It's fun to analyze things. Maybe it makes for better stories among those of us who write fanfics.
"Mirror, Mirror" Thoughts
- Thread starter Joanna McCoy-Kirk
- Start date
Isn't that what we do here?
I mean the other guy not me - I do normal think on every episode.
Thanks for writing!
You know what's interesting? It actually doesn't. This is a TV show that first aired between 53 and 56 years ago or so on a very tight budget for most of its run, and yet it doesn't really take massive amounts of candlepower to come up with plausible and satisfying explanations to cover real world production problems and workarounds. That's a testament to the creativity and power of Star Trek.
Now, for me, plot problems are another story. These range from "detract to some extent from an otherwise masterful episode" (Space Seed, City on the Edge of Forever) to "almost completely destroy an episode's worth" (The Enterprise Incident). Now there's a call for some feverish effort, in the latter case anyway.
I've mentioned this before, and I'm going to mention it again. Although I seriously doubt that this was the writers' intent, upon deeper reflection the entire scenario of "Mirror Mirror" seems to be an illusion created by the Halkans themselves (who, like the Organians, could possess far more powers than what's on the surface.) The Halkan leader's dialogue with Kirk seems to indicate his doubts about the Federation continuing to be benevolent in the future in regards to his planet's resources. What if the Halkans created that storm as a ruse, and the entire 'Mirror universe' was just a simulation to prove a point to Kirk? Obviously if one views the situation logically, there's no way that the Prime universe and the Mirror universe could coexist with such similarity. It seems far more like an exercise to show Kirk that although he believes the Federation's intent is a benevolent one, there is the potential for abuse just beneath the surface. It's an interesting premise, to be sure. Unfortunately, DS9 completely screwed this theory up with their bastardization of the Mirror Universe, which ENT and then DSC built upon.
I wasn't talking about the show's creators half a century ago.
I rest my case. Sometimes a banana is just a banana.
"Mirror, Mirror" is one of my favorite Trek episodes, and I have no interest whatever in the various follow-ons and sequels, which are generally pretty dire. I semi-except the Enterprise episodes, because at least there someone was clearly having fun. Still...
The original is one of the three or four best episodes of the second year, which to me earns it a B, B-. It's up there with "Journey To Babel," but less good than shows like "The Doomsday Machine."
There are no plot or plausibility problems with the story that are greater than the general run of Star Trek, especially TOS. In any event, I hold plot to be one of the least-interesting or important elements in Trek stories.
The original is one of the three or four best episodes of the second year, which to me earns it a B, B-. It's up there with "Journey To Babel," but less good than shows like "The Doomsday Machine."
There are no plot or plausibility problems with the story that are greater than the general run of Star Trek, especially TOS. In any event, I hold plot to be one of the least-interesting or important elements in Trek stories.
I have always been a sucker for alternate-universe episodes, and "Mirror" is definitely at the top of that list.
And I don't even think that DS9 ruined the Mirror Universe. DSC killed it far worse. They turned the Terran Empire into ridiculous camp, and I'll never forgive them for that. If SNW does a mirror episode, I'd like to think they'll take it down a notch...
that being said, I rather like the Confederation of Earth from PIC. Now there's an alternate Earth empire with BALLS. It makes the Empire look like the Teletubbies.
And I don't even think that DS9 ruined the Mirror Universe. DSC killed it far worse. They turned the Terran Empire into ridiculous camp, and I'll never forgive them for that. If SNW does a mirror episode, I'd like to think they'll take it down a notch...
that being said, I rather like the Confederation of Earth from PIC. Now there's an alternate Earth empire with BALLS. It makes the Empire look like the Teletubbies.
I've read most of Heinlein's work but not that one.
They aren't that horrifying...
I love the MU, have since the comics I read as a younger person and thoroughly enjoyed the variety presented, from on screen, to novels, to comics. Do I think it needs explanation beyond "parallel dimension?" Nope. Do I think DS9 completely ruined the idea? No, but it came damn close.
Who said a person beaming into a mirror universe could not materialize into the clothing of their counterparts simultaneously beaming into the normal universe? This is science fiction, after all, with technology that does not exist, so writers create whatever is necessary to believably move the story forward.
Who said writers assumed Mirror-Sulu would be confused with Normal-Sulu...especially in the wake of viewers spending most of those 50+ minutes of the episode in the mirror universe, clearly seeing a very different Sulu?
The point of the scene was not about what the Halkans' response would be, but showing our Kirk being very different from his mirror counterpart by showing mercy--and beginning the conflict with eyewitnesses mirror Spock, Sulu--and Chekov, the latter using Kirk's behavior as a justification to make his assassination attempt, further establishing the dangerous nature of the mirror Enterprise's crew.
No. Not now, or ever.
Once again I'm tempted to say that mirror universe should have been kept in TOS only.
Yeah, every time they went back to it in later productions it diluted it. The first DS9 MU episode was fine, but the rest were just meh.
I thought the first few Mirror episodes of "Deep Space Nine" were just fine. My problem was that the series kept unnecessarily returning to it, to the point that the writing got sloppy in the later seasons. I loved the portrayals of the Mirror Universe in "Enterprise" and Season One of "Discovery". As for Season Three of "Discovery" . . . eh. For me, the Mirror Universe in the latter seasons of "Deep Space Nine" were badly handled.
My unpopular opinion will always be that the MU can be well handled, and so I can't say it should stay in TOS. I love Discovery's MU, as well as the ENT episode with it. Even if the episodes are not great the comics did a lot of fun things with it, especially the Mirror Universe Saga that was the AU for "The Voyage Home."
Best things for me in this episode, are Spock's goatee, and Uhura's mirror uniform.
My thoughts:
Is the only way women could be a Starfleet officer in the MU Universe was sleeping their way to the top?
So did MU Uhura get to be on the bridge because of her skills despite fending off Sulu's interest? Maybe she was just a favourite of Kirks.
Is the only way women could be a Starfleet officer in the MU Universe was sleeping their way to the top?
So did MU Uhura get to be on the bridge because of her skills despite fending off Sulu's interest? Maybe she was just a favourite of Kirks.
A favorite of Admiral Roddenberry's...
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