Joseph Nebus
2007-12-16 21:41:09 UTC
The Alternative Factor
(I know. I don't mean to be so late, but this happens to
me now and then.)
The Plot:
Identical men (Robert Brown in a dual role) from parallel
universes will cause total annihilation if they meet. (Tivo)
- Ah, 'The Alternative Factor' ... probably the most maligned
episode of the first season on the mere grounds that it has a weird
confused plot and doesn't make a lick of sense. Parallel universes,
weird and non-physics-based interpretations of antimatter, gibberish
strategic moves, gratuitous time travel, anticompetent security, a
strange physics effect disrupting the whole universe, dilithium magic,
goofy special effects used to stand in for something we don't quite have
clearly explained. Between this and 'The Tholian Web' we have
nine-tenths of 'Star Trek: Voyager' by volume.
- Filming of this episode famously got off to a bad start when
the original actor, John Drew Barrymore, but that seems to just be
unhappy coincidence. The script has got this feeling that they rushed
it to production without quite having it worked out, like the last act
of Next Generation's 'We'll Always Have Paris' where the 1988 Writers
Strike kept them from knowing what to do with three Datas.
- Now, the rough idea, that a person has to fight a duplicate of
himself to save two universes, is not a bad one even if it does seem
like the Legion of Super Heroes is somehow involved. It's just that
while any single episode more or less makes sense, no two of them in
sequence do.
- As a side comment, the director for this episode was Gerd
``Your'' Oswald, famous in Mystery Science Theater 3000 circles for
having directed the meant-to-be-a-spy-series-pilot movie ``Agent From
H.A.R.M.'' which was one of quite a few highlights of the eighth season
of that show. While Oswald did direct an MST3K experiment I don't think
he's a particularly bad director; the story doesn't make sense even when
you read the transcript or the Blish novelization.
New Effects:
- Standard orbit shot.
- Standard orbit on the viewscreen.
- Close view from in front of the saucer.
- The radiation source is on the planet.
- The Enterprise orbits, etc.
- The Enterprise swings around to attack this plot. Viewscreen
attack and of course that remarkable shot from the left side of the
ship.
(I know. I don't mean to be so late, but this happens to
me now and then.)
The Plot:
Identical men (Robert Brown in a dual role) from parallel
universes will cause total annihilation if they meet. (Tivo)
- Ah, 'The Alternative Factor' ... probably the most maligned
episode of the first season on the mere grounds that it has a weird
confused plot and doesn't make a lick of sense. Parallel universes,
weird and non-physics-based interpretations of antimatter, gibberish
strategic moves, gratuitous time travel, anticompetent security, a
strange physics effect disrupting the whole universe, dilithium magic,
goofy special effects used to stand in for something we don't quite have
clearly explained. Between this and 'The Tholian Web' we have
nine-tenths of 'Star Trek: Voyager' by volume.
- Filming of this episode famously got off to a bad start when
the original actor, John Drew Barrymore, but that seems to just be
unhappy coincidence. The script has got this feeling that they rushed
it to production without quite having it worked out, like the last act
of Next Generation's 'We'll Always Have Paris' where the 1988 Writers
Strike kept them from knowing what to do with three Datas.
- Now, the rough idea, that a person has to fight a duplicate of
himself to save two universes, is not a bad one even if it does seem
like the Legion of Super Heroes is somehow involved. It's just that
while any single episode more or less makes sense, no two of them in
sequence do.
- As a side comment, the director for this episode was Gerd
``Your'' Oswald, famous in Mystery Science Theater 3000 circles for
having directed the meant-to-be-a-spy-series-pilot movie ``Agent From
H.A.R.M.'' which was one of quite a few highlights of the eighth season
of that show. While Oswald did direct an MST3K experiment I don't think
he's a particularly bad director; the story doesn't make sense even when
you read the transcript or the Blish novelization.
New Effects:
- Standard orbit shot.
- Standard orbit on the viewscreen.
- Close view from in front of the saucer.
- The radiation source is on the planet.
- The Enterprise orbits, etc.
- The Enterprise swings around to attack this plot. Viewscreen
attack and of course that remarkable shot from the left side of the
ship.