This week we take a look at the third episode of Star Trek ever to hit the airwaves, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. It is interesting to note that this was actually the shows second pilot, and is the episode that actually convinced the network to pick up the show. It was aired third instead of first because network officials wanted to start off with an alien that looked alien and therefore “The Man Trap” was aired first.
In the series’s second pilot, where no man has gone before, where James Kirk was introduced, at one point Gary Mitchel is trying to kill the captain and he fashions a tombstone bearing the name James R. Kirk. Nothing is said about the middle initial being incorrect, however a few episodes later his name is given as James T. Kirk. In all 79 of the original episodes it is never mentioned what the T. stands for. The name Tiberius is revealed in an episode of the animated Star Trek series. It is my opinion we must assume that the episode where the character was introduced would get the character’s name correct and, therefore, his name is James R. Kirk and any episode, book, movie, or whatever, that calls him anything else is wrong.