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The Enemy Within (episode)

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"The Enemy Within"
TOS, Episode 1x04
Production number: 6149-05
First aired: 6 October 1966
Remastered version aired: 26 January 2008
← 5th of 80 produced in TOS →
← 5th of 80 released in TOS →
← 55th of 80 released in TOS Remastered →
← 5th of 727 released in all →
Written By
Richard Matheson

Directed By
Leo Penn
1672.1 (2266)
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A transporter malfunction splits Captain Kirk into two people – one good and one evil, and neither capable of functioning well separately.

Contents

[edit] Summary

[edit] Teaser

Evil Kirk: "I'm Captain Kirk... I'M CAPTAIN KIRK!!"

During a survey of Alfa 177, geological technician Fisher slips down a rock, gashing himself badly and smearing his uniform with a strange magnetic type of ore. He beams up to the USS Enterprise for treatment. Detecting a curious overload in the transporter circuitry, Montgomery Scott has Fisher decontaminated before reporting to sickbay, but the problems have already begun; the strange ore has altered the function of the transporter.

Next, Captain Kirk beams up from the planet, before the fault is discovered. He apparently materializes normally – but is in fact, a shadow of himself.

[edit] Act One

In what is probably the most bizarre transporter accident on record, Kirk is split into two beings. The first to materialize embodies all of Kirk's positive qualities. Moments later, after everyone has left, Kirk's evil twin materializes.

Some time passes before the mishap is discovered, during which the evil Kirk roams the ship. He demands liquor from McCoy, assaults crewmen, and even tries to sexually assault Yeoman Rand. Finally, he is cornered in the engine room, and captured – but not before his errant phaser shot damages the transporter further.

[edit] Act Two

Kirk's good half considers abandoning his evil half. It is a hateful thing, and he does not like to acknowledge that it is part of him. But as he weakens, and begins to lose the ability to make decisions, he realizes that he needs it, that neither part of him can live without the other.

[edit] Act Three

Meanwhile, on the planet below, the remaining landing party is suffering through increasing cold. Attempts to beam heaters and other support devices produce only non-functional duplicates.

Finally, Scotty and Spock believe they have isolated and repaired all the damage. A test animal, previously split, is sent through to see if it will reintegrate. It does, but rematerializes dead.

[edit] Act Four

Crippled with indecision, Kirk must decide what to do. He is able, barely, to make the trip, and his two halves are re-integrated. Confident once again, he gives the order to beam up the landing party, saving them moments from freezing.

[edit] Log Entries

Alfa 177.
  • Captain's log, stardate 1672.1. Specimen gathering mission on planet Alpha 177. Unknown to any of us during this time a duplicate of me, some strange alter ego, had been created by the transporter malfunction.
  • Captain's log, stardate 1672.9. On the planet's surface, temperatures are beginning to drop; our landing party there in growing jeopardy. Due to the malfunction of the ship's transporter, an unexplained duplicate of myself definitely exists.
  • Captain's log, stardate 1673.1. Something has happened to me. Somehow in being duplicated, I have lost my strength of will. Decisions are becoming more and more difficult.
  • Captain's log, stardate 1673.5. Transporter still inoperable... my negative self is under restraint in sickbay… my own indecisiveness growing… my force of will steadily weakening. On the planet condition critical, surface temperature is 75 degrees below zero. Still dropping.
  • Captain's log, stardate 1673.1, entered in by Second Officer Spock. Captain Kirk retains command of this vessel, but his force of will rapidly fading. Condition of landing party critical. Transporter unit still under repair.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

Sulu on Alfa 177

"Any possibility of getting us back aboard before the skiing season opens down here?"

- Sulu


"And what is it that makes one man an exceptional leader? We see here indications that it is his negative side that makes him strong, that his 'evil' side, if you will, properly controlled and disciplined, is vital to his strength."

- Spock


"Any chance you could find a long rope and lower us down a pot of hot coffee?"

- Sulu


"The... impostor had some... interesting qualities, wouldn't you say... Yeoman?"

- Spock to Rand


"Being split into two halves is no theory with me, doctor. I have a human half, you see, as well as an alien half... submerged, constantly at war with each other. I survive it because my intelligence wins out over both, makes them live together."

- Spock to McCoy


"Take me back! Please! I want to live!"
"You will. Both of us."
"I want to live!"

- Animal Kirk and Good Kirk


"OH CAPTAIN! You startled me! Is there something that you?...Can I help you Captain?"
"Jim will do here Janice."
"Oh!"
"You're too beautiful to ignore... too much woman. We've both been... pretending too long."

- Animal Kirk while seducing Yeoman Rand


"Call Mr. Spock! CALL MR. SPOCK!!!"

- Yeoman Rand to Fisher, while trying to ward off Animal Kirk in her quarters


"I'm Captain Kirk... I'M CAPTAIN KIRK!"

- Animal Kirk


"Janice, hello."
"Captain, l--"
"Yeoman, I owe you an explanation...The transporter malfunctioned, divided me, created a duplicate...The animal part of me came to your cabin...He even scratched me to make us look more alike...I'd like the chance to explain it to you...You don't mind if I come to your cabin later?"
"No, sir."

- Animal Kirk pretending to be Kirk while seducing Yeoman Rand again


"The impostor told me what happened, who he really was, and I'd just like to say that... well, sir, what I'd like to say is that..."
"Thank you, Yeoman."

- Yeoman Rand and Kirk


"It's dead, Jim."

- McCoy about the merged test animal


"Get those men aboard fast."
"Right away, Captain."

- Kirk and Spock, after Kirk is sucessfully reintegrated

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Production timeline

[edit] Story and production

  • The first draft of this episode's script was completed on 6 June 1966, with the final draft being turned in two days later.
    (citation needed • edit)
  • The sensor device used by Scott to scan the ore on Fisher's uniform appears to be a modified Nuclear-Chicago Model 2586 "Cutie Pie" radiation detector. [1] This Feinberger reappeared in "The Naked Time", "The Doomsday Machine", and "Obsession".
  • Several jump cuts were put together to allow the Kirk double to pop into a scene.
  • Grace Lee Whitney recounts that while shooting the scene when a distraught, tearful Janice Rand accuses Captain Kirk of trying to rape her, William Shatner slapped her across the face to get her to register the proper emotion. [2]
  • There are two split screens used: after Kirk's double is neck-pinched and, in sickbay, when he takes the hand of his counterpart.
  • Although Nichelle Nichols does not appear in this episode, her voice is heard on the intercom in several scenes.
  • In this episode we get to follow Kirk behind the large engine room machinery components in the first trip to the engineering deck (which dialog identifies as being in the lowest parts of the ship). To allow this to happen, the new set had to be temporarily expanded to hide the sound stage beyond it. After the double is rendered unconscious by the first neck pinch in the series, the quickly-assembled wall behind the three characters can be observed to have a very rough edge where it meets the floor. Pieces of sets that were designed to be added and subtracted easily were called "wild." Although Kirk pursues Ben Finney into these components in "Court Martial", this is the only time we get to see the space behind them.
    (citation needed • edit)
    Spock and Kirk in Engineering
  • The view of the tubed structures behind the grille was a forced perspective set. The tubed machinery appears to be many dozens of meters long, but this is an illusion created by making each vertical piece much smaller than the one in front of it. Diminishing numbers were later printed on the tubes immediately behind the grid to add to the illusion. In episodes where the engines were under stress, lighting effects were used inside the tubed-machinery room. The set was extensively remodeled between the first and second seasons.
    (citation needed • edit)
  • It is unknown why Kirk simply didn't send a shuttlecraft down to the planet's surface to pick up the stranded men. The real-world reason for this is that the episode was written and filmed before the existence of the hangar deck and shuttlecraft were established. (Star Trek Encyclopedia)

[edit] Continuity

  • This was the first episode to show the Vulcan nerve pinch, as well as the first time McCoy says "He's dead, Jim." Leonard Nimoy objected to the script's directive that Spock "kayoes" the evil Kirk on the head, so he improvised the neck pinch on the spot and demonstrated it on William Shatner for director Leo Penn. (Star Trek Encyclopedia)
Scott and Fisher with scanner
  • This is the first episode to feature the captain's wraparound tunic.
  • The showering phaser effect used when Sulu heats the rock is never used again. Just before he sprays the rocks, Sulu also appears to be fitting his hand phaser into its pistol mount—again, a maneuver that is never repeated.
  • In this same scene, the two Kirks pass behind a translucent, triangular-shaped structure. It resembles an element from the briefing room in "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
  • This episode contains a rare glance of the main viewscreen with no picture on it whatsoever. It is just a plain white blank screen with a black frame with no blue glowing strip around it, and can be seen behind negative-Kirk when he is on the bridge.
  • The visual effect of the planet Alfa 177 from orbit was reused as M-113 in "The Man Trap" (although "The Man Trap" ended up airing first), the iron-silica planet in "The Alternative Factor", Argus X in "Obsession" and Ardana in "The Cloud Minders".
  • In the sequence of aired episodes, this is the first episode where we see or hear the new middle initial for James Kirk. "Captain James T. Kirk" is briefly visible as the negative-Kirk enters Kirk's quarters. The initial was first spoken in "Mudd's Women", but that episode aired after "The Enemy Within".
  • A similar transporter accident happens to Riker in TNG: "Second Chances" - although the resulting duplicates, one continuing as Will Riker while the other became known as Thomas Riker, were perfect duplicates, capable of surviving independently of each other and both being equally valid versions of the original Riker-, and a kind of reverse of this accident integrates Tuvok and Neelix into the entity known as Tuvix for a short time on VOY: "Tuvix".

[edit] Other information

  • William Shatner, playing himself on a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, made a reference to this episode. In the sketch, Shatner had just finished delivering a rant imploring an audience of Star Trek fans at a convention to "get a life", then explained the rant was a "recreation of the evil Captain Kirk from episode 37, the title... The Enemy Within." In fact, the 37th TOS episode produced was "The Changeling" and the 37th aired was "I, Mudd".

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Starring

[edit] Featuring

And

[edit] Uncredited

[edit] References

abort control circuit; Alfa 177; Alfa 177 canine; autopsy; coadjutor engagement; coffee; exposure; frostbite; hand phaser; impulse engine; leader circuit; magnetism; ore; post-mortem; protoplaser; rice wine; Saurian brandy; ship's manifest; shock; skiing; survival training; synchronic meter; thermal heater; tranquilizer; transporter; transporter circuit; transporter unit ionizer; velocity balance; Vulcan nerve pinch

[edit] External link


Previous episode produced:
"Mudd's Women" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 1 		Next episode produced:
"The Man Trap"
Previous episode aired:
"The Naked Time" 		Next episode aired:
"Mudd's Women"
Previous remastered episode aired:
"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
"The Changeling"
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