ONE
The Enterprise in orbit. On the planet the landing party includes Kirk and Sulu, who holds a little dog in an orange costume with a unicorn horn. Yes!!
They remark that it’s already getting cold and the nighttime temperature will be brutal. And then Kirk reaches over and pets the dog’s scaly tail. Yes! Just another actor on set for Shatner to improv with.
Someone cries out. Kirk and Sulu (still carrying the pooch) go see what happened. A crewman slipped off a ledge and cut his hand. It’s bad enough to go back to the ship. A lot of suspicious-looking yellow dust came down the embankment with him.
Orbit-wipe to Scotty in the transporter room. As the crewman materializes, a warning light blinks on the console, and Scotty re-energizes. Fisher makes it. However, Scotty doesn’t like the dust on his uniform. Decontaminate that.
After the crewman leaves Scotty returns to the console to doublecheck the instruments. Kirk radios that he’s ready to beam up. Just one moment, Captain.
I know which episode this is! Yes!! Oh, it’s excellent. The dog was the clue but I couldn’t quite put it together until now.
TWO
Scotty beams up Kirk, who bobbles off the pad, dazed. Taking an arm, Scotty helps Kirk out of the room. When they leave, the transporter activates with no one at the controls. We can tell, even though his back is to us, that another Kirk has beamed in. Hahaha! Oh, yes. Dolly in while Shatner pivots into focus, hitting a mark with heavy underlighting that makes him look evil or crazy, or both. He twitches! One of Shatner’s masterpieces awaits us, people!
Roll credits.
THREE
Captain’s log, over. “A duplicate of me, some strange alter ego, had been created by the transporter malfunction.” Meanwhile, Dark Kirk stalks about. He caresses the transporter console and startle-glares when the door opens. Oh my God, Shatner’s on the loose. I love the episodes that give him free rein to chew as much scenery as he wants. He’s like an animation come to life.
FOUR
Cut to Light Kirk as Scotty escorts him through the hall. Go to sick bay. Instead he goes to bed, fatigued. Janice tries to give him the report, but he lays it aside.
In sick bay McCoy tends to Crewman Fisher’s hand. In walks Kirk, but which one? Ah, he wants brandy. That answers that. Fisher leaves and McCoy goes up to him. Dark Kirk grabs his neck and yells in his face, “Give me the brandy.” Push-in on Bones as Kirk leaves, but no response that we see.
Now Dark Kirk drinks from the bottle as he wanders the hallway. He’s at a door marked as Janice’s room. Okay, here comes the comparison. He enters without knocking, touches her possessions, and leers down, probably at her bed.
Cut to Light Kirk. He’s managed to take his shirt off as he stretches. In comes Spock, looking confused. McCoy sent him, saying Kirk was acting like a wild beast. Light Kirk is calm, bemused, and gentle. The good doctor was putting you on. Spock, annoyed, leaves.
In engineering Scotty holds the little dog with a horn. Spock and Kirk, in a gold-braid jersey (thus, Light Kirk), enter. Transporter breakdown, Scotty says. We beamed up this specimen and look what came up a few seconds later. In a crate is another costumed dog, and he’s pisssssed. The dog in Scotty’s arms looks lethargic. It’s not a duplicate, Scotty says, but an opposite. Two of the same animal. Do Kirk and Spock realize yet what this means? Maybe. It also means Sulu is trapped on the freezing planet. No one else can transport up until this is fixed or explained. If this should happen to a man . . .
Janice enters her room and removes her tricorder. Dark Kirk comes out of a hidden corner, startling her. He drinks his brandy, speaks seductively, and then manhandles her shoulders. Whoa! He kisses her violently, teeth showing as he almost bites her face! Shatner, holy crap! Scary stuff. Handheld camera as he abuses her, grabbing her and taking her to the floor. She scratches him, marking his face, and escapes to the door. Kirk yanks her back, but she’s able to yell out the door for Fisher, passing by, to get Mr. Spock. Heading to the intercom, Fisher is attacked by Dark Kirk and taken down.
Cut to Light Kirk saying, “Me?” It’s Spock bringing the accusation, and he’s got the brandy bottle as evidence. As the elevator doors close on them, heading to sick bay, a bloody hand pops into close-up. It’s Dark Kirk, injured and sneaking about. In his room he sucks on his knuckle.
Here’s Janice, weeping. Spock, Bones, and Light Kirk interrogate her. Okay, this is getting into violence porn. We know Kirk has an unpursued crush on Janice, and that Dark Kirk would probably act without restraint on those feelings, but was such a brutal scene necessary to convey that? To have three men loom over her now, listening to her story of attempted rape, is harsh. She has to say that Kirk spoke of his feelings, and now this Light Kirk reacts defensively, denying and attacking. He says: Look at my face. See any scratches? And she’s completely gaslighted. This is supposed to be the gentle, soft Kirk. The sympathetic Kirk. Frankly, they miswrote his character here. A Kirk with compassion would’ve been more true, more interesting, and more fair. This bit has aged very poorly.
Fisher enters the room and corroborates Janice’s account. Spock figures out “we have an imposter”, thankfully, so let’s move on for now.
Captain’s log, recapping events. Also, we are reminded of the rapidly chilling planet.
Light Kirk holds the horn dog as he asks Scotty in the transporter room how this all happened. That weird ore dust on Fisher’s suit probably broke something. Still working on it. Spock asks Kirk privately what to do about his double. Kirk dithers, with Spock correcting his logic. It becomes obvious that Light Kirk can’t reason as well as the complete Kirk did. The scene ends with Spock clearly troubled about Kirk, while holding a silly dog in a costume. That’s the juicy content we’re here for, folks.
Orbit and Captain’s log. I’ve lost my strength of will by being duplicated. He sits in his chair on the bridge. When he activates the comms, we see Dark Kirk in his room, sweating. Light Kirk announces the presence of an imposter who can be identified by the scratches. Dark Kirk touches his cheek. Spock must remind Kirk on the bridge to set phasers at stun only. The imposter is not to be injured. Cut to Dark Kirk exploding: I’m Captain Kirk. Shatner’s on the loose again! (I think his eyeliner gets heavier as he gets crazier, heh.) At the vanity he finds some foundation make-up to cover his cheek wound. He convinces a crewman in the corridor to give up his phaser, then knocks him out.
On the planet, Sulu’s cold. Enterprise beamed down thermal blankets, but they duplicated and won’t work. Spock and Kirk are informed that Crewman Wilson was attacked by the double. Now the imposter has a phaser. Recognizing that Dark Kirk has the captain’s knowledge of the ship and crew, Spock suggests they outguess him. The two of them head to engineering, the place Kirk would go to elude capture.
SWITCH
They separate to search. Dark Kirk shadows Light Kirk, who finally sees him. Kirk works to persuade him: we need each other. You can’t hurt me. When Spock comes from behind and neck-pinches Dark Kirk, the phaser goes off. One second more and Light Kirk would’ve been shot dead.
FIVE
In sick bay, Bones straps the unconscious Dark Kirk to the bed. Light Kirk realizes he’s fading, becoming less and less able to make decisions. Spock contemplates a philosophical discussion: the negative side and the positive, as part of the human psyche. (I always liked this little lecture. We’re made up of good and bad!) His evil side, properly controlled, is responsible for his strength as a leader. Scotty comms in from engineering. He’s located the trouble.
Sulu’s cold and Scotty’s working on it. But it’s going to take a week to repair it.
Captain’s log, recapping. On the surface Sulu uses his phaser to heat rocks. He and the other three stranded crewmembers gather around. Throughout, Sulu tries to keep his attitude light and optimistic. Kirk answers his comm call, but Spock must take over when Kirk fades.
Cut to Dark Kirk, restrained, screaming like a toddler in a tantrum. McCoy realizes, though, that the duplication weakened the body. Kirk is dying. Light Kirk sits at his bedside.
Ooh, a split screen! It’s been a bad body double up until now if we needed both Kirks in a shot.
When they hold hands they kind of boost each other. Dark Kirk’s readings go back into the normal zone, for now. Kirk says, “I have to take him back, but I don’t want to. He’s a thoughtless, brutal animal, yet it’s me.” Bones gives him a pep talk while Dark Kirk listens from the bed. It’s all very metaphysical. Finally, Spock comms in: we may have found an answer in the transporter room.
They’ve bypassed the problem and are ready to send the dog through as a test. Hahaha! Angry Dog POV shot as Spock and Scotty look down at it in the crate. Scotty’s gonna grab it! Heh, oh that was excellent Actor Histrionics. The gentle dog and its tranquilized duplicate (which is actually a stuffed animal that the real dog nuzzles!) are placed on a transporter pad together. Bones enters as they reverse the transport and we wait to see what will happen.
SIX
Aaargh! “He’s dead, Jim.” Yes, perfect! The shock of rejoining killed the doggie.
Whoa. Captain’s log is dictated by Spock. The recap is pretty dismal.
McCoy and Spock argue over the dog’s death as they await an autopsy. It was blind terror, says Spock. We’re not sure yet, says McCoy. Kirk sits all mealy-mouthed in the corner. Both men make strong arguments. Kirk can’t decide, but he must. Otherwise, relinquish command.
SEVEN
He decides for immediate transport, and then shuffles in to stand next to his duplicate. Uhura notifies him of a comm, which he answers: Sulu on the planet is white with cold. Can’t last much longer. Light Kirk dithers. From the bed Dark Kirk says clearly, “What are you going to do?” We’re going through the transporter. He unties him and holds a phaser.
EIGHT
Dark Kirk nonchalantly says, “I won’t fight you anymore.” And it works! He almost puts the back of his hand to his forehead as he says, “I feel so weak.” Stumble! And then he slams Light Kirk against the wall, takes his phaser and hits him with it. My God, I’m almost rooting for him. It’s one of those stories where the good guy is so annoying you start to want the bad guy to win.
Dark Kirk, in the gold-braided jersey, meets Janice in the hallway and speaks so reasonably. Look, the duplicate even scratched my cheek to make us more alike. He’s apologetic and confident. And headed for the bridge.
“Prepare to leave orbit.” Crew, including Spock, object, but Dark Kirk is firm. Rut-roh, Bones and Light Kirk enter the bridge. And now we play, which Kirk is which? They both have the scratches. Dark Kirk becomes more erratic, though, as time drags out. Kirk vs. Kirk! With mood lighting! Aw, it’s so sweet. Dark Kirk screams, “I want to live!” He’s pitiable. And look at Shatner acting against nothing while pretending to act against himself. Well done. The Kirks hug.
Okay, they embrace on the transporter pad. (It’s one way to keep us looking at the back of the body double.) It’s only Spock and Bones in the transporter room. Where’s Scotty to make the motions on the dials and levers? Many pauses, with tension building, until the transporter reverse moment.
It’s one Kirk, standing. “Jim?” A beat. “Get those men aboard, fast.” Doo-duh-dooooh!
NINE
The men from the away team are wheeled by on gurneys. Bones says he thinks they’ll make it.
Kirk enters the bridge and thanks Mr. Spock. We’re wrapping up the threads, so here’s Janice. God, we’ll speak of this in a minute. End.
As far as the Enneagram goes, the Three and Six have nothing visually in common. Thematically, we have: transporter malfunction begins, transporter malfunction ends. It’s a bookend mirror. I do wish we’d had a hook, though. The beats are all here, but they’re so chunky. This is not a streamlined story, and, of course, I was already having problems digesting this one.
Why am I upset now about this old episode? Because I’ve had an epiphany.
I was the girl child who watched this episode and thought that it was showing love. I’d seen Kirk and Janice dance around each other in prior episodes. Now here’s this one telling me that a man with feelings for a woman could abuse her; it was an appropriate, possibly even a romantically tormented, sign of affection. As a woman I’m angered by this kind of storytelling because I know exactly what impact it had on my juvenile understanding. Until this rewatch I had no idea how much of this violence I had absorbed as acceptable behavior. This is toxic stuff for a child to misinterpret as the truth.
In the final Nine scene, the show implies that Janice prefers the imposter to the real Kirk. Dark Kirk liked Janice openly, brazenly, whereas the reunited, complete Kirk is distant and cautious. The assault and rape attempt are now just something to tease her about. If she has any feelings of shame, confusion, fear, or hurt, she will put them aside and behave professionally while her colleagues rib her about the experience. The show doesn’t realize how cruel it is. My sympathy for pretty women may very well have begun here with the treatment of my beloved Basket Head.
This viewing has been quite the revelation to me. What a shame; I’ll never be able to fully enjoy this episode again.