| "Turnabout Intruder" | |||
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| Star Trek: The Original Series episode | |||
Kirk has an out-of-body experience |
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| Episode no. | Episode 79 | ||
| Directed by | Herb Wallerstein | ||
| Written by | Arthur H. Singer story by Gene Roddenberry |
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| Production code | 079 | ||
| Original air date | June 3, 1969 | ||
| Guest stars | |||
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Majel Barrett |
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes | |||
"Turnabout Intruder" is a third season, as well as the final first-run, episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #79, production #79, written by Arthur H. Singer, based on a story by Gene Roddenberry, and directed by Herb Wallerstein. This was the last original episode of Star Trek to air on NBC.
Originally scheduled to air at 10pm on Friday, March 28, 1969, the network pre-empted it at the last minute with a special report on former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had died earlier that day. On June 3, 1969, after an absence of 2 months, Star Trek was brought back on a new night and time: Tuesdays at 7:30pm EDT. "Turnabout Intruder" was the first and only episode to be shown in this new time slot.
Overview: Kirk becomes trapped in the body of a woman bent on killing him and taking over his command under his guise.
On stardate 5928.5, the USS Enterprise rushes to answer a distress call from the planet Camus II, the site of an archaeological expedition that is exploring ancient ruins of a long vanished culture. Upon arrival, the landing party finds three survivors; among them are Dr. Janice Lester and Dr. Arthur Coleman. It is revealed that during their academy days, Dr. Lester and Captain Kirk were intimately involved; however, Lester's inability to achieve command of a starship, which she believes had to do with her gender, caused the two to drift apart.
Medical scans reveal that the survivors are suffering from radiation exposure which threatens their lives. Dr. Coleman, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy go off to tend to the other survivors, leaving Lester and Kirk alone for a moment to talk. Kirk finds Lester has been driven to the point of madness by her personality complex and complains about the agony of being a woman in a male-dominated existence. She traps Kirk in an alien device which can swap the personalities between two individuals. Joining Kirk in the machine, Lester's essence is transferred into Kirk's body while Kirk's mind enters hers. Now as Kirk, Lester-in-Kirk tries to strangle her former body, inside which Kirk is trapped.
Spock and McCoy return before Lester-in-Kirk can finish her evil deed, and she (as Kirk) orders the landing party and the remaining survivors back to the Enterprise. Once there, Lester-in-Kirk releases McCoy, the chief medical officer, from Lester's case and gives Dr. Coleman, Lester's partner, full authority for treatment. McCoy protests the decision (later telling Lester-in-Kirk that Coleman is known to have been ruled as incompetent to serve aboard a starship by the Starfleet surgeon general; the "captain" asserts that promotions and demotions can be politically motivated), but McCoy stands his ground with an ornery tone of voice.
Alone, Coleman and Lester-in-Kirk privately converse about their sinister plans. It is revealed that the two are in love with each other and had planned to have their personnel killed in order to lure the Enterprise to Camus II. Lester-in-Kirk has now achieved her lifelong goal of commanding a starship. Likewise, Coleman has now been given a chance to become a starship's chief medical officer. Lester-in-Kirk charges Coleman to make sure that Kirk-in-Lester, who is still trapped inside Lester's female body, stay out of the way by sedating him.
Spock becomes suspicious when Lester-in-Kirk orders a course change to the Benecia Colony to drop off Dr. Lester for medical attention, ignoring their previous mission; to rendezvous with the USS Potemkin at Beta Aurigae. Spock vainly points out that Benecia's medical facilities are comparatively primitive, and they are on course to adequate facilities, which they can reach at maximum warp in a time comparable to reaching Benecia. McCoy invokes his authority to override his "captain"'s orders and perform a full medical examination, including tests that will check for changes in his basic personality traits and responses, the latter test Lester-in-Kirk being leery of but seems to pass.
Kirk-in-Lester manages to escape and goes to sickbay for help, but finds Lester-in-Kirk still there being given a bill of health by McCoy. Lester-in-Kirk uses a series of violent slaps to render her "former" body unconscious, which McCoy demands he stops. Lester-in-Kirk orders the "hysterical woman" to be taken into custody and put into isolation: "no one is to speak to her without my permission".
Kirk-in-Lester is taken away, and Spock persuades the guard that the captain's orders have never been meant to apply to his senior officers and, in this case, keep Spock from speaking with "Lester". Spock speaks with "Lester", is somewhat skeptical, then Kirk-in-Lester persuades Spock to touch him with the mind meld, whereupon he discovers the truth that Captain Kirk's mind is indeed present.
Spock tries to free Kirk-in-Lester but is stopped by a security team led by the impostor captain. Lester-in-Kirk accuses Spock of mutiny and immediately (and flamboyantly, via ship-wide announcement) orders a court-martial. Once on trial, Spock tries to make a convincing case that Captain Kirk is really in the body of Dr. Lester, and that the physical Kirk is an impostor. However, his evidence was obtained by telepathy, still considered a form of hearsay in the 23rd century, and is inadmissible.
Shocked by the incredible story, McCoy and Montgomery Scott converse secretly in the corridor about their Captain's true identity and having witnessed Kirk's irrational behavior, and hostility toward Dr. Lester, they decide to agree with Spock. Scott says that the "captain" won't let the decision stand, and suggests that he and McCoy "move against him" to relieve the "captain" of command. McCoy is reluctant to the mutiny, but agrees its the only way. Lester-in-Kirk suspects they spoke in the corridor for a reason, and orders the court recorder to call up the conversation from recordings of corridor activity. Lester-in-Kirk then orders McCoy, Scotty, Spock and Kirk-in-Lester (still in her former body) arrested for treason. Their punishment will be death, and interment of the bodies will be at Benecia. Chekov and Sulu are outraged and point out that Starfleet bans the death penalty except for "General Order 4", which isn't the case here. Lester-in-Kirk refuses to listen and demands that everyone return to their posts.
The remaining crew quickly turn against their "captain" when they realize that he isn't himself and refuse to obey his orders. Losing self-control and throwing a fit because Chekov and Sulu blatantly ignore her orders and in unison take their hands off their consoles, Lester-in-Kirk falls into the center seat and she and Kirk-in-Lester have a temporary reversion of minds. Kirk-in-Lester determines to fight for his own body if it happens again. Lester-in-Kirk hurries to Coleman and tells him of the incident; Coleman tells Lester-in-Kirk that to make the transfer permanent, she must kill her former self while Kirk still occupies the body. Lester-in-Kirk shames Coleman to prepare an injection of a toxic substance.
The two head to Lester's holding cell, but Lester-in-Kirk again loses self-control when she sees Kirk-in-Lester struggling with Coleman as he vainly tries to inject the toxin, and the reversion starts again. This time Lester is too late, and the reversion completes. Captain Kirk is finally himself again. The hysterical Lester makes one last attempt to kill Kirk but fails, and Lester and Coleman are taken into custody. Coleman then pleads with Kirk to allow him to care for his mentally deranged love, and Kirk decides that they will be dropped off at Starbase 2 to face charges. In the meantime the Enterprise resumes its current mission with the Potemkin. Kirk muses "Her life could have been as rich as any woman's. If only... if only..."
This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired August 2, 2008 as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded a week earlier by the remastered "The Empath" and is the final first airing of a remastered episode (paralleling its status as the final first-run episode in the 1960s), until the May 2, 2009 airing of the remastered pilot "The Cage", which was not part of the original syndication package. Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:
The episode drew Nielsen ratings of only 8.8, in contrast to rival shows Lancer on CBS and Mod Squad on ABC, which gained ratings of 14.7 and 15.2 respectively, a drop of over fifty percent since the show premiered.[1] One scholarly paper on Star Trek fandom states that it is "agreed to be one of the worst Star Trek episodes ever shown".[2]
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