This episode seems to suggest that only IDENTICAL particles of matter and anti-matter cause a release of energy. That's why Kirk was able to walk into the anti-matter universe without exploding. Okay... but it also suggests that if the two Lazaruses met outside the corridor connecting the matter and anti-matter universes, both entire universes would be destroyed. Doesn't the Enterprise draw energy from controlled matter/anti-matter reactions? As Spock would say, "I fail to see the logic in that situation."
The real question about this episode is: Is the alternate universe here supposed to be the same one featured in "Mirror, Mirror"?
The two Lazaruses are supposedly of opposing personalties (although there's really nothing to mark this difference until late in the show) as are the personalities in the "mirror" universe.
In addition the two can transpose with each other other certain conditions, as our friends did with their counterparts.
The end credits spell Eddie Paskey`s character`s name "Lesley", but the end credits of "The Conscience of the King" spell his name "Leslie". (Picky, picky, picky)
I remember when I first saw this episode. I had a similar reaction to when I had just finished watching 2001.
'What the heck was all that about?'
At the end of the episode, when the Enterprise destroys Lazarus' ship, the ship in the anti-matter universe is also destroyed. How does this happen? Is there an anti-matter version of the Enterprise (perhaps the I.S.S. Enterprise of the mirror universe) which destroys it at the same time? This suggests that there are duplicates of the entire Enterprise crew in the anti-matter universe, and that when the two Lazaruses trade places, one of them goes to the other ship. But if this is true, when Captain Kirk enters the anti-matter universe at the end of the episode, why doesn't the anti-matter Kirk, who presumably would be following the same course of action, enter ours? If he didn't, then how did the anti-matter Enterprise know to destroy Lazarus' ship on their side? Or did the ship just automatically cease to exist in the anti-matter universe once it was destroyed in ours?
Lazarus at one point confesses to him and his alter-ego being time travellers. However, they show no indications of being able to travel through time, only being able to travel through the warp between the universes (which is not the same thing).
After Lazarus is treated by McCoy, he goes to relax in the recreation room, still wearing the bedraggled and torn uniform he wore on the planet. Can't McCoy at least supply him with some fresh clothes so he doesn't go around the ship looking like a bum?
In the later Star Trek movies such as Generations and others, Captain Kirk is giving credit for saving the galaxy lots of times. However, this is the only episode according to my reckoning where he actually saves the whole entire galaxy!
Okay, I guess you could argue in "By Any Other Name" that Kirk saved the galaxy from subjication by the Kelvans. And in "The Immunity Syndrome", if Kirk hadn't killed the amoeba-thing, it conceivably could have multiplied and overrun the galaxy. Allright, that's three times.
Spock says "Madness has no purpose. Or reason. But it may have a goal." Aren't a purpose and a goal exactly the same thing?
Spock should also get some credit for saving the galaxy in "Immunity Syndrome."
Spock says everything was winking out. Is 'winking out' a scientific term?
On page 109 of the Classic Guide, Phil says that 'Kirk gets in a little old fashioned bootlicking' when agreeing that the energy disturbances might be a prelude to invasion.
However, prior to the Commodore contacting the Enterprise, a lifeform appeared just after the 'winking out.' It would seem that the sudden appearance of a lifeform after an unusual event is probably more than just a coincidence and the disruptive nature of the event would be a good 'cover.'
Lazarus appears just after the winking out, then Kirk speaks to him, in his quarters, with no security present?
In production order, the crystals are now dilithium instead of lithium. (There is now a mineral, unofficially called Dilithium and alternately known as Warp Factor 9. Its composition is Li2Te, or two Lithium atoms plus one Tellurium atom. It is bottle brown, with a hardness of 5, a white streak, and an adamantine-resinous luster.)
Uhura says, "Security reports Lazarus missing." I don't remember security watching Lazarus at all.
Lazarus refers to his world as "My Earth."
Kirk and the sane Lazarus have ten minutes to get ready, so Lazarus just chats and calmly answers Kirk's questions.
The assumption is that the Lazaruses (Lazari?) will be fighting forever, without dying, but how much air, water and food do you think that 'passageway' contains? Chances are they will both die sooner or later, regardless of whether they fight or not.
The Enterprise nacelles had both sphere and grill ends.
The dialogue of the episode seems to suggest that beings in the corridor do not age since they are outside the realms of physical law.
How many times can Lazarus fall off a cliff? How many times can he sneak out of sickbay? How many times can he change his fake beard? How much pointless boring dialogue can we endure?
Sorry. No nits, I guess I just think this is about the lamest episode of Classic Trek.
This wasn't the best episode. The writers pushed to hard to have it all make sense. This ep does however explain a nit in "Mirror,Mirror". In that ep, it does not take Kirk very long to deduce where they all are. Compare that to DS9's Crossover when the alt Kira has to inform her other self and Bashir where they are, they have no idea. Obviously, Kirk's long discussion with Spock in this episode about parallel reatlies stuck in his head.
After Kirk passes through the corridor, he walks to Sane-Lazarus's ship. This scene was obviouslyl filmed on a sound stage, because you can see about five different light sources (based on Kirk's shadow as he walks).
When the 2 Lazaruses are fighting during
the star overlay...you can see lines in the background....like there's a wall there of some kind.
GREAT SCENE: When the Enterprise fires phasers onto the planet surface to destroy Lazarus' ship,
the creators decided to use an "aft view"
shot of the Enterprise firng down on the planet....
VERY REALISTIC!!!!!!!!
Thew crew in the rec room seem to be acting
very casual about a complete stranger in the rec room.
No one asks him, "Who are you?" or
"Where are you from?"
Plus...It's a good thin Scotty wasn't in this episode...he'd be having ulcers knowing the
dilithium crystals were stolen
MISSED OPPORTUNITY
I wonder if Kirk ever found out that Lt. Masters
was willing to risk her life to save the ship?
Did he "thank" her in a "special" way?
(Why not? He kissed Uhura?)
>The crew in the rec room seem to be acting
>very casual about a complete stranger in the rec room.
Yeah, especially since he's going around in the bedraggled and dishelved condition in which he was found on the planet since McCoy didn't see fit to give him any fresh clothes or at least clean him up a little.
I noticed some oddities in this episode. The first one is Mister Spock's voice down on the planet surface, I don't remember which scene it was, but it seemed like he had a cold. And at one point Kirk tells Lazarus, "Alright, tell the truth..." or something like that, but when you watch his lips they say "Alright, tell the truth mister..." his lip movement is very different from the actual SPOKEN dialogue.
Have to agree on the Enterprise scene firing down on the planet surface -- that was a good shot!
Overdubbing was very common on TOS, a lot of times the originally filmed audio tracking didn't come out right and had to be redubbed.
Yeah, what`s some blueshirt doing acting as Chief Engineer? (yes, I know her name)
Dear Padawan:
Here's the answer:
To give the African-American audience hope for
the future.
As you're aware, Trek was done in the late 60's when the whole segregation/desegregation thing
was heating up. African-Americans were not
socially accepted in many workplaces, denied many
opportunities for advancement...all because of the color of their skin.
Roddenberry tried to paint a brighter future
for "tomorrow"...and did a very good job at it.
I believe someday we will experience Roddenberry's
"vision" and live Dr. Martin Luther King's "dream"
The problem is...to quote Gorkon...
"It seems we have a long way to go."
Unless I'm mistaken...it's difficult to see....
but I THINK all the shots of the Enterprise orbiting this planet was flipped backwards.
But they already have a chief engineer! She should have been helmsmperson or something.
Who said she was chief engineer?
The "Star Trek Encyclopedia" says that Lt. Masters
was a staff engineer. So in other words, she only
helped Scotty. But as to the whereabouts of Scotty
in this episode is unknown...so in a way you're right. But it sure does make it interesting to see a minority in that position...seeeing this was done in the 60's.....also she is certainly a pretty lady too.
What was Leslie doing in command at the end of the episode, since the navigator was a lt cmdr in command division.
Interesting note, Padawan!
It does get pretty ridiculous at times seeing unfamiliar faces on the Bridge.
But in a way it supports Kirk's statement in "Court Martial" where he pointed out he assigns people to different tasks because it's "their turn" or "their name was next on the roster" It gives the show a "military flavor"
that I've always enjoyed.
The point in which it sounded like Spock (Nimoy)
had a cold is after Kirk returns from the "anti-matter universe" and approaches the time ship.
Spock says "Lazarus" in a very muffled tone.
Not only did Kirk save OUR galaxy...but the parrallel galaxy as well.
Will he get medals from both universes for this?
I'll bet he expects to be paid double for this.
Upon seeing this episode again on DVD, I was mistaken about the flipped images of the Enterprise. It must have been another episode.
It's "Mirror Mirror".
To Anonymous, regarding Padawan Nitpicker wondering why a blueshirt is chief engineer; you misunderstand the reference; the engineer was wearing a BLUE science uniform, and not a red engineering outfit. Padawan said nothing about skin color. Presumably, Scotty wasn't on board at the time (perhaps at an engineering conference on Rigel or something), and his junior officers, one of which is wearing the wrong division color, dealt with the problem. At the very least, she's in charge of a section connected to main engineering, and Scotty was elsewhere. Padawan wasn't objecting to her skin color, just the show's costumer putting her in the wrong uniform color.
Then he should have been more specific in his nit.
I don't think the Chief would appreciate it if there was a racist remark (or nit) on the board
I understood what Padawan said. He was questioning a blueshirt being in charge of engineering. Blushirts are generally in the sciences. It would be like Scotty being in charge of sickbay! His comment was perfectly clear to me and did not sound the least bit racist (unless you can be racist against people wearing blue shirts!)
I think anonymous was being a bit over sensitive. How can you get a racist remark out of blue shirt. Now if he made a specific reference to skin color it would have been racist. But not the color of the shirt, espicially when the show established that blue shirts are in the science division not in the engineering division.
Phil mentioned in his book how the engineering section now has the same panel as the Tantulus Penal Colony
(Dagger of the Mind)
What he forgot was, they also decided to include the "Knob turning sound" as well.
You can hear it when Lt. Masters turns the knob on the panel across the room.
Thank you, named nitpickers. It`s difficult to tell what counts as science and what as engineering, since, at this time, any discoveries about antimatter are science. Perhaps Masters is a dilithium scientist? Also, BTW, a similar situation exists with Ann Mulhall who is a redshirt but a scientist. This is less easily explained, though.
Not to mention security personel wearing blue
in "The Man Trap" and yellow in "The Galileo Seven"
Uhura wore a yellow uniform in one early episode.
Not to mention that Kirk has two different color uniforms, yellow & green.
Presumably the whole 'what group gets what color uniform' issue hadn't been settled yet, and there was general confusion about who wears what color uniform so some people were issued different colors until the Starfleet Command Color Coordinators could make up their minds? Obviously at some point some admiral got sick and tired of all the confusion and threw out the red, yellow & blue uniforms and we got those ugly grey things in STTMP.
I remember as a kid growing up in the seventies, when TOS merchandising was at its height, they sold replica shirts of the crew uniforms. Availible were the usual gold, blue and red seen on the series, but you could also get a green shirt (dark green, not the light puke-green of Kirk's tunic) not ever seen on the show!
Interestingly enough, there are no yellow jumpsuits, but instead there are green jumpsuits!
Uhura wore yellow in her two first epsiodes, The Corbomite Manuever and Mudd`s Women.
BTW, the more I think about it, I`ve come to more conclusions. My point was not so much that she was a "blueshirt", but that she wasn't Scott. Had she worn red I probably would have said "Why is Masters in charge of engineering". Had Masters been a white amle I`d probably have made the same comment I had done before. But I don`t want to end this uniform discussion.
OK...Kirk has to force Lazarus thru the porthole...he does so by beating him up and pushing him thru...Spock stands by and does nothing....uh...how about a nerve pinch, Mr. Spock...that might help!
I must add the close-ups of Kirk & Spock work very well in this story.
Most of the shots of the planet appear to be outdoors (on location at some area not far from Paramount) However, when Kirk arrives in the "antimatter universe" the planet looks like a sound stage (and an obvious one at that.)
My guess is they ran out of shooting time; unless they wanted the anti-matter planet to 'look' different. Even Lazarus's goatee changes somewhat in thickness through the episode.
According to Justman and Solow's "Inside Star Trek," John Drew Barrymore was originally hired to play Lazarus. When he never showed for work, Robert Brown was hired at the last minute. This is one reason given as to why this episode suffers. Question:Is he the father of E.T.'s pal (and future Charlie's Angel) Drew Barrymore?
When the ship's phasors hit Lazarus' time ship..it disolves the craft instead of destroying it...does that seem right? There should have been some kind of explosion.
I've read that fire & rust are the same process (oxidation) at different speeds. So maybe the time ship is slightly out of sync with our time and only appears to dissolve because of the time difference???
Everyone knows that Lazarus is a madman and poses a threat to the ship....so why....
A. Doesn't Kirk post more security in the ship?
B. Go to "red alert" ? (or security alert)
C. Have McCoy put him in restraint?
Why? So Lazarus can roam the ship and do as he dang pleases!
With all the screen spinning in this episode, I'm surprised Batman didn't show up and say, "Hey,guys! That's MY special effect!"
In an effort to beat John Lang to the punch, this episode also lists a "SCPIPT SUPERVISOR". There MUST have been a scpipt somewhere to supervise, else it would not have shown up in so many eps.
I'm just glad to see someone else noticed that nit.
Yeah, John ... the odd part of this little nit is that the letter "P" is nowhere near the letter "R" on the keyboard!
Is it possible that the person that typed the word 'SCPIPT' was actually working from hand-written notes, and was actually too dozey to figure out the true meaning?
I've read that book, 'Behind Star Trek', and don't recall any mention of this continual mistake, so I guess the reasons will remain a mystery.
George W. Bush didn't work on TOS, did he?
1. 1st scene after the opening credits - Kirk, Spock and FOUR (count 'em) redshirts beam down to the surface ... looks like Kirk was expecting BIG trouble! (redshirts beware)
2. Where is Sulu and Scotty in this ep? Couldn't afford to pay a full cast that week?
3. Late in the ep Lazarus is in the corridor and passes a wall box labeled "Warning - High Voltage". He takes a handkerchief from his pocket, opens the wall box, steals an electrical component, then moves another one to cause a short circuit. A few sparks happen, then the wall box begins to smolder. This doesn't seem very "high" voltage to me. First, to even be able to reach into an electrical box almost barehanded is amazing enough. But, if it was really high voltage, (220 volts or more) then Lazarus would be unconscious on the floor before he finished umplugging that component.
4. The "Lazarus Effect" happens 8 or more times during this ep. Each time, a still photo of some celestial object is overlaid on the action. It looks familiar, but I can't place what it is a picture of.
The celestial object is sometimes seen on the monitors above the workstations on the Bridge
After Kirk & McCoy find Lazarus in the hall and remove the bandage, Spock pages Kirk, he & Lazarus leave...McCoy is standing there by himself...with only ONE red alert light flashing...however...there are TWO red alert light panels in the background....the other must be burned out.
GREAT LINE: "Would you get this muscleman out of my sickbay?" McCoy to Kirk
Finally...the biggest nit of all....there is NO POINT in this story in which the disheveled man addresses himself as "Lazarus"...yet, everyone knows his name. That ESP effect from "Where No Man Has Gone Before" must have REALLY long lasting effects or something....I know, the man said his name when we weren't looking!
He gives his name in the Blish novelization, so it was probably in the script. Yet another deleted scene, perhaps.
I'm not aware of any line in the dialogue that says that the gateway that the two Lazarus's meet in is capable of allowing them to live for eternity at each others throats as Kirk implies. Why wouldn't they just starve to death and die in a couple of weeks?
This episode has been noted as "one of the worst episodes in the 1st season"...however, I disagree.
Sure, some parts are long and somewhat boring.
However, if you look past that, you see a nice, "steel-edged" sci-fi story with a great plot. Great writing too.
And somewhere, there’s a Kazon in bed in the Delta Quadrant, or a Changeling on the crapper in the Gamma Quadrant saying, "Whoa, what the F*&#! was THAT?"
The Starfleet commodore who speaks with Kirk over his view screen in Act 1 says what happened was felt in every quadrant of the galaxy. Unlikely.
The Alternative Physics
When Kirk meets the sane Lazarus, Lazarus quite correctly points out to Kirk that if identical particles of matter and antimatter come into contact with one another, they will annihilate one another. So why doesn’t Kirk explode when he enters the antimatter universe? The impression I’m getting from the creators from this fact, and what subsequently happens to the two Lazaruses, is that they are implying that identical particles only come into contact with one another when identical objects come into contact with one another (i.e.: two Kirks, or two Lazaruses), which is absurd. Particles are not the same things as objects, nor does one has anything to do with the other. Particles, which are immensely tiny, and chemically homogenous, refer to protons and electrons, and their antimatter counterparts, antiprotons and positrons, which exist in all forms of matter, including the molecules of Kirk’s body, his clothes, the air around him, etc. All you would need for annihilation would be for an antiproton or positron in the air surrounding Kirk to touch a proton or electron in his shirt, his face, or be drawn into his lungs, or for similar antimatter particles on the ground beneath his feet to come into contact with the soles of his boots to cause mutual annihilation. Instead, the creators attempt to establish that in order to have annihilation, zillions and zillions of protons and electrons must come together to form the atoms and molecules in an object, and for that object to come into contact with an exact antimatter object, which is ridiculous.
Unfortunately, this is the only episode in which Lt. Masters appears in "Star Trek"...and it's too bad...she's a nice looking dame. 
John A.: I thought this ep was boring and confusing - but then I'm not overly familiar with 'hard' sci-fi, so I'll take your word for it that the concept holds up. After all, if you read the Blish novelization of 'Spock's Brain', it's actually a pretty good story, too.
But the staging....oook. That awful, over-the-top performance from Robert Brown. The plot holes you could drive a truck through. The 'Surprise! Here's a black woman you've never seen before in charge in Engineering...but we don't feel the need to explain where she came from' scenario. And above all, that terrible, beyond cheezy, straight-outta-The Jetsons ship Lazarus is driving. That sucker nearly wrecked my ability to take, not only this ep, but Star Trek in general seriously.
Gerd Oswald is mentioned as being the director for this episode....AHA! Now we have a clue as to who's pushing Lazarus off the cliffs! It's the guy hiding on the grassy knoll!
Even though the end credits person misspelled "script" again, he/she gets a point for mentioning Mr. Leslie (Eddie Paskey) in the end credits this time. (And it's about time, too!)
Gerd Oswald directed the much better received "Trek" episode "Conscience of the King," in addition to a number of episodes from the original "Outer Limits."
The producers had very high hopes for this episode, but a lot of the blame was put on the casting problem regarding John Drew Barrymore that I mentioned above.
Great line - Spock's "I fail to comprehend your indignation, sir. I simply made the logical conclusion that you are a liar."
How come Engineering looks 100% different than from what it looked like in "The Enemy Within"? And why is it that we never get to see it looking like this again?
What is a being from an alien civilization doing with a name like "Lazarus" - from Earth mythology? Is this another example of the law of duplicate evolution?
When Lazarus reapplies the bandage to his own forehead after McCoy pulls it off, he leaves one corner noticeably sticking out from his skin. In the next shot, it is neatly and evenly sticking against his skin.
Sir Rhosis
**Leslie Alert** Even though someone mentioned it, I'm maintaining my continuity by posting my infamous "Leslie Alert" notice...Mr. Leslie is at the Helm again AND this time he is mentioned in the end credits! YAY!
Before the credits, Kirk jumps out of his chair to talk to Spock and the chair moves a considerable distance off the floor. Why doesn't it fall over when the ship shakes?
hey mr leslie got to sit in the big chair and spoke! something like phasors standing bye sir, aye aye sir;....cool shot of the phasor angle john a!
scpipt supervsor strikes again....john try spil chec, what s a phasor?
Uh, "phasors fire!", you might want to try a bit of spell checking yourself!
ok helpfulllllllllllllllllllllllllll,tryn me best
gee i guess da smiley dingey dont work?
BF: At one point Kirk tells Lazarus, "Alright, tell the truth..." or something like that, but when you watch his lips they say "Alright, tell the truth mister..." his lip movement is very different from the actual SPOKEN dialogue.
The ACTUAL verbage is as follows:
Spock: I fail to comprehend your indignation, sir. I've simply made the logical deduction that you are a liar.
Kirk: (to Lazarus) Let's have it ... the truth this time.
And it DOES appear that Kirk actually spoke the line, "Let's have the truth, mister" and was later overdubbed with the more captain-like line that was used in the episode.
And as far as the landscape goes in the outdoor scenes ... my DVD has this ep paired with the ep "Arena" (Arena is listed as ep 19 and this one as ep 20) and in each episode, it appears that the creators used the same landscape for filming.
CG enhancing: Following up on an idea in the Space: 1999 threads, if Star Trek the Classic Series could be enhanced with CG, these are ideas I have for this episode.
The problem with this episode can't be fixed with opticals. Lazarus' behaviour simply did not vary all that much between the two men, even though he supposedly was exchanging with himself each time the universe did its wink-out. There also is no occurrence of Wink-Out while McCoy steps away from Lazarus "for a moment", yet one should have occurred to explain the disappearance of the forehead wound.
Maybe they could go back in and create a digital Lazarus, like Lucus did for Yoda in Episode 2?
How stupid do you have to be to run a starship? The first thing to do when you get a Code Factor 1 (Invasion Alert), one step from Code 1 (Actual War), is to invite a stranger and let him roam all over the ship without having him guarded. Has nobody ever thought of espionage, George Takei was send to a prisoner camp during WWII just because he happened to be Japanese!
McCoy says he is a country doctor, well, send him to the country then. Once again he lets a patient in sickbay escape (he did that before in Space Seed).
Spock gets weirder by the episode as well. He measures body temperature in Fahrenheit, what happened to the Earth standard Celsius, or the Space standard Kelvin ?
Can I go on about this L ep?
I know that electricity fuses can be found at the wildest places (you should see my house!) but to put it in a corridor, without a lock and with two warning signs is the ideal place to attract saboteurs. Strange that the sign didn't say: Attention to all invaders: to start a fire in the machine room, simply use the fuses here!
I recently changed the watertubes in my house and none of the pieces of 20 years ago fitted on the new ones without having to buy 'mid-pieces' to fix tube type 1 onto tube type 2. My cell-phone doesn't work in America, neither does my Philishave in the UK as the holes in the wall for the electricity are different. I'm lucky to see there is an 'interstella'-standard in Star Trek, even amongst parallel universes. A piece of dilithium crystal fits inside any other space-ship, without adjusting, re-aligning, bying intermediate equipment...
Lucky for Kirk that Lazarus 2 isn't pigheaded.
Kirk: You are anti-matter.
Lazarus 2: No am I not, you are.
Kirk: I am not!
Lazarus 2: Yes you are! (and so on)
And once again: Send that country-doctor home! (Refusing to put a guard next to the bed of a spy from the imminent invasion is quite close to... collaboration with the enemy, isn't it?)
I could go on, especially about the matter anti-matter thing (IMO the parallel universe can't be anti-matter as no-one explodes when switching sides), but dinner is getting cold...
PS: More Masters! More Masters! Can't blame her that she fled the Enterprise asap...
More Masters! More Masters!
Janet Mac Lachlan has few TV and film credits circa the time that ST-TMP was in production. It would have been nice to see her reprise her role, maybe as Scotty's first assistant. But, Messrs. Roddenberry and Wise had enough problems at that time, and I'm sure that recruiting an actress for a small role was not among them.
Poster 'Derf' on March 28, 2001, asked...
The "Lazarus Effect" happens 8 or more times during this ep. Each time, a still photo of some celestial object is overlaid on the action. It looks familiar, but I can't place what it is a picture of.
I noticed that, too. It's a picture of the Trifid Nebula.
KAM said, a long time ago: Not to mention that Kirk has two different color uniforms, yellow & green.
This offers up an explanation. But, I saw a Kirk shirt on display at King's Dominion park in Virginia, and, IIRC, it was the same color as seen on TV.
Saw this one during G4's Saturday Trek marathon last week. It's not the best episode, but definitely not as bad as it's been made out to be. Then again, I've defended "Spock's Brain" and "The Way To Eden" here, so what do I know?
We see new angles of the viewing screen here; definitely not stock shots, since Sulu is nowhere to be seen. But, at least once, the traveling light under the screen is seen going from right to left, not its usual left to right.
This episode is one of the very few from the first season that is poor.And not that this would have altered that fact,but Lazarus's ship/dimensional portal device was an awful looking prop.I don't believe that they ever reused it again,unless they just utilized portions from it for another episode.In any event,I'm glad not to have ever seen it show up again.Funny how the production department could create something so weak,then come up with the obelisk from "The Paradise Syndrome,"which was movie quality impressive.
The only bright side to Lazarus' ship (the scenes , if not the actual vessel) was how they were slightly different, as though both universes were slightly 'off' from each other. If I were to travel to another universe, I would think to expect slight differences, i.e. General Motors had hired different design engineers, tv shows having slightly different casts, etc.
This episode starts off all right, but quickly becomes disjointed and confusing.
There are a large number of scene-to-scene oddities. Lazarus continually goes on about seeking vengeance, demanding dilithium crystals, and in general having a less than trustworthy demeanor, to put it mildly. Yet there is no indication of security watching him, despite claims of security watching him. After his "no threat intended" threat to Kirk about the crystals, he leaves the bridge. A few moments after, a guard on the bridge enters the turbolift after Lazarus (why he waited I have no idea), yet Lazarus then emerged from the lift into a corridor, with no security guard in sight. In fact, the one time a security guard was seen posted to Lazarus in sickbay, McCoy threw him out!
Lazarus' lies "in the interest of self-preservation" didn't help matters any. I have no idea how lying about the location of his home world helped him at all, and seemed needlessly complicated and unimportant to the story.
It seemed that at every opportunity on the planet surface, Lazarus made it a point to wander up on top of that hill. Why? Just to fall off? It seemed that every time that happened, the story would go back to square one. The scene would go back to sickbay, and Lazarus would go off on one of his rants, then escape, etc.
After the second time Lazarus fell off a cliff (or was it the third?), McCoy told Kirk, "Don't worry, he won't get away this time." Yet the next thing you know, Lazarus is once again wandering the corridors. Way to go, Bones. At one point Kirk asked McCoy where Lazarus was, and McCoy said, "I don't know, Jim. This is a big ship...I'm just a country doctor.". That's helpful. There wasn't even the normally-ubiquitous "Kirk to security. Locate and confine Lazarus.". After McCoy had said that he wouldn't let Lazarus get away, Bones left the room. What happened to Lazarus then? He convulsed and the image got blurry. It didn't look like the other "attacks" at all. Was this a failed attempt at a switch? I was watching to see if the bandage disappeared then, but no dice. To me, that's where the real confusion began, becoming damaged beyond repair.
When Kirk and McCoy happened upon Lazarus in the corridor and either Kirk or McCoy ripped off Lazarus' bandage, Lazarus' line "Decide to help me yet?" sounded improvised on-the-spot.
Lazarus seemed to know the ship's systems and layout better than Khan. He reconfigured that corridor panel to start the fire in "engineering"(?), and somehow snuck in and subdued Masters and that red-shirted guy. How Lazarus knew where the crystals were is beyond me. And he knocked out Masters while she was talking to Kirk! If Lazarus had waited five seconds or so, Kirk never would've known until it was too late. Then again, at that point security FINALLY reported Lazarus missing. But that didn't stop him from getting to the transporter room, regardless. And boy...where there's fire, there's smoke!!
In the rec room, that red-shirted guy came in and Masters asked him if he wanted coffee. He said, "Is that an order, Lieutenant?". She laughed and said, "I know what you mean.". The two seemed pretty friendly to one another. I realize the point was to establish the mention of dilithium crystals so Lazarus could overhear it, but later the red-shirted guy and Masters were rather cold and formal to each other in "engineering"(?). I guess the rec room is the only place where crew members can really "let themselves go"!
Is it me, or is the mere mention of dilithium crystals in any episode seem to bring bad luck regarding them?
Those scenes in the 'magnetic corridor' were bizarre, to say the least. They almost had an 'Outer Limits' feeling to them, making me wonder if this story was originally written for that series, or if the director worked on that show.
I agree with the above poster who said that the briefing room discussion with Kirk and Spock was the best scene of the episode.
This was probably a pretty intriguing episode in its formative stages, but something must've happened along the way to side-track it. I can't imagine that a last-minute cast change (Lazarus) did so much to damage the story structure all by itself.
Overall, a word of advice: if you're sick, and decide to watch an episode of Star Trek to kill time...don't watch this one. You'll feel worse.
When it comes time to enhance this episode, I hope they don't touch that scene where the Enterprise is firing phasers onto the planet surface. That was a real cool angle and probably one of the best shots of the Enterprise in the 1st season.
Not much enchancements here except the new exterior views of the Enterprise. Additionally, it was good to see they kept that rear angle of the Enterprise firing down on the planet.
The remastered "The Alternative Factor" airs this weekend. (People with the DVD set got a sneak preview.)
With the exception of this episode & "Mudd's Women,"the rest of the episodes from the first season are all very watchable & fun.
I was very disappointed with the lack of enhancements for the remastered version of "TAF" tonight.This was always one of the very few weak episodes from the first season for me.I thought that the original visual fx used repeatedly in the ep for the "winking out of the two universes" would have made for an excellent upgrading with CGI.Nope,they didn't do a thing with it at all.This show needed all the tweaking that it could get & nothing should have been ignored.
John Drew Barrymore who was originally hired to portray Lazarus was indeed the father of Drew Barrymore,to answer an earlier question.How come the helmsman in this episode wore a red shirt instead of the typical gold one that is always worn by Sulu & other helmsmen?
The remastered version has some new orbital shots, and a slightly enhanced phaser shot on the timeship. The unusual rear angle of the Enterprise firing its phasers was kept.
They never really explained what triggered the "winkouts" that seemed to cause the Lazurii to switch places. At the end, the timeship used the dilithium crystals to open the corridor. However, throughout the episode there were other events. Was the unseen Lazarus triggering them, or were they random?
The creators realized this episode was •••• and by the end knew that one on would care anymore why the "winkouts" happened, they would just be glad that the episode was finally over! lol
This is on the top of my worst episodes of the first season. "The Return of the Archons" is a close second. Its too bad this episode gets stuck between two great episodes, "Errand of Mercy" and "The City on the Edge of Forever".
I. Supposedly, the issue is that if the two Lazarii <g> ever meet OUTSIDE of the portal and touch, they will destroy the whole universe. They can only meet INSIDE the portal/doorway between universes. Am I correct? The solution, proposed by "sane" (antimatter?) Lazarus is to wait until both Lazarii are in the portal and then destroy the time ship, thus trapping them there, preventing them from meeting outside the portal and, again, destroying the universe. Am I right again? (Seriously, I'm trying to figure out if I understood this stinker of an episode.)
I ask because there seem to be other ways of preventing "universal Armageddon." What if Kirk blew up the time ship at any point? Wouldn't it trap the two Lazarii in their respective universes? That is, why is it necessary to trap them both in the portal, condemning them to eternal combat? Or, since crazy Lazarus is trying to take a course of action that will DESTROY THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, wouldn't Kirk be justified in just killing him outright?
II. Todd M. Pence: The real question about this episode is: Is the alternate universe here supposed to be the same one featured in "Mirror, Mirror"?
I don't think so, Todd. Remember, neither Lazarus could touch the other outside of the portal. But no such restrictions appeared to be present in the "Mirror, Mirror"/DS9 alternate universe.
The impression I got from the TNG ep "Schisms" is that there are multiple alternate universes, which are domains in subspace, each with a unique "subspace energy level." (Geordi described it as a honeycomb with infinite cells.) Worf actually bounced among these universes in the TNG ep "Parallels." The alternate universe featured in "Mirror, Mirror" and in several DS9 episodes just happens to parallel ours more closely.
Apparently, some of the universes are similar physically to ours (the "M,M" universe; Worf's universes) but others have different construction or physical laws (Lazarus; the aliens in "Schisms," whose universe is described as being different from ours).
The only guess I can make, Jesse, (and this is a wild guess based on nothing stated in the episode) is that if "crazy Lazarus" is left in his own universe he might try to cross over again. In the episode, sane Lazarus decides to babysit his other self for eternity in the magnetic corridor to prevent that. Overall, though, I thought the same thing as you: just destroy the ship!
Funny: when I was a kid, I thought it was me, that I wasn't smart enough to 'get' this episode!
Wikipedia and several other sources now carry an explanation that I think comes from the book "Inside Star Trek." Apparently the show originally contained a romantic attraction between Lazarus and Masters. The network just could not tolerate (in that age) a suggested interracial liaison. The entire subplot was cut and they had to "fill" the rest of the 50 minutes.
This would seem to explain quite a lot of what's wrong with the script in terms of repetitiveness, inconsistency, and a lack of clear plot development.
I agree with many others, though, that what's left is really awful.
Next weekend's remastered episode is "The Alternative Factor", with "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" the following weekend.
The captain thanked Lazarus while Lazarus was on the Sickbay table for saving his life
(warning him about a falling boulder), BUT it was LAZARUS that knocked it down in the
FIRST PLACE for CRYING OUT LOUD!!! <--Stupid dialogue
Robert Brown (Lazarus) played Jason Bolt on the television series "Here Come The Brides."
Is it a coincidence that Lazarus is trying to "bolt" away? (Joke.)
Notice that whenever Lazarus doubles over with pain and they show the simultaneous
Cosmos effect, it looks as though he is having a bad attack of food poisoning or having
a bad drug trip.
Dr. McCoy in particular isn't very helpful in keeping tabs on Lazarus. First, "It's a big ship, Jim." Then later, he dismisses the security guard but says "He's not going anywhere this time!" Seconds later, Lazarus sneaks out of sick bay. Gee, thanks, Doc.
Apparently the show originally contained a romantic attraction between Lazarus and Masters.
Here's the script's original draft with the romantic subplot in. Judge for yourself if it would have made the episode better.
The Legends Revealed website has a legend relating to the intended casting of this episode. (It's the second of three legends.)
Here's a nit that I hadn't thought of before.
All chemical reactions are based on the exchange/sharing of electrons between atoms.
Matter and antimatter would not react chemically, because instead of an attractive force between a matter nucleus and an electron, there would be a repulsive force between a matter nucleus and a positron. Similarly, there would be a repulsive force between an anti-nucleus and an electron, thus there would be no exchange/sharing.
Where am I going with this? Neither Kirk nor Lazarus should even be able to BREATHE in the alt-universe. OK, they could breathe, but it wouldn't do them any good. And alt-Lazarus wouldn't be able to breathe in our universe.
By Derf on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 8:47 am:
And as far as the landscape goes in the outdoor scenes ... my DVD has this ep paired with the ep "Arena" (Arena is listed as ep 19 and this one as ep 20) and in each episode, it appears that the creators used the same landscape for filming.
It's the Vasquez Rocks. Also used in "Shore Leave" and several other episodes. The site had a homage cameo in "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" as well. In addition, the Rocks are a favorite spot for many productions.
The other issue is that even if both Lazurii were totally converted to energy, it still wouldn't be a Universe-shattering kaboom. If they both weighed 180 pounds, that would create 1.47 x 1019 joules, equivalent to a 3500 megaton bomb. By comparison, the Sun gives off 3.83 x 1026 joules per second.
So if the Lazurii met, it could potentially render a planet uninhabitable, but would not affect much beyond that.
If the plural of Lazarus is "Lazaraii", does that make the plural of Elvis (Presley, Costello, Duran et al) "Elvii"? 
A recap of this episode was just added to "The Agony Booth"'s inventory. It can be read here.
The other issue is that even if both Lazurii were totally converted to energy, it still wouldn't be a Universe-shattering kaboom. If they both weighed 180 pounds, that would create 1.47 x 1019 joules, equivalent to a 3500 megaton bomb. By comparison, the Sun gives off 3.83 x 1026 joules per second.
So if the Lazurii met, it could potentially render a planet uninhabitable, but would not affect much beyond that.
I don't think that was the problem. Sane Lazarus explains that the magnetic corridor between the two usiverses acts like a "safety valve", keeping the two from completely anihilating each other. Further dialogue implies that the two Lazarus meeting outside the corridor would destroy that safety valve, let the two universes come in actual contact and trigger their complete destruction.
My problem was a wall until I read this, then I samhsed it.
Look closely at the security guard behind Kirk and Lazarus, on the right hand side, when Kirk returns from the alternative universe and is fighting with Lazarus on his space/timeship. He seems to have a definite smile on his face on and off as Kirk is trying to save the universe from destruction. He must have found something amusing about the whole situation.
Here's more about the John Drew Barrymore saga, although it pretty much states what's already in Justman and Solow's book as far as Trek is concerned.
We never found out why Lazarus's planet died. From him? From his double? From experiments that tried to link the two worlds? And how long ago did the planet die?
And although we've all considered the anti-matter Lazarus the 'sane' one, those bruises and cuts that 'our' Lazarus receieves in his fights had to come from someone. Seems the 'sane' Lazarus can be just as brutal as his double.
Why is the anti-matter Lazarus's ship destroyed when Kirk destroys the one in his own universe? Some kind of feedback?
The whole why-is-this-place-called-engineering debate could have been shortened by listening to one of Master's lines; when she and the engineer stumble out of the room that's on fire, she raises the fire alarm, identifying her area as 'engineering, energizer section'.
And although we've all considered the anti-matter Lazarus the 'sane' one, those bruises and cuts that 'our' Lazarus receieves in his fights had to come from someone. Seems the 'sane' Lazarus can be just as brutal as his double.
I believe he got those cuts and bruises when he fell off a cliff on the planet, not from a fight with his counterpart.
Why is the anti-matter Lazarus's ship destroyed when Kirk destroys the one in his own universe? Some kind of feedback?
It is never clearly explained in the episode. It's possible that since each ship sits at one end of the magnetic corridor linking the two universes, destroying one automatically destroys the other.
There really was no need for anti-matter Lazarus to condemn himself to an eternity of fighting his insane twin. All he had to do was stay out of the corridor while Kirk put insane Lazarus in the brig and then destroyed his ship, resulting in the destruction of the ship in the antimatter universe. That would have sealed the corridor and removed any risk of the two Lazarus ever meeting outside of it.
It wasn't until this most recent viewing that I paid attention to the credits and noticed that 'Arch Whitig' played Masters' engineering assistant, and thought I recognized the name.
I did-- Whitig played communications officer, Sparks, in 40 episodes of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. I've seen every episode of Voyage, and not once did I recognize him from this episode of Trek, or vice versa.
LUIGI NOVI on Sunday, June 03, 2001 - 10:13 pm: And somewhere, there’s a Kazon in bed in the Delta Quadrant, or a Changeling on the crapper in the Gamma Quadrant saying, "Whoa, what the F*&#! was THAT?"
Why would a Changeling need to use the crapper?
Who Threw That?!
Spock reports that the planet they are surveying is quite ordinary, iron silicon body and oxygen hydrogen atmosphere. That's a pretty explosive mixture, the slightest spark anywhere on the planet would ignite its entire atmosphere.
How could Kirk enter the anti-matter universe and how could the anti-matter Lazarus enter ours? Shouldn't there have been a HUGE kaboom when either happened?
Spock said that kaboom would happen if two identical particles of matter collided. So only one Lazarus in our universe, no kablooey.
And it was Lazarus's ship that created a portal into the doorway for Kirk (or anyone else) to enter the middle area between universes.
Isn't it lucky that there's light, air, and gravity in the middle area/doorway between universes! Instead of just floating in a void like space, how lucky!
Yeah, the science is dodgy here. Mind you, Trek alone doesn't have this problem. Other shows like Space: 1999, Doctor Who, and Lost In Space had dodgy episodes in dealing with anti-matter.
Spock reports that the planet they are surveying is quite ordinary, iron silicon body and oxygen hydrogen atmosphere. That's a pretty explosive mixture, the slightest spark anywhere on the planet would ignite its entire atmosphere.
Clearly, they writers didn't know this. And they didn't know we'd still be watching this, more then fifty years later.
What surprises me is how this fact got past their research department, Kellam de Forest, which was quite good when it came to spotting particular faults in science.
Must have been an off day.
Or maybe the script had it right and Leonard remembered it wrong?
Hydrogen and nitrogen have similar sounds so I can easily imagine an actor misremembering which one he had to say.
I've seen the concept of anti-matter treated worse.
Ever see the Lost In Space episode The Anti-Matter man? YE-IKES!!
Lost in Space is campy fun.
Shouldn't there have been anti-matter versions of Kirk and Co. in the other universe?
When Kirk and Spock race back onto the bridge, Kirk orders Leslie to activate phasers and stand by to fire. He does this before the viewscreen comes on (with the mysterious blinking spot that previously disappeared). Where was Leslie expected to fire his phasers at? He didn't know what the target was going to be.
This episode is the only episode in the entire series that Mr. Leslie has more lines that Scotty and Sulu combined! Neither one is in the episode, 
, but does John A. Lang know about this?
Isn't it a coincidence that Spock correctly surmises that Lazarus comes from an anit-matter universe, and not just a copy, like the Mirror Universe? Maybe in the 1960's only one alternate universe was theorized, instead of a multi-verse theory like we usually hear about these days.
When Lazarus goes to steal the dilithium crystals, we see a room labeled "Engineering", which he enters.
Except the room in question isn't Engineering, it looks more like Auxiliary Control.
Dilithium crystals. They seem to come in so many forms, yet all are somewhat compatible for the Enterprise's needs. I'll ignore the closeup in Mudd's Women since they are referred to as "lithium crystals" in that episode, but you do see similar crystals referred to as dilithium in other episodes.
In THIS episode, they appear as flat rectangular plates. And in Elaan of Troyius, a necklace made of the same material can be adapted with little problem.
So what exactly does a dilithium crystal look like?
I think Robert Brown does an excellent job considering he had very little time to prepare. But it doesn't save the episode. The only other role I've seen him in is in "Bewitched" in which he is the Fisherman's Memorial statue from Gloucester, Massachusetts brought to life by Serena (who then replaces it with Darren!).
Engineering looked more like Auxiliary Control here.
"Captain, security reports Lazarus missing!"
Is that really a surprise? The last time Kirk saw him was on the bridge when he first demanded the crystals. He got on to the turbolift alone and the doors closed. Kirk nods to the security guard, who also steps on to the turbolift, but Lazarus is already gone since we don't see him inside. Then we see Lazarus arriving on a different deck, and there was clearly no one on the turbolift with him--not that guard or anyone. And only NOW is security reporting him misssing? Security never had him in the first place.
MCCOY: Don't worry. He's not going anywhere. Not this time.
And yet McCoy doesn't put restraints on him, so he DOES go somewhere.
An exterior location, Vazquez Rocks, is used for the scenes on the planet. But for some reason, when Kirk briefly visits the other universe, which is supposed to be identical, a studio interior seems to be used. Furthermore, in "our" universe, Lazarus' ship has a transparent dome over it with a roundish entrance. In the negative universe, the frame of the entrance is there, but not the dome.
During Kirk's final fight with Lazarus, he orders the guards to stand back. But the guards weren't doing anything! They just stand there staring even before his order.
quote:An exterior location, Vazquez Rocks, is used for the scenes on the planet. But for some reason, when Kirk briefly visits the other universe, which is supposed to be identical, a studio interior seems to be used. Furthermore, in "our" universe, Lazarus' ship has a transparent dome over it with a roundish entrance. In the negative universe, the frame of the entrance is there, but not the dome.