Title: The Alternative Factor
Airdate: 3/30/1967
Plot Summary
Erm… The universe blinks out of existence for an instant, then a dude with a weird beard shows up, then another one but no one realizes it’s a different guy, then stuff happens and the two dudes end up fighting each other in a blue void forever. Oh and Starfleet’s worried about an invasion or something.
Risk Is Our Business
Kirk makes leaps of logic that turn out to be right because he’s awesome and first in the credits.
Logical
Spock is pretty unnerved by having the universe blink out. He also looks at all the possibilities and just decides Lazarus is a liar. That seems like quite a leap to make given the situation.
He’s Dead Jim
Bones is the first to notice things are amiss when the two Lazarus’s switch places, noticing a wound has disappeared, only for it to reappear later.
Canon Maker
The medical antiques on the wall during Space Seed are removed. Seems like the only logical decision made in this episode.
The idea of parallel universes is introduced clumsily here. It would be much better explored in Mirror Mirror.
Canon Breaker
I suppose this whole episode is a weird canon breaker. Anti-matter universe? That’s something DC would steal later on in their Crisis On Infinite Earths but it really doesn’t make a ton of sense in the Trek universe.
Man It Feels Bad To Be a Red Shirt
Given how many redshirts went to the planet, I thought sure it was going to be a bloodbath. There were no deaths.
Technobabble
Matter and anti-matter coming together will annihilate each other. This will become the foundation of warp engines.
I Know That Guy:
Robert Brown plays Lazarus, well both Lazarus’s. He was a last-minute replacement for John Barrymore who dropped out and was banned for 6 months from taking jobs. I think he still made the right choice.
What It Means To Be Human – Review
When people think of the worst episodes of Star Trek, they think of Space Hippies, Spock’s Brain, or The Children Shall Lead. Worthy contenders to be sure, but The Alternative Factor is probably the worst episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It’s absolutely baffling.
Starfleet thinks it’s an invasion and that idea is dropped as soon as it’s introduced. Lazarus mostly just screams psychotically, which does no favors to the viewer to try to be sympathetic to his plight. The two Lazarus’s coming back and forth between dimensions doesn’t track with other situations we’ve seen, why does the universe blink out of existence?
And is it even important? It really just seems to be an excuse to add some tension but it’s not really necessary. Then Kirk ends up in there for a moment, doesn’t matter and anti-matter coming into contact annihilate each other?
This is a foundational facet of Trek, so none of this makes any sense. They do mention this even in the show, but then wouldn’t one of the Lazarus’s immediately blow up once he ended up in our universe?
Also Kirk makes weird decisions. Clearly, Lazarus may not be a liar, but that doesn’t mean he should just be allowed to roam about the ship. The universe is blinking out of existence, this guy is tied to it. Maybe keep an eye on him. Even on the planet, they just let him wander off constantly. Maddening.
For some reason destroying the ship in the Enterprise’s universe destroys it in the anti-matter universe. Why? Kirk goes to the other universe through the ship but just appears randomly when coming back, why not through the same portal? More and more nonsense.
On top of it all, it’s just not compelling. Ideas are introduced and dropped, the plot is nonsensical, and it’s all just very boring. Spock’s Brain has some entertainment value. The others have coherent, if silly plots. But this? It’s definitely the worst episode of Trek.
Don’t believe me? I bet you have zero memory of it and never watch it. The others I see people make specific points on, they are memorable in their own terrible way. This doesn’t even have that.
I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
