Hi! I’m Joseph Mallozzi.
And me Cookie Monster.
And we’re your co-hosts for this Star Trek: The Original Series re-watch. Today’s episode under discussion: The Enemy Within!
Me: As I said when we started this re-watch, I haven’t screened these episodes since I was a kid so I’m expecting to have some of my naive childhood small screen delights quashed by the logic-driven perspective of adulthood – BUT this episode was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting a straightforward tale of good vs. evil, but the episode turned out to go much deeper, offering a study of humanity’s dual nature and how we are much more than the sum of our parts. William Shatner offers a tour de force performance here, ranging from powerfully subdued to outrageously hammy.
Cookie Monster: Speshul guest star alien dog also give Emmy-worthy performance. Monster surprised he not do more fan cons.
Me: Yeah, what the hell WAS the deal with that alien dog. We’re supposed to assume Sulu happened to rescue it from this inhospitable world where the temperature drops below freezing every night?
Cookie Monster: Speaking of strange animals, what dat Scottie wearing on his head?
Me: It looked like a plastic toupee. I look forward to seeing his hair develop, over the course of the series, into the stylish do we Scottie fans know and love. T.V. hair, like wardrobe, is an evolutionary process.
Cookie Monster: At one point, Scotty having trubble wit transporter tell other guy to get de “syncratik meter” so that he dubble-check the system. And, presumably, help him keep time when he play piano.
Me: By the way, kudos to director Leo Penn who serves up a wonderfully creepy realization of Richard Matheson’s script. That reveal of evil Kirk is terrific.
Cookie Monster: Also terrific be Scotty’s conclusion dat de two dogs he beamed up aren’t duplikates, dey be “opposites”. Based on de simple fakt one be relaxed and other one angry. If McCoy ever get sick, he could step right in and offer check-up free diagnostic. “Off de top of my head, you got loopus!”
Me: Kirk continues to show off his impressive fighting skills. In this one, after a crew member interrupts him in Yeoman Rand’s quarters, Evil Kirk chases him down and…jumps on his back!
Cookie Monster: But he de captain. Me sure crew give him piggybacks all de time.
Me: Later, when Kirk is informed of the attack on Yeoman Rand, he puts two and two together and realizes he has an “opposite” on board simply shrugs his shoulders and denies any knowledge of the incident. Uh, dude, didn’t you just have that conversation with Scottie about the dog opposites?
Cookie Monster: By the way, monster appreciate fakt dat everyone gets chance to hold cute doggy. Even Kirk do extended scene, walking around, petting de cute little guy.
Me: When he FINALLY puts two and two together, Kirk makes a big announcement over the ship’s P.A. system, informing the crew that there’s an evil version of him onboard. I couldn’t help thinking that this would be a great opportunity for him to fob off guilt for past transgressions on the convenient “Evil Kirk”.
Cookie Monster: Atttenshun! Attenshun! Evil Kirk responsible for attacking Yeoman Rand and crew member. In hindsight, he also responsible for doing number two in mess hall sink after drunken stupor last week!
Me: Later, when the Evil Kirk is spotted, Kirk decides to bring him in – by himself. He tells Spock: “If I’m going to be the Captain, I’ve got act like on.” Uh, like, say, delegating responsibility so as to ensure the threat to the ship is contained?
Cookie Monster: Part where Kirk battle his evil twin my favorite becuz “twin” not look anything like him. At some points, he be a foot taller and have completely different hairstyle. At another, me pretty sure double be an Indian woman.
Me: I mentioned William Shatner’s inspired performance, but also feel the need to commend James Doohan for his breathtaking turn as “nervous guy who almost gets bitten by off-screen dog”. Brilliant.
Cookie Monster: Me feel very sad for dog. Transporter turn it into stuffed animal.
Me: But, in the end, our heroes figure it out, addressing the twin Kirk issue AND beaming a delightfully sarcastic Sulu back up to the ship.
Cookie Monster: Overall, pretty good episode. But monster going to miss dat dog!
Okay, the plan is to continue our Star Trek(!): The Original Series rewatch with the next batch of episodes (Mudd’s Women, What Are Little Girls Made Of?, Miri, Dagger of the Mind, The Corbomite Maneuver) starting Wednesday – BUT the reviews may be a little sporadic of late as I’m looking at a fairly busy July schedule. Also Cookie Monster has his annual summer trip to Ibiza which he can’t cancel as he’s already ordered his glow sticks and pacifier.
You just said Stargate again, Joe. Lol.
Good luck on the new series.
Dammit – I’m so behind on these! I’ll try to catch up tomorrow during Canada Day. Also, once again it seems like you can take the boy out of Stargate, but you can’t take Stargate out of the boy. Good thing, really!
“Also Cookie Monster has his annual summer trip to Ibiza which he can’t cancel as he’s already ordered his glow sticks and pacifier.”
I’m not sure I want to know the details about what that involves…
Wow where to begin??? This episode held so much promise but was a failure on two major points.. 1. Sulu and the crewman stuck down there. I never heard any reason why they couldn’t just get in a shuttle and pick them up. (Outside of a possible need of a set..) 2. They had Janice Rand basically apologize to her attacker at the end of the episode…. Certainly not something that would be done now..
Please let Cookie know pacifiers are out, sippy cups are in. Also glowsticks are out, steampunk El-wire top hats and scrolling LED pants are the hot new blinkies.
You think I’m kidding. Ramping up for Burning Man, baby. Painting, sewing or working on projects daily. Yeah, “festy” season.
I think your fingers are muscle-memory programmed to type ‘Stargate’. 😉
I concur on your review and I enjoyed the range of acting that Shatner was able to bring to this.
My only “Huh?” moment was when they couldn’t beam down supplies to Sulu and the away-team. Yes, machines wouldn’t work after being duplicated, but what about blankets, fire-wood, tents? The reason for suspense just felt a little contrived (maybe that’s the risk of being an engineer and watching sci-fi), but I guess I can overlook this small detail since I enjoyed everything else.
Good luck on the new series. Can’t wait to find out what it’s called and who will star in it, and to be able to watch it, of course. Had to laugh because you call Toronto “the east coast”. Here in Saskatchewan we refer to Ontario as Down East. Montreal is just Montreal, well, not just just, if that’s not too confusing. lol
It’s been many, many suns since I watched The Enemy Within, so can’t comment on it. I’m hopeless at this re-watch and all of the book club reviews, but am enjoying reading what everyone else has to say.
I “watched” this one. No sound on my crap-o-holic computer, but no problem, right?
Cookie Monster: Speshul guest star alien dog also give Emmy-worthy performance. Monster surprised he not do more fan cons.
Surely Trek fans made little fur coats for their dogs and dressed them as this dog? Surely. I thought, “oh, all those poor little dogs that had to wear hot furry costumes with horns because of this episode”.
Joe: By the way, kudos to director Leo Penn who serves up a wonderfully creepy realization of Richard Matheson’s script. That reveal of evil Kirk is terrific.
When Kirk got all mad like that picture above, that was scary! Why is Star Trek so scary? And what did they do to the dog to make it all rabid-like?
Joe: Kirk continues to show off his impressive fighting skills. In this one, after a crew member interrupts him in Yeoman Rand’s quarters, Evil Kirk chases him down and…jumps on his back!
Did you also notice Kirk’s shirt came off again. (4 in a row?) I think that it is William Shatner in love with himself.
Joe: When he FINALLY puts two and two together, Kirk makes a big announcement over the ship’s P.A. system, informing the crew that there’s an evil version of him onboard.
Is that when evil Kirk puts makeup on his face to cover the scratches? Didn’t do a very good job either. I thought it was going to come down to a Kirk stand off, with everyone taking sides and guessing who is the good Kirk and which is the bad Kirk. But evil Kirk ruin it when he can’t apply makeup!
Cookie Monster: Part where Kirk battle his evil twin my favorite becuz “twin” not look anything like him. At some points, he be a foot taller and have completely different hairstyle. At another, me pretty sure double be an Indian woman.
Ha, ha! Agreed! Pretty sorry double.
ensredshirt: Sulu and the crewman stuck down there. I never heard any reason why they couldn’t just get in a shuttle and pick them up.
From what I “saw”, I was under the impression the transporter was damaged from a lasergun and the weather was too bad to come get them. But then, maybe that was another episode…
🙂
Joe’s busy July will give me a chance to catch up on the ST:TOS viewing on insomnia nights. Whether the eps will help me fall asleep is another question.
I couldn’t understand why they needed to look for the scratches on Evil Kirk’s face in order to recognise him. All you need to do is look for the Kirk wearing the black eyeliner.
And did anyone else notice the scene towards the end where the scratches on Evil Kirk move to the other side of his face? Either they flopped the film to make Evil Kirk face the other way or the director wanted to shoot Evil Kirk from that angle (which would have hidden the scars) so he said, “Just put the scars on the visible side . . . noone will notice!”
I, too, couldn’t understand the whole Sulu-stranded-on-the-freezing-planet sub plot. The was no talk of getting into a shuttle. I can only assume the writers hadn’t invented shuttles at that point. And at the point where the away team were facing certain death wouldn’t you just beam them up anyway? Put the evil doubles in the brig so they don’t hurt anyone until you can figure out how to reverse the process. At least they’d be alive!
And how does a transporter affect personality anyway? At least in the Next Generation episode where Riker is split in two his evil self only becomes evil after years of being stranded on a planet thinking he’d been abandoned by his friends.
ok a trekkie view… 😀 This episode it what Star Trek is all about and why I love it! Good storytelling and a ‘make you think’ story.
This episode is shown in psychiatric hospitals to explain how we all have a ‘evil’ side.
Blooper in this one…. Kirk’s scratches change cheeks…. 😀
Sorry missed the last couple of episodes been away… 😀
Kriss 🙂
Thank you Joe! This review format is really starting to grow on me! It was jarring to start with, until I realized that writing dialogue is *what you do*, and you’re darn good at it. I’m glad we’re doing the rewatch with you. 🙂
I’m really enjoying the rematch. TOS has been and ever shall be, my friend.
Happy Canada Day!
Evil sweaty twin Kirk! Can I say how cool the microfiber knits were on this show? The colors are lovely and they had to be comfortable as heck.
My Canada Day was great! I had a nice kayak run down the river which jump started my allergies (the grass pollen was literally in clouds). Also, some kind of spider bit me on the big toe.
I’m current waiting for the inevitable super powers to manifest. Either that, or the tissue necrosis.
Ah, yes…I remember this one very well. Classic. I, too, felt sorry for the doggie. 🙁
Joe – please be careful next time you visit a food truck…
http://6abc.com/news/video-shows-feltonville-food-truck-explosion-12-injured/150470/
das
the only thing i have to add is some random trivia;
when scotty reaches in the box for the alien dog you can see that james doohan was missing his middle finger from his right hand. doohan lost it in WW 2 & if you pay attention throughout the series (& movies) he often has that hand closed or out of camera range.