TOS - 2.10 - Mirror, Mirror

An ion storm leads to a transporter accident in which Kirk, Scotty, Uhura and McCoy are transported to a parallel universe. They find themselves on a version of the Enterprise which is operated by the Empire, a brutal and warlike institution, and they meet some very different versions of their crewmates…

It is really interesting to view this episode, given that the Mirror universe has become such an intrinsic element of Star Trek that has endured even up to Discovery. “Mirror, Mirror” is actually quite a low key episode, being essentially a bottle show as we follow Kirk as he comes to terms with his situation and attempts to find a way home for him and his crew. The show had previously dabbled with the idea of parallel universes in “The Alternative Factor” back in the first series. “Mirror, Mirror” is superior to that in so many ways, but its cleverest move is using the conceit to show us alternative versions of our regular characters. However, the episode is constrained in its decision to do this by sending four of our regulars into the Mirror Universe. Each of these characters does contribute something to them all getting home, but it’s unfortunate that this does reduce the number of Mirror versions that we meet. The Mirror Sulu and Chekov are both pretty vicious and nasty as I was expecting, but it is in the treatment of the Mirror Spock that the episode does something realty interesting. Despite him having a Beard of Evil, the Mirror Spock retains his logic and his interest in science, and also some sort of loyalty to Kirk (thus warning him of his instructions to kill his captain if he doesn’t fulfil the Enterprise’s mission). It’s actually refreshing that the script has not used the Mirror conceit to unleash a more emotional Spock again, and this subtlety actually makes him seem a more dangerous threat to Kirk

The storyline is cleverly constructed in testing Kirk. The episode uses the contrasting attitudes of the Mirror universe to emphasise Kirk’s compassion and showing that his determined to avoid committing genocide, despite the fact that this risks alerting Spock that something odd is going on. This also extends to Kirk ordering that McCoy should save Mirror Spock’s life, something which is ultimately rewarded when Spock helps him return. Kirk also encourages Spock to do things differently and make a difference in this universe. The multi-faceted nature of the Mirror Spock means that this does seem like a credible next step and a nice means of showing that Kirk is potentially making a difference even in this alternative universe.

The method by which Kirk and the rest of the landing party travel to the Mirror universe is quite novel in this episode, and seems to have shades of Quantum Leap, not least because they have replaced their counterparts and they arrive already wearing their Mirror style uniforms. This does raise all sorts of questions about the likelihood of the same crew members transporting at exactly the same time despite all of the other differences between the universes, which I guess are probably best ignored. But it does mean that Mirror Kirk and company have ended up on our Enterprise. This in itself would make for an interesting premise for an episode, but it was probably the right decision for this one to on the events in the Mirror universe and it is nice that we do at least get one scene to show that Spock has quickly detected the impostors and for William Shatner to have a bit of fun as the Mirror Kirk.

The episode still finds time to include a love interest for Kirk, although this cleverly exploits the morals of the Mirror Universe through introducing the concept of a “captain’s woman”, which appears to be an official position on an Imperial starship. The Mirror Kirk’s “woman” is a lieutenant called Marlena Moreau. Despite the trappings of her role, Marlena is a strong character and she is the first person to work out that this Kirk is not the man she knows. We are left a little uncertain as to what she will do about this knowledge, but she ultimately saves Kirk’s life. When Kirk returns to his normal universe, he discovers that a version of Marlena has just transferred to the Enterprise. This is not unexpected, but his attitude is just a little creepy as he indicates that he thinks she is a “nice girl” and that he thinks they could be friends…

The Mirror Marlena must have been close to the Mirror Kirk, since she was taken into his confidence about the fact that the captain had his own secret weapon. This is the Tantalus field, a device that had been invented by an alien scientist and which could make anyone just disappear. This had enabled the Mirror Kirk to hold his position, and our Kirk reveals its existence to Mirror Spock in the hope that this will enable him to change things. Giving such a powerful weapon to someone that Kirk doesn’t really know does seem like quite a gamble, since there is no guarantee that Spock won’t use this for his own ends. Indeed, the very inclusion of the Tantalus device in “Mirror, Mirror” stands out, since it is the one part of the episode that isn’t that elegant. It’s a powerful science fiction idea, but it doesn’t really add anything to the narrative and so is somewhat wasted.

Planetary Gazetteer

The Halkan Homeworld: A planet that is rich in dilithium crystals that the Federation and the Empire both wish to mine but they are refused permission by the native Halkans who have a pacifist society in both universes.

Vega IX: Where the Mirror Kirk executed five thousand colonists.

Starship Spotting

The Enterprise in the Mirror universe bears the designation “ISS”. It is not explicitly stated what this stands for, but it is presumably Imperial Starship. In a subtle touch to show the differences, the Mirror Enterprise has a male computer voice, rather than the usual female one. In contrast to the Prime Universe, Spock is not the only Vulcan on the ISS Enterprise (this is mentioned in dialogue and we see one acting as Spock’s bodyguard).

General Observations

• No Stardate is given during the episode – Kirk’s log entries record it as “Unknown”, presumably due to the complications of him having travelled to a parallel universe.
• Even though the Federation has become the Empire in the Mirror Universe, the ISS Enterprise still reports to Starfleet Command.
• The Mirror Sulu is the Security Chief as well as the helmsman (and so he wears a red tunic rather than his usual gold). He has a large scar on his face (although the make-up for this is unfortunately not that convincing).
• McCoy gives another (somewhat less colourful) version of his catchphrase when he tells Scotty that he is a doctor “not an engineer”.
• In a moment of continuity that is unusual at this stage, it is mentioned that the Mirror Kirk gained command of the ISS Enterprise by assassinating Captain Christopher Pike.
• John Winston makes his 9th appearance as Mr Kyle (including as a Mirror version).

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TOS - 2.09 - The Apple

The Enterprise is investigating Gamma Trianguli VI, an apparently idyllic planet that is not quite as welcoming as it seems after members of Kirk’s landing party are killed and even the starship affected and giving Scotty a race against time to prevent it from crashing into the planet. The secret to the planet is that it is being controlled some sort of machine, known as Vaal by the native inhabitants. Vaal maintains the conditions on the planet, and has also prevented the natives from advancing and developing – or even reproducing – since they never age.

“The Apple” is probably the very definition of an uneven episode. It’s based on a clever idea in terms of being a metaphor for the Biblical Garden of Eden with the Enterprise and its crew acting as the apple which brings knowledge to the People of Vaal and leads to the collapse of their paradise. This is all quite clear as the subtext, so it is something of a shame that the script choses to point this out in the final scene. The episode also features some lovely dialogue and character scenes – particular highlights being Kirk threatening to fire Soctty if he doesn’t save the Enterprise from destruction, and a whole scene in which the landing party wonder whether the People of Vaal know how to reproduce which is cleverly scripted in terms of getting its point across within the constraints of 1960s network television. The premise of the episode also gives us the first example of a proper debate about the Prime Directive (here just referred to as the Non-Interference Directive) and whether our crew should interfere in the development of an alien society. This is effectively shown through the prism of our regular characters, as Kirk and McCoy think that it is wrong that the native tribe has been held back whereas Spock takes the opposite position. Unfortunately, the episode doesn’t really follow through on the moral ambiguity of such a decision since the fact that Vaal is posing a direct threat to the Enterprise means that Kirk must attempt to defeat Vaal to save himself and his crew, regardless of the impact on the local society.

On the negative side, the episode does take a very long time to get to its premise with endless scenes of the landing party moving through the jungle whilst various Red Shirts get killed in various ways. The studio bound interior of the planet is effective, but unfortunately the appearance of the People of Vaal is somewhat comical – they look uncomfortable like overgrown Oompa Loompas with their orange skin and white bouffant wigs. The People of Vaal are pretty much the typical primitive alien species that people think of as a common Star Trek trope, even down to their ignorance of love and Kirk having to explain it to them. This means that one has to make a particular effort to think about “The Apple” in context and the fact that it is probably this episode that pretty much originated this cliché.

The portrayal of Vaal in the episode is somewhat disappointing. It is the antagonist for everything that happens, but it is portrayed just as a cave in the form of a snake’s head (more Biblical imagery) with flashing eyes. The natives do go inside the cave to feed it (with fruit, which is interesting since is apparently a machine) but we never see what is inside. And Vaal never actually says anything itself, so we never understand its motivation. Even when it has been destroyed, there is no explanation as to where it has come from, or how this strange society came into existence. I guess that this is not the point of the story, which instead is concentrating on the consequences of what Vaal is doing (and this is clear from the fact that this is a computer controlled world is revealed fairly early on, rather than being a big plot twist), but it would have been nice to have had a line or two to provide some background.

The subplot about the crew introducing love and s** to the People of Vaal works well within the context of the episode by itself, but is somewhat clumsy when viewing Star Trek as a continuing series due to the sudden introduction of Yeoman Martha Landon, who appears to be Chekov’s girlfriend. She hasn’t been seen before and I assume will never be seen again, and so she is clearly just there to give some substance to the discussion of love. However, Celeste Yarnall is charming in the role. She doesn’t get a lot to do, but it is refreshing that Yeoman Landen gets to take part in the climatic fight sequence and is seen to be just as successful in beating her opponents as the male crew members.

Planetary Gazetteer

Gamma Trianguli VI: The planet on which the episode is set. Vaal maintains its temperature at a constant 76 degrees, even at the poles, as well as operating a powerful planetary defence system that is able to affect orbiting starships, as well as people on the surface.

General Observations

• Two Stardates are given in the episode – 3715.3 and 3715.6.
• Neither Nichelle Nichols nor George Takei appear in the episode; Sulu’s position at the helm is taken by Lt Kyle (John Winston’s 8th appearance as the character). 
• Chekov is called “Pav” by Yeoman Landen – the first indication of his first name (Pavel).
• The landing party features no fewer than four red-shirted security officers (Kaplan, Marple, Hendorff and Mallory) – all of whom perish in various ways while on the planet (Hendorff by a dart firing plant, Kaplan is struck by lightning, Mallory by an exploding rock and Marple by the natives). Mallory is given some background since Kirk mentions that he knows his family, with Kaplan’s father having helped him get into Starfleet Academy.
• Spock is something of a fall guy in the episode – getting shot with darts from a poisonous plant and then hit by lightning. Fortunately, he appears to suffer no ill effects from this (unlike the unfortunate Hendorff and Kaplan).
• Kirk and McCoy joke with Spock about him looking like Satan. This is presumably a reference to some of the concerns that the network chiefs had about the character when the first saw “The Cage”, with the production team now feeling sufficiently confident to poke fun at their bosses given that Spock had by now proved to be immensely popular.

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TOS - 2.08 - The Changeling

It seems like a case of déjà vu when the Enterprise encounters a mysterious and immensely powerful machine that is wiping out all life that it encounters since “The Changeling” comes only a few episodes after “The Doomsday Machine” in which the Enterprise encounters a mysterious and immensely powerful device that is destroying all planets that it encounters. Much as I enjoyed “The Doomsday Machine”, I wasn’t sure that I wanted a rerun quite so soon. Fortunately, “The Changeling” does have a different emphasis to the earlier episode. The eponymous Doomsday Machine was just a device in every sense of the word, an unexplained threat just serving as the catalyst for conflict between Kirk and Commodore Decker. This time, the episode is very much about the device which is essentially the principal guest character.

I was aware of the plot of this episode from the fact that it provided the basis for Star Trek: The Motion Picture in which it is revealed at the climax that the mysterious V’Ger that is threatening the galaxy is actually a Voyager space probe that was launched from Earth hundreds of years previously but has been changed by encounter with aliens. Given this link, I was actually surprised how early it was that “The Changeling” revealed that the device encountered by Kirk was Nomad, a 21st Century probe that had been thought destroyed but had become changed through an encounter with a powerful alien probe, rather than leaving this as surprise twist. However, this is to the benefit of the episode since it can spend time exploring the implications of Nomad’s creation, which is actually a very clever idea given that it is not actually malevolent and is only intent on destroying all human life due to a corrupted conflation of its own programming (to seek out new life) with that of the alien probe that it encountered (sterilising soil).

“The Changeling” is another bottle show, with all of the action taking place on board the Enterprise with Kirk bringing Nomad on board. This means that so much of the episode is dependent upon the execution of Nomad itself. Fortunately, this is very successful – it is well designed and the effect of it floating around the ship is entirely convincing when it could so easily have been comical. Vic Perrin also gives Nomad a voice that manages to be convincingly robotic without being boring. This all makes Nomad sufficiently threatening, enhanced by its throbbing and menacing theme. There is actually great tension in the episode since the Enterprise has only survived destruction since Nomad has mistaken Kirk for its creator, a human scientist called Jackson Roykirk, and we are expecting it to find this out at any moment. The stakes are also raised when Kirk and Spock have realised that they have given Nomad the directions to Earth (which it remembers as its place of origin) and that is keen to return there in order to sterilise it of its problematic biological infection…

Whilst the episode has an interesting threat that is well executed, the script of the “The Changeling” unfortunately struggles to find much actual story and instead is reduced to filling time with old chestnuts with Scotty actually being killed before being “repaired” by Nomad in a manner that is reminiscent of what happened to McCoy in “Shore Leave” (it’s fortunate her the Nomad didn’t chose to completely disintegrate Scotty as he does with the four security guards later on). There is also a bizarre subplot in which Nomad becomes interested in Uhura’s singing (which she conveniently does over the intercom) and decides that this is illogical behaviour and so wipes her mind completely. This is not something that Nomad can reverse and so McCoy must re-educate her from scratch! This is addressed only through one interminable scene of Chapel teaching Uhura to read, but the plan is presumably successful since I can’t imagine that she will have any adverse effects in future episodes (with her memory and personality also restored somehow). Whilst it is nice that the script gives Nichelle Nichols something to do other than sit at the communications console, it is a shame that this subplot is so daft.

Fortunately, the episode does have a satisfying resolution. Whilst it is another example of Kirk talking a machine into destroying itself (as per “The Return Of The Archons”), it is clever that his argument hinges on him revealing that he is not Jackson Roykirk and therefore Nomad is not perfect as it claims to be. We also get a tag scene that manages to be amusing rather than completely tone deaf as Spock congratulates Kirk on his logic, and the captain refers to a Nomad as a promising son.

Planetary Gazetteer

The Malurian System: A star system of four planets with a population of four billion people who are wiped out by Nomad.

General Observations

• A single Stardate is given in the episode – 3541.9.
• Walter Koenig does not appear as Chekov. Majel Barrett makes her second appearance of the series as Christine Chapel. We also briefly meet Lt Singh (who works in Engineering) and a security officer called Lt Carlisle.
• Earth’s star is referred to as Sol by both Kirk and Nomad.
• We get another “He’s dead, Jim” from McCoy, this time referring to Scotty.
• Spock uses a Vulcan mind meld to understand Nomad (last used in “Devil In The Dark”), but it is still not named as such. This is a convenient way to explain Nomad’s background, but it does seem somewhat unlikely that a mind meld would work on a computer!
• Nomad’s weapons travel at Warp 15 and the device later increases the efficiency of the Enterprise’s engines so that it can reach Warp 11 – this beyond what the structure of the Starship can withstand. This indicates that the warp scale was still being developed by the show since, by the time of Voyager (and the episode “Threshold” in particular), no ship can reach Warp 10 since this corresponds to infinite speed.  
• One nice touch about Uhura’s mind wipe is that she is learning English whilst defaulting to Swahili which had been established as her first language in “The Man Trap”. She sings is “Beyond Antares” which was the song that she sang in “The Conscience Of The King”
• Nomad seems to have an inherent knowledge of which Enterprise crew members are regulars and which are disposable Red Shirts – as well as not disintegrating Scotty, it only knocks Chapel unconscious when she tries to stop it accessing Kirk’s medical records – and this occurs shortly after it has had no problem with zapping the security guards into oblivion.

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TOS - 2.07 - Wolf In The Fold

I was vaguely aware of this episode, albeit as one in which Scotty is possessed by Jack the Ripper. Fortunately, it wasn’t quite as daft as I was expecting, and this supposed foreknowledge actually resulted in me finding the resolution quite surprising.

 The bulk of the episode is essentially a murder mystery as Scotty is incriminated in murdering a number of women on the pleasure planet of Argelius II. Things look bleak for him as he is found next to each body with a bloody knife and no memory of what has happened. Unlike many episodes of shows in what a regular character is accused of a heinous crime and is clearly innocent, “Wolf In The Fold” does attempt to make the viewer uncertain since it is explained that Scotty has recently suffered a severe head injury and therefore may not be responsible for his actions. This does introduce some effective drama for Kirk, who also can’t be certain about what has happened as he must balance his loyalty to his friend against his duty of doing the right thing for Argelius II, especially given that this is a strategically important space port.

The episode does throw in another suspect in the form of the first victim’s rejected fiancé, but it is fairly obvious that he is a red herring. The investigation does take an odd turn with something similar to a séance taking place in order to determine the truth of the situation. This scene is superbly directed, with a notable overhead shot, and it does reveal that this is not a normal crime drama since the crimes are being committed by some evil force. It is eventually revealed that the culprit is a shapeless form that feeds off death and fear, and which had been responsible for the Jack the Ripper murders back in the 19th century and was now working its way across the galaxy. However, I was surprised when it was revealed that the host of this entity was not Scotty, but rather Hengist, the mild mannered administrator. This is actually a good example of a less likely character being responsible but where there is also effective foreshadowing since Hengist was the one local character who was suspicious of Scotty and dismissive of Kirk’s investigations, but not enough to be suspicious. However, the fact that Scotty is completely innocent does make his convenient memory lapses a bit odd – it would have been nice to have had an explanation for these!

James Doohan is great in the episode and its nice that he gets to show another side to the usually stoic Scotty. I was also very taken with Charles Macauley who plays the leader of Argelius II with an unexpected nobility, always keen to help Kirk and play fair even when his own wife falls victim. Macauley had previously played the fake form of Landru in “The Return Of The Archons” but is completely unrecognisable here.

The episode had further surprises after revealing the identity of the murderer since it takes a somewhat bonkers change of direction for the last 10 minutes as we learn that the entity has the completely random ability to take over the Enterprise computer, thus giving it the power to terrify the crew. It is interesting to read that this plotline was originally intended to be a key part of the episode, since it comes across as somewhat rushed in the final script since we don’t really feel that anyone at risk – there is a scene in which Spock narrowly avoids being cut in two by an automated door, but this isn’t really shot in a manner that makes it clear that this is what has happened. Kirk’s solution to the problem makes things even more bizarre as he gets McCoy to inject everyone with a powerful tranquiliser that has the effect of everyone appearing stoned. The resulting comedy should jar with the bloodthirsty murders that have come previously, but somehow it doesn’t – provided you don’t think about it too much…

Whilst “Wolf In The Fold” is generally an entertaining episode, it is unfortunate that the rampant sexism of “Star Trek” makes a return with a vengeance. The teaser scene consists pretty much entirely of Kirk, Scotty and McCoy ogling a belly dancer (Scotty very much appears to have got over Carolyn Palamas from “Who Mourns For Adonais?”). Worse, McCoy fears that Scotty could have a resentment of all women after his injury resulted by an explosion caused by a female crew member! This isn’t even used as further justification as to why he might be committing women in his concussed state. Further, the script treats its female characters as victims (all of them are murdered apart from the virtually non-speaking yeoman who sits in on the enquiry), attempting to justify this by stating that women get more deeply terrified than men! Whilst the victims of Jack the Ripper were indeed female, there was no real reason for this emphasis, especially when the entity becomes less discriminating when it has taken over the Enterprise..

Planetary Gazetteer

Argelius II: The setting for the first half of the episode. It has a hedonistic society which originated in a “great awakening” some two hundred years previously. Certain female inhabitants retain empathic abilities that were more common in the past.

Rigel IV: The home planet of Administrator Hengist and where he committed previous murders whilst under the control of the Ripper entity. The planet is home to “the hill people” of the Argus River region who produced the knife used by Hengist. It is presumably in the same star system as Rigel IV (as featured in “The Cage” and “The Menagerie”) and it could potentially be “the Rigel” colony mentioned in “The Doomsday Machine”.

Mars: Earth’s neighbouring planet has been colonised and was the location of an unsolved murder of eight women, which presumably were previous victims of the entity.

Alpha Eridani II: Another planet where the entity committed murders. These took place in a settlement called Heliopolis.

Deneb II: Yet another planet where the entity killed a number of women.

Alpha Carinae V: Home of the Drella, which derives nourishment from the emotion of love.

Alpha Majoris I: Home of a cloud creature mentioned by Spock.

Starship Spotting

The Enterprise is said to be inhabited by “440 humans”, which is slight increase on the figure of around 430 used during the first series.

General Observations

• Two Stardates are given in the episode – 3614.9 and 3615.4. This is something of a decrease again after the previous episode referred to a Stardate in the 4000s.
• This is the first episode to reveal that Scotty’s first name is Montgomery. It is also implied that he is from Aberdeen.
• Neither Nichelle Nichols nor Walter Koenig appear in the episode. John Winston appears again as Mr Kyle (his seventh appearance) and he gets to indulge in the fun of being stoned. We episode features a new crew member, a technician called Lt Karen Tracey, who is killed virtually immediately by Jack the Ripper (despite not even wearing a red shirt).
• McCoy uses the famous phrase “He’s dead, Jim” when it appears that Kirk has killed Hengist with a single punch

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