"The Alternative Factor"
This is an episode of the original Star Trek series and it is generally regarded as one of the most confusing ever aired. The fact that it was made during the show's first season (not the third, which had most of the really awful episodes) makes one wonder what the heck the writer and director and I suppose even Gene Roddenberry were thinking.
It tells the story of a mysterious man named Lazarus who seems alternately mad and sane and is prone to periods of exhaustion which cause him to fall off cliffs, something he does several times.
Actually, the story itself, when boiled down, is fairly straightforward. A corridor of sorts exists between our universe (matter) and a parallel universe (anti-matter). The Lazarus from the anti-matter universe is intent on killing the Lazarus from this one. If they meet outside the corridor, life will cease to exist everywhere in both. Sort of a REALLY bigger bang.
It's the manner in which the story is presented that leads to the above-mentioned confusion. So many things are completely out of character. Captain Kirk has Lazarus (don't ask me which one) beamed aboard the Enterprise, where he is considered a potential danger to the ship but is allowed to come and go as he pleases. One of the most (unintentionally) humorous exchanges is between Kirk and McCoy after Lazarus has been confined to sickbay. He basically just gets up and walks out.
Kirk: Where's Lazarus?
McCoy: Oh, I don't know, Jim. It's a big ship.
Way to stay on top of things, Doctor. But the whole episode is like that. Lazarus wanders through the Enterprise, assaulting crewmen, starting fires, and stealing dilithium crystals. That shipboard security is a little lax would be an understatement. Lazarus even threatens Kirk on the bridge and TELLS him he plans on stealing the crystals, then is allowed to get on the turbolift and leave by himself.
About eight times during the show (and keep in mind, it's only a little over fifty minutes long), the music blares and we are shown a murky scene inside the 'corridor' and two unfocused figures fighting briefly, then back again to normality, usually on the planet, just in time for Lazarus to fall off another cliff.
On and on it goes. Spock is clueless, McCoy doesn't give a damn, Kirk struts and poses and acts concerned. Then at the end, we get to the crux of the matter, in the episode's one effective scene, Kirk crosses over to the parallel universe and meets up with the 'good' Lazarus. Whereas all the previous scenes on the planet were done outside, 'on location' as they say, this is an interior set made to look like it, and the effect is quite eerie.
It might have been a really good episode, but as it stands, "The Alternative Factor" is a real mess and one of the few misses during an otherwise excellent first season.
It tells the story of a mysterious man named Lazarus who seems alternately mad and sane and is prone to periods of exhaustion which cause him to fall off cliffs, something he does several times.
Actually, the story itself, when boiled down, is fairly straightforward. A corridor of sorts exists between our universe (matter) and a parallel universe (anti-matter). The Lazarus from the anti-matter universe is intent on killing the Lazarus from this one. If they meet outside the corridor, life will cease to exist everywhere in both. Sort of a REALLY bigger bang.
It's the manner in which the story is presented that leads to the above-mentioned confusion. So many things are completely out of character. Captain Kirk has Lazarus (don't ask me which one) beamed aboard the Enterprise, where he is considered a potential danger to the ship but is allowed to come and go as he pleases. One of the most (unintentionally) humorous exchanges is between Kirk and McCoy after Lazarus has been confined to sickbay. He basically just gets up and walks out.
Kirk: Where's Lazarus?
McCoy: Oh, I don't know, Jim. It's a big ship.
Way to stay on top of things, Doctor. But the whole episode is like that. Lazarus wanders through the Enterprise, assaulting crewmen, starting fires, and stealing dilithium crystals. That shipboard security is a little lax would be an understatement. Lazarus even threatens Kirk on the bridge and TELLS him he plans on stealing the crystals, then is allowed to get on the turbolift and leave by himself.
About eight times during the show (and keep in mind, it's only a little over fifty minutes long), the music blares and we are shown a murky scene inside the 'corridor' and two unfocused figures fighting briefly, then back again to normality, usually on the planet, just in time for Lazarus to fall off another cliff.
On and on it goes. Spock is clueless, McCoy doesn't give a damn, Kirk struts and poses and acts concerned. Then at the end, we get to the crux of the matter, in the episode's one effective scene, Kirk crosses over to the parallel universe and meets up with the 'good' Lazarus. Whereas all the previous scenes on the planet were done outside, 'on location' as they say, this is an interior set made to look like it, and the effect is quite eerie.
It might have been a really good episode, but as it stands, "The Alternative Factor" is a real mess and one of the few misses during an otherwise excellent first season.
posted by gbj at 2:05 PM
6 Comments:
I really only remember some standout episodes as I wasn't as devoted to the reruns as the guys in the family; definitely don't remember this one. "It's a big ship" really cracked me up. Did they have a permanent writing staff or could anyone submit a script? Seems to me that a few people wrote regularly but there were a lot of first-time (and only-time)writers.
Without looking at a reference book, I would say there were a handful of people who each wrote several episodes- D.C. Fontana and Roddenberry himself come to mind. But there were probably many more who only wrote one.
There was a story editor, of course, who I imagine was responsible for keeping the series' continuity somewhat consistant. Fontana served in that capacity as well during the first season, and she was probably the best.
I remember her name. I also have some vague notion of S-F writers having a go at it -- people already known for their literary work -- or that may be a hallucination.
I have this vision of Shatner's acting style fitting in just as well in a completely unintelligible episode as in a normal one.
Harlan Ellison wrote 'City on the Edge of Forever' (probably the best episode), Robert Bloch wrote 'Wolf in the Fold'... and there were some other well-known names that I can't think of at the moment.
Yeah, Shatner did just fine in 'The Alternative Factor.' He spouts silly dialogue with the same intensity as he does good dialogue.
That's who I was thinking of -- Ellison. What a character that guy is.
Somebody had some recent pics of Shatner posted that I stumbled across. Looks like he's had some kind of facial adjustment, a la Jerry Jones. I know he's gotten rounder over time, but this looked rather suspect.
I want to say the show is 'Boston Legal' and didn't he win an Emmy for it? I'm pretty sure he did.
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