Star Trek-RM: Turnabout Intruder… Grading/Discussion

[AstroSmurf]

This is the grading & discussion thread for the final episode ofStar Trek Remastered, airing the weekend of 08/02/08.

Turnabout Intruder

After receiving a distress call, the U.S.S. Enterprise is diverted from its mission so as to render aid to a research group on Camus II. Once they arrive, the crew finds that everyone has been killed from exposure to celebium radiation except two of the researchers, one of which is Dr Janice Lester, an old flame of the captain’s. But while the away team is preparing to return to the ship, Dr. Lester uses a piece of ancient technology to switch life-entities with the captain. Now free and mad with power, Dr. Lester takes over the ship and diverts it to the Benecia Colony where she plans to maroon her body with Kirk trapped within it. So with time running out and Lester’s body still ill from the radiation, Kirk must find a way to convince his crew that their captain is not who he… or she says they are.

Official Website for Star Trek

 

[Moopsy]

The episode has just started in the Birmingham market, and the opening shot was most impressive.

I gave the episode a B for historical importance.

 

[cooleddie74]

C- for storyline. Not the best final episode for a TREK series by a longshot, but at least now the last show of ENTERPRISE("TATV")is much worse. If that's a comfort for anyone.

EXCELLENT for what little Remastering was done! There's really nothing changed aside from showing Camus II as a cyan-yellow, ringed planet...one shot of the Enterprise traveling at warp towards the Benecia Colony...and the very last shot of the episode(and, consequently, the entire Classic Series)that has a mood-lit Enterprise sailing towards this stunning CGI nebula reminiscent of the final shots of TNG's "All Good Things..." and ENT's "TATV".

 

[MANT!]

C-minus for the episode, solid above average for the remaster.. The final episode of TOS is very much a cheesefest..with the Shat at full blown emote mode...his Xtreme overacting in this episode often leaves me flat.. the remaster kept me interested, and that final shot was nice to see.. Still as a final episode, Turnabout Intruder is very much a let down, yet it's still better than the producer's ego fest that was TATV...

 

[Kryton]

I always liked the over-the-top nature of this episode, otherwise silly though it was.

Nice callback to The Menagerie, though..."There's no death penalty, with one exception" "General Order IV!"

 

[RandyS]

I always liked the over-the-top nature of this episode, otherwise silly though it was.

Nice callback to The Menagerie, though..."There's no death penalty, with one exception" "General Order IV!"

Except that the death penalty in Mengerie is General order 7.

Small point, I know, but worth noting.

 

[Timo]

An early appearance of the mysterious 47?

Actually, it would stand to story logic that General Order 7 cease to involve a death penalty after the events of "The Menagerie". Whatever deterrent powers that penalty had would have evaporated after Kirk and his crew returned alive. And whatever made Starfleet fear the Talosians that much would also have lost relevancy since the little telepaths didn't take over the universe after all, not even when they had full control of a starship and apparently a starbase as well. Either the Talosians really were benevolent after all - or then they were so powerful that trying to isolate them through death penalties was an utterly futile exercise.

And at the rate Kirk encountered all-new phenomena, it wouldn't be difficult to believe in a new one emerging that immediately required the adoption of death penalty deterrent. After all, they humored Pike originally when he insisted on a death penalty on something that the accused would never even be allowed to learn of - surely they'd humor Kirk or Decker or Tracey as well if they made a similar request. GO4 might refer to any and all visits to Scalos by people not of confirmed infertility, for example...

...Actually, I find it implausible that entire General Orders would be dedicated to issues as insignificant as the fate of a single planet. More probably, GO7 was some general rule about planetary quarantine, with Talos the only valid target for applying that rule as of the late 2260s. And GO4 might be a similarly general rule about now-for-something-completely-different, previously a dead letter but recently upgraded to a political hot potato and boosted with a new and harsher type of sanction.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Janice Lester possessed Kirk acts more like later aged William Shatner.

Hmmm....maybe the transferrence happened in real life, too.

Personally, I find it odd that neither had sex while in the other's body. Maybe there was off-camera lez action between Lester and Chapel.

 

[cooleddie74]

Gotta love the glorious CGI nebula in the final shot of the episode! Anyone got a screencap of that?

 

[doctorwho 03]

Personally, I find it odd that neither had sex while in the other's body. Maybe there was off-camera lez action between Lester and Chapel.

That would definately have made the episode better. Maybe even worth it's series finale status.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

One more note. I give the remastering a Poor. They butchered this one.

Look at what they did to Uhura. Hair color, skin color...totally off.

 

[cooleddie74]

One more note. I give the remastering a Poor. They butchered this one.

Look at what they did to Uhura. Hair color, skin color...totally off.

What about the awesome nebula at the very end? That was almost a movie-quality effect! And the new cyan-yellow, ringed Camus II shot did nothing for you?

 

[Outpost4]

^ I think he was kidding. The communications officer in this episode was not Uhura but a white woman.

I recorded Turnabout Intruder this weekend and just got around to watching it this morning. I, too, liked the opening and closing shots.

It's been a long time since I've seen Turnabout Intruder and I think it's gotten a bad rap. Yes, it's no feminist tract, but I don't think you can read too much into Star Trek's view of women because of Janice Lester. She's a psychopath. First, she's a mass murderer. Second, she's a terrible misogynist. Kirk accuses her of this and he's right. She has great self-loathing and hates her own sex. She's sick. But that's what makes her a good villain. A sane, normal antagonist is no fun. A crazy one is. Anything she says about men, women or Starfleet's attitudes toward both should be viewed through this lens. She's a loon.

Add onto that Shatner's slow burn in losing his composure, finally ordering executions of McCoy and Scott (and Spock, too?), along with Sandra Smith's portrayal of Kirk, and I think you easily have one of the best episodes of the third season, or of all of Star Trek, for that matter. I don't think this episode requires a greater suspension of disbelief than, say, The Doomsday Machine. Decker is easily as crazy as Lester, and he legitimately commands a starship.

 

[cooleddie74]

Oh, I knew he was joshing about the white communications officer. But I wasn't sure if he genuinely disliked the handful of remastered shots or not. Some of us are funny that way.

 

[Rat Boy]

^ I think he was kidding. The communications officer in this episode was not Uhura but a white woman.

I recorded Turnabout Intruder this weekend and just got around to watching it this morning. I, too, liked the opening and closing shots.

It's been a long time since I've seen Turnabout Intruder and I think it's gotten a bad rap. Yes, it's no feminist tract, but I don't think you can read too much into Star Trek's view of women because of Janice Lester. She's a psychopath. First, she's a mass murderer. Second, she's a terrible misogynist. Kirk accuses her of this and he's right. She has great self-loathing and hates her own sex. She's sick. But that's what makes her a good villain. A sane, normal antagonist is no fun. A crazy one is. Anything she says about men, women or Starfleet's attitudes toward both should be viewed through this lens. She's a loon.

Add onto that Shatner's slow burn in losing his composure, finally ordering executions of McCoy and Scott (and Spock, too?), along with Sandra Smith's portrayal of Kirk, and I think you easily have one of the best episodes of the third season, or of all of Star Trek, for that matter. I don't think this episode requires a greater suspension of disbelief than, say, The Doomsday Machine. Decker is easily as crazy as Lester, and he legitimately commands a starship.

I was just going to suggest using a shot of Lester-as-Kirk putting her/his hand on the nervous Dr. Coleman's shoulder in the next contest. The captions write themselves.

 

[Outpost4]

There are a couple of shots out of this episode. That's one of them. Another is one that was used years ago, but might come back soon with my willingness to recycle old shots. It was the one during the first break in the transference, with the-body-of-Kirk on the bridge, in the captain's chair. Both of his hands are up in a defensive posture and there is a great look on his face. Again, at this point, a funny caption is just like shooting fish in a barrel.

 

[bryce]

I dunno about sex, but if I suddenly woke up in a female body, I might do a little "exploration" in the sonic shower.

 

[Kryton]

I remember thinking near the end when Coleman wants to help with her recovery and McCoy says "Of course."

Wha'............?!?

The answer is "Sorry...you're both accused of murder and/or conspiracy to commit murder. You'll be in the brig and Janice will be under 24/7 security watch in sickbay."

 

[Gepard]

I dunno about sex, but if I suddenly woke up in a female body, I might do a little "exploration" in the sonic shower.

Damn right.

Well, right after screaming, panicking and thinking I'll never get back into the right body again. But once that's over with: the exploration!

 

[Outpost4]

I remember thinking near the end when Coleman wants to help with her recovery and McCoy says "Of course."

Wha'............?!?

The answer is "Sorry...you're both accused of murder and/or conspiracy to commit murder. You'll be in the brig and Janice will be under 24/7 security watch in sickbay."

Agreed, although at that point no one knew the details of Coleman's involvement in the conspiracy. Still, he should have been suspected and locked away with her.

At least they didn't have everyone laughing in a happy ending.

And as for the above subject, if I'd been Kirk and woke up in Lester's body, you couldn't have kept my hand out of my pants.