The Alternative Factor (Star Trek TOS - S1E28)

[Hailing Frequencies Open]

When one of the most confusing episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series collides with a podcast that refuses to let nonsense slide… you get this.

This week on Treks and Tangents, we dive headfirst into The Alternative Factor: an episode infamous among fans for its chaotic plot, baffling science, and a villain who may (or may not?) be fighting… himself? In another universe? Maybe?

We attempt to untangle the dual-Lazarus dilemma, question every editing choice ever made, and ask the ultimate question: is this misunderstood sci-fi… or just straight-up bad TV?

Spoiler: even Kirk looks confused.

[End Transmission]

Transcript

Intro/Turbolift Tease Recap

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Alien Frequencies Open and welcome aboard Treks and Tangents. I'm your co-host Brian. And I'm your co-host Jackie.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

I'm the Star Trek movie who treks off on tangents.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

And I'm your Star Trek expert who is here to get the tangents back on track. Each episode we watch and talk about a different Star Trek episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

And this week we watched Star Trek, the original series, season one, episode 27, The Alternative Factor.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Thank you all for tuning in once again. Thank you everyone who's been liking, subscribing. Don't forget to comment on the episode at the end or whenever you drop off. Leave your thoughts to this week's episode. Leave a comment to anything that you questioned about this questionable episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Like you gotta someone help me out. But before we jump too far into it this week, let's jump back to revisit last week's turbolift tease. That was where at the end of last week's episode I gave Jackie the title of this week's episode, and Jackie gave her elevator pitch or guess to what this week's plot was. So, computer, what was Jackie's guess last week?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Jackie's TurboLift tees last week was one of the crew members has been harmed very gravely, but Dr. McCoy has been able to learn a new procedure that is going to be able to mend this crew member. And although it's not what everyone would do, he does decide that he is going to use this specific twist on this procedure, and is going to find out that it works great, and he just might add it to his repertoire.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Whoa. So, Jackie, how accurate do you think your guess was? Way off the mark. Although I did include McCoy. You got at least the character that was in the episode. Yes. It's kind of unfair. This is one of those episodes where the title makes no sense, the episode itself makes no sense. It's kind of bad faith to ask you to accurately guess the plot of an episode that is just such a bad episode.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yeah, I I I tried and I I failed miserably, but also this episode I I mmm it was a hard hard watch for me.

Initial Impressions

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Yeah, it's a hard watch for anyone. So for initial- Oh, I'm not alone. So initial no initial impressions. Try to include what you think the plot of the episode is. Briefly.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Well, I thought we were going to figure out what was gonna happen, like what exactly made the atmosphere blink and wink. And then we were gonna help this one person who was dirty and scraggly and never got a shower and help him get back to where he's supposed to go. And that never happened.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

This episode is a good predictor of I think what the Marvel cinematic universe turns into here in 2026 with parallel or alternative universes that never really come together, never really pull off anything satisfying. Jackie fully admitted before we started recording that she did not understand what happened in the episode, and it's very difficult to understand. To sum it up, for everyone else who may not have figured out what was going on, the character Lazarus. Yes, there were two.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

I figured that out at the end.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

One was crazy, one was not crazy.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

And we predominantly saw more of the crazy one than the non-crazy one.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

And the crazy one wants to kill the non-crazy one.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

So the non-crazy one exists in a universe that is they describe it as antimatter. It's not a hundred percent antimatter, we'll get into it later. But think of it as another universe that is somewhat parallel to our universe.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Okay. I'm trying. That Lazarus and his people found a way to use that little weird spaceship that he has. I called it the bubble ship. The bubble ship, the Pope Mobile. They use that spaceship to pop over to this universe. Oh, like a like a little ride? Yeah, or like like a like a transporter. They use that ship to transport themselves to the other planet. Not the ship, because the ship stays there, but it doesn't because it was Oh, the ship is like the teleporter pad thing. It's a good way to describe it. Okay. Upon learning that there was another universe in which he existed, this universe's Lazarus goes insane and wants to kill the other Lazarus.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Oh, because he couldn't handle it.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

So the problem with that, however, is though, if they were to ever meet in either of the universes, because they are opposites, it would create a catastrophic explosion in the same way that matter and antimatter, when combined, creates. Basically, they would blow up the universe. Got it. So every time we saw the little shifting, it was either the other one trying to come through, the other one would take over. It was in it all falls apart at this point. But that's ultimately what the plot of this episode is two parallel universes, two separate individuals, and the danger that it poses.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Okay, one question. Why did the sane Lazarus, why was his bubble ship broken? Like it's like front bumper was off.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Because he was trying to find a way to stop the connection between the two universes. The sane Lazarus is the one who recognized I don't want both universes to blow up, so I'm trying to disable, I'm trying to close this door. Okay. Because ultimately he can't succeed. He ultimately all he can do is now you introduce surrender himself by capturing or trapping the other Lazarus in this corridor, they call it, between both universes.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Because then he can't come to the broken bubble ship because it's broken.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Correct. And that's why they blow up the ship with the phasers at the very end.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

So that it stops existing and it closes the door, and both of them are trapped in between where they can't blow up the universe. It makes no sense. There are a lot of plot holes that are a problem with this.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

And supposedly they're gonna be fighting each other for the rest of eternity.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Correct, because well, there's other problems with that too, but and in any case. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

That was a lot for a simple thing they could have told us.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Yeah, it was this is a very this is this is a bad episode.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

And the title means nothing.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

The alternative factor, I couldn't tell you why they called it that. I don't understand it. Even looking into earlier versions of the script, because a lot of the times an episode name will come from the early development of the script, or it'll have a different name, and as the script evolves, it changes the name to match, or not. I don't know why they called it this.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

So well, I have noticed as a green newbie to this Star Trek, the titles don't always match what we're gonna see, anyways.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

No, they're not always a perfect fit. There's no gotcha moment in every episode.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Sometimes, though, more often than not, they do kind of like give a like a peek, but this one was like way off in a different land.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Yeah. So it's not a great episode to try to pull a lot of Star Trek lore or to tie it all in. This is definitely one of those episodes where it just kind of falls off to the side, and it's probably a good thing that it does. I'm showing Jackie the the memory alpha listing, which is the pacing. You can kind of see like there's really nothing until it gets to the final act, and even then.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Well, then that's that's what I was gonna tell you. I need help with all those words.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

But even then, there's no dis there's really no depth to the episode.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Like it's uh pages on pages on pages.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yeah, the majority a lot of this episode is special effects, camera work, a lot of dramatic pauses that really act as huge fillers.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Well, I noticed uh it was a different director, and I although I didn't enjoy the episode as a whole, I enjoyed his vision on like what he was trying to do. Sure. Like I give him props for that, but he had just a poor storyline to work with.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

And I think that there could be a lot of ways that you can tune up this episode that could make it a little bit better. We'll talk about some of there was there's a lot, there's one major sticking point that we'll talk I'll talk about later, but I'll bring it up now, that a lot of people use to criticize this episode is if our universe is matter and the other universe is antimatter, and when those two combine, they create an explosion, that's what they're trying to avoid. Yes, by the crazy Lazarus meeting the sane Lazarus, then in theory, anytime the sane Lazarus, antimatter Lazarus, comes into our universe, matter, it would cause the explosion. When Kirk goes into Sane Lazarus' universe at the end, and they formulate the final plan, he's going he's a being of matter, and he's going into the antimatter universe, it would cause the explosion. So there's a lot of criticism in that point. I've kind of wrapped my head around it with a slightly different reason or explanation for it, but we'll get to it then. But I think we've gone on long enough about our thoughts. I think we both can agree our initial impressions. Neither one of us particularly care for this episode.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

No, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

It's gonna be a big spoiler for how we feel at the end.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

I don't have to promote or demote anyone.

Treking Through the Episode

SPEAKER_02 10:35

Yeah, it's gonna be a quick ranking for this one, I think. But uh why don't we why don't we get into it, Jackie? Why don't you walk us through the episode?

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Well, I think um, while the episode was not like interestingly fun and exciting, we did get to meet more characters. So um I thought that was a plus. But anyways, we're starting with a normal bridge shot, and we have our yeoman giving a clipboard to Kirk to sign off, and Spock is looking at this planet that they're orbiting around, and um, because they're going to be mapping it, I'm presuming, because later on Kirk tells the cartography unit to start doing their job. And so Spock reports his readings that it is an atmosphere that's arid and no life is shown, no surprises. And then in the back of my head, I was like, You didn't just say that because you jinxed yourself.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

And well, and he specifically says it's an oxygen-hydrogen rich atmosphere. Let's point this out for a second. Oxygen and hydrogen are extremely flammable, yeah, which is why we don't see that combination in the universe, because any little spark would cause it to explode. But yes, to your point, he does call it lifeless. What did you see down on the planet, Jackie? A black hole and looking like Mars. But what did you also see on the planet? Plants.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Oh, yeah, when we went to the planet, it did not look exactly like how uh Spock ex explained it. Yeah described it. So that was also confusing.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Yeah, he's calling it a lifeless planet. He is describing it like Mars, the moon, a barren rock in the middle of space, but there's plants.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Yeah, when they went down, there was plants, there were dry plant like it was it was like we were in the arena again.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Right. Same same film stage, same park. Again, just kind of a weird throw off to when you could easily just say that there's no intelligent life, there's only plant life. You could a one-off moment to better describe it to be more accurate. So I um we're not gonna we're not gonna crap on this episode the whole time, but we kinda are. We're really trying not to.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

No, I mean, there are po there are likable points. No, there's not. I try to look at the good science. So Kirk orders that um we do four more orbits around the planet. Then he tells the cartographic sessions to be taken. So cartography is map making. So we're gonna make a map of the planet, and then to Starbase 200.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Right, because he's fully written off this mission. He thinks they're done. He thinks this is just a routine mission and they're they're gonna take off. And even even the background music for this opening when they first pan in on the bridge is you hear the oboe music, it's kind of leaning into that more whimsical musical score, setting it up for this is nothing's wrong.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Oh, yeah, and the yes, the score alone is great, also, because I mean we got some good bassoons going, and I mean, I and the bass clarinet. Sorry, I just love it. But anyways, so just as Kirk orders for all this to happen, Spock yells captain, and then like a crazy crash happens, all different colors, and then twirly boxes. It's crazy on the screen.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

It's probably the biggest second second to the f second to only to the first time that they went to warp, where we get the overlay of the stars shooting past. This is probably one of the biggest moments of quote unquote chaos in the show where they have this overlay of the stars and the nebula over the bridge crew rocking back and forth as the enterprise shakes. Definitely set it up for this false sense, definitely a quote-unquote shock moment for the episode.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

And then Spock calls it incredible.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Yeah, it's kind of funny where there's I've got it paused up here where we've still got the overlay of the nebula, and we've got Kirk, and he's just kind of staring at Spock as we wait for the nebula to fade away, and it's not till the nebula fades away that Kirk goes, Spock, and Spock goes, Incredible.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

And it's just like he's just watching it through his microscope thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah, it's like Kirk is waiting for the cue from the director to give his line. There's a couple moments that are awkward like that throughout the episode where they they yell action and then they kind of let it stretch too long before they give their line.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

So I weird if you have it paused and his hand is resting just above any of the buttons he has to push on this chair. Yeah, so weird weird editing choice in the episode. So Kirk runs to Spock. I mean, I think he wants to check on his friend, but also to like, what are you talking about that there was nothing wrong? And then he wants more details on what's happening, like what just happened. And then Spock doesn't know what's wrong because his instruments are perfect, and all of his reading said there was nothing wrong. But then he goes on to say that um like the universe wings and then Kirk is like, I need facts, not poetry. I don't know why Kirk would be uh Spock would be saying poetry at this moment, but he's trying to explain that the universe is kind of like stopped for two like blinks, and he doesn't know why yet.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Yeah, there's really he's trying to give a concise explanation to something that occurred where the sensors don't adequately give him the information and facts to convey that to Kirk. What he's trying to explain is that literally every sensor reading went off the charts. He even refers to the fact that the planet itself achieved zero gravity. Okay. Kirk says it's impossible. Yes. Point is this is a major event. This isn't just a one little isolated incident in the vicinity of the planet. This has huge impacts. Much this is a universe-wide event, much like the burn in Discovery. This is huge. And we get a fun little moment where Spock then says that he detects a life form on the planet, it gives off all the readings of a human, and so where did he come from if there was no life before?

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Exactly. And then Yahara has to interrupt all of them and say that there's a general alert from Starfleet, and Kirk has to tell all of his crew to go to immediate alert status, and they have to be ready.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

Right. It's the exact same wording that she used when they got the initial communication from Starfleet from Errand of Mercy with the Klingons saying that the negotiations had failed and that they were expecting an invasion. We get this quick little back and forth where they have the a live communication with a Commodore from Starfleet. The Commodore is expecting them to prepare for invasion and that the Enterprise is going to be by themselves because they're pulling out all of Starfleet's resources from the area. So they're bait. Yeah. Kirk describes it as bait. Kinda weird that they wouldn't send more resources to help the Enterprise, but But also, what are they bait of?

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Like that implies that something is hunting them.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Right. The Commodore is pulling out all of the resources of Starfleet because, again, this is where they get the report that this is something, an event that has occurred across the universe. It was felt everywhere. He even goes so far, the Commodore goes so far as to describe it as something that was registered and read outside of the universe. I don't know how they're getting readings outside of the universe. They don't have or outside the galaxy, they don't have colonies outside the galaxy, they don't have monitoring equipment outside the galaxy. So how do you get those readings to see how far it goes? Again, could have been cleaned up with the writers where they just said this was experienced throughout all of known space or all of Starfleet's sector. But in any case, Kirk decides, you know what's gonna be cool since we're bait, let's just take a bunch of people down to try to meet the strange new humanoid on the planet.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Kirk and Spock beam down with four security crewmen. Only four. Yes. And they're all the beefy ones. I've learned that these guys, I've noticed that the security guys are becoming more beefy as time goes on.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Well, when it's important and they're doing security missions, then yeah, you need the beefcakes.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

So, and just like we said earlier, this planet that's supposed to be dead and lifeless is green not all green, but it's sandy, it has grass, it has bushes. I mean, it's just like a little drought park or something. Yeah, it has some life. And so they all look around, and Spock, of course, has his tricorder in hand and he's walking around trying to look for what's what what is the thing that they're looking for? So of course Kirk and Spock are in front of the security men. Like, aren't they supposed to be behind them? But I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

Yeah, it's again strange that he would why would Kirk and Spock, the captain and the first officer, beam down to the planet themselves? Why wouldn't he send Sulu? Why wouldn't he send, I don't know, McCoy to check on the statues. Yeah. I I it just seems strange that they would go down themselves.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

And so, whoa, what do they find? They find what I call the bubble ship. It's a white circular craft and then like a glass bubble dome for the pilot. And they're just like, hmm, what is this? And then suddenly a man appears and he's like, You have come. And then yeah, you need to stop them. He's just ranting and raving to them.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Right. He appears on some rock cliffs that are a little bit aways from them, but up on cliffs.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

And then as he's yelling, he like falls off the cliff, and Kirk and Crew have to run to him, and he's all like dirty and musty, and Kirk and Spock just look at each other, and then they take him back up to the Enterprise. Who knows if he's harm if he's harmful, but they take him up to the Enterprise so McCoy can fix him.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

They spend less time on the planet discovering this man and the bubble ship, then we see the opening before the opening credits with the whole blinking of the universe.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

So now we're back on the enterprise, and Kirk is watching. Walking in, he looks at Yahura and she's like, I have nothing to report. And then a new science member approaches, and this is a a woman that we learned that her name is Lieutenant Masters, but they don't tell us until later. But, anyways, she approaches Kirk and tells him that we are down all of our dilithium crystals. Whatever we just went through, they're all drained.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

We don't ever get a payoff for this. I don't believe. I don't believe there's any real explanation as to why this drained the dilithium crystals, why in a little bit Lazarus is trying to steal the dilithium crystals. It's just this weird plot point that never pays off.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

And another question are these the same crystals from a few episodes ago that we knew that we only had one stash and we should have ordered more?

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yeah, these are the exact same crystals. These are the batteries of the Enterprise. And we still don't have backups. I guess it's frustrating. Well, you can also argue maybe they did have backups, but this event drained all of them. Okay. Instead of like the few episodes ago that I'm thinking of where they were damaged while they were being drained or used by the Enterprise. They could have some in storage, but everything's been drained down to next to nothing. Got it.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

So without these crystals, the orbit will begin to decay in 10 hours because these crystals kept Enterprise, you know, alive.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

It gives them the power to make orbital adjustments because even with the most precise calculations, you still need to occasionally adjust your orbit to not free fall into the planet.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

So then Kurt goes to Spock and asks about any other magnetic disturbances. And Spock's scanners indicate that the current situation is normal. Nothing to explain what happened earlier by any established physical laws that he is aware of. Like it's just nothing. But he has determined one fact though, while widespread, the wild effect has the strongest on the planet beneath them. Like that's where like the main point is.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

Yes, as if we didn't already figure that out.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

So then remember when we talked about the Commodore and how we are baited, we now get a center that is having Kirk tell everybody to go to battle stations and be battle ready. So then he discusses his pl his plan with Spock.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

And we get them creating theories and a h hypothesis about what could be going on. And at this point, I'm just sitting there going, You guys found a mysterious stranger, you guys found a mysterious ship, you spent 30 seconds with both of them. Maybe at some point you guys want to go check these things out.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Yeah, because they're all about battle, but uh McCoy is with the person.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Yeah. And it's only like All this happens in 10 minutes. Yeah, it's only like 10 minutes into the episode. It feels like a long time.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

And this guy, the stranger, is fine. So fine, they don't have to go to Sick Bay to interview him. They go to Kirk's quarters.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

But we need to notice that there is a bandage with a gash on his forehead.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Right. Which, again, is not going to really pay off as a plot point, but it is brought up later. In this moment, he doesn't. In Kirk's Quarters, he does not have the bandage on his head. And he's talking calmly. He's talking without any kind of real urgency or craziness. He's talking factually. So this has to be Lazarus B, the antimatter Lazarus, the Lazarus from the other universe.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

The one without the gash on his head. There's no wound.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

Right, because he gets the gash from falling off the rocks on the planet. The crazy one. And he was the crazy one, the one from our universe. But even though his tone of voice is calm, and even though he's presenting himself as rational, and we don't think it's the one from our universe, his speech is talking as if he is the one from our universe. He talks about how this devil thing came into his planet and destroyed his planet. And he he has been he, the guy in Kirk's quarters, has been pursuing this devil thing for a long period of time. So who really knows which one this is? Again, there's only so far that we can stretch logic over this episode to make it make sense. Also, this is the first time that we get the close-up of his beard and mustache, and it is awful. It is horrendous.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Never the same. So I thought also, along with the bandage issue, that perhaps the facial hair changed also, but then I realized no, it's just bad hair application.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Oh, you would think, because I thought the same thing too as I was watching it, thinking maybe this is some indication of which one is which, but no, there's no rhyme or reason to it. It's just in some scenes it's really bad, it's different, it changes. You can really tell in one moment based on his mustache. In some scenes, it's really thick, and in other scenes, it is just incredibly thin, like comically thin. Like spaghetti.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

And this is also in his office, like in his quarters. Like I would not feel comfortable bringing someone into my quarters. They just met.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

No. Well, there's a lack of overall security throughout the entire episode. Later, we're gonna see him wandering around by himself. We're gonna see him in the rec room by himself.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

So And so then Lazarus asks Kirk if he will go with him on his holy cause and help him fix the situation. And all that Kirk has to do is to ensure that his bubble ship is safe. But Kirk is like, I'm gonna beam down with you and check it out, but we're not doing any of this crazy stuff you're talking about. I'm just gonna make sure the ship is what you say. And so, but also uh Kirk brings Spock and another security officer with him as they go down onto the planet's surface. Spock and the security officer are at the little bubble ship making sure it's a plane ship. And then Kirk makes the comment that there should be other living creatures on this planet. Like there's nothing wrong with it.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Well, and I also think in the moment he's referring to the fact that if Lazarus is telling the truth, which by the way, we keep calling him Lazarus. We don't even know how he got that name. We never get the name until he later like goes off on his own and Kirk calls out after him, Lazarus. So whatever moment in Kirk's quarters during that initial interview that introduces the character's name ends up cut from the episode. So we have no idea for the longest time what this guy's name is. But again, I think Kirk is referring to the fact that if he is chasing this thing, this monster, and it's on the planet, then the Enterprise should be able to pick up a second life form on the planet.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

You're right. Checking the sensors again, Yerra reports that she can't find another living creature, and Lazarus becomes angry when Spock literally just calls him out as a liar, and then Kirk demands for an answer like, what is happening? And then we have another one of those weird storms going on, but that's on the planet.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Yeah, and a lot of shaking, a lot of flashing lights, the overlay of the stars and the nebula.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

And like two people in blue fighting.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

Yeah, so then this is the part where they kind of go off to investigate. Again, they let Lazarus wander off by himself. He goes up a cliff. Yeah, and this is the first instance where we get this really strange, it has to be a metaphor of I don't even know what, because the plot, again, the plot makes no sense. It's supposed to be a metaphor for Lazarus B in the antimatter universe coming through to our universe and he's struggling with or fighting with Lazarus A from our universe. But again, Lazarus B knows if he comes into our universe and fights and comes in contact with Lazarus A from here, we get the big explosion. So why is Lazarus B even trying to come over here? Unless, again, he's just trying to come across to sabotage the guy's ship. But in any case, someone was really proud of their special effects with their camera. It looks like a negative over a negative. I haven't seen this effect since the movie Time Bandits in the 80s, but it makes everything look like a film negative. We see two stunt men that kind of resemble Lazarus. It's the film is slowed down a little bit, but they're clearly struggling with one another. One of them clearly throws the other guy down to signify that someone has won, and then we get everything returning back to normal. This is really the first instance to wrap it all up and put a bow on it that should explain to the viewers that whenever this cosmic wink happens, one of the Lazarus is traveling to the other universe. Or I should say the one of the Lazarus is traveling from the antimatter universe into our universe, I think would be a better way to describe it. Jackie is laughing her ass off in the background because it makes no sense. I'm desperately trying to explain bad plot and bad science fiction.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

I'm really trying to understand. So, well, Lazarus falls again from the cliff.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Number two.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

And he has, you know, his face is all messed up. And while he's laying there, Spock is on his trichorder, is like, yep, something happened right here. Right here on this planet.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

And then but Lazarus is like, yes, I was right. See, you saw it attack me. You saw all this was happening, and we must kill it. Kill it, kill it, kill it before it starts killing us. Right. So just yells, kill, kill, kill.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

So again, we now have to believe again that this is the same Lazarus on Earth. So does the other Lazarus never come to us? Is it just always a fight? I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Because earlier the clean-shaven Lazarus was talking.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Not clean-shaven, but clean spoken.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

But yes, that's what I meant.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Yeah. Okay, so I'm trying to think if there's any point in this episode where we ever see evidence that it is. It we have to, because the guy ends up flipping back and forth between being injured and not being injured, a cut on his head and not having a cut on his head. And the only way that can be explained is when the Lazarus' switch.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

That's why I thought there was like a double identity. But we never really see it happen. We only hear McCoy say, This is so weird. There was a gash, I cleaned it, and then next time I saw him, he didn't have it. Then I asked him about it, and then I then it magically reappeared again and the bandage was back on it.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

Yeah, and I think we're kind of we're we're skipping around quite a bit because there's just so much filler to the episode, and we're going off on longer tangents to try to fill time. First time I think in a while we've had to fill time for the episode, but I think we're kind of there.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Well, I mean, this is very I think it's intriguing, even though I don't really understand it, but it's kind of fun. So we're in the sick bay, and this is where McCoy sees the gash and the no gash on his head that we talked about before. And um then he leaves Sick Bay and Kirk goes, Well, where did he go? And this is again where you mentioned it last episode that we hear McCoy start to say, I'm just a country doctor.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

I thought that was kind of a I did not like that he added that there. That was kind of punky.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Yeah, and it kind of gives an explanation as to why Lazarus is roaming the ship at this point, but the explanation still isn't the best. He's roaming the ship because they failed to put any security officers on him to watch him.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

Tie him down, anything.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

And he I mean, it's not uncommon to either have a security officer in sick bay watching over a sick person who intention and could be a threat to the ship exists. It's also not uncommon for them to just stay outside of sick bay and give them some privacy, but if they were to try to leave, kind of like house arrest, they would stop them from leaving sick bay. Again, could have been avoided.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

So then we're in the like the lunchroom, the cafeteria. Um, we see in the background that cool, like leveled chess 3D chess. Yes, thank you, thank you. And I thought it was really cool. And then some gals are having coffee, and Lazarus is just watching everyone interact.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

And then And again, no one is questioning why this guy is just hanging out in the rec room.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

Yeah, because he's filthy. He like, I don't know, like he's filthy.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

He clearly does not belong.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

No, and yes, you're right. Nobody is like going, hey dude, why are you here? So then Lieutenant Masters kind of like takes the coffee from this young serviceman, and then she goes, Oh, how's the reamplif reamplification of the dilithium crystals going? And then they're like, Oh, we should go check on them, and they both leave. So they go to the engineering room, and then Lazarus tries to follow them, but for some reason he grabs like a lattice wall, and then we have another of those weird color crashing like crazy things.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Crazy camera effects. We see the negative film of the two stunt men struggling and wrestling with each other before we get the transition back into normal, whatever normal is for this episode.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

I mean, at first I thought he was being electrocuted because he is weird and he's touching a weird wall. Right. But that was wrong. But McCoy and Kirk, they happen they just happened to be in the right time, and McCoy is like, let me look at the bandage, and he has a gash on his face.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

Which contradicts McCoy's claim that the gash had miraculously healed itself. Again, I can't keep track of which Lazarus is supposedly existing in our universe at this moment or not. I can't even say confidently that one of the Lazarus is taking over the other Lazarus and they're swapping places, or if they're just inhabiting each other's minds, because it's never explained.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

I mean, side note, I do like that the bandage is sparkly.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

Yeah, it definitely is a gold sparkly bandage.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

I mean, McCoy style. So uh Yahura calls Kirk to the bridge, and Kirk says, Lazarus, you're with me. So they leave McCoy in the hallway, and McCoy is just dumbfounded. Like he doesn't understand what's happening with the wounds. So up onto the bridge, Spock has noticed radiation on the planet, yet the scanners are still not picking it up, um, according to them that it isn't there. They call for the main screen to be shown, and Spock calls this incident a rip in the universe.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

Yeah, he contradicts himself. Spock contradicts himself a little bit in this conversation because he first I believe says the radiation is there, but he can't detect it, and then he clarifies that the radiation is there and it's the source of the radiation that doesn't exist, which is why they can't determine it. It's a stupid way to say it.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

However, with the dilithium crystals, Spock was able to locate it. So that makes no sense to me either.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Nope. Hey, guess what? Makes no sense to me either.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

And then Lazarus perks up because he's like, Oh, these crystals, we can uh they can destroy the creature with these crystals that is tormenting him. So let's keep finding them.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

And again, no reason or explanation as to why the dilithium crystals are going to help anyone in this situation.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

But they're the key to trap that evil creature, that spawn of the devil. And he's like begging them to please give me some crystals.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

So I think the only thing I can remember from the episode is the dilithium crystals are also used to power the bubble ship. And so That's what I noticed too. So that's the only reason I can think of is Crazy Lazarus from our universe wants to get the Dilithium crystals to power his bubble ship so that he can travel down the corridor to the other universe to attack him, which would destroy the universe. The other Lazarus wants the crystals so that he can travel to our universe to destroy his ship and close the door between the two universes, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

Hmm, I didn't get that the sane, quote unquote, sane one wanted the crystals.

SPEAKER_02 40:14

He fully admits later when Kirk visits the antimatter universe that he was the one who initially stole the crystals.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

So they're both trying to steal the crystals for their own purposes. That's really rude. It's really confusing.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

So Lazarus is becoming defiant because Kirk keeps saying, no, these are our crystals. Our ship, our ship is our ship. I have 430 people on here that need to stay alive. Your ship is on the planet, you can stay down there. And then Lazarus keeps demanding, and then Kirk is like, I'm done with this. You need to start actually telling me what is happening because all that you've been saying means nothing. And then Lazarus like backs up and states, I'll have my vengeance, and runs into the hallway.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

He runs into the turbolift.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Yes, the turbo lift.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

There's no hallway off the bridge. Not in this, not in this version of the Enterprise.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

So he runs off of the bridge, under the turbolift, into the hallway, where then again we have another one of those attacks.

SPEAKER_02 41:20

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

He comes out of his attack. Nobody noticed it.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

And again, no idea if this is the same Lazarus, if the other Lazarus is taken over and swapped places. Couldn't tell ya.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

And his facial hair keeps changing. And so finally, Lazarus has found the engineering section that he's been looking for because he heard Lieutenant Masters saying she was working on the dilithium crystals. So he goes into the engineering room, and we can see Lieutenant Masters and her aide doing their job. And then his her aide walks around to tell her that she has to do something on the other side. And this is where Lazarus like knocks out his her aide. I don't think he's dead. I think he's just passed out.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

Yeah. Is he injecting him?

SPEAKER_01 42:18

Is he using some kind of We do see him attack Lieutenant Masters while she's on the phone with Kirk and he's trying to inject something into her, but she's able to keep yelling and talking to Kirk. Yeah, but she still passes out.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

So I don't know if it's an injectable, I don't know if it's some kind of Like a mix? Or no, or that it's just some kind of device that acts to knock them out by smell like chloroform. Oh. No idea. Again, not explained.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

The point of Kirk's call was that he wanted to create an experimentation chamber to ensure that the crystals were at full power in 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

Because they're trying to recharge their batteries.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Right. So sh they wanted to check on them, and she said, we could totally do that.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

Again.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

And then Lazarus jumped in there.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

And again, no real explanation to how they're gonna recharge the dilithium crystals. It's been a big problem every time in the past when the dilithium crystals end up being drained, that they have to find new crystals. So come on, guys.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

And then our good old Yehora reports that Lazarus is missing. So while Lazarus was in the engineering room, he stole two crystals. And now while he's missing, he also has those crystals. So he has hidden them somewhere because he has been found without the crystals in hand, though.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

Right. We get a commercial break, and in in this time of the commercial, they apprehend him and they're in the conference room and they're questioning Lazarus where the crystal. Are he denies everything and tries to say it was the monster who stole the crystals? Again, we have no idea which Lazarus is which.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

And then again, we get on like this fact rant rant from Kirk. Like, fact, you said you needed the crystals. Fact. An hour later, two of my crew were attacked. Fact. Two of my crystals are missing. Uh, yeah, you say nothing has happened. I'm not the one. You need to, you know, fill in the answers. Again. Like, it seems to be like a common theme.

SPEAKER_02 44:31

Right. And we get a vague explanation from Lazarus when questioned by Spock as to, well, why does your enemy need the crystals if he's the one who stole them? And Lazarus says it's the same reason that I need the crystals, because they get used in the ship, and we jump back and forth and all this stuff. But again, Lazarus has just now admitted that he has a use for the crystals too, casting doubt on whether it was this other entity or himself that stole the crystals. Doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

So Kirk agrees that he's going to continue investigate this whole scenario. That means they have to go back down to the planet and look for if the crystals are there, his enemy, like more beaming down. Like this is frustrating.

SPEAKER_02 45:21

Right. In the end, that's what is suggested by Lazarus in the conference room that the other monster stole the crystals and would have taken them back down to the planet to somehow use and interact with the ship down on the planet.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

So we're on the planet again, and our search party is Kirk, Spock, and again, just four security officers and Lazarus.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

And we go to this planet to have a scene which is basically just again to show off this special effect again. Nothing else really happens. They go searching for the monster and the crystals because they're not at the ship. They all kind of split off into a couple little groups. Again, Lazarus is by himself. We get a very prolonged scene of this transition, the two stuntmen fighting overlaid over the galaxy or the nebula. And once again, Lazarus falls off the damn cliff.

SPEAKER_01 46:21

But a rock is falling before him, and he says, Captain, watch out.

SPEAKER_02 46:26

I guess that is the only saving grace to this scene. The only thing that is different is as he's falling, he knocks loose a rock and calls out to the captain, supposedly alerting Kirk that the rock is falling, and it supposedly is enough to have Kirk jump out of the way. I don't think we see any of that. I think the rock was gonna fall away from Kirk to begin with. But in any case, Lazarus falls off the cliff. This is the third time. The boy likes to fall off cliffs.

SPEAKER_01 46:56

And the person doing hair makeup this time gave Lazarus a full beard.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

He's beautifully f you know furred.

SPEAKER_02 47:05

I wouldn't call it beautifully.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

It's still an extremely thin go-needs a shower.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

It's still an extremely thin goatee.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

So and so Lazarus fell higher from this from another this rock, and they don't know if he's okay. He has blood, you know, from both parts of the both sides of his mouth, on his eye. It's poor dude. Back to Sick Bay we go.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

And in Sick Bay, I don't know if it's because it's the sane Lazarus that they're currently talking to, or if it's just a moment of clarity for the insane Lazarus. But Kirk asks some questions. Now Lazarus claims that he's a time traveler, that the planet that they keep going to and from is his homeworld, and it was destroyed by the monster, the other Lazarus. But he also tries to make a comment that the planet represents a future version of the planet that's been destroyed. So he's a time traveler from Kirk's past, and he's travel forward in time chasing this monster. Okay. Why wouldn't you travel back in time to before you're well, I guess you're chasing him, you can't control where he's going, but um a whole lot of nonsense that makes no sense. We jump quickly to the bridge where we get a discussion between Kirk and Spock. We jump back to the briefing room where we get a discussion between Kirk and Spock where they're trying to put all the pieces together. They talk about a parallel universe or a parallel reality is a better way to describe it.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

All of this was like, whoa, I need to talk to Brian.

SPEAKER_02 48:43

Well, a parallel universe would basically be when in every second of the of the moment, hundreds of decisions are made by hundreds of untold number of decisions are made, and for for the decision that you make, you go off on the reality and the and the universe that you experience, but somewhere else a parallel universe goes off for the other decision, and that branches out, and that branches out. It's not really, though, a parallel universe because if they're made of different material where they come in contact with each other, they would explode because they're talking about a physical, chemical, whatever reaction and not a time paradox. So it's not really a parallel universe, it's a parallel reality. Again, does not matter. But that's where we get the first mention of that explanation of one is matter, one is antimatter. If it's a parallel reality, and they're switching, they do specifically mention that they're switching places back and forth, and if they were ever to meet, it would cause this catastrophic explosion and end reality in both of their universes. And then we get a very prolonged scene where whatever Lazarus is currently on the Enterprise, he wanders away from Sick Bay, sets a fire in engineering as a distraction, and is able to run into engineering and steal more crystals. So they're both stealing crystals, I guess. And with those stolen crystals, Lazarus runs into the transporter room, knocks out the transporter operator, and beams himself down to the planet. He learned that really quick. Yeah, I guess so.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

And then apparently the operator is okay because he then beams down Kirk to go down to the planet.

SPEAKER_02 50:33

To chase after Lazarus. Again, strange decision. Beam down by yourself instead of I guess. I guess there's supposed to be now this urgency because they've revealed that they've caught up to what's happening and the real danger of the two Lazarus' meeting, which is the only explanation I can come up with that Kirk would beam down by himself and not wait for a full assembly team, for a full away team to assemble. But Kirk beams down and we get Act 4 because Kirk somehow, while investigating the ship, confronts Lazarus. Lazarus gets upset that Kirk is there to confront him, and Lazarus sends Kirk through the corridor to the other reality to meet the other Lazarus.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

I was like, how is he getting home?

SPEAKER_02 51:25

Good question. I don't think Kirk knew right in that moment, but we get a we get the weird reverse negative. Kirk travels to the corridor, he meets the opposite Lazarus.

SPEAKER_01 51:35

The other Lazarus has all the crystals in his ship, and he's very happy that he can start doing whatever he needs to do.

SPEAKER_02 51:42

Which I guess is going to be up to me to explain his plan. Jackie's looking at me like, come on.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

I know he put the stuff in the in the bin and said, It's done, I'm ready. So, okay, bye.

SPEAKER_02 51:57

To wrap it all up, Lazarus B of the antimatter universe explains to Kirk. He's very nice. That it was his people that discovered this ability to open this corridor to travel to this other reality. It caused the other Lazarus, again, I guess, to go insane. So the other Lazarus is now trying to hunt down and destroy Lazarus B. Lazarus B says he can't do that. We're opposites. I'm antimatter, he's matter. I don't think they say that, but that's the parallel, that's the metaphor. And so if we ever were to exist in the same universe together, both realities, yours and mine, would be destroyed. So the plan is get him to chase me into my universe, but I will meet him in this corridor in between realities. You destroy the ship on your end, which will destroy the ship on my end, for no explanation, and that will trap the two of us in this corridor where we cannot then go to one of the realities together to destroy everything. Fine. Kirk agrees. Kirk pops back to our reality, grabs Lazarus, shoves him through the door of the ship, sends him into the corridor. He ends up meeting his alternate ego in the corridor. The Enterprise uses the phasers from the Enterprise to blow up the ship and traps them both in this corridor.

SPEAKER_01 53:28

Of course, Kirk was back on the Enterprise when they shot it all up.

SPEAKER_02 53:32

Yeah, I don't think he wants to be safe. I don't think he wants to be next to the ship when they blow it up.

SPEAKER_01 53:37

So Kirk is now like, oh, everything is fine, and we're just gonna go to warp one. But Spock is like not feeling it, and Kirk reassures him that all is okay, yet Spock comments that there is no escape for them. They're gonna be like that forever. And then Kirk laments, like, how would it be to have a raging madman at your throat for all of eternity, but then reassure that your universe is safe, but and then this weird, but what of Lazarus, but what of Lazarus? It's like we're trying to do poetry again.

SPEAKER_02 54:14

Yeah, they try to make this mmm over-dramatic ending with Kirk lamenting over the fate of Lazarus. Doesn't even mention which Lazarus he's lamenting over.

SPEAKER_01 54:26

Maybe both, because he said it twice.

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_02 54:27

Maybe both. Maybe both. Instead of he's not repeating it for emphasis, he's repeating it once for each character. Maybe. Maybe. But that's where the episode ends. So weird. Roll credits. So, Jackie, I think we've said it enough times, but just to put a final bookend on it, what are your final thoughts? What did you think about season one, episode 27, the alternative factor?

SPEAKER_01 54:52

I wish I could say I liked it, but as a newbie, I have no idea what they're talking about, and I only see little bits of things that I recognize from the past 25, 26 episodes. But I love that we meet Lieutenant Masters, and I hope that she comes around again, because she seemed to be smart and intelligent, and you know, she even looked out for her assistant.

SPEAKER_02 55:21

Yeah. And it's not in my fun facts, but I'll burn it anyway, or I'll talk about it anyway. Um, this in the original script to this episode, there was supposed to be a love interest between uh Charlene Masters. Charlene's her first name.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

Well, that's nice to know.

SPEAKER_02 55:36

Supposed to be a love interest between her and Lazarus. Oh no. So there was supposed to be a kind of struggle back and forth as he continued to go crazy. Maybe that scene in engineering would have gone quite differently where he would have not knocked her out right away, but had to let her choose. Do you support me or do you stop me and save the enterprise or your duty? It ultimately was written out and scrapped, it never got filmed, it never got past the first draft. It was decided that that was too close to the relationship that we see in Space Seed with Khan.

SPEAKER_01 56:11

Well, plus, it has way too much going on already on and then add a romantic twist on it with a crazy person.

SPEAKER_02 56:19

Right. So ultimately, I think I've made my thoughts very clear on this episode. Oh, yes. It's not good. This is not a good episode.

SPEAKER_01 56:28

But I appreciated you helping me say it all out because I would have done a horrible job.

SPEAKER_02 56:33

This is not going to be one of my favorite episodes. There is far too many problems with this. I think ultimately you could have thrown away 90% of this and done a rewrite to try to get it better. But yeah, I'm not a fan of this episode. This is probably if you want to break it up into the golden era of Star Trek, so the original series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and I'll throw Voyager in there as well. This is definitely top ten worst episodes.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

Well, do they speak about all these uh different are they expecting their viewers to know about dimensions and galaxies and parallel, all that that they're saying? Are they expecting their viewers to know about that so it makes it easier?

SPEAKER_02 57:26

No, I would definitely think that they are expecting us to suspend belief in what we know is fact and true to enjoy the episode, much like any other television series that kind of relies on some of this fantastic science besides Star Trek. Look at the Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits, none of those make sense factually, but you have to suspend belief of that as a viewer to be entertained by it. But I don't think that's what this episode suffers from. I think even if you suspend belief in all of that, ultimately this is still just a poor episode. Got it.

SPEAKER_01 58:07

Just wondering.

SPEAKER_02 58:08

So we'll wrap up our thoughts uh on the positive by giving our favorite quote to the episode. And why, Jackie? What's your favorite quote?

SPEAKER_01 58:18

So mine was Kirk to McCoy when they were discussing uh Lazarus being injured. And Kirk says, Sometimes pain can drive a man harder than pleasure. And I chose this one because I mean, as someone that is always chronically in pain, it is much easier to focus on a goal that will then, you know, promise you some like a reward rather than just being like, Oh, I'm having a nice moment right now, but now I have to get up and go get that item. I know it's not like specific, but yeah, that driving force rather than just sitting in happiness.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

All right. My favorite quote is in the conference room when Kirk and Spock put it all together and come to the agreement or come to the realization that these parallel realities are existing and what is happening. Spock gives the quote, Jim, madness has no purpose or reason, but it may have a goal. Oh, that's a good one. It resonates a little bit with me because it's probably what makes the most sense in the episode, the driving force of our version of Lazarus being so insane and throwing logic out the window, but he definitely has a goal and he's going to move toward that as quick as possible. I also like it because it's one of the rare instances, or I won't say rare, but it's an instance where Spock calls Kirk by his first name instead of Captain. Well, that's true. And they're in private, and I think that's part of it, but I think he does it to drive home that force of don't dismiss Lazarus just because he's mad or a little bit crazy. He has a goal, and we need to take it seriously.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:14

Oh, they're talking about mental health care way back when.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:18

There we go. So that's gonna be my favorite uh quote for the episode.

Tribble Tidbits

SPEAKER_01 1:00:23

That was a good one.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

But we'll jump into our triple tidbits, which is what we call our fun facts about the episode, even though they're not always fun facts. And why do we call them triple tidbits, Jackie? Because triples are the best. Because tribles are a blessing and a curse. They're doing and they're a menace. First airing March 30th, 1967, John Drew Barrymore, who is the father of actress Drew Barrymore. Oh, he was originally cast to play Lazarus. And depending on the source that you read, I found the story two different ways. He either said to the production team the afternoon before filming was to begin that he wasn't going to show up and play the part. Or, again, a different source said he just never showed up at all. Whoa. Causing some major disruptions to the episode. Again, I don't think you can lay that all of the problems of the episode on that fact. No. The script is terrible.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:30

But certainly having your main character not show up.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:34

Doesn't matter if it's you have l 12 hours, 24 hours notice, or not. That's definitely going to cause you to scramble and figure out how to what order of the scenes you're going to shoot, because now you have to change everything while you recast him. And they were able to recast him. The guy that they recasted basically they flew him out and they gave, you know, he thought he was flying out for an audition. He walked in and they said, You got the part, kid. Maybe the reason behind his really bad costume facial hair was due to the last-minute casting. I didn't find that source for that one way or the other to explain it. But again, he himself later interviewed for conventions and so forth. He himself described the filming of this episode to be incredibly tense and incredibly chaotic as they scrambled to work around this.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:28

Well, that makes sense. I mean, they have to change the costume. Um, maybe um the character has to change. Yeah, so many things.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:37

Yeah. And I was never able to figure out why John Barrymore ultimately didn't show up or canceled the act or canceled the contract.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:47

When Drew Barrymore has her ask me anything boxes on Instagram, I'll add I'll add that in there.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

There we go.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:53

Why did your daddy not show up?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:54

But because he ultimately screwed everything over, the production team with Star Trek filed a grievance with the Screen Actors Guild.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:03

Good.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:04

And it caused John Barrymore's membership with the guild to be suspended for six months. So he couldn't find at least guild work, guild-sanctioned work for that six months. So that sucks for him. And 1967, definitely not an easy time to find acting work if you're not a SAG member. The star and nebula image that is superimposed over all those transition scenes is a real telescope image of the Trifid Nebula, which is 4,100 light years from Earth. Just a fun little fact.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:44

No, when they did that um creation, I know that we're watching Remastered. How did it look in 1967?

Episode Ranking

SPEAKER_02 1:03:53

I like the 1967 version a lot better. I'm pulling it up for Jackie right now on Memory Alpha. So this, we're just looking at thumbnails, but this is the original version, and this is the remaster version. Yeah, the original is beautiful. The original version relies more heavily on that image of the Trifid Nebula. So you get these two stunt doubles. Again, the negative of the film, fighting and struggling amongst themselves. It's more washed out, the two actors. But if you look at the remastered version, what you then get is no nebula, no stars. It's like a glow. And it's more glowy. It's certainly more in your face, but it's more obvious that they're just fighting on a blank soundstage with some fog on the ground. Oh yeah, they really ruined the Yeah, so um definitely a moment where the remastered version kind of kind of takes away from what I think was a better option for the viewer. But my last uh triple tidbit is this is gonna be the first time that we see a live two-way communication between Enterprise and Starfleet communications. If you think back, yes, we see people on the view screen, but that's when the Enterprise is communicating with other ships or planets in the nearby vicinity. Starfleet is all the way back on Earth. Yeah. Or at least they're communicating with a starbase that's far away. And so in episodes past, they're relying on delayed radio transmissions. And in this case, they're having a live conversation. It's the first time we see it. That's super cool. But those are our triple tidbits. And this, of course, is where we share our episode ranking and we assign a Starfleet rank to the episode. This not only says how entertained we were by the episode, but how important we feel the episode is as a member of our fictitious starship for the season. Our bottom Or enlisted members are going to be ensign, lieutenant junior grade, and lieutenant. We can have an unlimited number of episodes for that. And at the top of our ranking, our officers, our lieutenant commander, which we can have seven, our commanders, which we can have five, captain, we can have one, and admiral, we can have one. Jackie, for your starship, the USS Galactic Glitter B, what rank do you give this episode?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

We are gonna give this guy a nice supporting role of ensign. You know, get that to the bottom, make a nice space.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:40

And I think we've covered it quite a bit, but why would you give it that rank?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:44

Because I didn't understand anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:46

Yeah. I'm gonna be in the same rank with the USS Cosmic Shark. This episode's gonna get a rank of ensign as well. Again, this is definitely an episode that could fall off the face of the earth, and we would not miss it. It does not contribute anything to Star Trek lore overall. This is definitely a throwaway episode for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:07

But if there is that one person or a handful that like it, please tell us why. I would love to know.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:14

Like like generally, because what did I miss?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:17

And as of this recording on IMDB, this episode ranks a five point seven out of ten.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:25

See, some liked it.

Turbolift Tease

SPEAKER_02 1:07:26

Well, I think there's just people that are giving it Pity Points. Pity points are not one out of ten. So uh as a reminder, we will post an updated graphic showing off our rankings to our Patreon at patreon.com slash treks and tangents the day after this episode goes live. We'll be back next week to trek through another episode, and this is where we give a turbolift tease or elevator pitch to next episode's plot. I give Jackie the title of the next episode, and Jackie with no other information will give a brief pitch to the plot. Jackie, next week's episode is entitled The City on the Edge of Forever.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:05

While delivering supplies to another city, we find a new world that is kind of stuck in time, but it is just glorious, beautiful, beauty everywhere. And do we want to stay here or do we want to go back onto Enterprise and finish our mission?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:31

And tune in next week to see how close Jackie's prediction is. If you want more show information, you can find and directly support our podcast on Patreon at patreon.com/slash treks and tangents. We'll post our Star Note episode, our bonus episode to the Patreon at the same time this episode goes live. We're not going to have a specific question for our Star Note this week because there's just not a lot to pull from from this episode. I think we've kind of talked about it. We've talked about it a lot. I think we'll just kind of go on a wide tangent and talk about the episode more, go a little bit deeper into the plot, the plot holes, plot theories, and just kind of try to break it down and try to make sense. It's probably just going to be an episode where we talk ourselves in circles. So, but still, I think it'll be entertaining. You can also follow us on x.com at treks underscore tangents. We're also on Instagram and Blue Sky at Trex and Tangents. But Jackie, where can people find you and what are you up to?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:31

Oh my. Lots of lots have been happening for me. You can find me on Instagram at Jaboom J I B B O O M where I am focusing on my music, mid-size fashion, makeup, hair, and even my showcasing those service dogs that I have, Cooper and Cadence. And I mean don't forget to check it out. And I also have a shop at whatnot with Glitterbow Boutique. See you there.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:04

And you can watch me stream a variety of video games over at twitch.tv slash piratepoundtown. On YouTube I post video games and other random content on my main channel, PiratePoundtown, and also on YouTube coin collecting and hobby content at Pirate Treasure Hunting. I post socially on Blue Sky at PiratePoundtown, and I can also be found on Instagram under Pineapple Cannonball. Links to all social media mentioned can be found in the episode description. Thank you everyone for tuning in to this week's episode. We hope you had fun like we did, and we will see you all next week.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:37

Make sure you're in the right dimension.