The final aired episode of the still critically attacked third season of the only Star Trek Series ends up being one of the finest displays of William Shatner's acting range, and an episode that meets the definition of what a Star Trek universe set story can be. Trek was meant to be a backdrop to good speculative story telling, but what a bonus for the viewers of the series- we got characters we loved, portrayed by actors with something oh-so-rare in filmed productions, be it television or the silver screen: perfect chemistry. Admittedly I can no recall ever seeing another story portraying male and female characters that swap their internal, natural genders our Captain, er, our Mister Shatner pulls it off with a verisimilitude equal to or surpassing his finest Trek moments (and to be fair and lauding, Sandra Smith as Dr. Janice Lester does a bang up job as Captain Kirk in, er, female clothing....). This final episode is clearly science fiction and reminds one of the initial season of ST- with moments here and there of pure involving meaningful sci-fi, the type that makes the hair on the neck stand up and the mind and heart wrap around the ideas coming from boffo writers of the ilk. As a student of the first school of Star Trek, in other words a person who saw it all first run (and in color!) I recall not so much being impacted that the episode could make one forget some of the "ugh" episodes of the third season ("Spock's Brain" and "And the Children Shall Lead") but that something super extraordinary was ending. But the story stuck with me and over time additional viewings have shown that it (and so many more episodes of that season) maintained the Star Trek patented ability to conjure, entertain and, if I may be so droll as to pay a minor homage- fascinate.
Review of Turnabout Intruder
Shatner tour de force finishes the 3 season run of the only Star Trek Series
26 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers