Enemy Within: When do Kirk/Spock suspect Kirk has been duplicated?

[cgervasi]

At what point do Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty realize Kirk has been duplicated?

It seems like Shatner and Nimoy do a decent job conveying it after they hear McCoy said he saw Kirk acting crazy, and in the next scene Scotty shows them the mean dog and says, "if this should happen to a man..." Kirk says, "Oh my!" as if he rightly suspects it may have happened to him.

In the next scene Spock tells Kirk about Janice Rand having accusing him of attacking her. Given the last scene, you'd think they would telegraph that they suspect it may be related to the transporter malfunction. But they act like this is out of the blue. Are they in denial?

When they get more evidence, Spock says there's only one logical answer: we have an impostor aboard. Kirk acts surprised by the notion. Is this just Spock trying to protect Kirk's image and not be offensive? Are Kirk and Spock thinking but avoiding saying, "Crap, maybe you were split like that dog, and neither one of you is really the real person."

In the next scene Spock calls him Kirk's "double", which is appropriate. From this point on Kirk and Spock admit what has happened but hide it from the crew.

Do you think the writers/actors were trying to convey that they were talking around a sensitive issue, unable to speak of it openly? Or was it simply clumsy in drawing out the characters working out what happened?

 

[cgervasi]

Do you think the writers/actors were trying to convey that they were talking around a sensitive issue, unable to speak of it openly? Or was it simply clumsy in drawing out the characters working out what happened?

I found the answer posted at this link.

 

[Melakon]

Part of the confusion is in the editing, and remember this was only the 3rd episode after the second pilot, so the show and staff were still finding their footing.

The last two scenes of Act One are switched in order from what appears in the script. In the teleplay, Kirk and Spock learn about the assault of Janice in sickbay, then head to the transporter room, where they are faced with the discovery that the transporter is creating duplicates. The act ends with Scotty suggesting, "We don't dare beam up the landing party. If this should happen to a man..." and Kirk's "Oh my God". In the episode itself, the sickbay scene follows the one in the transporter room , and the act ends with Spock declaring, "There's only one conclusion—we have an imposter aboard". Director Leo Penn was known to reorganize scenes when he deemed them to be more dramatic in a different order from what was scripted.

http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_Enemy_Within_%28episode%29

Ninja'd by cgervasi.

 

[Timo]

Are they in denial?

I think this one can be salvaged easily enough, despite the above editing mishap happening. Let's just pretend:

No, Kirk is not in denial. Kirk is split, meaning he's out of his wits - not even failing to be on top of the situation, but being crushed flat by the simplest of decisions and conflicts. So him failing to grasp the obvious at the third repetition is actually a plot point.

No, Spock isn't surprised. Spock is trying to stop the CO from spilling the beans in presence of the crew. He must play-act while Fisher and Rand are present. And even after they leave, he makes a point of blatantly lying to Kirk, in order to make him realize that lying is their only option at this point. After all, Spock religiously believes that protecting the CO's reputation trumps trying to save the landing party, let alone any lesser concerns.

It's a simple patch, really. All of Spock's behavior is consistent with projecting falsehoods at the crew while recognizing the reality - he's the ultimate deadpan liar, after all. And all of Kirk's behavior is consistent with X, for all values of X - he's out of his mind, after all.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[ZapBrannigan]

It's a simple patch, really. All of Spock's behavior is consistent with projecting falsehoods at the crew while recognizing the reality - he's the ultimate deadpan liar, after all. And all of Kirk's behavior is consistent with X, for all values of X - he's out of his mind, after all.

Timo Saloniemi

I guess that's the best we can do, but according to later continuity, Spock isn't supposed to lie.

I wish the film had been assembled as Matheson intended. I was always slightly annoyed at how obtuse Kirk and Spock seem after seeing the two dogs, and knowing Kirk had beamed up.

A worse instance of this slow-to-understand business occurs in "The Omega Glory." It's obvious to everyone that the Exeter's crew has disintegrated in their uniforms-- everyone but the stars of the show. And that gaffe was written as such (with McCoy's big announcement that the crew didn't leave), not created in the editing suite.

 

[Mytran]

Yeah, but when Spock confirmed the rumour that Vulcans were unable to lie, he was lying! Lying may be distasteful to Vulcans, but that's about it.

Also, later episodes showed Vulcans capable of doing anything neccessary in order to further their own logical ends. After all, how far would Tuvok have got undercover if he was unable to lie?

 

[Tim Thomason]

Yeah, but when Spock confirmed the rumour that Vulcans were unable to lie, he was lying! Lying may be distasteful to Vulcans, but that's about it.

Also, later episodes showed Vulcans capable of doing anything neccessary in order to further their own logical ends. After all, how far would Tuvok have got undercover if he was unable to lie?

Plus, disregarding all we've learned in Voyager and Enterprise, Spock is still half-human. He's less Vulcan than the average Romulan Commander. If Vulcan's cannot tell a lie, that really has no bearing on Spock's ability or disability to do so.

 

[JE Smith]

It's OT, but my favorite thing about "The Enemy Within" is that, for the first time in Star Trek history, Dr. McCoy utters that immortal line, "He's dead, Jim..." -- and he's talking about a little dog with a horn glued to its forehead.