(i ll take u home again janicccccccccce )
At the end of the episode, Dr. Coleman requests that he be allowed to care for Janice. Kirk seems to acquiesce. Does this seem right? This guy has just conspired to assist Janice in murdering the captain of a starship, not to mention his role in the deaths of the colonists. I would think he would be brought up before Starfleet on criminal charges. At the very least, you wouldn't think they'd ever let him practice any type of medicine again!
Phil mentioned the return of Lt. Galloway. First names were never mentioned, so perhaps THIS Lt. Galloway is the first Lieutenant's twin brother!
Everyone goes wandering off to look for the remaining members of the science party. Why didn't they have the Enterprise scan for their life forms, then beam them directly to Sickbay? It might possibly have saved their lives. They couldn't have been worried about possible radiation, because they all went looking for the scientists while wearing no protective gear.
By the way, having failed to save the scientists, shouldn't they have beamed the bodies up for proper disposal. And, perchance, perform some autopsies so they could tell what really happened? And why didn't McCoy's trusty tricorder tell him what they died of?
I know that they're not canon, but in Alan Dean Foster's novelization of "Slaver Weapon" (See the Animated Trek nitboard for a quick summary of the plot) he points out how awkward it would be for someone to suddenly be in another person's body, ESPECIALLY one of a different gender. The musculature would be different, the center of gravity would be different, and the hormones would be different. In the novel, they were all stumbling around for some time before adjusting. Janice and Kirk seem to have no trouble at all. Kirk, especially, should have fallen flat on his face when he leaped out of bed, being totally unaware of the change.
Why is Janice/Kirk delirious, anyway? Kirk/Janice had no such reaction to the transfer.
Personally, I can't see Kirk moaning and whimpering, no matter what situation he's in.
Kirk/Janice's first comments on having succeeded in the transfer, being accepted as Captain, etc, do not seem to be part of any log entry. If we were just listening in on his/her/its thoughts, we should have heard them in JANICE'S voice. The same goes for when Janice/Kirk was thinking about what had happened. It should have been Kirk's voice for Kirk's thoughts.
Colman had been found guilty of gross mistakes, both in administration and medicine. Why the heck wasn't he kicked out of the profession in the first place?
Colman was indeed very incompetent, allowing Janice/Kirk to wake up at all. Why didn't he keep her/him/it thoroughly sedated?
Is Christine trying to show that brunette's can be as stupid as blondes are alleged to be? Why didn't she mention to anyone that Janice Lester, a stranger to the Enterprise, knew exactly what their itinerary was?
Kirk is trained in combat techniques. Even in a woman's body, he should have been able to deal with Colman AND with his own appropriated body. Instead, he just cowers. Perhaps it's those unfamiliar female hormones, making him feel all frail, poor baby.
Why would they have breakable glasses in Sickbay? Seems like plastic would be more practical.
Since when are the rooms in Sickbay so far apart? Janice/Kirk breaks out of her room (And I've never heard of diagnostic beds in private quarters) then has to go running down the hall to find another door to Sickbay.
In "The Lights of Zetar" they were able to see immediately that Mira Romaine's brain patterns had altered. Why was it so difficult to find a difference in Kirk's brain?
I would think that a Vulcan mind meld would be acceptable evidence.
Why didn't Kirk/Janice want Colman in the room at the hearing?
Kirk/Janice ordered that there be no cross discussion before voting, yet Scott and McCoy were out in the hall...discussing the matter.
McCoy never stated that he would go along with Scotty--all he did was clarify what Scott was saying. In fact, he sounded quite hesitant. Why was he charged with mutiny, as well?
Was Spock quietly trying some new technique with Janice/Kirk. In the brig, when the transfer first began to waver, Janice/Kirk's head snapped back. Spock's hands were already there at the back of her/his neck.
I also was wondering why Colman would be put in charge of Janice. Aside from being an accessory to murder, the man is incompetent.
Perhaps this is in the guide, but....
When Lester/Kirk goes to strangle Kirk/Lester, he wraps the scarf around his hands twice before leaning forward.
[Obscenties delete by Phil Farrand. See below]
Oh dear me. Somehow I don't think that post was really by Rodnberry. First Digger, and now this. These boards are seeing some •••••• people. I mean sstupid of course.
[Obscenities deleted by Phil Farrand].
Note from the Chief: It's always amazing to me what people will do just to get attention. Small people--having no better way to spend their time than make feeble attempts to raise other's ire--rave and rant with limited vocabulary, thinking that just because they know a few four letter words the rest of us will be perfidiously scandalized. My friends, these underdeveloped one deserve no emotion but pity, for they limited in mind, limited in vocabulary, unable to participate in civil discussion . . . and all that remains for them is erasure.
Just ignore them, they'll go away soon enough. ; -)
Carry on, Proud Moderator Jon Raines! Thanks for all your good work! ;-)
Are those Tribbles in the specimen case in the medical lab?
I always found it odd that McCoys mental tests didn't find anything wrong with Kirk. If he was comparing them to test results from the real Kirk, they should be totally different. But he says everything checked out normal. How could that be? And why didn't McCoy or Spock simply ask Kirk/Lester some questions that only Kirk would know? Seems like that would be rather simple. "Excuse me Captain, remember what we talked about just last night?"
I'm watching this ep right now -- does it ever end?
It seems to go on and on. However, although a sloth of an episode, and the legendary "last one," I enjoy the starkness and obvious shag carpeting of it. Also, when McCoy is ill, it's pretty real looking.
When is McCoy ill in this episode?
There were supposed to be 26 episodes in the third season, but it was announced during "Turnabout Intruder" that NBC passed on the final two. One of them was to have been directed by William Shatner. Does anyone know what the names of these two scripts were, what were the plots, which one was Shatner supposed to direct and whether or not the scripts were used on any other Trek since then?
I seem to remember from the book "Star Trek Lives" that any Shatner-directed episodes would be in a potential fourth season. Given the way that the show was produced in the first three seasons (Roddenberry doing rewrites even as the episodes were being shot), it's likely there were no scripts yet written for these episodes.
I remember once seeing a Trek Fact Files booklet that outlined some of the unproduced scripts from the final season, so apparently there were some extra shows ready to be shot.
Amazing what you can find just lying around the corridors; just ask the crewman that finds the 'doubley-fatal' poison in the hypo that falls to the ground after the real Kirk disarms Lester. Nobody picked it up! It should have been in McCoy's hand but it wasn't.
And isn't that a weird outfit for Kirk to be wearing during the trial? You'd think that in addition to his testimony, he'd wear something masculine to emphasize that he's a he and not a she.
Scotty says he's seen Kirk drunk, delirious, over-joyed, boiling mad, and...terrified?! What episode was that?
Pehaps "good" Kirk from "The Enemy Within"?
Is Galloway's name mentioned in the episode? It is in the end credits but mis-spelled ("Galoway") If not, this might as well be Lt. Johnson from "Day of the Dove"?
Here's one that may not have an answer....
Which bathroom did Kirk/Lester use and which one did Lester/Kirk use?
I heard a RUMOR that Shatner was running a very intense fever during the filming of this episode.
Can anyone confirm this?
That's right. At one point he got so exhausted that when he lifted the actress up he virtually just unceremoniously plopped her down on the bed. To cover, Bill said, "baby, you know I love you, but you gotta lose about 10 pounds off that ass!"
That information comes from "Star Trek Lives".
Maybe McCoy's machine detected the physical make-up of the brain, not the personality. In the episode "The Lights of Zetar", the energy beings may have had to alter the physical make-up of Mira Romaine's (sp?) brain to allow the multiple energy beings to take up residence.
According to various writings by Joan Winston, Shatner was supposed to direct the 26th episode of the third season, but only 24 were produced. Joan was on the set during the filming of "Turnabout" from late 12/68 to Jan. 2 or 3,'69. By the way, does anyone know if Joan Winston is still alive? She wrote a book about the early New York "Trek" conventions that took place in the early to mid-70's. The last I heard, she had breast cancer and had undergone a mastectomy. If anyone knows, please e-mail me or post.
She co-authored "Star Trek Lives!"
"Star Trek Lives" was published in July, 1975, over a quarter century ago. I am surprised people remember it. But then, we remember every single detail of every episode (that's why we are on this board.) Joan Winston plugged "Soap" at a 1977 con, as she worked for ABC then, before its Disneyfication. A funny show in the beginning, BTW, until it got dumb and pointless.
Was Dr. Coleman considered a descendant of the character Harry Landers played on "Ben Casey?" Is Mr. Landers still alive? He did "The Return of Ben Casey" with the late Vince Edwards in 1987.
Ms. Winston was pitching a story to the Trek staff for a possible fourth season at the time of her visit to the set.
To Wiseguy-I wish I could answer your questions. I have been trying to find those answers myself. Two stories from the aborted "Phase II" made it into "Next Gen." I don't think that any if the other 10 or 11 were leftovers from TOS. When the show was cancelled, I'll bet all unused stories went into the circular file and were forgotten.
I remember there was once a Facts on File book that contained all the unused story outlines at the time of the show's cancellation . . . unfortunately, I don't remember the title of the book or any details. This was about ten years or more ago.
Phil noted that Chapel changed her hair color and she's now a brunette.
That's all fine & good, however...
Why didn't TPTB decide that "Number One" from Pike's Era came back as a nurse on Kirk's Enterprise in this episode after taking some medical studies?
Makes sense to me. That way it'd preserve the continuity.
During its original run, people weren't that concerned with continuity, both the producers and the audience. And besides, going from second in command of a ship to a nurse on the same ship is a bit of a stretch of the continuity anyway. A woman should be allowed to change her hair without having to become a different character. :-)
I read in an old issue of the Star Trek magazine (one from last year), in an interview with Majel Barrett, that she dyed her hair so that the network bigwigs wouldn't know it was the same person who played Number One. Apparently they were against casting into another role anyone who had been in the original pilot whose character wasn't picked up for the second pilot. The dye job even made Gene do a double take at first. The network people didn't know it was the same actress.
When they decided to use "The Cage" in "The Menagerie" an alias was used for the credits for who played Number One, so no one would know it was the same actress. I could be remembering wrong, but I think that's what Majel Barrett said in the interview.
Why would the swapping of a male/female personality change ANYTHING, except that the female character was REVENGE HAPPY? (and the male character wasn't) ... that SEEMS to be the focal point of the plot ...
Okay, ... the physical appearance of EACH personality posed significant problems early in the episode, but after Spock and McCoy began to have doubts ... ?
That was no alias for Majel in "The Cage," Margie. Her real name is Majel Lee Hudec. I sent her a sympathy card upon Gene Roddenberry's death, and was surprised to get an acknowledgement from her. I will always treasure it.
I once read a 'Best of Trek' article (remember those little paperback collections?) that mentioned this ep's lost end sequence.
Apparently Kirk, on the bridge and back to his old self, was supposed to worry that 'his manhood had somehow been contaminated by Janice Lester'. But then he finds himself ogling a pretty yeoman and is greatly relieved...presumably setting the stage for one final forced laugh all round.
Well. Beyond being very, very glad that these particular scenes...if they existed...were never filmed, I've never been able to find reference to this sequence anywhere else. Does anyone have more info?
On a more general note, I gotta say that from the female point of view 'Turnabout Intruder' had to be the low point of Trek. I mean, 78 eps full of tolerance, equality and all other good and lofty principles - and then THUNK!! women can't be starship captains, end of story. (Or - given the above - homophobia was at the end of the story. Either way...)
I don't consider myself a rabid feminist, but this ep (and it's philosophical heiress, Counselor Troi in the bunny suit) really mess up my ability to take Trek seriously. I've often wondered what Nichelle Nichols thought about it.
FUNNY THOUGHT: Can't help but wonder if Kirk saw a box of tampons in his quarters that night and wonder how they got there.
This is the final episode to feature "the dirge" from "Spock's Brain" (of course, it's also the final episode PERIOD!) :P
AT LAST! Sulu gets to sit the command chair when assuming command...normally he does it from the Helm. (Too bad this is the final episode)
Also, Spock gives someone the Vulcan neck pinch for the last time until STTMP
It was never said that women could never be starship captains. Dr. Janice Lester was shown to be mentally unbalanced, which would have kept her from any command, probably even serving on a ship.
Now, Counselor Troi as eye candy, that's another issue entirely. However, she DID pass the bridge officer's test and could be well on her way to command.
"Also, Spock gives someone the Vulcan neck pinch for the last time until STTMP" - John A. Lang
I guess the Animated Series doesn't count.
In the Blish version (ie. an earlier draft of the script), just after Janice Lester is rescued, she has this conversation with Kirk:
"The years we were together in Starfleet is the only time I was alive."
"I didn't stop you from going on with your space work."
"I had to! Where would it lead? Your world of starship captains doesn't admit women."
"You've always blamed me for that," Kirk said.
"You accepted it"
"I couldn't have changed it," he pointed out.
I rest my case.
Even if this conversation doesn't appear in the ep (something I admit I shouldn't have been so dogmatic about, since I haven't seen it in years) the attitude of the creators still comes off pretty clearly. Every intelligent study of Trek I ever read picks up on this as well, so the ep must at least imply it pretty strongly.
As for Counsellor Troi - she's passed the bridge officer's test, yes (although I agree with whoever pointed out that this 'heartwrenchingly difficult' test basically consisted of her sending a holo-projection to it's doom).
But...the one time we actually see her in command of the Bridge, she has to be coached to recognized what would have to be one of the most basic dangers possible in space travel.
As much as I like the character personally, and as much as they tried to puff up her part in later seasons, they could never quite make her believable as a leader of Starfleet personnel.
Don't get me wrong - I adore Trek for all of it's good and decent ideals, and for having the courage to splash that sci-fi intellectualism all over the screen in an era of "Danger! Danger, Will Smith!"
And I concede that much of the casual sexism in TOS was an inevitable sign of the times.
After all the apologies, though, there's still a deeply unnecessary streak of males-only running through both TOS and NextGen that is difficult for this female Trekker to excuse. Put up with, most of the time, but not excuse.
So what if a woman couldn't captain a ship back then It was the sixties baby get groovy! Hows your mojo running? (don't shoot me its too quiet around here and I'm trying to get some action going baby)
End austin powers mode.
The scene in which Kirk leaves "another way" besides the correct door (mentioned in Phil's book) is debateable....
After watching it closely, there is time for Kirk to walk towards the camera,then walk around the table and then out the correct door.
However, on the surface, it DOES look like Kirk walks towards the camera then out the "incorrect" door...but if you time it, you'll see I'm right.
According to "Star Trek Lives," Shatner debated until he was blue in the face with director Herb Wallerstein about the where the exit was for the briefing room, and lost. Even back then, he knew the attention to detail of the fans.
The line "Your world of Starship captains doesn't admit women" was in the filmed episode. I had forgotten that. Roddenberry wrote the story for this ep, and I am surprised he let a line like that stay in, as his public attitude toward women was very progressive.
This can be taken two ways. One, that Starfleet has no women captains. Or Two, that captains can't have lasting relationships. (I think I am O.D.'ing on "thirtysomething" and "Once And Again" of late)
I stand corrected, Sulu also gets to sit in the Captain's chair in "The Savage Curtain" as well.
I have two answers to, "Your world of captains doesn't admit women." I think it's reasonable to assume it means it's difficult for acting captains to have lasting relationships.
The second answer is that anything Janice Lester says is unreliable since she's crazy and Kirk doesn't bother arguing sense and facts with her, since she's going to have some crazy answer to anything he says.
Well argued, Stephen. It's interesting to note that in extensive literature written about Trek from its cancellation in 1969 to the premiere of TNG in 1987, there is absolutely no (that I know of) discussion of the supposed stance in this episode that women cannot be starship captains. It was not until the wave of a handful of TNG fans (with their perverted PC views seeking to discredit the values of the original series) chose to both misquote the line from this epsiode and the context in which it was delivered, that this became an issue.
I think it's reasonable to assume it means it's difficult for acting captains to have lasting relationships.
Except that the conversation Blish recorded above is quite clearly about Dr.Lester leaving Starfleet because she didn't see any chance for promotion.
Ditto for argument #2 - it also doesn't sound like Kirk trying to soothe her down. He is actively arguing the point with her!
As I said above: They may have softened it a bit for the ep, but the earlier drafts indicate quite clearly to me what the meaning of that line is. If they didn't want it to be 'misinterpreted', they shouldn't have left any part of the conversation in at all.
Adam, as far as I can tell, Gene Roddenberry's idea of women both on and off screen was hard to fathom. From a 1987 People magazine interview:
"Majel often questions my ideas about sexual equality," says Gene "but it's something that I've always believed in. I think they're silly little creatures, but..."
"He believes in the equality of women," interrupts Majel, "as long as it doesn't interfere with his home life."
(And then there's the passage in Roddenberry's ST:TMP novelization (at least his name's on the cover) that has Scotty reflecting on Kirk's taking over from Decker: "...the herd bull returning to find a young usurper rutting there...")
Todd, I don't have the sources right to hand, but I've been a TOS fan since well before NextGen premiered, and I'm pretty certain I was also aware of the 'women can't be starship captains' controversy long before it did.
And it's not all a matter of misinterpretation, apparently: My 1989 edition of The Star Trek Compendium - by all standards a solid, canonical guide written by an admitted fan - states flatly that "Dr. Janice Lester...hates the captain because she was unable (and unfit) to become a starship commander."
(Incidentally, do the earlier, pre-1987 eds. read similarly?)
I think that David Gerrold's World of Star Trek, from about the same era, makes some mention of the controversy as well.
And it's not all from NextGen fans with grudges.
My quotes on Roddenberry above were taken from an excellent article, "Same Sexism, Different Generation", that appears in The Best of Trek #15 and as the title indicates, indicts both series. The (male) author actually goes a lot farther than I would, but it's still a well-argued essay.
Finally...'perverted PC views'? Sure, NextGen could get a little overly uptight, but - bearing in mind that the original intentions were nothing but good ones - 'perverted' may be pitching it a little strong, don't you think?
Besides, I kinda thought that type of NextGen/TOS fan dichotomy had ended years ago.
This is the last episode that has a John A. Lang comment about it being the last episode to feature something (until the movies).
Well, didn't YOU know that John A. Lang was the person inside the "Salt Sucker" suit in the episode "The Man Trap"? (also the guy in the "Rock-Man" outfit that was cut from "ST5")
(nyuk-nyuk-nyuk-nyuk ... [slap!] Ow!)
Actually, I was the madman behind the "scpipt supervisor" snafu.
With this being the last TOS episode of the 3rd Season (and forever)...the end credits person spelled "Script Supervisor" correctly all season long! Now if he'd spelled everything else right....
The guy who goofed was probably the director, Herb Wallerstein. He did not understand that even while the show was in production, it had a loyal group of fans who knew the ship inside and out.
Example - While the court-martial scene was being shot, Wallerstein wanted Shatner to exit the briefing room set one way. Shatner correctly told him that the fans would know that there was only one exit, and that there would be letters from fans about this issue. Shatner did not get his way in regard to the exit, and the letters did come. (If you remember, Shatner exited the room from the side, not the back, where the door actually was.)
Wallerstein probably thought it would be more dramatically effective to show Lester/Kirk running down the hall than to adhere to the pre-established tenets of the show. Why stick to the continuity of the series when you can have a more dramatic shot and flush three years of continuity down the porcelain fixture?
I believe that story was also mentioned in "Star Trek Lives!"
Thanks. I had forgotten my source material.
Joan Winston, who was a co-author of that book, was on the set during those last days. I always envied her because she was there.
ah, john so yr the salt creature from man trap eh not a borg...^5 (i ll take u home again janicccccccccce )
Janice Lester in this epsiode is considered to be insane . . . again, why can't they treat her with the wonder-drug introduced in "Whom Gods Destroy"?
I just rewatched this episode for the first time in a few years. I've been cramming in a lot of the old episodes in recent weeks and I made a connection. Not to toot my own horn, but I discovered this myself. I didn't learn this from books, tv, or other message boards, but I did some research afterward just to be certain.
The communications officer that filled in for Uhura, Lt. Lisa, looked familiar.
The episode's end credits list her as Barbara Baldavin ...as "Commincations Officer". Not as "Lt. Lisa" as Kirk/Lester addresses her. BTW, how many women last name "Lisa" do you know?
Next, I went to IMDb.com and looked up Barbara Baldavin. She's an obscure actress, IMDb doesn't list a date of birth or a birth location. She's only appeared in a dozen film and tv roles in the 60's and 70's. But I found the confirmation I was looking for. She was previously Ensign Angela Martine from "Balance of Terror" & "Shore Leave".
And now for some trivia. IMDb credited Barbara Baldavin twice in "Turnabout Intruder". Once as "Communications Lt. Lisa" and again as "Communications Officer Martine-Taylor". What do they know that we don't? Did Martine finally marry a certain Mr. Taylor? Actually, IMDb is notorious for errors.
I went to the updated and expanded edition of The Star Trek Encyclopedia and looked up Martine, Ensign Angela. It notes that Barbara Baldavin is the wife of TOS Star Trek casting director Joseph D'Agosta. It does not have an entry for her as Lt. Lisa, except in the Cast Appendix. She was also "Angela Baker" in "Space Seed". A fact IMDb failed to list. I'll have to rewatch "Space Seed" to see if her character name in mentioned in the dialog of that episode.
To return to nitpicker's mode, why all of these different character identities? They're all Enterprise officers. Why not stick to one name and just play one character with diverse functions aboard?
Actually the "Taylor" should be "Teller". This came about when Baldavin was cast in "Shore Leave". Her part was originally written for a yeoman named "Mary Teller". When Baldavin was cast for the part, the production crew remembered that she had been in "Balance Of Terror" and changed her first name to "Angela". Unfortunately, they forgot to also change her last name in the script so that Kirk refers to her a couple of times as "Teller". The interpretation Trek fans give is that either Angela went ahead and married someone else named "Teller" after the death of fiancee Robert Tomlinson, or that Angela Martine and Angela Teller should be viewed as completely different crew women. This latter interpretation would mean that Baldavin played four different crew women during the show. She does indeed seem to have played a woman named "Baker" in "Space Seed", although she was certainly not called "Angela" in this epsiode.
This episode would have been really, really short if Spock or McCoy had simply asked Lester (in Kirk's body) what 'he' did prior to arrival at Camus II, like what time did you report to ther bridge? What did you have for breakfast? What did we talk about an hour before we arrived at Camus II? What did we do yesterday? Kirk (in Lester's body) would have the answers. Of course, that's something we need to overlook, or else the whole episode in invalidated.
Why are the members of the senior staff the ONLY PEOPLE to argue with Kirk/Lester about the death penalty? Why are the members of the senior staff the ONLY PEOPLE to notice that something is wrong with their Captain?
GREAT MOMENT: When Kirk/Lester returns to the Bridge for the last time & orders "Standard Orbit", both Sulu & Chekov slide their hands off the controls and onto their laps. You feel like standing up and cheering.
The senior staff are the ones responsible for the questioning of the captain. It is part of the chain of command. The NCO and Crewmen are not supposed to be concerned about that that is what officers are for. Also if they were to do something about it then the odds of them getting punished for insubordination or mutiny would be much more likely than for the officers in this case.
Note from the moderator: I have removed several problem messages from this and a few other boards. The IP addresses of the troublemakers have been logged, and if they decide to cause trouble again I will report them to their ISPs.
And for future reference: if anyone happens to notice an inflammatory post, please do not respond to it directly. Simply e-mail me with the location of the offending post and I'll get rid of it.
Have a nice day!
Thank you, Nick.
Yeah, much obliged.
Amen & God bless you.
At the end of the episode when Kirk regains his own body, Lester attacks him with a hypo. When the scene shifts, she is holding the hypo upside-down.
What were the last two words spoken in this the very last episode aired?
"If only...if only": Kirk
That's four words.
In the James Blish print version, Spock finishes Kirk's sentence by saying "if only she (Lester) had taken any pride in being a woman." I don't know why this was left out, but the final words "if only" wind up providing a very curious final epigram for the series.
Perhaps Spock's words were edited out on purpose? To give Kirk's a second level of meaning?
If only Trek hadn't been consigned to the the no-man's land of Friday late night . . . if only NBC had paid more attention to the demographics of its ratings . . . if only the budget hadn't been slashed and Roddenberry and Coon hadn't been alienated from their creation . . . that kind of thing.
"ONE MORE TIME!" MOMENT: When Lester/Kirk are fighting in the hallway with Coleman & the hypo, Kirk/Lester goes off flying in another direction...and the music TPTB decide to play is....The "Jaws" sequence from "The Doomsday Machine" (I guess TPTB decided to bang that piece of music in our heads one last time before the last episode ended.)
Recently I've started printing off the posts for Trek episodes for something to read to and from work, and I came across something from kerriem on December 14, 2001, so I thought I'd nitpick it, since that's what we all do here;
She quotes the Lost In Space Robot as saying, "Danger! Danger, Will Smith!" Now, I know that Will Smith is a Bad Boy, but I think she meant the Good Boy, Will ROBINSON.
I have to agree with her when she says she interpretted Lester's comment about Starfleet not accepting women as ship captains as that. That's how I always understood it.
Lester must have switched careers though; she is, after all, DOCTOR Lester, and not Commander Lester. She wanted to train for command, but had to switch to science at some point.
She mentions that she and Kirk were together at Starfleet for a year; would that be at the Academy? Or when he was Lieutenant Kirk (Mitchell's description of him is 'a stack of books with legs')? Either way, it was a long time ago, so Lester apparently never got over Kirk and held this grudge for well over a decade. How fortunate for her that he became a starship captain so she could try to replace him.
An interesting way to show what Spock saw in the mind meld would have been to flash a dozen or so images from the past 3 seasons over top of the scene. It would show Kirk on the bridge, with Spock and McCoy on various planets that they visited, or people they encountered like Edith Keeler, Zefrim Cochrane, and Flint. Too bad they never thought of that to make the scene more powerful.
LOL, thanks Will. (Actually, I think I was conflating the Will/Dr.Smith characters.)
She mentions that she and Kirk were together at Starfleet for a year; would that be at the Academy? Or when he was Lieutenant Kirk (Mitchell's description of him is 'a stack of books with legs')?
Kirk's timeline is so convoluted that even the Chronology's editors eventually just toss up their hands...and Dr. Lester's comments are maddeningly vague as to when and where, except that they do seem to involve student days.
So personally, yes, I'd agree with one or the other of your suggestions above - for reasons I can't quite isolate (they have to do with the seeming maturity of the relationship) I like the second hypothesis better.
Either way, it was a long time ago, so Lester apparently never got over Kirk and held this grudge for well over a decade.
Mm. Evidently she nursed it carefully until it became an obsessive psychosis, and took over her whole raison d'etre. Not wholly unknown in the literature ("I am Janice Lester. You killed my Starfleet career. Prepare to die!" 
)
How fortunate for her that he became a starship captain so she could try to replace him.
Ehhh, I dunno - it'd likely have been pretty easy to guess which fast-track Cadet Kirk was on, let alone Lieutenant Kirk.
That's probably a big part of Lester's grudge; how everything seemingly came so easily to James T., handed to him on a platter. To her warped thinking this wouldn't have been because he worked hard and was talented; he was a man, and so he was clearly headed to glory...while she wasn't.
An interesting way to show what Spock saw in the mind meld would have been to flash a dozen or so images from the past 3 seasons over top of the scene.
That would have been seriously tricky to do without coming off cheezy to one degree or another. But if they could have pulled it off, yeah, it would have been very effective - especially as a sort of subtle farewell, a 'thanks for the memories' moment.
I'm also wondering if Lester researched Kirk's career thoroughly, because the guy made ALOT of enemies (some got blowed up real good), but plenty are still out there nursing grudges. It would be interesting to see how Lester/Kirk handled a reappearance of Trelane or Kang.
Sure, Kirk made captain and it could have been evident to perceptive people that big things were in store for him, but he cheated death so, so many times that Lester was lucky to have her chance to switch bodies. I suppose if he hadn't made it out alive after encounters with Khan, Gary Mitchell, Kor, etc., that she'd have had to settle switching bodies with somebody else...
"Kirk's dead?! There goes my revenge! Oh, well. Hey, I always hated Captain Tracey on the Exeter. Maybe I'll go switch places with him..."
I dont understand.
Although Kirk/Lester isn't supposed to have Kirk's memories (hence his fumbling about the ship's schedule), he still knows that Kirk calls McCoy "Bones". (Kirk doesn't call McCoy that in Lester's hearing.)
There's a cute bit with Kirk/Lester filing his nails. I suppose he got good use out of Kirk's makeup, too. :-)
I was imagining Lester finding out that her intended victim of revenge, Kirk, had already died, so she decided to switch bodies with another former boyfriend, Captain Tracey, only to find out that he, too, was unavailable, thanks to being marooned on Omega. I was making a joke about her lousey luck and poor choice of boyfriends.
I watched the episode again today, and what I got from it is that Lester failed out of the academy, like the guy who went to the Roman planet. She couldn't handle being on the command track, and blamed her failure on a perceived prejudiced at Starfleet Command. This led her to hate her own gender, believing that all things being equal, except she was a man, then she would have succeeded. She was obviously wrong, seeing how she acted while in Kirk's body. You can't just execute your officers! :p
Spock must not pay attention to Kirk very much.
When Lester/Kirk hails the ship, she/he says, "Kirk to THE Enterprise"
EVERYBODY knows that Kirk says, "Kirk to Enterprise"....without the "THE" in there!
How could Spock miss that with that super-hearing of his?
(McCoy must not have hooked up that brain right in "Spock's Brain")
Scotty musn't have paid a lot of attention to Kirk over the years either, since it was he who answered that call.
Good one, Adam!
I think Janeway suddenly swiched from THE Voyager to just Voyager in the 4th ep. I wonder who wanted to get revenge on the real Janeway?
All that is needed to completely quell what Janice Lester said about Starfleet not admitting women for captains is to show a captain of a Starfleet vessel in Enterprise.
I think that would definitely mean that Lester was delusional in this episode and Kirk wasn't arguing or trying to make sense with her (as stephen posted)
Couldn't Coleman & Lester have tried the machine out a few times, & Lester got used to being in a man's body.
Why didn't the writers add a line on WHY Chapel dyed her hair from blonde to brown? And how come nobody seemed to notice (or ask) Chapel regarding her hair color change?
Maybe she had dyed her hair days or even weeks ago. We don't know how long she had the dye job done. Nor do know we every conversation Christine had in the time this ep occurs. It might be that behind the scenes that it was brought up. And finally, just how much would a line about the hair coloring advance the story?
Live long and prosper.
It never occurred to me, Benn, until you said 'just how much would a line about the hair coloring advance the story?'.
It would have been an OBVIOUS help to Kirk (in Janice's body) to say, "Christine, you had blonde hair just x-number of days ago. Also, remember our landing on Exo-III to find your fiance? An android copy of me was made and it told you, "Androids don't eat.". After all, it seems as if Chapel and Lester never met before the story, so how could she know exactly how many days ago a stranger colored her hair? Why would she make such a comment unless she was who she said she was (Kirk)?
Instead, Kirk doesn't take advantage of the situation, and leaves Chapel as confused and unsure of Lester's rantings as everyone, other than Spock.
But then the show might have been shorter, if they'd done that.
Good point Will. It's too bad TPTB never thought of that.
Live long and prosper.
When McCoy is doing the physical on Kirk/Janice, the door from the exam room to the corridor is wide open. Is the Enterprise crew a bunch of voyeurs?
Kirk/Janice wraps the scarf around his hands twice as he prepares to off Janice/Kirk, once in the long shot and again in the close-up
Of course there are a bunch of things that might have proved who Janice/Kirk was, but would lead to short-show syndrome.
The opening credits are displayed for what is probably the shortest time of any Trek episode.
I rented the Third Season collection and watched this episode again. Before it starts it offers text commentary from Mike Okuda, which I clicked on, but it never showed up during the course of the episode. Anyone else experience this?
Will, I tried to get the audio commentary for Last Starfighter but it didnt click on either...
gee where can you rent the Trek seasons packs?
Blockbuster?
Sci-Fi ran this ep this morning. I wonder if some more trims were made, or was the ep sped up; some scene transitions seemed shorter than I remember.
Blockbuster rents individual discs; I once rented a single disc from the Seinfeld season 1&2 pack. I don't know if they rent whole season sets. Anyway, the commentary on my third season set plays fine, on both my DVD players.
. . . . and so ends the televison series that was called Star Trek . . . .
"All that is needed to completely quell what Janice Lester said about Starfleet not admitting women for captains is to show a captain of a Starfleet vessel in Enterprise."
Didn't they do just that in the fourth season?
Cpt. Rachel Garrett on the Uss Enterprise C
and the woman captain in Star Trek 4.
Janice lester must be turning over at Tantalus Coloney!