Well...apart from the fact that the title kind of sounds like some dopey reality game show for "Gen-X" contestants, what do you think of The Alternative Factor?
I know that some people believe that it's the worst episode of an otherwise pretty solid First Season, and they're probably right. But I still think that this episode is worth a certain amount of discussion!
First of all, people have criticized the science of this episode. In my humble opinion, The Alternative Factor is really meant to be just a Jekyll-and-Hyde tale with a sci-fi twist. All this stuff about matter/anti-matter universes colliding and wiping out existence as we know it is simply a story device (although really just a bit more hyperbolically over-the-top than is actually necessary!
), and the iffy science should simply be taken with a grain of salt. But, yeah, the execution could certainly have been waaayyy better! 
(And as far as "alternate universes" are concerned, it wans't until the next season's Mirror, Mirror that Trek would really do justice to the concept!)
I think Robert Brown was actually meant to be a last-minute replacement for someone else who pulled out. It definitely shows, because Brown doesn't seem to have had time to really get a handle on the character - not to mention making the two alternate Lazaruses (Lazari?) different and distinct from each other!
I know that some people believe that it's the worst episode of an otherwise pretty solid First Season, and they're probably right. But I still think that this episode is worth a certain amount of discussion!
First of all, people have criticized the science of this episode. In my humble opinion, The Alternative Factor is really meant to be just a Jekyll-and-Hyde tale with a sci-fi twist. All this stuff about matter/anti-matter universes colliding and wiping out existence as we know it is simply a story device (although really just a bit more hyperbolically over-the-top than is actually necessary!
), and the iffy science should simply be taken with a grain of salt. But, yeah, the execution could certainly have been waaayyy better! (And as far as "alternate universes" are concerned, it wans't until the next season's Mirror, Mirror that Trek would really do justice to the concept!)I think Robert Brown was actually meant to be a last-minute replacement for someone else who pulled out. It definitely shows, because Brown doesn't seem to have had time to really get a handle on the character - not to mention making the two alternate Lazaruses (Lazari?) different and distinct from each other!
There was an interesting idea in the episode but it was executed horribly.
