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Episode
033
Mirror, Mirror
Beaming up from peaceful negotiations, Kirk, McCoy, Uhura and Scotty find themselves on a militaristic Enterprise in a less than peaceful alternate universe. We are through the looking glass when we put “Mirror, Mirror” in the Mission Log.
Why?
You mean that’s not the firs thing that pops into your head when you think about Christmas?
Come on John, you should know by now the 1st thing that comes to my mind when someone mentions that word….right?
– Kirk has never been creepier than he was at the end of this episode. “We could be……. friends…..” *shudder shudder* Leave that girl alone, Kirk!
– Why on earth would Alt-Kirk ever tell anyone about the Tantalus Device? Even his woman. Seems like something he would desperately keep hidden under all circumstances.
– Ok… I know your Alt Computer Voice was joking when it asked “Why didn’t Kirk and Bones transport up as women?” but…. can you imagine a gender-swap episode of Star Trek? A female Kirk and Spock and a male Uhura? That would be interesting, you can’t deny it.
– I was about to say that Marlena was the most attractive character in TOS since Andrea the Android, but… I see Ken beat me to it, as usual. Marlena, at least, was attractive for more reasons than just her face and body. Her personality and mannerisms made her distinct and interesting.
– Yes, Uhura was pretty “BA” in this episode. I was really surprised when she attacked Spock during the fight. It’s SPOCK. And she didn’t back down. Awesome.
– Great breakdown of the climax, John.
– Maybe the best zinger ever. “On behalf of The Empire, under whose glory I serve…… get bent.”
Thank you, Arvis!
One month later and I STILL want a gender-bent Star Trek. 😛
I’d be shocked if someone hadn’t put that in a novel… or at least in a draft of a novel that never got written!
*It did irk me from an early age that, given how assassination-happy they were in this universe, that so many of “our” crew would still be around, but then given a near-infinite number of quantum realities, it had to be possible.
*How did our Spock know to beam back the Alt landing party at that precise moment? Was it even necessary to have a simultaneous exchange? Could he have sent them back immediately, causing further counterpart shenanigans before the finish?
*When do you think the Mirror Universe diverge from the one we know and love?
Wow, I’m surprised. For such a classic episode, you really damned it with faint praise. I actually found this one more enjoyable than “City on the Edge of Forever”–which, let’s face it, requires an equally astronomical amount of coincidence to work. Maybe the difference is whether one is in love with Edith Keeler?
We fully admit love for Edith Keeler 😉
Nothing wrong with Mirror, Mirror – we thoroughly enjoy it and respect its position as a fan-favorite. Since we hunt for morals/meaning/messages in episodes (and try to treat them on their own, devoid of context) sometimes we may sounds harsher on one or another. Doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy it though! 🙂
Cool, I didn’t realize the writer of “Man From Earth” was a Trek writer but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense. You wouldn’t think a room full people talking for an hour and a half would be very captivating, but it’s really entertaining and worth a watch (and rewatch).
I love how Kirk so easily reassures the Halkans about his purely pacifistic nature when they express their concerns over how their dilithium crystals might get used. Does Kirk truly expect them to believe that the next time he runs into a Klingon battlecruiser drooling for a fight he’s going to tell them ‘Geez, guys, I’d really love to indulge your life’s ambition for honorable deaths, but I kinda’ promised the guys I got my dilithium from that I wouldn’t do that anymore. Sorry. My bad.’
‘Course, I’m assuming that the Enterprise’s phasers utilize dilithium as their power source….
On another note – since the mirror universe is the opposite of our own, shouldn’t the mirror Halkans be the most violent psychopaths in town, worse even than the Empire? How awesome it would have been to have had some reference made to how namby-pamby those mirror Klingons are…. not to mention those bleeding-heart Romulans with their peacenik federation…
Still, go to love this episode. How can you not love watching Shatner play yet another evil version of himself?
Power? I can get that for you….!
The “science” part in “science fiction” must have hanged itself in the janitor’s closet while this episode was written. Probably with one of those golden scarf / belt thingies they wear in the other universe.
The only things I could remember about this episode before I listened to the podcast were that Spock has a beard and how much adolescent me loved Uhura in it. She’s so sexy and kick-ass here, overcomes her initial fear, is smart, proactive and doesn’t take crap. Yes, the outfit is… ummm… nice, but it would be irrelevant without her attitude and actions. It’s not as if TOS is lacking eye candy in other episodes. Kirk’s “babes of the week” never left a lasting impression on me – Nichelle Nichols in “Mirror, Mirror” did!
We have to think that just the very presence of Uhura in that episode was mind-blowing to a 1960s audience. Still striking today!
The Federation landing party were able to bluff their way past the crew of the Imperial Enterprise because they arrived in their counterpart’s Imperial dress. But, their Imperial counterparts were quickly arrested by the crew of the Federation Enterprise either despite of or because of arriving in Federation uniform. I’m OK with the reason given for why the Imperial party could not blend in the Federation universe. But, in my mind, this begged the question: What is the peculiar technical principle of matter transportation that allows an ion storm to transpose flesh and bone between parallel universes, but still delivers garments to the correct destination? The answer could be key to solving the mystery of missing sock phenomena that has plagued laundry technology on Earth since the 20th Century.