The Alternative Factor - episode #20
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The Alternative Factor - episode #20
THE ALTERNATIVE FACTOR (1st season; episode #20)
Directed by Gerd Oswald / writer: Don Ingalls Air Date: 03/30/67
OK, here is, in my view, the worst episode of the first season. And, the strange thing is, it really begins promisingly - the threat which Kirk and the Federation face here is nothing less than the complete annihilation of our entire universe - surely the gravest cosmic problem encountered in Trek's history. It's one of those wild cosmic concepts which became more prevalent on the TNG series, a danger not restricted to a quadrant or even just our galaxy, but to everything - the universe. However, the execution of this story and the faulty pace of this episode is rather deplorable. The Trekmakers do have an excuse this time, which I relate in the Extra Trek Trivia portion below.
Much of the attempted efforts to explain the dangerous cosmic effect come off as gobbledygook - is the side-effect a doorway in space? A hole between two universes? A corridor with explosions at both ends? Say what? There's also confusion as to whether Kirk is dealing with a time traveler here or hopping to parallel dimensions (far better realized in Mirror,Mirror early in the 2nd season). I finally gathered in the end that the threat revolved around matter and anti-matter of two duplicate objects coming together; but, boy, what a headache to get there.
ABOVE: This is the sane Lazarus (or is it?) This is the crazy Lazarus (with more hair in his beard?)
Extra Trek Trivia: actor John Drew Barrymore was originally cast as Lazarus, but failed to show up for shooting and had to be replaced by Robert Brown, causing the episode to go two days over schedule. Star Trek's producers subsequently filed and won a grievance with the Screen Actors Guild, which suspended Barrymore's SAG membership for 6 months. This may explain a rushed quality to the episode. Code Factor 1 is a Starfleet signal of invasion.
Last edited by BoG on Sat May 02, 2015 11:50 pm; edited 3 times in total
ALTERNATIVE FACTOR FULL EPISODE
NOT-SO-CLASSIC TREK QUOTES:
Lazarus: "That was He! He's Death! Anti-Life! He lives to destroy!!"
Lazarus: "He'll kill us all if you don't kill him first!"
Lazarus: "You fool! There won't be any ship if we don't kill him. He'll destroy all of you!"
Lazarus: "Find my enemy. Find the Beast!"
Lazarus: "...are you deaf as well as blind!?"
Lazarus: "That's just it! That's the key! That's the way to trap him! That's the solution!!"
FULL REMASTERED EPISODE:
Lazarus: "That was He! He's Death! Anti-Life! He lives to destroy!!"
Lazarus: "He'll kill us all if you don't kill him first!"
Lazarus: "You fool! There won't be any ship if we don't kill him. He'll destroy all of you!"
Lazarus: "Find my enemy. Find the Beast!"
Lazarus: "...are you deaf as well as blind!?"
Lazarus: "That's just it! That's the key! That's the way to trap him! That's the solution!!"
FULL REMASTERED EPISODE:
Last edited by BoG on Thu Feb 05, 2015 12:44 am; edited 1 time in total
Alternatives
AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD TO THE MADNESS .
THE ALTERNATIVE FACTOR
As I wrote in my overview, the ideas in this one were interesting (maybe even mind-blowing), and it began well, but the execution was just terrible. Most of my problem with this episode has to do with the repetition. Some of this is almost torture for me to sit through as they repeat several similar scenes over and over. I have a personal theory about the final results on this one. As noted in the Trivia portion, the original actor hired for the central role of Lazarus never showed up (he had problems, such as a drinking problem). This caused a lot of problems for the production to get the episode completed and they did not finish it on time; I think they simply ran out of time in some ways. I think they ended up padding the episode with 'filler' scenes - such as duplicating a few scenes again & again, to fill out the required 50-minute time slot. Obviously, this lent a very dull, repetitive tone & style to the finished episode.
Some more Extra Trek Trivia: in an early draft of the episode's script, the above character of Lt. Masters was to have a romantic relationship with the nutty Lazarus; Lazarus used her to steal the ship's dilithium crystals in the original story; when an African-American actress (Janet MacLachlan) was cast, the network became leery due to the attitudes of Southern state populations back then, and demanded a re-write. Ah, the sixties. Nichelle Nichols would carry on the fight, however. This was probably the other reason the episode ended up as messy and full of filler (a guy falling off a cliff yet again and fighting with his double in slow motion).
THE ALTERNATIVE FACTOR
As I wrote in my overview, the ideas in this one were interesting (maybe even mind-blowing), and it began well, but the execution was just terrible. Most of my problem with this episode has to do with the repetition. Some of this is almost torture for me to sit through as they repeat several similar scenes over and over. I have a personal theory about the final results on this one. As noted in the Trivia portion, the original actor hired for the central role of Lazarus never showed up (he had problems, such as a drinking problem). This caused a lot of problems for the production to get the episode completed and they did not finish it on time; I think they simply ran out of time in some ways. I think they ended up padding the episode with 'filler' scenes - such as duplicating a few scenes again & again, to fill out the required 50-minute time slot. Obviously, this lent a very dull, repetitive tone & style to the finished episode.
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