That one is a puzzlement. They obviously raided wardrobe and props for the episode, but no mention "in universe" of it looking like Earth. I guess the budget for wardrobe was tight for that one
Was Lazarus immortal?
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It makes plenty of in-universe sense, though. The heroes first went down incorrectly clothed - why? Because they must have thought that was correct clothing - why? Because the folks down there did wear that style just moments ago!
The setup in the town is utterly fake: you can't do Early Industrial without a continentwide infrastructure, and yet there is only this one town (and then the Valley), or else our heroes would not have known to home in on this particular one, the (as it later turns out) Capital of Landru. Moreover, it's fake with regular makeovers, perhaps for the same reason the Red Hour exists. Where does Landru get his fashion ideas for the makeovers? Why, he steals them from passersby such as the Archons!
Timo Saloniemi
The setup in the town is utterly fake: you can't do Early Industrial without a continentwide infrastructure, and yet there is only this one town (and then the Valley), or else our heroes would not have known to home in on this particular one, the (as it later turns out) Capital of Landru. Moreover, it's fake with regular makeovers, perhaps for the same reason the Red Hour exists. Where does Landru get his fashion ideas for the makeovers? Why, he steals them from passersby such as the Archons!
Timo Saloniemi
Well, millions over the generations, perhaps? Or some buffer capacity. Or then it's just a big town.
If not, we need to find an excuse for Kirk choosing this spot. But the plot seems to rule out one, not in specific but categorically: they don't think there would be anything special down there at first. Not even bits and pieces of the Archon at that.
Timo Saloniemi
If not, we need to find an excuse for Kirk choosing this spot. But the plot seems to rule out one, not in specific but categorically: they don't think there would be anything special down there at first. Not even bits and pieces of the Archon at that.
Timo Saloniemi
Archons does bother me, but it may have been the first time they threw aliens in Earth clothes at us with no parallel Earth justification. So I figure: alright, I'll buy that happening ONCE. It's like: I'll buy Earth clothes on a planet that's never heard of Earth ONCE in Dr Who, meaning the first one like that, Genesis of the Daleks. Maybe it could happen by pure coincidence once. But then in newWho, they threw a cavalcade of aliens in Earth clothes at us all the time. Apparently no one cares but me. Most people just assume their own clothes are so natural and normal to them, that aliens will naturally all want to look like that too.
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Hey wait, this thread is about Alt Factor. Discussion of this one always involves complaints about, I don't know, about fifteen different factors, "obvious" flaws, most of which never occurred to me as problems over 50 years of viewing. Many just are not problems, and are only made so because of unnecessary assumptions on the part of the complainer.
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I'll only answer regarding the immortality... What was always clear to me from my first viewing in 1967 onward, was that being in the interdimensional zone was not in anyway like life or existence as we know it. It never once occurred to me to interpret Kirk as spouting hyperbole about the Lazuruses fighting "forever". This was not a mild show. It has immense scale to it. Forever means forever. Just the bizarre, extreme nature of the gateway made it natural to expect a suspension of physical laws, including mundane physical survival needs. We may not be told exactly why, but it would be absurd to expect mundane normality.
Not magic. It only seems magical because we don't get the SF justification. They are rushing through a totally new situation so fast that they just don't have time to figure out and explain all the elements. Just to show that the immortality aspect is not something that has to be magic, consider Scotty's transporter trick to survive decades without supplies, in Next Gen's "Relics". Now, if one sees the transporter as magic, s/he's pretty much dismissed Trek entirely. We at least accept it as future tech. Well, why do we accept that Scotty's trick worked? Because existence is not quite existence in a transported state. Time does not pass for you, because you do not quite exist. Your existence is suspended.
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Same here in AF. The kind of reality of both universes does not exist there. That's why it can come into contact with both universes. Just by being in it, you no longer quite exist. You're there, but you're something... else. Not + or -.
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As long as YOU are suspended, so is your aging. So are your stomach and bowels.
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Hey wait, this thread is about Alt Factor. Discussion of this one always involves complaints about, I don't know, about fifteen different factors, "obvious" flaws, most of which never occurred to me as problems over 50 years of viewing. Many just are not problems, and are only made so because of unnecessary assumptions on the part of the complainer.
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I'll only answer regarding the immortality... What was always clear to me from my first viewing in 1967 onward, was that being in the interdimensional zone was not in anyway like life or existence as we know it. It never once occurred to me to interpret Kirk as spouting hyperbole about the Lazuruses fighting "forever". This was not a mild show. It has immense scale to it. Forever means forever. Just the bizarre, extreme nature of the gateway made it natural to expect a suspension of physical laws, including mundane physical survival needs. We may not be told exactly why, but it would be absurd to expect mundane normality.
Not magic. It only seems magical because we don't get the SF justification. They are rushing through a totally new situation so fast that they just don't have time to figure out and explain all the elements. Just to show that the immortality aspect is not something that has to be magic, consider Scotty's transporter trick to survive decades without supplies, in Next Gen's "Relics". Now, if one sees the transporter as magic, s/he's pretty much dismissed Trek entirely. We at least accept it as future tech. Well, why do we accept that Scotty's trick worked? Because existence is not quite existence in a transported state. Time does not pass for you, because you do not quite exist. Your existence is suspended.
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Same here in AF. The kind of reality of both universes does not exist there. That's why it can come into contact with both universes. Just by being in it, you no longer quite exist. You're there, but you're something... else. Not + or -.
-------------------
As long as YOU are suspended, so is your aging. So are your stomach and bowels.
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And your hands, so you can't actually wrestle or throttle anybody, forever or otherwise.
Which basically just means that when Kirk sealed the corridor, he froze the two in an eternal tableau where their hands happen to be at the respective throats. A disturbing image, perhaps, but only in the same sense as a gory corpse is disturbing. The actual person in question would no longer suffer or otherwise care, in either case.
Timo Saloniemi
Return of the Archons is awesome in its utter bonkerness. Archons never fails to entertain
As far as Alternative Factor is concerned, I just watched it again last night. Never one of my favorite episodes. I love how they just let Lazarus (either one) wander around the ship causing mischief. At one point McCoy says, "Well, don't worry, he's not going anywhere. Not this time" and then of course, Lazarus just up and leaves
And then there's this "He'll kill us all if you don't kill him first! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Is Kirk's melodramatic puffery at the end any less annoying than at the end of Who Mourns For Adonis when looking all forlorn he utters, "Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?"
Finally, where's James Doohan in this episode? Instead we get a one shot engineering Lt.
As far as Alternative Factor is concerned, I just watched it again last night. Never one of my favorite episodes. I love how they just let Lazarus (either one) wander around the ship causing mischief. At one point McCoy says, "Well, don't worry, he's not going anywhere. Not this time" and then of course, Lazarus just up and leaves
And then there's this "He'll kill us all if you don't kill him first! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Is Kirk's melodramatic puffery at the end any less annoying than at the end of Who Mourns For Adonis when looking all forlorn he utters, "Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?"
Finally, where's James Doohan in this episode? Instead we get a one shot engineering Lt.
Robert Brown sure hammed it up for his close up.And then there's this "He'll kill us all if you don't kill him first! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
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