Star Trek The Original Series S01E05, The Enemy Within

Dir. Leo Penn, Wri. Richard Matheson

Summary: The first in a long and noble line of doppelganger episodes (including, in spirit at least, the mirror universe stuff), which results in a duplicate Kirk mucking things up for the crew of the Enterprise.

The Good: Sulu has an adorable space puppy! Shatner reeling, smirking, and swilling booze as evil Kirk is joyful to watch. There’s some interesting duality of man stuff (albeit not terribly deep), and id-Kirk yelling “I’M CAPTAIN KIRK!!!!!!!!” is scenery-chewing excellence. There’s also some surprisingly good cinematography in the double parts, and evil Kirk’s final moments are great. I love the visual symbolism of the two halves literally embracing each other at the end.

The Bad: It still wants us to like Janice, and we’re just not going to, Trek. Evil Kirk is, perhaps unsurprisingly, disturbingly rapey. The whole episode is kind of absurd if you think about it for too long, and it definitely still takes a little too long to get stuff done. It also indulges in the inevitable “I’m the real twin” stuff, but that just kinda goes with the territory here.

The Review: This is a great example of an Original Series episode that you can have a great time with so long as you don’t take it too seriously. It’s more in the field of campy 60s sci-fi fun than in the realm of serious reflections on the nature of mankind and its place among the stars. The basic doppelganger setup allows for Shatner to really work with his range, which is something a lot of people don’t believe that Shatner has. Due to the parody of the commander eventually outstripping the actual historical performance, the idea most have of Kirk is incredibly one-dimensional, but this really neglects a huge mountain of evidence that Shatner was actually a quite accomplished actor, if one who worked in a particularly Shakespearean register. He does great work here as both halves of himself, and manages to give each an interesting humanity where his two halves could have been simple caricatures.

There is an entire B-plot to the episode that is completely disposable in every way, unfortunately. It finds Sulu trapped on a planet and running the risk of freezing to death as night comes on. It’s one of those Trek standbys where a totally normal mission is complicated by some craaaazy thing happening (in this case the whole evil twin thing). We’re never really afraid for Sulu’s life here, and each time we cut away to him asking when they’ll be retrieved in a slightly sadder voice it kills the pacing of the more compelling narrative aboard the Enterprise. George Takei does a great job at nobility and desperation, but the plot just doesn’t really matter to the viewer, and even a great performance from him can’t save it.

While the entire idea of a transporter malfunction splitting a person into the dual portions of their soul is very silly on the face of it, that’s not really the point here. If this is the kind of thing that bothers you, Original Series Trek might just not be your thing. You’re here for Kirk going bananas as both a raging id and a fragile ego, and he provides for your needs in spades. I will admit that some of the weird sexual aggression of id-Kirk, while not unreasonable for a creature of pure base desires, definitely left me feeling pretty uncomfortable, and was definitely not handled in the way it would be today. That complaint aside, though, this one is surprising fun. The ending even manages to have some real pathos to it despite the absurd premise. You really feel for id-Kirk by the end of it, despite him being almost totally unlikable. Even though the B-plot is totally disposable and there are some tonal missteps, I would still actually recommend this one, especially if you are a Trek fan anyway. For the uninitiated, it might still be a pass.

The Score: