Where no man {has gone/went} before

Question

Is there any difference between these two sentences? And how to sense the difference?

1. Where no man has gone before.

2. Where no man went before.

The first sentence is the title of episode three of Star Trek the original series.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

There is a difference in tense. "Has gone" is the present perfect, while "went" is the simple past. However, in this case, I don't think that results in any difference in meaning. To me the main difference is that the former sounds more formal and literary than the latter.