#the alternative factor

[discoonthegrass]

For the past month, I've been running a bracket to determine which TOS episode is best, but how about which one is worst? I'm not gonna do a whole bracket for that, so let's do a single poll instead. The choices are based on how badly the episode lost in Round 1 or 2 of "Which episode is best." Any episode that won a round is not included as it is at least better than one episode.

[startrektospolls]

Please reblog so others can participate

Episodes that won so hard they automatically get to go to the finale under the cut:

The Corbomite Maneuver: Here & here

The Enemy Within: Here & Here

The Naked Time Here & Here

Balance of Terror Here & Here

Conscience of the King Here & Here

The Galileo Seven Here & Here

Court Martial Here & Here

[lichqueenlibrarian]

I love this about Kirk, trying to deal responsibly with the choices he makes, the consequences…

[smartsmears]

Finished Star Trek TOS season 1, it impressively holds up well. Now that I'm done, I can say pretty firmly that if you can get past the 60's sensibilities, TOS season 1 is a much better and more approachable Trek entry point than TNG Season 1, which is a wild thing to say.

Some takes:

Starting from later Trek, the interpretation of the Prime Directive does rankle me. Some absolute classic episodes are also the ones where Kirk kinda just decides he needs to fix the planet and I'm thinking "hey that's not how this works." Worst offender of this dichotomy is This Side of Paradise. There's also a number of episodes that are really all about stalling for time until something at the end comes out of nowhere to save the day, but this isnt really a complaint because those episodes are more just about how people react when put in certain situations and the discussions they end up having because of it.

Personal fav episode: The Galileo Seven

Shit: The Alternative Factor (obviously)

Ranking season ones I've seen so far:

TOS>PRO>LD>SNW>TNG>PIC

Notes on ranking:

I maintain that for the most part, every modern animated season of Trek is better than every modern live action season of Trek. Lower Decks doesnt quite find its vibe until episode 4, but the only real miss in S1 is the Fletcher episode, and it's a better rewatch. Prodigy is the only other time it feels like the show knows exactly what its doing from episode 1. (Also I have watched Discovery I just skipped to S3.)

[oncemorewithqueering]

every episode of Star Trek is a gamble and the stakes are spock and kirk’s relationship

anyone notice that he is very snippy with spock in The Alternative Factor??? he’s so sharp. like, they had a flirty episode last episode and the next episode is flirty. i wonder what they fought about…suggestions?

[sapsuckers-and-stardust]

This is apparently a spicy hot take but Spock’s Brain is not even close to my least favorite episode. Like yeah it’s stupid but I’m not viscerally uncomfortable while watching it. And parts of it were kind of funny or cute. Honestly as is true of many bad trek episodes, the first half was decent and created an interesting problem/mystery and they just didn’t know how to end it properly.

Meanwhile during The Omega Glory my body was turning inside outside because it is both extremely cringe and deeply problematic in a way a lot of TOS managed to avoid.

Or Assignment Earth where the entire episode is literally a backdoor pilot for a show that never was and also makes no sense from a trek point of view.

Or the Alternative Factor? Like that whole episode was SO bad. To me it’s more nonsensical and impossible to follow than Spock’s brain but way less fun. It’s played totally straight as a drama but like… i literally didn’t care about anything happening because it was so poorly explained. Not to mentioned endless bad-even-for-the-time special effects.

I don’t know like I don’t think Spock’s Brain is a good episode but I just see it so universally maligned as the WORST and like… it’s really not.

[dadbodbensisko-moved]

EXSQUEEZE ME??

[sshbpodcast]

Episode 15: The Enterprise Needs Better Security

TOS: "The Alternative Factor" and "The City on the Edge of Forever"

It's a low and a high as we try desperately to find something to like in "The Alternative Factor," followed by us being shocked that too many cooks DIDN'T spoil the broth in "The City on the Edge of Forever."

Also this week: blasphemy, canon consternation, and Aladdin's nipples.

Timestamps: synopses: 0:44; The Alternative Factor: 6:10; The City on the Edge of Forever: 30:29

[agent-troi]

“I have simply made the logical deduction that you are a liar” spock roasts so well lmao

[je-brille-dans-la-nuit]

Watching TOS - not-carbon-based life! Jim is embarrassed! I love it all

.

The Devil in the Dark - loooved it

It's a really good episode, with real tension (I was so scared for the Horta) and highly emotional! Discovering new form of life and trying hard to communicate with it! to understand it! Empathy for the alien! Overcoming the fear of the unknown!

Jim being ready to kill it to stop the murders and Spock appalled by the idea, then Jim standing in front of it, seeing immediately it's not hostile and talking to it? While Spock in the communicator, upon hearing Jim is 10 ft from it, "Kill it, captain, quickly"??? Poetic cinema. So good

"No kill I" then the mind meld with the Horta? I was crying. So well done. Nimoy's acting is perfect.

(yes these are EGGS it's obvious these are EGGS you know these are EGGS Spock)

I had to laugh at Jim trying to keep Spock away from the search, by telling him,

KIRK: Mister Spock, you are second in command. This will be a dangerous hunt. Either one of us by himself is expendable. Both of us are not.

Lmao that literally never bothered you before Jim

And of course their final banter always on point.

.

Errand of Mercy

You think you don't want war and when you meet pacifists who won't let you wage war, you're all mad. It was interesting seeing Jim closer to the Klingon in this moment, than to the pacifists - and then regretting it. For once he wasn't right about something. And it's a brilliant foil to his role in A Taste of Armageddon.

Otherwise a nice enough episode, with some high points:

Hilarious that they both (Jim&Spock) beam down (and of course get taken by aliens) after Jim acknowledged in the previous episode that it's quite stupid.

Jim being so insistent on making the Organians understand what's coming for them and the risk they face as Klingons are a military dictatorship

Once again being threatened with being mind-wiped, just another day in Captain Kirk's life.

No creature can resist Jim Kirk, even a Klingon commander is like "oooh that's the famous captain of the Enterprise!" *starry eyes*

This omg:

KIRK: I'm embarrassed. I was furious with the Organians for stopping a war I didn't want. We think of ourselves as the most powerful beings in the universe. It's unsettling to discover that we're wrong.

Ha. Learned something there did you Jimbo? (lovingly)

.

The Alternative Factor

I love the whatthefuck plots, I love how whimsical this show is. And I liked this episode - yay parallel universe! - although the ending is darker and less optimistic than previous ones.

KIRK: Sometimes pain can drive a man harder than pleasure. I'm sure you know that, Doctor.

-> I'm not saying anything but i'm THINKING really loudly about it

Jim being so done with Bones and Spock made me laugh

I love when Jim and Spock get to the same conclusion at the same time :')

There are some very dramatic close-ups happening in this episode

The ending is haunting me:

KIRK: There is, of course, no escape. How would it be? Trapped forever with a raging madman at your throat until time itself came to a stop? For eternity. How would it be? SPOCK: Captain, the universe is safe. KIRK: For you and me. But what of Lazarus? What of Lazarus?

[discoonthegrass]

Who Mourns for Adonais?: A powerful being claiming to be the Greek god Apollo appears and demands that the crew of the Enterprise disembark onto his planet to worship him.

The Alternative Factor: Existence itself comes under threat from a man's power-struggle with his alternate self, with the Enterprise's strained dilithium crystals presenting his key to a final solution.

Feel free to reblog in order to help this poll reach the most people! Remember to vote on the other polls in this round, listed here!

[startrektospolls]

Please reblog so others can participate

Episodes that won so hard they automatically get to go to the finale under the cut:

The Corbomite Maneuver: Here & here

The Enemy Within: Here & Here

The Naked Time Here & Here

Balance of Terror Here & Here

Conscience of the King Here & Here

The Galileo Seven Here & Here

Court Martial Here & Here

[startrekucast]

A tear in the fabric of the universe brings with it an unhinged maybe time traveler who lives in constant battle with his antimatter counterpart, wildly changing facial hair, and a dangerous predilection for scaling mountains while having universe-ending seizures! Climb on into your bubble-top saucer, maman. We’re about to review Star Trek 1x21 - “The Alternative Factor”!

Episode Reviewed: Star Trek 1x21 - "The Alternative Factor"

Hosts: David C. Roberson Effie Ophelders

Join Us: Site: http://startrekucast.com Apple: http://bit.ly/StuCast Spotify: http://bit.ly/StarTrekUCast Spreaker: http://bit.ly/StuCastSpreaker

[aquamon]

[self-made-purgatories]

don't forget the glittery forehead bandaids too

The amount of random glitter in TOS is not adequately honoured by subsequent Star Trek media and this greatly saddens me.

Why does a medical bandage require glitter? Because space is camp.

[exasperatedoctopus]

So If you found out that there’s an alternate version of you living in a different universe would you go any lengths to vanquish them to retain your paper-thin sense of self and personal identity or would you be, like, normal about it