The Alternative Factor

[Terok Nor]

I'm watching this now for the first time in probably 20 years. I knew I hated it so I'd been putting it off during my rewatch. My opinion has not changed. It still stinks.

Boring plot
Terrible guest actor
Annoying central character

The only part I enjoyed is when Spock matter of factly calls Lazarus a liar.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

The Alternative Factor gives my brain constipation.

 

[Timo]

This could have been a "mystery" plot, with the audience at first seeing the two Lazari change places but not realizing what's going on, and then catching on just as the heroes are also about to. Incredibly bad editing eliminated that chance.

This could have been a "good sort of weird" plot, with Batmanesque alienness to the guest protagonist/antagonist. What we got was uncoordinated dullness in bad makeup.

This could have been a "TOS does technobabble the dramatic way" plot where the fate of the universe hanging on a thread is a concept introduced by Spock's deep voice and resolved by Kirk's solid fists and quick phaser arm. We got a pretty good (if somewhat nonsensical) exchange between the two in the briefing room, but nothing beyond it that would have involved the heroes in the actual resolution.

Also, où est la femme? We needed more of Lieutenant Masters here at the very least, but there was cutting involved...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Push The Button]

The episode always seemed rushed and slapped together without any particular care, like a book report that you wrote 10 minutes before you had to hand it in, after skimming the book and not actually reading it. It is probably the only TOS episode for me that just plain doesn't fit in with the rest of the series.

My favorite bit is Lazarus's little ship, which would have been right at home in any Jetsons episode.

 

[TOSalltheway]

Unwatchable other than a unique view of Enterprise firing phasers.

 

[ST-321]

I *really* like the premise of alternate universes and felt the what we got at the beginning was pretty cool (a possible prelude to invasion, etc.), but man, is this episode a turkey. I blog about TOS and hit this one a while back. Here's the link if anyone is interested:
http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2013/05/star-trek-alternative-factor.html

 

[Terok Nor]

Lieutenant Masters

Literally the only good thing about this episode.

 

[Indysolo]

Awful in every way. Using an otherwise unused Fred Steiner Romulan cue doesn't save this one. It's the worst episode of the series.

Neil

 

[Nebusj]

Well, at least this episode and ``The Tholian Web'' show that the Original Trek could do Star Trek: Voyager episodes when it wanted.

 

[Drone]

I like the title, the stern speech by old white guy admiral (totally unsubstantiated of course), the way Kirk says "violently", in almost a seductive manner, anti-Lazarus' dialogue with Kirk (best part), and the eerie sense of his planet, actually being an Other place of existence, an anti matter world (lighting tricks for the most part IIRC). Other than that I don't think I remember too much about it. Oh yeah, one other thing. What was it about the constitution of Lazarus' ship that made it take so long, relatively speaking, for the measure of phasers Enterprise was using, to finally destroy it?

 

[Vger23]

I tried watching this with my young sons the other day. It was really horrific. Probably the only one of 2 TOS episodes I don't actually like (Turnabout Intruder).

Literally like every 3 minutes the spooky music comes up and the camera goes out of focus for 90 seconds, and then sometimes guys run around in negative over-exposed empty rooms for an additional 3 minutes. And a guy with the ever-changing beard falls off a cliff, yells about "the crystals" and / or screams "KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL!"

This actually was quite bad. It was almost unbearable watching it through someone else's eyes.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Well, at least this episode and ``The Tholian Web'' show that the Original Trek could do Star Trek: Voyager episodes when it wanted.

LOL!!! Totally agree, what a mess of episodes. They're acid trip episodes. I'm wondering what the scripts were and where did the team miss something or anything. Whether the script on par with the episode shot.

 

[Redfern]

What was it about the constitution of Lazarus' ship that made it take so long, relatively speaking, for the measure of phasers Enterprise was using, to finally destroy it?

Techno-crapple theory... Since the craft served as a doorway between the two universes, and thus two ships, the phaser energy had to "bleed" into the antimatter realm to destroy the dupliacte craft. the "neutral corridor" acted like a kind of "heat sink" so a lot more power had to be applied than to something like a comparable sized shuttlepod.

...Or it was just an excuse to have a visually dramatic sequence. Take your pick.

 

[johnnybear]

I doubt the mirror Kirk was doing his bit for his universe on the other side either!
JB

 

[T'Girl]

The original guest star did a no-show (and was sued by TPTB) and Robert Brown was hired at the last minute, I enjoyed the sixties series he starred in and think him a decent actor if given good material to work with. His performance as "anti-Lazarus" shows this.

The director's instruction (probably) to play Lazarus over the top crazy is one of the episode's flaws, and hardly the actor's fault.

Some of the things I d like about the episode would be the basic premise which is interesting, the new engineering set (and the fire), and Lt. Masters. Masters wore science blue, instead of engineering red. The story did effectively play as a mystery until the reveal.

Even fans who dislike the episode have stated that they find the ending to be poignant.

While not a fantastic story, I wouldn't group it with The Children Shall Lead, Masks, or A Night in Sickbay.

YMMV.
+

 

[johnnybear]

The original guest star did a no-show (and was sued by TPTB) and Robert Brown was hired at the last minute, I enjoyed the sixties series he starred in and think him a decent actor if given good material to work with. His performance as "anti-Lazarus" shows this.

The director's instruction (probably) to play Lazarus over the top crazy is one of the episode's flaws, and hardly the actor's fault.

Some of the things I d like about the episode would be the basic premise which is interesting, the new engineering set (and the fire), and Lt. Masters. Masters wore science blue, instead of engineering red. The story did effectively play as a mystery until the reveal.

Even fans who dislike the episode have stated that they find the ending to be poignant.

While not a fantastic story, I wouldn't group it with The Children Shall Lead, Masks, or A Night in Sickbay.

YMMV.
+

Yeah that was John Drew Barrymore and Ricardo Montalban and Charlton Heston sat on the committee that tried him for his behaviour too!
JB

 

[Maurice]

I find the ending silly. If the two Lazurii are a danger to both universes, sane Laz could just off himself, or Kirk could off one or both of them. He's a solider, and one doesn't take chances where two whole universes are involved. ZAP.

 

[Timo]

All our heroes have on how the Lazari are a danger is hearsay and speculation, though. Killing one might not be a viable solution in the end; for all we know, directing phaser energies at a Lazarus, any Lazarus, would be the thing to terminate all existence.

Spock's talk about "antimatter" could be taken as figurative, though, as he has already ruled out all real-world phenomena as the cause of the radiation he detects. He's likely to be describing the anti-universe in convenient if inaccurate everyday terms rather than actually implying the anti-universe and its anti-people are made of the stuff that powers the Enterprise, then - even if he does say "specifically". It's not bad technobabble as such, it's just the TOS version where layman terms are used instead of or alongside made-up words.

And it sets up a good scenario, although admittedly it doesn't rule out the gunning-down option or explain why Spock thinks killing the mad Lazarus might be a solution but killing the sane one doesn't occur to him. There just isn't a credible way for Spock to know for sure, unless he's (again) holding something back.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[UnknownSample]

There is an excellent episode here, despite the rush to get it done, which resulted in all the mistakes. The ideas and story are epic and compelling. It was always a favorite for me. I'm sick to death of having to defend it though.

 

[Warped9]

I will still watch this over "And The Children Shall Lead."

Ouch.