The Alternative Factor
- Thread starter Terok Nor
- Start date
Don't get me wrong...it's Star Trek, and therefore better than 90% of anything else out there. And I don't "skip it" when I'm doing a binge-watch. It's just a frustrating watch though, especially if you are 'watching through someone else's eyes.'
Exactly so.
As you mentioned other series that he appeared in, would I take it that you enjoyed Here Come the Brides? Although not fantastical to believe, Brown is still alive at nearly 90.
I just finished watching the episode. A few random thoughts:
1. Was Scotty on vacation that week?
2. What happened to the regular large scale engineering set? Perhaps they didn't want to set fire to it, and opted to burn the closet-sized one that we see instead?
3. Lt. Masters uniform doesn't have any rank stripes.
4. Bits and pieces of this story seem to have been recycled for Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.
5. This episode, arguably one of the worst TOS episodes of all time, preceeded in broadcast order The City on the Edge of Forever, perhaps the best. Talk about matter and anti-matter colliding.
6. Lt. Leslie in the captain's chair. (mic drop)
1. Was Scotty on vacation that week?
2. What happened to the regular large scale engineering set? Perhaps they didn't want to set fire to it, and opted to burn the closet-sized one that we see instead?
3. Lt. Masters uniform doesn't have any rank stripes.
4. Bits and pieces of this story seem to have been recycled for Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.
5. This episode, arguably one of the worst TOS episodes of all time, preceeded in broadcast order The City on the Edge of Forever, perhaps the best. Talk about matter and anti-matter colliding.
6. Lt. Leslie in the captain's chair. (mic drop)
And Sparks doing some extra work under the nose of Irwin Allen? 
JB
JB
Possibly. But a big part of the plot was that two plus two McGuffins had to be stolen from their sockets, and the regular set didn't have those sockets. Creating this all-new nook might have been advantageous to cramming the socket-featuring console into the existing set or swapping one of the major elements of that set for the socket thing.
Also, by featuring the all-new nook and its all-new mistress, the show could "legitimately" give Doohan the day off without downright insisting that Scotty wasn't at Englneering that day. We can rationalize this easily enough, as dilithium re-amplifying might be a super-rare procedure for which Scotty lacks the expertise. Hence Kirk's sciences-colored Lt Masters and Picard's LtCmdr Leland T. Lynch.
Timo Saloniemi
Yes. He saw the script and took some vacation hours.
It also refused to take part in this appalling episode.
No one noticed because she was so hot.
An equally dreadful episode.
Every dog has its day.
http://www.thegeektwins.com/2014/04/the-first-star-trek-interracial-kiss.html
These guys are saying that the originial script called for Masters to have an affair with Lazarus a la McGivers and Khan which would include the first interracial kiss on tv, but the network balked at the relationship and the kiss, and Barrymore didn't show up, requiring massive changes to the script and adding chaos resulting in the crap they ended up with.
These guys are saying that the originial script called for Masters to have an affair with Lazarus a la McGivers and Khan which would include the first interracial kiss on tv, but the network balked at the relationship and the kiss, and Barrymore didn't show up, requiring massive changes to the script and adding chaos resulting in the crap they ended up with.
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That's the version Cash Markman tells. I'm going to be fact checking this soon.
Which, in short, means he's WRONG.
That is one take on it and the network might have had qualms about the interracial romance. But another factor was the idea of a female Enterprise officer betraying the ship to an outsider yet again given both "The Alternative Factor" and "Space Seed" were in development around the same time. It was a plot element that wouldn't come off too well with the episodes possibly airing within a few weeks of each other.
It has to be said that McGivers being wooed by Khan makes her look bad, but it just makes her character look bad. If you repeat the plot element with Masters wooed by Lazarus particularly so soon after "Space Seed" then it could be perceived as a real slam against women in general.
It might have been poorly done, but it was one of my youngest, earliest exposures to alternates and dimensions and such (the only thing earlier, that i recall, was an early episode of the Superfriends with a red Batman and an evil Superman.) It always stuck in my mind, and made me curious for more, or even the thought that I had missed something and it should all make sense lol. Definitely got a weak spot for the episode, but agree with some of the criticism anyways. Still, conceptually, the whole idea of invasion from an alternate universe, with OUR version being driven insane by knowing about his duplicate, is a great place to start from. Very Fringe-like, 50 years sooner.
If TV was more serialized back then, this could have been a lead in (or sequel) to Mirror, Mirror, with the forthcoming invasion after the transporter accident. Taken even further, the other dimension could have been created during the events of City on the Edge of Forever.
If TV was more serialized back then, this could have been a lead in (or sequel) to Mirror, Mirror, with the forthcoming invasion after the transporter accident. Taken even further, the other dimension could have been created during the events of City on the Edge of Forever.
You can say that again."...and what of Lazarus?"
Good riddance!
I don't mind this episode, honestly. There's always something good or fun to get out of any Trek episode and this one is no exception. I enjoy it on some level, even realizing it has its issues. The worst part of it, to me, is Lazarus repeatedly falling off cliffs and Kirk not putting a damned guard on him.
Otherwise, there are certainly worse episodes. Like "And the children Shall Lead,' "The Way to Eden" and "Mark of Gideon."
Otherwise, there are certainly worse episodes. Like "And the children Shall Lead,' "The Way to Eden" and "Mark of Gideon."
I never actually sat through the entire episode until a year or two ago. No kidding! To think what I missed...
I had no idea about the SNAFU with the change in actors and the hastily re-written script.
If you watch how McCoy behaves in this one, especially his out-of-character "I don't know nuttin', I just work here" nonsense, it becomes clear that this story wasn't written as Star Trek. It was written to be a Twilight Zone ep! If you could imagine Rod Serling appropriating the cast, sets and props for TOS for one ep of TZ, you wouldn't get a characterization that was totally faithful to TOS. Instead, you would get this weird otherworldly takeoff of TOS, et voila: "The Alternative Factor". Just replace Kirk's captain's log entries with Rod Serling's stand-ups, and it would make a mediocre TZ. Well, almost, anyway.
Lazurus / anti-Lazurus was annoying, but I don't blame the actor. His part was poorly written.
It never made sense to me; if the other universe is made of anti-matter, shouldn't anti-Lazarus have exploded upon appearing here in the first place? And wouldn't Kirk explode upon arriving at the anti-planet? (Note how the planet remains unnamed throughout the entire story; another TOS rarity.)
If this story were written like bona fide TOS, it would've been far less muscle-headed and militaristic. An example of an anti-life invasion worth remembering: "The Immunity Syndrome".
I never understood how an entire universe, much less both companion universes, could be so threatened by two men and two rather cheesy-looking flying saucers that never get off the ground. Maybe if the entire planet were a Yonada-style bomb or something, but two guys with little putt-putt saucers? Really?
I think nobody feels the love for this botched ep because it is like any TOS ep from first-season, written with a heavy TZ influence, with plenty of intriguing elements, but it winds up frustrating even hardcore fans because it is not lovable as most TOS stories are. It's even more half-baked than some of the worst of the original Battlestar Galactica.
I had no idea about the SNAFU with the change in actors and the hastily re-written script.
If you watch how McCoy behaves in this one, especially his out-of-character "I don't know nuttin', I just work here" nonsense, it becomes clear that this story wasn't written as Star Trek. It was written to be a Twilight Zone ep! If you could imagine Rod Serling appropriating the cast, sets and props for TOS for one ep of TZ, you wouldn't get a characterization that was totally faithful to TOS. Instead, you would get this weird otherworldly takeoff of TOS, et voila: "The Alternative Factor". Just replace Kirk's captain's log entries with Rod Serling's stand-ups, and it would make a mediocre TZ. Well, almost, anyway.
Lazurus / anti-Lazurus was annoying, but I don't blame the actor. His part was poorly written.
It never made sense to me; if the other universe is made of anti-matter, shouldn't anti-Lazarus have exploded upon appearing here in the first place? And wouldn't Kirk explode upon arriving at the anti-planet? (Note how the planet remains unnamed throughout the entire story; another TOS rarity.)
If this story were written like bona fide TOS, it would've been far less muscle-headed and militaristic. An example of an anti-life invasion worth remembering: "The Immunity Syndrome".
I never understood how an entire universe, much less both companion universes, could be so threatened by two men and two rather cheesy-looking flying saucers that never get off the ground. Maybe if the entire planet were a Yonada-style bomb or something, but two guys with little putt-putt saucers? Really?
I think nobody feels the love for this botched ep because it is like any TOS ep from first-season, written with a heavy TZ influence, with plenty of intriguing elements, but it winds up frustrating even hardcore fans because it is not lovable as most TOS stories are. It's even more half-baked than some of the worst of the original Battlestar Galactica.
If it had been a Twilight Zone episode, it would have had a point and made sense.
