1.20 : The Alternative Factor.

[Dave]

Lazarus, a man who is actually two different people: one rational, the other a madman from an anti-matter universe.

A strange episode, which is why I find it interesting, though confusing: it is difficult to tell whether you are watching the insane or the sane version of Lazarus. Much of the action on the planet is repetitive: with Lazarus falling off cliffs, banging his head and getting cuts to his face, or wandering off alone.

On the ship, McCoy points out to Kirk that Lazarus shouldn't have a free run. There is a red alert and the fate of the universe is at stake. Lazarus appeared at the precisely the same moment as the energy distortions, that could be a 'prelude to invasion'. He is visibly agitated and possibly mentally deranged. Given all this, then why is he is still able to get onto the bridge, then escape a security man and get into Engineering, create a diversion, and then even steal two dilithium crystals?

 

[Extollager]

Recently watched this one again.

When I was a youngster, it was, as I recall, one of my favorites. I think there were, or eventually were, several "factors" involved.

1.It's played seriously. 2.There's no romance element. There were a few good Star Treks with romance elements, but usually that element was a weakness. 3. There's no annoying stuff with McCoy badgering Spock. 4.The Vasquez Rocks location scenes not only have their intrinsic strange appeal,, but may well trigger associations with favorite teleplays such as Star Trek's "Arena" and The Outer Limits' "Zanti Misfits." 5. Speaking of The Outer Limits, this one was directed by Gerd Oswald, a familiar OL hand. Frankly some of his OL efforts were not among the best, but on the other hand a big favorite for many of us -- "Fun and Games" -- was. I'm prepared to give Oswald considerable credit for: 6. The episode does conjure an eerie atmosphere a fair bit of the time, through the music, photography, etc. 7. I agree with Dave above, that the episode is confusing, or is questionably coherent, but sometimes -- not all the time -- this might actually be working in its favor, in suggesting something so bizarre going on: alternate universe! time travel! corridor between dimensions! alien invasion! 8. The special effect with the star photograph, the whirling fight, etc. is really crude by today's standards, but for a long time it did seem to me to evoke some sense of a weird cosmic interpenetration of "universes" going on. 9. The disruption is pretty effective the first time or two when it occurs. After a while, admittedly, it's as if the director decided just to skip all the racket and shaking-up. But the first time is pretty arresting. 10. Right from the start, you know this is science fiction, with the situation, jargon, etc. It looks like sf and nothing but. Kind of gutsy to start so uncompromisingly thus, given that sf wasn't, in 1967, necessarily that big of an audience draw.

Spock says something about things "winking out." I think that expression was revived in "The Tholian Web."

After a half century, "Alternative Factor" remains, for me, something that can be watched with enjoyment, but it doesn't hold up really, really well.

 

[BAYLOR]

I found myself feeling sorry for both incarnations of Lazarus, given how they both ended up.