We’ve been watching episodes from the first season of the original Star Trek on DVD. Most of them have been quite the fun blast from the past, especially “City on the Edge of Forever,” “Balance of Terror,” and “The Corbomite Maneuver.” “Balance of Terror” features some very fine acting, even if the writers can’t keep track of the difference between phasers and photon torpedoes. Kirk’s reputation as a total ham is not truly justified. But last night we stumbled across “The Alternative Factor,” which none of us had any memory of ever seeing before.
We quickly found out just why we could not remember it; even our friend Olivia, who was a seriously dedicated Star Trek fan agrees: it is terrible! The episode features nauseous spinning-screen effects, photographic-negative effects to indicate an alternate universe, and even contains the immortal line of dialogue “Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!”
There is the germ of an interesting alternate-universe story in there somewhere, but the storytelling is just awful: everything is told, instead of shown, in long and confusing talky scenes in which the techno-babble phrases like “negative magnetic corridor” pile up thick and fast. The storyline constantly contradicts and muddles itself (initially we are told Lazarus is traveling in time, but this seems to be an unnecessary complication; we’re told that the planet is “dead” and “destroyed” but in fact it looks a lot like Southern California; there are repeated references to alien invasion and end-of-the-universe scenarios, and we are tortured by constant repetition of a painful music cue and cheesy “universe-flipping” effect. At the end, Kirk learns the truth, alone, but suddenly Spock and everyone else seems to have been informed as well, without ever being told. It is just terribly sloppy. Dilithium crystals don’t look anything like the dilithium crystals shown in other episodes. One half of the two-sided hero/villain is identifiable mainly by his exceptionally cheesy facial hair. They definitely weren’t all masterpieces!
As an exercise, maybe Grace and I will take a shot at rewriting “The Alternative Factor.” She has some experience in screen-writing, and I have some experience in writing short stories, so maybe we can come up with something better. It could be fun; it could even play into an interesting home-school exercise for Isaac.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
March 2005