第一位将这句短语带到《星际旅行》中的是塞缪尔·皮普尔斯(Samuel Peeples),他把这句短语作为一集的片名。[3][4] 这一集就是“前人未至之境(英语:Where No Man Has Gone Before)”,《星际旅行》系列剧集的第二集。这句短语随即被采用到了后来撰写的开场白中。准确地说,在完成了几集电视的拍摄后,导语成型于1966年8月,并随即在系列的开头登场。导语是由几个人想出的句子融合而成的,其中有《星际旅行》的创造者吉恩·罗登伯里,制片人约翰·D·F·布莱克(John D. F. Black)和鲍勃·贾斯特曼(Bob Justman)。[5] 在他们的影响下,罗登伯里最初的叙述是:
这段话的其余部分还曾用于电影或剧集中某集的名称。其中包括《原初系列》电影《星际旅行V:终极先锋》(The Final Frontier),以及《星际旅行:进取号》的两集:“陌生新世界”、“”。《进取号》最后一集在这段话的画外音中结束。整句话由《下一代》的皮卡尔起头,《原初系列》的柯克承继并最后由《进取号》的阿彻(斯科特·巴库拉饰演)结尾。[10] 相对《下一代》的版本,《进取号》中这一句只将中性用语“one”恢复为了“man”:
新的引言“前人未至之境”此后便成为了后继星舰进取号的格言。它分别被铭刻在了进取号-B、进取号-C、进取号-D、进取号-E的铭板上。[15] 科克伦演讲的其他部分同样也成为了文化的符号象征——在《星际旅行:航海家号》的剧集,如“分道扬镳”里,凯瑟琳·珍妮薇提到星际舰队军官的誓言中包含了“寻找新生命形式”(to seek out new life)的指示。
有趣的是,到了1989年,情形就完全颠倒了。在那一年,美国国家航空航天局出版的阿波罗计划回忆录中使用了《星际旅行》版本的短语:《前人未至之境:阿波罗月球探索任务的历史》(Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions)。[20]
英国喜剧与科幻作家道格拉斯·亚当斯在他的《银河系漫游指南》系列中,写道:银河帝国遗失久远的英雄年代,是勇敢的冒险家们敢于“勇敢地劈开前人所未劈开的不定式”(“to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before”,split本意“劈开”)的年代。[24]
在劳伦斯·M·克劳斯(Lawrence M. Krauss)的《〈星际旅行〉的物理学》一书中,在列出《星际旅行》十大谬误的前面引用了他的一位同事的话,他的同事认为其中最大的错误,就是“该死的每次都要把一句不定式劈开”(to split an infinitive every damn time)。[25]
^“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.”
^“This is the adventure of the United Space Ship Enterprise. Assigned a five year galaxy patrol, the bold crew of the giant starship explores the excitement of strange new worlds, uncharted civilizations, and exotic people. These are its voyages and its adventures.”
^“Space, the final frontier. Endless. Silent. Waiting. This is the story of the United Space Ship Enterprise. Its mission: a five year patrol of the galaxy. To seek out and contact all alien life. To explore. To travel the vast galaxy, where no man has gone before. A Star Trek.”
^“Space, the final frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her on-going mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life forms and new civilizations. To boldy go where no man has gone before.”
^“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.”
^Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.
^“On this site, a powerful engine will be built. An engine that will someday help us to travel a 100 times faster than we can today. Imagine it. Thousands of inhabited planets at our fingertips. And we'll be able to explore those strange, new worlds. And seek out new life and new civilizations. This engine will let us go boldly where no man has gone before.”
^“Captain's log, stardate 9529.1. This is the final cruise of the starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man... where no one has gone before.”
^U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C. Introduction to Outer Space. The White House. 1958年3月26日 [2006年8月15日]. (原始内容存档于2012年4月15日) (英语). The first of these factors is the compelling urge of man to explore and to discover, the thrust of curiosity that leads men to try to go where no one has gone before. Most of the surface of the earth has now been explored and men now turn on the exploration of outer space as their next objective.