We are given a glimpse of the villain, though we are not given his name. There is speculation in may be Khan, the best known foil to Captain Kirk. There is also some buzz that it may be Gary Mitchell, a villain from the original series

Warning: prepare yourself for a strange hybrid of theological and scifi geekery!

If you are a fan of Star Trek, you may have already seen the trailer for the upcoming Star Trek film “Star Trek Into Darkness”. In the trailer, we are given a glimpse of the villain, though we are not given his name. There is speculation in may be Khan, the best known foil to Captain Kirk. There is also some buzz that it may be Gary Mitchell, a villain from the original series (he appeared in the episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before”). When I heard that the villain maybe Mitchell, I looked him up.

I found an article about the Mitchell character; part of it read as follows;P

Much consideration went into the character of Gary Mitchell and his progression to godly status. For instance, in a four-page memo of notes that director James Goldstone wrote about the second draft script of “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, Goldstone raised a point about Mitchell’s development that the director described as “major,” going on to say, “The purpose is dramatic, to create a subtext… My proposal is that from the time Gary suffers the first realization of what is happening to him… once he begins to give in to it, to enjoy it, even, he moves from his human status toward the status of a god within all and any of the criteria we place on such deities in our Christian–Judaic culture.

Specifically, I propose that he become oracular, in the sense of Moses or even Cotton Mather. I propose he do this in his stature, his way of using his hands and arms and eyes, silver or normal, his attitude as it applies to the script, aside from those specific stage directions, perhaps physical actions, that pertain to the dialogue. I don’t mean to suggest that it become so stylized as to become a symbol rather than a human being. I suggest it happen on a more symbolic level. This can be done by starting him more on the flip, swinging level of articulation so that we don’t even notice at one moment that this drops, but it does, on its way to becoming more formal, then more laden with import, more self-declarative, and finally downright miraculous.” (The Star Trek Interview Book, pp. 108-109)

In the “final revised draft” script of “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, Gary Mitchell, prior to his transformation, is characterized as, “about thirty, extremely likeable, and pleasant type [….] He is obviously well known too and liked [….] It’s easy to like Mitchell.” After being affected by the galactic barrier, he remarks, “I sort of… lean on people I like,” in regards to the incident with the “little blonde lab technician” and Kirk, though this line of dialogue is included only in the script and is not present in the episode’s final version. Another ultimately unused line of dialogue has Mitchell saying about his empathic ability, while confined to sickbay, “I can catch only flashes so far — mostly strong thoughts, like fear.” In yet more dialogue that was scripted but did not make it into the episode, Mitchell promises Elizabeth Dehner, “Soon we will fully control our bodies. We’ll never grow old.”

A facet of the Gary Mitchell character that was scripted but never made it to screen was a habit of saying “five-oh”; Mitchell uses this phrase twice in scripted dialogue that is not in the final edit. Also, Mitchell’s relationship with Kirk and Spock was changed to being less focused on Spock.

Read more on Mitchell here [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

In that article, the writers state that Mitchell, who develops super-human traits after an encounter with the galactic barrier (I warned you this would get geeky!), should “become oracular, in the sense of Moses or even Cotton Mather.”

Well, there you have it. If the villain of the upcoming Star Trek film does indeed turn out to be Gary Mitchell, remember that part of the original inspiration for the character was none other than the Puritan, Cotton Mather himself!

Seth Stark, formerly a Ruling Elder at Communion Presbyterian Church of Irvine, CA, has recently had a work related moved to Decatur, IL where he works as a Systems Administrator for the city.  He and his family currently worship at Christ Church PCA in Normal, IL.  He  blogs at TheRulingElder.com where this article first appeared; it is used with permission.