"What if you can find brand new worlds, right here on Earth?"

[Qonundrum]

So to save costs, TOS had what isn't a half-bad concept of 'Parallel development" - civilizations would develop at slower rates but not dissimilar to Earth being the main premise. Numerous episodes utilized it, particularly in season two.

Granted, some episodes suggested or stated outright some peeps from the Federation came and contaminated all over their society and leaving a nasty mess to clean up afterward. Not unlike Fido by the fire hydrant only messier.

I almost added "All Our Yesterdays" as Kirk visits a period in Sarpedion's past that clearly resembles America during the Witch Trials period. Except he's not calling out "Oh look, it's another planet where the probability is so low yet here it is." or citing how Captain Dingdong stopped by and forgot to bring back a book or left behind something (or stayed and took a civilization that was already sufficiently Earthy and did his business on it, like John Gill, Merik, Tracy, et al.)

"Omega" would get my vote because the sci-fi aspect is incredibly strong, and terrifying to see one's crew dehydrated into table salt). It's let down by too heavyhanded use of the Constitution and other items, though Memory Alpha does cite an off-screen reason for their civilization having such detail.

 

[johnnybear]

I like Bread And Circuses because the Roman Empire was so long ago in our history that it's pretty weird to see it in full swing on planet 892 IV and it made it to their twentieth century too!
JB

 

[ZapBrannigan]

"Miri" might strain credibility with the planet's duplicate continents, but the rest of the story is classic early Star Trek. It's dark and eerie with horror elements, as influenced by The Twilight Zone. It goes out to a cinema-quality location, Mayberry after the Apocalypse. And it has three very strong guest performances: Darby, Pollard, and Megna, the latter two all but indelible.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

I'd be tempted to personally discount Piece and Patterns since their parallel development resulted from Federation contamination/interference, whereas the others were truly natural development.

 

[MAGolding]

I like Bread And Circuses because the Roman Empire was so long ago in our history that it's pretty weird to see it in full swing on planet 892 IV and it made it to their twentieth century too!
JB

The Roman state was probably founded no more than 50 or 100 years before or after 753 BC, the eventually accepted date of Rome's legendary foundation. So you can imagine that Rome was founded as a state during the period of about 800 to 700 BC, or maybe about 850 to 650 BC.

As for the date when the Roman empire fell, here is a link to my answer to a question on that topic.

https://history.stackexchange.com/q...-fall-according-to-contemporaries/53628#53628

So depending on exactly which date you choose for the fall of the Roman Empire, the Roman empire lasted until surprisingly close to the present time.

What makes the Roman Empire on that planet so different from in our history is that it continued to expand more than it shrank, and so came to eventually conquer its whole planet centuries before Kirk & co. visited.

MERIK: There's been no war here for over four hundred years, Jim. Could, let's say, your land of that same era make that same boast? I think you can see why they don't want to have their stability contaminated by dangerous ideas of other ways and other places.

If the Roman world of "Bread and Circuses" was advanced about to the level of 1968 Earth, then four hundred years earlier it might have had the technological level Earth had about 1568. And certainly completing the conquest of an entire planet with the technology of Earth about 1568 would have been very impressive.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'd have to say "A Piece of the Action".

I just think it's really cool that the Iotians deliberately imitated the culture of 1920's Chicago (and regarded "The Book", left behind by the crew of the Horizon, with a near-religious reverence). Iotian culture didn't just happen to evolve to resemble the Chicago mobs, but imitated them on purpose. I just thought that was a real kick.

About Miri's world, I happen to agree with the explanation propounded by @Christopher in his "Department of Temporal Investigations" novels:

Spoiler: novels

Miri's world isn't just a duplicate of Earth - it actually IS Earth, of an alternate timeline, which briefly drifts into the main timeline due to instability in the local fabric of space.

And as for "The Omega Glory": Again, I gotta go with Christopher on this one.

Spoiler: that novel

The US flag, and the copies of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, did not actually originate on Omega IV - indeed, they couldn't, because if they were as old as the natives said they were, the documents would have crumbled into dust a long time ago - but were actually left behind by a passing Earth freighter, the ECS Philadelphia, to inspire the Yangs in their fight for freedom against the Kohms.

After the departure of the Philadelphia, and the long years which followed, the Yangs gradually forgot that the flag and the documents were left behind by outsiders, and began to incorporate them into their own mythology.

 

[BK613]

@Mr. Laser Beam Disagree with the assessment that the Omega Glory documents would have crumbled to dust. The preservation of those documents would have begun with 20th century-ish level of knowledge, gradually declining over the centuries. And we don't even know if they are the originals; the Yangs were not illiterate so monk-like copying over the centuries would be possible as well.

--------------------------
As for the episode itself I've always liked the implication that Kirk's Earth was the duplicate one.

 

[Shawnster]

Piece of the Action, Patterns of Force, and Paradise Syndrome aren't really parallel Earths. All three were altered artificially by aliens.

I'm torn. My first reaction is Miri. But something can be said about Bread and Circuses. That one might have a richer flavor than Miri.

 

[Phoenix219]

I'd have to say "A Piece of the Action".

I just think it's really cool that the Iotians deliberately imitated the culture of 1920's Chicago (and regarded "The Book", left behind by the crew of the Horizon, with a near-religious reverence). Iotian culture didn't just happen to evolve to resemble the Chicago mobs, but imitated them on purpose. I just thought that was a real kick.

About Miri's world, I happen to agree with the explanation propounded by @Christopher in his "Department of Temporal Investigations" novels:

Spoiler: novels

Miri's world isn't just a duplicate of Earth - it actually IS Earth, of an alternate timeline, which briefly drifts into the main timeline due to instability in the local fabric of space.

And as for "The Omega Glory": Again, I gotta go with Christopher on this one.

Spoiler: that novel

The US flag, and the copies of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, did not actually originate on Omega IV - indeed, they couldn't, because if they were as old as the natives said they were, the documents would have crumbled into dust a long time ago - but were actually left behind by a passing Earth freighter, the ECS Philadelphia, to inspire the Yangs in their fight for freedom against the Kohms.

After the departure of the Philadelphia, and the long years which followed, the Yangs gradually forgot that the flag and the documents were left behind by outsiders, and began to incorporate them into their own mythology.

Or they were early human explorers, trapped after a wormhole sent them back in time, or some such.

In real life, I am of the (not always accepted) belief that the Roman Empire's downfall was contributed to by catastrophic natural celestial based events, so I am okay with both Preservers saved them from destruction, or a "copy" that was located in a different location, and therefore didn't suffer the same natural events.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

@Mr. Laser Beam Disagree with the assessment that the Omega Glory documents would have crumbled to dust. The preservation of those documents would have begun with 20th century-ish level of knowledge, gradually declining over the centuries. And we don't even know if they are the originals; the Yangs were not illiterate so monk-like copying over the centuries would be possible as well.

--------------------------
As for the episode itself I've always liked the implication that Kirk's Earth was the duplicate one.

Solid points.

 

[F. King Daniel]

"Miri". Because they were into some seriously advanced medical research for the 1960's. Perhaps it was their world's version of Earth Prime's (for lack of a better name) Eugenics Wars.

It was some crazy luck that Kirk and Spock beamed down to the city where the plague originated and had the equipment there to cure it. Planets aren't small.

 

[Timo]

Umm, they homed in on a radio transmission. No luck involved; no doubt the folks who unleashed the plague had the best odds of suriving for a while, too. Or of understanding what was going on, and rigging the distress signal.

In general, "parallel development" might be fallacy, forgotten as quickly as ol' Hodgkin: all the parallelisms might be due to fairly recent outside influence in "Patterns of Force" fashion, a case of a meddler introducing the external trappings of a philosophy in order to better promote that philosophy (usually for personal gain). Flashy uniforms and flags would be an absolute must, but a whole range of commercial and industrial design could also be distributed.

A single global language could also be introduced, and the meddler could choose from plenty of predigested Earth cultures for the one that best (if only coarsely) fit the planet's preexisting mores and practices.The ideal victim culture for such corruption would in any case be a "19th-20th century Earth" one, with all the right things already in place for global distribution of the New And Better Ways.

If the timing is problematic otherwise, just assume the meddler had a time machine. Those are the worst sort anyway. What's it with Earth humans and meddling? We never had a pointy-eared Vulcanoid mess with our perception of heavenly powers or... Well, not to the extent of 'em round-ears mangling cultures, anyway.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Marsden]

Miri seems to be more similar to Omega Glory than Earth because of their longevity diseases, they're both deadly to outsiders and the natives live much longer, also they were both artificially created.

 

[Phoenix219]

Miri seems to be more similar to Omega Glory than Earth because of their longevity diseases, they're both deadly to outsiders and the natives live much longer, also they were both artificially created.

Alternate Earths that resulted in different Cold War Era biological weapons research?

 

[Timo]

Or "from". Give mankind enough weird potions or fields or waves or whatnot, and you get gods who can do things ranging from telekinesis to the remaking of entire worlds...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Relayer1]

I disliked all of these, purely for their stupid premise.

 

[Phoenix219]

As a kid, they always seemed more intriguing to me. I think two of my first episodes were Omega Glory and Alternative Factor, and as bad as they might be, the concepts had me hooked from day one.

 

[Desert Kris]

I've kind of gone the reverse. As a kid the alternative Earths and parallel developments were too close to home, they felt illogical in a way that I couldn't define. Nowadays, I really get a kick out of them. Partly it seems like a fun idea, with some hint of a larger interesting idea behind it all that explains the commonality of it. I also like them from the parable standpoint, in the sense that they are more outright about the parable being explored.

I like Bread and Circuses best for a number of reasons. The first is based on a misunderstanding of a surprise reveal at the end of the episode. However, when I later realized I had misinterpreted the meaning, I still liked the revised picture it left me with. The culture was fascinating and cleverly developed, and the characters were compelling as well. I particularly like Captain Kirk being challenged by the villain of the episode, with Spock and McCoy's lives on the line. And the other ship captain chimes in to warn that Kirk is not to be underestimated, given the nature of the ship he commands. There a surprising character moment between McCoy and Spock. And I like the way Kirk, Spock, and McCoy make their escape.

 

[Vger23]

Omega Glory is one of my favorites....so I'll go with that one.

 

[uniderth]

You know, the concept of parallel earths isn't that bad of a concept. But the rational has to be more than "they just happened to evolve to be similar". Because the chances of that are so astronomical that it strains suspension of disbelief. But with some "believable" explanation like preservers, or earth from another timeline, etc. it can be a killer idea.

I voted for Patterns of Force because Hugo Boss.