Potential Hot Take

[jctechwizard]

Potential hot take:

I don't think The Alternative Factor is the worst episode of TOS. Far from it. Hear me out:

It's not a great episode by any means, and it has its issues for sure (acting, the overall story is weak) but there are much worse episodes of TOS. Spock's Brain "Brain and brain! What is brain?", Turnabout Intruder, which is honestly totally sexist (it utterly baffles me that Gene Roddenberry wrote it) not to mention the whole body swap trope was tired and overused even in 1969, And The Children Shall Lead with some of the most stilted wooden acting from Marvin Belli - this is why you don't hire a lawyer when you need an actor.

The Alternative Factor is nowhere near as bad as any of those. Yes the storyline with the two Lazaruses -Lazarii?- is confusing at times, but at least this episode is watchable, which is more than I can say from some of the episodes I mentioned above. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely the least of the first season, but the concept of a parallel universe begot episodes like Mirror Mirror and TNG's Parallels among many others. Also the ending with the two Lazarii trapped forever between universes, locked in an eternal struggle is deep.

Yes I know about the behind the scenes issues with the episodes, John Barrymore who was originally cast to play Lazarus not showing and the role having to be recast with Robert Brown at the last minute, the B-plot of one of the Lazaruses having a fling with the female engineer being removed from the script due to production code and a colored actress playing the engineer Masters and leaving the story somewhat gutted. I would say that considering all of that it's actually not a horrible episode. I tend to give it a little leeway given the BTS drama.

Overall I'd consider it a mediocre episode, definitely not one of the series best, but not the worst.

Your thoughts?

 

[Kor]

I'm not sure very many people are claiming it to be the absolute worst episode of the entire series.

Kor

 

[Airin]

Personally I prefer "Spock's Brain" and "Turnabout Intruder". I find them much more entertaining. Though I dont hate "The Alternative Factor"; it's simply hard to follow.
I'm not sure if cutting the romance part had anything to do with the actress being black. Unless this was specified in the script, would they know who'd play the part so early in the writing process? If I'm not mistaken, casting decisions came late in the production schedule.

 

[T'Bonz]

I'm one of the rare ones who likes this episode.

 

[1001001]

I’m not sure anything regarding a 60 year old show is a “hot take”…



Anyway there’s a thread going on regarding which is the “worst” episode, located here:

Worst tos episode

I absolutely hated what are little girls made of it just made no sense whatsoever and was just another episode of someone falling for kirk and then dying

www.trekbbs.com

 

[Qonundrum]

For me, the science terms thrown into the script feel out of place - even for the time. It was also fairly early in TOS's run, which doesn't help matters.

Some basic concepts are NOT bad - some guy fighting a parallel universe double and each time a gateway opens up into either universe, the risk of shattering all continuums is there is conceptually interesting, but the presentation of this subplot is largely flat, when not hokey. The actors work overtime in trying to make it work, but the plot's superficial, vague, and non-weighty issue just doesn't hold up.

I agree with @Airin above. "Spock's Brain" is more entertaining, even if one involves replacing a brain before the clock runs out and the brain is put into a glorified HVAC machine, which makes no sense as even computers back then were more capable and more than capable. There is a camp value that oddly works.

"Turnabout Intruder" is on par with "Alternative Factor", as it's another high-concept episode of potential interest, but also with dialogue that isn't consistent and fails in execution despite some great acting. The former's saving grace as there's a message that's trying to be said. What does the latter have to say? "Keep two dudes mud wrestling in a big white room, with black curtains, tired starlings, yellow tigers, green clovers, blue diamonds, but no windows, or else everything everywhere blinks out of existence because nothing is more epic than the entire multiverse going boom-boom?" Nope, that was pretty underwhelming even back then and there needs to be a little more going on to make it even begin to work. At least "Turnabout" sometimes got the message across, even if it's muddled and inconsistently antithetical with itself at times.


Now here's a white room that's far more engaging:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Henoch]

The Alternative Factor is my favorite drinking game. Take a drink every time Lazarus changes places and if you are not sure, take a drink anyway.

 

[mb22]

Personally I prefer "Spock's Brain" and "Turnabout Intruder". I find them much more entertaining. Though I dont hate "The Alternative Factor"; it's simply hard to follow.
I'm not sure if cutting the romance part had anything to do with the actress being black. Unless this was specified in the script, would they know who'd play the part so early in the writing process? If I'm not mistaken, casting decisions came late in the production schedule.

The romance was cut because it seemed repetitive of the one in "Space Seed".

roddenberry-memo-space-seed-and-alternative-1 hosted at ImgBB

Image roddenberry-memo-space-seed-and-alternative-1 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

 

[Airin]

The Alternative Factor is my favorite drinking game. Take a drink every time Lazarus changes places and if you are not sure, take a drink anyway.

You can also take a drink every time Lazarus changes beards to increase the challenge.

 

[Phaser Two]

I'm not sure very many people are claiming it to be the absolute worst episode of the entire series.

Kor

Uhhhhh . . .about that . . .

 

[Delta Vega]

Surely "A Piece Of The Action" was the absolute worst ever?

 

[Dukhat]

Yes, "The Alternative Factor" was a bad episode. However, for me, the absolute worst episode was "The Mark of Gideon," because it made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 

[Phaser Two]

Yes, "The Alternative Factor" was a bad episode. However, for me, the absolute worst episode was "The Mark of Gideon," because it made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

If they had just said the faux ship was in Kirk's mind, I feel as though fans could get past that and perceive the redeeming features of this one.

 

[Dukhat]

If they had just said the faux ship was in Kirk's mind, I feel as though fans could get past that and perceive the redeeming features of this one.

But the fake ship was only half the problem. The other half was the absolutely convoluted plan for the Gideonites to infect Odona with Kirk’s virus. Not to mention that there were a multitude of other more logical ways that the Gideonites could have solved their population crisis.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Surely "A Piece Of The Action" was the absolute worst ever?

Never!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Like introducing them to Eminiar and Vendikar? https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Disintegration_station

 

[MarcKle1964]

It's not the absolute worst of TOS, but it's in the bottom 10 for me. The story confused me more than if I'd never heard of 1984s Dune and came across it on TV halfway thru, there wasn't much internal consistency, and if they are in our dimension, they're subject to our laws of physics. Two 160 pound humanoids engaging in E=MC2 type mutual anhiliation in our dimension would unleash the destructive power of four or five full intensity Tsar Bombas, not destroy all the Multiverses. Common everyday Novas make a much bigger bang than they would.

They turned down scripts that were better, no doubt.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

But the fake ship was only half the problem. The other half was the absolutely convoluted plan for the Gideonites to infect Odona with Kirk’s virus. Not to mention that there were a multitude of other more logical ways that the Gideonites could have solved their population crisis.

We have to admit, the plan to build an expensive, mock Enterprise interior on the ground and lure Kirk there because he once had meningitis is bat-ass crazy for three reasons:

• If you can get Kirk down for an official visit, you can "incidentally" talk him into a blood draw with some story about medical research. Say you're looking for the perfect antigens to cure a dread disease, and they aren't found in Gideonite blood. Bam, he's rolling up his sleeve for you.

• You don't even need Kirk. Just message the Federation that you are conducting medical research and would like a live sample of that virulent meningitis pathogen.

• And the whole plan is crazy, because a pandemic that kills so many people in a short time would devastate the economy.

 

[Airin]

And the whole plan is crazy, because a pandemic that kills so many people in a short time would devastate the economy.

Assuming that a planet with that level of extreme overpopulation would even have a viable economy to begin with...

And then there's the perfect replica of the Enterprise. Not just the space it takes on the planet, but the level of detail? Where did they get such exact blueprints!? Not even Scotty could build a perfect Enterprise in such little time.

I don't think there's anything that makes sense in this episode. Possibly the single most absurd episode in the whole of TOS.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Assuming that a planet with that level of extreme overpopulation would even have a viable economy to begin with...

Well, they're feeding all those people, so they must be farming.

That means somebody is manufacturing farm equipment, and that requires a mining industry, possibly supplemented by a recycling industry for the metals and whatnot.

And somebody is trucking the harvested produce to stores, etc.

We know the people have running water, because they're alive, so somebody is managing the Water Works. And other things, on and on.

Overpopulation might be making people uncomfortable, but they do have a functioning economy. So I'm just saying a massive pandemic would cripple it. We agree Hodin's plan is pretty bad.