"Where No Fan Has Gone Before" is the eleventh episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 21, 2002. Set in a retro-futuristic 31st century, the series follows the adventures of the employees of Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company. In this episode, the Planet Express team and most of the main cast of Star Trek: The Original Series face a court-martial after visiting the forbidden planet Omega 3. An existing idea to feature the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series was scrapped and replaced with a new script written by David A. Goodman, after the newly hired writer was identified as the biggest Star Trek fan on the staff. All of the main cast of The Original Series agreed to appear, with the exception of DeForest Kelley – who had died in 1999, although a character in his likeness did appear, without speaking – and James Doohan, resulting in the creation of a new character called "Welshie". "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" was received positively by critics, with praise directed at the various Star Trek homages. The script was nominated for a Nebula Award, losing to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Plot Philip J. Fry learns that the Star Trek franchise has been forbidden since the series became a worldwide religion in the 2200s; all of its fans were killed during the Star Trek Wars and the "sacred" tapes of its 79 episodes and six movies were burned, with the remaining copies sent to the forbidden planet Omega 3. Outraged, Fry takes Leonard Nimoy's head from the Head Museum and convinces Bender and Leela to join him in a mission to recover the tapes. On Omega 3, they find several original sets from Star Trek, and most of the original cast with new bodies and eternal youth. An energy being named Melllvar explains that he became a Trekkie after watching the discarded tapes over and over again. Melllvar gives Nimoy a body, and orders the actors and the Planet Express crew to participate in a Star Trek convention until the end of time, killing Welshie, a supporting character, to ensure their obedience. While Melllvar forces the cast to perform his fan script, Bender, Leela and Fry escape in the Planet Express Ship. Fry convinces the crew to