"Turnabout Intruder" aired 40 years ago today
- Thread starter Rat Boy
- Start date
And I still say a lovely episode to end on! Certainly better than the Voyager and Enterprise finales, that's for damn sure. 
I too feel the urge to watch it again soon to commemorate the occasion.
I too feel the urge to watch it again soon to commemorate the occasion.
Wow..the "youngest" episode is now 40!
And it's had a controversial life too
Were we lucky it aired at all? Seems unusual to air one last episode from a show cancelled months earlier the way they did here.
And it's had a controversial life too
Were we lucky it aired at all? Seems unusual to air one last episode from a show cancelled months earlier the way they did here.
Yeah, the original series ended ... but Star Trek just begun.
So true...so very very true!
I always loved Shatner's over-the-top showing in this one. The nail file scene in his quarters. The subtle eye flicker when he mockingly poo poo'd Spock and McCoy sometime later.....the seductive movement and projected emotional bond he demonstrated when suggesting Dr. Lester's demise. Shatner did his homework on this one and if you watch it for what he intended, it comes off as more than just a sheer laugh-fest.
I always had a sneaking feeling that the airing of the final STAR TREK episode was a tactic by NBC.
All that third season long, the show had been stuck in that Friday night at 10 "death slot" where both the producers and the network knew it would die. NBC had had enough of the show and WANTED it to fail, and this was their way of getting rid of it once and for all.
Naturally, all season long, the fans complained about the time slot.
Then the show finally got cancelled - and there was just this one episode left. And NBC scheduled it in a slot where the show should have done better all season, Tuesdays at 7:30 PM. And I always felt that by airing it there, NBC was subtly saying - "see, even HERE the show gets no ratings - goodbye and good riddance."
I actually don't know what kind of ratings it garnered, but I remember being excited that this last new episode aired just one month or so prior to the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Harry
All that third season long, the show had been stuck in that Friday night at 10 "death slot" where both the producers and the network knew it would die. NBC had had enough of the show and WANTED it to fail, and this was their way of getting rid of it once and for all.
Naturally, all season long, the fans complained about the time slot.
Then the show finally got cancelled - and there was just this one episode left. And NBC scheduled it in a slot where the show should have done better all season, Tuesdays at 7:30 PM. And I always felt that by airing it there, NBC was subtly saying - "see, even HERE the show gets no ratings - goodbye and good riddance."
I actually don't know what kind of ratings it garnered, but I remember being excited that this last new episode aired just one month or so prior to the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Harry
I think All Our Yesterdays should have been aired last as the finale, actually.
That may have been more fitting, indeed.
Well I'm glad it wasn't. I don't know if I'm the only one, but I definitely think it was a better episode than "All Our Yesterdays". I thought all the stuff with McCoy and Kirk in that episode was dull, the traveling to different dimensions was silly, and the Spock arc, while decent, was disappointing because it was basically an inferior rip-off of "This Side of Paradise".
In contrast, I thought "Turnabout Intruder" had a more entertaining story, and was anchored by a very enjoyable performance by Shatner. It also provided a very welcome rare opportunity for Scotty to play a somewhat important role in the story, which brought forth very nice performances by James Doohan and DeForest Kelley.
In contrast, I thought "Turnabout Intruder" had a more entertaining story, and was anchored by a very enjoyable performance by Shatner. It also provided a very welcome rare opportunity for Scotty to play a somewhat important role in the story, which brought forth very nice performances by James Doohan and DeForest Kelley.
I just watched this episode and couldn't decide if she was angry she couldn't become a starship captain because of sexism or that she was all consumed with Kirk's being married to his career/command and it was that jealousy which made her insane and want what Kirk had wanted.
The ending, at least as CBS posted to youtube, with the murderous doctor being allowed to go care for her was just insanity.
The ending, at least as CBS posted to youtube, with the murderous doctor being allowed to go care for her was just insanity.
Welcome to the quintessential sticking point for the episode.
Myself, I'm convinced that the original intention was simply sexist, and was meant to be an allegory in the same vein as "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield." I choose to reinterpret her of being jealous that Kirk's career/command consumed him and prevented him from being a relationship with her, and also that she had perhaps tried to get into Starfleet herself and had failed, and chose to blame it on the fact that she was a woman.
She was nuts, after all, and I prefer to believe that the 23rd century isn't sexist in choosing its starship commanders.
That's all it was. Making up story references to make it "fit" one's sensibilities isn't necessary. The truth was, the 1960s was a sexist time. As a little girl who was CONSTANTLY told (mostly by boys, but occasionally by girls) that I couldn't do this or that because I was a girl, I know for a fact sexism was well and alive.
(In my case, it was wanting to play baseball. I had great eyesight and was very good at getting hits, but I was a GIRL and might contaminate those manly specimens if I joined them.
I must confess, I did and still do "throw like a girl." No idea why I can't throw. But I could outhit the boys.)Similar threads
