Many Star Trek fans have criticized Wiliam Shatner's 'overacting' in this episode but I must disagree. If Star Trek had a more cerebral or passive captain like Jeffrey Hunter, the first captain in Star Trek's pilot, the series might not have survived into a second season--let alone a third. Kirk's acting abilities was what made this episode, and the entire Star Trek series, believable. I rate his performance here as outstanding at a generous 9 out of 10 but the movie's premise--is unfortunately more problematic.
Essentially, Kirk's body gets kidnapped by his former lover Janice Lester (played by Sandra Smith) who has gone jealously insane over the fact that Starfleet apparently doesn't allow women captains. While the script may have been intended as a social commentary on the 1960's, it doesn't quite work for a Star Trek series that was supposedly set in the 23rd century. Surely by then, women would have risen up the ranks to become captains of starships! While it seems implausible that Kirk would allow his body to be kidnapped on Camus II by an alien device, this cannot be dismissed outright. As Spock rightly notes, the Enterprise has been to many new places and witnessed many strange events. Moreover, Kirk was once cloned in 'What are Little Girls Made of?' and even split into two in 'The Enemy Within.'
Both Lester's and Kirk's acting are excellent: I liked the part where Lester (as Kirk) bites his nails like a woman or the trap that Lester (Kirk again) sets for McCoy and Scotty when the latter two men privately voice their concern over the Captain's recent odd and capricious behaviour towards the crew and raise the idea of mutiny. You could really cut the tension between the increasingly belligerent and unstable Kirk (Lester here) and the Enterprise crew with a knife. Turnabout Intruder is generally underrated because 1. it was the last Classic Trek show and 2. it touched on the inexplicable premise that women could not be starship captains--a very radioactive topic in our more mature 21st century society. If the script writers had said Starfleet disqualified Janice Lester from being a ship's captain since she was mentally incapable of handling the heavy responsibilities involved with the job or suffered from a disease which curtailed her decision making faculties, this may have been a better received episode. However, the show turned out out quite well overall. Lester really goes berserk when she realises she is losing her grip on the captaincy and panics. What really trips her up are the little minor subtleties such as when she repeatedly says "Captain Kirk" rather than "Kirk" and when Angela asks Lester (as Kirk) if the captain would like to notify Starfleet of their course change and Lester (as Kirk) responds by questioning the crew's loyalty until Spock reminds the captain that he/she usually deals with these issues alone. So, its little surprise that the crew notices their captain is not behaving like the person they know.
When Spock sees Janice Lester (ie. Kirk here), the latter actually recounts their adventures together in previous episodes--something which never happened in any other prior TOS show. Given the fact that Star Trek was about to be cancelled by the time of the making of "Turnabout Intruder," its amazing that Kirk and Lester pulled off their acting parts so well. A rating of 7 or 8 stars for the last Star Trek episode is reasonable due to its intriguing premise. While Turnabout Intruder was not a classic, it was one of the more appealing and entertaining Star Trek episodes of the generally poor third season and rates high in my view. Kirk's haunting last words: "If only If only.." left me wondering if Star Trek could have carried on into a fourth season and witnessed man's landing on the Moon had it not been neglected by NBC? Sadly, we'll never know.
Essentially, Kirk's body gets kidnapped by his former lover Janice Lester (played by Sandra Smith) who has gone jealously insane over the fact that Starfleet apparently doesn't allow women captains. While the script may have been intended as a social commentary on the 1960's, it doesn't quite work for a Star Trek series that was supposedly set in the 23rd century. Surely by then, women would have risen up the ranks to become captains of starships! While it seems implausible that Kirk would allow his body to be kidnapped on Camus II by an alien device, this cannot be dismissed outright. As Spock rightly notes, the Enterprise has been to many new places and witnessed many strange events. Moreover, Kirk was once cloned in 'What are Little Girls Made of?' and even split into two in 'The Enemy Within.'
Both Lester's and Kirk's acting are excellent: I liked the part where Lester (as Kirk) bites his nails like a woman or the trap that Lester (Kirk again) sets for McCoy and Scotty when the latter two men privately voice their concern over the Captain's recent odd and capricious behaviour towards the crew and raise the idea of mutiny. You could really cut the tension between the increasingly belligerent and unstable Kirk (Lester here) and the Enterprise crew with a knife. Turnabout Intruder is generally underrated because 1. it was the last Classic Trek show and 2. it touched on the inexplicable premise that women could not be starship captains--a very radioactive topic in our more mature 21st century society. If the script writers had said Starfleet disqualified Janice Lester from being a ship's captain since she was mentally incapable of handling the heavy responsibilities involved with the job or suffered from a disease which curtailed her decision making faculties, this may have been a better received episode. However, the show turned out out quite well overall. Lester really goes berserk when she realises she is losing her grip on the captaincy and panics. What really trips her up are the little minor subtleties such as when she repeatedly says "Captain Kirk" rather than "Kirk" and when Angela asks Lester (as Kirk) if the captain would like to notify Starfleet of their course change and Lester (as Kirk) responds by questioning the crew's loyalty until Spock reminds the captain that he/she usually deals with these issues alone. So, its little surprise that the crew notices their captain is not behaving like the person they know.
When Spock sees Janice Lester (ie. Kirk here), the latter actually recounts their adventures together in previous episodes--something which never happened in any other prior TOS show. Given the fact that Star Trek was about to be cancelled by the time of the making of "Turnabout Intruder," its amazing that Kirk and Lester pulled off their acting parts so well. A rating of 7 or 8 stars for the last Star Trek episode is reasonable due to its intriguing premise. While Turnabout Intruder was not a classic, it was one of the more appealing and entertaining Star Trek episodes of the generally poor third season and rates high in my view. Kirk's haunting last words: "If only If only.." left me wondering if Star Trek could have carried on into a fourth season and witnessed man's landing on the Moon had it not been neglected by NBC? Sadly, we'll never know.