpowder, and other vices.
-- Marco Polo

At the end of the 15th century
I plan to journey o'er the sea
To bring you tales, oh my queen
Of lands and races never seen
In India and far Cathay
That none hath visited this way.
-- Christopher Columbus

Late in the 18th century
Our famous team made history
Marching west through savage races
Indians with painted faces
Exploring new uncharted lands
Where now a mighty nation stands.
-- Lewis and Clark

At the end of the 19th century
Two explorers, maybe three
I'll have them race around the world
By great balloon, with flags unfurled
Adventures told of far off places
Peopled by exotic races.
-- Jules Verne

At the end of the 24th century
There's a star ship, do you see?
And on this star ship all these races
Go to interesting places
Each week on the TV set
Places not discovered yet.
-- Gene Roddenberry

Hurray for the heroes; applaud and roar
Who went where "nobody" went before
"Nobody" of course was already there
But heroes and history just don't care
Nobody gets trampled into the dust
For they don't count, because they're not us!

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I read a quote by Gene Roddenberry on how he "pitched" Star Trek to the TV networks. The last verse is what he said, almost verbatim. I thought it sounded a bit like a poem.

I also thought Star Trek's "where no man has gone before..." was overly pompous. Most of their plots were in fact re-makes of things that others *had* done before; just transplanted into a future universe. Besides, people were already *there*, well before these great explorers arrived!

So I wrote this.

Lee A. Hart