‘Star Trek’ Retro Recap: ‘The Alternative Factor’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

It seems as though, there is an unspoken rule in the world of science fiction, one that basically requires a story compilation or a movie or a series in that vein; to just let loose and be weird from time to time, and I honestly don’t know why this ‘rule’ exists. Because throwing caution to the wind in this fashion confuses the heck out of the audience and in all honesty; it’s kind of annoying when this happens within the confines of an established franchise. Because you know what to expect when you settle in to enjoy a particular saga and it’s just off-putting when the show or story, decides to go rogue and tries to outthink its audience.
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If anything, this is on my mind today simply due to the fact that Star Trek felt the need to go down a weird path in its next episode, ‘The Alternative Factor’, and well, a day after watching this one, I’m still not quite sure what I witnessed. Because this is a story that constantly shifted gears between outright hardcore science fiction, and a bad acid trip, making this story a bit of a waste when all is said and done because it really did have some serious potential. For the opening segment of this tale, wherein the entire galaxy is threatened by an unseen force really does a fine job of drawing the audience in, because this is a threat we’ve never seen on the series before. But it doesn’t take long for this story to slip into weird mode once we get onto the planet below.

For once the crew meets a mysterious man named Lazarus, the story takes a turn for the wild with his stories about an evil beast that he’s hunting, and once he begins to ‘shift’, for lack of a better word, things get quite confusing. Because these shifts and the physical fight that ensues within the confines of some strange otherworldly environment is jarring to say the least because the story really doesn’t explain what is happening in the slightest and that’s quite frankly the big problem with this episode. It simply takes too long to get to the point, and by the time the grand reveal arrives you’re lost and confused, and this is why I call this story a wasted opportunity, because the grand reveal of who Lazarus is fighting is actually fascinating.

Because it turns out that Lazarus is duking it out with an alternate version of himself from an alternate universe and well, this would signal the first time that the franchise played with such notions and it really is a shame they didn’t spend more time on this. Because I was quite curious to learn more about the two versions of this gentleman, and why they were locked in mortal combat throughout the cosmos. But instead, we get a rushed ending where we come to learn that Kirk has to stop the Lazarus that entered the prime universe and quickly, for if he does not, it is the end of all things. Which prompts Kirk to smack the dude around and banish him to the void forever, and later exhibit regret toward his actions since he damned the man to an eternity of anguish without fully understanding the situation.

Yet, despite doing my best to work this episode out on paper, I still don’t have a damn clue what the hell happened in this one and it is the lack of answers that we get in this story that truly does it a disservice. Because had someone taken the time to properly explain the stakes and this age-old fight, rather than rush to save the galaxy, this might have been an amazing tale that focused on the duality of man or served as a wonderful introduction to the Mirror Universe. But instead we are left with a convoluted, trippy tale, that relies too heavily on goofy special effects and while I want to be genuinely upset with this episode, there’s really no reason to be. Because what’s done is done and one can chalk it up to more first-season blues for this show, and I’m also good with this, simply because what awaits me next in this series, is one of its finest episodes. So, it’s best I just forget about this one, and dive into the utter brilliance of ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’. Until next time.

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