I must admit, I enjoyed this one rather more than I thought I would. Seen it before obviously, but I remember disliking this one for some reason.

An interesting episode and once again a new trend started, one which would be used countless times down the series; that of Kirk not being himself, whether he become evil, or simply swap bodies !!

Don't know if you've ever seen this Steve, but I have a VHS copy of Shatner and Nimoy's first convention gig together in Sacramento. On that, one of the questions Nimoy poses to Shatner is which is his favourite episode(s). Shatner responded that the popular answer he always gave was any episode where he was required to play Kirk differently. I guess The Enemy Within would be one such episode, and it does look like Shatner had fun with this one. On the video, just in case you were wondering, he then went on to confirm that his real favourite episode was Devil in the Dark.

Whilst Shatner's dual performance was again laudible, I have to admit, it also amused me to a certain extent. Who came up with the idea that to make Kirk obviously evil, they had to give him black eyeliner and make him sweaty ?? :lol: There's also the fact that Evil Kirk may have well just gone onto the Bridge and announced to all and sundry that he wasn't the real (complete) Kirk, given that the first thing he does is go into Sickbay and snap at Bones. Rapidly followed up by an attempted rape of Rand :o

The final piece of amusement I guess (discounting the dog with a cone on it's head anyway) was Spock's assessment of the situation after the attack on Rand. "The logical explanation is that there's an impostor onboard.....". Hello ?? No. The logical explanation, given that there are two witnesses who finger Kirk for the deed, is that Kirk actually did it, surely !! :rolleyes:

All this said, the episode itself, I rather enjoyed. Rand gets some decent exposure again, as do Sulu and Scotty once again. The interplay between Kirk, Spock and McCoy is still in it's formative stages but so easy to watch and enjoy.

On a critical note, you mind draw attention to the fact that there are the first signs of Shatner's 'hamming it' at a few points, but that minor gripe aside his performance was good, and the episode itself enjoyable.

No I've not seen that, James. It's an interesting answer. And he definitely does ham it up in this episode - lots of gurning into the camera, black eye-liner and all! :lol:

I've always found it kind of touching that The Devil In The Dark is his favourite episode, seeing as it must bring back such sad memories of a very difficult time in his life. Maybe it's just because he associates it with his father, I don't know.

I won't be able to watch any more episodes for a couple of days, so I'll get back to you with more at the weekend :)

No worries Steve, I'll plough ahead for a change :P

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah, that will be a first :P ;)

Although I may just utilise the downtime to burn through the newly-arrived D$9 S7 set instead ;)

Watched 7x01 - 7x03 last night :thumbsup:

I feel pretty much the same as you about this one, James. It always used to be one of my least favourite episodes, what with Shatner's gurning and the bombastic music (which, considering there's so little action, is totally overblown). But I have to admit it flew by this time and I really enjoyed it, if only for spotting the continuity errors.

This is, after all, one of the most famous episodes for that kind of thing. The way "evil" Kirk's phaser keeps changing type - from the moment he nicks it off Wilson to the moment Spock gives him the nerve pinch in engineering it changes from type I to type II at least three times. Then there's the infamous "scratches changing from left cheek to right cheek" scene on the bridge towards the end. It's just great fun to watch those things happening and realise what tight schedules they were working on, with little to no budget, last minute scripts and all the while trying to please the network.

Okay, so maybe Shatner doesn't ham it quite as much as he does later in the series, in fact he does some excellent work as the indecisive, guilt-ridden "good" Kirk. The scene where Spock and Bones argue their cases to him in sickbay, whilst he lurches back and forth between agreeing with either one of them, is brilliantly played and convincingly shows how this trio of characters mesh so well. As much as the scene between Kirk and Spock in The Naked Time shows the dynamics of that relationship this scene shoes that, without Kirk, the two senior officers would be forever disagreeing about a course of action, essentially a rudderless ship.

I would go so far as to say that modern day series probably don't make these kinds of mechanics as obvious as the older shows. I'm all for having characters with concealed or ambiguous motives (indeed, Farscape is full of them, as is B5) but, in a way, it's very refreshing to go back to the simplicity of it all. If "evil" Kirk had horns and a moustache to twirl his motives couldn't be any more obvious.

I am convinced, though, that William Shatner was replaced by Robert Vaughn for the role of "evil" Kirk. There are times during the episode where he gives a little look or turn of expression that just reeks of Napolean Solo. Is that the first time The Man From U.N.C.L.E. has been mentioned on the board? If so, I hope it isn't the last.

Anyway, the one comment I would make, James, is about what you say with regard to Spock's assertion that there is an imposter on board. I do see where you're coming from, but I also think that Spock's logic, after Scotty has shown them what happened to the alien-poodle-unicorn things, leads him very quickly to the conclusion that Kirk, too, has been doubled. The chronology within the episode makes that quite believable, for me at least.

Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable episode. My only remaining question would be why on Earth didn't they just take a shuttlecraft to get Sulu and co off the planet surface? But, hey, I never nitpick. :innocent:

Can't argue with the simplicity comment Steve. In recent years the complexities of characters and plot has come to the fore moreso than at any time previous. And whilst I enjoy it, it's also nice to have a change of pace. The whole genre's been quite heavy over the past decade, just looking at something like TOS, from a simpler and more innocent time, only highlights the extent in this change.

Regarding Spock, I agree, it just amused me, there seemed to be very little hesitation before he concluded that there MUST be an intruder aboard :lol:

I think some shows take it too far on occasion. Some even seem to have their characters' motives change from week to week depending on what the dramatic needs of a given episode are. I'm not going to mention any names like *cough* 24 *cough* or *cough* Alias *cough*, where it's all conspiracy and revelation upon revelation week in week out. And before anyone says anything, I like both those shows, too, I just think that they abandon characterisation at times in favour of a good plot twist. I don't ever recall that kind of thing happening in Farscape or B5, or Star Trek in any of its guises for that matter.

True. It's no great surprise that this happens though. As soon as something achieves success then you get tons of other shows popping up in a similar style. The X Files is another example; paranoia and conspiraacy theories abound in the wake of that particular series. When it's imitated it rarely achieves the same level of consistent success.

DS9 watching now, see ya later. :thumbsup: It'll give you time to catch up with Mudd's Women ;)

The cheek! :lol:

*cough* Farscape! *cough*

Okay, promise I won't mention it again... :unsure: :whistling:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Shaddap and go watch Harry Mudd :P

Fine :P

BTW, I forgot to mention how much I love the way Spock takes the piss out of Rand at the end of the episode. Very funny. :lol: