Star Trek TOS Re-Watch

I think that the vessel did belong to him? If I remember correctly it was never stated that he had stolen it? He just didn’t have his masters license, he was failing to respond to a starships communications signal and was being a menace to galactic navigation. But all of this was charged against him *after* his identity had been uncovered. If he had carried on pretending to be Leo Walsh he might not have had as many charges brought against him. He could have had a fake ‘Leo Walsh’ master license for example.

 

The Enterprise was chasing him for a reason, I just figured since he was pretending to be Leo Walsh, he was using his ship. The best lie is sandwiched between two truths. He said Leo died and that's probably true. So he seized the opportunity and took the ship. Someone must have reported something or perhaps a quick scan showed it unregistered so Kirk decided to pull him over.

 

If Leo Walsh was indeed dead, surely that would have shown up in the data banks? I assumed it was a falsified persona, a fictional fabrication of a character with paperwork. Unless the original Leo had been ‘replaced’? Possibly even killed by mud so that Leo Walsh still shows on record as being ‘alive’ if Mudd is ever asked to show ‘his’ paperwork and it is cross checked?

Perhaps Leo Walsh can appear on Strange New World’s one day if ‘Mudd’ himself does not. Spock doesn’t need to meet Leo…

Spoiler: SNW

…he can be off on a B plot adventure somewhere with T’Pring so that they never meet.

 

There could be, or they just changed the look (admittedly to something butt-ugly), as they did with Worf mid-series...

Mine is, but I read the novels and comics...

One easily ignored outdated line, though this is five years later so if you insist on keeping it you could say he got used to it.

6 years and a lost fiancé: easy peasy.

Kyle's a common name.

Why?

Stay tuned...?

Given that Sybok hadn't come up in the 20 years up to that, or that Kirk's crew didn't know who his parents, fiancé or childhood pet were until they were either met or brought up by others...it's really not.

 

Spoiler: klingons

The Klingons don't just look different they act different and their culture is entirely different

Novels and comic books aren't canon.

Spoiler: chapel

That's not enough to explain that big a personality change. Are you thinking at some point during this series to see SNW's Chapel's personality change to become TOS's? Not gonna happen.

Spoiler: spock and t'pring

I will get whiplash if these two become as cold toward each other as in Amok Time during SNW.

http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/34.htm

UHURA: She's lovely, Mister Spock. Who is she?
SPOCK: She is T'Pring. My wife.

Strange that Uhura didn't know who T'Pring was in Amok Time.

 

Well, their culture is divided. Human culture was very different before and after first contact.

I don't care. Besides, they primed me to accept - even expect - this.

Losing your fiancé isn't enough to explain a personality shift? Seriously????

Why would she? She never met her, was on the ship only some months, and hung mostly with Detmer and Mitchell with a rotation under La'an.

 

Well, the jury is out on this. Uhura is still on board and T'Pring is still recurring. We need to table this one for the time being.

 

Yeah. Revisting that episode makes my skin crawl. Mudd becomes completely unlikable.

 

Star Trek ‘The Enemy Within’* episode 01x05

*I am still watching this series in production order not airing order, CBA keeping track of this. So yeah this is the episode after Mudd’s Women.

This week the adventure starts with our crew in the midst of an exploratory mission of a different kind. Unlike their previous stellar photographic ventures during The Corbomite Maneuvre, or ‘galactic law enforcement activities’ chasing a ‘people trafficker’ aka Mudd’s Women, this time the Enterprise crew have taken their exploration much more ‘down to earth’ so to speak - they are gathering mineral samples and specimens from an alien planet. This particular planet is known to get *very* cold, it is stated that at night time it can even reach temperatures of 120 degrees below zero, but I am unsure if this is measured in Fahrenheit or Celsius? Could somebody please clarify this for me so that I have a better understanding of just *how* cold this planet can actually get?

The crew have collected a sample of local indigenous life - a fluffy and pink unicorn like ‘puppy’ creature with canine features which all of the landing party seem to adore as they hold and hug it. Sulu in particular can not stop hugging it. Does anybody know what kind of dog this actually is behind the prosthetics? It is so darned *cute*.

Geological technician Fisher takes a stumble during a minor rock fall and hurts his hand, Kirk orders that he is to be beamed back to the Enterprise immediately to receive treatment. Fisher’s uniform has a strange yellow powder like substance coating it, an ore with strange magnetic properties. As fisher materialises on to the Enterprise transporter pad, Transporter chief Scotty can’t help but notice that something is not quite right; some of the equipment has been burnt out, perhaps as a result of an interaction with this strange yellow magnetic ore which was beamed up with Fisher. Rather than running a full diagnostics, Kirk gives the command “Beam me up Scotty!” In our heads and after a few moments Kirk materialises on to the transporter pad. Something is not quite right with our Captain though, he is slightly disorientated and stumbles. Scotty takes him to his quarters and then, all of a sudden the transporter reactivates all by itself. A silhouetted figure begins to materialise, it must be some form of transporter pattern ‘ghost’ left in the buffer? It is soon made clear who this unexpected arrival on the ship is. The camera zooms in on a manic looking, growling character who we are all very familiar with - their head darts from side to side in an animalistic way, eye balls chasing every shadow in the room as if hunting for prey. It is none other than Captain James T Kirk himself, the transporter must have in some way ‘duplicated’ him…

Stardate 1672.1 Kirk tells us that a duplicate of himself has been created by a transporter malfunction. As we contemplate how it is possible that Kirk knows about his duplicate at the time of him recording this log entry, let’s do a bit of time travelling ourselves and have our weekly history lesson to find out what actually happened on our planet on the Earth year of 1672.

‘Prime’ Kirk, now unaware of his duplicate after recording his log entry, has been taken to his quarters by Scotty to compose himself. His premonition in his log must have been a writing mistake? On arrival, Kirk finds that Yeoman Rand has already let herself in to his room, so he politely asks for her to leave so that he can spend some time on his bed recovering. It must be ‘transporter sickness’.

In sickbay, McCoy is hoovering Fisher’s hand better as the duplicate ‘primal’ version of Kirk enters the room, he seems to have all of ‘prime’ Kirk’s memories as he seems to know his way around the ship and is familiar with all of the crew. Primal Kirk is demanding Saurian brandy, he even grabs McCoy aggressively by the head as he does so. Luckily, McCoy stores a big bottle of this alcoholic drink in his medicine cupboard. Primal Kirk grabs the whole bottle, gulping it down as he stomps off.

Spock is concerned about Kirk’s behaviour which has been reported to him by the staff, but in other news he reports that the cute puppy that was beamed on board has been split in to two by a transporter malfunction. One copy of this puppy is gentle and even cuter than the original, and the other duplicate is mean and fierce. As an audience we are starting to put the plot of this weeks episode together now. Scotty is worried that if the landing party is beamed up from the planet, they could all be split in to gentle and mean versions too!

“Oh my….” Says Kirk, also his famous last words…

Yeoman Rand is back in her quarters pottering around, but unbeknownst to her primal Kirk has this time sneaked in to *her* room and is watching her. He is drinking his brandy straight from the bottle and as he watches her his lips begin to to ‘pucker’ which can only mean one thing in Star Trek. Rand also goes in to soft focus camera shots, enhancing her already natural beauty further for the audience. I shall put the next scene in to spoiler brackets as it is quite disturbing and could be triggering to people sensitive to the subject of it’s content.

Spoiler: Primal Kirk in Rand’s room

Primal Kirk grabs Rand and proceeds to force himself upon her in a very disturbing scene. He knocks her to the floor and I can only describe this as an attempted rape.

Rand manages to scratch primal Kirk in self defense, who I shall now refer to as ‘nasty’ Kirk instead of primal Kirk. This injury will prove to be an important plot point later in the episode, a distinguishing feature helping to identify the ‘bad’ Kirk. Fisher also comes to help *just in time* but is sadly beaten down to the ground by nasty Kirk who batters him. Luckily we know now how to tell these two Kirk’s apart - nasty kirk is wearing the traditional mustard yellow command uniform, whilst prime Kirk is wearing a more casual green tunic style uniform. Most importantly, nasty Kirk also has a scratch mark on his cheek from his assault on Rand, that should help us to identify him too. Anyway, nasty Kirk goes back to his quarters to quite literally lick his wounds… he had beat Fisher *so* hard that his knuckles are bleeding and raw. Kirk begins to suck the blood out of his own knuckles like a dog would gnaw on a bone.

At this point I begin to wonder why the crew are not making use of internal sensors and surveillance systems, surely the CCTV was switched on at least?

Stardate 1672.9, sequentially this proves that Kirk’s previous log can not be a ‘flashback’ voiceover. Kirk even confirms that he was correct in this previous log entry and there is indeed an evil version of himself who *definitely* exists. At the same time we find out that the landing party is getting colder and colder…

Good Kirk is seeking comfort from the ships new cute mascot, well from the gentle and cute duplicate at least. He carries it everywhere with him like a teddy bear. This dog is soooo cute that even when his crew talk to him, Kirk is distracted by how adorable it is. We now find out that this duplicate of Kirk is not a ‘prime’ version at all - prime Kirk no longer exists! This is ‘soft’ and ‘gentle’ Kirk. Prime Kirk can perhaps only be restored if nasty Kirk and soft Kirk are recombined, making the character whole again. Spock notices that Kirk is ‘slipping’ and failing to lead effectively, becoming easily distracted by the cute dog and also losing the ability to make command decisions. Kirk tells Spock that if he slips again, Spock must inform him. Spock now hugs the dog too.

Soft Kirk is finding it harder and harder to make decisions, but at the same time nasty Kirk is getting angrier and angrier, especially when he over hears communications commanding the Enterprise security forces to hunt him down with phasers set to stun. This Kirk can *not* be killed as the two halves will need to be reintegrated back in to prime Kirk if we want our hero whole again. Hiding in Kirk’s own quarters, nasty Kirk starts punching things in a rage… *he* is Captain Kirk, not that other ‘imposter’! Nasty Kirk goes to his makeup draw and pulls out prime Kirk’s makeup. He uses concealer to cover the scratches on his face given to him by Yeoman Rand. He also applies a heavy lining of mascara around his eyes - we don’t see this on screen but it is confirmed later in the episode that he did this as we see this heavy application of eye makeup which is another way that we can spot the difference between nasty Kirk and soft Kirk, who does not wear as much.

Meanwhile, the landing party is continuing to suffer the effects of the massive temperature drop on the planets surface. Everything is frosting up. Any equipment beamed down to help heat the team is non functional as a result of the duplication process which seems to affect technology as well as biological organisms. I wonder what would happen if a Borg was beamed down using this transporter malfunction, or maybe a Species 8472? It would be cool to see a cute and cuddly species 8472 produced in this process…. I wouldn’t want to meet the nasty one though!

Back on the Enterprise, transporter technician Wilson is attacked by Nasty Kirk who steals his phaser.

Kirk and Spock begin to think of this situation as they would a chess game. Spock predicts that nasty Kirk will make the same decisions and moves as soft Kirk in regards to hiding on the ship, maybe they would both choose to hide in the same place? Kirk suggests that he would hide around engineering on the lower decks. Our duo go down to the bowels of the Enterprise to search for Kirk’s nasty counterpart. These scenes are quite tense, especially when we see that nasty Kirk is watching soft Kirk and Spock from the shadows. Our team split up… nasty Kirk decides that this is the time for him to confront his duplicate - It is face off time. After a bit of wrestling and the exchange of several blows, soft Kirk tries to convince nasty Kirk that they need each other, and just as things are about to kick off once more Spock sneaks behind nasty Kirk and performs a Vulcan nerve pinch, rendering him unconscious. They have now captured nasty Kirk!

Spock decides that he now has a unique opportunity to study Kirk and perhaps humanity in general - it may even help him to better understand his own conflicted self. Spock begins to analyse nasty Kirk’s persona… his hostility, lust and violence so that he can compare it to soft Kirk’s compassionate, loving and tender side. Now that these things are separated in to two component entities, Spock can compare both halves to the prime Kirk that he knows and see what makes him tick as a human being; and most importantly as Captain of the Enterprise. Spock starts by asking the question what makes an exceptional leader such as Captain Kirk? He begins to notice that Kirk’s nasty side is vital to his strength as a leader, the amplified aggression and determination in his nasty counterpart is needed as a part of his whole character in order for him to confront the enemy and allow him to make command decisions which might possibly need controversially violent outcomes or responses. For example, should he ever be forced to fight with a Gorn or a Klingon on a planets surface in the future. Also, his aggression would be useful in the face of unavoidable spaceship battles, though I think that tactical thinking and the ability to calmly command is more important than aggression in space battles. Spock concludes that if soft Kirk does not get his evil side back, his power to command will cease and he will no longer be able to function as ships Captain. Spock apologises to Kirk for his blunt and insensitive psycho analysis “because it is the way I am…”, but I am left thinking whether Spock meant this as meaning that he is also a sum of two opposing halves with this being the way that *he* is too through his Vulcan and human heritage, or because he is insensitive by nature. Perhaps he meant both things? I wonder which side of Spock his insensitivity comes from? His Vulcan side could be cold and lack compassion, but it also has a repressed passion too, if not more so than his human side does. All that pent up Vulcan emotion and rage which is not actually his human sides fault. Maybe his human side helps Spock to suppress his Vulcan side more than he actually realises it, his humanity acting as a ‘soft filter’ for him to observe his even darker Vulcan psyche and suppressed emotions?

Back on the unnamed planet, things are most definitely *not* hotting up this week as the temperatures plummet to 41 degrees below zero. I don’t think that the Enterprise shuttlecraft were due until next Tuesday, as the thought occurs to me that an easy solution to this dilemma would be to quite simply send down the Galileo to pick the crew up? Sulu luckily has a set of working phasers so heat is generated by discharging the energy weapons at rocks, super heating them to almost molten levels. If only they had a pack of marshmallows and it would have been quite cozy for our shivering crewmen… for a little bit longer at least.

Sulu calls the Enterprise, Kirk has given everyone the afternoon off so had to answer the call himself much to Sulu’s surprise. Spock, as dedicated as ever returns to duty early and commands that Sulu and his team commence ‘survival procedures’ as per his training. Sulu and the away team ‘buckle up’ and pull up their socks.

Spock calls Kirk to the transporter room, he may have found an answer to Kirk’s predicament. The transporters are now working again but just need to be tested, perhaps the duplication can be reversed and both halves of Kirk merged back in to one? Spock suggests sending the ships new pet dogs through the transporter to test the systems. Transporter technician Wilson looks heartbroken by this suggestion, Scotty doesn’t look too happy about it either. Kirk however makes the difficult decision to go ahead. Surely they could have ran simulations instead of testing this on animals though? Regardless, this proves that soft Kirk *can* make difficult decisions… this was his Tuvix moment which Janeway will one day face.

“I’ll grab him by the scruff of the neck and hold him for as long as I can!” Scotty states coldly, as the dog growls and barks.
“Don’t hurt him….” Soft Kirk replies, fighting back his sadness and sorrow.
“It’s painless and quick” Spock coldly reassures.
The barking stops.

The two dogs are placed on the transporter pad and beamed in to the transporters pattern buffer. The crew wait anxiously to discover the final fate of their beloved pet and mascot. To the horror of all, the dog rematerialises as one back on to the transporter pad motionless and limp.

“He’s dead Jim!” States McCoy, as the crew gasp and stumble. Kirk in particular; will he be sharing this fate? Every time I hear McCoy say this phrase I will be thinking of this poor alien puppy dog. Spock takes command of the ship, though still let’s Kirk be the Captain. He is becoming ever the more so emotionally ‘compromised’.

We find out that the dog died of shock. The poor thing could not cope with his two opposite halves being reintegrated - it was just *too* traumatic. There is obviously a massive difference between these two halves and bringing them together could be dangerous for the subject. This is very similar to Spock’s constant battle in his own mind as mentioned earlier. Spock is constantly at war with himself. Spock knows that Kirk is strong too, and can use his intelligence to overcome the shock of a merging with his darker half. Intelligence wins over both halves of Spock allowing them both to live together as one - this is how he survives. If Spock can do it, then Kirk can too! Soft, intelligent and not yet quite courageous Kirk doesn’t know what to do so he asks his friends for help. Hopefully his friends *can* help him. He doesn’t want to die, but he doesn’t want to live with his bad half either. Only this Kirk can make the final decision for himself, so he decides not to relinquish command - McCoy confirms that by doing so the decision on what to do is down to him and him alone if he doesn’t want people to make the decision for him. We get some fantastic music in this scene by the way which is quite dramatic and different to what we have heard so far this season.

“The decision is yours…” McCoy confirms to the Captain.

Kirk decides to go with the transporter reintegration plan, ending his own life but helping to bring back prime Kirk.

Nasty manic Kirk is now restrained to a bio bed in the ships sickbay, he wriggles and screams. McCoy ascertains that this version of Kirk is dying, perhaps these copies are not stable? Nice kirk manages to prevent nasty Kirk from dying by talking him around and reassuring him, it seems like nasty Kirk is beginning to see sense but it could all be a ruse. Soft Kirk however does *not* want nasty Kirk back inside of him… he sees his nasty side as being nothing but a thoughtless and brutal animal. Just like Spock had said previously though, McCoy tells Kirk that without his negative half and bad qualities, he would never be able to command the Enterprise. McCoy also notes that nasty Kirk is afraid, that soft Kirk might not be as soft as we are led to believe. Soft Kirk has goodness and intelligence… these things give him a level of objectivity which lead to him overcoming his primal and animalistic aggression and fears, his ‘fight or flight’ instincts, which in turn gives him courage. Courage which nasty Kirk does not seem to have. Nasty Kirk overhears all of this…

Nasty Kirk manages to break lose and attacks Kirk, he escapes sickbay and swaps uniforms. He now looks just like who we shall now call courageous Kirk. But after overhearing McCoy talk about his lack of courage, nasty Kirk begins acting in a more confident and commanding way as he takes command of the bridge, almost starting to act like our prime Kirk. Nasty Kirk speaks to Yeoman Rand and invites her over to his quarters later on… a different strategy of getting his primal way with her no doubt. She agrees. We know what this nasty Kirk wants from her though!

Back on the planet by the way, with our landing party… temperatures are now 170 degrees below zero. they need rescuing, quickly!

Nasty Kirk well and truly becomes evil Kirk now, he wants to leave orbit and abandon the landing party on the planets surface. Everyone is shocked and confused by this command decision, especially Lt Farrell. Things get even more confusing for our crew when courageous Kirk arrives on the bridge too, there is now another face off between these two halves of the same man - courageous Kirk vs evil Kirk - both dressed in green so it could be *very* hard to tell them a part if things get messy! Obviously, our Kirk would never face plant Farrell in to the bridge hand rail so let’s hope that the crew keep their eyes on this version of Kirk and don’t let him out of their sights!

“This is my ship…. MINE! I’ll kill you all! Screams evil moustache twirling, scenery chewing Kirk.
“Can half of a man live?” Retorts courageous Kirk.

Good and courageous Kirk develops the upper hand and eventually overpowers the ever more scared and frightened nasty Kirk. These two men then embrace each other and *both* come to the realisation that they need each other as Spock beams them in to the buffer for reintegration.

After an anxious wait, Kirk is beamed back on to the transporter pad as ‘one’… he is ‘whole again’. But is this the ‘good’ Kirk or the ‘bad’ one? This is a silly question of course as we know that it is *both*. This Kirk still has his scratches off Rand you see. Kirk has also seen a part of himself that *no one* should ever see.

“Thank you Mr Spock, from both of us… the imposter is back where he belongs” Prime Kirk says gratefully… but does Kirk believe that he himself is now part imposter by saying this? “Let’s forget him…”

This episode is obviously the basis for Star Trek: Voyager 02x24 Tuvix. The main difference between these two episodes is that Kirk made the decision to die himself in order to bring back ‘prime’ Kirk. Even bad Kirk agrees to the convergence in the end, as both halves needed each other. In Voyager, Janeway made this decision to end a life for the benefit of bringing back another two on behalf of Tuvix who *wanted* to live, not die. Tuvix’s story however was an inverse scenario to the one which is laid before us in this episode, and we also need to consider “the needs of the many…”. I shall save this discussion for a Tuvix episode rewatch one day though…

Oh, and by this point the landing party must have been rescued and beamed back up to the ship. We never *actually* got to see them being rescued, hehe. I’m sure that they were not left down on the planet though.

**SMALL EDIT** Ok, yes we do indeed see them rescued, beamed up in the transporter room. Thanks @Donald G
**END EDIT**

We are given a confusing final scene which I assume is a product of it’s times where Rand attempts to talk to Kirk on the bridge, he dismisses her. Rand is quite taken a back by this. Reporting to Spock instead he states suggestively “The ‘imposter’ had some interesting qualities don’t you think, Yeoman”. As if insinuating that she might have somehow ‘liked’ her past encounter with him and the qualities shown… but I shall leave this one there.

I grade Star Trek episode 01x05 ‘The Enemy Within’ 9/10.

Next week, The Man Trap.

RIP cute alien puppy dog.

 

Of course, Sulu and the landing party were not left on the planet. Did you not see the transition between Spock's "Right away, Captain" to tarp covered frozen crewmen being wheeled out of the transporter room while McCoy reports, "Severe exposure and frostbite, but I think they'll make it."

 

I must have been making notes…

 

This was the biggest plot hole. Sure, this is #5 in production order, but Galileo Seven had to have at least been read by someone, right? Oh well...

It's interesting that we're on the same episode. I like seeing the different things each of us notices.

Anyways, here's my review of The Enemy Within, written by Richard Matheson, who is best known for writing I Am Legend. FYI, Matheson said the subplot with the stranded crewmembers was added as a re-write. He was inspired by Jekyll and Hyde.

The first thing I notice is the alien animal. Every time I see him/her in that goofy outfit, I think, "poor dog!"

We establish right of the bat Kirk's concern for his crew when he sends Fisher up to sickbay. After beaming him aboard, Scotty sees something is off with the transporter, but beams Kirk up anyway.

This is the first (of many) plots that hinge on a transporter malfunction. Mark that history. Also, the first Vulcan nerve/neck pinch and the first instance of "he's dead, Jim."

I have to give Shatner his due in the episode - he sells both "sides" of Kirk extremely well. When we first see Hyde!Kirk, his eyes are darting everywhere and his body language is feral. He slinks. He snarls. He's somewhat cat-like in several scenes. It's very impressive and effective. This is very much Kirk's Id, "the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives."

I loved how McCoy teases Fisher when no one's around but got serious when Kirk came in.

I think the sexual assault scene was cut to be *much* shorter when I originally saw this in reruns as a kid. In full, it's disturbing and scary. Grace's performance here and in the sickbay scene after was fantastic, full of the second-guessing and memory-questioning common to these experiences. She even said, "I don't want to get you into trouble. I wouldn't have even mentioned it!" OUCH. I wish that was as firmly in the past as it should be. (I understand Grace went through this IRL. I don't have words.)

Since Fisher also saw Hyde!Kirk, Spock goes to the only logical conclusion - an imposter.

We follow up with a nice scene between Jekyll!Kirk and Spock in the transporter room. For not the first, or last, time, we hear that a captain cannot be seen to be less than perfect. I wonder if that's based in the attitudes of the time or a military viewpoint? Please weigh in with your opinions.

Jekyll!Kirk is more and more indecisive and forgetting things. Hyde!Kirk gets angry at being called an imposter, screaming, "I'm Captain Kirk!" I think this, and Jekyll!Kirk's later decision not to relinquish command, show how important the identity of captain is to Kirk, split in half or not.

There are some interesting points made by both Spock and McCoy about the nature of the two sides and how the whole person needs both. Going further into Freudianism, I'd say that Jekyll!Kirk is the Superego (the moral conscience) and what Spock calls the intellect could be seen as the Ego (the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego).

I like that Sulu maintains his sense of humor even as he's in danger of freezing. It's a nice addition to his character.

McCoy determines that both Kirks will die if things aren't fixed. Hyde!Kirk cannot control his fear and Jekyll!Kirk soothes him. Hyde!Kirk fools Jekyll!Kirk (there's where the cunning is located) and escapes sickbay, running into Rand on the way. He tries to smooth things over (and sets up a date!), but by the look on her face, I think she wasn't completely convinced.

Hyde!Kirk gives the order to leave orbit. If anyone misses a few minutes, this should tell you it ain't Kirk because he never leaves anyone behind, certainly not so cavalierly. The 2 sides meet up again, with Jekyll!Kirk eventually getting a very frightened Hyde!Kirk to give in.

Kirk is put back together, the landing party is saved, and... seriously, Spock? I know that last line is a relic of the era, but as the kids say, "cringe!"

Still, this is an excellent episode, if tough to watch in places. Again, Shatner's performance(s) really stand out.

 

I am soooo happy that we have synchronised @Commander Troi ! Maybe other people will begin to synch up too!?

I never spotted the Jekyll and Hyde comparison as obvious as it is, I have never read that book though so it would not be something that immediately comes to mind. This comparison of yours is something that stands out even more if you think back to how the writers had previously eluded to this ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ story in The Corbomite Manoeuvre with Balok’s two halves... Balok even mentions Jekyll and Hyde on screen when describing himself to the crew. Splitting people in to two halves is a common theme in Star Trek I think. Spock and his Human/Vulcan struggle being one of the most obvious examples…

Spoiler: Later in the series

As well as the upcoming mirror universe episode.

I wonder if we will see more of this type of ‘binary split’ trope in TOS as the series progresses?

Ironicaly, I have studied a lot of eastern texts over the years, in particular pertaining to the subject of yoga via the Yoga Sutra’s of Patanjali, The Mahabharata and it’s self contained texts such as the Upanishads, the Dhammapada and the Bhagavad Gita. For those unfamiliar with the term yoga beyond the gym, having a work out and stretch, the actual word is Sanskrit and means ‘yolking’ or to ‘yolk’… just like an egg. Yoga means to ‘join’ or to ‘unite’ our minds so that we become a whole being which is the best version of ourselves that we can possibly be, accepting who we are and using all of our experiences to become a well rounded individual. There are *many* forms of yoga though but I am describing it here in it’s most simplistic of terms in relation to this particular episode. ‘The Enemy Within’ has very strong parallels to yogic teachings in regards to Kirk’s persona, it is almost like a modern day parable of how we all have an internal conflict, but in this case represented through a science fiction lense. In the Bhagavad Gita this battle takes place between two families in an epic battle, though this battles does not *really* happen… it is a parable about a battle between ‘good’ vs ‘evil’. This battle is purely symbolic though and is about a battle in our own minds which we all fight just like Spock with his inner conflict and Kirk in this weeks episode. We all have our own methods of ‘yolking’ ourselves and becoming one with our personal inner conflicts, demons and desires both good and bad to balance out our character in to a whole and hopefully well rounded being. Some people use religion, relationships, drugs, meditation or even yoga as mentioned to achieve this… Kirk just happened to have the guidance of his crew, Spock in particular, and a transporter to help him with the job of becoming ‘whole again’.

I see this story as being an analogy of a persons inner conflict; Kirk may be someone who has done *bad* things, but he has also done *good* things, though he realises just how bad he has been and is having trouble reconciling himself with that knowledge. Luckily, his friends and support network around him have been judging him too and have decided that this Kirk is better off as a whole, well rounded person who is capable of commanding them and the Enterprise. His crew probably realise that they will not be Kirk’s final judge and it is not for them to do so… karma, or whatever god they believe in will catch up to Kirk. Maybe through becoming whole, uniting himself he can change the balance of his karma as the series progresses? We are all shades of grey on a spectrum of colour after all… it would be stupid if in a future episode of Star Trek they decided to split us in to black and white halves one week to try and make a point!

 

We're going to be rewatching TEW at the end of our summer reruns, though historically, it never reran during the original series.

Last time I watched it, I decided to think of "Evil" Kirk as "Real" Kirk--because he's just as much Jim Kirk as "Good" Kirk. It made for an interesting experience.

 

Both Kirk’s are Kirk, which is the point of the episode I think. This is quite shocking though when you consider the actions of ‘bad’ Kirk. It shows that everyone, even Kirk, has this potential ‘dark side’ buried within them. Even Spock has this ‘dark side’ which he suppresses as do all Vulcan’s. We just use our ‘intelligence’ to make good judgments, manage our thoughts and control our actions and urges. We know what is right and wrong and also have morales that we adhere to. These things separate us from ‘animals’, though even animals learn these things to some extent. We also know the rules of law. Kirk was broken down in to the very raw components of this in ‘The Enemy Within’.

 

Indeed, and it's a running theme throughout TOS, if there were such a thing. The idea of human nature and while we have choice we can go very dark. And we all have that capability.

 

Are these reviews or just blow by blow descriptions of what happens?

 

Not to defend ending of "The Enemy Within" but when one reads the behind-the-scenes docs early in the show's production there are notes that Rand and Spock are friends. I suspect this line began with that relationship in mind... Spock could say something no one else could.

Anyway, here's how the script describes the scene:

 

Both, to add context. It’s just a bit of fun. Some people might not have seen the episodes yet you see.

 

The writers like to play with Kirk and his ego (I guess that's ego in the popular sense, not the Freudian sense?) over the course of the series. As if they never forgot a point in this episode, that command is a complicated area, possibly making a positive out of a negative. They throw in hints that he may be just a bit full of himself now and then, but don't dwell on it. By the time of Enterprise Incident, it doesn't seem totally impossible that he's really become a pathological egomaniac...