Lester reports this to Coleman who tells her that the only way to stop it would be to kill Lester’s original body. At this point a short reversal in the transfer occurs, Kirk and Lester sense it. Sulu and Chekov refuse by removing their hands from the starship’s controls. Lester then orders the death penalty and has Spock, Scott, McCoy, and Kirk imprisoned, scheduling a group execution in the hangar deck with interment to take place on Benecia. Scott and McCoy voice their concerns during the court martial’s recess, but their comments are overheard and they are charged with mutiny. The court-martial is farcical and results in Lester (as Kirk) becoming hysterical and increasingly illogical, making it clear to observers that ‘Kirk’ is not currently competent / in his right mind. As part of Kirk’s attempts, there is the memorable mind-meld scene with Spock, where he confirms (at least to himself) that Kirk’s mind is in Janice Lester’s body, however before they can act Spock and Kirk are caught and Lester (as Kirk) announces a court-martial of Spock citing mutiny. Kirk is working against her from within her body and plays no small part in thwarting her coop, although it’s debatable whether even without his influence whether Lester could have succeeded in her plan. However, as we expect, this is proved false and over the course of the episode, her performance breaks down, until the truth is revealed. After successfully using the device, she reveals that she has studied protocol and she believes she knows Kirk well enough to mimic him and eventually become him. It also becomes clear that Lester and Coleman contrived to kill the other researchers in order to set a trap for the Enterprise and specifically Kirk – Lester wants to use a body-swapping device to steal Kirk’s body and take command of the Enterprise.
It is revealed that Janice Lester and Kirk were involved romantically and that their romance ended rather bitterly. The two surviving members of the dig are Janice Lester and Doctor Arthur Coleman.
Or it would do (or would have done) if people weren’t so resolved to misrepresent and pan it.įor those that need a quick refresher, Turnabout Intruder is the episode where on responding to a distress call on Camus II the landing party (including Kirk, Spock, and McCoy) find that all but two of the archaeological expedition have been killed by exposure to celebrium. Turnabout Intruder is a quintessential ‘mid-season’ Star Trek episode, a strong character-driven, self-contained story and in my opinion a significant commentary which resonates as strongly today as in the sixties. Turnabout Intruder also doesn’t have any markers of being a ‘finale’ episode it was never written to be one, in fact, Shatner was set to direct the next episode. I think it is fair to say it didn’t stand a chance of nearing the ratings of the earlier episodes. The episode was aired some two months after the previous episode, and in a timeslot that Star Trek had never been aired in. It is indeed true that the ratings were poor, but I hardly think that it’s fair to use its ratings as an indication of its quality. Well, so they say – needless to say, I disagree. Ratings were poor, Shatner’s acting is mocked as being campy, it is bashed as being sexist and reactionary – “a knee-jerk response to the increasingly radical women’s movements of the late 1960s” – all in all, a poor final episode to a brilliant and progressive show. Turnabout Intruder is apparently, an almost universally hated episode.
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