Fascinating.
Production Order Group Viewing 2018
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Fascinating.
They were originally going to have her and Lazarus have a tryst, which meant we might have possibly had a kiss scene that pre-dated Kirk and Uhura's famous kiss, and would have been mutually consensual, not the result of telekinetic manipulation by a third party.
Bleuch . One of the few occasions where they feature a woman (other than Uhura) who isn't a love interest for a male character. I'm so glad they dropped that aspect!
Me too. Good lord, that episode was a complete mess from jump.
Okay, so I guess it's a trade off.
I was remiss in not mentioning an amazing new piece of equipment that we see in this episode; Lazarus's handkerchief!
- it protects against high voltage components
- it masks out toxic fumes
- it serves as a convenient bag for small item
- you can even wipe your nose on it!
Going back to Starfleet Command's reaction to the disturbance.
Starfleet sensors go off detecting this disturbance and before the ship on the scene can make a report, Starfleet sends the invasion signal. Not only are they expecting an imminent invasion, the already had a plan in place to evacuate all personnel within 100 parsecs. It's as if Starfleet experienced something like this before and immediately expected an invasion in this case. Does Starfleet have a history with this type of phenomenon? Has this or something like it happened previously? What shaped Starfleet policy do that they already had a plan in place for such an event?
Forgot to add, Stardate 3087.6 back to the 3,000 dates.
Starfleet sensors go off detecting this disturbance and before the ship on the scene can make a report, Starfleet sends the invasion signal. Not only are they expecting an imminent invasion, the already had a plan in place to evacuate all personnel within 100 parsecs. It's as if Starfleet experienced something like this before and immediately expected an invasion in this case. Does Starfleet have a history with this type of phenomenon? Has this or something like it happened previously? What shaped Starfleet policy do that they already had a plan in place for such an event?
Forgot to add, Stardate 3087.6 back to the 3,000 dates.
Not often, but they had no problem with Uhura's stripes. And Miss Piper didn't get any in The Menagerie. Helen Noel didn't get stripes, and she was a psychiatrist! That's at least as big an error as Lt. Masters. So I'm having second thoughts about the idea that there was anything racial in Masters' lack of stripes. It was just an oversight, and probably just that available blue dress that didn't have them.
Could it be that Lt. Masters has the same outfit on as Helen Noel?
That's so hot.
Why she wasn't in a red shirt we'll never know! 
JB
JB
Since this episode is such an odd duck, I went back and gave it a rewatch to try and make some sense of it all.
Basically, Kirk & co stumble into someone else's problem. Who's problem? Alt-Lazarus. It is his people who discovered how to bridge universes, which in turn drove his counterpart mad. Since then Alt-Laz has been trying to trap Lazarus in the magnetic corridor, in order to prevent the two of them ending up in the same universe as this would be bad for some reason (probably quantum). However, Lazarus keeps escaping and each time he does so it is accompanied by a "winking out" effect. Eventually Alt-Laz works out a way to exchange himself with Lazarus without the colossal side effects, but only for short periods of time. It happens twice:
Of course, we only have Alt-Lazarus' word for much of this; he may well be a lying sociopath for all we know.
Hell, we've seen how the Transporter can split a man into 2 beings that cannot survive without each other; maybe this is a similar set of circumstances?
Basically, Kirk & co stumble into someone else's problem. Who's problem? Alt-Lazarus. It is his people who discovered how to bridge universes, which in turn drove his counterpart mad. Since then Alt-Laz has been trying to trap Lazarus in the magnetic corridor, in order to prevent the two of them ending up in the same universe as this would be bad for some reason (probably quantum). However, Lazarus keeps escaping and each time he does so it is accompanied by a "winking out" effect. Eventually Alt-Laz works out a way to exchange himself with Lazarus without the colossal side effects, but only for short periods of time. It happens twice:
- In Sickbay. McCoy notices the difference but then Alt-Laz escapes and learns about the presence of dilithium crystals on board this strange ship he finds himself in, but slips back to the magnetic corridor before he can take action.
- Near Engineering. Alt-Laz sneaks in and steals 2 crystals, with the help of his pocket sleep-needle. It is not known when he slips back, but it seems he took the time to hack into the ship's computer and familiarise himself with the ship's captain at least
- In Sickbay, a third attempt is made but Lazarus is able to fight it off (just after his second fall off the mountain)
Of course, we only have Alt-Lazarus' word for much of this; he may well be a lying sociopath for all we know.
Hell, we've seen how the Transporter can split a man into 2 beings that cannot survive without each other; maybe this is a similar set of circumstances?
That's the most cogent and intelligible plot summary of TAF I've ever seen. You cracked the code. And the fact that your explanation had to be so long is one of the story's problems. I mean, the show has issues:
- On screen, it's so difficult to follow the who's-who aspect that the story itself gets lost.
- Unlike the Guardian of Forever, which had both a physical structure and a voice, or even the Transporter in Mirror Mirror, the "corridor" of Lazarus has no identifying features we can latch onto. It's a blur, visually and narratively. Where is it? What is it? I'd wager few first-time viewers had any idea.
First, even though I agree about it not being a good episode, I tend to enjoy it if I watch it. Having said that of the several complaints I have, the primary complaint is, as @Mytran pointed out so well, there are several switches between Lazerus+ and Lazerus-, why does it seem like only the first transference causes the whole "it's been felt all through the galaxy and beyond" condition one business? He switches in the ship! How does that happen with out George Jetson's car?
One thing I like about this one, Star Fleet broadcasts an invasion alert, the Commodore asks Kirk what he thinks is happening and he gives his best guess as it's a prelude to invasion! Talk about playing it safe!
One thing I like about this one, Star Fleet broadcasts an invasion alert, the Commodore asks Kirk what he thinks is happening and he gives his best guess as it's a prelude to invasion! Talk about playing it safe!
Yes, that "Well . . . could it be . . . INVASION???" bit always cracked me up too.
One redeeming aspect of this episode is it's well-acted. The writing is just atrocious. McCoy, as often happens, comes off less Bones than Bonehead. Spock and the redshirts vie with Spock and the redshirts in Miri for least amount of actual accomplishments.
One redeeming aspect of this episode is it's well-acted. The writing is just atrocious. McCoy, as often happens, comes off less Bones than Bonehead. Spock and the redshirts vie with Spock and the redshirts in Miri for least amount of actual accomplishments.
I have a comment waiting in the wings for Space Seed, when we get there. I notice something significant about the episode, after reading the transcript, which raises up the issue of competence for the crew of the Enterprise.
From Michael Kmet (TBBS’ own @Harvey) and Kevin Koster:
“The Alternative Factor”— What The Hell Happened?
It is a tour de force charting the tortured history of this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad episode.
“The Alternative Factor”— What The Hell Happened?
It is a tour de force charting the tortured history of this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad episode.
That's an interesting read. I do find it curious that so many writers go with the notion of the female officers as the weak link. If this outline had not been so close to Space Seed, Masters might never have been a casually efficient crew member doing her job. We get a very similar situation with Palamis.
What does it say about the writers' views about liberal Federation males that so many women turn to magnetic, charismatic, dominant males. This subconscious bias culminated in Star Trek 2009 in NuKirk's misogynistic, rule-breaking, hair-triggered, leap before you look Kirk (instead of a stack of books on legs), personified as something Starfleet has lost and worthy of immediate promotion despite the fact that it was only Spock who saved the day (Kirk's original plan would have failed).
I agree it would have been dreadful to have another female officer betray Kirk.
The best thing that probably came out of the rewrite was the omission of that scenario.
I tend to forgive Palamis a bit as she didn't exactly betray but rather gave up. Still in Palamis' case they openly discussed Palamis doing her job as filling in time until she found a man and got married - which may have been largely the case in the 60s.
I think Chapel came closer to betraying them (for a aman)than Palamis did.
While I'm happy for the Masters Lazarus affair to have been omitted, its absence probably did partially result in the problems in the episode. The audience had nothing of interest to distract them from the holes in the story..
Where was nuKirk misogynistic? I'm not saying he wasn't. I just can't remember when he was.
Well it is a shame Sulu didn't get a scene on his own with a guest star. His scenes with Rand in the Man Trap and on the planet in the Enemy Within were great. He's refreshingly different from the other characters.
I consider NuKirk's treatment of Gaila to be opportunist and misogynistic but they did at least edit out the part where he was using her to access the Kobyashi Maru test. Into Darkness also implies that Kirk has casual flings with his crew and doesn't care or even notice what happens to them afterwards.
I consider NuKirk's treatment of Gaila to be opportunist and misogynistic but they did at least edit out the part where he was using her to access the Kobyashi Maru test. Into Darkness also implies that Kirk has casual flings with his crew and doesn't care or even notice what happens to them afterwards.
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