The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Marie Douceur on 2011-08-19 at 8:10am:
  I'm not to fond of any of the DS9 mirror universe episodes, this one included. However, I disagree with the assertion that the lesbianism here is "over the top". In fact, I found it, well, disappointingly tame. There was a fairly simple kiss between Mirrors Kira and Ezri, a vague show of tenderness between them, and a rather gentle innuendo between Mirrors Ezri and Leeta at the end. Mirror Kira herself was over-the-top, as always, and that was grating. But, as a bi woman, I was hoping for something a little more... sweeping and romantic... or at least, a portrayal as suggestive as hetero romances have gotten. I mean, "Rejoined" was much more "lesbianist" than this episode, and even then, that came with major caveats.
  
  It's always been pretty disappointing to me that characters with non-hetero sexuality never got much (or really any) showing on Star Trek. I hate to be on a soapbox, but it seems like that would be part of the "enlightened 24th century". It's really too bad for those of us who'd like to see the girl get the girl at the end sometimes.
• From John on 2011-12-22 at 2:56am:
  I'm not a fan of mirror universe episodes either, and this one is no exception. Personally, I think it's a shame that this is the last "Ferengi" episode, because it's nowhere near as good or entertaining as the others. Granted, we do get a little bit of Ferengi intrigue -- and we get to see Zek again -- at the very end of the series, but this is the last proper Ferengi episode, and it's kind of boring. The only thing "new" here is Mirror Ezri (who, I have to admit, is a total fox).
  
  But it's still lame, and we still have to deal with Mirror Kira and Mirror Julian, who are somehow even more annoying and than their 'regular' counterparts.
  
  2 points for Quark and Rom, 2 points for hot Mirror Ezri and 1 point for being the LAST Mirror Universe episode (thank god) = 5/10
• From Inga on 2013-06-21 at 9:31am:
  I agree with Marie Douceur - the lesbian moments were too tame.
• From Bronn on 2013-07-26 at 1:30am:
  I actually don't think this one was too bad. The inconsistencies are annoying, but the Ferengi episodes and Mirror Universe episodes are all just there for the sake of fun. It was nice to combine them and get them both out of the way at once to avoid disrupting the overall seriousness of the plotlines in season 7.
  
  
• From L on 2013-08-17 at 4:40am:
  
  Mirror Worf is the only mirror character I don't hate (apart from Ezri, rowr) - he's very entertaining as a bombastic fool.
  
  Loved Rom pointing out the logical inconsistencies, very 'meta'.
• From ChristopherA on 2021-07-31 at 3:28pm:
  I rather like this episode, I thought the exploration of a family with a specific type of dysfunction was a good one and generally made for a good Ezri character episode.
  
  You are right that the tie-in of this episode to Honor Among Thieves is largely irrelevant. This episode is about Ezri’s family, not the Orion syndicate, and O’Brien is only there to fulfill the mandatory “B Plot” requirement.
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-06-10 at 8:07am:
  When Hesterdel comes on the Enterprise he inspects the containment field for hours before allowing transport. Yet when the Enterprise reaches the destination for the samples, the Enterprise begins beaming them down immediately. Shouldn't Hesterdel be inspecting the containment field at the destination also?
• From Evan on 2008-05-26 at 1:14pm:
  Regarding DSOmo's first comment, see "Thine Own Self". Crusher took the bridge officers' test a year before the first season (8 years before Thine Own Self) because she felt like challenging herself, not because it was needed for her carrier path. Pulaski probably didn't feel the same need.
• From thaibites on 2009-12-03 at 4:55am:
  If you haven't watched this episode yet - grab some tissues, some chocolates, and a box of tampons because this one is a total chick flick!
• From Anna Lisa on 2010-12-16 at 11:38pm:
  You'll need the tampons to throw at the screen when Pulaski is ragging on Data.
• From John on 2010-12-23 at 4:41am:
  I'd suggest as another remarkable moment the way Picard instantly silences the debate once Troi states that she intends to have the baby.
  
  I'm all like "Hell yeah, Jean-Luc!"
• From CAlexander on 2011-03-21 at 3:20am:
  This felt like they filmed the first half of a good two-part episode, then never filmed the second half. I'm watching the episode, it seems promising, then suddenly it's all over, and nothing happened! Also, Troi seems to be filled with strong feelings, it is unfortunate that she never explains to the audience what she is thinking during the episode.
  
  In response to radiation making the virus grow: This doesn't seem strange for an alien virus. Radiation contains energy, living things can turn energy into growth. Plants grow when exposed to radiation (light). Even humans can grow when exposed to radiation (in that cancer is uncontrolled tissue growth).
  
• From DanMcCoy on 2011-06-29 at 2:20pm:
  Problems: What about O'brien's pips? Why is he a lieutenant?
  So true about Guinan being a better counselor than Troi! lol
• From Omcn on 2012-02-20 at 7:40am:
  Wouldn't it have been more interesting if the energy thingy (looking for someone to grow inside of) chose the hairy man instead of Troi?
  
  Bunch of men talking about what Troi should do with her baby, classic!
  
  The way our new doctor speaks about/to Data makes me want to smack her. Data's questions to Troi during delivery are to awesome for words.
  Tv birth scenes are always far to G rated, what silliness.
  
  I think the best part of this episode was not the plot or the actors of anything strange like that. The best part for me was how much of the ship was shown and that we get to see for the first time some of the functions of the ship. Blinds going down. The window in ten forward etc.
• From Arianwen on 2012-12-14 at 3:23am:
  Re. "radiation makes it grow", photosynthesis is based on just that (energy from solar radiation is absorbed by a specialised molecule which sets off a reaction chain: basically, light energy is converted to chemical energy and stored by the organism). Whether this could work with something as simple as a virus is a whole other kettle of fish.
  </infodump>
  
  BORING. Troy is mysteriously impregnated: possible threat. Highly dangerous viral strains must be taken onboard: definite threat. Troy has baby. Virus fed by radiation from child inevitably threatens to escape. Baby-now-child dies, neatly disposing of both threats. Troi explains everything in a ten-second infodump which the audience is too comatose with boredom to listen to. Oh, and Wesley's leaving. Wait, no, he isn't. Yaaaay.
  
  I've no doubt this was all very intriguing and exciting for the characters actually living it, in the same way your aunt's Barcelona holiday isn't accurately represented by her 1.12GB of photos of Gaudí's Casa Batlló. Fifty minutes of your life looking at someone else's holiday photos.
  
  You're welcome.
• From tigertooth on 2017-03-20 at 4:04pm:
  Too bad nobody thought to send Troi and the kid out in a shuttle craft a safe distance from the Enterprise. After they offload the cargo, both can come back to the Enterprise, and the kid can stay/grow as long as he wants.
  
  Maybe they should have had the kid's energy "infecting" the warp plasma or something so that it would make more sense that he'd have to leave and never return.
• From jeffenator98 on 2019-10-17 at 5:09pm:
  Only Worfs comment at the end "I will assume that duty." saves this one from being a zero 1/10.
• From the obampresident on 2021-07-15 at 9:09am:
  I like how the new and improved doc treats Data. Aside from a few remarks from Riker in the first episode nobody on the crew ever seems to care that they are working with the only sentient machine in star fleet!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From MJ on 2011-02-12 at 9:16am:
  There have been quite a few DS9 episodes that took on too much, and had to suddenly tie up an otherwise good episode. This one did very nicely, though. I didn't think anything was resolved too quickly between Ezri and any of the others. Interesting that Garak was the one chosen to be her first serious counseling effort aboard DS9, and his problem is a big one. His breakdown as he realizes what is truly bothering him is wonderfully acted, as only Andrew Robinson could.
  
  I thought the reconciliation between Ezri and Worf was handled perfectly. It involved few words, and Worf right to the point with expressing his feelings, but without being too vulnerable, which is exactly how you'd expect him to do something like that. You can understand his pain, too. It's confusing for him: in his culture, the custom is to honor a loved one who is dead, and Dax doesn't quite fit in to the typical situation.
  
  All of this explains the deeply cutting remarks to Ezri made by both Garak and Worf. That, combined with Sisko's "tough love" would certainly push a person.
  
  I know that when DS9 was on the air and in the years since, there have been mixed fan feelings about Ezri Dax. Many people became attached to Terry Farrell and Jadzia, understandable after six seasons. But I really like the introduction of Ezri Dax. The character gives the show a chance to explore another side of Trill society: what it's like when a host isn't prepared for the symbiont, and is flooded with centuries of memories...not to mention having to face many of the people one of the previous hosts knew. And fresh-faced, perky but humorously befuddled Ezri is a good choice for this new host.
• From Krs312 on 2011-09-22 at 12:49pm:
  I also think that Ezri is a more interesting character than Jadzia.
• From Rob UK on 2023-12-08 at 10:57am:
  Personally i've always struggled with both Jadzia and Ezri Dax, even back in the 70's we all knew what a Mary Sue was (if you don't belive me go and watch Police Academy 1 and pay attention to the name of the new mayor), never mind in the 90's when this was produced.
  
  The Trill symbiote makes an almost plausable excuse for why any female who gets one can take on any modern man of any race both physically and mentally at the drop of a hat no practice needed by channelling the very convenient multi talented previous hosts (they become like Cartman trying to play Ronin and end up with all the powers). This even applies in direct hand to hand combat against multiple mighty klingon warriors trying to gut her, where actually Klingon warriors are dying all around her but these weaklings have no chance for she has the powereth of previous male hosts inside her.
  
  Am i just too old and jaded now hahahahahaha

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-05-28 at 6:02pm:
  - How can Yar review the Edo's laws and customs, but not know the price for violating them (one punishment for any crime)?
  - Picard tells Troi that he wants to speak to Dr. Crusher personally about what has happened to Wesley. When Picard returns to the Enterprise, Dr. Crusher stops him and demands to know what he is going to do about Wesley. She states that she read the away team report. What away team report? The away team is still on the planet. Even if they had made the report from the planet, Picard just told the away team that he wanted to handle the situation.
  - There is a simple solution to the Prime Directive dilemma in this episode. Picard already used this solution in "Code Of Honor." Why not let the Edo inject Wesley, watch him die, beam him back to the ship, warp away, and resuscitate him? At one point, Riker took a syringe from a mediator, they could have used it to make an antidote.
• From Bernard on 2008-01-16 at 12:46am:
  There are not many episodes that I rate as lowly as this one.
  
  I find it insulting to my intelligence that picard and the crew spend the latter portion of the episode worrying over breaking the prime directive when by the very fact they have revealed themselves to such a primative culture is surely against the prime directive in the first place!
  
  Other than that, there are a few small delights such as the first time worf describes something as merely 'nice'. A few nice moments for Gates McFadden to sink her teeth into, and in my opinion Wil Wheaton does remarkably well with some atrocious dialogue.
• From Sherman on 2016-06-30 at 7:55am:
  I've been watched everything on this list and read every review after I watched an episode and out of everything this episode stuck with me the most because of the absolute law and the captains decision to ignore the prime directive and just take Wesley with him.
• From Chris Long on 2020-07-25 at 1:24am:
  You know? I like light-skinned folk as much as the next guy, but this race of beings is far more irritating than the TOS Episode, the Apple where everyone was some hunk version of a white Adonis!
  
  Who thought this was a good idea?!?!?
  
  ... I'm no BLM guy but come on!!!
  This episode just insults every sense of intelligence of all but the absolute stupidest people in existence!
  
  How could this crapfest ever get past the producers?!?
  Pure garbage, start to finish. And While I understand they were fleshing out the characters, this is worse than the worst TOS episode by miles and miles!
  Season one of TNG is truly a throwaway season in every sense. I can't believe my kid and I loved it so much when it first came out!!!
  
  He even had genuine TNG uniform! He'd have been a much better Wesley too!
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-05 at 11:50pm:
  This ep is so silly it should basically be non-canon, like Force of Nature. Many violations of the Prime Directive in TNG are a little bit more circumstantial, but this is one is straight up "we found a nice planet with some horny aliens on it and we're gonna go chat with them and vacation on their planet!"
  
  They don't seem to have (or even think to look for) any anthropological data on the history of Edo society or any other societies on their planet. They just materialize out of nowhere and the Edo are apparently not fazed by this!
  
  Agreed with DSOmo above -- Yar says "I've listed my report on their customs and laws, sir. Fairly simple-- common sense things." Not looking at the punishments is a massive oversight for a security chief.
  
  I also noticed something along the lines of Chris Long's comment above: Every Edo is white, blonde, fit, and apparently straight, living in an orderly society enforced by an extremely authoritarian legal code and protected by an actual god. An Aryan paradise! We're not supposed to respect the Edo, exactly, so it could be interpreted as a subtle dig, but it still rubbed me the wrong way just a tiny bit, even as a white person myself. (Maybe I'm just jealous I'm not blonde.)
  
  I do like the takeaway: that justice -- and morality -- aren't about blindly following a rulebook. Despite the hamfisted way they delivered it, it's a nice way of stating one of Trek's principles directly.
  
  Data's emotion-spotting:
  - when the orb appears out of the bridge floor, Data looks scared.
  - his un-self-aware babbling isn't quite an emotion, but it's not logical!
• From The T'Obum Empire on 2023-04-16 at 8:31pm:
  In the beginning Wesley gets told this:
  
  LIATOR: "Our rules are simple. No one does anything uncomfortable to them."
  
  He forgot the part where you get the death sentence if you step on the wrong patch of green at the wrong time.
• From Chuck the Canuck on 2023-05-19 at 4:27pm:
  Liator, the male Edo leader, responds to the Away Team with dripping sarcasm about how backward their justice system is compared to the Federation's. But take away the sarcasm, and his words are correct. They're in pretty desperate need of some social evolution on this. You would think living in such a leisurely paradise of society is an appealing enough reason not to break the law. Are the Edo so prone to violence or crime that the only way to enforce this idyllic society is to execute even those in the wrong place at the wrong time?
  
  More interesting to me was the ship, city, being, or whatever you want to call it in orbit of the planet. After being contacted by it, Data speculates they have accepted their role as a deity for the Edo at this stage of their development. Perhaps they even planted the Edo there. What's the backstory on this, and did it happen before or after the Edo became...the Edo?
  
  In the end, all this episode does is contribute to TNG's gradual chipping away at the logic of the Prime Directive. By the end of the series, it will be in tatters.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From askthepizzaguy on 2010-08-12 at 2:21am:
  You know, I watched the entire Voyager series start to finish several times, and I never noticed the Ocampan reproduction problem.
  
  9 year life span, one child per couple, wow. They definitely should not even exist as a species. Well caught.
• From zooky on 2011-08-09 at 11:19pm:
  Maybe it's just the Ocampa females who can reproduce only once. Males may be able to do it more often, so that accounts for their survival as a species. Of course, that implies they are not a monogamous society, an that their male/female ratio is nowhere near 50/50. As far as we know, that's consistent with what we know about them.
• From Kethinov on 2011-08-10 at 7:30pm:
  Unless there are significantly more females born than males, it still doesn't work.
• From Anon on 2011-11-10 at 3:51am:
  I haven't seen the series past this episode, but is it possible that the Ocampa have litters & not just one baby at a time like humans.
• From Inga on 2013-07-28 at 2:35pm:
  "Of course, that implies they are not a monogamous society"
  
  Kes mentioned in a later episode that the Ocampa choose their mates for life and that there is no jealousy or betrayal.
• From Damien Bradley on 2017-01-03 at 8:14pm:
  I like Kes a lot. I wonder if all Ocampa are as emotionally mature as she is, or if she's just exceptional in her own right. I liked seeing another side of her here, acting seemingly out of character, not in control of herself. I also liked seeing her getting angry at Neelix's jealousy. Even the most calm and composed of people would get annoyed at that after long enough.
  
  The Ocampa must have litters if they reproduce only once. If all females only produce one child, no matter the female/male ratio, they'd die out. Even if all members of a species reproduced at a one-to-one rate, they'd die out too, because not all would reproduce before dying.
  
  I loved the scene between Neelix and Tuvok. When Tuvok said that a parent could teach skills equally to sons and daughters both, I yelled "THANK YOU TUVOK!" It was nice to see the show make such a clearly progressive statement. The scene reminded me of the song "My Boy Bill" from Carousel, where the character singing, Billy, after a whole song about what a strapping lad he'll raise, suddenly realizes his kid might be a girl. Duh!
  
  I agree about the overkill. I do like episodes that have themes to them, but I prefer if if they don't bash us over the head with it. Four different plot threads or conversations all about reproduction all happening at once is a little much. And yeah, it should be a given that they'll have to reproduce if they're expecting a 75-year trip. There are worse things than being raised on a cushy starship complete with holodecks.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-06-01 at 3:45am:
  - More matter leaving the holodeck, a snowball hits Picard as he is walking by.
  - When the Enterprise begins to search for the survivors, Picard orders Geordi to break fixed orbit. If the Enterprise is in fixed orbit, it would remain above a given location on the planet's surface. However, the shot before Picard's order shows the planet turning in one direction and the Enterprise flying in another.
• From CAlexander on 2011-03-02 at 6:05am:
  I found the acting of the denizens of Angel One, and the shipwreck survivors, to be boring, and I didn't care about any of them. And the side plots weren't interesting at all - they get sick, they get better, they fly away. I was, however, amused by Riker going native, and his ending speech was good.
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-10-20 at 12:43pm:
  This is the first episode to feature Riker's propensity to be a manwhore. He has absolutely no compunction about jumping into bed with any reasonably attractive female. Of course, this makes him the stud of TNG, at the expense of Picard who is, in live stock terms, a "shy breeder". I.e., Picard has intimacy issues. Both themes get played out later in future episodes, e.g., TNG: The Game for Riker and TNG: Captain's Holiday.
• From dubton on 2016-07-24 at 7:28am:
  Having sex while this episode plays in the background is, by far, my greatest fantasy. All criticism, in the interest of diplomatic relations, is forfeit. We have muuuuuuuuch to discuss and set phasers to sttttuuuuhhhhh-unnnnnnnnn
• From Rick on 2017-02-24 at 1:06am:
  It is my understanding that the Prime Directive does not apply to non-Starfleet personnel. The Federation is all about freedom and equality, so I do not think they would have this overbroad restriction on the liberty of all of their citizens. What right or jurisdiction would the Federation have over the actions of its citizens hundreds of lightyears away on non-Federation planets? None of course.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2007-01-08 at 4:40am:
  Taken from your own FAQ's: "A rating of 0 means I think the episode is so bad that I have (usually, but not always) personally dropped it from Star Trek canon. Episodes rated zero often have incredible technical problems."
  
  While you certainly can and will rate these episodes according to your own opinions, I have to disagree with you on this one. Yes, the episode is in very poor taste. Yes, it is a huge waste of time. But I don't think it is a zero. A zero to me is an episode that is so awful that it shouldn't even be considered canon. Something like VOY: Threshold.
  
  This episode has some very good humor which should alone guarantee it a 1. There are no flagrant violations of canon, and while they have some sexual material, it isn't obscene in any way. Perhaps Enterprise is just trying to be more realistic as far as sexual tension goes. I rather like how open they are with it, as long as they don't have those awful decon scenes. TNG: The Naked Now was much more offensive and distasteful in my opinion, and it got a 4.
  
  Given, this episode has too many things like the Phlox toenail scene to be considered a good episode, but it is far from a zero IMHO.
• From Matthew on 2007-09-02 at 5:55pm:
  Here's a problem with this episode. There's no such thing as an "autoimmune system". Dogs -- and humans for that matter -- have immune systems and when the immune system attacks itself, an autoimmune reaction or disorder occurs. Having an autoimmune immune system implies that the body has evolved a system explicitly designed for destroying itself, which makes absolutely no sense. And even if for some strange reason the dog does have an autoimmune system, its "collapsing", as stated by Dr Phlox, would be a good thing. Besides which, I can't even begin to imagine how some foreign pathogen is supposed to cause the breakdown of this non-existent system. The writers would have been far better off to invent something completely within the realm of science fiction for the Dog to fall ill with, like Klingon rabies or something.
• From Abigail on 2009-02-22 at 7:40pm:
  I agree with you, Eric; the episode was HORRIBLE! I couldn't stand it! In need of an actual science fiction plot, anyone? And like you, I have never felt a need to see Phlox trim his toenails.
• From Kethinov on 2009-10-09 at 11:51pm:
  Pete, you're right. I've revised my rating accordingly. It's a shame it took me almost three years to finally see your point. But point conceded.
• From Pete on 2010-07-27 at 1:52am:
  I'm just now going through and doing a rewatch of all the series; it's interesting to see some of the comments that have come in since I last read these reviews.
  
  I would be interested to know if you have changed any other of your ratings since you first did them. I have come to find that some episodes have aged well with me over time, while others (like this one) have only gotten worse in my mind. Cool to see that you adjusted this one to a 1, although I do agree with you that it is a very low "1".
  
  So far in my rewatch, I have really become sensitive to the overt sexualization of T'Pol. Sometimes it is too much to bear. I am all for casting hot women on this show, but it cheapens the character quite a bit to objectify her the way they do.
• From Kethinov on 2010-07-27 at 3:34am:
  Yes, Pete. Since I adjusted the rating (and review) of this episode in response to your comments, I have taken the time to do an audit of other episodes rated 0 to make sure that they're not actually more deserving of a 1.
  
  For example, as much as it pained me to do so, I also had to elevate DS9: Profit and Lace to a 1 for the same reason that this episode was elevated to a 1. I don't recall all the edits, but there were more than a few.
  
  If you stick around over the next year or two, all the reviews on the site will be adjusted, starting with TOS. I'll be adding new, higher quality screenshots, bringing over the "filler quotient" system from my Farscape reviews, and doing more extensive analyses in the reviews.
  
  I'll be averaging about one a day, so it may take a couple years. :)
• From Jem Hadar on 2010-08-02 at 4:03am:
  Awesome!
• From JRPoole on 2011-08-01 at 8:52pm:
  While I agree with most of your critiques of this episode, I tend to view it with the same lens I watch the obvious humor episodes, so I don't mind some of the more juvenile stuff. That said, the scene where Hoshi catches the bat is awful and the decontamination chamber as an excuse to get T'Pol in her lingerie and forcing sexual tension by having characters rub gel on each other is already tired.
  
  The best thing about this episode is that Archer is wrong. It's inexcusably bad judgement to take Porthos on an away mission at all, especially this one, with the Kreetassians, who've proven to have a truly alien culture and are easily offended. He then proceeds to have a virtual nervous breakdown because Porthos gets sick. I'm a pet lover, but Porthos is a dog. Would Archer have lost this much sleep over a sick crewman? We've seen episodes in the past where a captain's personal feelings--revenge, rivalry, etc.--lead them to make bad decisions. But we've never really seen a captain throw a tantrum act like such a child before. This episode works for me because it exposes one of the series weaknesses, Captain Archer himself, and explores it.
  
  I like Archer's informal style of command, but he's a goober, an even worse ambassador for humanity than that galactic douchebag James T. Kirk. He is one of the big disappointments about Enterprise to me thus far, but I might have to give the writers a little more credit than I have so far, at least when it comes to this character. Maybe he's supposed to come off like a rube.
• From Hugo on 2017-08-28 at 9:04pm:
  I found Archer's attachment to the dog disturbing, but the episode was passable until about two thirds in...

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Morax on 2019-04-02 at 7:01pm:
  I really like Ezri way more than Jadzia, but I HAVE to agree with her mother: "I hate your hair!".
  
  But that's actually the only thing I like more about Jadzia...

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Tim on 2006-05-07 at 7:50pm:
  I SO Agree with this review! Spot on. I HATE this Episode.
• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2007-12-13 at 3:05pm:
  I just watched this episode with my wife and I have to say we were not entertained. I think the whole universe blinking out thing was too over the top. Neither of the two Lazaruses were interesting, especially compared to other guest stars you normally see on the show. Also, you can kind of tell when the actors think that the episode is bad; everyone seemed subdued here. I would have also liked a little more background about Lazarus and his people. There are so many unaswered questions. I gave this stinker a 1, not a zero, because it was original. That is the only good thing to say about it. Warning: do not watch this episode late at night, you'll fall asleep!
• From TashaFan on 2008-09-11 at 6:00am:
  I agree with every point made so far. Where is the parallel Enterprise? The other universe seems to be empty. How does "our" Enterprise limp away without retrieving the 2 dilithium crystals left in the parallel universe? Two particles, identical but one "anti" and one not, destroy EACH OTHER totally, not the ENTIRE UNIVERSE. And, the biggest problem, where the heck is the DOOR to Lazarus's ship? The front of it is just a big empty HOLE! He must get a lot of bugs in the face flying through the atmosphere.
• From b goldstein on 2012-01-08 at 3:56pm:
  It's nitpicky, I know, but Solar system is generic. It is a set of planets rotating around a star.
  
  Ours might be the "Sol system"
• From Kethinov on 2012-01-08 at 6:25pm:
  Sorry Goldstein, that isn't correct. Sol is the Latin term for our star. Thus the term "solar system" only refers to our system because the term "solar" is an adjective derived from Sol.
  
  A lot of people mistakenly believe "solar system" is a generic term precisely because Star Trek and other media like it made this error over and over again. But just because it's a common error doesn't make it any less an error.
  
  If you pay close attention, you'll notice that later Star Trek eventually corrected themselves and began using more correct terms over time, although the occasional error will still creep in.
• From Mark on 2012-05-02 at 3:23am:
  Wow! I'm watching all of the original series episodes on Netflix. I've loved them so far. Then I came to this one. I thought to myself that this one MUST be the worst episode ever. On a whim, I Googled "worst Star Trek episode," and this page came up. I LOVE that I'm not alone in disliking this episode. However, Uhura's legs are awesome.
• From Cameron on 2012-08-22 at 8:27pm:
  I agree in so many ways -- there's nothing resembling a story arc, just a bunch of disjointed incidents. As for the "science," I'm willing to suspend disbelief for something dramatically compelling.
  
  But my next point: I frankly envy you who are so dismissive that the harshly disturbing resolution didn't "implant" in your brain like with many of us. I was on a forum with a woman saying she saw this years ago and it still bothers her. Me, too - for all this episode's sins I give it a perverse credit. The idea of the ultimate sacrifice being not death, but having to eternally endure combat in that nauseatingly spinning chamber. It still bugs me when I'm reminded of it. Maybe a quality episode could be made with a similar ending - but I'm not sure I'd enjoy it.
• From warpfactor 10.1 on 2012-09-10 at 1:24pm:
  I want 50 minutes of my life back. This was so tedious. I wish I had read your review first and avoided it. I did fall asleep for part of the time and I can only be thankful for that. Don't watch it; you'll hate yourself.
• From Tom Gettins on 2012-09-16 at 8:48pm:
  I watched this episode as a kid - and I found the payoff (Lazarus fighting a loony for eternity to save the Universe) quite haunting.
  
  
  Bad science? What bad science? It happened people!
  There IS a small corridor between parallel universes to act as a safety cut out for bad AM confinement.
  
  We owe thanks to the original research carried out by Star Trek writers.
  
  Otherwise we wouldn't know that Anti Matter only affects people that it is related to.
• From Glenn239 on 2012-10-20 at 12:13pm:
  '1'. My favorite bit is where Star Fleet determines that a threat to the entire galaxy exists in Enterprise's sector, so it runs away and tells Kirk to handle it alone.
  
  I save '0' scores for episodes so bad that I would not watch them again, being wretched enough that I don't even consider them part of the series. This one is horrendous, up there with waterboarding if inflicted repeatedly upon prisoners against their will, but not quite so traumatic that I can't rule out another peek in 10 or 20 years.
  
• From Oz on 2012-12-16 at 4:42am:
  The use of uncapitalzed (or spoken) "solar system" to refer to another sun with its associated planets is fine. This is much the same as the Church largely refers to the Catholic church, where "church" is any church. I don't think we would call our solar cells something else just because we were on Vulcan. "Sol" refers to the Roman sun god. Great website by the way.
• From Kethinov on 2012-12-16 at 7:09am:
  Thanks Oz.
  
  The use of "solar system" is definitely not correct. It's not a generic term, it's a proper noun. People get this wrong a lot and most science fiction frequently misuses the term.
• From Sloop on 2013-08-30 at 2:05pm:
  This is the first TOS episode I had to watch a second time just to take it all in. With regards sloppy science, pacing, repetitive effects etc, almost all of the TOS episodes have plotholes so I think we should cut 'Alternative' some slack. Its ambition alone makes it a worthy episode. For me, Mudd's Women is the poorest season 1 episode.
• From Tooms on 2013-09-07 at 3:17am:
  I think it would be more correct to say there is no standard term for a star and planetary system outside of the solar system. If there is no official term, I don't think it's necessarily an error to use solar system. It's possible that will eventually be the standard term. It's just not something that we've needed a term for until recently. The study of geology on another planet would probably still be called geology even though geo means "earth".
  
  As for this episode, definitely a 0!
• From Kethinov on 2013-09-08 at 7:00am:
  There is a standard term. The term is "planetary system" which is well documented by the scientific community.
  
  Geology on other planets is still geology. The Latin root comparison is wrong because "geo" is the Latin word for earth, not Earth. The term "earth" can be generic to refer to the ground or soil, whereas "Earth" is a proper noun referring to our specific planet.
  
  Such is not the case with Sol. There is no accepted generic form like with earth and Earth.
• From John on 2013-09-09 at 11:22pm:
  I have just watched the episode and, of course, I immediately hit the internet with a search for a review...I found the episode irritating at best, and I needed to see I am not alone in being totally dumbfounded by the 'science', the plot and the uninspired acting.
  With regard to the science, I understand that writers were under no obligation to provide scientifically accurate details to their stories. Even if it was a not-so-secret agenda of the show to promote interest in science, kindling interest in something is not the same thing as explaining it or teaching it. You learn science from books on science, not from a tv fantasy show. However, kindling interest is one of the things what they dismally failed to do here. The confusion caused by Kirk touching antimatter to go into the parallel universe (as antimatter?) then coming back to send...whatever, its irritatingly confounded!!
  As for the ending, it is haunting, true. But it comes after such a bungle of ideas and underdeveloped themes that it loses much of its force. It is a pity as the theme of personal sacrifice (with its references to abortion, public health and social policies) is an important and recurring theme throughout the star trek shows. It would have made an excellent contribution to the franchise but not this terribly scripted stinker.
  Excellent site, by the way!!
• From Tooms on 2013-09-11 at 7:20am:
  The term planetary system does not include the star. Sol and it's planetary system make up the Solar System. Much as you compare earth to Earth, you could also compare the Solar System to a solar system. You could use extrasolar system to be more descriptive, but there is no standard term for a star and its planetary system other than our own.
• From Kethinov on 2013-09-11 at 4:03pm:
  Tooms, your post is full of misinformation.
  
  "The term planetary system does not include the star."
  
  Yes it does. A planetary system cannot exist without something for the planets to orbit. The term necessarily implies a central star.
  
  "Sol and it's planetary system make up the Solar System. Much as you compare earth to Earth, you could also compare the Solar System to a solar system."
  
  There is no "solar system" generic term. The term literally doesn't exist. Lots of people think it does, but it doesn't. It's not recognized by the scientific community. There is only "Solar System" the proper noun.
  
  "You could use extrasolar system to be more descriptive, but there is no standard term for a star and its planetary system other than our own."
  
  That's not true. There is a standard term. The term you're looking for (and what Star Trek is looking for) is "planetary system." That's the term the scientific community uses when referring to a system of planets orbiting an arbitrary star.
  
  There's tons of information out there confirming what I've been saying. Look it up!
• From jeffenator98 on 2013-09-26 at 6:08pm:
  My favorite part is when Lazarus opens the panel in the hallway and switches a couple of Radio Shack type fuzes to start a fire.Uhuras legs are awesome.
• From Deggsy on 2013-10-05 at 12:30am:
  Part (but not all) of the incoherence in the story is due to extensive rewrites caused because originally, there was a romantic subplot between Lazarus and Lt Masters, but the actress hired was black and the network didn't want to upset the Southern markets, so it was hastily rewritten to put in more planetside scenes of Lazarus falling and other crap.
• From Tony Cole on 2013-11-16 at 1:32am:
  I really think you people need to get over the solar vs. planetary argument.
  Who cares?
  The last comment I read was the most compelling. The one about the deleted romance. It explained a lot of the disjointed scenes, the repetitive, boring hikes on the planets surface, the lack of scenes with anti-matter Lazarus. Even as a young kid I remember the controversy over Kirk's kiss with Uhura. But I agree this one's a stinker!
• From SheriDH on 2014-02-03 at 12:50am:
  As I watched this episode, I kept wondering where Scotty (James Doohan) was? Lt. Masters had a blue uniform (usually implying science or medicine although that's not consistent in the series), what was she doing in engineering with no sign of Mr. Scott?
  
  Interesting comment about the scenes that implied a romance between Lazarus and Masters being deleted - what's the source for that?
• From Scott Hearon on 2014-03-31 at 9:33pm:
  Wow. Atrocious episode, on nearly every level.
  
  I would give a blow-by-blow of what bothered me, but Kethinov and all of the other commenters have done it for me.
  
  On top of the serious logical errors with the plot, the episode was just plain boring. Raving psychos are usually boring, and Lazarus was another example (and what are the chances that some dude from a far-off planetary system is named "Lazarus," anyway?). The acid-trip wrestling matches were equally tedious.
  
  I had read that this episode was bad, but I'm forcing myself to watch the entire first season (I've never seen any of them before), the good, the bad, and the ugly. The one was one of the absolute worst, along with "Miri."
• From Mike Chambers on 2016-10-02 at 6:35am:
  Horrible science aside, this episode actually would have been decent if you were to cut out about 30 minutes of completely useless scenes.
• From Chris on 2018-01-21 at 3:16am:
  I'm late to the Solar system debate and I understand Kethinov's complaint, however, I hear astronomers refer to OUR solar system all the time which would imply that there are others. While it may be technically incorrect, everyone understands what is meant. Just sayin'...
  
  How come no one mentions the goofy Jetsons spaceship?!? What a ridiculous craft!!!
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-05-27 at 3:19pm:
  Changed Premise: during this episode, Troi says she "senses the Ferengi captain is hiding something." In the future episode "Menage a Troi," Betazoids cannot read Ferengi minds.
  
  - Just after the force field seizes the Enterprise, something begins reading information from the ship's computer. When Data's workstation is shown, some of the information is being displayed upside down (i.e. the Klingon and Federation symbols.
  - In Picard's first attempt to contact the Ferengi, he asks Yar to open hailing frequencies, and she quickly responds. Then Picard says, "At least we won't begin with weakness." Why would he say something like that with the hailing frequencies open? That is the last thing he would want the Ferengi to hear!
  - When the away team beams down to the planet, Riker appears alone. He begins walking around and yelling for the others. Why doesn't he just use his combadge? It is true that Data later discovers the communicators are out, but Riker never even tried to use his.
• From Bernard on 2007-09-30 at 12:10pm:
  I don't rate this episode very highly now, but I do find it to be a bit of fun and at the time I thought it was fascinating. Probably because of the following;
  A good glimpse at a new race that have some kind of genuine technology and menace (not for long though)
  Riker gets something of a centre stage while picard is stuck on the ship (something that happens many times over the first 2 seasons)
  The start of this episode is great, the tension created by following the unknown ferengi (which soon evaporates as the story unfolds)
  
  overall not a terrible outing for me, but too many weak points
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-10-20 at 9:51am:
  An interesting, if small, detail: In early TNG when establishing communications, Star Fleet personnel say "open a frequency". Later this shifts to "open a channel". Not sure for the reason for this change, but "open a channel" sounds better to me.
• From Jim on 2011-12-25 at 2:28pm:
  Geordi's reaction to Riker's plan to jump to Warp 9 then "come back fightin'" is far and away the worst line and the most poorly delivered line in the entire series.
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-04 at 6:22pm:
  This ep certainly isn't the worst of Season 1. It's not quite "bad," per se, but there's not a whole lot redeeming about it either. Watching it this time, though, it sparked a new idea for something I can do during my current rewatch: I'm calling it "Data's Emotionspotting." I know a lot of it in this episode is first season awkwardness, but even later on, Data displays MANY expressions that could be interpreted as emotive or illogical. It's clear that Soong has programmed him to have at least *some* quasi-human reactions to things (such as interest and confusion), even though he reports not experiencing the emotions themselves. That's actually somewhat believable, considering what we find out about Lore later.
  
  Examples of Data's weird behavior in this episode:
  - his aside to LaForge about second officers. He'd display no dismay or relief, especially around a comment that doesn't not actually affect him. It was a cool little camera trick, and kind of a funny line, sort of, but it's so out of character it just feels gratuitous.
  - his offhand comment about Yankee Traders while the Ferengi captain was onscreen. Unprompted and -- as he should know -- counterproductive. Data is usually cautious about talking out of turn.
  - when he gets his fingers stuck in the finger trap, he seems embarrassed. Also, he should be strong enough to break the finger trap! (BTW, what was that finger trap doing there in the first place?)
  
  I wonder what TPTB (the powers that be) were thinking when they designed the Ferengi in this episode. Could they not see how pathetic and dislikable the Ferengi are here and how unconvincing of a villain they are? Fortunately TNG did come up with some very worthy antagonists like the Borg and the Cardassians later on.
  
  Nitpick: on the planet in front of the Portal guy, they keep referring to "humans" when Worf, a Klingon is standing right there, and nobody points it out. This is a continuing problem throughout the series, too - Troi, Worf, and/or Data are constantly lumped in with "humans", even though Troi is half human, Worf was only raised by humans, and Data is a human-shaped android lacking (most) human emotion -- none of them full humans.
  
  Agreed with Jim above how LaForge's line about "come back fighting" is cheesy as hell!
• From kevin on 2021-09-01 at 11:32pm:
  Wow, I just watched this today, in 2021, have not seen it for literally 30 years. I forgot the story. The beginning is QUITE suspenseful and has great music and packing. I was tense and trying to figure out what the Enterprise and crew were going to do. THEN....They hit the planet with the Ferengi and the story goes mostly to hell. It becomes an old TOS type story, and is silly on top of it. SO, not horrible, but just quite blah overall.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-07-29 at 8:15pm:
  - Changed Premise: This episode makes the point, several times, that Betazoids cannot read Ferengi minds. Troi is half Betazoid. That means her empathic capabilities are scaled-down versions of a full Betazoid's telepathic capabilities. Yet in several previous episodes, Troi comments that she senses certain emotions from the Ferengi.
  - At some point the Ferengi gave up their "phaser whips." In "The Last Outpost," the Ferengi used a bullwhiplike device that emitted a stream of energy when snapped. In this episode, the Ferengi use more conventional-looking weapons.
  - When Lwaxana beams from the Ferengi ship to the Enterprise, she starts out sitting on the Ferengi captain's bed and ends up standing on the bridge. In other words, the transpoter had to rearrange her skeletal-muscular structure in transit.
  - I think Wesley would do a lot better with the women if he'd remember to zip up his pants. The pants on Wesley's "acting ensign" uniform don't close all the way in back! Maybe his promotion and Starfleet uniform will help ;)
• From JRPoole on 2008-04-15 at 5:23pm:
  Uggh.  My general disdain for Ferengi episodes aside, this is still a mess.  I can't buy the way Riker is able to make subtle shifts in the warp signature without being able to read Ferengi.  I can't buy the Ferengi themselves; they're just to ludicrous.  I can't buy the new-found (and then suddenly lost again in subsequent episodes) chemistry between Riker and Troi.  This one is a zero for me.
• From Kethinov on 2008-04-15 at 8:18pm:
  Keep in mind, JRPoole, that it's always been implied that the universal translator allows people to read alien languages as well as understand the spoken variety.
• From JRPoole on 2008-06-13 at 7:06am:
  I guess you're right about the universal translator. But that would that mean the translator is inside the brain?
• From CAlexander on 2011-05-26 at 2:34pm:
  I don't much like Lwaxana, I don't much like the Ferengi, and the combination of the two is almost too much to bear. The only parts I liked were Riker's escape from the prison cell and Picard's Shakespearean performance at the end.
• From Bronn on 2012-10-19 at 9:13pm:
  What I hate about Lwaxana is that, for a telepath, she's so terribly uninsightful. Also, I hate Deanna for telling her that she needs to speak out loud around non-telepaths. She already is too overbearing and loud to begin with.
• From TDV on 2014-07-28 at 6:35pm:
  The worst part of this episode is that it provided the still frame for all the horrible "annoyed picard" gifs on facebook!

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-10-02 at 6:42am:
  At the beginning of the episode, Clara states that Isabella has pierced ears. When Isabella materializes, her appearance exactly matches Clara's description, except Isabella doesn't have pierced ears.
• From djb on 2008-04-20 at 12:03am:
  This episode was largely a waste, except for a couple things:
  
  Data says the "clouds" look distinctly like a bunny rabbit!
  
  The girl who plays "Isabella" is delightfully freaky. She gives me the creeps!
• From curt on 2010-04-07 at 8:57pm:
  DSOmo is that supposed to a plothole or something? Everything you identify as a problem is so ridiculously unimportant or not a plothole at all. You say it as if you've uncovered something amazing, and crucial to the episode.
• From CAlexander on 2011-03-26 at 4:43am:
  The only part of this episode I liked was the end, where Picard figures out how to pacify the aliens and makes his little speech. I thought the idea of aliens judging humanity through children could have been the plot of an interesting episode." But not this episode, which was more of a children's story about how an evil ghost, who grownups don't believe in, gets you into trouble.
• From Bronn on 2012-12-01 at 7:21am:
  Actually think there's some unintended hilarity in this. We know how Picard hates children (though this comes after episodes like "Disaster" where he starts dealing with them more prevalently).
  
  When he hails Worf over the comm, asking for security to be on the lookout for a dangerous alien masquerading as an 11 year old blond girl, Worf seems to take it completely in stride. I had to laugh and imagine that it's not the first time that the Captain has asked for security to detain children that he didn't want to deal with.
• From Mike on 2017-04-23 at 7:13pm:
  Well, hopefully Clara doesn't need too much therapy after this. I'm sure Ensign Sutter is happy that psychological treatment is free on a 24th Century Federation starship.
  
  I'd put this one at about a 3. It suffers from the same problem as several of the more mediocre Trek episodes. The crew encounters an intriguing new phenomenon, alien, or problem of some kind which takes up about 45 minutes of the episode. It reaches the denouement and tries to wrap it all up in about 3-5 minutes, usually poorly. I liked Picard's confrontation with "Isabella" but it would've been nice to learn a little more about these life forms rather than spending so much time on Clara's imaginary friend issue. I get it, though. TNG did try at times to cater to the younger age group, so they occasionally have these messages directed toward kids. That's the only explanation I could come up with for why we have multiple scenes where Guinan talks about her own imaginary friend.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From David in California on 2007-10-02 at 8:00pm:
  Sorry, but this one was sooooo cheesey, IMO. My least favorite Voyager episode so far in my current viewing (or re-viewing, depending) of them all in sequence. The aliens' scheme was clever, but everything else about them--costumes, behavior, etc.-- as well as the way the story played out plot-wise might have made for an average episode of ST:TOS and fit in with that '60s era, but for the '90s I can't believe they thought this wouldn't be silly.
• From Wayne on 2009-07-20 at 5:04pm:
  This episode is remarkable for one reason. Look closely at the girls. One of them is Kristanna Loken!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2007-11-27 at 5:53pm:
  I rated this episode a 4. The pacing is too slow, especially in the second half of the episode. You feel like your watching it in slow-mo. One plus is that the dialog between Kirk and Bones is emotional and passionate.
• From rpeh on 2010-06-22 at 10:00pm:
  While it's true that this episode is a bit slow, it has to be. Remember this was the one that had to introduce a whole new show, so there was bound to be a bit of an introduction to people, what they could do, where they came from and so on.
  
  The mistake here is that the alien is revealed to the viewer within the first... 3 minutes. We then end up waiting for the crew to catch up with what the audience knows. Later episodes worked out how to do this much better.
  
  I'm writing this 44 years after the program was first broadcast, and it's still watchable. That can't be a bad start!
• From CAlexander on 2011-03-26 at 11:17pm:
  I just rewatched this episode, and thought it was quite good up until the final confrontation. Of course this was the first episode shown, but after watching so many other Star Treks there is something a bit refreshing about this monster. In your typical TNG episode the monster is some unstoppable menace that requires a brilliant plan or new invention to defeat. The salt vampire really isn't so overblown. It never seriously threatens to destroy the Enterprise. It is enough for purposes of the story that a killer is on the loose, and Kirk has to stop it.
  
  Monster stories usually involve a lot of foolishness by the crew, but in this case I thought everyone reacted fairly logically, given that they think this is a routine checkup (except for the usual question of why the bridge crew has to do everything for themselves). The first death triggers an immediate investigation. Once Kirk sees the second death, he stops messing around and nobody dies on the planet after that (it just takes them a while to find the third death). Once he finds crewman Green's body, he immediately alerts the ship. The fourth death has basically already happened by this point. The ship goes on security alert, and for once it actually works, no more deaths after this point.
  
  Rewatching the episode, I watched the salt vampire's behavior rather carefully, and its behavior is very interesting. It basically relies on its empathic powers to try to fit in, but it is confused and not very intelligent. It just sort of reacts to what is happening and tries to fit in and find salt, but it is basically certain to get caught. It is not a deadly, super-cunning alien menace, but a confused, hungry creature which must be stopped before it kills again. The episode is more interesting too when you try to figure out what the monster is thinking, since the pace certainly is a bit slow.
  
  As for the professor's motives – well, he's lost his mind, he's capable of anything.
  
  The final confrontation is not so great for me, it seems way overdramatized. Also, as has been mentioned in other forums, the total lack of any attempt to avoid killing the creature doesn't seem consistent with the idealistic philosophy of later Star Trek episodes. Well, maybe Starfleet regretted the incident and instituted new regulations to prevent it from happening again. Maybe Kirk was thinking of this incident when he later spared the Horta.
  
  Problems:
  - Kirk makes a log entry about armed men not being caught off guard unless the creature has hypnotic or paralyzing powers. Not only is this inference unwarranted, this is before he realizes that there is a creature at all, rather than some other cause of death (disease, chemicals, radiation, plants, whatever). But he doesn't seem to be making the entry at the time we hear it (we see him searching the planet), so he must have made it afterwards, and his memories were colored by his later knowledge.
  
• From Alan Feldman on 2011-11-14 at 1:18am:
  Remarkable scenes:
  
  At the beginning (starting at about 47s), Kirk grabs some "flowers" for Nancy. Huh? Those are not flowers. They're more like straw.
  
  Guys, try handing these "flowers" to your honey and see what happens!
  
  At the end of the episode (in the scene starting at 44m31s), Spock is repeatedly smacking Nancy hard -- full force, even! -- with a swinging two-handed fist right in her face! Is this not remarkable? (Yes, I know. It's "really" the salt monster. Still.) The whole scene from Nancy entering the room as Dr. McCoy to the shot of the dead salt monster on the floor is truly remarkable, I'd say. Very well done.
  
  Problems:
  
  Even the smacking scene above has problems. Watch the salt tablets go flying out of Kirk's hand onto the floor! I wonder if even a single tablet was caught by "Nancy." Still a great scene.
  
  Bad:
  
  Scenes with Yeoman Rand. The "flower" in the scene with her, Sulu, and Green is so obviously a hand in a glove it's just ridiculous.
  
  Notable:
  
  It's amazing how Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelly got into character so fast at the beginning of the series.
  
  AEF
• From Mike Meares on 2012-01-22 at 9:57pm:
  I totally agree with what has been written here about Man Trap. The story could have been stronger.
  
  However, I must say that this episode really keeps me interested the whole time. And I think it is because there is a lot of background development of several crew members, which I think is lacking in a lot of episodes.
  
  You learn so much about the thoughts and feelings of Dr. McCoy, Sulu, Uhura and Rand. And that is so great. I only wish this kind of thing was developed a lot more with the rest of the crew over the years, but alas it was not. A real shame too because good character makes the story so much more interesting.
• From Strider on 2012-08-29 at 3:59am:
  I guess I understand why they aired this one first, but I wish they hadn't. This should be the 6th episode, not the first. The relationships are much more solidified than you'd expect in the very beginning--and, indeed, more developed than they are in Where No Man Has Gone Before and The Corbomite Maneuver. Airing them out of order makes it seem like they are backtracking in character development and relationships.
• From Alan Feldman on 2012-09-09 at 7:31pm:
  More comments on "The Man Trap":
  
  Kirk's opening narration is somewhat subdued. He speaks softly.
  
  The planet is rotating too quickly. (Not unusual!)
  
  Transitions of Nancy into others, etc., are mostly well done.
  
  Isn't it a bit weird that the transitions of the monster include clothing? How does that work?
  
  I agree with Kethinov that the salt monster costume is pretty good. But I think the pace is okay most of the time. I like seeing Kirk and Spock slowly figuring out what's going on as they accumulate clues.
  
  Why does Kirk scream out for Green? Why doesn't he use his communicator? Must be a communicator breakdown. Or maybe Green left his on the ship.
  
  What? No bedsheets or even a blanket for McCoy when he's trying to get some shut-eye? No wonder he needs the red pills! (!)
  
  When Crater shoots down the pillar at 34:20 I think it looks quite good! Even with the frame frozen you can see the phaser beam strike right at the center of the explosion. It's well timed, too. Well done! But I don't understand why the camera rocks left and right. Regardless, it looks pretty good.
  
  When Spock yells to Crater, Crater looks the wrong way! Spock is on the right and Crater looks to screen left. But the actual shot of him getting stunned is well done.
  
  AEF
• From Glenn239 on 2012-10-16 at 1:51pm:
  ‘7’. One of the interesting features of this episode is that it shows how quickly Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek evolved from the concepts in the pilot episode into a more ‘final’ form. Every decision – casting, characters, uniforms, equipment, etc – looks like a step in the right direction to me. The fact that this episode was shown out of order indicates that the network either felt it was a better representation of what the show was to be about, or perhaps wanted a plot an average viewer would connect with for debut. Another bonus is that the Enterprise is not saving the Enterprise or the Earth this time. Well, there will always be plenty of time to do that later in Star Trek, oh about 175 times.
  
  The creature itself, as a shape-shifter that takes on a form pleasing to its victim, resembles a little one of the later Night Stalker episodes - I've always been a sucker for that theme. On the sly, the episode also seems to be a bit of a satirical look at women in relationships or marriage.
  
• From Schreck on 2013-05-23 at 6:56am:
  an uninspiring episode...i give it a 6.5 and my brother gives it a 6.25
• From Scott G. Slaughter on 2013-07-05 at 10:16pm:
  The Antares is variously referred to as a cargo ship, transport ship, a science probe vessel and a survey ship. That's a problem in the episode, if you ask me.
• From Pat on 2015-11-09 at 6:44pm:
  
  I have always wondered about this episode. Instead of killing the creature, why didn't they just replicate salt?
• From star Bird on 2022-11-18 at 12:51am:
  Dont let them get their mits on you

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From TashaFan on 2008-10-15 at 1:06am:
  I thought when I first saw this episode that Archer might be saving that virus to use as a bio-weapon against the Xindi. Of course he knew he'd never get Phlox to cooperate so he just lies to him and makes up a reason to preserve the virus, one that sounds noble instead of calculating. If the writers had this in mind, I wish they would have brought it up at some future time as a desperation option... it could have been done in one of the "reset button" episodes that came later, such as the one with the duplicate past/future NX-01 or the one when Archer loses his memory due to parasites and Earth is destroyed, but then it all didn't happen... no harm in using the viruse since that timeline didn't "really" exist anyway.
• From Nick on 2017-06-04 at 2:15am:
  I laughed out loud when the alien captain said:
  
  "Your vessel is under quarantine. Prepare to be boarded"
  
  Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose? Then the captain has a whole scene with Phlox where he details how easily the virus spread and the horrible consequences. The whole time they're standing in sickbay with no protective equipment.
  
  PHLOX: The Decon chamber's sealed. I assure you there's no danger.
  TRET: You wouldn't be so confident if you knew how easily this virus can spread. It infected tens of millions of people on my world. They all had to be destroyed.
  
  To top it off, he goes back to his ship!!
  
  Good stuff. Reminds me of all those high energy weapons tests from TNG that were done in engineering right next to the warp core, or with Data standing directly behind a phaser target while it's firing.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Peter on 2010-08-12 at 11:05pm:
  Human behaviour appears to be sillier and sillier with hindsight, the only reason being that you were either not living at that time or were not really involved. In contrast to other "bad episodes" many fans give very high ratings to this episode, as I do myself. Because there is a lot in this episode that seems to elude many people. Of course, the crew of the enterprise is confronted by characters of the late sixties, a guru, hippies, dropouts, whatever you call them. First of all, it is a funny episode with a tragic and realistic ending. In fact, even the "insane" Dr. Sevrin is a far more credible evil guy than many other entities that roam our galaxy. I like the idea that an expert of future acoustics will use his knowledge to paralyze the crew of the enterprise much more than blinking lights that grow more powerful by the emotions released in ridiculous sword fights of Humans and Klingons. In fact there is a basic and dominating idea in this episode: What can sound and our voices be used for? For entertaining music, for derising authorities (rarely Kirk is more helpless when he is called "Herbert") and for "evil actions". The whole story is well constructed, e.g. the scenes of Chekov and Irina are beautiful and well played as is the music, in particular when Spock is involved. I think that Spock really FEELS and not only UNDERSTANDS what the quest of the space hippies means: finding UTOPIA or EDEN. Maybe the best idea in the episode and implied by Spock is that this EDEN/UTOPIA is not ready-made but has to be created by us.
• From Mosh on 2012-08-07 at 2:25am:
  Well now that they've encountered a planet with such hostile conditions, maybe they will stop blindly beaming down to new planets and start sending probes or at least wear an environmental suit of some kind. Somehow I don't think they'll learn their lesson, though.
  
• From Glenn239 on 2012-11-24 at 1:31pm:
  “Captain’s Log: While we’ve had a lot of bad episodes lately, at least we haven’t been hijacked by space hippies yet.”
  
  At first I’m watching this thinking, ‘do I reach?’, but then around that groovy scene where Spock and the chick are jamming with the bicycle rim I’m thinking, “That’s now. That real now.” It starts to chime, man. I reach.
  
  26 zero ratings? You guys are total Herberts. Stiff man’s putting my mind in jail. Ok, so the dueling bad Russian accents might have been painful. But don’t get jelly in the belly, man. The space hippies die on an acid planet. Do you reach, Herbert? The episode was all about a bad acid trip. Gotta give it a ‘6’ for that.
  
• From jd_juggler on 2015-03-30 at 3:40pm:
  Notwithstanding a few memorable moments, this is not a good episode. Kirk (who seems overly bothered being called "Herbert") defends the group by saying to Scott "I used to get into a little trouble when I was that age, Scotty, didn't you?" - though the groups leader seems at least as old as Kirk. The others aren't exactly teenagers, either. At that age, Kirk would already have been in star fleet, and the only "trouble" he got into was not firing fast enough into that creature that later appeared in "obsession", a ratting out his friend ("court martial").
  
  Nor were these people peace-loving hippies. They intended to kill everyone on board ship to achieve their objective. Checkov's ex-girlfriend irina realizes this, but offers only a token objection. She, like the others, is prepared to murder well over 400 people to ensure what she supposes to be a happy life, with only a handful of humanoids as companions. And after they fail, everything is still fine and dandy between "pavel" and irina. And apparently, no charges are ever filed against the survivors of the "hippies".
  
  At the beginning of the episode, the group apparently didn't know the location of Eden. So when dr sevrin asked to be taken there, why wasn't the answer "we don't know where it is"? It was only later that Spock, with checkov's help, was able to locate the planet, which was deep in romulan territory. That raises two questions: how would romulan space have been mapped? and how come no romulans appeared? This is the only time I can recall the enterprise EVER entering romulan space without encountering a romulan ship.
  
  How did Kirk and Spock simply wake up after the sound waves rendered them unconscious?
  
  And by the way, what are "space studies" (in which Tong Rad had "extraordinary abilities"? Physics? Anthropology? Navigation? Geology?
  
  I will say that the blond girl musician was absolutely gorgeous. The brunette who flirted with sulu (same actress was one of the "Galileo 7") was cute, too.
• From thaibites on 2015-10-21 at 7:34pm:
  Typical low-score TOS review by "Herbert" Newport. It's obvious that he didn't grow up with TOS, so he doesn't understand.
  I thought the whole thing between Chekov and his old girlfriend was really sad. Having to give her up for star fleet is a tough choice to make. She looked awesome in that futuristic outfit!
  Spock jams! They should've brought Jimi Hendrix on to guest star in this one.
• From Steve on 2020-10-27 at 7:08am:
  1) The pointless hippie movement was the crucible from which many sociological changes occurred.
  
  2) The "hippies" in this episode are caricatures. They are there to add humor to the storyline. Less that 5 percent of hippies behaved as outlandishly as this travelers, but that isn't known to folks who grew watching the interpretations of who we were. In the 1970's and beyond, textbook writers made certain to diminish and discredit what had been accomplished. Entertainment also found that lampooning the movement (i.g Cheech and Chong) was profitable.
  
  3} Your judgment that "extremist religious groups" never accomplish anything has no business in a review, and no basis in fact. Virtually every major religion began as an extremist belief in their time.
  
  4) They did a pretty good job of mimicking the music of the time.
  
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Paul on 2007-05-16 at 8:28pm:
  Remarkable scenes:
  
  Maihar'Du and Uri'Lash facing off.
  
  As for the rest of the episode...the less said about it the better.
• From EKH on 2007-07-13 at 8:15pm:
  A wonderful set-up. What a shame that it wasn't followed up on. Ferenginar conquered by the Dominion? That would have made for an interesting story, and hopefully would have finally gotten Ishka, Zek and Brunt killed off so that we didn't have to ever see them again, except in reruns. What we get, instead, is not only the worst episode of DS9, not only the worst of Star Trek, not only the worst science fiction episode ever, but the single worst hour of television ever written. An hour that really, truly hurts, in the most physical, literal and direct sense of the term. An hour that, luckily, I shall never, ever have to ever watch ever again, ever. Now, to suppress all memory of this travesty...
• From rpeh on 2010-08-03 at 8:25pm:
  I think most of what needs to be said has already been said. This is a very, very bad episode.
  
  There's one bit that made me laugh. Shimmerman's timing to deliver the final joke is absolutely spot on. Otherwise... what were they thinking???
• From Tallifer on 2011-04-21 at 10:29pm:
  Don’t listen to the critics! This episode was hilarious!
  1. Each rival Nagus has his own tall silent servant.
  2. Rom reveals his feminine side to his disconcerted friends. The look on his wife’s face was priceless.
  3. Sluggo Cola: the slimiest drink in the galaxy.
  4. How the initally annoying feminism of the episode is subverted: Quark persuades the Ferengi to clothe the females because they will become irrationally voracious consumers.
  5. Countless other offensive jokes about gender relations.
• From OmicronThetaDeltaPhi on 2014-06-30 at 12:49am:
  I guess I'm in the minority, but I thought this episode was quite entertaining. Now, I do wholeheartedly agree with the critics, that the cross-dressing thing wasn't funny at all. But most of the jokes WERE funny. And as usual, Armin Shimmerman gets 110% out of the script.
  
  Not a masterpiece by any means, but a decent (pardon the pun) episode nevertheless. I would give it a 5.
• From tigertooth on 2018-02-27 at 4:11am:
  I think this was a decent idea for an episode, but the execution was awful. Every now and then the humor worked -- the main example being Rom teaching Quark how to be female -- but most of it missed the mark big time. The Nog gag where he was running around the hallways made no sense. Why was he having such a hard time following a guy who was walking? And why would a Starfleet cadet be so out of shape? And even if you ignore that stuff, it just wasn't funny.
  
  They hardly even worked the obvious "Quark learns how hard it is to be a persecuted Ferengi female" angle. They sort of hit on that at the end, but again, it was done really poorly.

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Steve Mohns on 2011-08-10 at 5:48pm:
  Awfully tough on this episode, Eric! I saw it again last night, a number of years after seeing it live, and liked it as much, if not more.
  
  I did think that it was a nice tie-in of Star Trek series for the fans, both with surprise roles for Riker and Deanna, whom we'd not have seen for about 9 years, and the fine connection of all three Enterprises and captains saying the opening monologue at the end. (And yes, no Sisko and Janeway because it's the Enterprise) That you didn't like the absence of Romulans or a romance between Tripp and T'Pol, or hearing Archer's speech are all legitimate personal reasons for you to not like the episode, but all three are reasonable choices to have been made and don't make it a bad episode. I'm glad actually, that we didn't see the speech. (They didn't do that great a job of writing the one he gave in the previous episode). This way we can imagine that it was epic. At least this way there was still an opening for an Enterprise movie with the Romulan war. And unrequited love is ultimately more satisfying artistically than a happy ending romance.
  The episode itself had plenty of emotion, as one would hope for in a finale, certainly from T'Pol and Tripp, and though we don't like to see Tripp die, he did so with glory, and it made for a memorable episode.
  Personally, having just watched the finale of Enterprise, TNG, and Voyageur, I rank them Enterprise, Voayeur, and TNG. The latter was way longer than needed for the material in the story (should have been tellable in one episode easily), had a lot of mumbo-jumbo contrivances to make the plot work, featured the Farpoint storyline, a very poor premier episode, and though I hate to say it as a fan of both Stewart and Picard, sub-standard acting by him.
  It is a shame that Enterprise couldn't be kept going more than the 4 seasons. I think it had easily the strongest start of any series since TOS, hitting the ground in full stride unlike all the other series, and had better acting, music, writing than them as well. The only place that it didn't get top marks for me is in the magic of several of the characters in TOS and TNG.
• From Jem5x5 on 2014-01-26 at 8:35am:
  Well, I finally got here, and whilst this episode wasn't as bad as I feared after everything i'd read about it, it was undoubtedly a shockingly poor way to send off Enterprise - what should have been a poignant final story about the ships retirement and mothballing became a cheap backstory for a couple of cameo appearances. Tuckers death seemed really cheap and pointless - in all the previous situations where him and the captain had faced peril, why had his first thought never been "i'll blow myself up!" before? And why did the main protagonists seem to be totally over it 5 minutes later when Archer was waiting to do his speech? I think i'm also going to regard Demons/Terra Prime as the real series finale - the crew and the ship were able to perform heroically one last time, and it paved the way for the foundation of The Federation, so it means an end at an important moment in Trek history. And now, as i'm watching Trek in a rather wonky order, on to DS9!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From rhea on 2008-04-27 at 5:52pm:
  English Imperial Units: Who is to say that Starfleet personnel are not allowed to use them? Ok, they use the metric system most of the time, but still I think it is an insignificant detail, since we still get the picture. I think miles and feet had to be expected in Star Trek anyway, given that the English system is still very much in effect in the US, where this series happens to have been created. It doesn’t bother me, to be honest, even though I wish that they would finally come around to the metric system.
• From djb on 2009-01-22 at 5:21pm:
  I'd have to agree, this episode is really dumb. A duplicate Earth, not explained at all. A strange disease that wiped out the entire adult population of the planet. Kids several hundred years old that have never even mentally matured ... what??
  
  Just if a child's physical maturing is halted, that doesn't stop them from maturing mentally and emotionally. This episode acts as if maturity is purely a physical thing, and not a simple matter of having been alive long enough. It's probably both, but that detail is lost. The kids are just irritating. I liked Miri, though.
  
  Moreover, there are loads of plot holes. Wouldn't they investigate the planet a bit before just beaming down? Attempt to talk to someone? Scan for life forms? Send a probe? As you said, what did the children eat? They're obviously incapable of even comprehending rational ideas, let alone farming or whatever.
  
  Plus, when the crew leaves, they just talk about leaving a medical crew behind to care for the children. A whole planet of children?! At least several hundred million children, all infected with a disease that will kill them when they (eventually) grow old? Asinine.
  
  It seems as though the producers and writers of this show were really still finding their feet; a lot of the episodes up until now have either been equally or nearly as pointless or have at least had completely random, weird stuff thrown in. Like the "barrier" at the edge of the galaxy in Where No Man Has Gone Before. Or the going back in time at the end of The Naked Time. Oh well. I grew up with TNG, so I can't help but judge this show by TNG's standards.
  
  In response to metric vs. imperial: Anyone who has studied astronomy, physics, and everything else one would study in Starfleet would be entirely accustomed to using metric units. When I took even a beginning astronomy class, I don't think the word "mile" was uttered once during the class. Starfleet is not specific to one country, so they wouldn't use a measuring system that is only used predominately in one country. Especially Spock, who's an alien. Why would he learn an antiquated (and illogical!) measuring system that's not used by the majority of Earth's population even now, let alone in 300 years?
  
  The only real reason I can see for the writers using imperial units here is that Americans were extremely resistant to the metric system, and still are to a degree. Fortunately, TPTB wised up by TNG's day, and only used metric from then on (though if you'll notice, they always say Celsius after a temperature, even though that should be obvious).
• From 411314 on 2009-06-15 at 2:28am:
  "We're not given any reason for why this planet is exactly like Earth."
  
  You DO know that Star Trek is fictional, right? I've heard that any real extraterrestrial looking as similar to humans as Spock does (pointy ears notwithstanding) is less likely then a pen thrown into the air doing a perfect curve in the air and then falling perfectly straight and landing on its point. If you're willing to suspend your disbelief in Vulcans looking pretty much like humans except for pointy ears, then why not do the same with alternate Earths?
• From Kethinov on 2009-06-15 at 4:38am:
  @411314, that argument is completely ridiculous. The odds of a planet forming that is exactly like Earth in every detail are far, far more unlikely than an alien race evolving a similar physiology to humans.
  
  In fact, one of the foundational science fiction concepts in Star Trek is that (aside from the obvious TV budgetary motive) evolution frequently leads to human-like aliens because it is the most practical morphology to have on an M class world. Planets of similar size and atmospheric composition would inevitably produce organisms best adapted to them.
  
  However, the key concept here is similar but not identical. This planet in this episode was *identical* in every way. I can live with similar planets; even extremely similar planets if the ridiculous odds are acknowledged on screen. But barring some sort of parallel universe explanation, identical in every way is too absurd.
• From 411314 on 2009-06-15 at 1:20pm:
  "The odds of a planet forming that is exactly like Earth in every detail are far, far more unlikely than an alien race evolving a similar physiology to humans."
  
  Still, an alien race with an appearance similar to humans is unlikely and nobody on this forum seems to have called than an "absurdity" or expected and explanation for it.
  
  "In fact, one of the foundational science fiction concepts in Star Trek is that (aside from the obvious TV budgetary motive) evolution frequently leads to human-like aliens because it is the most practical morphology to have on an M class world."
  
  What's an "M-class world"?
  
  "...barring some sort of parallel universe explanation, identical in every way is too absurd."
  
  If you can live with identical universes, why not identical Earths? The fact is, this entire show is not particularly scientific, and complaining about this or expecting it to be scientific is quite silly. It's rather like watching a looney toons cartoon and saying "we are given no explanation as to why Wil E. Cyote, when he runs off a cliff, stays in the middle of the air for a few seconds before he finally falls".
  
  
• From 411314 on 2009-06-16 at 2:20am:
  This is definitely one of the better episodes.
• From Kethinov on 2009-06-16 at 3:24am:
  @411314
  
  "Still, an alien race with an appearance similar to humans is unlikely"
  
  Far less so, and there explanations for it. In addition to the one I provided in my above post, see TNG: The Chase.
  
  "What's an M-class world?"
  
  Star Trek's shorthand for a planet suitable for human(oid) life.
  
  "If you can live with identical universes, why not identical Earths? The fact is, this entire show is not particularly scientific, and complaining about this or expecting it to be scientific is quite silly. It's rather like watching a looney toons cartoon and saying we are given no explanation as to why Wil E. Cyote, when he runs off a cliff, stays in the middle of the air for a few seconds before he finally falls."
  
  Star Trek is actually pretty good about sciencey things, except in horrible episodes like this one. Parallel universes are a real concept which is explored in quantum physics. If a parallel Earth from a parallel universe could somehow be transported from one universe to another, it could explain what occurred in this episode. That explanation is fairly ludicrous, but it's better than what we get in the episode and it might have saved its score from a zero in my book.
• From Remco on 2009-06-23 at 12:50am:
  But still, many of these parallel universes would decidedly *not* be the same. There are an infinite number of universes, and it would be an extreme coincidence if something that looks exactly like Earth would pop out from one of those universes into our own universe.
  
  I like what you say about evolution on M-class planets. But I don't completely buy it. There are many many species on our own planet, and any of them could evolve into having a cerebral cortex and using tools. And some already have, like many primates. They really don't have to look all that much like us. They just need a few limbs to manipulate the world around them. They don't have to stand upright, or even develop verbal communication.
  
  For budget-reasons obviously, on Star Trek even the weirdest aliens usually look like humans with deformed faces.
  
  Let me digress a little on our own planet's intelligent life:
  
  I always wonder what would happen if you would take a Neanderthal baby from the past (or a 50,000 year old homo sapiens for that matter), and raise it like a modern human. I bet he would be as smart as anyone. He would just look weird and have some trouble with the ladies. ;)
  
  Now I'm wondering what would happen if you'd surgically give a contemporary orangutan the ability to speak (they need an extra bone in their throat for complex sounds). It's entirely plausible that we would consider him an intelligent being, able to cope with math, languages, philosophy... the works.
  
  If such an experiment succeeds, we may need to reconsider our view of intelligent life.
• From rpeh on 2010-06-28 at 8:11pm:
  I really don't understand the criticisms of this episode. Sure, the premise of a duplicate Earth is silly, but that's tangential to the main plot, which is the virus and the fate of the children. Most of the children play their roles well, and the delicate subject of a pre-adolescent crush on Kirk is well-handled.
  
  The duplicate Earth was a red-herring, but there's no reason to give this a 0 because of that. It rates a solid 8 for me.
• From CAlexander on 2011-03-13 at 4:07pm:
  Yes, the identical Earth bit is just bizarre, and I would certainly complain about it vociferously if you hadn't already done so. Why do they make a big point about it, then drop it completely? But by the same point, I don't see this as contaminating the rest of the episode. You can just ignore it as a temporary script malfunction. The rest of the episode works fine if you just blot this from your mind and pretend that this is just a regular M-class planet. I also found it hard to believe that the children survived in an infantilized state for 300 years, I would find 30 years more plausible.
  
  (I'm guessing the writers thought they were making a parable about how our Earth could have ended up just like theirs, had we destroyed ourselves with biological weapons, and made the similarities as an incredibly ham-handed attempt to drive home the point)
  
  Although these are certainly negatives, I thought this episode was not bad, it had some definite positives. While not all of the acting is great, a lot of the scenes invoke legitimate parts of the human experience. The idea that the children were led by a demagogue who was threatened by Kirk's appearance. They way the children shout down Kirk and refuse to listen to him, banding together against the scary outside influence. The way the children, despite their immaturity, are a real menace to Kirk due to their knowledge of the terrain. The difficulty Kirk has trying to deal with children who are immature but know they have power. They way it is hard for them to trust Kirk because they know he will soon become an irrational monster and betray them like all the other adults did. They act unreasonably, but life is full of unreasonable adults, and these are only children. And I like Miri's crush on Kirk, and the way he handles it. The search for the cure was overdramatized in typical TOS style, yet entertained me more than many of the perfunctory TNG equivalents.
  
  Also, aside from the technical negatives, there is one technical positive. This was one episode where they were sensible about quarantine, refusing to contaminate the ship, yet having the ship beam them down necessary supplies.
  
• From nforrest on 2011-08-04 at 3:01pm:
  Just started watching Star Trek and Im hooked. Your site has been a great help.
  
  I will say after watching this episode, although kind of annoying with the children who didn't develop mentally because their physical predicament.
  
  This comment is to point out the bashing of a"earth" that developed just like our own in every way. Being a physics student this idea isn't so far fetched as one of the theories explains the idea of infinite possibilities, dimensions and so forth. If you are interested in reading more about how this is possible check out this link.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation
• From Kethinov on 2011-08-04 at 7:44pm:
  That theory refers to the theoretical existence of alternate universes, not second Earths identical to ours in every way that just so happen to exist several hundred light years away. My criticism stands.
• From Mike Meares on 2012-02-23 at 3:28am:
  I have really enjoyed reading your reviews Kethinov! I don’t always agree 100 % with your conclusions but I have, up to this point, really been impressed and enlighten by your insights and your observations.
  
  However, I must say with all honesty I am a bit surprised at your review of “Miri” Kethinov and your rating of zero! Zero? Really? ZERO? Seriously?
  
  My God, you gave a rating of 4 to “Spock’s Brain” for crying out loud!
  
  The thrust of your criticism seems to be why a “identical” Earth exists since, in your words, this is impossible!
  
  I don’t get the criticism! I really don’t!
  
  Hardly anything in Star Trek is possible. It is pure fiction! Will there ever be transporters, phasers or time travel? Who knows! I just love wondering if they could happen. But that doesn’t mean they will happen or that I believe they will ever happen.
  
  So following your logic Kethinov: Removing a person’s brain and reattaching it is possible but an identical earth is impossible. OK my friend if you say so.
  
  To me the “identical” Earth was just a teaser to draw you into the story. And it worked for me. In fact, Star Trek became known for using the “teaser” to draw fans into a story.
  
  I like the fact that they didn’t explain how the identical “Earth” developed myself. And if you stop and think about it, anything they would have tried to explain about the other Earth’s existence and development would have been pure conjecture on their part.
  
  I love this episode! I think it was one of the top ten episodes of the first season. I still get goose bumps when I watch it.
  
  One of the biggest reasons why this story works for me is Kim Darby. I think she is a fantastic actress and she gave such realism to her role. Another was the acting of Michael J. Pollard, which was superb. I know one of the criticisms was the acting of the children but, quite honestly, I never expect great acting from children in shows. And I have to ask: when did great acting become a measuring stone for a great Star Trek story?
  
  I love William Shatner as Captain Kirk! But do I think he is a great actor in the role? No way! But he makes me believe he is James T. Kirk. And that is all that matters in film and TV.
  
  I give “Miri” an 8 rating. I think it is that good. I know it has some plot holes and I know it leaves some unanswered questions, but so do many other Star Trek stories. I just don’t think some of the comments on here are very objective and seem to be concentrating on some very petty issues.
  
  Several positives things about “Miri” that I really liked are:
  
  (1) We get to see more of Lt. Farrow ( played by Jim Goodwin ) To me Farrow was a very down to Earth ( opps sorry no pun intended ) character. He wasn’t handsome or big or strong. He just seemed like a real person to me. I wish more of the secondary characters could have been like him.
  
  (2) No “Red Shirts” were harmed during the filming of this episode! Probably the first and last time that ever happened! LOL. In fact, I don’t think Lt. Galloway ( David L. Ross ) nor the second security guard ( John Arndt ) even contracted the virus at all! Wow I guess it paid to be a “Red Shirt” this time around! LOL.
  
  And finally, (3) I loved how they began the development of the relationship between McCoy and Spock in this episode. When Dr. McCoy injects himself and almost sacrifices his life, I think Spock really starts to admire the doctor and the person that he is. I still get a little chocked up when I hear Spock say, “I will never understand the medical mind.” And of course Spock says it so low that I don’t think anyone else can hear it. A great moment in Star Trek history.
• From Kethinov on 2012-02-23 at 4:58am:
  Mike,
  
  Surgically removing a brain without killing it is considerably more plausible than the hypothetical existence of another Earth identical to ours in every way. The brain is just an organ like any other. As long as the proper fluids are not interrupted and no substantial injuries are inflicted during surgery, there is no reason why the brain couldn't survive independent of the body. In this respect, Spock's Brain is considerably more plausible than Miri, especially given that the episode goes to great lengths to establish that the surgical techniques used are highly advanced.
  
  Your whole point about how "hardly anything in Star Trek is possible" because it's all just fiction is not valid. Good science fiction builds bridges between real science and the speculative science featured in sci fi stories. Phasers are particle weapons predicated on speculative technological advances in the efficiency of energy storage and release. Transporters work on the same principle but for a (usually) non-weaponized purpose. These devices are plausible assuming that it could some day be possible to harness and control energy so efficiently.
  
  The planet in Miri on the other hand violates everything we know about nature in space or otherwise. Everything we know about planet formation tells us that every planet in the galaxy is a unique combination of circumstantial randomness when a star system is born. If a planet like the one in Miri did exist, the scientific implications would be daunting. That would imply a considerably more deterministic universe than things like quantum mechanics teach us is possible.
  
  To put this in perspective, consider the old adage "no two snowflakes are ever alike." Strictly speaking, this isn't true. There are people who have tested this and determined that two snowflakes can be alike, but the probability is insanely small. If the odds against any two snowflakes being alike are infinitesimal, then what do you suppose the odds of two planets being exactly alike are? Earth is huge, and its history is the culmination of billions of years of random events. There's simply no way we'll find another Earth out there. Similar planets, sure. But not the planet found in Miri. It simply cannot happen.
  
  As such, the premise of Miri is pure fantasy, rather than the kind of responsible science fiction things like phasers or the transporter are based on. As a critic, it's my job to make this distinction for my readers. I want my readers to know which episodes are good science fiction and which episodes are not. This one is not.
• From Mike Meares on 2012-02-24 at 2:24am:
  I just found some information about Miri in Memory Alpha that I think it may have made the story a lot better. Very interesting reading. I am reprinted the content here:
  
  In his first volume of Star Trek episode adaptations, James Blish supplies a backstory that is vastly different to that of the "identical Earth" premise depicted in the television episode( "Miri" ).
  
  Blish wrote that Miri's planet is the fourth planet orbiting the star 70 Ophiuchus, and is a beautiful Earth-like planet having one large and two smaller continents connected by islands. Ophiuchus IV (or Ophiuchus 4 – Blish never names the planet) is located between twelve and fifteen light years from Earth and had been the first planet outside Earth's solar system to be colonized, in this case by refugees from the so-called "Cold Peace" in the early 2100s, about 500 years before the events depicted in the television episode. These colonists were isolationists who violently repulsed the first attempt to contact them by a later expedition from Earth, and so no further contact was attempted.
  
  As it turned out, the Ophiuchus system was in a "backwater" part of the galaxy that subsequent years of Earth-based space exploration passed by, and so the belligerent colony was easily ignored and almost forgotten.
  
  Around 300 years before the events shown in "Miri", scientists on Ophiuchus IV developed the experimental life-prolongation project that resulted in the deaths of every adult on the planet.
  
  Yet despite their close proximity, the distress signal sent by the colony didn't reach Earth because Ophiuchus IV stood between Earth and the center of the Milky Way, whose radiation created interstellar static that drowned out the SOS signal the colony had directed towards Earth.
• From Alan Feldman on 2012-04-02 at 1:07am:
  Speaking of units, scientists frequently use non-metric units: light-year, parsec, astronomical unit (equal to the radius of the earth's orbit), (an) atmosphere (a unit of pressure, though more for convenience when precision is not paramount), G forces, electron volt, barn (a barn is 10^(-24) cm^2), fermi (which is 10^(-13) cm). These last two are based on a metric unit, but so is the inch (defined as 2.54 cm), so it's just as "bad", sort of). The electrical charge of particles, in many cases, is more conveniently measured in multiples of that of a proton, as in the charge on an electron (which would be -1), or quarks, which, depending on which quark you're dealing with, is +/- 1/3 or +/- 2/3 of that amount of charge. There's also a foot (of cable, or patch cord, if you will), which is how far light travels in one nanosecond. This is useful in high-energy physics experiments for estimating delays. I believe calories are still used by some, though I'm not really sure. Add to all this units of time: years, months, weeks, and days are not metric units, yet scientists use days and years, at least. The dinosaurs were wiped out 65,000,000 years ago. No one converts that to seconds. Angstroms are still used (based on a metric unit, though). There are probably more.
  
  Bottom line: Use the units that are appropriate for the job.
• From Mandeponium on 2012-08-30 at 5:59pm:
  Super late to the discussion, but you guys are arguing the wrong point. The issue is not whether an earth-duplicate is possible, as stranger things have happened in the Star Trek Universe. My biggest gripe is that they didn't even investigate it! Kirk says, "It seems impossible, but there it is," and no more is said on the subject. If Picard had stumbled on a planet with The North American Continent staring back at him, he would have gotten to the bottom of it.
  
  That's what defies my suspension of disbelief, that no one seemed to care about that which in any normal universe (even one with humanoid-looking aliens) could not happen.
  
  
  I can forgive it though. These first few episodes are rife with far-fetched concepts that are treated rather nonchalantly: The invention of time travel, shape-shifting aliens, perfect copy androids, and now Earth 2.
• From Zerothis on 2012-09-22 at 1:41am:
  The obvious retconning would be to attribute the duplicate Earth to the same Preservers that transplanted the Roman Empire people and Native American people to other planets. 1960 is near the beginning of the Post-atomic age, the Cold War era, and the hybrid age. Presumable the Preservers theorized a scientific subculture in existence around 1960 was about to become extinct (or about to devastate Earth, in which case there should be a whole lot of 1960ish cultures out there somewhere in the Trek universe). In fact this group did prove to be devastating to the planet they were transplanted to. Likewise, the transplanted Roman Empire was presumable defeated by one of the same factors that the Preservers had apparently hoped to rescue them from.
  
  
• From Glenn239 on 2012-10-01 at 5:02pm:
  I can’t believe the tricycle scene at the start isn’t listed as a remarkable scene. When I watched that as a kid, that had as much punch as anything else in the entire series. This episode is naturally around 6 to an 8. I give it a 9 for some counterbalance.
  
  The children represent the intellectually limited horizon of the human race, the disease they are attempting to cure is the result of our own hubris in the manipulation of nature, and the episode is saying to us that our futile attempts to command the complexities of nature are childlike and prone to disaster.
  
  I for one have no problem that the Earths are the same, and it was not explained why. All we need to suspect is that it is the Earth, but a less lucky version of it. Who put it there and why they did it, we won’t know. Nowadays every action hero seems to make amazing intellectual leaps of logic to arrive at the correct conclusion in mere seconds, and then blurts out their byzantine (but correct) reasoning at machine gun pace, with only the occasional disinterested flip of their hair to signify to us just how bored all of this actually makes them. Whatever. The fact the identical Earth is not explained was because they had no explanation to give. They were clear on that, and it seems pretty straightforward to me. Onto the story. I’ll take that over idiotic “Q” or TNG techno-babble any day.
  
  
• From Lighternote on 2012-10-06 at 12:55pm:
  I too, am very late to the great 'duplicate earth debate'. As far as I understand it physicists think that if our universe is infinite then not only would it be likely that there would be one duplicate of earth... But that it is almost a certainty that there would be an infinite number of duplicate earths along with an infinite amount of duplicate people. In fact, they have even calculated how far you would have to travel in order to reach another earth (it is, naturally a very, vey long way away). So, if the Star Trek universe is infinite, and warp drive let's you travel these extremely long distances then this episode is not as unbelievable as you would think!
  
  Great site by the way. Working through all Star Trek and love reading the reviews in conjunction!
• From Alan Feldman on 2013-03-19 at 12:57am:
  The timeline based on "Miri"
  
  I'm confused about this episode implying that Star Trek TOS takes place 300 years after its making. From the episode:
  
  KIRK: Identical. Earth, as it was in the early 1900s.
  
  SPOCK: More the, er, mid-1900s I would say, Captain, approximately 1960.
  
  OK. Spock is saying that the earth they're on is similar to what our earth was like in our 1960. Then we are told that the place has been like this for about 300 years. All this means is that our heroes find themselves in an earth-like place similar to what _our_ earth was like in _our_ 1960. Their 1960 could have been 100 years before ours. That would put our heroes about 200 years in the future, not 300. (OK, more like approx. 150, if you include the years that have passed since the show aired.)
  
  Am I missing something here?
  
  AEF, a.k.a. betaneptune
  
• From DK on 2013-04-23 at 9:20pm:
  I too loathe this episode.  For the longest time this was at the top of my list for the worst Star Trek episode.  Though it has since been eclipsed by a few episodes from later Star Trek incarnations 'Miri' has withstood the test of time to simultaneously annoy me and cause boredom as few episodes of any show have.  Miri has an intangible je ne sais quoi quality that sets it apart from all the rest.  I think the biggest problem was that during early syndication there were but a very few television channels and given the choice between any Star Trek and something else, I still chose to torture myself with 'Miri' which had the result of grinding in my dislike for this episode.  At least 'Spock's Brain' had the quality of being unintentionally funny.  'Miri' was just unintentionally bad.
  
  As for the duplicate earth debate, I understand your point.  There is no way a duplicate earth could evolve on its own and many of the explanations offered on this page do not hold much water.  And, I too have my pet peeves about certain aspects of Star Trek.  Chief among them are discontinuity issues that need not be there and are due to lazy writing.  That said,  I understand why the duplicate earth was in the script; to make the point that this could happen to us. Plus, similar objections to the absurd implausibility of a duplicate earth could be said of most any Star Trek episode; let's start with the problems associated with faster than light travel.  Absurd implausibility just isn't a road you want to go down when criticizing Star Trek but I guess it is still better than my 'je me sais quoi' objection.  I agree that the whole issue could have been handled better although a way that doesn't its self create problems of its own escapes me for the moment.
• From Schreck on 2013-05-23 at 8:04pm:
  Those kids are REALLY annoying, but regardless I didn’t hate the episode…I give it a 7 and my brother a 6.75
• From Alan Feldman on 2013-05-27 at 5:20am:
  Yet more on "Miri"
  
  OK, here's how you can have two identical earths: Macroscopic quantum entanglement! OK, just fibbing.
  
  I always thought Michael J. Pollard looked a little old for the part. Just checked: He's 8 years older than Kim Darby! Hah! Wait a minute . . . .
  
  From wikipedia: Kim Darby was born in 1947, making her 19 at the time! Michael J. Pollard was born in 1939, making him 27! Even worse than I thought.
  
  This type of thing happens from time to time in the entertainment industry.
  
  You have to admit that Kim Darby did a great acting job in this episode. Add to that the fact that she was a 19-year-old acting as a 13-year-old.
  
  KIRK: . . . We still don't know what we're fighting.
  MCCOY: No, but we know what it is and how fast it does it. It's progressing. We'll begin to feel it inside soon. Intense fever, great pain in the extremities, fuzziness of vision. Of course, those are the early symptoms. There'll be more.
  
  Hmmm. It didn't seem like they ever had any of these symptoms anytime in the show.
  
  Wait a minute. Kirk says they don't know what they're fighting, but McCoy says they know what it is. Isn't that a contradiction?
  
  Our heroes were there for what, a week? I hope Scotty beamed down some clean clothes!
  
  More on units: In astronomy we have the Hubble constant. In what units is it typically expressed? (km/s)/megaparsec. OK. First, a parsec is not an SI or metric unit. Second, the constant has dimensions of inverse time (the two distance units canceling out dimension-wise). So in the SI system the Hubble constant would be given in inverse seconds. But knowing the constant in inverse seconds makes it hard to interpret. When given in (km/s)/megaparsec it's quite clear. Assume the constant is 71 km/s/megaparsec. A galaxy's speed is then 71 km/second if it's 1 megaparsec away, 142 km/s if it's 2 megaparsecs away, etc. In SI units it would be some number of inverse seconds, and not very useful in that form. So this is yet another case where pure SI units (or metric, if you prefer) are not the best choice.
  
  Astronomy is guilty of still more non-metric units! Check the astronomical unit, the average distance from the Earth to the Sun. And then take stellar magnitudes. Not metric at all, and not even linear! A difference of five magnitudes means a factor of 100 in brightness, or energy output. In other words, a 1st magnitude star is 100 times brighter than a 6th magnitude star. Yes, a higher number means a dimmer object. Venus has a magnitude of about -4; the Moon, -13; and the Sun, -27, IIRC. How about _light-year_ as a unit? That's not metric! How old is the universe? About 13.7 billion _years_. A year is not a metric unit. In some cases it might be useful to convert it to seconds. That would be 4x10^17_s. (Underscore used to prevent possibly bad line break.) Sounds better in years, no?
  
  AEF, aka betaneptune
• From Deggsy on 2013-10-04 at 10:39pm:
  And on top of everything else wrong with it, the line from Spock: "It could be a beaker full of death." isn't even accurate. I thought it was a flask he held, not a beaker :-)
• From Ian Smith Adventures on 2013-10-17 at 9:26pm:
  i loved this episode. re-watching from the beginning, i would rank this and "what little girls are made of" as my two favorites so far. is there something wrong with me? :P though mudd's women was by far my least favorite so we're on the same page there. i found the situation to be intense and well-established, i liked the interaction between kirk and miri, and i liked the ending where kirk has to think like a child in order to get through to them, and mccoy takes a big risk to save the team. the fact that the duplicate earth thing isn't followed up on strikes me as a cool mystery to think about, tos is full of odd, cool things like this. i thought the main guest stars did a great job. thumbs up!
• From jeffenator98 on 2013-12-24 at 4:49pm:
  "All right everyone just leave your communicators lying around on a desk somewhere." Capt Kirk
• From Alan Feldman on 2014-04-16 at 10:46pm:
  Correction!
  
  In a previous post I wrote the following:
  
  "More on units: In astronomy we have the Hubble constant. In what units is it typically expressed? (km/s)/megaparsec. OK. First, a parsec is not an SI or metric unit. Second, the constant has dimensions of inverse time (the two distance units canceling out dimension-wise). So in the SI system the Hubble constant would be given in inverse seconds. But knowing the constant in inverse seconds makes it hard to interpret. When given in (km/s)/megaparsec it's quite clear. Assume the constant is 71 km/s/megaparsec. A galaxy's speed is then 71 km/second if it's 1 megaparsec away, 142 km/s if it's 2 megaparsecs away, etc. In SI units it would be some number of inverse seconds, and not very useful in that form. So this is yet another case where pure SI units (or metric, if you prefer) are not the best choice."
  
  OK, the Hubble constant is actually _also_ useful in SI units. Well, in inverse years instead of inverse seconds, anyway. When you work it out, H_0 = 71 (km/sec)/megaparsec = 7.26x10^-11 inverse years. Take the reciprocal of that and you get 13.8x10^9 years, the age of the universe!
  
  So it's useful both ways, contrary to my previous statement.
  
  AEF, a.k.a. betaneptune
• From Timmersan on 2016-01-10 at 8:51pm:
  Maybe Slartibartfast made all these identical Earths as a sort of practice,
• From Royy on 2016-11-16 at 8:45pm:
  I agree it is a difficult episode.
  
  The first one to have a visit to 'Earth' though?
  
  It is easy to judge these early episodes on the basis of much later material, but if we accept that the only explanation is either a parallel universe or even a time travelling Earth (why not?), then everything is more plausible.
  
  It isn't a patch on 'what little girls are made of' though.
• From Mike Chambers on 2020-09-12 at 6:23am:
  I really think you're a bit harsh on some of the TOS episodes. This isn't a good episode, but it's watchable. You can't expect TNG level stuff.
  
  If this were TNG, I'd give it a 0. But it's TOS, so I give it a 4. What TOS lacks in quality, acting chops and production value, it makes up for in campy, corny charm, and I watch it for what it is.
  
  Sometimes I'm just in the mood for TOS and enjoy seeing almost any episode.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-05-27 at 7:49am:
  - While presenting Lutan with the horse statue, Picard says that he is aware of the Ligonian culture's unique similarity to an ancient Earth culture that he "admires." However, later in the episode, Picard states that the customs of the Ligonian culture are the "same kind of pompous strutting charades that endangered our own species a few centuries ago."
  - Just before the battle to the death, we are told: "The rules are known. Let combat continue until there is a victory. It will not be interrupted." But during the battle, when Yareena loses her weapon, Lutan stops the fight. I thought the battle would not be interrupted!! And why is Lutan stopping the fight to return the weapon to Yareena? Doesn't he want Yar to kill his wife so he can inherit her wealth?
• From Bernard on 2007-09-21 at 10:31pm:
  Another good early effort, that holds up to repeat viewings well. Maybe I'm one of the few that agree with you there!
  
  Probably one of two episodes where yar is brought to the fore.. she was an interesting enough character with a good background story just a shame denise crosby didn't hang in there for longer
  
  one aside here, tng at this point is still very much working on the OS premise of 'planet of the week' episodes (coupled with the aliens that look identical to humans)
• From CAlexander on 2011-03-06 at 10:25pm:
  I'm one who never liked this episode, but it doesn't seem quite as awful now as it did the first time I watched it. The basic concept is not that bad. I think my problems are twofold:
  1. The acting from everyone is painful at the beginning of the episode. It felt like they hadn't gotten the hang of how to do TNG yet and were overreacting to everything in a way reminiscent of TOS, and this didn't work in the context of TNG.
  2. The episode led up to the fight scene at the end, which I found to be quite underwhelming. When rewatching this I had no expectations for the fight scene so it didn't bother me.
• From Axel on 2018-06-09 at 2:55am:
  The only way the portrayal of the Ligonians could've been more racist is if the actors had been white people in blackface. Whenever I re-watch TNG's first couple seasons and see aliens in hilariously dumb costumes, I think of these guys and realize it only went uphill.
  
  Data refers to French as an "obscure language" which of course sets off Picard. This is a bit weird since Data, having the crew's personnel records, would no doubt be aware that Picard has French ancestry and is presumably familiar with the language. But Picard's response must've had some effect, because in "Time's Arrow" we see that Data now speaks fluent French.
  
  During the fight, Yareena's spikey glove flies off her hand and strikes a spectator. A few seconds later, he keels over, dies, and is carried away by other Ligonians almost as if they were expecting it. Is it also considered honorable in Ligonian society to die from watching honorable combat? Otherwise, poor bastard didn't get the benefits of the Enterprise medical treatment.
• From Harrison on 2020-01-26 at 6:02pm:
  Political correctness has long demanded that this episode be viewed as an offensive aberration. That's nonsense, of course. Sure, the episode has some typical early TNG plot foibles (eg, the Ligonians were able to develop transport technology?) and the combat scene is a little silly, but overall it is actually a solid effort that explores some interesting themes. Stewart and Crosby are both in great form. It's far more engaging than many early TNG clunkers (like the episode that follows, "The Last Outpost".)
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-03 at 7:23am:
  I basically agree this episode is terrible, but for me, watching it again for the first time in years, it's ventured into "so bad it's good" territory. While I agree it's pretty skippable, I'd say if you're a newbie to TNG, do watch this episode at least once and revel in the cringe. (Protip: you don't have to be sober.)
  
  A few things I think make it worth a watch:
  - Wes sitting at ops for the first time. Significant, and hilariously awkward. The way it's handled, I can't tell if the producers were *going* for the awkwardness, or not.
  - Has a bit of iconic dialogue that made it into the famous "Picard song" where Troi answers "you're the captain, sir; you're entitled."
  - focus on Yar, which is unfortunately scarce in TNG.
  - the over -the-top cheesy music. It's almost TOS-level campy.
  - Data's attempts at humor. Or rather, the writers' and Brent Spiner's attempts to get a bead on Data's relationship to humor.
  - "Troi, I'm your friend, and you tricked me!
  
  Problem: Where was Worf? They could have made a lot of use of his character, being from a culture that also places a high emphasis on honor. Very disappointing they didn't work Worf into the plot somehow. (Maybe, just as in "Starship Mine," he called dibs on not having to show up in this episode.)
  
  It's a strange feeling, watching an episode centered around "the vaccine!" now in mid-2021. Knowing a bit more now about how vaccines are developed and how they work, it seems kind of silly for this episode's MacGuffin to be a vaccine, considering the people on this planet are a different species, and thus would not be able to develop, test, or manufacture a vaccine for any offworld species, let alone manufacture millions of them. They could have had some plant or rare compound used in an antidote, or something. A nitpick, sure, but it's damn lazy writing!
  
  negative 5/7.
• From Chuck the Canuck on 2023-05-19 at 1:17pm:
  Yes, yes, this episode holds up extremely poorly especially with our post-2020 hindsight. That said, I don't believe in judging it by modern standards; I think even in 1987 it was a bit much, especially when you look back at The Original Series twenty years earlier. Kind of a slap in the face to the progress TOS had made with Uhura.
  
  I agree this episode is worth watching mainly to see how the actors and writers were working to figure out the show and characters. Spiner and the writing team didn't just create the beloved Data we know from the beginning. It took some trial and error mainly in the first season to sort it out. Same with Picard, who is very, noticeably different in the first season in terms of dialogue and temperament. That exchange with Troi that Azalea Jane mentioned is also a flash of later Picard.
  
  On a side note, Garrett Wang routinely roasts this episode when he appears at conventions. Apparently, it was the first and only episode of TNG he saw prior to getting cast as Ensign Kim on VOY. So, he came into that show thinking TNG had set a pretty low bar. It wasn't until later that he watched more TNG and became a fan.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Shani on 2017-10-09 at 11:12am:
  I don't like replicators were around during the TOS era. How are they replicating food and uniforms?
• From Shodanbot on 2017-10-09 at 11:03pm:
  Landry's death was very silly and forced. Especially given her interactions with Michael up to that point, as I got the impression she was to be this series "Worf". But it is how forced and unnecessary this death was that I found difficult to over-look. Couldn't they have used the transporter to "harvest" a claw from the beast? Cruel and very out of place at Starfleet, but I don't see any reason a transporter couldn't do it. Landry would've avoid getting within mauling distance with the beast with a quick transport.
  
  Oh well. Whatever. They needed the beast alive and in one piece to get the plot moving, and added a bit of silly blood letting to keep the peanut gallery from falling asleep. I wonder if the star trek universe's 23rd century has an equivalent of The Darwin Awards?
  
  Another bit of an annoyance for me, and to be fair a pedantic one at that, is "Xeno-Anthropologist". Just what is a Xeno-Anthropologist?
• From matzieq on 2017-10-10 at 8:46am:
  I just can't get used to the new look of the klingons, if only they had hair, or ANYTHING that made them look like klingons! Also, the need to constantly read subtitles while they bark at each other unintelligibly is so annoying... even though I'm used to reading subtitles since English is not my first language. And every time someone says "T'Kuvma" I want to reply "Gesundheit!"
• From Rob UK on 2017-10-15 at 11:08pm:
  Ahhhhhh man we've been all waiting so long.
  
  I do not know about you folks but I thought they were going to give us a TV series with the new adventures of new Spock n Kirk n crew down the new old timeline, so I already have sand in my vag before we start but here we go.
  
  I am trying my best to ignore all the things I am not liking about this new show and failing miserably, it is taking me multiple sittings just to get through a single episode, I put it on with the best intentions and then twenty minutes later find myself in the mancave pottering about as I am clearly bored out of my gourd.
  
  So I am trying my best to be ignoring all cannon foe-pars, ignoring all timeline blunders and everything like the redesign of things and species that really didn't have the gaps in their chronology to fit like the Klingons going from how they look in the OS to Next Gen (we had a explanation for that) to squeezing how they all look in this into that between the Eugenics experiments that make them all look as they do in Next gen.
  
  Deep breaths
  
  So even when I do all that and make myself sit down and leave the bong alone long enough to actually get through an episode in it's entirety in one attention span (I can sit through ten episode off the belt of any previous Star Trek in any order and hardly blink) I sadly come to the same conclusion of
  
  WORST STAR TREK EVER
  
  and I definitely include the animated series in that statement.
  
  I am still going to keep watching and hoping it improves as I am a bloody Star Trek fan, speaking of that
  
  Absolutely loving every second of The Orville, surely it can't just be me, are you Trek-heads on board?

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-10-09 at 7:56am:
  - When Crusher proposes to kill Troi so Alcar will break his link, Riker reacts immediately. Crusher responds that she will be able to revive Troi as long as thirty minutes do not elapse before resuscitation. Why thirty minutes? In "The Neutral Zone," Crusher revived humans who had been frozen for hundreds of years.
  - After making a scene in Ten-Forward, Troi gets escorted out by Riker. They board a turbolift and the doors read "08 Turbolift." Ten-Forward is on deck 10, not deck 8.
  - At the end of the show, Picard predicts that Alcar will attempt to find another person as soon as Troi dies. To protect Alcar's intended victim, he contacts Transporter Room 2 and tells them to lock on to the female in Alcar's quarters. But when he wants to beam her out he says, "Picard to Transporter Room 3. Energize!" How does the transporter chief in Transporter Room 3 know what to do? Picard gave his instructions to Transporter Room 2.
• From Rob on 2008-04-17 at 11:50pm:
  The only scene that is really worth watching more than once to me is Troi cutting down Ensign Janeway... I laugh every time.
• From JRPoole on 2008-09-07 at 4:49pm:
  Mind rape in various forms is getting to be a little ho-hum aboard the Enterprise. It seems like something similar comes up at least once a season.
  
  What we get here is little more than another Troi-in-mental anguish episode. This one gets marked up a little because Marina Sirtis gets to walk around in sexy dresses and she does a great job acting, especially in the scene someone mentioned above where she breaks it off in Ensign Janeway, who probably needed to hear that anyway.
  
  This one loses a couple of points, however, when Troi transforms back in to her old self. I just can't buy that she's instantly back to her regular appearance as soon as the mind lock is severed. The tissue changes (wrinkles, discoloring, gray hair) aren't going to disappear instantly. I know this is minor and mostly cosmetic, but it irked me. Still, not a terrible episode. I give i a 3.
• From Will on 2011-10-27 at 2:01am:
  I just want to point out that OJ was not acquitted simply because he was famous, he was acquitted because he was black and famous.
• From Dstyle on 2015-09-21 at 5:35pm:
  I just want to point out that OJ was not acquitted simply because he was famous, he was acquitted because the prosecution monumentally bungled the case, leaving A LOT of room for reasonable doubt. The only folks who think otherwise either didn't follow the trial or already wanted a guilty verdict before they heard any of the evidence presented. Our previous commentor--who I assume managed to post from an alternate universe--seems to be laboring under the misapprehension that being black is somehow a "get out of jail free" card in the American judicial system. Don't worry! America still puts a lot of black folks behind bars (or worse)!
  
  A much better comparison could be made between the ambassador and Bill Cosby, although Mr. Cosby's long string of crimes had not been widely publicized at the time this review was written.
• From ChristopherA on 2019-05-25 at 1:45am:
  Agreed, this episode has an interesting idea but the execution could have been better. I was perfectly satisfied watching the episode but it is just OK, not one of the memorable episodes.

No fan commentary yet.

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From EKH on 2007-04-29 at 4:15pm:
  The gravity in the scene in Melora's quarters were inconsistent, too, switching between low gravity and no gravity at least once.
• From djb on 2009-01-06 at 1:46am:
  I have to disagree with your review, dear Kethinov. I loved this episode! It definitely had its flaws, which I'll go into later, but first I'll say why I liked it.
  
  This was obviously an episode that wanted to deal with "disability" issues. Melora is predictably rough around the edges and fiercely independent, and very walled off. Bashir's ability to worm his way in through her defenses was beautifully written and acted, and we see behind Melora's rather off-putting exterior is a vulnerable person who's rather insecure about her qualifications. It's actually great character development for Bashir.
  
  I also liked that they pulled off a low-gravity scene. It's the first I've really seen since Star Trek VI (I may be wrong), and you'd think you'd see more of them, seeing as how most of the gravity we see in Star Trek is artificial. Of course, this is a budget issue. If, every time an away team boarded some disabled ship or derelict, they had to be weightless, as would be most realistic, the budget would go through the roof. Oh well.
  
  Anyway, it's nice to see Bashir turn his attention away from Dax for a little bit! It was also nice and realistic to see a hostile alien follow through on his threat to kill a hostage (even though she didn't die). I also liked how she saved the day, and how an analogy to an ancient earth story got her to reconsider undergoing those treatments.
  
  Now to the faults: As Kethinov pointed out, Melora's appearance is rather unrealistic. A planet with such low gravity would have to be extremely small (smaller than our moon), and would probably hold next to no atmosphere, which would probably make any species living on such a planet A) very tall, and B) able to live on very little air. Melora would probably find the atmospheric pressure on DS9 unbearably high. Maybe her species migrated from some other planet and hadn't evolved past its original humanoid appearance; who knows.
  
  They could have done it some other way; they could have made her born with some genetic muscular defect that required her to live and grow up in a low-gravity environment, but Star Trek, despite its many strengths, has always required a bit of suspension of disbelief. Some more than others.
  
  The other flaw is one not intrinsic to the episode, but another unfortunate theme in Star Trek: we never hear from Melora again. The theme of exploring a romantic interest in an episode only to have it forgotten in the next isn't new (see TNG: Lessons, The Game, etc.), and it's rather irritating! Oh well. I still liked this episode a lot.
  
  
• From Bernard on 2010-06-15 at 10:41pm:
  Solid episode. Great to see Bashir getting some nice character development, also great to see another strong female character in DS9. DS9 was particularly good at independent women but Melora is fantastically prickly, driven and stubborn. Quite similar to Ensign Ro in her first appearance actually, but I have to agree with djb that it is such a shame that we never see her again.
  
  On the down side slightly obvious plot developments lets the rating of this episode slide. I'd give it a 5 or 6.
  
  Again, suspension of disbelief is an absolute requirement when watching Star Trek. I always feel that, as long as they don't break too many of their own rules, then I'm happy with it. If you get too upset by the science of Star Trek then you'll have to switch off every time they use the transporter surely?
• From John on 2012-03-29 at 3:28am:
  While I don't always agree with our host on episode ratings, I completely concur with the 2/10 rating on this one, as well as the reason for such a rating.
  
  The character of Melora is quite irritating, and Bashir, with his constant professions of awe about her gets old pretty quick too.
  
  The high point of the entire episode for me is the Klingon chef -- I wish they had featured him, if not prominently, then more regularly in the later seasons. As it is I don't think they even gave him a name.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2007-11-29 at 3:17pm:
  The remastered episode shows a brightly lit planet. It also appears to be lit on every side (no nightime). Not only is this unrealistic, Spock mentions that the star is that solar system had dimmed out, so if anything the planet should be very dark.
• From Abigail on 2010-05-28 at 3:42am:
  Maybe I'm remembering this wrong (which would speak poorly of my brain, because I just watched it today), but there seemed to be a problem with the sequence of events. As I recall, McCoy discovers the antidote and contacts the bridge. Then Kirk goes to tell Spock to calculate how to leave orbit, and he finds that Spock has been infected. Wouldn't it make sense to get McCoy and/or a hypospray and cure him? Kirk is not yet infected, so he should have the brain power to do so. Instead, he slaps Spock several times, yells at him, and then becomes infected. Not exactly a keen example of problem-solving skills... But then again, one of the big things that bugs me about TOS is everyone's general lack of ability to reason through things. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching a ship full of idiots...
• From Wes on 2011-03-24 at 7:10pm:
  This is also the first instance I recall that we find out that Spock's mother is human. In the previous episode, Spock says that he has human ancestors. So now we know Spock is half human and his mother lives with his father on Vulcan.
• From CAlexander on 2011-04-04 at 1:00am:
  I agree that at the beginning of the episode, it felt like the ship is crewed by idiots. And the ending is beyond belief, I just blot it from my mind. However, the internal portion of the episode is cool. In particular, I thought Kevin O'Reilly was funny, and Nurse Chapel is effective.
  - After rewatching the episode, I have a theory that the red suits they are wearing are cold weather survival suits, not hazmat suits. That would explain why they aren't sealed under the chin. This would make the idiot crewman's actions seem a bit more believable.
  - It seems like TOS was often trying to convey the idea that the Enterprise was crewed, not by the best and brightest of the Federation, but a bunch of average joes attracted by the recruiting posters. Hence the prevalence of foolish actions by the crewmembers.
  - I don't think Kirk was indifferent to the magnitude of the discovery. I think he was trying to make light of the situation as a way to exert leadership. He wasn't going to make any more use of the time warp right at that moment, so he might as well try to snap everyone back to reality and focus their minds on the mundane tasks at hand.
  
• From Mike Meares on 2012-02-10 at 9:52am:
  I agree with the review of “The Naked Time.” But I would still rate it higher than a Five. Despite it’s weaknesses this episode has always been one of my favorites. I never get tire of watching it.
  
  My problem with reviews of the first year of Star Trek TOS is my objectivity. When Star Trek first came out I was 15 years old and the first season made a big impression on me that has never waned over the years.
  
  In The Naked Time there are so many, many scenes that stand out for me.
  
  At the top of this list is the scene with Nimoy’s performance of Spock contracting the disease. Spock's scene with Nurse Chapel is moving and the scene in the briefing room is wonderful. That scene was shot in one take! An Amazing performance by Nimoy!
  
  Another were the scenes with Lt. Kevin Riley played by Bruce Hyde. I adored the character of Kevin Riley and I wish he had been made a regular on the show. He was only in two episodes and I always felt that was a real shame. Riley seem like a real person to me, and someone I could relate to in a way that is hard to explain.
  
  Sulu, Uhura, Chapel and Scotty all had important roles in this episode and that was so great. But I had a problem with Scotty using the Phaser to burn thu the panel to get to the switch to open the door to the engine room manually. Why didn't Scotty just use the Phaser to blast a hole though the engine rool door itself? They could have been in the engine room in seconds!
  
  Also I totally agree with the criticism of the ending. That always bothered me too.
  
  If Riley had indeed turned the engines off, why didn’t the Enterprise immediately fall into the atmosphere and burn up? I know the ending was added for dramatic effect, but I feel it could have been done in a more believable way. I try to gloss over the ending whenever I watch this episode. LOL.
• From Old Fat Trekkie on 2012-02-13 at 5:10am:
  Actually, Mike, a better question would be, "Why would it fall into the atmosphere and burn up at all?" The Enterprise is in orbit around that planet, and requires no power to stay in orbit. It takes years for satellite orbits to decay, and that is from low Earth orbit.
  
  Keep on trek'in,
  Old Fat Trekkie
• From Mike Meares on 2012-02-16 at 11:41pm:
  You are absolutely correct Old Fat Trekkie! We don't exactly know what effect the so-called "break up of the planet" would have had on the Enterprise and it's orbit, but it is clear from the episode that the planet had little or no atmosphere to speed up the orbit decay. So Scotty could have had his "30 mintues" to restart the engines.
  
  Excellent point my man!
• From Strider on 2012-06-27 at 2:08pm:
  Best line: "Take D'Artagnan here to sickbay."
  
  
• From Glenn239 on 2012-09-25 at 1:55pm:
  I gave this one a '5'. The episode was entertaining and well paced, but it asked the viewer to believe too many 'whoppers' along the way. For example, Riley just clears out the engine room that easily? One of the few places on the ship so sensitive that abandoning your post might be a courtmarshall offense, and the whole engine room crew just buggers off on the word of a man who is visibly intoxicated?
  
  
• From Strider on 2012-10-06 at 5:21am:
  Kethinov wrote: "The Naked Time is an effective comedy story mixed with a touching subplot regarding Chapel's unrequited love for Spock whom does not return her affection. He ignores her affection for him not because he does not feel the same for her, but because he feels he is ethically obligated to suppress those feelings because of his Vulcan heritage."
  
  I'm not sure it's entirely because of his Vulcan heritage, although that's an element that's always at play with Spock. We have to remember that Spock's engaged to T'Pring at this time--and Chapel's engaged to Korby (although we don't know if Spock knows that). Not only would Spock suppress any attraction he might have to Christine, he would be honor-bound not to follow up on it because of his bond with T'Pring.
  
  I have a theory that a combination of events in Season 1 are responsible for provoking the onset of Spock's pon farr at the beginning of Season 2. There's this episode, with the aggressive pass by Christine, Mudd's Women (watch Spock's face--no way is he unaffected by those women!), and This Side of Paradise.
  
  
• From Alan Feldman on 2013-02-10 at 2:25am:
  THE NAKED TIME
  
  An episode that's more fun than sensible. Sorry, but it has a lot of problems.
  
  The dead woman at the beginning looks like a mannequin. I think it _was_ a mannequin.
  
  When we see the red fluid jump to Joe Tormolen's hand, it's obviously just dripping down due to gravity with the camera rotated. And we never hear anything about this fluid again. All we get is McCoy saying, "It's water. Somehow on this planet, water's changed to a complex chain of molecules." So what if it has? How does it get into the bloodstream? And it must somehow convert water in the bloodstream to this new form and then emerge in sweat. Yes, complex water that's carried by a red fluid that defies gravity to infect people via perspiration into the bloodstream. Whatever.
  
  Breakup of a planet? Shrinking? Losing mass? That violates conservation of energy (mass being a form of energy), probably the firmest law of physics we know of. Patently ridiculous. Even worse is the care they need to avoid spiraling into the planet. If the mass goes down, so does gravity, even if you intentionally spiral in to maintain the same altitude. So where's the danger? The one saving grace about this is when Kirk orders a hyperbolic orbit, which is real thing: an open-ended orbit. And why does the planet moving up in the view screen mean the ship is getting closer to the planet? How do you make up stuff like this?
  
  Spock to McCoy: "And as for my anatomy being different from yours, I am delighted." Delight is an emotion, no? So much for normal Spock being devoid of emotions. And this is not the only such incident. Well, to be fair, in this episode, he says "he is in control of his emotions". In fact, even as a kid, that was what fascinated me so much about Spock. He was IN CONTROL of his emotions, not emotionless. And, as someone else mentioned, Nimoy does a great scene losing this control and the ability to perform simple arithmetic.
  
  I like the rattling sound we hear whenever a character is rubbing the infected perspiration on their hands. It works very well.
  
  Rand: "Spectral analysis tape, sir." Spock plays the "tape" and it's just a video.
  
  Death by a plain eating knife? If you can keep it straight while using sufficient force, maybe. A respirator without an oxygen supply?
  
  Sulu with the sword is great!
  
  Is there any other episode where Kirk can't leave the bridge because there's no turbo car ready?
  
  Not only did Reilly get everyone out of engineering; he also, despite being punch drunk, took complete control of the ship without a single slipup!
  
  Yep, they should have phasered the door to engineering. I suppose it's a bit risky, though. You don't want anything else to get accidentally vaporized! I mean, how large an area would disappear? Can you isolate it to just the door? What if the door vaporizes before you stop the phaser? Won't the phaser beam then hit what's behind it? This never seems to be a problem on this show, except here.
  
  When the ship suddenly tilts at about 26:20, Nurse Chapel and McCoy fall the wrong way!
  
  I believe we get to see Mr. Spock using a circular slide rule! Please.
  
  Laughing man with the red paint is pretty funny.
  
  Time is wasting when Scotty puts down his torch and argues with Spock about time and safety factors and such.
  
  It's amazing how all the bridge crew know how to work the helm and navigation.
  
  Uhura over the intercom: "Entering planet's outer atmosphere, sir." She says this in a totally calm manner -- as if it were just informational. I believe she does stuff like this in "The Menagerie", too.
  
  So a few violent slaps in the face cures Spock?
  
  This is (I think) the only episode where McCoy can't inject hypo right through a shirt. He has to tear Kirk's uniform to bare his shoulder to give him the shot. Whereas in "The Tholian Web" he injects Jim with hypo right through his space suit!
  
  OK, the ending. Hyperbolic orbit. That's the only scientifically sensible thing in this entire episode.
  
  I don't understand why the ending upsets some viewers. I don't see how it's "irrelevant". They save themselves by "imploding the engines", whatever that means. It's apparently quite exotic physics-wise, so I think it's quite reasonable that something extraordinary should happen after trying an untested formula that has a 1 in 10,000 chance based on known physics. It's basically a side effect, but a big one. I do, however, still find time travel totally absurd. But it's still a fun scene.
  
  Speaking of time travel: Why is the chronometer going backwards? It must be something more than a normal clock mechanism that just runs. It must somehow tap into spacetime itself; otherwise, it would appear to run forward just as everything else does. And it's mechanical! It's just a regular odometer. A motor running some plastic wheels. Why should that go backward just because someone painted some time numbers on it? How does it know that time on the ship is going backward compared to time outside the ship? As a quick aside, it being just a mechanical device at least makes it consistent with the rocker switches you see on many of the control panels throughout the ship.
  
  Now, since they went back 71 hours in time, they'll be in three places at once for that 71-hour period: One going forward "the first time", one going backwards, and then again going forwards "the second time". And at the moment they switch from going back in time to forward in time, they must split into two. And later, one of them, the one that was also going backwards in time, will merge with the first one and disappear. Sounds ridiculous? It is. But draw it on a piece of paper with the a vertical time axis. I'll try below, but it would look best in a fixed-width font.
  
  t B D
  ^ | |
  | | |
  | | |
  | | |
  | A C
  +------------>x
  
  The t line is the time axis, with later times above earlier times; i.e., time goes forward as you go in the upwards direction.
  
  OK, from A to B they go through all the trouble with the complex water. At B they escape from the planet (and hence a change in x), and begin to go back in time. At C they reverse the engines and start going forward in time. So what does this look like to an external observer? The observer will see two ships, one at A and the other at C. Then the one at C will split in two, with the inhabitants going backwards in the B to C branch, and forwards in the C to D branch. And they'll be overlapping each other until they fully separate as they both "depart" from C! At B, two ships will merge and disappear, again with one crew going forward and the other going backward, overlapping each other into oblivion. After this, the ship at D is all that remains, with normal time flow resumed.
  
  This is what you have to believe to believe the time travel exhibited in this episode. Yes, it's plain ludicrous. And it violates conservation of energy. Oh, and you have to explain why this effect is limited to the ship, as it comes from the engines. Is it transmitted through solids? Perhaps it has a limited range with a sharp cutoff. That would do it.
  
  A similar thing does happen with electrons scattering off of photons, sort of. But you get antiparticles annihilating each other at B, which results in an outgoing photon going upwards past B, and an incoming photon turning into an electron-positron pair at C. It turns out that a positron going forward in time is mathematically equivalent to an electron going backwards in time! This is clearly a no-go for macroscopic objects! Plus, in the Star Trek version, there is nothing corresponding to the incoming and outgoing photons.
  
  >----o----<
  
  Orion Pimpdaddy says the lighting on the planet in the remastered version is unrealistic. Not really a surprise. I think the remastered effects are overrated and often actually worse. Take "The Doomsday Machine", for example. Engines visible on the rear view screen? C'mon. The machine slowly tilting downward as it dies? Please. The original got it right.
  
  To Abigail: Yes, McCoy discovered the antidote before Kirk found Spock sobbing in the briefing room. But he told his lab tech, who was off in la-la land, not the bridge. And on top of that, they need time to make the stuff.
  
  AEF, aka betaneptune
• From Schreck on 2013-05-23 at 5:56pm:
  there are some really good parts in this story but it is hampered by the first season jitters which all the series seemed to have gone through while the actors, writers, and crew learned their characters...had this episode been later on in the series i believe it would have garnered a much higher rating...i give it a 7.25 and my brother gives it a 6
• From Dubhan on 2016-12-14 at 8:17am:
  I just re-watched this for the first time in a long time and while I agree that the technical problems detract to some degree I think the character development far outweighs any other issues.
  
  Here we have the first appearance of Christine Chapel, along with her love for Spock; a significant step forward in the dynamic between Kirk, Spock, & McCoy - especially in the razzing Bones gives Spock over his green blood and bizarre vital signs; significant insight into the character of Sulu - some of which never really gets revisited until the Abrams reboots; Kirk pining over Rand; Uhura playing off everyone; and a fantastic performance by Bruce Hyde as the sadly underused Riley.
  
  This is also *the* day that Kirk admits to himself that he is in love (above all) to the ship - The Enterprise - that he will never let go. This plays out through the series and the movies.
  
  The emotional and character content of this episode far outweighs any other issues it may have and elevates this episode to at least an 8 for me.
• From Chris Long on 2020-11-13 at 1:22am:
  Aside from the sheer incompetence of Joe down on the planet, the producers felt it was a good idea for him to stab himself with a butter knife?!?!? Actually, a butter knife would be a little more dangerous than the piece of standard flatware at any dinner table!
  
  ... and how can McCoy come to the absurd conclusion that he didn't want to live!?! Come on, man!!!
  
  ... and then how does a planet just up and lose mass without flinging chunks off into space or something weird?
  
  Thank god that O'Reilly saved the show!!!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From kaser on 2010-05-13 at 9:58pm:
  This episode is sub-par to say the least. The language is stilted, the jokes lame. The fight scenes are badly directed. The cheap costumes and mis-en-scene furnishings seem to bear the dust of the studio B closet. The story is jumbled and poorly told. A felinephobiac might get a brief thrill from the screeching catwoman but there is otherwise little dramatic effect to this careless production. The deflating of the shabby bird-like marionettes are a fitting ending to this mess. How did Shatner keep from giggling through his final speech?
• From Old Fat Trekkie on 2011-12-10 at 2:35am:
  Oh just had to mention it. This was the first episode shot in the second season. Assignment Earth was the last. Did any one else notice that in both of these episodes a cat turns into a chick?

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Wolfgang on 2008-05-20 at 10:58pm:
  Why did they make this episode? It's not even science-fiction, and certainly not Star Trek. Just a waste of time. If they wanted to put some spotlight on Crusher, why not give her a good episode...
• From Paul on 2010-08-18 at 12:43pm:
  I am Scottish so yet again I am forced to listen to the worst american versions of Scottish accents I've ever heard
  
  Also if they were trying to recreate the Scottish highlands why did they use stones from Glasgow and Edinburgh?
• From Tallifer on 2011-03-13 at 9:36am:
  I like stories where the ghosts are shown to be tricks, hallucinations, dreams, mere legends or hoaxes. That is the triumph of rationality which is fitting in a science fiction universe.
  
  I hate stories where ghosts are explained by nonsensical pseudo-science. Which is more rational? The spirits of dead people haunting the world and possessing the living, or "anaphasic" aliens using "plasma" candles as foci and inhabiting people with green energy? Neither is rational of course, and the latter is just as stupid as television psychics and alien abductions.
• From thaibites on 2013-01-05 at 2:50am:
  Another one for the ladies. I think Dr. Beverly actually had a couple orgasms during this episode, which is pretty daring for TNG.
  At least this one was better than the episode where where Dr. Beverly fell in love with a big intestinal sea cucumber.
• From L on 2013-05-02 at 2:26am:
  Beverly's performance was quite, um, erotic. It was clear what form the energy alien's 'gift' to her took. Her aura of post-coital bliss/addict with a fix was quite convincing.
  
  There was nothing particularly wrong with the relationship as it seemed quite symbiotic, it could have worked quite fine in other circumstances. It did however make Beverly act like an irrational addict and cut ties to her friends.
  But really this was just an excuse for a gothic genre episode. Worth it for Beverly's performance.
  
• From Sloganlogo on 2014-04-30 at 8:22pm:
  small trivia…In the first Scene after the titles between Troi and Beverly you can clearly see a grave stone with the name McFly…The scene ends with Beverly asking Troi to walk with her to visit a house and off the go.
  
  In the next scene Picard is chatting to a Colony local and in the background you can clearly see Troi in the background walking right to left. She ends up in the same position she was in the the last scene. I suspect they swapped the two scenes about.
  
• From rendraG on 2015-01-08 at 7:32pm:
  Great ghosty fun with lots of olde world sets. Nice to see Picards almost death for love to overcome passion and the spell Ronin had casted over Beverly and her unfortunate but clearly sexually exhausted ancestors.
  
  Ronins emotional and sexual domination of Beverly combined with the sensual acting of Gates McFadden make this the naughtiest episode in all of Star Trek. Woof.
  
  
  
• From Keefaz on 2017-02-18 at 11:45pm:
  Amazingly rotten episode. Absolute guff from start to finish. The bizarre Scottish colony which has 25th century power and weather stabilisation facilities but also candles, open fires, dusty books and so on. Weird accents. Ghost sex. The creepy revelation the ghost has been preying on every female ancestor of Beverley.
  
  A terrible episode, then, but one that is so odd and singular that it doesn't diminish the series as you couldn't even consider it a Star Trek episode.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-06-17 at 4:12am:
  When Worf goes to retrieve Okona, he find's him on deck 7. We know this because the first two numbers on the woman's door are "07." Yet when Worf and Okona walk out of the room and onto a turbolift, they are now on deck 11 (the door says "11"). Wrong door markings or did they take a side trip we didn't see?
• From Jon on 2008-09-01 at 3:11am:
  Navigational shields are shields projected ahead of the ship by the deflector dish to protect the ship from damage by micro-particles, space dust and other small debris that could cause catastrophic damage to a ship traveling at high speeds, relatavistic or warp.
• From Razorback on 2009-06-22 at 3:50pm:
  I agree with jon. It would make sense that all warp vessels have them.
• From Daniel Blessing on 2009-09-18 at 3:35pm:
  You stated, and asked...
  "- Picard: "Lasers do not even penetrate our navigational shields." What the hell are navigation shields?"
  
  Navigation shields are the shields the ship uses to move aside space particles, dust, micro meteorites, e.t.c. while traveling. I am not 100% certain, but I believe they are powered by the main deflector. The power output required to keep them up and running is so minimal in terms of what the ship can generate, they are actually tied into life support systems. They are always up and running as long as life support is functional.
  
  This may however be the only time they are actually called "Navigational Shields." Silly Picard.. =]
• From Matt on 2010-07-17 at 10:33pm:
  I think navigational shields are low powered shields that protect the ship's hull from various floating debris and radiation. They aren't shields powerful enough to stop phasers however.
• From CAlexander on 2011-03-23 at 9:27pm:
  I can't exactly commend this episode, but it was amusing. It feels as though there wasn't really a script; the director just got up and said, "The premise of this episode is that Okona is a Loveable Scoundrel. Everyone act accordingly. Now improvise!"
• From One mooo on 2012-02-21 at 6:27am:
  
  Perhaps it is because I have seen this episode half a dozen times before but the comic guy scenes are actually painful for me to watch. I would call this a so so episode. With a rating of meh.
• From Chantarelle on 2014-06-29 at 9:16am:
  I'm not sure if it's coz I'm a girl, but I loved this ep. I agree that it was meh, and somewhat unremarkable, but that scoundrel was just too fun, and too damn cute not to enjoy. I wouldn't have cared if he was knocking up half of the galaxy, I just wish they'd put him in the same amount of clothing that the women from TOS had to wear ;-)
• From Diane on 2015-06-20 at 4:24pm:
  Liked Okana and that TOS-ish storyline. Agree that the comic scenes are painful and that storyline feels like a worst night at the improv.
• From jeffenator98 on 2019-10-25 at 5:16pm:
  Excruciating. 0/10
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-14 at 6:27am:
  "Well, the unexpected IS our normal routine."
  
  Data's explorations around humor in this episode are interesting and often entertaining. The way he moves his hands while telling a joke gets me laughing every time. And I like how he can't be funny on purpose, but keeps being accidentally funny. "My timing is digital!"
  
  I do feel like humor could be explained better. There's been a lot of theorizing about what makes people laugh, and it would have been interesting if they had dug into that a little more. Everyone is giving him examples, but nobody gives him theory that he could really dig into.
  
  Some of it was odd, like Data's line "jump around like an idiot," which seems out of character. You can also spot visible disappointment when he realizes the crowd is programmed to laugh. I continue to wonder if Data's clear expression of hope and/or letdown around his understanding of humanity is intentional or not.
  
  Data's habit of asking about a term he's not immediately familiar with, then looking it up in his own databanks and answering his own question, is getting pretty old. They did it in the pilot ("snoop"), they've done it a few times since, and they do it here ("rogue"). And then he runs at the mouth. Why, writers?? Why would Data ask a question when he has access to the answer?
  
  If you freeze frame right when Picard says "terminate communications" with the two other ships, both the men on the screen raise their arms up at the same time. Nice touch.
• From MJ on 2023-01-17 at 7:03am:
  "A monk, a clone, and a Ferengi decided to go bowling together..."
  
  My rating for this episode, and the entire TNG series, takes a slight hit because we never get the punchline for this joke. At the very least, they could've made this the joke that Data finally "gets" when Geordi installs his emotion chip in the movie "Generations."
  
  Anyway, this is standard TNG Season 1-2. It's light and entertaining, a semi-interesting plot, but no real substance or intellectual delivery like we'll get in the later seasons. It doesn't suck, but it's not amazing. I think "5" is a very fair rating.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Abigail Chappell on 2018-02-20 at 10:47pm:
  I agree with everything you said, but I guess I'm not as profoundly disappointed as you -- primarily because I didn't have that high of expectations to begin with. And I still argue that it's a HUGE improvement over the last couple of movies, which were pure garbage. With my expectations set amazingly low by those films, this TV series has cleared the low bar. :)
  
  My thoughts on the final episode echo some of what you said. It's absurd that they let Georgiou out of confinement and in charge of a starship. That made no sense at all.
  
  I also thought the end of the war was incredibly abrupt. I mean, it didn't make much sense anyway, the way the Klingon faction were all fighting with each other, unorganized and divided, yet they could easily overpower the Federation anyway. But it was like all the episodes showed them losing the war, and things just getting worse and worse -- and then BAM! Nevermind, war over, we won! It just left me feeling like, "Huh? What just happened?"
  
  But, having said that, I'm glad that the war ended, because I'd like for Season 2 to focus on something new and different. I didn't want the war to continue another season. So although I would like for them to have ended it more soundly, I'll take it.
  
  The minutes at the end with a voiceover by Burnham were pretty cheesy. It was trying to be deep and meaningful, but it just came off as ... well, cheesy!
  
  I'm also kind of stuck on how this series is supposed to take place around the same time as the original series (right?), but they are SO MUCH more technologically advanced, based upon the aesthetics of the bridge and the way monitors work (things popping up in the air -- like a magical touch screen?). Obviously this has to do with the era in which the show was produced, but it's odd.
  
  Despite all my grumbling, I actually am looking forward to season 2 and shall continue to watch.
• From Claus on 2018-02-21 at 9:55pm:
  The second half of season 1 is very entertaining and far better than the first 9 episodes. It's kind of a copy of the "Agents of Hydra" part of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4, complete with evil counterpart of the main characters and uplinking people to "The Network". It's extremely fun to watch, and I like that this "Mirror arch" consists of several episodes and not just one or two.
  
  Normally in Star Trek, phaser gun fights are a little boring, since you always know the outcome. Main characters are never killed, unless there are a reset button in the end. But hey, Star Trek Discovery is nothing like other ST series. They dare to do the unexpected. I love it then things are not predictable. Ok, you might argue that people behave irrationally, and that ST Discovery is far from the "real" Star Trek spirit. But I certainly prefer something fresh and unpredictable than just the usual stuff.
  
  Episode 13 is the best episode of the season, and I just love evil Georgiou.
• From tigertooth on 2018-03-27 at 8:59pm:
  Everything about Starfleet's interaction with evil Georgiou was terrible. Besides what has already been mentioned, the entire crew of Discovery knows she was killed. The entire crew knows that there are mirrors of everybody in the mirror universe. But nobody could put two and two together to figure out this was mirror Georgiou?

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-08-17 at 1:17am:
  This is another annoying "Voyager might go home in season 3" episode. However, the connection with the TNG episode was absolutely brilliant and extremely fun to watch. AWESOME way to bring closure to that TNG episode. And of all the ways to be foiled out of returning to the alpha quadrant, it's at the hands of those damn Ferengi! :)
• From Tallifer on 2011-04-09 at 2:47am:
  Janeway constantly reminds me of those British officials of the Raj in India who refused to go native in any way, giving rise to the expression, "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." She often makes stupid decisions only for the sake of upholding an inflexible and narrow idea of Federation values. Kirk was a Federation captain too: could she not model herself after a hero of the Federation rather than some ineffective armchair admiral?
• From Inga on 2013-08-26 at 10:56am:
  The thing is, there really was a risk of damaging the culture by abducting their "gods", so I at least understand why she made that decision. Of course, the part with the Ferengi owerpowering the ship's security is beyond ridiculous, but this is the writers', not the Captain's fault.
  
  @Tallifer In 'Flashback' Janeway mentioned that Kirk lived in a "different time", where the Captains could get away with things they wouldn't be able to in the 24th century, so that might be one of the reasons she wouldn't model herself after Kirk.
• From thaibites on 2014-01-31 at 7:50am:
  I'm not sure, but I think they said the wormhole ends would pop up sporadically in different places on BOTH ends after the Ferengi destabilized it. I think this adds a nice touch to the story because the Ferengi might end up millions of light years away from their home. Maybe they wouldn't even go to the alpha quadrant? If I'm right, it's an appropriate punishment for them.
  Also, I loved the boob shots in the beginning - camera low, with the bottom of the boobs uncovered, standing directly behind the Ferengi sitting on his throne. It's the most "remarkable scene" in the episode.
• From Sylvain on 2015-04-13 at 8:28am:
  Janeway is clearly suffering from plot induced stupidity here though. It was obvious Voyager wouldn't be getting back to the Alpha Quadruant yet, and ofcourse the Ferengi couldn't just be left alone exploiting people like that either.
• From tigertooth on 2016-09-17 at 4:17am:
  I'm pretty okay with suspending disbelief, and it wasn't a huge problem here, but let's be honest: there's no way a universal translator could fool a primitive society. It would look like an overdubbed movie. There's no way the speaker's lips would look like the words they were hearing.
  
  Granted, that speaks to all ST episodes, but I'm willing to overlook the fact that Cardassians and Romulans should look like a kung-fu film. It's just better visually for them to speak English.
  
  And that's why I'm fine with human-looking aliens. The fact is that they needed a lot of extras and making them all up (including the Starfleeters who beam down) would have eaten into the budget. So they just make them look like humans. If that means they can put more money into sets or effects or whatever, I'm good with it.
• From Chuck the Canuck on 2023-07-04 at 1:02pm:
  How do these dimwitted Ferengi always manage to outsmart or outmaneuver Federation security? It happened in TNG episodes "Rascals" and "The Perfect Mate" and now here. These two couldn't hit someone right in front of them with a giant sword, and we're supposed to believe they overpowered a security guard and somehow managed to shoot open a shuttle bay?
  
  And worst of all, as pointed out in the original review, they manage to persuade Janeway that removing them would somehow damage the fragile culture of the planet. Unreal...as if the inhabitants wouldn't come up with a supernatural explanation for the sudden disappearance of their "Sages".
  
  So, actually, this is a pretty bad episode for Tuvok. Two Ferengi manage to overpower his security officers and outdo him at the logic game.
  
  The only good thing about this episode is continuity with "The Price" which was a cool idea and made sense. But it's typical Voyager: take a great premise for an episode and execute it poorly.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Tony on 2008-09-23 at 4:09am:
  Quick Factoid: This was the second pilot episode created for the series; “The Cage” was rejected, but the series was given a chance to create a second pilot and they made this, obviously, it was accepted.
  And now for my review. I felt that this was a great episode, technical issues aside. It was engaging, and had an interesting situation. According to Wikipedia (Memory Alpha), the fist fight was what got this episode accepted, but that is hardly the best part.
• From curt on 2010-04-06 at 4:06pm:
  Again this is you being way to hard on the seies. We all know that this episode has its faults, but keep in mind its the 2nd pilot. Even the characters have not been fully created. And you call it cliche because of it's godlike premise, but this episode was made before Charile X. So I would say Charlie X is more cliche(Although I do like Charlie X). I know thats not the way it aired but you cant take anything away from an episode just because what order you watch them. Like the episode in Voyager season 1 where they try to get home, by going through a wormhole or someshit. If it bothers you to much, just watch them in a different order. Why cant people look over little plotholes and enjoy the overall story. Its not real life you know.
• From john bernhardt on 2010-04-27 at 3:07am:
  An alternate edit of this episode is available on the recent Star Trek Third Season Blu-Ray.
  This includes a new intro and alternative opening monologue from Shatner along with different music cues and some never aired footage.
• From CAlexander on 2011-04-04 at 12:22am:
  I feel that this episode was OK, but could could been better. The way it is paced feels odd to me, sort of flat. We have very little time to see what Gary's original personality is, then he becomes a threat. They talk about his escalation of power being geometric, but it doesn't feel geometric at all – he instantly becomes a creepy supermind, then very slowly gains new powers. On the plus side, Gary does a good job of acting creepy and disturbing, without being so obviously bonkers that you want to kill him right away. And I felt for poor Kirk – how do you put your best friend to death because he is weird right now, but you think it is likely he will become an unstoppable menace in the future? It violates all normal laws and morals.
  - Problem: After Gary is knocked unconscious, he has to stand upright on the transporter pad in order to be transported. It looks pretty weird.
  - The psychiatrist seems to be about as good at psychiatry as the redshirts are at security. She does nothing useful! At least she makes up for it at the end by zapping Gary with her god powers. I liked that part.
  
• From Robert Koenn on 2011-08-03 at 6:57pm:
  I found this episode to be fairly good. It's main theme was most definitely scifi core stuff and for being the first episode of this new series at the time was quite good. I gave it a six. Of course there were flaws, even a perfect episode has flaws but the overall theme and plot were very good. It was to me one of those more esoteric plots of the far future. A bit along the lines of some of the early Clarke conjectural stories. There are other episodes like Trouble with Tribbles that use the scifi universe for a fun time but this used it for a very intelligent plot and interesting story. Just my thoughts, hardly a big favorite but still fairly good.
• From Mike Meares on 2012-02-07 at 10:17am:
  I am not sure I would call “Where No Man Has Gone Before” a flop, but I do agree it could have been better.
  
  The odd thing about this episode was although it wasn’t the first one aired it was one of the first ones I saw. It really drew me into the Star Trek world and it will always have a warm spot in my heart.
  
  I do agree with the criticisms here but like someone pointed out it was the second pilot. But watching it now you can really see how the episode is struggling to form the ideas and characters that were later to develop into Star Trek.
  
  The episode feels a little like Phase Two ( but much more professional of course ) in that it seems a little raw and uneven.
  
  But one scene stills stand out for me in this one.
  
  The scene in the Briefing Room with Kirk and Spock talking about what to do with Mitchell. That scene still gets to me.
  
  When Spock says, “Then you have one other option, kill him while you still can,” that still floors me. I can’t think of another TV show that would ask our hero to commit murder. Very powerful.
  
  Although I do agree not one of the best episodes but still pretty good.
• From Glenn239 on 2012-10-04 at 3:44pm:
  A '6'
  
  Gary from Where No Man Has Gone Before is more interesting than the later “Q” or Trelane, but the Godlike powers he evolves and adversarial relationship with Kirk are a dead-end combination, as the ending to this episode showed. Gary was much more interesting to me in sick bay reading quickly and making observations about why the impulse engines were going to blow up than he was later strutting around the planet. They should have toned down Gary’s powers, make the relationship between him and Kirk as much distrusting as it is adversarial, give him vulnerability and a common problem to solve. Maybe even have Gary survive, though we’d certainly have to drop him off at a starbase rather than seeing the egotistical Shatner put up in the rest of the series with a rival that is in every way his equal.
  
  I liked the strong female lead, even though that character’s opinions were unhelpful whenever they weren’t wrong. Shades of Troi, with the strong ESP thing. Pity the show didn’t stick to there being a strong female lead. I also liked seeing the evolution from the original plot to the second pilot. You can literally see the production team fixing one problem after another – casting, sets, props, uniforms – as they go, and their alterations are invariably steps in the right direction.
  
• From Schreck on 2013-05-23 at 5:23pm:
  this second pilot has a lot of continuity errors, and i find it weird that the studio didn't like the first pilot because it was called "too cerebral" yet, they liked this one...i still think gary mitchell would have made a better story line than kahn for into darkness...i give it a 6.5 and my brother a 7...
• From john on 2014-03-31 at 11:23pm:
  This was a great episode. One of my favorites. It shows the fascination and desire for power inherent in all of us but that that goal is ultimately corrupted by human nature. Good production values, action sequences and dramatic story of Gary's escalating powers and the ambiguity in morality of how to deal with it.
• From jd_juggler on 2015-03-22 at 1:48pm:
  This episode did not establish kirk's full name as James R. Kirk; it established that Gary Mitchell THOUGHT that was kirk's full name. And nowhere in the original series is kirks full middle name given.

No fan commentary yet.

No fan commentary yet.

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From fan ive on 2009-12-26 at 11:31pm:
  you asked why didn't the reptilians and the insectoids just abduct one.
  probably because they didn't wanted to be exposed, and so they tried to do it in more discrete way

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion on 2011-03-06 at 7:21pm:
  This episode has no entertainment value, expect for a few unintentional laughs. You have child actors who come across as brats. Yeah, I know, they were being controled by an outside force, but man, these kids are annoying. Later on, in a forced scene the kids become sad, which is unintentionally hilarious due to all the fake crying.
  
  After two crewmembers die, there'e really no sign of remorse. Also, nodody helped Uhura when she "saw her own death." She spent the whole episode staring into the mirror and crying.
  
  Of course, the most chessy thing about the episode is the mind control via fist pumping.
  
  On a quick note, the Blu-Ray upgrade didn't change too much. The knives floating through space still look the same, even though the disc seems to indicate otherwise (it prompts you to change toggle between old and new effects, but the knives look the same either way)
• From Bobby on 2011-08-21 at 6:45pm:
  That bit where Mr. Spock says, "we may have to kill the children" ...
  
  Nonsense! Just cut their arms off where they can't make that motion with their fists. :) That'll fix it.
  
• From Abigail on 2012-05-31 at 11:27pm:
  At the end of this episode, I had reached a few conclusions:
  - Children are obviously much easier to manipulate than I'd ever realized. Now I'm unsure why teachers struggle so much with classroom management. Clearly it takes very little to convince them of something, and then of the exact opposte.
  - Children from the future are always incredibly annoying. A great many Star Trek episodes have shown me that.
  - I need to know where the girl with the blonde pigtails got her jumpsuit. I think it would look remarkably good on me.
• From Strider on 2012-06-25 at 2:43pm:
  Every bit as bad as I'd read it would be. There was one nice moment in the turbolift when Jim was having his "I've lost command" breakdown, and for some reason begins to strangle Spock, and Spock just says, "Jim." Jim gets himself together and breaks the spell. I live for those moments of connection between characters.
  
  But right before that...what was Spock seeing/experiencing that made him defy Kirk's orders? All he said was "I don't think we need to trouble Starfleet" or something. If Spock's fears came alive on the bridge, I would expect to see either Jim dying or Spock's emotions burst out of control.
  
  And why does the Communications Officer have a mirror at her console as big as any one of her computer screens? Seems unprofessional at best.
  
  Anyway, I spent a good 2/3 of the episode thinking "Stun them with your phaser! Use the Vulcan nerve pinch! Sedate them, for God's sake!" I may have yelled it to the screen a time or two, actually.
• From Glenn239 on 2012-09-26 at 2:04pm:
  A ‘2’. A bad episode of Star Trek is like a plane crash; a series of unrelated errors cascading into catastrophic failure. No doubt with a longer production schedule and better judgment this episode could have been much better. Perhaps Freiberger was more inclined to step on mines that Roddenberry may have avoided.
  
  In ‘The Thing’ a group of scientists isolated in the Antarctic stumble across a wrecked camp where, judging from the bodies, things had obviously ended quite badly. Then have to deal with a malevolent alien presence which infects their camp by way of the sole survivor, a dog. Part of the awesomeness to the story is that the dead guys from the first camp leaving a handy video log that is just incomplete enough to perfectly develop the plot.
  
  And the Children Shall Lead is also that story. But The Thing was magnificent while it sucked. Mistake 1 was the kids; using child actors is always a risk since most of them can’t act. Find one kid that can act, you are lucky. Find four or five? The odds of that must be astronomical, like flipping a deck of playing cards in the air and having them land all stacked in perfect sequence. Mistake 2 was the villian; he looked stupid, he dressed stupid, he had stupid motives, and he died stupidly. (Actually, with the poofy hair and cheezy plastic see-through poncho he comes across like he was always being summoned from the ghost beauty salon) He wants to conquer the galaxy? So now it’s cross-dressing ghost Hitler? Um, ok. Mistake 3 was the baffoonish interplay between the kids and the crew of the ship. I don’t care if Sulu is afraid of swords and I don’t care that he’s too stupid to figure out it must be an illusion. Next stop, catastrophic failure.
  
  If Star Trek ever got an ‘episode mulligan’, this might be the one. Ditch the kids but keep the premise. I think it’s Kirk who said, ‘We may have to kill the children’. Now there’s an interesting idea. Back in the 1960’s there was an awesome short story called ‘The Counterfeit Man’. In it, the ship’s doctor decided he had to murder a crew member he suspected was an alien. He had no evidence and nobody else believed him, but ‘spaced’ him anyway, (blew him out an airlock in a great sequence where the alien, still looking like a dude, pleaded with him not to). What an awesome premise – what if Kirk or McCoy concluded they had to kill a survivor who looked human based on the hunch that they were actually an alien?
  
• From Alan Feldman on 2012-10-19 at 1:55am:
  "And the Children Shall Lead"
  
  How did Kirk know Gorgan's name? It's not mentioned at all before Kirk asked Spock to play back the tape.
  
  Kethinov: You ask for more sets, more characters, more entertainment value. You forgot "more money". According to what those involved said, they had a very low budget for the third season. They spoke of doing "ship shows", shooting most of an episode on the ship to save money. Speaking of money, it seems like they spent a lot more money on the pilots than on any of the regular episodes! Maybe it's because you only do a pilot once -- okay, in this case, twice!
  
  AEF
• From Colin Pearce on 2013-03-20 at 4:04pm:
  Although I agree that this episode is far from the best (in fact, it’s in my 3 worst episodes list), a common criticism / misconception is that Uhura has a mirror on her console.
  
  He reflection, both young and old, is intended to be displayed on her console screen, not a mirror. The mirror was obviously used by the production crew to save time and money rather than superimposing her young image onto her console screen, as her older image actually was. When Kirk goes to comfort her, there is clearly no mirror on her console, only readouts. Only she can see the image, just like only Sulu can see the swords on the viewscreen.
  
  The use of the mirror was sloppily done, but the intention of the production crew was that she was looking at her console. The remastering team should definitely have fixed this flaw, but once again they miss another instance requiring an easy fix.
  
• From Alan Feldman on 2013-04-03 at 2:15am:
  More on "And the Children Shall Lead"
  
  Re the "mirror": Yes, the first shot clearly shows a real mirror. But it's a very short shot -- only a second or two. Plus I think it's safe to say it was assumed that people were watching it on not very large, standard def televisions from at least several feet away. So they probably thought they could get away with such a short shot. And they probably did. Watching it in my youth, I didn't notice anything funny. I think I was fixated on the image and the story and so didn't notice the mirror vs. display aspect of it. It just seemed like a mirror to me with her mirror image aged by "the beast within her".
  
  Interestingly, in that shot, we see Uhura centered, which means she probably couldn't see herself! (Notice also that the mirror doesn't quite line up with the console display behind it.)
  
  I think there's another reason they used an actual mirror for the first shot. Notice that it's used only for _young_ Uhura. By using an actual mirror it is quickly established that she's seeing a reflection of herself. It also produces an extremely accurate (!) reflection (except for the angle bit). Then the second shot shows old Uhura on the console display, and we have already assumed there's a mirror, or something functioning as a mirror, there somehow. I'm guessing this is to make up in part for the motions of real and imagined Uhura not matching up quite right. And perhaps also to make it clear she's looking at herself, as old Uhura looks so different!
  
  Keep in mind that they had a very small budget for the third season, or so they've claimed.
  
  This episode still has its fun moments.
  
  So what's with the food cards? How is it that with only a handful of 3-inch wooden squares you can have almost any variety of food you want? This has always struck me as rather odd, to say the least. In this episode, the last kid asks for chocolate marble and pistachio. Nurse Chapel picks a card and is about to put it in the slot when the kid interjects, "And peach". Well, she has a card for that, too -- but out of only two cards, no less!
  
  This happens in other episodes. For example, there's the scene in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" where Kyle asks the sergeant what he'd like to eat. The sergeant says "chicken soup". Then Kyle, who is holding only four wooden cards, just happens to have one for chicken soup. Am I missing something here?
  
  AEF, aka betaneptune

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Bob Dalley on 2008-02-05 at 1:27am:
  In this episode when Kirk is on the planet, his uniform has no insignia and even when he and his twin beam up there are no insignia on the uniform. A few scenes later, both Kirks have the insignia on their uniforms. Just wanted to point out this error. You may want to add this to your review.
• From Mark J on 2008-03-16 at 10:58pm:
  Shuttles were not introduced to starships until around the 'Galileo Seven' episode, which is rather later in Season 1. There was no fanfare to this effect as far as I know.
  
  Apart from perhaps being a little campy, and Shatner eating the scenery (which I quite enjoyed) and the production mistakes (scratches etc) I thought this was a wonderful episode, especially linking the two halves in with Spock's Vulcan/Human ancestry. OK so the pooch was nothing more than a plot device (where did it come from) but this is more than overwritten by the analysis of a man dealing with loss and the fear that he could lose his crew and himself.
• From TashaFan on 2008-09-09 at 1:10pm:
  I think the lack of insignia on Kirk's shirt is no accident. Since the evil Kirk is supposed to be a mirror image of the good Kirk (I believe the part in his hair is reversed when he first materializes) the insignia on the wrong side of the chest would have made it too obvious that something was wrong to anyone who saw him... I believe this error was deliberate to prevent a bigger problem that would have created a plot hole. The fact that they had to keep reversing the film also accounts for the confusion with the scratches on Kirk's face, most likely. As for not using the shuttle, I remember as a child yelling that at Spock... of course he couldn't hear me. :)
• From 411314 on 2009-06-15 at 1:43am:
  "They could have ruled shuttles out with an easy one liner, such as the atmosphere having a corrosive effect on shuttle hulls..."
  
  Even then, they should have explained why they didn't beam shelter down to Sulu and the other men on the planet to keep them safe untill they could rescue them. I mean, what was the worst that could happen, that the shelter would split into two of itself?
• From Andrew James on 2009-11-18 at 10:34pm:
  I loved the use of camera filters to make the "good" Kirk look beautific.
• From CAlexander on 2011-04-07 at 5:32am:
  I agree, I've always felt the concept here is better than the execution. I've been trying to analyze why. They talk about how it provides fascinating insight on a man's character. What we see is one Kirk with moments of painful indecision, and another Kirk who is decisive but ruled by emotions of lust, hate, and fear. Which I suppose is what they were going for. I think my problem is that I never felt these were two halves of Kirk. I felt that the Good Kirk was the real Kirk. Especially since he is only occasionally indecisive, and it never really hurts him much during the episode, he either gets help from his friends or uses his intellect to overcome it. While the bad Kirk feels like an imposter, not like the real Kirk at all (although he sure is the real Shatner!). We don't really learn anything meaningful about Kirk's character as promised, we see an episode where the crew has to deal with an evil doppelganger of the captain while the captain is suffering from a personal crisis. Which is OK, but not that great. It feels like a few good scenes and a lot of wasted time.
  
  - To 411314: I don't think we know enough about the exact conditions on the planet to complain about how they were keeping warm. They do seem to have beamed down thermal cloaks. Perhaps the crew found it more effective to sit right on the phaser-heated rocks rather than inside the structurally unsound duplicated shelters sent by the ship.
  
• From Mike Meares on 2012-02-17 at 3:49pm:
  "The Enemy Within is story with a high minded idea but poorly executed characterization." - I feel like there is a pattern developing here? lol.
  
  I thoughly enjoy your reviews Kethinov but I sense there is a little "this could have been done better" making it's way into almost every review. I just think this could be said about almost any TV show, especially one made 50 years prior to today.
  
  Despite all the criticisms listed here ( and again they are all valid ) I enjoy this episode very much. I rate it a 5 and I really wish I could rate it higher but the errors are far to glaring to ignore.
  
  I watched this episode again for the 100th time and I still enjoy it. But the techincal errors during the fliming are still a little irritating.
  
  But I beleive the lack of insignia on Kirk's shirt IS, indeed, an accident. When the "other" Kirk first materializes in the transporter room his hair is correctly parted on the left side. The flim was not reversed during this scene nor during the "teaser". So there would have been no need to leave off the insignia.
  
  In fact, the only time I think the flim was reversed was towards the end of the episode when the "kirk's" have their face off on the bridge. The close up of the other "Kirk" was reversed becasue the scratches are on the wrong side of his face. However, I feel this was done by the flim editor who realized that the scene was shot from the wrong angle and corrected it by reversing the flim. ( I guess they were hoping nobody would notice the scratches on the wrong cheek! lol. ) Also in this scene the top part of Kirk's face is cut from view so you really can't tell the part in his hair. It is still a mystery to me as to why the flim editor felt the need to reverse the film. They wanted the other "Kirk" looking left to right instead of right to left. But why is still a mystery?
  
  And the reason I think the lack of insignia was a big mistake was the fact that during the "teaser" neither Kirk had an insignia and during the first scene after that in the transporter room with crewman Wilson the other "Kirk" had no insignia. But the very next scene of Scotty escorting a dazed Kirk to his cabin there is an insignia on his shirt! In fact, from that moment on both "Kirks" have their insignias.
  
  The flim editing was extremely poor in this episode! I could name several scenes that are clearly out of place and moved around. If you are going to move scenes around at least make it look normal.
  
  Despite this though there are a few things I like about this episode. And, again, for me it is the develpoment of the secondary characters. I like the idea of two men manning the transporter. Wilson is a good character, as well as Fisher and Farrow as well. But just like Riley, they were on a couple of episodes and then gone. Too bad.
  
  Also several scenes stand out for me. When Spock tells Kirk he doesn't have the right to be vernable in the eyes of the crew that was very powerful. And again towards the end of the episode Spock explains "being spilt into two halves is no theory" for him. Great scene.
  
  And I resist calling the other "Kirk" evil because I don't think that is correct. Like Dr. McCoy said in the episode that the other "Kirk" isn't "really evil, he's human!" That whole explanation during that scene by the doctor is so great. McCoy was right. Both "Kirks" were the real Kirk.
  
  I don't feel the episode is a waste. But it definitely has it's problems. I do feel that with some rewriting and better flim editing this could have been an outstanding Star Trek episode.
  
  A small nitpick of mine. When Spock says "Thermal Heaters were transporter down, they duplicated. They won't operate." I have to ask myself, If I duplicate a piece of equipment why won't it work? The Transporter Malfunction seemed to be duplicating everything and separting their emotions. Eh........Manchines don't have emotions..... Hello!
  
  
  
  
• From Kethinov on 2012-02-18 at 9:08am:
  Of course "this could have been done better" makes its way into almost every review. Otherwise every episode would get a 10! :)
  
  For most episodes it's the reason for and degree to which it could have been better that's interesting to analyze. Anything else would just be shameless gushing or bashing.
  
  Since most people come here to find which episodes were the best (or worst) of Star Trek, I try to write carefully balanced reviews and highlight both the good and the bad in each episode.
  
  The rating will thus generally be weighted against the "what worked" and "what could have been better" analyses. The pattern is quite deliberate.
• From Ken on 2012-07-25 at 12:09pm:
  I believe Mike Meares has it correct. The scratches on the other side of the face, were a result of shooting bad Kirk's scene from the wrong angle. I believe they realized that his character would not have been speaking in the correct direction, so they had to reverse the image to make it seem so. However, putting the scratches on the other side of the face was even more noticable.
• From warpfactor 10.1 on 2012-08-08 at 10:19pm:
  One of the many splendid things about this episode is the animal that is presumably from the surface of the planet. Not only is it able to stand temperatures of - 120 at night but, remarkably, it also looks a bit like an earth dog onto which someone has stuck a horn and antennas.
  A little known piece of trivia is that when Margaret Thatcher was looking to use a Star Trek episode title as a catch phrase to demonise the trade unions she had decided on 'The devil in the dark' before Sir Geoffrey Howe, an avid Star Trek fan, convinced the rest of the cabinet that they should use 'The enemy within' instead. She never forgave him.
• From Glenn239 on 2012-11-06 at 4:44pm:
  ‘5’
  
  Sulu: We’re freezing to death down here captain. Can you send us a shuttle?
  
  Kirk: No, don’t be absurd. We can’t do that. We don’t want to break up our set. You don’t want us to have to start collecting all over again, do you?
  
  Sulu: No, but what about the hot coffee we were mentioning in the previous scene?
  
  Kirk: Are you mad? Too risky. What if you drink the angry coffee by accident?
  
  Sulu: Ok. Can you beam down a shelter?
  Blankets? How about a fireplace with a warm fire already burning in it? How about just heating stuff up from around the ship and beaming it down? Can you at least phaser out a hole in the ground so that we can get out of the wind?
  
  Kirk: No, no, no, no and no. Stop whining and be the dramatic tension of the episode like you’re trained to be. Oh – and those phasers you used to warm the rocks around you three scenes ago? Nice try mister. We’re beaming those up so that you can’t do that again.
  
  Sulu: Captain, this episode has a lot of holes in it.
  
  Kirk: I know. The most interesting premise was when evil Kirk was going to abandon you, but we even screwed that up by making sure that the whole crew knew it was the wrong Kirk. We’ll try again later this season. Next time we’ll explain the shuttle thing by having it be a shuttle accident. Instead of two of me, we’ll have some dickish Commodore. It’ll be great. Kirk out.
  
  Later that day…
  
  Kirk: So you see, Yeoman Rand, it wasn’t really me, it was just the evil part of me.
  
  Rand: Oh, yeah. Merely the half of you that wants to rape me. Nothing to worry about there.
  
  Kirk: Yes, that seething cauldron of raw aggression is safely back where it belongs – inside me, frothing just below the surface, and held in check only by the will of that super wimpy guy you saw who couldn’t decide his way out of a paper bag.
  
  Rand: Perfect.
  
  Kirk: Really?
  
  Rand: Yes, captain, you see I’m a women. I crave long-winded overly-rational explanations for all my relationship difficulties, and I do not hold grudges for past slights far into the future. I’m sure that you being slapped back together in some untested half-assed transporter experiment has worked perfectly well, and there’s no possible way that you’d have nodded your head to Spock indicating you were properly balanced if you were not. Nothing could possibly have gone wrong there.
  
  Kirk: Wow, this show really is out in space, isn’t it?
  
  Rand: Yes, and I look forward to being part of the adventures for many more seasons to come.
  
  Kirk: I’m sure you do.
  
• From Schreck on 2013-05-23 at 6:31pm:
  Our first transporter accident episode sees kirk split into two halves, the uninhibited and the meek…although this episode has a good premise the execution is poor…Shatner’s acting is good, but even that can’t save this episode…I give it a 6.25 and my brother has it as his third lowest of the original series coming in at a 5.5
• From Trekkie on 2013-06-21 at 4:43pm:
  This episode, in my opinion, was one of the better episodes. I liked how they showed both Kirk's evil and good side, and also how the episode states that we need to have a little of both (good and evil, that is) in order to make beneficial desicions and be stable.
• From Katie on 2013-07-07 at 6:24pm:
  Aside from all the other plot contrivances, why was it so hard to find "evil Kirk"? Why didn't "good Kirk" just stay on the bridge and announce that any "Kirk" not on the bridge was the imposter?
  
  I mean really.
• From 10toes on 2015-08-09 at 11:46pm:
  Actually, only the last pill was placebo. The ones before that were the real deal.
  Still, doesn't explain why that last pill changed her appearance...

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From cowboy dan on 2010-06-03 at 4:26am:
  This is perhaps my least favorite episode of this otherwise stellar show. Charlie is excruciatingly annoying and Uhuru's singing scene is, without doubt, the low point of the series' run. Bottom line? children and stark trek do not mix.
• From CAlexander on 2011-04-03 at 11:44pm:
  You review was interesting, I never thought about this episode having two plots before. I think you may be right, the "Charlie learns to integrate with society" plot could have been the more interesting one. As it was, though, most of this show was a remake of the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life", but not as good. I'm really not fond of the episode.
  - It is notable that Captain Kirk is absolutely unable to think of any diplomatic way to deal with out-of-control Charlie. All he does is get angry and try to order Charlie around. The crew's total lack of creativity in dealing with Charlie is part of what makes the episode boring; once he goes out of control, the episode just marches inexorably towards the conclusion. The one idea Kirk finally has, overloading Charlie, is rather weak.
  - Kirk totally loses control of Charlie, and decides that it is way too dangerous to let Charlie lose on an inhabited planet. But when the Thasians come, he suddenly argues that Charlie should stay so the Federation can teach Charlie to use his powers wisely. Has he totally forgotten everything that just happened?
  
• From Mike Meares on 2012-01-27 at 12:56am:
  Again I have to agree I too never even considered two plots to “Charlie X.” That was a wonderful point you made Keithinov.
  
  Although I always felt the strong part of this story was the scenes with James Kirk and Charlie talking about life and relating to other humans. I wish this aspect of the episode had been more fully developed.
  
  I also agree that the overused supernatural powers really hurt this story. After watching this episode several times I thought had Charlie merely had the ability to make things disappear, then that may have helped the story line.
  
  I think that would have given Kirk the stage to struggle within himself to decide if Charlie was worth saving. Giving Charlie so many powers it left Kirk with no option but to defeat him, rather than try and change him. Early on Charlie seemed like a kid who was lost and you really felt sorry for him. But by the half way mark you just wanted someone to take a phaser to his ass.
  
  Looking back now the Charlie X story was becoming a little too much like the Gary Mitchell story of Where No Man Has Gone Before. It had all the same elements. And more development of the struggles of a young man trying to intergrate into human society would have been so much better.
• From Wiley Hyena on 2012-05-18 at 6:01pm:
  Reviewer's rating is too low here. This episode is one of the most memorable if not iconic, but no consensus can be established as to why. Because of the divergent opinions give it a 6. But the bottom line is all Trek fans remember Charlie X.
• From Strider on 2012-10-01 at 5:28am:
  I agree with the earlier comment comparing this episode to Where No Man and the Gary Mitchell predicament. Charlie's like a young Gary here in terms of his powers. Obviously WNMHGB was filmed first...and using that order, why isn't Kirk's first thought (stemming from his very hard-won lesson) that the only way to deal with Charlie's powers is to kill him? He almost waited too long with Gary! Even going in the order the episodes were aired, and assuming Kirk had to deal with Charlie before Gary, why didn't Kirk contact the Thasians when Gary started going nuts?
  
  I know I look for too much continuity between episodes, and I know it's a lot to expect considering each episode had different writers and directors. But still, I like it best when an episode sees itself as part of a whole, not an individual blip in time.
• From Schreck on 2013-05-23 at 8:09am:
  another weak first season original series episode that really offers nothing to be hopeful of...i give it a 6.25...my brother gives it a 5.75
• From John Swaisey on 2013-08-25 at 11:18am:
  I like this episode, You kind of half feel sorry for Charlie and half want to get rid of him, i thought the ending was good and the crew were sad at Charlies fate.
  
  A good episode, of all Charlies tricks i liked it when he made the womans face disappear.
• From Chris on 2018-08-20 at 3:39am:
  I really love this episode and think even today, it is plausible in some goofy reality! If notions of beings that are omnipotent exist, then this is perfect and an awesome vehicle to take a run with! The guy who plays Charlie was pretty much perfect and all of his interactions struck me as exactly like any 17yr old child might act under the same circumstances! The whole show was great and the Thasians needed to be explored in more detail down the various roads of Trek.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From tigertooth on 2017-03-19 at 11:29pm:
  This is another poll that clearly got spammed (or maybe a bug caused a bunch of zero votes to accumulate). The other TAS episodes have a few dozen votes total, but this one has nearly 200 votes, and 3/4ths of them are zeros!
  
  If you took away the 144 zero votes (as of this writing), the fan voting average would be 6.7 instead of 1.46. So these fraudulent votes make the average useless.
  
  If there's any way to eliminate the bogus zero votes, that would make the fan voting averages much more useful data. Thank you.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-08-04 at 11:18pm:
  YES! Everything I was going to come in here and rant about was covered in your problems section. This is a zero epsiode if I've ever seen one. You hit the asymptote thing right on the head. That's EXACTLY what warp 10 is. You can never reach it. The evolution thing is also EXACTLY right. They obviously don't know what the fuck evolution is. AND humans will probably evolve in thousands of different ways in the Star Trek future, assuming they will spread to different parts of the galaxy and encounter different environments. So to say that there is one 'universal' evolution for humans is extremely absurd. Oh and is the universal evolution some kind of being with advanced brain capacity and lots of adaptations? No. It's some sort of a lizard that probably could have been found on Earth 2 billion years ago. What an absurd episode.
  
  It doesn't only suffer from technical problems though. It also has lots of cheap cliches. The Deux Ex Machina antiproton beam at the end was a cheap way to end the manufactured danger of Tom and Janeaway's 'evolution'. Now we know that the Voyager writers aren't credible when they want us to think someone is in mortal danger. Also, this episode was another "Voyager might get back home in season 2". Gay.
  
  I was hoping for this episode to be a really interesting way of explaining the impossibility of reaching warp 10 after the opening scene. Boy was I wrong. Apparently you can reach warp 10 by making a duranium shuttle and putting some really badass dilithium in the warp engines. HA! Sometimes I wonder why they don't just go to a convention and find someone to be their Star Trek continuity expert, and have that person watch their asses to make sure thy don't make a ridiculous episode like this.
• From Remco on 2009-01-26 at 3:52pm:
  I like the id number of this page. "404 - this horrendous episode cannot be found."
• From Colleen on 2009-05-23 at 11:36pm:
  I just want to mention something else that I've noticed about this whole warp 10 nonsense. In an episode of the original series, something about a babel conference or something, an enemy ship was flying at then and eventually self-destructed. They said it was flying at warp 10. And while it was very fast it was not infinity speed. So, this episode not only illogical it didn't adhere to former canon.
• From Kethinov on 2009-05-24 at 7:36am:
  Colleen, that is not a continuity error. Post TOS Star Trek uses an entirely different warp scale. In TOS, warp factors are multiples of the speed of light. In post TOS, warp factors are points on an asymptotical graph where warp 10 as is described in this episode is in fact infinite speed. The problem with that as stated in my review is infinite speed is impossible as it's merely an asymptote on the warp scale, not an actual achievable speed.
• From Psycroptic on 2012-08-10 at 1:21am:
  When I saw that this one got a zero I didn't think it could be that bad, boy was I wrong.
• From Soli on 2013-05-24 at 10:50am:
  I don't think anyone is truly a Trekkie unless they can launch into a long rant about how awful this episode is on a moment's notice.
• From thaibites on 2013-10-31 at 1:06am:
  You guys are missing the whole point of this episode - Paris "did" Janeway. He rubbed his little lizard wee-wee all over her hot little Irish lizard ass. Go Paris, go!
  He got some...huh-huh mmmm huh-huh mmmm huh-huh. Paris rules!
• From edward on 2014-04-04 at 5:12pm:
  Before this terrible episode, I think nobody had put a limit to warp speed.
  I find it annoying that the 25th century captains will have to say "warp factor 9.9999999" because of it. Can't we just forget it ever existed?
• From C.Ros on 2015-11-05 at 11:51am:
  Hmm...so in the final episode of TNG, when they pick up ambassador worf, and the Pasteur then goes at warp 13....how does that exactly fit with the posts here?
• From Rick on 2017-04-25 at 12:04pm:
  Edward and C. Ros,
  
  The solution is simple and answers your questions... all they need to do is rescale like has been done before. So warp 13 is probably equivalent to warp 9.999 something.
• From Jm on 2020-04-03 at 12:20am:
  Yeah, but that scene where the doctor wakes up Paris is pure gold.
• From Mathalamus on 2022-02-12 at 1:54pm:
  Ironically, this was the first ever episode of any star trek i watched. and i liked it. it got me into star trek, and because of that, ill always rank it highly.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-07-01 at 12:32am:
  - How did the Bringloidi send a distress call in the first place? When the Enterprise arrives at the Bringloidi's planet, the sensors show no advanced communication network and no artificial power source. These people use spinning wheels and were still able to send a distress call all the way back to Earth?
  - Dr. Pulaski claims that the clones are "among the walking dead now. They just haven't been buried yet." If the clones are really that bad off, why would anyone want them to be part of the gene pool to repopulate a planet?
  - When Riker and Pulaski go to the cloning lab, a close-up shows the markings on the machines. The markings are some sort of alien calligraphy. These people are humans. Wouldn't it make more sense for the writing to be in English? True, the clones have been isolated for three hundred years, and language does evolve. However, three hundred years is not a very long time. Old English documents from three hundred years ago are still readable today. A few characters differ, but the majority are the same.
• From JRPoole on 2008-02-15 at 10:17pm:
  I'm in almost total agreement with the review here; this is an entertaining episode if you just take the bad science at face value. O'Dell's daughter is an entertaining character--as are all the Bringloidi, even if they're a little stereotypical. She's also exceptionally beautiful.
  
  I'm also enough of a dork to like any episode that shows us the inner workings of the Enterprise, like the fire containment field.
  
  I do have a few other quibbles with this episode. The first is fairly serious: I don't buy Riker's response to seeing the clones. Despite the fact that these beings were created without permission, they're still life forms. They seem virtually ready to be viable outside of their cloning chambers, and this is still murder. Even if we don't define it as murder, it's enough of a gray area that I can't imagine Picard and Star Fleet would approve of Riker's rash action.
  
  The other two are fairly minor. Geordi's lie detecting abilities are problematic. Does he cheat at poker? Wouldn't this have come into play earlier in some more serious situation?
  
  And finally, just what is a normal shift like onboard the Enterprise? Is Will free to go chasing tail in the middle of his duties? I always wonder about this when a bridge officer gets a summons to the bridge in the middle of a holodeck program or something, and this episode made me wonder what a normal workday on the Enterprise is like.
  
  
• From Eric on 2011-02-07 at 4:57pm:
  I think many TNG episodes are fraught with problems, but this one horribly so. As mentioned, Riker nonchalantly murdering the clones seems awfully unethical. A cloned human is a human.
  
  O'Dell's daughter commented on not being sure she wanted to be Eve. Isn't she already in that position? How many of their people are there? It didn't look like very many.
  
  Watching it this time around, I was really bothered at the crew's attitude toward the Bringloid. Those people didn't have much choice other than be fairly unsophisticated. Also, surely the crew would have interviewed them at the earliest opportunity to learn anything they could. They would have known about the other ship. Instead the Enterprise beamed them up,was repulsed by them rather than interested in them, and made no effort to learn anything!
  
  I like the premise if the episode could be 99% re-written.
  
  This time around I've also noticed that the writers were really trying to make Pulaski an important character. For at least a few episodes she was on the bridge a lot, for no apparent reason.
  
  
• From CAlexander on 2011-04-12 at 3:48pm:
  A mediocre episode at best, but amusing. There are a lot of things that are odd or out of character in this episode, but I didn't mind as much as usual because I chalked it off to being a humor episode.
  
  - When the Mariposans ask for 5 cell donors, Picards says no one on the Enterprise will agree, and acts like that is the end of it. This seems rather disingenuous on his part. The Mariposans won't die out for years; surely they could find somebody – somewhere – who would sell them some cell samples. I can only imagine that cloning is viewed by the Federation as either illegal, or so abhorrent that Picard will have no part in helping the Mariposans.
  - It is hard to figure out the ethics of disintegrating the clones, when the cloning technique makes no sense to me. At first I assume the Mariposans were making real life clones who start as babies. But no, we see they are making Hollywood clones that start as adults. But that kind of clone usually involves copying the mind of the clonee, and there is no indication of that. And Mariposan technology is too primitive for that anyway. So how are the clones given personalities? Are they raised like children, but in adult bodies? Seems strange, but the most likely possibility. In which case I guess they are total blanks when they are killed by Riker.
  - Speaking of ethics, it seems odd that there is no moral debate about killing the clones. But it does have some nice continuity with the Federation dislike of genetic engineering and computer-controlled starships and cyborgs. They seem to have a humanistic belief that people should live out their own potential and not change themselves into something else.
  - I'm not convinced replicative fade is totally unreasonable, but it is odd. The presumption has to be that the cloning technique only works on cells fresh from a living host. But I certainly couldn't say why. Especially when suspended animation was standard technology in the 1990's in the Star Trek universe.
  - I agree with the gene pool comment, I also thought that the Mariposans wouldn't have great genetic material. But I don't think we can complain, the DNA just has to be good enough, and more diversity is better, especially when the Mariposans' have an understandable desire to be included in their own gene pool. Maybe that is the reason for the three husbands concept.
  - I agree that Geordi's lie detection is problematic (and soon forgotten).
  
• From John on 2011-11-21 at 3:44am:
  @DSOmo: The Bringloidi didn't send the distress message, the other colony did -- the two planets were within half a light year of one another. The Enterprise just happened to enter that sector of the galaxy nearest to the Bringloidi planet and encountered them first.
• From Inga on 2012-01-06 at 11:26am:
  @John Then why were the crew surprised to learn that there were another colony?
  
  Also, why didn't the Mariposans take Geordi's DNA? They did ask for 5 donors, so why take only 2, when you can take at least 3?
• From Ed Flinn on 2012-03-31 at 12:49am:
  Stan Freberg used to claim that the Swiss were the last ethnic group against whom bigotry was safe. Star Trek claims that in the 24th Century it's the Irish, as long as its done with a smile.
• From John on 2012-12-03 at 3:48am:
  @Inga: they were surprised because they were under the impression that the one ship they found the record of only went to one destination. The only information about that ship was the cargo manifest, which said nothing about the mission itself.
  
  It's not shown, but I suspect a red flag went up when they discovered the Bringloidi had no communications equipment. A second colony was confirmed when the leader asked about the 'other colony'.
• From Arianwen on 2012-12-15 at 6:46pm:
  Cute? Fecking offensive would be my word for it. I'm not Irish, and I'm not hugely familiar with Irish stereotypes, but this is so unsubtle it sets even my alarms blaring. And hey, the only two speaking parts are given to English actors (good though they are) because there are clearly not enough actors in Ireland: aside from dialectisms, the accents sound very Scottish at times. And, of course, the accordion, the whisky and the sweary women who complain that the husbands do no work. See, when an Irish show does it it's self-parody, and it's funny. That's the difference.
  The other objection I have is the moral of the episode, or rather the lack of morals. The crew simultaneously preaches tolerance of other cultures while displaying an uncharacteristic revulsion towards both sets of colonists. Case in point, Riker kills the clones with no move to check whether they're alive yet. He's motivated solely by disgust and a sense of property (my DNA! mine!) and yet no-one calls him out on this. The "solution" to the population problem is to effectively press-gang a more primitive people into becoming breeding stock for a technologically advanced elite. Not a hint of dilemma throughout. WHAT.
  
  One point, for the
• From bodner on 2014-05-27 at 8:36am:
  Pretty troubling that they just murder their clones and there are no repercussions.
  But maybe Picard showed the way when he murdered the timeshifted version of himself some episodes before.
• From Rob UK on 2015-02-16 at 11:58pm:
  Beardy Bill the Enterprise's resident sex pest at it again
  
  "As first officer i feel it is my duty to smash your back door right in pet, legs get them dorty feet washed"
  
  Fun homour episode, i like the old hooch fiend trying to palm his mental henpecking daughter off on anyone he can he thinks has a few quid
• From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2018-02-12 at 2:34am:
  I find myself agreeing with every criticism I’ve read here. This episode is morally and culturally offensive; logically and scientifically absurd.
  
  I would also ask: even if cloning was the primary way they grew their population, why would it have been been necessary to “suppress the natural sexual drive”? It’s not like sexual activity would get in the way of cloning! Also they could get a few new gene combinations, that could add some strength, it certainly wouldn’t do any harm.
  
  And... why would they not try to get LaForge’s tissue sample? Is it because he is blind? It’s not the sort of thing the audience should have to guess at.
  
  I do like the idea of 2 peoples who started out together being separated for centuries and then being the exact answer to each other’s problems. But beyond that generic notion, nothing about this episode is remotely tolerable. Even the so-called “humor” is nothing more than derision based on ethnic and gender stereotypes. I give it 1.
• From jeffenator98 on 2019-05-30 at 5:24pm:
  Picard had more fun in "Chain of command 1 and 2" than I did watching this episode. Embarrassing 176 out of 176.
• From Alex Malizia on 2020-08-28 at 3:02am:
  While a terrible episode, the bit with O'Dell and Worf and talking about the moment of fun/silence being paid for by his wife shrill yell in the background (err, daughter i guess) is hysterical.
  
  "Every moment of pleasure in life has to be purchased by an equal moment of pain."
  "FATHER!"
  "Remember what I said about the moment of pain? Well, 'tis about to begin!"
• From Poutine_On_The_Ritz on 2023-02-01 at 5:40am:
  O'Dell and his daughter definitely salvage the episode, as you say. Otherwise, I'd give it a 1 or 2.
  
  I do have one factoid on this one: there's a 1981 Broadway musical called Copperfield. It includes a song called "Up The Ladder" performed by a character named Uriah Heep. Heep is played by Barrie Ingham, who also plays O'Dell in this TNG episode. I have no idea if the writers of this episode named it after the song that O'Dell performs in Copperfield, but it seems like a crazy coincidence if they didn't.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Steve on 2010-02-16 at 6:32am:
  My biggest problem with this episode is that there is no explanation of how Kirk figures out about the Venus drug. Did he interrogate Mudd? When? He beamed down awfully quick to have made the discovery and made the placebos.
• From Devlonas on 2010-11-21 at 2:18am:
  Mudd's magic pills were not placebos - they were sparkly. Only the pills that Eve took at the end were placebos (no sparkles!). It made the point, and did so in spades, that you don't need a magic pill to be beautiful (although I guess having a magic pill can't hurt).
  
  My sticking point with this episode is - If Dilithium (Lithium) Crystals are so valuable, why is there only a three-man operation to mine an entire planet? Seems like a great opportunity for a larger colony to me
• From Jem Hadar on 2010-12-05 at 1:32pm:
  These new reviews are incredible, keep them up!
• From CAlexander on 2011-04-15 at 3:56pm:
  - This episode's old-fashioned sexism makes it painful to watch.
  - Harry Mudd is amusing in small doses. I just wish he came in small doses.
  - The police record for Harry Mudd lists him as 6'1". Aside from the unfortunate non-use of the metric system, he looks taller than that; he towers over everyone else he stands next to. That rascal have been slumping when they measured him! (IMDB lists Roger Carmel as 6'3").
  - The moral of the story seems very confused. I guess the moral is "physical beauty is essential for gathering husbands, so it is a good idea to take drugs, but once you get a husband you won't need the drugs and you should send your drug dealer to prison so you don't have to pay him."
  
• From Mike Meares on 2012-02-20 at 8:00pm:
  Kuddos on your comments on the last review Kethinov! A great point you made about how your reviews are made. And how you "try to write carefully balanced reviews and highlight both the good and the bad in each episode." I really liked that response!
  
  However, I now find myself at odds with your review of "Mudd's Women."
  
  You start your review with the claim that "Mudd's Women does much to assault the credibility of Star Trek's progressive future which was supposed depict, among other things, a world without sexism." And "the way that the plot of this episode treats the whole thing as if it were normative and widespread is offensive."
  
  Really? I don't get that at all from this episode.
  
  However, I do agree with the criticism that the issue of sexism is a problem with Star Trek overall ( more on this later ), and in some episodes in particular. And there is sexism in Mudd's Women but I don't feel it is to the degree you aledge to.
  
  I do think Devlonas has already pointed out that the "pills" were not placebos until the very end. That is pretty clear from watching the episode. But your main point is still correct, when Eve swallows the placebo at the end of the episode how does she change her appearence so dramatically? That is a question that needs answering.
  
  And I too had some questions about the security personnel and what they overheard. But Harry and the girls did do a lot of whispering. Perhaps the security guys were effected by the drug the women were taking as the other male members of the crew?
  
  As to the acting by Harry Mudd ( or rather Roger C. Carmel ), which I thoughly enjoyed, I didn't think it was a weakness. Harry Mudd was a great character and I always loved seeing him on Star Trek. Roger is a highlight for me in this episode!
  
  As to the moral of the show, I feel it is summed up near the end by Kirk and Mudd when they explain that only one kind of man or woman can change their appearence, if they want to, are the ones who believe in themselves.
  
  For me it is a lot more offensive to have a Captain who goes around sleeping with every woman he sees! That is sexist! To me having a whole race of women who depend on a man to exist ( Spock's Brain ) is sexism in the highest order! To me having women crew members on board the Enterprise wear short skirts is sexist! To me giving up producing and writing for Star Trek in it's third season to produce a degrading movie about women ( Pretty Maids All In A Row ) is very sexist!
  
  But I digress....... lol.
  
  Was this a great episode? No! But it was entertaining, although a bit average for Star Trek.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From Strider on 2012-07-16 at 3:40pm:
  I'm not at all blind to the sexism in Star Trek in general or in this episode specifically. It's interesting to watch as a cultural study--not that the 23rd century still struggles with these issues, but that the 1960's did.
  
  But it seems completely realistic to me that the 23rd century would still have mail-order brides. It didn't seem like sex-trafficking to me, just matching women who wanted a new life with men who wanted a wife but had very little chance to meet one. Not that Harry Mudd is anyone's example of ethical business practices--he did, after all, try to make the women more attractive than they really were. But besides the "strange effect" they had on men, all the pills really seemed to do was style their hair and apply makeup. If you're going to marry a rich lithium miner, you can probably get someone to do that for you.
  
  But the highlight of this episode for me was Spock. Some of Spock's best facial expressions of the whole series are included in this episode. When the women appear on the transporter platform, they cut to his face first, and it's obvious that he notices their attractiveness, and is just as poleaxed as the other men in his own quiet Vulcan way. Spock's just better at hiding it, is all. Mudd declares him impervious to the women's influence, but Spock didn't say that--he just didn't argue it. Then all throughout the episode, he's got these half smiles and raised eyebrows...like he's extremely amused (for Spock), but aware that the joke's on him as well. He never seems to be laughing AT the other crewmen, just ABOUT the situation.
  
  And it was nice to have Kirk able to keep his mind on the job rather than on the beautiful women in front of him! Very captainy of him--and he and Spock were a great team in this.
  
  Strider
• From mandeponium on 2012-09-01 at 4:11pm:
  To quote Spock in this one, "I'm happy the affair is over. A most annoying, emotional episode."
• From Alan Feldman on 2012-09-08 at 6:49pm:
  I like the Mudd character and was also glad to see him in "I, Mudd".
  
  Re Mike Meares' post:
  
  Kirk didn't sleep with anyone in this episode. In fact, he doesn't sleep with anyone in the vast majority of episodes.
  
  I don't see "Spock's Brain" as sexist in that manner. They needed a brain, not a man. It just happened to be a man's brain. And it was the women who controlled the men!
  
  Re the short skirts: from TV Guide, August 24, 1996, p. 26:
  
  TVG: Anyone offended by the micro-skirts? The sausage-casing blouses? Grace Lee Whitney: Oh, no! Everyone thinks we got rooked into it, but that's what we wanted to wear. I was very instrumental in getting us those mini-skirts -- which, by the way, were skorts. . . . I told the costumer, "Hey, I look just like the men. What a shame to waste my legs. You know, I've got great legs." And then I got this image of space babes with the tight waists, cinched belts, short skirts, and lots of legs and boots and boobs, and great big "Barbarella" hair. So I got that look together and showed it to Gene. He just about fell off his chair. . . .
  
  Hey, that's Grace Lee Whitney speaking, not me. Don't have that edition of TV Guide? Check
  
  http://books.google.com/books?id=mqjORRNpo-cC&lpg=PA39&ots=aJmVwm3IBm&dq=tv%20guide%20grace%20lee%20whitney%20%22space%20babes%22&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q=tv%20guide%20grace%20lee%20whitney%20%22space%20babes%22&f=false
  
  That's the closest to this I could find on the Web. But I do have a copy of this edition of TV Guide, and took my quotes from that.
  
  According to wikipedia, Roddenberry wrote two episodes for season 3: "The Savage Curtain" and "Turnabout Intruder". I don't know if he produced any.
  
  AEF
• From Zerothis on 2012-09-22 at 1:06am:
  I was under the impression that real pills confiscated from Mudd and the placebos were provided after. Eve's last scene was the only place that placebos were used.
• From Schreck on 2013-05-23 at 7:02pm:
  Terrible episode that is easily the worst of the first season and my brother’s least favorite in the original series…it just misses all the marks here…I give it a 5.25 and my brother a 4.5
• From Alan Feldman on 2017-04-08 at 3:54am:
  MUDD'S WOMEN
  
  A few things to add:
  
  How is it that a starship has trouble keeping up with Mudd's small ship? Really? I seriously doubt that Mudd's ship could go warp 8.
  
  Bones' and Scotty's reactions to the women were nauseating (for lack of better word), esp. in the transporter room. C'mon guys. Get a hold of yourselves!
  
  When Ruth steps in front of Bones' medical scanner, it bleeps and flashes. We then see Bones for a second or two and then go immediately back to the scanner, and Ruth is gone! Back to Bones for a second or two, and back to the scanner with Ruth in front of it again. Doubtful she could have moved that fast. And this sequence happens twice.
  
  Ruth says the men are young. Hardly! Yet again, women getting together with men twice their age.
  
  When Childress told Kirk he'd get the crystals later, why didn't Kirk just beam the women back to the ship and hold them hostage until the crystals were delivered? Or they could have made use of their phasers.
  
  Spock has a (circular) slide rule!
  
  Ben Childress's quarters is 11 miles from the mining place. 11 miles? That's quite a long, difficult walk, esp. on that wasteland of a planet!
  
  When Kirk and Mudd say there's only one type of man or woman, Kirk mentions two types.