Man Trap Versus Turnabout Intruder

[Spock's Barber]

Compare and Contrast the first broadcast TOS episode, The Man Trap, to the last broadcast TOS episode, Turnabout Intruder.

I find both episodes to be dreary and slow paced. Coincidence or Consequence?

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Well both have an imposter exploring the ship....

 

[1001001]

They both suck.

 

[Neopeius]

Compare and Contrast the first broadcast TOS episode, The Mantrap, to the last broadcast TOS episode, Turnabout Intruder.

I find both episodes to be dreary and slow paced. Coincidence or Consequence?

I can only compare my very recent memories of "The Man Trap" with my less clear (but still reasonably sharp) memories of "Intruder".

I enjoyed "The Man Trap" a lot more than I thought I would this time around. Maybe it's because I was viewing it contextually, so it just felt fresh and new and great.

As for "Intruder", I remember last time expecting to dislike it, and I recognize it was supposed to be anti-feminist, but the one or two lines that underscored that theme were so half-heartedly delivered that it felt like the actors knew it was a dumb theme. As was, it was actually a pretty neat episode in which some of the ensemble got to perform (unusual by the third season) and Shatner got to broaden his range.

I'd say both are solid episodes that only pale in comparison to the truly great ones they happen to be close to ("Naked Time" for "Man Trap, three weeks later; "All Our Yesterdays" for "Intruder" -- aired MONTHS before).

 

[Vger23]

Man Trap is pretty average, and can be grating in parts.

Turnabout Intruder is awful in nearly every way, though.

 

[Ssosmcin]

"The Man Trap" is a well thought out episode. The character bits are really well done and I really appreciate that the "monster" isn't one. It's an animal trying to survive. There are issues, like "jeez give them salt and leave Crater and his pet in peace." But it's miles above a standard "monster episode" and the creature is sympathetic. I love the "early series weirdness" in this one.

"Turnabout Intruder" is a guilty pleasure because of Shatner's performance. Otherwise, it's pretty crummy for Star Trek.

 

[Damian]

Well both have an imposter exploring the ship....

Hmm. I never really thought of that but true.

I didn't watch the original series until years later (I wasn't alive yet when it first aired) and when I watched it on VHS, of course, it was in production order. Since then I've watched the series in airing order and production order (and honestly, in this case, it seems to flow better in production order so I usually default to the two pilots as the first 'proper' episodes with "The Corbomite Maneuver" as the beginning of the actual 5YM). But I've never thought to compare "The Man Trap" with "Turnabout Intruder" (or with "The Cage" or "Where No Man Has Gone Before" for that matter).

"The Man Trap" is better, though there is a certain guilty pleasure as some have noted with "Turnabout Intruder." While women not being in places of authority probably fit 1969, it certainly doesn't fit today, and even at that time in Star Trek canon didn't even seem to really fit with the spirit of the show. Now, of course, we have learned it was patently false, as there have been a number of women captains depicted in Starfleet going all the way back to Enterprise, in the story timeline.

I do recall reading a Star Trek novel where they tried to explain that discontinuity. Basically Lester was passed over for promotion because she wasn't fit to be captain (I think she failed some tests or something--not surprising since she obviously had some psychiatric issues going on). But she convinced herself that it was because she was a woman. For a time Kirk tried to convince her that was obviously not true but eventually he gave up and they eventually broke up.

 

[Spock's Barber]

I like the Man Trap concept of the Salt Creature being able to assume many different forms, while the ability to transfer life entities in TI was even more fascinating.

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[CorporalCaptain]

Between the two of them, "The Man Trap" by a country mile.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I thought it was interesting that the Salt Vampire stalking the halls for a victim was a subversion of the typical space horror movie version of this in that every time it gets ready to attack an alone person someone else comes along and it has to run.

I was weirdly starting to root for the Salt Vampire to catch a break.

 

[Neopeius]

I thought it was interesting that the Salt Vampire stalking the halls for a victim was a subversion of the typical space horror movie version of this in that every time it gets ready to attack an alone person someone else comes along and it has to run.

I was weirdly starting to root for the Salt Vampire to catch a break.

That's a good point. And the whole "GQ4" and folks traveling in pairs to ensure no one was out of sight was a nice touch.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I think this episode gets a bad rap for being the series premiere and a "monster episode" right out of the gate. It's more than that. There's a real motivation for it as a predator and it seems like it doesn't truly want to hurt other intelligent beings, but its hunger becomes so strong, the survival instinct overpowers it's regard for other life. It is, in the end, still an animal.

Considering the monster episodes being broadcast on ABC and the stuff in drive-ins, "The Man Trap" is a huge cut above. It may not reflect the attitudes the series would take in the weeks ahead, but it's an intelligently written and very spooky hour. I know I'm in the minority, but I love the music. It really paints a barren picture and is perfect for the episode. I watch this one often.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Between the two of them, "The Man Trap" by a country mile.

Interesting.

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I wonder if MT was produced in S3 and TI was filmed in S1 if there would have been any difference in the finished episode. I guess we’ll never know.

 

[fireproof78]

I thought it was interesting that the Salt Vampire stalking the halls for a victim was a subversion of the typical space horror movie version of this in that every time it gets ready to attack an alone person someone else comes along and it has to run.

I was weirdly starting to root for the Salt Vampire to catch a break.

I recent revisited the Man Trap and found myself a little bit sympathetic to the monster, right until the end, when it killed Crater and tried to kill Kirk. Definitely a good episode that explored the idea of the other without immediately delving in to "kill the monster," though it ended up there any way.

Turnabout Intruder, by contrast, is a terrible episode with little in the way of additive to the Star Trek lore as a whole.

 

[Push The Button]

The Man Trap: 1966, everyone involved with the production had high hopes for the series, and put in the extra effort, and it showed in almost every first season episode

Turnabout Intruder: 1969, everyone knew that it was going to end. We still had great onscreen work from the actors, especially Shatner, but I’m sure everyone was more concerned about their next job than this one

 

[Spock's Barber]

The Man Trap: 1966, everyone involved with the production had high hopes for the series, and put in the extra effort, and it showed in almost every first season episode

Turnabout Intruder: 1969, everyone knew that it was going to end. We still had great onscreen work from the actors, especially Shatner, but I’m sure everyone was more concerned about their next job than this one

Yes. I particularly liked the planet set in MT.

Shatner wrote in one of his books that the cast and crew suspected that TI was the end of the line for TOS...little did they know...Star Trek cannot die!

 

[Ssosmcin]

On the other hand, the transporter chief in MAN TRAP or Uhura IN GALILEO could still have asked for more information from the survivors. Isn't Uhura supposed to know every voice on the ship?

428 people? I have 28 in my office and don't know everyone if they speak quickly or too low.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Starfleet Voice Identification Software :

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[Spock's Barber]

I was weirdly starting to root for the Salt Vampire to catch a break.

Yes. It did seem to contravene Starfleet’s mission to seek out new life when McCoy killed the last of an alien species, but Kirk was like “Whew! Thanks, Bones.”

 

[Kor]

The creature was an immediate threat to the crew.

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Could they have tried to saved it? Perhaps. Suppose McCoy just stunned it, then they call security to take it to the brig. It wakes up along the way and uses its hypnotic powers on the security guards, who then go the way of typical redshirts. Or they manage to get it into the brig, but it fools some weak-minded guard into letting it out (and then consumes said guard's bodily salts). Then the creature is running loose aboard the ship again, and the same thing keeps happening.

Kor