Well, June 3rd a few weeks ago was the 50th anniversary of the airing of the last original Star Trek episode from the original series "Turnabout Intruder" and I totally missed it. When the 50th anniversary of the first episode happened 3 years ago, I kind of made a vow to watch the series again and try to watch it roughly in the order it was originally aired on a weekly basis; that didn't work out at all!!! lol. Oh well, I guess I will try again for the 100th anniversary! Anyone else think about the anniversary of the airing of the last show or is that just a little too obsessive?
Not really. The episode, despite good performances from the cast that actually elevate the piece into something watchable despite itself, is so inconsistent and flaky (and not in that good apple crispy pastry sort of way) that it's still hard to re-watch. Is Janice supposed to be insane or is this story claiming women cannot be command figures? Even one previous episode showing a woman in command would lead to a clear case of insanity for the series' finale, but there were none, apart from footage of "The Cage" used in "The Menagerie" where Number One, second in command, thus a command figure, is female. The episode just wasn't sure of how to present its topic and the result is a highly inconsistent episode. Even Shatner focused in on the increasing insanity aspect when acting out Janice's persona in Kirk's body, but ultimately the audience is either going to dismiss it or take guesses and likely go for the insanity angle despite the uneven dialogue. I will maintain, the actors put in some incredibly good and very professional efforts, doubly so given that Shatner had a severe case of the flu. Professional, and memorable - to the point I don't need to look up the name Sandra Smith as her performance of Kirk's-soul-trapped-in-Janice's body rose much above what was a real mess. And Shatner too, but that's sort of a given as the otherworldly stuff he's a natural in selling as well as the authoritative nature of Kirk. It's not the best episode of the series by far, but there are far worse. And at least one of those isn't from season 3. Like "The Alternative Factor", that one is the worst.
I did, but mainly because of the rewatch thread. It was always strange how there was a period of two or three months between the penultimate and last episode. Must have driven contemporary fans nuts.
Only because coverage of Eisenhower's death preempted it on its originally scheduled airdate of March 28.
The same thing happened to the short-lived Man From Atlantis. NBC aired it for nine glorious weeks and canceled it. It was gone for four months, and then it came back for three weeks, then it was gone for another month, and then came the final episode. It was my favorite show short of Star Trek, and I was still naïve and uninformed enough about television that I was excited for its comeback. But of course, NBC was just burning off the unaired episodes of a dead series, having held them back for the least important nights, competition-wise. That's basically what they did with "Turnabout Intruder."
Then why did they wait almost three months to air it? The initial preemption may have been a news event, but the rest of the delay must have been because "Turnabout Intruder" was just a remnant to be burned off on a night that didn't matter. That's all I was trying to say.
"Turnabout Intruder" really doesn't bother me that bad despite its bad reputation. I think Sandra Smith did a great Kirk and if I'm being completely honest, my wife likes it so over the years maybe I've been brain-washed!! lol
"Turnabout Intruder" did what a lot of great episodes of The Twilight Zone did: present us with a big "What If" that's ripe for playing out in your mind long after the episode is over. A body switching machine where you just throw a lever, and trade places with whoever you want, or whoever you can get your hands on? That's classic fantasy stuff. Star Trek didn't do it first (the episode is named for the Thorne Smith novel and its 1940 movie), but the machine and its animated spirit-swapping fx gave the idea a tangible, near-realism that a magic lamp or whatever could not. When the idea is that good, that "Twilight Zone-compatible" if you will, the show has life despite having come out of GR's resentment of his first wife.
But it wasn't the original plan. And my understanding, from what was discussed in the rewatch thread, is that a couple of weeks after the originally planned airdate, The Saint took over Trek's Friday slot, and Trek disappeared until it got its Tuesday rerun slot in June. "Turnabout Intruder" was aired on the show's first night in that slot. So as far as first-run Trek is concerned, it aired a few episodes later. It's just that there was a gap in first-run Trek at that point.
Even the worse TOS episodes have lovely tidbits to explore and wonder about (like Nurse Chapel's hair).
I find this episode to be conceptually problematic for reasons that have already been discussed to death over the years. I don't really enjoy it for entertainment value, either. Kor