Tonight's episode is The Enemy Within. Featuring Kirk's evil twin from a transporter accident. Episode begins on a standard alien planet with a lot of Styrofoam rocks. We also get to see a dog wearing a shag carpet costume. And that's in the first 30 seconds. More fun times after the jump including spoilerz.
I enjoy the technological hand-wave with the transporter and an unknown interaction with a strange ore. I have to say that I like the "we don't know what happened" a lot better than the techno-babble from TNG. *UPDATE* Bah, they techno-babble at you later.
No one chews the scenery like Shatner and the opportunity to play his psychotic other self affords him wide scope for his talents in this regard. "I'M CAPTAIN KIRK!"
Despite searching for an armed crazy-man, Spock and Kirk both step in front of doorways and pause before turning to the side to see if anyone was hiding there. Sure, it makes a more dramatic cinematic shot, but it's a good way to get dead too.
There was the requisite dramatic moment where Kirk faces down himself. He confronts his own evil nature?
Sulu's lines throughout the episode consist almost exclusively of bad jokes about the cold; he and the rest of the away team are trapped on a planet that cools very rapidly at night.
Shatner gets a monologue! He stands in sickbay and talks to himself about how he must take his "evil" side back to be part of himself, yet he doesn't want to. It was... peculiar.
I don't know if I've mentioned it, but there are about 10 sounds that TOS used for technology operation. And you hear them over and over. They're rather iconic.
Near the end of the episode, Bones walks into the transporter room and has apparently left the psycho completely unattended in sick bay. On the other hand, Bones does get to come in, view the dog in the crazy costume and deliver one of his signature lines. "He's dead, Jim." I'm anxiously awaiting the first time he delivers the "I'm doctor, not a..." line.
Spock tells them at one point that he is also split in half. He has a human half and an "alien" half. I think that was probably a mistake. If he identifies more strongly with being a Vulcan, or even as strongly I think he probably wouldn't have used that word.
The ending was even sillier, with Kirk having to face himself down again and the evil twin ranting about he wants to live.
As to their door-entering habits, maybe they keep forgetting that they're in danger until they've already brashly stepped in front of a door.
ReplyDelete