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
25 comments on this review
Mon, Aug 16, 2010, 2:06pm (UTC -5)
Mon, Apr 30, 2012, 2:19pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Jul 30, 2013, 3:45am (UTC -5)
Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 6:03pm (UTC -5)
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 -5)
I would not give this 1 star.
Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 11:39pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Dec 6, 2015, 8:48am (UTC -5)
Sun, Nov 13, 2016, 9:14am (UTC -5)
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 -5)
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 -5)
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 -5)
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 -5)
Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 9:35am (UTC -5)
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 -5)
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 -5)
@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 -5)
Tue, Jun 19, 2018, 2:36pm (UTC -5)
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 -5)
Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 8:55am (UTC -5)
Just awful. One of the all time worst episodes to me.
Wed, Nov 7, 2018, 4:05pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Nov 23, 2018, 5:14pm (UTC -5)
Mon, Mar 4, 2019, 8:09pm (UTC -5)
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 -5)
Sun, Apr 7, 2019, 8:28am (UTC -5)
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 -5)
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