star trek enemy within dog

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The Dogs of Star Trek

I thought it would be fun to do a retrospective of the most memorable dogs to appear in the various Star Trek series. From beloved companions of captains and Klingon warriors, to wild alien creatures, and sly shape-shifters, there are some great moments featuring dogs (and sometimes very fictional “dogs”) in each series.

Star Trek: The Original Series Episode 1.5 “ The Enemy Within ” 1966

Something goes horribly awry with the ship’s transporter, causing it to beam back two versions of each life form: one good and one evil. This is probably the most memorable use of a dog on a Star Trek episode. The dog actor in this episode portrays an “alien animal specimen,” and ultimately, embodies the epitome of Star Trek camp.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode 6.13 “ Aquiel “  1993

This episode is burned into my memory as containing the one and only tv moment to deeply traumatize my little sister. In this episode, ship engineer Geordi grows close to the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Spoiler: it turns out, her dog is host to a body-snatching alien organism, who is the true killer. Geordi witnesses the dog morph into the alien’s natural blob-like state, which then proceeds to attack him. I guess the idea of a cute dog suddenly morphing into a murderous blob really hit a nerve with my then 6-year-old sister. The dog in this episode was played by Friday, a terrier mix.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Movie “ Generations”  1994

In the Star Trek movie “ Generations ,” Captain Kirk is transported into the “Nexus,” which is an energy ribbon that allows those who enter it to transcend time. Kirk is able to re-visit loved ones from his past, including his wife, his children, and his beloved great dane  Butler . During the filming of the movie William Shatner apparently requested that Kirk’s dog be called Butler, because he had recently lost his own dog of that name. Spoiler: The scene with Kirk and Butler occurs shortly before his death.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episode 4.08 “ Little Green Men” 1995

In this episode, Odo, a changeling and the security chief of Deep Space Nine, spies on questionable Ferengi business meetings multiple times by taking the form of a German Shepard.

Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise Multiple Episodes 1995-2005

On Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001), Captain Janeway frequently made references to her dog Mollie, who was an Irish Setter. On Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005), Captain Jonathan Archer’s Beagle  Porthos  makes many appearances. Many other canine companions are also mentioned throughout Enterprise .

Klingon Targs Multiple Episodes, Multiple Series  1987-2001

And finally, although they are not technically dogs , I can’t omit the Klingon dog-like Targs. Although Targs are also hunted by Klingons for sport and food, many prominent Klingons have fond memories of these boar-like beasts as highly valued pets and companions. General Martok once said his Targ was “a filthy, mangy beast, but in his bony breast beat the heart of a warrior.” Worf (below) also mentioned having had a Targ as a child.

…Do you have memories of the dogs of  Star Trek ? Although these moments were few and far between, they stand out in my memory. And, as a side note, I definitely think of myself and Miles as being akin to Klingon and Targ.

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Emma Kesler, CDBC, CPDT-KA

Emma Kesler, CDBC, CPDT-KA is an award-winning Certified Dog Behavior Consultant who has worked with clients around the world for over a decade. Emma dedicates her work at Terrier Academy to terriers, as they are underserved in the dog behavior and training world. Emma shares her life with her Welsh Terrier copilot Miles.

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I LOVE THIS POST SO MUCH!!! Thank you Captain Miles and Lieutenant Commander Emma!

In one episode of Star Trek Voyager, an alien scientist actually owned a dog.

An alien also owned a dog on Risa in Star Trek Enterprise.

Why are dogs more widespread than humans?

Because they’re good dogs, Amoraq.

There are puppies…….Q tries to seduce Janeway with puppies in an STV episode; and in STTNG there is a scene with Troi’s son Alexander playing with puppies, Golden Retrievers.

STV episode 11, season 3, “The Q and the Grey”

I am watching right now and one of the items Q gifts Janeway when trying to woo her is a puppy. Not sure if it’s an Irish Setter like her Mollie is back in the Alpha Quadrant or a dark red golden, but the poor pup – like Janeway – wants nothing to do with Q either!

Y’all forgot Voyager “The Q and the Grey” (Irish setter puppy)

This is for all of the wild dogs out there, for the people who love them, and for those who want get to know them. You've come to the right place. 🐶

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The Enemy Within (Star Trek: The Original Series)

5th episode of the 1st season of star trek: the original series / from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, dear wikiwand ai, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:.

Can you list the top facts and stats about The Enemy Within (Star Trek: The Original Series)?

Summarize this article for a 10 year old

" The Enemy Within " is the fifth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series, Star Trek . Written by Richard Matheson and directed by Leo Penn , it first aired on October 6, 1966.

In the episode, while beaming up from planet Alpha 177 a transporter malfunction causes Captain Kirk to be split into two people, one "good," but indecisive and ineffectual; the other "evil," impulsive and irrational.

Star Trek: The Original Series

The Enemy Within

Cast & crew.

Grace Lee Whitney

Yeoman Janice Rand

Eddie Paskey

Garland Thompson

Jim Goodwin

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© 2006 CBS Corp.

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An Episode of Star Trek: TOS Inspired One of The Next Generation's Best Villains

"The Enemy Within" saw Captain Kirk split in two, a concept that was revisited in The Next Generation to create one of Star Trek's best villains.

• Many of Star Trek: The Next Generation's Season 1 episodes were updates of The Original Series.
• A similar premise to "The Enemy Within" provided The Next Generation with one of its greatest recurring villains.
• Lore could have been a one-off antagonist, but an android with Data’s strength and intelligence minus his morality was a villain too tempting to not use over again.

As a long-running franchise, Star Trek has created many excellent villains. From god-like alien entities like Q and Trelayne, to the augmented human despot Khan Noonien Singh and even simple con artists like Harry Mudd, Star Trek has shown that evil can be found anywhere in the galaxy. Sometimes, malevolence can even wear a familiar face, causing havoc in the most subversive ways possible.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1, a romantic episode that had been written for Lt. Cmdr. Data was changed to an evil twin story instead. Taking inspiration from a Season 1 episode of Star Trek: The Original Series , the writers created Data's evil opposite twin brother Lore. What no one could have foreseen at the time was how enduring this new antagonist would be, or how much he would evolve beyond the episode that inspired his creation.

TNG's 'Datalore' Inverted The Original Series Episode 'The Enemy Within'

Why star trek ships' maintenance corridors are called jefferies tubes.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation 's first season , the series' writers crafted an episode about Data finding love with a female android whose job was to fix the ship under the most hazardous conditions. The episode was scrapped, however, when it turned out to be too costly to make, so series creator Gene Roddenberry proposed an 'evil twin' story that would be less expensive to replace it. With a limited shooting schedule, rewrites had to happen fast, and the story that was created bore a striking resemblance to Star Trek: The Original Series , Season 1, Episode 4, "The Enemy Within."

In The Original Series , the Enterprise's transporter malfunctions and splits Captain Kirk into two people, each representing a different aspect of his psyche: the good and bad. Star Trek: The Next Generation , Season 1, Episode 13, "Datalore," turned out to be an updated version of the classic episode. With the premise that Data's creator, Dr. Noonien Soong, had constructed another android before him, the The Next Generation story was able to delve deeper into the android officer's origin while simultaneously telling an entertaining evil twin tale. While "Datalore" was able to update the story of "The Enemy Within" with improved special effects and a more complex look at the nature of human emotions, it also covered a lot of the same territory as The Original Series episode.

Evil Kirk Had a Few Things In Common With the Sinister Android Lore

Gene roddenberry created star trek, but who is the woman behind the franchise.

Though the explanations for Star Trek 's evil doubles between The Original Series and The Next Generation were completely different, the Season 1 doppelgänger episodes of both series had many similarities. When Captain Kirk's dark half attempted to force himself onto Yeoman Janice Rand, he received three deep scratches on his left cheek, visibly distinguishing him from the original Kirk. The Next Generation replaced the scratches with a more active visual distinction for Data's brother. Shortly after being reassembled and reactivated in the Enterprise-D's sickbay, Lore demonstrated a facial tick on his left cheek to differentiate him from Data.

Later in each episode, the evil doubles marked their twins with the same peculiarities and disguised their own. Evil Kirk applied makeup before scratching his opposite's face, while Lore used a tool to correct his twitch and then created one on Data's cheek. They each also rendered their doubles unconscious in order to be free. Yet, "Datalore" was hardly a complete retread of "The Enemy Within," as the evil versions of Data and Kirk had very different motivations and personalities. When Kirk's darker self materialized in the Enterprise's transporter room , he was disoriented and filled with dark impulses, but he was still James T. Kirk.

All of Kirk's memories were the same, even if his impulses were entirely self-motivated. Lore, on the other hand, was a distinctly different android from Lt. Cmdr. Data. Evil Kirk was chiefly interested in his own survival and maintaining command of the Enterprise, while Lore had aided a deadly and powerful alien entity in destroying the colony he'd been living on and planned to do the same to the galaxy class Enterprise. Further, while Captain Kirk used the transporter to reintegrate both his good and bad selves into the more complex man audiences were just getting to know, Data used his ship's transporter to rid the Enterprise of his double. The solution turned out to be impermanent as Lore would later return to make life difficult for his brother again.

Data's Evil Brother Returned to Star Trek as a Threat to the Federation

Star trek directors don't get enough credit for how they shape the shows.

While its many similarities to "The Enemy Within" could make "Datalore" seem a little uninspired, Brent Spiner's performance as his own evil twin made the prospect of Lore's return far too tempting for The Next Generation 's producers and writers. Thus, when a homing beacon summoned him and Data reunited with his creator, Dr. Noonien Soong , in Season 4, Episode 3, "Brothers," the return of his unstable brother was as big a thrill for fans as it was a shock for Starfleet's only android officer.

It didn't take long for Lore to return to his malevolent and duplicitous ways, overpowering Data and tricking and thrashing their terminally ill father out of jealousy for his favoring the younger android. Lore made his escape before the away team that had gone to collect Data arrived, carrying in his system the emotion chip that had been meant for his brother. Lore's actions in that episode teased the high probability that he would return once more, and much like recurring Star Trek villain Khan, the crew of the Enterprise would come to know his wrath. Just like Captain Kirk's two disparate versions in "The Enemy Within," Lore had complicated feelings regarding his emotionless little brother.

While he resented Data and felt the younger android was inferior, Lore couldn't help but want to have some kind of relationship with him. As such, in his final appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation , in Season 6, Episode 22 and Season 7, Episode 1, "Descent, Parts I and II," it wasn't enough for Lore to try to destroy the Federation using a ship full of Borg who'd been disconnected from the Collective; he had to manipulate Data into joining him. When Data finally came to his senses and defeated and disassembled Lore, it seemed that was the end of the commander's twin brother, but Star Trek has a history of resurrecting popular characters .

Lore returned for what may have been the last time in Star Trek: Picard , Season 3, as part of a new artificial lifeform comprised of the minds of Data, their less-advanced predecessor B4, Altan Noonien Soong and himself. Unwilling to share the new body, Lore tried to destroy Data, only to be outwitted by his brother. Like Kirk with his evil self before him, Data embraced Lore at the end, deleting his malignant personality while retaining his knowledge and memories. It seems likely that audiences have seen the last of Lore, though with new Star Trek series under consideration , a return in some form isn't out of the question. One thing is certain, however: if Kirk had never faced "The Enemy Within" in The Original Series , The Next Generation would have missed out on one of its most enduring villains.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

Star Trek: The Enemy Within

7 comments:

‘The Enemy Within’ has always been one of my absolute favorite episodes. Richard Matheson’s script pretty much established the evil double staple as we know it, which is a given since a lot of today’s TV writers all likely grew up watching Star Trek and were influenced by it. There’s certainly something kinda wonderful about William Shatner’s entire performance throughout. As Nasty-Kirk he takes it all the way up to 11 and beyond into realms few actors have ever gone before, while as Nice-Kirk he’s so perfectly understated to be almost comatose. The only sour spot was everyone’s rather insensitive reactions to the attempted rape of Rand. As progressive as Star Trek was in some areas it was also uncomfortably typically of it’s time in others.

OMG Billie -- you remember the Mad parody as well!?! I love that you referenced that scene! It sticks in my mind so clearly -- with Kirk's head at his waist, and nooooo torso in-between. Yarrrgh, simultaneously disturbing and hilarious, the perfect admixture of Trek and those guys from MADison Avenue. (It also came to mind when I saw Trek Movie #1, with the transporter accident at the beginning... Mad Magazine did it first!) You're right on the money I think about this episode's powerful influence. The concept of duality is so key; their leveraging of it here, especially using a HERO (and in the 1960's, that was a pretty darn clear archetype you didn't mess with, at least on tv), made it resonate with real intensity. One of the things that hit my young mind at the time, was that Kirk wasn't good then bad then good, nor was he possessed by bad and then overcame it-- he was BOTH good and bad, and both sides were really him. And, once recombined, he would be good and bad at the same time, together, always. And knew it. Kinda that whole taoism versus aristotelianism (istic-atic-expi-ali-dosis) thing, isn't it. Nothing is just one thing -- every thing is everything, to an extent. Simultaneous multiplicity... and now everyone in me needs a drink. (Well, two are teetotallers, and one is already drunk and giggling.) Definitely shows up all over the place in our beloved series -- Good and Evil Willow ("we love you both, but in verrry different ways"); Xander and XanderPrime; Buffy and fill-in-the-blank (BuffyBot, Faith, BuffyFaith, et al); Good and Evil Angel; Wes Before and After; everyone in Dollhouse (especially Alpha but esPECIALLY Echo) the whole Battlestar Cylonetics thing... and I could go on. No, really; stop me, this is your only hope. Wonder though if part of this ep's resonance isn't also due to that poor little dog being dead, Jim, once recombined -- that was seriously heart-breaking for a kiddo. I mean, knock off all the red shirts you want, but don't hurt those space doggies! (Or cats for that matter, later on in the series.)

When it comes to Matheson, one thing I've noticed is that, like Stephen King, he is more interested in putting an "everyman" character into a situation and seeing how they react rather than the scientific plausibility of if and how something could happen. The biggest example is the novel "Bid Time Return" which is better known as "Somewhere in Time." It makes no good sense that a man can travel in time just by willing himself to do so...but it happens in the book and the novel uses it to explore some other things. Same thing here--oh, magic yellow dust makes the transporter go wonky. Ok, sure let's go with that. As long as we split Kirk in two and can explore that aspect of things it's all good. And I think part of the lack of shuttlecraft is that it removes the dilemma facing Kirk and since this episode was produced fourth, they may not have decided to use them just yet.

Michael, that's a good observation about Matheson. You're right. I've read a good amount of his stuff, and I always tend to react to his work emotionally, so it's easy to leave logic behind.

I watched this episode over and over as a young girl and teenager and never saw the attempted-rape scene as problematic. At 46 and a mother and educator, I certainly do now! The way Yeoman Rand was treated afterwards was the bigger problem for me; she was forced to sit there with a bunch of men and the very man she accused and basically be called a liar or an hysteric. She was expected to 'get over it' and just deal with the abuse of power and get back to work as if nothing had happened. No one to help her or really even explain it to her. And Mr Spock's final words to her on the bridge were completely out of character and more than vaguely threatening. BUT! I love the episode (apart from all that) and can neatly compartmentalise my misgivings because of the era of production. In fact, I find it all the more fascinating for those reasons.

I find Kirk cradling himself in his arms to be both an nice scene and unintentionally hilarious.

The attempted rape was something that I just didn't get as a kid, but as an adult I have to 100% agree that it was a bad situation that was only made worse by how they treated yeoman Rand afterwards. Far and away my least favorite aspect of this one. Barring that unpleasant portion of this episode, it's very good and I have to say that why I too have soured on Shatner over the years, he nails it here. The dichotomy between the all good and all evil Kirks is both interesting and thought provoking, even toady, and it really makes one think about how we function and deal with our own conflicting emotions on a daily basis.

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Unnamed non-humanoids (23rd century)

• View history

The following is a list of unidentified non-humanoid species observed in the 23rd century .

• 1.1 Background information
• 1.2 External link
• 2 Fluffy creature
• 3 Kaminar flyer
• 4 Kukulkan's zoo creatures
• 5.1 Biting insect
• 5.2 Zoo animals
• 6 Larval space creature
• 7 Multi-eyed alien
• 8 Nibiru wildlife
• 9 Omegan goat
• 10 Organian goat
• 11 Sewer creature
• 12.1 Alligator-like creatures
• 12.2 Bird-like creature
• 13 Vulcan creature

Alfa 177 canine [ ]

The Alfa 177 canine was a species of dog native to the planet Alfa 177 . It was very similar to an Earth dog, with the exception of a horn on its head , a scaled backbone , a long hairless tail , a pouch on its abdomen, and thin gold antennae sprouting from its head.

In 2266 , a specimen of this species was brought aboard the USS Enterprise . After the transporter became infected with a yellow magnetic dust from the planet, the crew unknowingly tried to beam the canine back down to the surface of Alfa 177. The animal rematerialized as two different dogs: one, very gentle and shy, and the other very angry and dangerous, who would try to bite anyone who came near it, so that it had to be put in a box in the transporter room . After the crew came to believe that they had repaired the transporter, they tried reintegrating the two. Although the procedure itself appeared to be a success, the animal was found dead , possibly due to the shock of reintegration. ( TOS : " The Enemy Within ")

A stuffed head of an Alfa 177 canine was on display in Trelane's house on Gothos . ( TOS : " The Squire of Gothos ") Another one was owned by Kerner Hauze . ( LD : " Kayshon, His Eyes Open ")

At some point in time, a female Hysperian royal had her portrait done with her pet canine . ( LD : " Where Pleasant Fountains Lie ")

In 2381 , an Alfa 177 canine was among the lifeforms displayed at Narj's Miraculous Menagerarium , while another was seen as a Ferengi tenant 's pet on Pog & Dar: Cop Landlords . ( LD : " I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee ", " Parth Ferengi's Heart Place ")

Background information [ ]

This animal was originally to have been "a small, mild sheep -like creature," described that way in the first draft story outline for " The Enemy Within ". There, the animal was described as being held and briefly petted by Kirk in the installment's teaser .

In a memo from Robert H. Justman to Gene Roddenberry (dated 8 April 1966 ), Justman admitted, " I feel we don't need this creature for two reasons. Firstly, I don't know how we create this creature, unless we take a dog and shave its hair off in some way or other to make it look different. " The other reason for Justman's reluctance to accept the animal was that he felt its duplication by the transporter revealed to the Enterprise crew too early that the transporter was producing doubles of whichever individual went through it, a fact Kirk and Spock were attempting to hide from the crew later in the outline.

In the revised story outline of "The Enemy Within", this animal was initially described as "a small, gentle, dog-like creature." Also, it was still portrayed as being held and briefly petted by Kirk in the episode's teaser.

After reading the revised outline, Robert Justman devised a plan that would canonically account for the animal's similarity to a dog. In a memo he wrote Gene Roddenberry (dated 22 April 1966 ), Justman stated, " I finally solved my own internal problem with determining what the gentle creature is like that Kirk holds, which later appears in the story. " Justman continued by proposing that, instead of making it an extraterrestrial animal, the writing staff could have the creature be one of multiple "Earth specimens" which were being collected by the Enterprise , having been deposited on the alien planet earlier in order to test how habitable the planet was. " Therefore, the small, gentle, dog-like creature which Kirk holds and pets briefly can, in actuality, be a dog, " Justman suggested.

In two different scenes from the revised draft of the teleplay for "The Enemy Within" (submitted shortly before 1 June 1966 ), the aggressive double of the animal was described as "growling savagely with its fangs bared." In a later scene, one of the dog-like creatures was rematerialized, then wandered around, a glazed look in its eyes, before it suddenly collapsed in a heap.

By 1 June 1966, two identical-looking dogs were found to play the alien animal, the idea that it be a Terran dog having been dropped.

In a memo Robert Justman wrote John D.F. Black regarding a revised draft of the script of "The Enemy Within" (the memo was dated 1 June 1966), Justman pondered, " Do you think that something ought to be said in dialogue with regard to the small dog-like creature that North is carrying? " Later in the same memo, Justman remarked,

" It is very difficult for us to get two completely matching animals that we can change to make look like space dogs, and yet be trained enough in all respects to give us the varying responses that we need. The two matching dogs that we have found are odd looking enough, once they have been helped by Freddie Phillips . However, it just so happens that neither of these animals will really charge the camera, or anything else for that matter. We can get them to look as if they are snarling and get some barks out of one of them, but insofar as charging goes, I think we'd better throw that idea away. We might get a little bit, but not too much. Of course, we could solve part of the problems of this animal by establishing […] that they have already tranquilized the vicious animal and it is available for work with the others in the Transporter Room. This also solves the problem of shooting the darn thing with a hand phaser and making the audience understand that we have just stunned it and not killed it. Also know you this, that every time we have to show the animal knocked out, it is going to cost us a hundred dollars for a veterinarian and an injection. This, in addition to the cost of rental of the animals and trainer's fees. "

Another sequence that Justman, in the memo to Black, doubted the canine performers would be capable of was the weaving around with eyes glazed, then abruptly collapsing on command. As a result, Justman instead suggested the alien creature might be already deceased upon rematerialization. Justman also criticized a subsequent reappearance of the dog, asking, " Why do we have to see the dead dog in this sequence? "

The description of the animal in the final draft script of "The Enemy Within" (dated 8 June 1966) was exactly the same as that in the episode's revised story outline apart from omitting the word "gentle." By the time the final draft teleplay was written, the animal was held, at the start of the episode, by Sulu (who replaced the never-before-seen character of North during the episode's development) and was no longer to be held by Kirk in the teaser, but was briefly petted by him, precisely as happens in the episode.

In a letter of script notes from Spock actor Leonard Nimoy to Gene Roddenberry (dated 8 June 1966), Nimoy commented it was odd that "the death of the dog is connected only to Kirk's problem" and implied that he believed the dog's death should be more clearly connected, additionally, to the plight of the away team on Alfa 177.

The headpiece of the dog's costume was used for the sequence when the dog rematerializes dead, in the failed transporter attempt, and was later reused as one of Trelane's trophies.

According to Star Trek Maps (p. 22), the species name given to this animal was Canis Alfa.

In Star Trek Online , these animals are available as pets under the name Alfa 117 Canine. They come in a variety of colors including brown , gray , white , orange , green , blue , black , and pink .

The animal was featured in Jenny Parks ' 2017 book Star Trek Cats .

External link [ ]

• Alfa 177 canine at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works

Fluffy creature [ ]

This creature was capable of generating and controlling energy without causing itself harm. In 2267 , Pavel Chekov listed it, the electric eel , and the giant dry-worm as examples of such creatures when attempting to understand the source of Apollo 's power, but Leonard McCoy interrupted him before he could finish saying the creature's name, saying "not the whole encyclopedia , Chekov." ( TOS : " Who Mourns for Adonais? ")

Kaminar flyer [ ]

A lifeform with two wings flew through the skies of Kaminar . ( ST : " The Brightest Star ")

Kukulkan's zoo creatures [ ]

• See : Kukulkan's zoo

Lactra VII creatures [ ]

Biting insect [ ].

• See : Lactra VII insect

Zoo animals [ ]

• See : Lactra VII zoo

Larval space creature [ ]

A larval space creature on the USS Cerritos

At some point in time, a larval space-dwelling creature was encountered by the USS Enterprise , and attached itself to the end of the ship's port nacelle , though it was ultimately shaken off. Over a century later , the USS Cerritos encountered another lifeform of this type, which also proceeded to suckle on its port nacelle. ( SNW : " Those Old Scientists " opening credits; Star Trek: Lower Decks opening credits )

Multi-eyed alien [ ]

A multi-eyed alien

A painting depicting this alien specimen with many small black eyes underneath two large eyes hung in Dr. Leonard McCoy 's sickbay aboard the USS Enterprise for some time. ( TOS : " The Enterprise Incident ", " That Which Survives ")

Nibiru wildlife [ ]

• See : Nibiru creatures

Omegan goat [ ]

Omegan goats

Omegan goats were a type of animal native to Omega IV . These mammals were characterized by shaggy white fur and two long horns on their foreheads. They were seen in a Kohm village. ( TOS : " The Omega Glory ")

Organian goat [ ]

An Organian goat

Organian goats were a type of animal native to Organia that had shaggy blue hair. The goats were used by the Organians for farming and general labor during the late 23rd century . ( TOS : " Errand of Mercy ")

Sewer creature [ ]

In a sewer through which a bounty hunter once dragged a Harcourt Fenton Mudd android , several roughly Stuart -sized insect -like creatures could be seen scurrying. ( ST : " The Escape Artist ")

Trelane's collection [ ]

Alligator-like creatures [ ].

The heads of two alligator -like creatures with pig-like ears hung on Trelane 's wall in his 19th century house.( TOS : " The Squire of Gothos ")

Bird-like creature [ ]

A bird-like creature

This humanoid bird was displayed at Trelane 's mansion. ( TOS : " The Squire of Gothos ")

Vulcan creature [ ]

Vulcan hexapod

This large, aggressive, six-legged creature roamed deep in the forests of Vulcan's Forge on Vulcan . ( DIS : " If Memory Serves ")

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Star Trek – The Enemy Within (Review)

To celebrate the release of Star Trek: Into Darkness this month, we’ll be running through the first season of the classic Star Trek all this month. Check back daily to get ready to boldly go. It’s only logical.

One thing that I don’t think the original Star Trek gets nearly enough credit for is the quality of the writers that Gene Roddenberry recruited to contribute scripts. Television obviously operated under a different model at the time, but there’s an impressive selection of science-fiction literary giants who contributed scripts to the show. More than that, it’s impressive how many of those stories became truly iconic Star Trek stories.

The Enemy Within is the work of author Richard Matheson, best known for stories like I Am Legend or What Dreams May Come . It’s very much a high-concept science-fiction story, but it’s also notable because it establishes two of what would become the show’s favourite tropes: transporter accidents and evil duplicates. Indeed, the two devices would be reunited in the following season’s Mirror, Mirror . These narrative elements even featured in the last season of Star Trek: Enterprise to air, in episodes like Daedalus and In a Mirror, Darkly .

Perhaps it’s a demonstration of how important these outside writers were to the development of Star Trek as a franchise that Matheson would effectively codify two stock narrative devices that would still be in use four decades later.

Mirror, mirror…

Of course, Matheson wasn’t the only science-fiction writer of that calibre to write for Star Trek . Harlan Ellison wrote The City on the Edge of Forever , while Theodore Sturgeon wrote Amok Time , with Norman Spinrad contributing The Doomsday Machine . That’s saying nothing of Larry Niven writing for Star Trek: The Animated Series . Outside of writers known for science-fiction, What Are Little Girls Made Of? came from the author of Psycho , Robert Bloch.

Those are some very important names, and they are names that immediately establish the pedigree of Star Trek . The involvement of these iconic science-fiction writers demonstrates that the show is more than merely a western in a novel setting. Instead, these names demonstrate that Star Trek is legitimate science-fiction, with all the high-concepts and big ideas that come with it. I am not, of course, suggesting that the absence of any or all of these names would put paid to the suggestion that Roddenberry was producing a science-fiction show, but their presence serves as an acknowledgement of what the creator was attempting to accomplish with the show.

Kirk always was a bit in love with himself…

To be fair, some of these experiences would be least than pleasant. Harlan Ellison’s foreword to the book collecting his initial work on The City of the Edge of Forever offers a particularly bitter account of how difficult working within the show could be. At least Matheson didn’t have to worry about too much aside from what he felt to be an unnecessary b-plot unfolding on the planet below. Given that it eats up about five minutes of the episode, I think we can forgive it that.

Despite these teething problems, it’s hard to deny the results. William Shatner – writing in Star Trek Memories – credits strong stories like The City on the Edge of Forever for keeping Star Trek alive at the end of its first year in production. While Ellison tends to (deservedly) generate the most discussion about these respected authors working on Star Trek , his work is indicative of one of the greater strengths of the show. In fact, I think that the contributions of the other established science-fiction writers are occasionally overlooked.

Shatner dials it up…

These writers deserve credit for demonstrating that Star Trek was a fascinating avenue for compelling and exciting televised science-fiction. It’s something of which the spin-offs may have lost sight. Star Trek: The Next Generation and the later shows tended to the work of an established writing staff. That said, the shows welcomed unsolicited scripts from outside the office. This is, for example, how they recruited Ronald D. Moore for the third season of The Next Generation . However, there didn’t seem to be a conscious effort to court established science-fiction writers to contribute to television’s largest on-going science-fiction franchise.

Then again, it’s hard to complain about the consistent quality The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine once they got past their first two years, but it does feel like the spin-offs were missing something that had been a vital ingredient to Star Trek . You could argue that the model of television had changed in the years since Star Trek went into cancellation, but that’s hardly fair. Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat have made it a point to invite established writers on to Doctor Who , to great success. Neil Gaiman wrote the acclaimed The Doctor’s Wife , while Richard Curtis wrote the much-loved Vincent and the Doctor .

On the prowl…

Being honest, it’s clear that Star Trek owes Richard Matheson a fairly significant debt. The Enemy Within is very much an archetypal Star Trek episode. In fact, I suspect it is one of the few stories that ripples around in the broader public consciousness. While evil! Kirk might not be as iconic as goatee! Spock, I think that William Shatner’s portrayal of Kirk’s primal id is one of the most memorable images of the series. I also suspect that this is where Shatner established his reputation for scenery-chewing among the public at large.

The plot of The Enemy Within is relatively simple. In fact, it’s so simple that it would provide the basis for Mirror, Mirror the following season – albeit with the two ingredients inverted. Here, a transporter malfunction sends an evil version of Captain Kirk to the regular Enterprise. In Mirror, Mirror , a transporter malfunction sends the regular version of Captain Kirk to an evil Enterprise. It’s not to suggest that Mirror, Mirror is a rip-off of The Ene my Within . It’s just to illustrate that Matheson has crafted a simply story that effectively establishes two narrative staples of Star Trek .

To be fair, half the cast wanted to do that at one point or another…

In a way, The Enemy Within is effectively an update of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . Transporter proves itself remarkably unreliable for only the first time in Star Trek history, somehow splitting Kirk into two halves. One half embodies all of Kirk’s best qualities, and the other half contains all his negative attributes. This is, of course, pure scientific nonsense, but it allows for an interesting story and a nice allegory. Plus we get to witness Shatner demonstrating his dramatic abilities in his portrayal of good! Kirk, which is a surprisingly nuanced performance.

One which is, admittedly, overshadowed by his campy turn as evil! Kirk. Even then, it’s work noting that Shatner’s portrayal of Kirk’s rampaging id personified is strangely compelling. As I mentioned above, it’s fair to argue that Shatner’s reputation of a hammy over-actor was cemented here. evil! Kirk poses, pantomimes, screams, spits and shouts. You could make a legitimate argument that evil! Kirk isn’t just a concentration of Kirk’s darker side, but also the embodiment of Shatner’s tendency to go over the top.

Double trouble…

This isn’t the first time that Shatner’s campy tendencies have been on display. We’d seen hints of his hammy-ness at the climax of Where No Man Has Gone Before , as Shatner milked Kirk’s appeal to Denher’s humanity for all it was worth. Still, evil! Kirk is arguably the furthest that Shatner would go off the reservation during the three-year run of Star Trek . Still, there is some skill here. Shatner cannily plays him as more animal than man. He crouches, lurches and swings aggressively. His movements are exaggerated, with Shatner making sure that the audience is aware that this is evil! Kirk in action.

In fact, for all the episode’s fixation on Kirk’s “doppelgänger” , Shatner makes it quite obvious which version of Kirk is which. The crew might be confused, but Shatner’s performance makes certain that we never are. And, to be fair, this isn’t a bad thing. After all, the premise is delightfully simplistic. This is a story where a magic technology can somehow rend a man’s soul in twain. It is not a subtle tale. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine a more subtle performance working as well as Shatner’s decision to gleefully chew the scenery.

Just scratching the surface…

I will concede that the characterisation on classic Star Trek was not the strongest. Still, I think that the leading trio were drawn very clearly very early on, and I’d argue that the movies did a great job extending the characterisation of the main characters. Still, for all that The Enemy Within is a science-fiction high-concept, it is hard to see the plot working with any Star Trek captain other than James Tiberius Kirk.

Shatner’s Kirk has a roguish charm to him that is lacking from his successors. We don’t doubt that he’s sincere and that he is a good man, but there’s a darkness lurking underneath Kirk’s charming exterior. Kirk is the most dynamic and physical of the Star Trek leads, the one who isn’t afraid of violence, the one who indulges almost recklessly in casual sex with random women. (In fact, he even winds up with a son he never knew about.) Kirk has wit and skill, but he’s also reckless. He leads away teams into danger and there’s a sense that Kirk gets a vicarious thrill out of high-stakes contests.

And your little dog, too!

In short, there’s a sense of something very sinister hiding behind all that charm. Shatner might not be the strongest actor in the history of television, but he gets Kirk. He embodies the character perfectly. Even when the scripts portray Kirk as an enlightened and sophisticated 23rd century man, Shatner makes it clear that there’s something primal lurking beneath. It’s not for nothing that he turns out to be so damn good at all those crazy gladiatorial contests.

So there is something to split here – two palpable facets of Kirk’s persona that can be separated from one another. Freed of the pragmatic cynicism of his darker half, good! Kirk trusts his crew to understand what has happened. He wants to disclose absolutely everything, including the fact that half of him is a de facto attempted rapist. “Yes, I’ll make an announcement to the entire crew, tell them what happened,” he assures Spock. “It’s a good crew. They deserve to know.”

Keep your shirt on…

It’s not necessarily a stupid position, just an idealistic. After all, Kirk has served with this crew for some time now. He knows them, he respects them; many of them are his friends. However, as Spock points out, he doesn’t have the luxury of indulging his conscience. “Captain, no disrespect intended,” Spock responds, “but you must surely realise you can’t announce the full truth to the crew. You’re the Captain of this ship. You haven’t the right to be vulnerable in the eyes of the crew. You can’t afford the luxury of being anything less than perfect. If you do, they lose faith, and you lose command.”

In a weaker story, good! Kirk would be an emotional idealist without any self-restraint. He would wallow in self-pity and guilt for everything he has ever done. Here, instead, he’s simply a decent man constrained by his inability to compromise, to make sacrifices, to be ruthless for the greater good. evil! Kirk is willing to order the ship to abandon Sulu and the away team without a care. good! Kirk can barely bring himself to sacrifice a dog to test the transporter. “Don’t hurt him,” good! Kirk asks Scott.

Putting it all together…

It’s a nice plot point – the idea that Kirk owes some of his strength to something approaching ruthlessness and brutality. Without that darker half, good! Kirk is somewhat impotent. He can’t barely order Spock to call him out on it. “Mister Spock, if you see me slipping again, your orders… your orders are to tell me.” He concedes that, due to the separation, he has lost his “strength of will.” It’s interesting to see Star Trek concede that some of these darker drives are necessary or even useful. The show is generally so idealistic, that such a concession seems a little weird. In fact, Grace Lee Whitney protests that argument in her biography, The Longest Trek .

Indeed, it’s this sort of attitude that would be missing from a lot of the first season of The Next Generation , as Roddenberry insisted that the show present the crew as completely flawless. However, the key isn’t necessarily to completely purge the darker aspects of the human psyche – after all, those are essential parts of ourselves. It’s difficult to relate to the perfect humans of The Next Generation in the show’s first year because they are so perfect that they don’t seem human.

Face-to-face…

“We all have our darker side,” McCoy argues. “We need it! It’s half of what we are. It’s not really ugly, it’s human.” That’s the key right there, and Star Trek has always been as much about exploring the human condition as it has been about charting the final frontier. It has – at its best – about exploring who we are and what makes us human. The Enemy Within might not be subtle, but it is effective. It uses the backdrop of science-fiction to comment on mankind and our relationship with ourselves and the wider universe.

That said, there are some problems. It is very tough to watch the scene where Kirk tries to sexually assault Rand, knowing that Grace Lee Whitney would be sexually assaulted herself a few weeks later, on the set of Miri . The scene isn’t gratuitous or especially problematic of itself, but it’s very tough to watch knowing that Whitney would be assaulted by an anonymous studio executive only a little while later.

A cool reception…

The abuse that Whitney experienced is one of the most shameful moments in the history of the Star Trek franchise, and a demonstration of some of the problems the series had with sexism behind the scenes. Nobody was ever held accountable for it. Whitney herself was let go after her thirteen-episode contract elapsed. For a show about a bright an enlightened future, it seems that the sexual politics behind the scenes on Star Trek were regressive.

Sadly, these problems would continue into the early years of The Next Generation . After all, that show would lose two of its three female leads in the first year. Gates McFadden left because she had trouble working with a male producer . Patrick Stewart has explained that he spent a great deal of the first season protesting sexist scripts. You could make a compelling argument that Star Trek never got quite past its gender issues until Deep Space Nine introduced Kira.

He’ll sleep it off…

Even outside of the context of Whitney’s departure from the series, the show’s final joke would seem to be misjudged. It sees Spock – who seems to have a bit of a weird fixation on evil! Kirk, read into that what you will – make a joke about evil! Kirk’s sexual appeal to Janice Rand. This is the same Janice Rand who was sexually assaulted by evil! Kirk in her quarters only a little while earlier. The scene is quite troublesome, especially because it seems like nobody realised that it really wasn’t an appropriate line to close on.

As Whitney herself notes in her memoirs, The Longest Trek :

At the end of The Enemy Within, there is a badly botched attempt at humor. In a poorly motivated and out of character moment, Mr. Spock needles me about my feelings toward the evil Kirk (who came to be called “the Imposter,” even though he was supposedly every bit as much a part of the “real” James T. Kirk as the good Kirk). There is almost a nasty leer on Spock’s face as he says to me, “The Imposter had some very interesting qualities, wouldn’t you say, yeoman?” My response was to ignore the jibe. I can’t imagine any more cruel and insensitive comment a man (or Vulcan) could make to a woman who has just been through a sexual assault! But then, some men really do think that women want to be raped. So the writer of the script (ostensibly Richard Matheson — although the line could have been added by Gene Roddenberry or an assistant scribe) gives us a leering Mr. Spock who suggests that Yeoman Rand enjoyed being raped and found the evil Kirk attractive! This scene is doubly ironic in view of how wonderfully caring and compassionate the real Leonard Nimoy was a few weeks later after the real Grace Lee Whitney was sexually assaulted and violated by The Executive.

Then again, the show was never especially thoughtful in its portrayal of Rand as a character. It’s just that The Enemy Within strikes closest to home in light of Whitney’s history with the programme.

Some cheek…

Still, despite these awkward moments, The Enemy Within is still a damn fine piece of Star Trek . It’s admittedly got a goofy premise, but it is compelling and fascinating high-concept science-fiction, demonstrating the versatility of Star Trek as a show.

You might be interested in our other reviews from the first season of the classic Star Tre k :

• Supplemental: Vulcan’s Glory by D.C. Fontana
• Supplemental: Early Voyages #1 – Flesh of my Flesh
• Supplemental: Crew by John Byrne
• Where No Man Has Gone Before
• The Corbomite Manoeuvre
• Mudd’s Women
• The Enemy Within
• The Man Trap
• The Naked Time
• Supplemental: My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane
• Supplemental: Romulans: Pawns of War by John Byrne
• Supplemental: Errand of Vengeance: The Edge of the Sword by Kevin Ryan
• Dagger of the Mind
• The Conscience of a King
• The Galileo Seven
• Court Martial
• Supplemental: Early Voyages #12-15 – Futures
• Supplemental: Burning Dreams by Margaret Wander Bonanno
• Shore Leave
• The Squire of Gothos
• Supplemental: Requiem by Michael Jan Friedman & Kevin Ryan
• Supplemental: The Fantastic Four #108 – The Monstrous Mystery of the Nega-Man
• Tomorrow is Yesterday
• The Return of the Archon
• A Taste of Armageddon
• Supplemental: The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volumes I & II by Greg Cox
• This Side of Paradise
• The Devil in the Dark
• Supplemental: Spock Must Die! by James Blish
• Supplemental: The Final Reflection by John M. Ford
• Supplemental: The City on the Edge of Forever by Harlan Ellison/Cordwainer Bird
• Supplemental: Crucible: McCoy – Provenance of Shadows by David R. George III
• Supplemental: Star Trek (Gold Key) #56 – No Time Like the Past
• Operation — Annihilate!

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Alice Eve , Benedict Cumberbatch , chris pine , City of the Edge of Forever , games , gene roddenberry , Grace Lee Whitney , Harlan Ellison , J. J. Abrams , james t. kirk , John Harrison , kirk , Leonard Nimoy , Ray Bradbury , richard matheson , science fiction , Shatner , spock , star trek , Star Trek Games , Star Trek: The Animated Series , star trek: the original series , StarTrek , Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , Television and Movies , Trekkie , video games , William Shatner , Zachary Quinto |

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS1E5TheEnemyWithin

Recap / Star Trek S1 E5 "The Enemy Within"

Edit locked.

Original air date: October 6, 1966

Kirk, Sulu and some unusually long lived Red Shirts are collecting specimens from Alfa 177 when someone falls down a hill and gets a boo-boo. He's beamed up, along with a strange, magnetic ore that he picked up in his fall. Shortly after, Captain Kirk beams up, feeling a little woozy. Scotty leads him away, even as Kirk warns him not to leave the transporter room unattended. What beams up next is... Captain Kirk! You can tell it's an evil Kirk! He's wearing eye liner and sweating like a pig!

The Tropes Within:

• Attempted Rape : Poor Janice is subjected to this by Evil Kirk.
• Badass in Distress : Sulu is trapped on the planet during its cold night and nearly freezes to death.
• Balance Between Good and Evil : The aesop is that a person can't function without both the light and dark sides. Without the light, Evil Kirk is unrestrained and violent; without the darkness, Good Kirk is impotent. Spock: And what is it that makes one man an exceptional leader? We see here indications that it's his negative side which makes him strong, that his evil side, if you will, properly controlled and disciplined, is vital to his strength. McCoy: (to Good Kirk) We all have our darker side. We need it! It's half of what we are. It's not really ugly. It's Human.[...] The intelligence, the logic. It appears your half has most of that. And perhaps that's where man's essential courage comes from.
• Braving the Blizzard : Mr. Sulu and several others get trapped on the planet the Enterprise is orbiting. As night comes on, the wind kicks up and the temperature falls dramatically. Due to the malfunction, any heaters transported down are rendered useless, and the landing party is forced to use their phasers to superheat rocks in order to stay warm enough to survive.
• Clear My Name : Certainly important to Good Kirk.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience : Evil Kirk wears the yellow command uniform. Good Kirk wears his casual green shirt. That is, until Evil Kirk realizes he can (temporarily) fool people by changing his shirt.
• Dirty Coward : Evil Kirk lacks Good Kirk's courage (see Villainous Breakdown ).
• It's a bit weird to see Spock call himself "half human, half alien," when for the bulk of the series he clearly identifies as Vulcan.
• Sulu and the rest of the exploration team could have been brought aboard had they thought to use the shuttlecraft. The only reason they didn't use it is because they hadn't built the shuttlecraft sets and models yet.
• As with a few of the other early episodes, several of Kirk's captains logs are done in the past tense rather than present tense.
• Enemy Within : Well, duh! Look at the episode's title!
• Enemy Without : How it comes to be.
• Everybody Lives : The only fatality is the cute but non-sentient dog-unicorn thing from the planet.
• Evil Is Hammy : Good Lord . Evil Kirk makes all of Shatner's other performances look subdued. Evil Kirk: I'm Captain Kirk! I'm Captain Kirk! I'M CAPTAIN KIRK! IIIII'M CAPTAIN KIRRRRRK!!!
• Evil Me Scares Me : "I've seen a part of myself no man should see."
• Evil Twin : Created by transporter accident. This is a rare case where the evil twin isn't an imposter, but actually is the real person (albeit the negative, disagreeable side of that person).
• First-Name Basis : Evil Kirk tells Yeoman Rand to call him Jim, as he calls her Janice.
• Gallows Humor : Sulu cracks a few jokes about just needing a coffee when it's a very real possibility they could die from cold.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes : Evil Kirk wears eyeliner and his eyes are always narrow and shifty.
• Got Over Rape Instantly : Evil Kirk almost succeeds in raping Yeoman Rand. While she's traumatized for the rest of the episode, she's back to mooning over Kirk in her next appearance as though nothing had happened. You'd think the very sight of him would make her want to transfer to another ship, but I guess not.
• Guyliner : Evil Kirk wears it, as per the Excessive Evil Eyeshadow trope. He also puts on some make-up in attempt to hide the scratches Rand put on him.
• Helpless Good Side : Evil Kirk got Kirk's willpower, determination, and aggression, leaving Good Kirk rather meek and indecisive. It's played with in that Good Kirk also got the original Kirk's courage , while despite all his agression Evil Kirk is at heart a coward.
• He's Back! : Kirk's halves are put back together and it's obvious he's survived the process, but the real "He's Back!" moment comes when he decisively says "Get those men aboard fast!"
• He's Dead, Jim : For the first time in the series! After they attempt the re-merging with the creature, McCoy and Spock examine the limp form that beams up. Spock : It seems the shock was too much. McCoy : He's dead, Jim.
• Evil!Kirk demands Saurean brandy when he enters sick bay. Later, Bones decides that both he and Good!Kirk need it.
• Sulu cracks a few jokes about needing coffee (due to the freezing temperatures of the planet), then says that sake will do as well.
• Idiot Ball : Who exactly thought it was a good idea to have Yeoman Rand questioned about her attempted rape by the accused perpetrator? The same people who thought it was a good idea to let the accused walk around after being identified by an eyewitness. Though Good Kirk pretty quickly proved it wasn't him, he has no scratches on his face. This being Star Trek , everyone is immediately convinced that something substantially weirder is going on.
• Jekyll & Hyde : A transporter malfunction splits Kirk's good and evil sides.
• Literal Split Personality : Kirk of this episode is a famous example. It is learned that the "evil" side proved to be the side with the strength to make tough decisions, proving that both halves are needed for the whole to work. And the seemingly meek, passive "good" side turns out to have more courage than the other, whose angry defiance hides terror of losing independent existence. "Can half a man live?"
• Mundane Utility : Sulu uses a phaser to heat up some rocks for warmth. Beginning a long, proud Trek tradition, fully in fitting with its themes, that phasers are as much tools as weapons.
• Must Have Caffeine : Sulu asks if it's possible for them to send down a pot of coffee. Or possibly, he just wants something hot. He would've settled for sake.
• Negatives as a Positive : After a transporter accident splits Kirk into two people, one good and one evil, it's revealed that his good side isn't capable of command. Spock postulates that it is humanity's faults, tempered by their morals and ethics, that give them the ability to lead.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business : Never has it been more serious! And on both sides: Good Kirk lacks the command presence and decisiveness he's previously demonstrated and which is necessary for The Captain , Evil Kirk lacks empathy, courage, or any real impulse control. The trick is not to figure out which Kirk is which, but that they're both equally not "real" Kirk.
• Out-of-Character Alert : Kirk is split into his good and evil sides by a transporter accident, which leaves several of the Enterprise crew stranded on a hostile planet. Spock feels a bad vibe when the evil Kirk, passing himself as the good one, walks onto the bridge. Then he declares that the men can't be saved and orders the ship to leave orbit, at which point Spock knows it's not the real one - since when would James T. Kirk leave his crew to die?
• Why doesn't Kirk send a shuttlecraft to collect the stranded men? (The Doylist answer is because they hadn't finished building the shuttlecraft set.)
• Why doesn't the Enterprise crew beam down some blankets? It's not like bedding can get split into Good and Evil. The heaters that were beamed down didn't work, but this shouldn't apply to blankets. Or coffee, for that matter.
• They could have even beamed the characters up and confined the resulting duplicates until the problem was fixed.
• The Power of Hate : When Kirk gets split into Good Kirk and Evil Kirk, Good Kirk is barely able to function because, as Bones points out, he needs the power of hate as well as love.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter : Sulu finds something that looks like a mash up of a cocker spaniel, a unicorn and a baby dragon with some screwy looking antenna. And it's flippin' adorable! (When its evil half isn't trying to eat your face, that is.) What a pity that it dies in the end.
• Sarcasm Failure : See Gallows Humor . As the (admittedly improbable) cold gets to the stranded crew members, Mr. Sulu's last communication to the Enterprise is laconic and quiet.
• Shadow Archetype : The good-yet-indecisive Kirk and his evil-yet-effective twin: "I have to take him back... inside myself. I can't survive without him. I don't want him back. He's like an animal, a thoughtless, brutal animal — and yet it's me. Me." Really though, both the good and evil Kirk are Shadow Archetypes to the real Kirk; he wouldn't want to be either one of them.
• Shirtless Scene : Shortly after beaming up, Good Kirk feels a sudden urge to go change his shirt. The ladies (and Mr. Spock) get some eye candy, and there's a reason for the sudden Color-Coded for Your Convenience .
• Take a Third Option : Spock explains how he uses this to live. His human and Vulcan natures are constantly in conflict, but he uses his intelligence to keep both in line and make them work together.
• Tantrum Throwing : Evil Kirk throws a fit when he can't get his way.
• Tap on the Head : A legendary subversion. When good Kirk is confronted by a phaser-wielding evil Kirk, Spock steps around a corner behind evil Kirk and knocks him out. The script called for Spock to do this by hitting evil Kirk with the butt of his phaser pistol. Leonard Nimoy thought that was inappropriate for a Vulcan — it's so uncivilized — so he and the director improvised the very first use of the Vulcan nerve pinch . Nimoy demonstrated it on Shatner, and Nimoy credited Shatner with selling it.
• Technobabble : Spock's explanation of how the transporter was repaired comes off as this.
• Understatement : Before beaming up, Kirk tells Sulu that the temperature on the planet gets down to some ridiculously low arbitrary temperature at night. Sulu replies, "That's nippy."
• Villainous Breakdown : Evil Kirk finally gives up when he breaks down, sobbing, "I don't wanna die!" "I don't wanna go back. I wanna LIIIIIIVE!!!!" "We...WILLive!....BOTHuvus!"
• Warring Natures : Spock claims that his human side and his "alien" side are constantly doing this.
• What the Hell, Hero? : McCoy gives this to Spock when he uses Kirk's situation to coolly analyze the roles of good and evil in human nature. Spock doesn't back away from the accusation, but does offer an apology of sorts to Kirk for his seeming to be uncaring.
• Whole-Plot Reference : Richard Matheson 's main influence on writing this episode was The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , as he envisioned the story put in a science fiction context. He eventually came up with the idea of the transporter causing a man to be split into two halves.
• With All Due Respect : Spock tells Kirk that he doesn't have the luxury of indulging his conscience: Captain, no disrespect intended, but you must surely realise you can't announce the full truth to the crew. You’re the Captain of this ship. You haven’t the right to be vulnerable in the eyes of the crew. You can’t afford the luxury of being anything less than perfect. If you do, they lose faith, and you lose command.
• Writers Cannot Do Math : No matter what scale you use, the temperatures given for the planet's surface mean Sulu's team would have frozen to death before the episode is even halfway over.
• Star Trek S1 E4 "The Naked Time"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S1 E6 "Mudd's Women"
• Creator/Richard Matheson

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Star Trek: The Original Series — “The Enemy Within”

The best part about watching Star Trek , in most of its iterations, is that you get multi-dimensional storytelling: you get the moments that appeal to your inner nerd, sure, but you also get heady discussions on the purpose of being. Most times, Trek will act as a metaphor for the human condition, showing avatars of what represents humankind going up against the Other and coming out with understanding and meaning. The experiences of the Enterprise and her fine crew are meant to symbolize humanity’s journey through morality and ethics, not just through the stars.

But sometimes that metaphor takes more literal forms, as is the case with the first season episode “ The Enemy Within .” This is an early episode in the show’s run that utilizes its unique storytelling capabilities by creating a malfunction in one of its fantastical appliances, the transporter, and turning it into a morality play on the essence of existence. What makes us human? That’s lofty material for a show that, on the surface, is about travelers in space encountering strange new life and exotic new civilizations for the sake of living room, family entertainment.

The Enterprise is doing a geological survey of Alpha 177, a planet whose temperature sinks to hundreds of degrees below zero as the day turns into night. After visiting his crew down on the planet’s surface, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) returns to the ship thanks to the main transporter. However, the transporter suffers a malfunction and Kirk arrives safely but a little shaken. Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan) takes him to sickbay, and while they’re gone a second version of Kirk beams up as well, this one more energetic and alive.

As it turns out, Kirk has been split into two by the malfunctioning transporter; however there isn’t simply a duplicate of him aboard the ship but a portion of his essence. One half, the good half, retains the kind and intelligent qualities of Kirk but lacks leadership and confidence. The imposter, who beamed up second, is the evil side which contains ambition and vigilance, but also unshackled violence. As the evil version of Kirk roams the ship, harassing crewmen and vying to take over the ship, the good version struggles with his ability to perform as Captain, decision making becoming harder and harder as he remains uncertain.

In the end, the Enterprise crew must find a way to fix the transporter not only to rescue the crew stuck on the freezing planet’s surface below but also to merge Kirk together as one whole person again. The one problem, of course, is the evil Kirk wants to stay just the way he is and it might take killing him to stop him. But would that kill Captain Kirk’s essence, leaving him a shell of the man he was before, literally halved? Only the good half of Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Scott, and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) can truly find the answer.

Gene Roddenberry’s “Wagon Train to the Stars,” the way he viewed Star Trek , was always about the noble hero rolling into a mysterious town and righting wrongs, just on an intergalactic level. But every once in a while the hero had bigger, more personal fish to fry and in the case of “The Enemy Within,” our noble hero in Kirk must battle himself in a literal and metaphorical sense. Written by the legendary Richard Matheson , who wrote for other high concept genre fare like The Twilight Zone , and literally mastered the narrative of man being alone in the universe with I Am Legend , the concept of dealing with inner demons extends beyond the physically literal manifestations of Kirk fighting each other with fisticuffs.

The most compelling aspect of the episode is the conceit that we all need an “evil” side to function as a complete human being. The “good” Kirk is a kind and passionate man but without his evil side he appears to have lost his intuition and even some of his intelligence. It is true that isolated outside of the good Kirk, the evil version runs rampant on the ship, committing violence and sexual assault. Does it imply that Kirk has those elements within him? The shocking part is that it indeed does. Most shows, depicting a hero, might steer clear of that revelation but Star Trek gets into the essence of what we are; the internal makeup of what a person can be, would be, shall be.

In the end, Kirk, when whole, is not a murdering rapist mainly because he has other qualities within himself that balance out the natural negatives. When separated from his evil side, he may lose aspects of his being but he still retains the inherent goodness we have inside us. So while Trek may be bold enough to admit to humanity’s frailty on the interior of us all, it also has the hope and confidence to portray us as ultimately good people. Most apparent of this conceit is the fact that the evil Kirk imposter also can’t function without his good side, proving that evil alone is not a dominating force in the world.

The Original Series is often lauded as a classic even while being mocked for its outlandish color and goofy, sometimes outdated material. But “The Enemy Within,” much like other episodes, shows the power of a good narrative knows no time limits. Sure, you might tune in and see a dog with a goofy horn appliance on its head and have to accept it is an alien creature but you’ll leave learning something about yourself. That is the essence of Star Trek : to boldly go where no one has gone before. Few television shows can actually say that they have.

Written by Will Johnson

Will is the author of the little-read books Secure Immaturity: A Nostalgia-Crushing Journey Through Film and Obsessive Compulsive: Poetry Formed From Chaos. Will is a film critic at 25YL but also specializes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the occasional horror review. Will loves his hometown Buccaneers and lives in Phoenix, AZ, USA with his two daughters.

Sci-Fi Star Trek Star Trek: The Original Series

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When the original Star Trek first aired, it scandalised everyone for not only having such a culturally diverse cast, but also female crew members in high positions of command, in fact, in the original pilot feature Majel Barret as the First Officer Number One, but was demoted to being the Nurse and replaced with Spock. In fact Spock’s ears also shocked everyone as being ‘satanic’. As well as helmsman Hikaru Sulu, a Russian navigator Pavel Chekov was introduced in the second season. This had never been seen before on television. While Deanna Troi’s role on the Next Generation did develop simply from ship counsellor to nearly a full time Communications officer and diplomat (she even gets promoted to Commander) , and Beverly Crusher’s role as ships doctor developed as the stories matured and got darker, Deep Space Nine featured a Bajoran former freedom fighter turned First Officer , Kira Nerys and a Trill Science Officer Jadzia Dax a female host in her late 20s for an ancient being (which is the actual Trill) that gives her centuries of knowledge and experience. Kira and Dax quickly become friends over the course of the show, which featured a lot of issues that exist in today’s society…..occupation, religious and cultural conflict, Voyager followed a similar pattern to the original and Next Generation………..

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Star Trek (TV Series)

The enemy within (1966), full cast & crew.

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The Wolf Inside

What’s past is prologue, et in arcadia ego, part 2.

The Enemy Within

The Enterprise is on its way to a remote Federation outpost where they are to deliver much needed supplies. Captain James T. Kirk and his crew have been diverted to answer a distress call from an unexplored planet.

When they arrive, they find that the planet’s environment is filled with a powerful energy field which is interfering with the ship’s systems. To make matters worse, the energy field also has an adverse effect on the crew’s health and morale.

The crew begins to experience strange behavior, with petty squabbles turning into outright hostility. To make matters worse, the crew discovers that the energy field has split Captain Kirk into two separate personalities – a cruel and callous version of himself, and a mild-mannered version that is more passive and weaker-willed.

The two personas begin to clash, each with its own agenda. The cruel Kirk wants to take control of the ship and use it to dominate the galaxy, while the mild-mannered Kirk wishes to end the conflict and restore peace and balance to the universe.

The Enterprise is left with no choice but to find a way to reconcile the two personalities and save every crew member from the malevolent force that separates them. With the help of Dr. McCoy, the crew is able to find a way to force the two personas to reconcile and the energy field is reversed.

The crew of the Enterprise is left with a newfound appreciation for their captain, and the crew is able to move on and complete their mission of delivering the necessary supplies to the Federation outpost.

The Enemy Within serves as a reminder to the crew that even the mightiest of heroes can succumb to inner conflict. Through determination and courage, they are able to overcome the powerful forces of nature and triumph over inner turmoil.

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The conscience of the king, a piece of the action, assignment: earth.

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Behind The Scenes: The Making of Two Captain Kirks in “The Enemy Within”

I n the world of the Starship Enterprise, there seldom were television moments as intriguing as seeing Captain Kirk face his doppelgänger. The classic “Star Trek” episode “The Enemy Within” showcases this scenario and the seamless interaction between the two Kirks is a testament to the skilled storytelling and production techniques of the show. Renowned science fiction author Richard Matheson penned this memorable episode and found himself in alignment with creator Gene Roddenberry, making for a smooth creative process. An anecdote recounts a harmonious meeting between the two:

“Matheson was in sync with ‘Star Trek’s’ concept from the beginning, and had a similar experience previously on ‘The Twilight Zone.’ This made discussions about the episode’s structure relatively straightforward, with only minor disagreements.” – Black

Matheson’s previous work included the iconic “Twilight Zone” episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” starring none other than William Shatner himself.

Challenges did arise during the shooting of “The Enemy Within,” particularly in scenes that required both Kirks to interact physically. Director Leo Penn explained that a photo double for Shatner was employed and creative camera work was essential:

“The process of filming the scenes with both Kirks required inventive shooting techniques and meticulous coordination, especially when physical interactions were involved, necessitating the use of a photo double.” – Penn

While the final product was convincing, keen-eyed viewers noted that the photo double’s hair wasn’t an exact match for Shatner’s distinct look.

FAQs About “The Enemy Within” Episode

• Q: Who wrote the “Star Trek” episode “The Enemy Within”?
• A: The episode was written by Richard Matheson, an acclaimed sci-fi author.
• Q: What was one of the biggest challenges in filming scenes with both Kirks?
• A: The biggest challenge was filming scenes where the two Kirks had to physically interact, which required a photo double and creative camera work.
• Q: Did Gene Roddenberry have any issues with the script for “The Enemy Within”?
• A: No significant issues were mentioned. Roddenberry and Matheson reportedly had a productive meeting with only minor points of contention regarding the story’s direction.
• Q: Was “The Enemy Within” the first time William Shatner worked with Richard Matheson?
• A: No, they had previously collaborated on the “Twilight Zone” episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.”

In conclusion, the “Star Trek” episode “The Enemy Within” is an exemplar of classic sci-fi storytelling and innovative television production. Thanks to the synergy between writer Richard Matheson and series creator Gene Roddenberry, as well as director Leo Penn’s resourceful filming techniques, audiences were treated to a compelling narrative that stood the test of time. It’s these behind-the-scenes efforts that helped turn “Star Trek” into the legendary franchise it is today. Despite minor hiccups, such as the slight disparity in the photo double’s hairstyle, the episode remains a standout in “Star Trek” lore and a favorite among fans.