{"id":10458,"date":"2020-04-01T21:40:50","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T01:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=10458"},"modified":"2020-04-01T23:39:09","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T03:39:09","slug":"star-trek-the-original-series-complete-series-review-season-1-episode-27-the-alternative-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2020\/04\/01\/star-trek-the-original-series-complete-series-review-season-1-episode-27-the-alternative-factor\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Trek \u2013 The Original Series \u2013 Complete Series Review \u2013 Season 1 Episode 27 \u2013 The Alternative Factor"},"content":{"rendered":"

I want to start by stating, unequivocally, that this episode is easily the worst episode so far in the series.\u00a0 It\u2019s as if they forgot to order a story and then just had one of the stage hands write it at the last minute.\u00a0 It\u2019s really that bad.<\/p>\n

The Enterprise is near an uninhabited planet when suddenly a huge surge of energy followed by a \u201cwinking out of mass from the nearby planet tells Spock that some sort of rift in time-space has occurred.\u00a0 And after it occurs the sensors pick up a life form on the planet and Spock and Kirk beam down to find out what it is.<\/p>\n

They find a man running around on some desert mountains screaming about a monster that has killed off his world.\u00a0 He falls off the cliff and is brought back to the Enterprise to receive medical attention and to be questioned on the strange phenomena associated with his presence.<\/p>\n

When he comes to the man whose name is Lazarus tells Kirk that he is chasing after a monster in the likeness of a man that destroyed his world.\u00a0 He goes on and on about it and acts pretty crazy.\u00a0 Kirk agrees to go down to the planet with Lazarus and search for the monster.\u00a0 While on the planet Lazarus claims to see the monster and goes running into the hills looking for him. \u00a0\u00a0While this is going on some really cheesy special effects occur that are supposed to reflect the meeting up of two universes; one matter and one anti-matter.\u00a0 Basically, an image of the trifid nebula is shown superimposed over a negative image of Lazarus fighting with someone.\u00a0 It\u2019s remarkably bad.\u00a0 Eventually Lazarus shows up again and warns Kirk of a large rock falling down the mountain and then Lazarus falls down the mountain again.\u00a0 Remarkably he survives again and once again is dragged back to the Enterprise to be patched up and interrogated.<\/p>\n

When Lazarus hears that the Enterprise has dilithium crystals he demands to be given some of them to allow him to recharge his ship and find his enemy.\u00a0 After being refused we see Lazarus stealing the crystals in the engineering department. When Kirk locates Lazarus, he denies that he stole the crystals and claims the monster stole them.\u00a0 In the next scene Lazarus starts a fire in engineering as a diversion and steals more crystals then beams down to the planet.<\/p>\n

Now Kirk is really ticked off so he beams down to the planet and finds Lazarus installing the crystals in his ship but just as Kirk reached the open ship he is transported into the other universe.\u00a0 There he meets the monster.\u00a0 It\u2019s an identical version of Lazarus except he isn\u2019t a raving lunatic.\u00a0 This anti-matter version of Lazarus explains that he stole the first dilithium crystals and he plans to trap Lazarus in an interdimensional chamber that connects the universes but once they are there together, he intends to seal off both exits and remain trapped with his insane twin for \u201call time.\u201d\u00a0 By doing this he will save both universes from being destroyed by the matter\/anti-matter annihilation that would occur if the two Lazari met in one universe.<\/p>\n

Kirk agrees to the plan and goes back to the crazy Lazarus and after a truly pathetic excuse for a wrestling match throws Lazarus through the portal.\u00a0 They go back to the Enterprise and Spock declares that everything is back to normal and both universes are safe.\u00a0 Kirk ends off by saying, \u201cyes for you and me, but what of Lazarus, what of Lazarus?\u00a0 Imagine being trapped for all eternity with a madman at your throat.\u201d<\/p>\n

What can I say?\u00a0 The plot stinks, the dialog stinks and it looks like they shot the whole thing in a couple of hours.\u00a0 The best part of the episode is when Kirk speaks to the sane Lazarus and he explains in two minutes what the whole mish mash of a show is supposed to mean.\u00a0 If only he could have met up with him at the beginning of the show, we could have skipped the whole thing and saved forty minutes that could have been better spent cleaning the dust off my computer monitor.\u00a0 As for the Shatner mockery let\u2019s say the \u201cwhat of Lazarus\u201d thing and the wrestling match were pretty mockable the best I can do for this whole thing is 2 \/\/ 6.\u00a0 It should be avoided by all except Star Trek aficionados.<\/p>\n

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