Title: Mirror, Mirror
Airdate: 10/6/1967
Plot Summary
Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura have a transporter malfunction that sends them to a parallel universe where everyone is evil and Spock sports a goatee. How can they get home before it is discovered that they aren’t the same people who belong in this universe?
Risk Is Our Business
Kirk is able to deal with the situation far better than his mirror counterpart. He sets into motion changes in the mirror universe that resonate into The Next Generation era with sillier and sillier results.
His speech at the end to Mirror Spock is just classic Kirk, attempting to make some place better when he leaves it than when he arrives. Of course, it ends up destroying the Terran Empire and turning most of the humans into slaves but he couldn’t have known that writers 30 years later would fuck him over.
He also meets a lady in the mirror universe whose counterpart just so happens to get assigned to the Enterprise at the end of the episode. The ending would also serve as a way to have Sisko meet Kirk in the classic episode Trials and Tribble-ations.
Logical
Spock is pretty much the same in both universes, though the mirror Spock is just simply more pragmatic given his situation. It’s ironic, as everyone who wants to shorthand the idea of “evil versions” just slaps a goatee on the counterpart. But in truth, he’s the least different of all the counterparts.
Prime Spock is pretty much on top of what’s going on, just throwing the four in the brig with no fuss and no muss. It’s actually pretty funny how the counterparts are not able to get past the transporter room before they are figured out and locked up.
He’s Dead Jim
Bones is pretty much a sounding board for most of this episode, except when he stays to heal up Mirror Spock, which almost screws their chances to get home.
Bones also gets a “I’m a doctor, not an engineer.” Hilariously, Scotty has none of it and simply replies “NOW you’re an engineer.”
Helm Sluggish Captain
While we hardly see prime Sulu, Mirror Sulu is a randy, vicious, backstabbing piece of crap. So really Takei playing himself instead of Sulu. Seriously though, he does a great job of really illustrating just how lousy this place is.
He gets slapped by Uhura and his ass kicked by Kirk. He really doesn’t do well in this episode. I imagine he ended up in the agony booth too.
Nuclear Wessels
As with Sulu, prime Checkov is hardly seen but Mirror Checkov will try to assassinate Kirk, or what he thinks is Kirk, now that the Captain is showing weakness. He ends up in the agony booth for the first of many classic Checkov screams.
Hailing Frequencies Open, Sugar
Uhura gets to wear a Vavoom outfit and damn, it’s easy to forget what a smoke show she was in the day. This episode will jog your memory. She also is quite able to fuck with mirror Sulu which, given what a lunatic George Takei has shown himself to be these days, gets funnier with age.
My Wee Bairns
Scotty does what Scotty does best, rig up some bullshit to get them home. He really is the best. He also isn’t able to do much on his own as security on the Mirror Enterprise doesn’t allow for much sabotage. Something that I have to admit would make a lot more sense in the prime universe given the numerous stories we saw all across all Trek shows where someone was able to crossfire the framistat and screw them all over because of crap security.
Scotty volunteers to stay behind when it appears someone needs to and Kirk orders him to leave. Scotty calls him “JIM!” which is the first and only time I can think of that he’s ever addressed Kirk by his first name.
Canon Maker
This establishes the Mirror universe as canon. It would go on to play a big role in DS9 and a really good set of episodes in Enterprise which would tie-in to another TOS episode as well.
It would also be part of Discovery but no one cares.
Canon Breaker
I don’t know if this is really a canon breaker per se, but the idea of a parallel universe is possible if you think of quantum theory and that whatever choice we make, we make a different choice as well, and that creates a quantum universe. Where I have trouble with the whole idea is divergence.
For the Trek universe to become like this would change piles of choices. Would Kirk’s parents have even gotten together? Even if they did, would they have had sex at the exact same time to create Kirk, given how many sperm have to make it to an egg?
Spock’s existence is even more problematic, would a Vulcan and a human even have the opportunity to get together? If Vulcans are more of a subjugated race in this universe, Spock still makes it up to second in command of their flagship? It’s really something you have to just turn your brain off and enjoy the idea of it all.
Man It Feels Bad To Be a Red Shirt
Chekov’s counterpart red shirt turncoats get killed, though neither of them are wearing red.
Sulu’s guards are also taken out by the Tantalus field, though why Marlena doesn’t get rid of Sulu is probably because he’s in the opening credits and maybe if Trek had continued, they might have made a visit there again.
Technobabble
The transporter can send people to different universes if you have an ion storm around. And the counterparts happen to be in the same place and happen to be beaming up at the same time. What are the odds? Never mind.
What really freaks your brain is why the beam is smart enough to move the people but not their clothes. I always wondered if what really happened is not that their bodies swapped but their consciousness’s did.
I also noticed the gold jumpsuit, I think this is the first time we see them.
The Enterprise in the Mirror Universe is basically the same except for being called the ISS Enterprise and some different logos involving swords. ISS stands for Imperial Star Ship.
I Know That Guy:
Vic Perrin comes back in an actual role. Two if you’re being technical, as the prime and Mirror Universe version of the head of the council of the Halkans, Tharn, in both universes, however, there appears to be zero difference between the two.
But the big guest star here is BarBara Luna as Marlena Moreau. Luna would reprise the role in the fan-made Star Trek: New Voyages. She had a lot of workman roles in various series including The Six Million Dollar Man and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Hilariously, she gets to put on some lingerie that actually covers her more than her actual uniform.
What It Means To Be Human – Review
This is a classic episode, my earlier criticisms of the plausibility of it all notwithstanding. You have to love it when one of Chekov’s supporters turns on him to save Kirk and wants to work with Kirk. Kirk just punches him in the face. He has no use for anyone who’s disloyal even if it’s to his benefit. He also can figure out pretty quickly how to navigate this messed-up universe.
Prime Spock is great as mentioned above but he finds the whole thing extremely “interesting.” Doesn’t rise to the level of “fascinating” apparently. Mirror Spock as a character is fascinating though, he appears to be loyal to his Captain but also quite strict to Empire rules. He has no desire to be the Captain but does want to be useful. He’s not a cruel man, as he could easily be written. He just wants to work with Captain Kirk because in any universe, Kirk has his Spock.
The four have to perform some kind of task to get out of this mess and it all is good for the plot. McCoy puts a guard out with a hypospray so Scotty can do what’s necessary to get the transporter working without alerting the bridge. Kirk uses Marlena to get what he needs though it’s clear he’s pretty attracted to her, and who could blame him?
Uhura gets to vamp around with Sulu, first playing all coy and then slapping the shit out of him. I never get tired of that scene, both of her in that uniform and Takei getting the shit kicked out of him.
The idea of the Tantalus field that gets Mirror Kirk to where he is now also speaks to the theme of opposites. While prime Kirk is captain because he is the best, most competent captain of the fleet, mirror Kirk can’t do shit without scheming and needs a cheat code to instill fear or just to get people he needs out of the way… gone. The Tantalus field just whisks them out of existence.
It’s also interesting that Kirk says one man can make a difference. Though he meant Spock, it’s really Kirk that made the difference. It’s an interesting examination of how our choices can make things so different for the people around them.
Kirk takes a different path while in the Mirror Universe than his counterpart wouldn’t. These mostly are based around mercy and they have a profound effect on the universe going forward. While you can’t get mired in the scientific ideas, it will make your head hurt, the philosophical ideas are pretty damn epic. What would we be like in a completely different culture and environment? Would we be us, but maybe doing just the best we can in an impossible situation, like Spock? Or like Kirk, a completely evil piece of shit?
It’s those questions, plus all the lore and canon that got established from this episode that makes it compelling. Not to mention just the pitch-perfect plot that ramps up the tension more and more as it goes along. It also has the best humorous coda, with Spock pointing out how brutal, savage, and splendid representatives of homo sapiens the mirror counterparts were. Kirk replies, “I’m not sure, but I think we’ve just been insulted.” To which Bones wry replies, “I’m sure.” Hilarious.
Classic episode and I’m pretty sure the comment section would annihilate me if I rated any less than a perfect five. Fortunately, I happen to agree with them.
