Star Trek: The Original Series
"The Alternative Factor"
Air date: 3/30/1967
Written by Don Ingalls
Directed by Gerd Oswald
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
Investigating what is apparently a "rip in space," a landing party beams down to a planet to find Lazarus (Robert Brown), an unstable man involved in a mysteriously bizarre problem: He's in a battle with his counterpart self from a parallel universe.
Among a stretch of shows that exemplifies many of Trek's most visible qualities is the arrival of this episode, which unfortunately exemplifies science fiction excess. First of all is the ridiculously extreme notion that the meeting of the two Lazaruses (or is that Lazari?) would mean the destruction of the "entire universe." Such overlarge devices are rarely effective. Also, this episode seems to be in love with its own use of sci-fi buzzwords. In addition to matter and antimatter, we've got the concepts of a "parallel universe," a "rip in space," a "time ship," an "inter-universal gateway," etc. Little of this makes much sense, no matter how hard Shatner and Nimoy try in bouncing incredulous dialog off each other.
The episode becomes an untenable collection of disjointed story items with no overriding cohesion. (And, by the way, why would the Enterprise destroying one time ship cause the parallel universe time ship to be destroyed?) Saving some face is the somewhat interesting implication of Lazarus fighting his duplicate counterpart "for all eternity."
Previous episode: Errand of Mercy
Next episode: The City on the Edge of Forever
Like this site? Support it by buying Jammer a coffee.
59 comments on this post
Mon, Aug 16, 2010, 2:06pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Apr 30, 2012, 2:19pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Jul 30, 2013, 3:45am (UTC -6)
Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 6:03pm (UTC -6)
The story that this could have been? Had the technobabble been done better, maybe this whole situation would have made more sense. Also, instead of suggesting the whole universe was at stake, simply suggest you'll get a supernova-sized explosion if a planet from the other universe gets through, and worse if more than that does. Suggest also that tragic and disastrous stuff like this has happened before because there wasn't any Enterprise around to intervene (which might even make it a little more justifiable that the Enterprise keeps running across all these world-threatening cosmic events week after week; hey, here's what happened when it was Cyrano Jones who encountered the world-threatening anomaly instead--the whole sector got fried).
But what would have made it the best of all would be if anyone had been looking forward to the revelations of a slightly later episode. Imagine this ending: as the U.S.S. Enterprise goes its merry way after resolving the situation with Lazarus, the scene suddenly flips over--literally--to the anti-matter universe, where a certain other Enterprise is just arriving...
Kirk: "What was that? Spock, what the hell just happened down there?"
Spock: [Strokes his beard.] "I am unable to make any determinations at this time, Captain..."
Thu, Apr 3, 2014, 10:05pm (UTC -6)
I would not give this 1 star.
Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 11:39pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Dec 6, 2015, 8:48am (UTC -6)
Sun, Nov 13, 2016, 9:14am (UTC -6)
OK, for one, I've completely ignored TOS' lack of special effects so far, as I know they were doing the best they could with a limited budget and limited technology. My problems with Arena stemmed from the story, not with the absurdity of the Gorn captain. But here? The effects were just downright hokey. Stars randomly appearing? A spinning universe? Two people awkwardly struggling against a washed out monochromatic screen? Sure, special effects in other episodes can be bad, but you know what they're trying to convey. Here, well, I have no idea. This is supposed to be a high concept story, but they simply didn't have the tools to properly show it. It'd be like trying to play Beethoven with a kazoo.
Actually, not really, because Beethoven's music is brilliant, and this plot is stupid. I'm in agreement with Jammer and others that the bizarre technobabble explanations just didn't make sense and seemed like a bunch of hooplah just to get to the ending they wanted. I mean, admittedly my attention was wandering by the end, what with the ridiculousness of the plot and all, but why didn't they just stun crazy Lazarus? Then drop him off at some loony bin, and drop his timeship off at the warehouse where they're storing the Ark of the Covenant. Voila, problem solved without the pathos of sacrificing sane Lazarus.
It also didn't help that, even with the scar and all, I wasn't quite sure which one was which at times. Again, I admit this may be my fault, because I stopped caring about this episode about halfway through. It's too bad, really, because I was interested at first in the mystery of what was going on. But the hokey effects, the poor pacing, and the utterly ridiculous way the mystery unraveled killed any interest I had.
Sun, Dec 4, 2016, 4:39am (UTC -6)
This is categorically the worst ep of Trek ever put together, an unredeemably sloppy lazy hot mess that must have been "phoned in" and then half heartedly put together in a week that the the technical department were all on annual leave and left it to the work experience kids
Commits the two worst sins of simultaneously boring and confusing it's audience without any unintentionally comedic moments.
Negative 5 stars
Sat, Jan 21, 2017, 2:29am (UTC -6)
Despite the boredom in long stretches of this episode, I will give it this much: I have never forgotten it. The image of Lazarus fighting himself, the reverse-negative photography of their battles and Kirk's journey into the antimatter universe, and the nifty-looking "time ship" are all memorable concepts. It's the kind of "hard sci-fi high concept show" that TOS rarely did -- and in some ways, I suspect it set the stage for many later Trek stories, especially those written by Brannan Braga and Joe Menosky. Not a bad thing.
Being memorable for its imagery and ideas, despite the average execution, is a solid point in this episode's favor. By contrast, there are many (many, many, many) other Star Trek episodes from each series from which I can recall nothing at all. And there are many Trek episodes which are downright offensive and dumb. While this one is a bit of a drag, it's sincerely executed and strives for some big ideas. So I do think an "okay for effort" is in order. And let me be daring: Maybe it even deserves 2 1/2 stars for the cool female assistant engineer with the short haircut.
Wed, Feb 15, 2017, 8:34pm (UTC -6)
As for the special effects of the parallel universe and the transition between the 2 - I won't complain about 60s special effects but this episode made it hard not to cringe. It just seemed particularly low-budget / amateurish to me.
I'm also not a fan of how the Enterprise is in a situation where the whole universe could be destroyed if the 2 Lazaruses meet. Seems excessive.
Anyhow, this is a very disappointing episode. 1.5/4 stars for me and peculiar that it is sandwiched by 2 excellent episodes "The Devil..." and "The City on the Edge..."
Sat, Feb 18, 2017, 11:11pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 9:35am (UTC -6)
1. If all that was necessary was to destroy a ship on one side, why didn't "sane" Lazarus do that years ago?
2. Why was it necessary for them to be trapped between universes? Simply destroying the ships was all that was necessary. The insane Lazarus could have been imprisoned and treated. "Sane" Lazarus would be free (albeit possibly stranded).
3. Why did Kirk tell Spock and two security guards to "stay back" as he struggled to throw insane Lazarus into the portal? Wouldn't it have been easier to just stun him and throw him in or at least make it 4 on 1. Stunning would have given "sane" Lazarus a little time without having to hold his counterpart and given Kirk and company time to get to cover.
4. Why did Kirk and company beam back to the ship and then go from the transporter room to the bridge BEFORE ordering the ship destroyed? They could have sought cover on the planet surface or if was quicker, beam up and order the strike to occur as soon as their arrival was confirmed.
5. Like with most such technologies in Trek, what's to prevent some race somewhere else from discovering the same technology when a ship without Starfleet's best and brightest in the vicinity? What if they let the Lazarus twins out? That's why just destroying the ship and keeping on Lazarus imprisoned makes more sense.
Fri, Feb 16, 2018, 6:59pm (UTC -6)
There might have been a good story here, but multiple circumstances doomed this poor episode. First, they removed a huge sub-plot where Charlene Masters was supposed to be in love with stable Lazarus and taken advantage of (not that way!) by the unstable one. Roddenberry and company didn't want two scripts (this and the up and coming "Space Seed") have crew women who forgot their duty by going gaga over a handsome face. So Lt. Masters just became the engineer (in blue) who was in charge of the Lithium Crystal Recharging Section.
(Recharging the crystals? Hm, that would have been a nice thing to be able to do in future...)
And when it came time to shoot this gutted script, the guest star (John Drew Barrymore) decides to up and not show up on the first day of filming. And to not answer his phone when they called. They shot around him and hired Robert Brown ASAP, altered the costume, glued some random beard on him, and shoved him in front of the cameras. Not a good situation even if the script had been top notch.
Thu, Apr 5, 2018, 12:33am (UTC -6)
@Bill
I never knew those things about this episode and I always thought his beard looked funky. I suppose they thought he/they needed a beard, because where was he going to shave? :)
I wonder what they added into the episode? It always seemed a decent(ish) premise to me, but felt like it was half an episode stretched out. Perhaps it was...
Thanks for the insight... RT
Fri, Apr 6, 2018, 3:13pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Jun 19, 2018, 2:36pm (UTC -6)
Events do not follow logically from one event to another. We have no rooting interest in Lazarus, or hissing interest, for that matter. He's a plot device. The episode is also unceasingly boring. Characters make obvious or inane observations. The pacing is way off. I John Drew Barrymore, who was contracted to play Lazarus, probably made the smartest career choice ever when he refused to show up for work when filming began.
The Memory Alpha wikia for this episode states that he grievance filed against him by the Star Trek production team led to him being unable to obtain acting work for six months in 1967. Better a mere six months than an eternity of humiliation, sneers, and snickers whenever the mention of who played Lazarus would have come up.
Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 6:48am (UTC -6)
Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 8:55am (UTC -6)
Just awful. One of the all time worst episodes to me.
Wed, Nov 7, 2018, 4:05pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Nov 23, 2018, 5:14pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Mar 4, 2019, 8:09pm (UTC -6)
Nothing else to add. I'm pretty tolerant of the weaker episodes and the poor special effects of the time, but this one was just a terrible.
Oh, also pleased to see these forums still so active after all these years.
Tue, Mar 5, 2019, 7:49pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Apr 7, 2019, 8:28am (UTC -6)
But plusses:
Robert Brown is good looking.
Props for the Lt Masters character, a black woman with a short fro even, and in Engineering! She's taken seriously and given important responsibility. Really daring for its time.
Thu, May 2, 2019, 2:51am (UTC -6)
Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 2:38pm (UTC -6)
When Lazarus made his plummet off the cliff, I prayed he was dead so we didn't have to see any more of what has to be the worst acting by a supporting cast member in Trek. Then, still wandering about the ship rather than being in the brig where by now he absolutely should be, we have a fire in not-engineering affecting two characters we give zero shits about. Presumably Scotty was attending a warp drive symposium during the gravest threat the universe has ever known. Everyone just abandons any semblance of intelligence from this point on to make the ending happen.
KIRK: (fighting mad Lazarus) "Stand back!"
Redshirts: * nowhere near Kirk, do not move at all *
Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 1:25pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Mar 8, 2020, 10:45pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Mar 9, 2020, 7:21am (UTC -6)
Mon, Mar 9, 2020, 7:37am (UTC -6)
Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 8:02pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jun 5, 2020, 2:14am (UTC -6)
Sun, Jun 14, 2020, 7:59pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Jul 5, 2020, 7:36pm (UTC -6)
Ok, I actually did quite like the Lazaruses spaceship/time machine. Nice little prop.
Itās really not clear that one Lazarus is sane and one crazy. I could scarcely tell the difference. Bones couldnāt seem to tell either.
What really always bothered me was the place they get trapped to fight for all eternity... so, they are immortal? Is there food there?
Also, considering the two Lazaruses NEVER meet outside the over-exposed room, it seems a reasonable explanation is that they CANāT, so there was actually no danger. How would they *know* that meeting would destroy the universe? Its not exactly something you can test.
Lol, horrible episode, but a good conversation starter.
Tue, Sep 8, 2020, 7:18pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Nov 6, 2020, 2:49am (UTC -6)
Mon, Nov 23, 2020, 10:49pm (UTC -6)
Zero fucking stars.
Absolutely worst episode of the season. Reminds me of that abomination What the Bl**p do we Know. Nothing. The answer is nothing. We know nothing. Because after watching "The Alternative Factor" we blew our fucking brains out.
Zero stars is frankly too high.
Now, at 27 episodes * 50 minutes an episode = 22 hours of Star Trek by this point. That means TOS had more Trek in its first season than all of Discovery or Picard have had so far. There was bound to be a clunker. What is amazing is that there was only one.
The only saving grace is that TPTB understood what a piece of luh-suh ( https://youtu.be/QpWehvc3H6k ) this hour was, and stuffed it full of red-SKIRTS of the week.
The first red-skirt wore gold
https://i.imgur.com/wcXEM7V.png
Blink and you'll miss her.
The second red-skirt was a dusky brunette who I imagine might have had a sultry voice, if she had any lines.
https://i.imgur.com/lDKRj0j.png
But her smile spoke a million words, and she wore blue.
And of course also in blue, was the third red-skirt of the week, the lovely Ms. Masters.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Charlene+Masters&source=lnms&tbm=isch
@Bill tells us that Ms. Masters was supposed to get down and dirty with Lazarus. As much as that might have improved the episode, I have to think that the actress took one look at the script and said no fucking chance!
Burn it with fire. She's dead Jim.
Mon, Nov 23, 2020, 11:04pm (UTC -6)
What even goes on in that pod? What is it? This is really 'beyond us' kind of stuff, like giving us a glimpse of either far-future tech or else ancient advanced tech. It's a passageway...maybe? Or is the single nexus between worlds? If so that is nexus artificially generated? Or is it a natural phenomenon and Lazarus just knows how to get through it? The entire affair is mystifying. Add all of this up to the shots, the spinning, the hysteria, the dizzying and often confusing sense of reality, and what we have here is an episode leading Kirk right into the Mouth of Madness. The episode is the equal and opposite of Mirror, Mirror, where we can know and understand out equal from another universe. Here, the 'other' is something unknowable, dangerous, delirious, and dangerous without us being able to understand why. I always got a totally epic sense of potential doom from this one. Incidentally I also like the Lazarus character.
I won't analyze this one right now, but suffice to say it's never been a go-to for rewatch, but when I do it's a trip, man. Zero stars, four stars, two stars, eh - what's the diff? The episode is too insane to be able to be brought down to a logical rating. It's like trying to rate a wild dream you once had where you have a distinct idea it was important but can only remember vague images and a nervous tension.
Tue, Nov 24, 2020, 4:01am (UTC -6)
https://youtu.be/fvhV245SLgs
Fri, Mar 26, 2021, 3:24am (UTC -6)
There was a wasted story here: the touching of parallel universes and what might happen as a result. Ironically, the next episode āCity on the edge of Foreverā is not only one of the best, it provides the Alternative Factor story in a completely different way.
Fri, Mar 26, 2021, 3:38am (UTC -6)
Wed, Jun 9, 2021, 4:50pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 10:59pm (UTC -6)
I probably did watch *some* of this episode as a kid. If I know my young MidshipmanNorris, though, I probably wandered off to play Nintendo at some point.
I do like it that there seems to be a solid sci-fi concept underpinning the whole deal, but the "whole deal" as it were, turns out to be lots of talky, boring exposition with very little forward momentum, and lots of extremely ridiculous out-of-character decisions.
James Doohan and George Takei do not seem to have been available for filming, as they don't appear in this one, and neither does Grace Lee Whitney. They saved themselves the trouble, it seems. What a bunch of crapola.
So, they're mapping a planet and then the universe disappears, for a split-second, twice. This episode has already had the universe disappear (twice) before the teaser is over. Yikes #1.
Then they find a weirdly unshaven guy in sparkly space pajamas babbling like a cretin, and get a message about a possible invasion force from Starfleet... and Kirk, being the supreme starship commanding Errol Flynn man-of-action... does next to nothing. Must've been an off day, huh? Wonderful stuff, that Romulan Ale... I mean, even when he and Spock (after a long, boring talky expositiony scene together in the conference room) realize that both universes could be annihilated, Kirk just sort of meanders through the rest of the episode without even trying to take some kind of action. Yikes #2.
After the 3rd time Lazarus had one of his little freak-outs, I started zoning out. I have a hard time believing that these overlay effects were very novel, even when this episode originally aired. "Oh wow, you made a TV show that makes me naseuous. Whoopty doo." Yikes #3.
This episode is trying to stop you from finishing watching it, as hard as it can. It's like it's remodulating the boring frequencies faster than you can adapt to them.
I give it 0.5 stars for having a cool sci-fi idea under it. It's what's on top of that idea that's literally all space garbage.
A certifiable Harve Bennett "Ugh" episode if I ever saw one. More like The Alternative F***tor.
Thu, Jul 1, 2021, 9:46pm (UTC -6)
That probably ruined whatever chances this episode had. After all, many posters are saying they couldn't tell the two Lazaruses apart, and that's probably because the guest star Robert Brown had no time to prepare and was just winging it.
There's plenty of stories where an actor can wing it without betting all that impactful, but not a situation like this.
I also agree there was a nugget of a good sci-fi premise here, but it's just all but lost. There's enough idea here that it could make a decent episode. The stakes need to be dialed way back, for starters.
It seems obvious they knew it was a turd and just said "screw it, ship it".
Thu, Jul 1, 2021, 9:48pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jul 1, 2021, 11:35pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Jan 4, 2022, 2:10pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Jan 4, 2022, 3:49pm (UTC -6)
It's a challenging episode. After years of watching it I still get slightly confused. Basically the great monster is the Lazarus we can agree is the rational one. Robert Brown plays him as all wise, and very effectively too.
I liked the sky turning dark in this one, and the surface of the ground in upheaval. A decent visual experience.
Tue, Jan 4, 2022, 6:11pm (UTC -6)
It just has the 'slight' problem of not making any kind of logical sense.
Tue, Jan 4, 2022, 10:10pm (UTC -6)
"It just has the 'slight' problem of not making any kind of logical sense."
I know...it has a terrible reputation as making absolutely no sense, or as being a huge bore that was abyssmally executed. People's comments really get me chuckling, and they are certainly correct on so many levels (including the fact that Lazarus' beard pretty much disappears in the middle of the episode due to a lack of spirit gum), but the show still attracts as much as it repulses.
It's clear the creators were experimenting with concepts, but kind'uv got confused themselves. I think that may have been because people were away for summer vacation. Sulu's gone, Scotty's gone. It's like a bottle show where they even were forced to film during terrible weather out at Vasquez Rocks, but the ominous skies they captured are actually fascinating (the show becomes atmospheric like Blow Up, or Zabriskie Point). The music is pulled from several of the other season 1 episodes: lots of typani from Arena; that weird riff from the Man Trap, and a few strains from Where No Man Has Gone Before. It all combines into a kind of psychedelic headtrip.
One of the reasons for the episode's perplexing quality is the fact that the Rational (anti-matter) Lazarus (the one without the bandage on his forehead) behaves too much like Nutty Lazarus in the middle of the episode while securing the first pair of dilithium crystals (assaulting the Lieutenant Masters and the engineering assistant dude). Rational and Nutty are basically indistinguishable. So later, when Kirk again meets Rational Lazarus in the other universe, he is so composed and Christ-like, it's as if there's a third Lazarus!
Peter G. (Nov. 23rd 2020) used the words "almost Lovecraftian" in connection with the episode. That's an interesting viewpoint which is worth pondering while watching.
Wed, Jan 5, 2022, 1:35am (UTC -6)
Yeah, Alternative Factor is really a monumental undertaking...of something.
There's a problem in physics where we won't understand why our universe has mostly matter, rather than antimatter: why the asymmetry? This episode suggests that there is in fact symmetry, and that the equal and opposite will indeed annihilate with ours if they come into contact. What's more, this is a hair's breadth away from happening at all times, except for the fact that the two Lazarus's are so evenly matched. It's like the Cuban Missile Crisis, where anyone not involved would have had no idea the world almost ended.
Wed, Jan 5, 2022, 2:38pm (UTC -6)
Thanks.
It seems like knowledge of the theoretical asymmetry was relatively new (only around 10 years old) in those days...maybe the writers were using some dog-eared copy of a Manhattan Project cast-off when thinking up the episode. The 1964 revelation about the "violation" was likely still completely unknown to them.
Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 11:03pm (UTC -6)
I wouldn't call it a terrible episode though, not great either but I always found it entertaining. The spinning newspaper effect was really lame though. The thing I remembered most about it from watching it as a kid was that crazy beard.
Wed, Mar 16, 2022, 8:15pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Apr 2, 2022, 11:05pm (UTC -6)
You are in the vast minority. I do agree that the image of the two men fighting was memorable, but that has almost nothing to do with the script. One thing I did like in the script was the implication that "the enemy" was actually the sane one. If I understood correctly.
I think giving a single star to this would be a stretch. But if you enjoyed it, then great.
Wed, Apr 6, 2022, 9:10pm (UTC -6)
Sun, May 29, 2022, 9:02pm (UTC -6)
And why only Lazarus? The āantimatterā Lazarus and āhis peopleā successfully found an āalternative warp corridorā into our universe, but apparently āourā Lazarus is the only one in existence who faces this purgatory of trying to destroy his double every few minutes in that psychedelic miasma of bad lighting, negative filming and newsreel affections left over from the 1930ās. For all I know they adequately explained it and I just forgot, but I donāt care. If someone would like to fill me in, please do. It would save me from having to watch the episode again for clarification.
A passable notion is that Matter-Lazarusā ultimate motivation of wanting to destroy his antimatter counterpart was simply because of his ego--he didnāt want to tolerate the existence of another man who was pretty much just like him. And isnāt that true of all of us? Who would want to discover that they have a clone? Also, I suppose it was a wicked twist that the āotherā Lazarus was the one who was measured, sane and reasonable by comparison.
And sure, at least we got another cheesy cockfight at the end. This one between Kirk and Matter-Lazarus was so goofy that my son and his friend immediately proceeded to reenact it themselves, complete with my son (as Kirk) being picked up and thrown down onto the couch at full speed. His buddy did a fair impression of Lazarusā āIāM NOT READY! IāM NOT READY!ā At least they got some amusement from āThe Alternative Factor,ā unlike me.
Best Line:
Spock -- āMadness has no purpose, but it may have a goal.ā
My Grade: F
Wed, Jun 15, 2022, 11:55pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Sep 21, 2022, 3:54pm (UTC -6)
Yes this one is confusing and not well written. Having seen it again last night, Sane Lazarus does come across as pretty self sacrificing/noble but it's a good job that the matter-antimatter explosion problem only happens with identical particles as otherwise I thought Kirk going through to the other universe would pretty much guarantee the planet at least blowing up!
Submit a comment
◄ Season Index