My Great Star Journey
I think I've come up with a slightly better way to organize this wall of text, so hopefully people can find the bits that they actually care about a little easier.
And now! I give you! Star Trek Episode #5: "The Enemy Within"
Quick summary: In beaming Kirk up from a planet they're exploring, there's a transporter malfunction which splits Kirk in two - compassionate, empathetic, good, intelligent, logical and angry, lustful, violent, capable of fear and decision making, evil. The transporter troubles keep Sulu and an expedition trapped on the surface of the planet, which is dropping to -140* F as the sun sets, while the Enterprise crew carry on with antics dealing with Dr Tiberius Jekyll and Mr. Kirk Hyde.
~~~*~~~
Miniskirts: 10 - rather light on them this episode
It goes boop boop beep... It must be Science!
There was a lot of transporter-room fiddling this episode, which involved a fair amount of the usual dial twisting and slider movement, but no one ever explained why, if the beaming wasn't viable, why didn't they use the ship's shuttles? This being early on in the series, I think we eventually decided that they didn't have them yet. Mr. Sulu used phaser fire to heat rocks on the surface to a red glow to try and keep warm in the incredible cold. Which is good, given that their cold-weather training seems to consist of blankets and humorous quips via communicator.
Cinematography
The dramatic lighting and music in this is hilarious! In order to emphasize that Angry!Kirk is Angry, they've done him up with some mascara and eyeliner, made him shine with faux sweat (good lord, so much sweat), and keep introducing his entrances with a bar of light across his face or some twitchy, dramatic motion. A clawing, bloody hand from the right! When he first appears in the transporter room, they do a close-up on his face with uplighting. Or the Sad Cello when the poor, abused alien for the episode (Don't worry, little guy, I'd be ticked too, if they made me wear that fur suit.) winds up dying.
Star Trek Firsts
This is the first time we see two very iconic Trek tropes. Originally, in capturing Angry!Kirk, Spock was supposed to punch him and knock him out. Mr. Nimoy refused, saying that Spock wouldn't punch anyone. When they asked him what Spock would do, he thought about it and proceeded to execute the very first Vulcan nerve pinch. What I really like about it, is that it is clearly different from something a human would do, but they don't dwell on it. I suspect that this isn't the first time it's been demonstrated to Kirk, at any rate, but this is the first time it's been on camera. Very cool!
Secondly, McCoy utters the most memorable line "He's dead, Jim." for the first time. Little did they know that it would turn up in so many episodes that there are entire videos of that phrase.
Social Issues WARNING! Possible triggers in this section!
This episode addressed something (to my mind) far more interesting than Kirk's existential crisis. This dealt with an attempted sexual assault on Yeoman Rand by Angry!Kirk. When she was surprised and backed away, he grabbed her, forcibly kissed her, and she fought back. He threw her to the ground, and she scratches him. This allows her to get out from under him (and is a major plot point throughout, as it's one of the only differentiating features between the two Kirks) and get away from him, dodging back behind her painting. She manages to wind up opening her cabin door before he catches her again, and screams for someone in the corridor to get Mr. Spock and security, which winds up saving her, since Angry!Kirk breaks off to go assault the obedient male crew member and allows her to get away. Later, we see her confront Empathy!Kirk in the bridge with Spock and McCoy there to protect her, makeup smeared, exhausted and afraid of Kirk. I believe that this sort of graphic scene is something which had never been displayed on television in this much detail before. So A) kudos to Trek for not backing down or downplaying a violent, emotional, and horrifying scene. B) kudos to Grace Lee Whitney (Rand's actress) for being willing to do that. C) kudos to Trek for not making Rand a weak-willed female character, but one willing to stand up for herself.
Rand does eventually learn the truth of the situation, and finds it in herself to forgive Kirk and continue working as his Yeoman, and even seems to grow to like him romantically again in later episodes (in hindsight, I'm uneasy about the last bit - smells a little like Stockholm Syndrome to me) which at the moment feels more like Rand taking control of herself and getting past a horrible time in her life. The one thing at the very end of the episode that touches on this subject, that made me extremely angry, is a line of Spock's, which seems incredibly out of character for him. He sees Rand and says to her in passing, "So this imposter had some... interesting qualities, wouldn't you say, Yeoman?" I'm sorry, I don't care how Vulcan you are, and how much you don't understand emotion, Spock's been around people long enough to know that you do. not. say something like that to someone who's had a traumatic experience. It sounded like he was implying that she enjoyed what happened, and I wanted to give him a serious beat down for being so insensitive. Filthy and rude and cruel.
Philosophy
The main point here seems to be that one needs the anger, violence, passionate, evil side of oneself in order to make decisions. The empathic, logical, good self becomes too confused and constantly wants others to make the decision (despite having the logic). They call it a "loss of will". They claim that the logic and goodness has no fear, while the violent, passionate side is always afraid. "Maybe that's where man's essential courage comes from," McCoy says. I don't know about earlier episodes, but this is the first time that I've heard Spock be irritated and passionate about his heritage. He gives a short speech about how his human and alien sides are in constant conflict within it. He survives it, he says, because his intelligence wins and makes them both live together.
Continuity
I was really confused about the end of the episode. Scotty says that it'll take a full week to get the transporter working right again, and it's the broken nature of the transporter that allows them to refuse split things again. But before one 24-hour period is over (as that's how long it takes to freeze and rethaw the planet below) they deal with the entire split Kirk fiasco and rescue the surface team. So... what? Did they beam them up, where they split, then beam the pair partially back down and reverse again in order to put them back together? (partial beaming is the fix-it for Kirk and the Space Ki-rin/Dog)
There was also a point where I got confused as to which person's cabin Angry!Kirk was in. He had been in Rand's, but then ran out to attack a crew member, and it was implied that he went back to his own cabin. But why on earth would he have concealer/foundation in his cabin? And that looked like the mirror in Rand's cabin...
Silliness
When Angry!Kirk is first spoken to by an engineering tech, he turns to look at them with -I kid you not- the Dramatic Gopher face. Which then fades into what is clearly a "Y helo thar ~♥" expression. (Here's a gif for you.) I had to pause the video in order to crack up. It was great.
As the team on the planet is slowly starting to freeze to death, Sulu radios the Enterprise asking for them to get a really long rope and lower down some hot coffee, but failing coffee, rice wine will do. Oh Sulu. ♥
Spock got really excited that they had two different sides of the same person to study. He basically went "oo! Oo! It's time for science! We can examine good and evil in humanity!" His excitement and the horror exhibited by Bones and Empathy!Kirk made me giggle.
For those of you who have seen/played the PS2 game "Persona 4", man, watching this episode I could not for the life of me stop making P4 references. Empathy!Kirk cannot accept Shadow!Kirk Angry!Kirk - no merging for you! McCoy/Souji talks Empathy!Kirk around. Rematch! Angry!Kirk beats the tar out of Empathy!Kirk. Corner Angry!Kirk on the bridge. Quick! Talk out how they really need to accept each other in order to live! To the transporter room! Merge complete! (They even had shimmery lights!) And there was much rejoicing. Kirk lives to captain another day.
~~~*~~~
All in all, I can see why people find this to be an iconic episode - one that they want to shop newcomers to the show. I don't think that this is one of my personal favorites, but it's one that I wouldn't mind watching again. Particularly now that I'm prepared for certain aspects of it.
And now! I give you! Star Trek Episode #5: "The Enemy Within"
Quick summary: In beaming Kirk up from a planet they're exploring, there's a transporter malfunction which splits Kirk in two - compassionate, empathetic, good, intelligent, logical and angry, lustful, violent, capable of fear and decision making, evil. The transporter troubles keep Sulu and an expedition trapped on the surface of the planet, which is dropping to -140* F as the sun sets, while the Enterprise crew carry on with antics dealing with Dr Tiberius Jekyll and Mr. Kirk Hyde.
~~~*~~~
Miniskirts: 10 - rather light on them this episode
It goes boop boop beep... It must be Science!
There was a lot of transporter-room fiddling this episode, which involved a fair amount of the usual dial twisting and slider movement, but no one ever explained why, if the beaming wasn't viable, why didn't they use the ship's shuttles? This being early on in the series, I think we eventually decided that they didn't have them yet. Mr. Sulu used phaser fire to heat rocks on the surface to a red glow to try and keep warm in the incredible cold. Which is good, given that their cold-weather training seems to consist of blankets and humorous quips via communicator.
Cinematography
The dramatic lighting and music in this is hilarious! In order to emphasize that Angry!Kirk is Angry, they've done him up with some mascara and eyeliner, made him shine with faux sweat (good lord, so much sweat), and keep introducing his entrances with a bar of light across his face or some twitchy, dramatic motion. A clawing, bloody hand from the right! When he first appears in the transporter room, they do a close-up on his face with uplighting. Or the Sad Cello when the poor, abused alien for the episode (Don't worry, little guy, I'd be ticked too, if they made me wear that fur suit.) winds up dying.
Star Trek Firsts
This is the first time we see two very iconic Trek tropes. Originally, in capturing Angry!Kirk, Spock was supposed to punch him and knock him out. Mr. Nimoy refused, saying that Spock wouldn't punch anyone. When they asked him what Spock would do, he thought about it and proceeded to execute the very first Vulcan nerve pinch. What I really like about it, is that it is clearly different from something a human would do, but they don't dwell on it. I suspect that this isn't the first time it's been demonstrated to Kirk, at any rate, but this is the first time it's been on camera. Very cool!
Secondly, McCoy utters the most memorable line "He's dead, Jim." for the first time. Little did they know that it would turn up in so many episodes that there are entire videos of that phrase.
Social Issues WARNING! Possible triggers in this section!
This episode addressed something (to my mind) far more interesting than Kirk's existential crisis. This dealt with an attempted sexual assault on Yeoman Rand by Angry!Kirk. When she was surprised and backed away, he grabbed her, forcibly kissed her, and she fought back. He threw her to the ground, and she scratches him. This allows her to get out from under him (and is a major plot point throughout, as it's one of the only differentiating features between the two Kirks) and get away from him, dodging back behind her painting. She manages to wind up opening her cabin door before he catches her again, and screams for someone in the corridor to get Mr. Spock and security, which winds up saving her, since Angry!Kirk breaks off to go assault the obedient male crew member and allows her to get away. Later, we see her confront Empathy!Kirk in the bridge with Spock and McCoy there to protect her, makeup smeared, exhausted and afraid of Kirk. I believe that this sort of graphic scene is something which had never been displayed on television in this much detail before. So A) kudos to Trek for not backing down or downplaying a violent, emotional, and horrifying scene. B) kudos to Grace Lee Whitney (Rand's actress) for being willing to do that. C) kudos to Trek for not making Rand a weak-willed female character, but one willing to stand up for herself.
Rand does eventually learn the truth of the situation, and finds it in herself to forgive Kirk and continue working as his Yeoman, and even seems to grow to like him romantically again in later episodes (in hindsight, I'm uneasy about the last bit - smells a little like Stockholm Syndrome to me) which at the moment feels more like Rand taking control of herself and getting past a horrible time in her life. The one thing at the very end of the episode that touches on this subject, that made me extremely angry, is a line of Spock's, which seems incredibly out of character for him. He sees Rand and says to her in passing, "So this imposter had some... interesting qualities, wouldn't you say, Yeoman?" I'm sorry, I don't care how Vulcan you are, and how much you don't understand emotion, Spock's been around people long enough to know that you do. not. say something like that to someone who's had a traumatic experience. It sounded like he was implying that she enjoyed what happened, and I wanted to give him a serious beat down for being so insensitive. Filthy and rude and cruel.
Philosophy
The main point here seems to be that one needs the anger, violence, passionate, evil side of oneself in order to make decisions. The empathic, logical, good self becomes too confused and constantly wants others to make the decision (despite having the logic). They call it a "loss of will". They claim that the logic and goodness has no fear, while the violent, passionate side is always afraid. "Maybe that's where man's essential courage comes from," McCoy says. I don't know about earlier episodes, but this is the first time that I've heard Spock be irritated and passionate about his heritage. He gives a short speech about how his human and alien sides are in constant conflict within it. He survives it, he says, because his intelligence wins and makes them both live together.
Continuity
I was really confused about the end of the episode. Scotty says that it'll take a full week to get the transporter working right again, and it's the broken nature of the transporter that allows them to refuse split things again. But before one 24-hour period is over (as that's how long it takes to freeze and rethaw the planet below) they deal with the entire split Kirk fiasco and rescue the surface team. So... what? Did they beam them up, where they split, then beam the pair partially back down and reverse again in order to put them back together? (partial beaming is the fix-it for Kirk and the Space Ki-rin/Dog)
There was also a point where I got confused as to which person's cabin Angry!Kirk was in. He had been in Rand's, but then ran out to attack a crew member, and it was implied that he went back to his own cabin. But why on earth would he have concealer/foundation in his cabin? And that looked like the mirror in Rand's cabin...
Silliness
When Angry!Kirk is first spoken to by an engineering tech, he turns to look at them with -I kid you not- the Dramatic Gopher face. Which then fades into what is clearly a "Y helo thar ~♥" expression. (Here's a gif for you.) I had to pause the video in order to crack up. It was great.
As the team on the planet is slowly starting to freeze to death, Sulu radios the Enterprise asking for them to get a really long rope and lower down some hot coffee, but failing coffee, rice wine will do. Oh Sulu. ♥
Spock got really excited that they had two different sides of the same person to study. He basically went "oo! Oo! It's time for science! We can examine good and evil in humanity!" His excitement and the horror exhibited by Bones and Empathy!Kirk made me giggle.
For those of you who have seen/played the PS2 game "Persona 4", man, watching this episode I could not for the life of me stop making P4 references. Empathy!Kirk cannot accept Shadow!Kirk Angry!Kirk - no merging for you! McCoy/Souji talks Empathy!Kirk around. Rematch! Angry!Kirk beats the tar out of Empathy!Kirk. Corner Angry!Kirk on the bridge. Quick! Talk out how they really need to accept each other in order to live! To the transporter room! Merge complete! (They even had shimmery lights!) And there was much rejoicing. Kirk lives to captain another day.
~~~*~~~
All in all, I can see why people find this to be an iconic episode - one that they want to shop newcomers to the show. I don't think that this is one of my personal favorites, but it's one that I wouldn't mind watching again. Particularly now that I'm prepared for certain aspects of it.