What of Lazarus?

There's a SNW story that deals with that. It's called "Reborn".

Spoiler: Reborn

Basically, The Sisko lets Lazarus out. Both of them. Each is deposited onto his universe's version of Bajor. And whichever one was the nutcase - which was never spelled out in the episode, as clearly BOTH versions were unhinged - is now normal.

 

Not by the general public... just by people who were interested and well read in those areas of science. Still to this day, anti-matter to most people is one of those things they talk about on sci-fi shows.

 

I don't know why you're so hell-bent on assuming that when I and nebusj have already given you several examples of its pop-culture use predating and contemporary with Star Trek. The point is, it was covered in the front-page news in 1955, and just two years later it was used in a really, really dumb, cheap B-movie, The Giant Claw. So obviously it wasn't just some obscure bit of esoterica, but something that quickly permeated into even the most lowbrow areas of popular culture. By the mid-60s, it was showing up frequently in SFTV. In addition to the three 1966-7 examples I've listed already, there was also a 1964 Outer Limits episode that mentioned it, "Production and Decay of Strange Particles."

Oh, and here's an even better example: DC Comics introduced Qward, a planet in an "anti-matter universe," in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #2, dated October 1960. The Weaponers of Qward were frequently recurring villains in Green Lantern from then on. Marvel introduced their own antimatter universe, the Negative Zone, in an issue dated June 1966. (The actual release dates would've been a few months earlier.)

So there's no denying the facts. By the time Star Trek premiered, the concept of antimatter had been permeating mass-media pop culture for a decade. Given that a large percentage of Star Trek's audience would be science fiction fans already, there's just no sense in assuming that they'd somehow failed to hear of what was already a very well-established concept.

 

You've made me curious. You don't think that people today are as interested in science as in the past?

 

Am I the only one who always has problems figuring out which Lazarus is which? I know they give him the bandage to try and separate the two but I always get confused and frankly I get just as confused when they start talking about anti matter and somehow everything is causing problems throughout the universe.

Jason

 

Anti-science and anti-intellectual fervor has become a dangerously potent factor in modern American politics, driving climate denial and the anti-vaccine movement as well as increased religious fanaticism and pushes to teach Creationism in schools. Good grief, the anti-science faction currently controls the White House and Congress, and science is under attack in this country like never before. America used to pride itself on its scientific prowess and innovation; now we're backsliding at an alarming rate.

 

I'm not 100% sure the director knew.

 

*wiggles fingers in a sage way*

You're not meant to know. Because... there's really no difference between them!

It's thematic, you see.

 

It seems clear that both Lazari were equally nutso, as they always acted the same whenever they switched from one to the other. Thus the calm, 'sane' Lazarus we meet at the end of the episode could be either one of them.

 

Well, Lazarus was supposed to be a Mad Scientist by profession. An entry requirement for that is a deep conviction in everybody else being mad. As in "The fools! I will destroy them all!". Naturally that would extend to one's identical twin, with a vengeance...

Timo Saloniemi

 

Can't argue unfortunately.

 

It's my least-favorite episode, the writing and technobabble are horrendous. But it's an interesting theory, and the episode may have been an inspiration for "Mirror, Mirror" - even if not referenced (thankfully) by any of the Enterprise crew. It's a happy coincidence only.

 

It wasn't. Jerome Bixby based the concept of "Mirror, Mirror" on his own 1953 short story "One Way Street." Although in his original premise, the alternate Enterprise wasn't evil, just different and less advanced in some ways. The idea of an evil alternate universe may have been inspired by the early drafts of "The City on the Edge of Forever," where the changed timeline had turned the Enterprise into a pirate ship.

 

Kind of makes you want to be an actual scientist doing valuable research instead of posting constantly to Star Trek message boards, doesn't it?

 

I'm just delighted that Kirk found the perfect solution: lock Lazarus away forever and let him beat himself up.

 

The episode would have been significantly more effective and less ridiculous simply if the Anti-Matter Lazarus had not appeared until the very end. As Mr. Laser Beam pointed out, the two Lazari are nearly indistinguishable from each other in conduct or temperament until at the end, when the Anti-Matter Lazarus is entirely lucid, pacified, and reasonable. The dual Lazari and the clear mark of physical distinction between them with the bandage were too evocative of 'The Enemy Within', anyway.

A single Lazarus, seen throughout the majority of the episode, could have garnered our sympathies and have more successfully conveyed his fear-mongering assessment of the alternative Lazarus.

Lastly, Kirk submitting both Lazari to an eternity of hellish combat and seizure-inducing light oscillations was pretty cruel, in retrospect. Couldn't he have simply isolated the 'evil' Lazarus?

 

I tried that once. I found that
1) I wasn't all that good at it.
2) I found it really really boring.

 

I'm not even sure how both Lazarus's are going to last forever in hippie dreamscape land without food or water. Also where does the air come from or the ground they are standing on?

Jason

 

An early story outline for "The Alternative Factor" sent Kirk to the anti-matter Enterprise, where he eventually meets the "good" Lazarus, after having a few weird interactions with the alternate Enterprise crew. I doubt Bixby was aware of this, however.