I was happy when both Lazarus were locked in the corridor just so we could get rid of them. 
the alternate factor
- Thread starter hifijohn
- Start date
There is a SNW story called "Reborn" which wraps up the whole thing with Lazarus. Both of them are let out of the corridor and are deposited on Bajor of their respective home universes. With their sanity intact.
That's hardly surprising since alt (sane) Lazarus only appeared a couple of times and it wasn't for long:What really flummoxed me was this: Both versions of Lazarus appear equally nuts (we see them switch back and forth many times, and he always acts the same), yet when Kirk ends up in the antimatter universe and meets one of the Lazaruses, this one is a normal, well-adjusted person? What made this Lazarus stop going bonkers?
- In the rec room, where he learns about the presence of dilithium crystals on board this strange ship he finds himself in. However, he is replaced by crazy Laz before he can take action.
- Alt-Laz sneaks into Engineering and steals 2 crystals, with the help of his pocket sleep-needle. It is not known when he slips back, but it seems he took the time to hack into the ship's computer and familiarise himself with the ship's captain at least.
Riddle is a miniscule part at best in drafts where he appears. He was also not Masters’ boyfriend in any versions I can remember—just a shipmate. The part was easily excised.
Masters’ part was only a little bit bigger in the two teleplays that Don Ingalls wrote (compared to the aired version). Having read her half-baked romance with Lazarus, I don’t miss it from the episode.
Someone needs to revise Memory Alpha.
I still think this episode also contains the very best instance of Kirk kissing the Starfleet brass's butt when he's replying to the commodore, "uh, yeah! Invasion!" after they've sent a Code 1 alert. It's obvious he doesn't know WTF is going on any more than anyone but didn't want to argue with them. Shatner plays it well, also.
Is this more a reflection of your attitude towards Stoppard or towards the Bard?
Granted that something always was rotten in Denmark, but at least that one bears rewatching... And remakes. (I haven't been able to hunt down the one advertised in Last Action Hero, alas.)
Timo Saloniemi
"Zathrus, not Zathrus!"
Is this more a reflection of your attitude towards Stoppard or towards the Bard?
Granted that something always was rotten in Denmark, but at least that one bears rewatching... And remakes. (I haven't been able to hunt down the one advertised in Last Action Hero, alas.)
Timo Saloniemi
I was referring more to the idea that stories can be viewed from multiple perspectives. Another example is Lion King 1.5, which is that story from Timon and Pumbaa's perspective beginning to end. My friend and I just refer to the trope as "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" syndrome.
Obviously there is no Enterprise in this universe, so he probably just reappears on the alternate version of the planet beneath the ship and works on his Time Chamber/Space Vehicle/Bubble!
JB
This makes sense. I mean, there was plenty of time for "alternate" plotlines in the filmed version as opposed to the repeated shots of Lazarus falling, Spock and security guards running around Vasquez Rocks, battles in the corridor between worlds, etc., but I still don't know how they were going to fit a romance in even if they'd trimmed the excess fat. Moreover, I can think of only one romance of a non-principal character with a guest star that worked in all of TOS: McGivers and Khan. I may be forgetting something.
"Is it such a small price to pay, Captain?"
JB
JB
It takes some stretching of definitions, but Janice Rand and Charlie Evans would IMHO seem to be competition here. That is, Rand didn't pan out as a principal character in the end, and the romance was central and intense even if not mutual or consensual.
Timo Saloniemi
How about the Companion and Cochrane?
O wait Hedford had to die for that to happen.
Those jokers in the "Apple" planet seemed to be heading OK in the romance stakes.
Agreed! I forgot about the Companion and Cochrane. Thanks. Their relationship was very sweet.
I don't think the people of Vaal's world were quite that far along yet.
Don't Pike and Vina work out, in the end anyway?
Yes (at least I hope they did - the Talosians seem to think they would), and I thought of them too before I posted, but I consider Pike to be a principal character, particularly since most of "The Menagerie" is of course a repackaging of "The Cage."
Lots of stuff to overcome in that relationship, I think. Assuming it's not a holodeck romance to begin with, as the odds of Vina having survived the original crash aren't all that high. If she did live, how come this whole "hatred of captivity" thing didn't arise in the years before Pike's arrival? But it may end up a happy ever after for the two invalids just as well.
"Metamorphosis" was largely about the romance. "The Apple", more about the potential. In "The Cage", we saw an abusive relationship, with a third party as the abuser; in "Charlie X", the abuse wasn't outsourced. It's difficult to know whether an "incidental" romance could have worked as a plot element in "The Alternative Factor" - would it have been a plot-furthering element like the Khan/McGivers affair, or mere atmosphere or filler? Martine/Tomlinson was another relatively low-key, off-focus element of this sort and perhaps a model for what might have happened here, rather than Thompson outright betraying Starfleet for Lazarus or saving the day or whatever.
Timo Saloniemi
"Metamorphosis" was largely about the romance. "The Apple", more about the potential. In "The Cage", we saw an abusive relationship, with a third party as the abuser; in "Charlie X", the abuse wasn't outsourced. It's difficult to know whether an "incidental" romance could have worked as a plot element in "The Alternative Factor" - would it have been a plot-furthering element like the Khan/McGivers affair, or mere atmosphere or filler? Martine/Tomlinson was another relatively low-key, off-focus element of this sort and perhaps a model for what might have happened here, rather than Thompson outright betraying Starfleet for Lazarus or saving the day or whatever.
Timo Saloniemi
That seems such a waste of a story to me! The powerful ending to Alternative was the end where Lazarus was confined into a hyperspacial prison where he would be fighting himself, although an insane madder than hell version, forever and a day and yet some guy comes along and just writes a nice n' sweet ending which sort of takes away from the episode!!! Glad they didn't actually make that in DS9! Is Robert Brown still alive?
JB