Split In Two Watching The “Alternative Factor” Preview

The remastered “The Alternative Factor” airs this weekend, Video Preview courtesy of STARTREK.COM

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GREAT episode! Can’t wait for it!

One of my favs. :)

Interesting the trailer for this really gives the episode a creepy vibe. Although the actual episode did have some creepy elements to it I suppose. Not a great episode in my book although it did have some interesting story elements to it that I wish had been handled a bit better. The ending if you think about it was a bit haunting for a character in the mix. The new effects looked interesting from what I saw so far.

Lt. Charlene Masters is a honey.

Easily the WORST episode of the series. The crew does absolutely nothing, they do no affect the plot at all… and when the plot (or lack thereof) grinds to a halt it appears the writers said “We’ll just have another Lazerus fight!”

Matt or Anthony, did CBS show the “early” fedaeration craft from next week’s episode, Return of the Archons?

This episode seems kinda iffy.

Not a favorite…. they can’t all be be classics

Definitely not a classic.

Snore…this is one of the few episodes of the Original Series that I really had to struggle, and mean STRUGGLE to sit through. It wasn’t bad in a fun campy way that Spock’s Brain was bad, this episode was bad in the sense that it was mind-numbingly DULL.. There’s not enough graphic wizardry in the world that can make up for such a mediocre plot.

I liked this as a kid, but as an adult I see that the plot makes no sense. Its still enticing somehow because of the whole positive/negative universe idea and the tragic ending. I think a good writer could have tightened up the script to create some logic to the plot.

On a continuity note, I always thought the whole “universe blinking out” scale of the phenomenon could be used as an explanation for the alternative Earths appearing in the Trekverse, as if come kind of timeline storm swept several Earths into it. Yes, they existed before this episode, but you could say this episode occurred before the others. Its a stretch, yes, but I hated how the alternate Earths really had no explanation.

It was OK! That trailer was a bit morbid! I think Lazarus was funny back then and now! He reminds me of someone on drugs who is hallucinating and falling off cliffs.. He definitely needs to be committed with that KILL! KILL!! KILL!!! Love that.

What Of Lazarus?……………………….

Best…trailer…ever.

For the worst…

Cool trailer, bad episode. The scenes with Lazarus swapping universes gets old fast and seems to be a time killer to make up for the lack of story.

Great new shot of the E firing phasers on the planet is the highlight for this one.

Not the best episode. It certainly had a depressing end.
But if ever there was one that could benefit from some updated special effects this is it. The fights were extremely annoying to sit through because they looked so bad.

OK, this is where Shatner and Nimoy really earned their pay. The dialogue in this one borders on absurd. (Or maybe it leaves that border in its rearview mirror) Total annihilation! And the stars deliver it all with a straight face, while big foreboding music plays. Ha. I like this one, because I like the performances, but it makes zippo sense.

Most boring episode of Trek Classic. Certainly an in-depth Science Fiction idea, but it really just lays there. Feh.

I’d rather watch Spock’s Brain, or Way to Eden… say what you will, they keep your attention ;)

Although, I should mention… freakin’ cool trailer. I didn’t know there were enough interesting tidbits to get something that intimidating out of it.

Yeah not one of the series highlights.

The Return of the Archons airs next week? Sweet! That’s my favorite episode!

Two words:

Bow
Wring

I don’t hate this one like many of you do. I found the “creepy” parts really interesting, and I think it was well played all through. Has a very Twilight Zone feel to it.

Is it just me, or is there a shot in the trailer which shows Kirk on the planet…with a darkened sky behind him? Isn’t the shot in the original in daylight? Did they rotoscope in some “darkness”?

This ep also has my favorite ending:
“The universe is safe.”
“For you and me, maybe. But what of Lazarus? What of Lazarus?”

According to memory-alpha.org, this episode had its original Lazarus actor John Drew Barrymore not show up for work AND studio and/or network censorship of interracially suggestive scenes between Lazarus and Lt. Masters. Either problem alone, plus an inflexible deadline, could compromise the production. It’s no wonder this thing has pacing problems and bloopers all over it. It’s a rare episode that might actually be better in its shortened, syndicated cut.

I’m curious to see what, if anything, CBS-D did with this episode’s repetitive and Trifid Nebula “effect”. My idea would be replacing the ground-based telescope image of the nebula with a Hubble image but otherwise leaving the scenes as originally made.

I love this episode for how much the producers play it from dramatics. From the overblown Lazarus to the crazy special effects and the thumping music, it really trys to make you feel the universe is in the balance. Unfortunately it most fails. But it was a valiant attempt.

Also, love Lazarus’ ship. Has a real retro feel about it. And looks fabulous on the planets surface. If a bit small.

The old “Star Trek Compendium” book claimed this episode was rewritten and reshot at the eleventh hour, to remove any trace of a romantic subplot between Lt. Masters and Lazarus. The “insane” Lazarus abused this relationship to get at the dilithium crystals.
This is supposedly why the finished episode is a bit of a mess…

Still, it makes for a fun drinking game every time Lazarus falls off a cliff! ;)

“Worst episode ever”, with thanks to Comic Book Guy

Wow, that *was* one of the best “remastered” trailers I’ve seen yet! Too bad it was wasted on what was at best a so-so episode.

Low point of season one.

But it did introduce dilithium crystals to the Trek lexicon. Robert Brown did well with the dual role and it was the first episode to deal with parallel universes etc.

But other than that the episode was mish-mash.

-cs™

#21 I AM THX-1138 “Two words: Bow Wring”

I love THAT! Your two words remind me of this little ditty:

I once knew a girl who was BOW-legged
Morally loose, she was often bedded
She would sing off-key
Like a bleating donkey
Making you WRING her neck ’til beheaded!

Well, as #7 said, “they can’t all be classics”

Woo, woo, woo, woo………………………………

“The Alternative Factor” An hour of mind-numbing, anger enducing idiocy and drivel which, upon watching, you wish you had back.

“The O’Reilly Factor” An hour of mind-numbing, anger enducing idiocy and drivel which, upon watching, you wish you had back.

Coincidence? I think not…

C’mon, let’s face it………some episodes were bad, but this one……THIS ONE…………REALLY STUNK UP THE PLACE!!

Woo-wee!! Peee-youu!!!!! The smell alone from the script could knock a vulture off a dung wagon!!

The trailer they put together is HILARIOUS!!! It shows you NOTHING about the episode……………and who can blame them? I mean how COULD you show any part of it?????

If they burned the original film of this particular episode and said there were only 78 TOS stories, would anybody really care????????

that trailer rocked… the new film should be so cool. please don’t remake the actual episode though.

#27
uh, mistah gammans…? is there anywhere on the web one could find yer doomsday redo footage? can’t find it anywhere.

#29
harry! that’s my MOM, dude!

that trailer rocked…
the new film should be so cool. please don’t remake the actual episode though.

#27
uh, mistah gammans? is there anywhere on the web where one find yer doosday redo footage? can’t find it anywhere…

#29
harry! that’s my MOM, dude.

is it me, or does Lazerus bear somewhat of a resemblance to Ronald Moore (in the shot right below) ?? O_o

Ah, yes! Robert Brown had my 8-year-old heart going thumpity-thump for a short time when “Here Come the Brides” was airing. Bobby Sherman, feh!

And for more Trek-connection cheesy goodness, Mark Lenard played the “bad” guy!

Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|

Worst. Episode. Ever.

I think lazerous is one of the coolest charactors in star trek. he is likeable in both universes and gets along well with others..:) I’m serious!

Certainly not the worst episode, but mediocre at best. I liked the ideas in the episode when I was a kid, but they fall apart completely now.

When I was a kid, I kept thinking that Lazarus was a Klingon, which could’ve been an interesting element (i.e. seeing a Klingon who wasn’t the militaristic stereotype). Turns out he was just a guy with a beard, though.

I have a certain affection for this episode. It’s undeniably a mess, but it gets unfairly lumped together with “The Way to Eden”, “The Omega Glory”, and “Spock’s Brain”, while having an ambition and a conviction that those other episodes lack.

This wasn’t the doldrums of the third or late second season, when spirits were flagging, quality control was lax and the prospects of the show were dim; no, this was the first season, when it took real balls to gamble that people whose quotient of TV drama was usually satisfied by [i]The Big Valley[/i] were going to sit still for nearly an hour of guff about two guys in crepe beards representing different states of matter. In its way, it’s kind of beautiful.

George Harrison once said about John Lennon’s and Paul McCartney’s songs: I think their bad songs still are better than the good songs of others.

IMO, this equally holds true for TOS episodes.

This is by far the most boring episode of the series. At least you can laugh at how bad Spock’s Brain is. This episode has no redeeming value whatsoever.

The only redeeming part is the once used shot of the Enterprise firing phasers at the planet…that’s it! The rest was so incomprehensible that it show it was not ready for production but given the greenlight anyhoo.

Enterprise firing phasers onto the planet was the only bright spot in this one.

5

Always hated this one. So many contradictory moments. Was hard to tell the good Lazaraus from the bad. And the dumb guy, good or bad, kept falling off of cliffs. How did he build such technology? It never made any sense.

This episode is horrible. Kirk disses Spock, some guy named Lazarus falls off of too many cliffs, Lazarus’s beard keeps changing and it has the goofiest final confrontation I’ve seen in Star Trek.

Lazarus: “No! No! No, I’m not ready! I’m not ready! No!”
Kirk: /shove

Problem solved.

20

One of mine too. The one I’ve always said is when it all came together. Everyone had their characters figured out. Landru…such a great creepy character. “I, am Landru” is what greets me every time I turn on my computer.

Here’s a question for anyone who owns the DVDs and has seen this already….Apart from what we see in the preview trailer is there anything else of note changed effects wise?

Aren’t they ALL ‘classics’ now?… :)

Always found the haunting at the end in my youth.

Whoops…that should have been – Always found the end haunting in my youth.

One thing I liked about it was the extensive location shooting. Always nice to see the bright uniforms on an actual “planet” rather than soundstage. And yes indeed, Lazarus falling off the cliff is hystrerical!