Subscribe to Nerd CityBy Mr. Atoz, The Librarian
Turnabout Intruder Review
This being my first review of an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, I thought that I should lay out some ground rules. First of all, just to make things interesting, I’ve decided to review episodes going back to front. It’s heresy to say so in Trekkie circles, but there are several early episodes of TOS that I struggle to get through. Eventually, I will have to review them, but I thought this was a more fun starting point.
Next, I will give you my ratings system. A rating of “Jim!!” is the highest rating I can give to an episode. It not only means that it is objectively great, but that I enjoyed it and it finds itself in my DVD player many times. In fact, it’s so good that I may forget myself and all the imperfections in my character because I am so carried away in bliss over how much I enjoy the episode. The next rating is “Fascinating“, which means that it’s a good to very good episode, I enjoy it, and I’ll watch it if I am in the mood. But it is ultimately not one of my favorites. The third rating on the scale is “Indeed, Captain“, which means that the episode is decent or ok, but is flawed and I cannot find it in my heart to watch it much. The next rating is “Curious“, which means that I find the episode to be bland, lifeless, embarrassing, or just plain bad. Finally, the lowest possible rating an episode can receive from me is “I………am……a……Vulcan.” What this rating suggests is that I find the episode so offensive and deplorable that I have to lock myself in a room and remind myself of what I am and what my purpose in this world is, and I have to use all disciplines of self-denial and control to not “let the bad man in.” Now, on to the show………………..
Turnabout Intruder
Rating: “Jim!!“
Synopsis: The Enterprise crew receives a distress call from the science team on Camus 2. They discover Dr. Janice Lester and her associate, Dr. Coleman. Dr. Lester appears to be gravely ill. It is also noted here that Captain Kirk and Dr. Lester have a romantic past. Dr. Lester proceeds to stun Captain Kirk into some sort of body transformation device, which causes her to be impersonated in the body of Captain Kirk, and vice versa. “Kirk” attempts to kill “Lester”, but is stopped by McCoy returning with Dr. Coleman after having discovered the rest of the team dead.
The crew returns to the Enterprise along with Dr. Coleman, “Kirk”, and a barely conscious “Lester.” “Kirk” makes his way to the bridge and orders the heading for the Benecia Colony. Spock, of course, notes that that will delay their rendezvous with the Starship Potemkin. “Kirk” says that at Benecia, they can give “Lester” the medical treatment she should get. Spock notes that Starbase 2, however, is on the way and “Lester” could receive the proper medical care there. Oh, it’s sooooo on……
“Lester” then wakes up to find “her”self in a different body. “She” attempts escape, but is stopped by the real Lester’s lover, Dr. Coleman, who has been put in charge of “Lester’s” medical care by “Kirk”, to Dr. McCoy’s objections. “Lester” is then confined by Dr. Coleman in sickbay. “Lester” eventually escapes, but is met by Spock, McCoy, and “Kirk”, who proceeds to karate chop “Lester”, to the horror of McCoy and Spock, who have already begun to be suspicious of their captain’s strange behavior. “Kirk” has “Lester” reconfined, and McCoy demands a mental and physical exam of “Kirk.” Spock then goes in and speaks with “Lester”, who reveals what has happened. Spock then mind-melds with “Lester” to discover that “she” is telling the truth. Spock breaks “Lester” out of sickbay, but is met by “Kirk” and a security team, who charges Spock with mutiny.
There is a court martial, where Spock reveals who “Kirk” really is, but no one yet believes him because there is no evidence. “Lester” is brought in to testify, and says the same thing. During a recess, Scotty meets with McCoy to convince him that “Kirk” is not really the captain because he’s never seen the captain in a state of “hysteria.” McCoy is still unsure, but as he and Scotty return to the court martial, “Kirk” reveals that he has been listening to Scotty and McCoy’s conversation, and has them both arrested with charges of conspiracy and mutiny, which enrages “Kirk” enough to sentence the two of them along with Spock and “Lester” with the death penalty. The crew is enraged by this, and refuses to cooperate with “Kirk’s” order to proceed to the Benecia Colony. At this point, the impersonation begins to wear off (somehow), and “Kirk” freaks out and seeks out Dr. Coleman. A reluctant Dr. Coleman agrees to “Kirk’s” decision to kill the four prisoners, but as “Kirk” deactivates the brig, “Lester” charges after Dr. Coleman, and in the struggle, the phasers are dropped to the floor and the transformation wears off permanently. “Kirk” becomes Lester, and “Lester” goes back to being Kirk. Defeated and hysterical, Janice Lester breaks down in the arms of Dr. Coleman, who asks Captain Kirk to allow him to oversee Dr. Lester’s psychiatric treatment because he loves her.
I think this episode is a hoot. Rumor has it that Shatner knew this was the last episode of Trek, and decided to ham it up. Make no mistake; the Shat is the star of this show. You knew when he found out he was playing a woman, the wheels began to turn in that Canadian-Cool mind of his. Just watch how he walks and how he yells. He’s awesome! He’s the Shat!!I’m also a huge fan of the plot device of the hero being impersonated by the villain. It’s fun to see the actor get to play a different role. I don’t want to get into all the history and debate among the Trek Nation about the issues of chauvinism this episode addresses, because in my mind, that’s like debating that more flour should have been used in the cake when the icing is just so tasty. This isn’t a serious, groundbreaking Trek episode. This isn’t Balance of Terror or The Doomsday Machine (two historic Trek Nation favorites that I find to be very snooze-worthy). But it does have some significance in the fact that it’s the only time Captain Kirk is played by another actor.
One of the most interesting things here is how the story deals with Kirk’s interpersonal relationships. We really don’t learn anything about Janice Lester other than that she once was romantically involved with Captain Kirk, their relationship was volatile, and that she is a psychopath. We don’t know if she truly had feelings for Jim Kirk, if her vengeance was motivated by her hatred or possible rejection by Jim Kirk, or if she was using Jim Kirk to lash out at a male-dominated world. We can infer that she hates being a woman, but why is that? Is it because she is consumed by ambition to be a Starfleet Captain, or is it because at one time she was a stable woman who truly loved Jim Kirk, but had both her dreams of love and professional success taken away from her because her dual ambitions could not co-exist? It raises the question: how fine is that line between love and hate? Can we love someone so much that if we feel that they have hurt us, we will go to great lengths to hurt them back? The argument can be made that true love would never seek revenge on the object of one’s love and love is unconditional (I believe that), but are emotions so strong that something so beautiful can be turned into something so ugly by the circumstances of life?
There are other things about this episode that I like, from Spock’s abrasive attitude towards a clearly illogical “Kirk”, the fact that we are seeing this story through the eyes of Dr. McCoy, and the fact that this episode is in a small way your traditional Paranoid Captain story. It’s obvious that McCoy is so distraught over having to choose between his duty or loyalty to his friend. This episode is a great demonstration of why Dr. McCoy is my second favorite character in the series. It’s cliché to point this out perhaps, but he’s just so……human. Ultimately, the decision is made for Dr. McCoy, but up to the point where he actually sees the transformation reversed, he is conflicted.Love this episode.Next time: All Our Yesterdays.
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