Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap/S3/E24 Turnabout Intruder: Difference between revisions

{{work|wppage=Turnabout Intruder}}

| release date = June 3, 1969

And then Lester says a line. Among Trekkies, the meaning of this line is as hotly contested as the meaning of the [[American Gun Politics|Second Amendment]]. The line is, "Your world of starship captains doesn't admit women." So does the utopianUtopian [[The Federation|Federation]] have a glass ceiling on starship captaincy? (We already know that [[Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap/S3/E02 The Enterprise Incident|the Romulans don't]].) A popular alternative reading is that it refers to Kirk being unable to carry on his relationship with her after he became captain of the ''Enterprise''. This does make sense within the context of just this scene, but makes the rest of the episode somewhat nonsensical. The officalofficial [[Retcon]] seems to be that Lester is just insane, which is very much supported by the rest of the episode. This does raise the question of why Kirk agreed with her, but perhaps he's just tired of having that argument. Or maybe Kirk [[One Dialogue, Two Conversations|incorrectly interpreted it as the alternative reading]]. Whatever. In any case, the idea that women can't be starship captains is [[Canon Discontinuity|never mentioned again]] and there was later [[Star Trek: Voyager|an entire series about one]].

Janice Lester plugs Kirk into an ancient machine which causes a [[Freaky Friday Flip]]. Now in Kirk's body, Lester quickly reveals herself to be [[Ax Crazy]], supplying us with some of [[Evil Is Hammy|Shatner's trademark evil acting]]. Meanwhile, Lester's body is unconscious once more. Lester-in-Kirk prepares to kill Kirk-in-Lester, but the rest of the landing party walks in at the wrong moment. Lester, of course, pretends to be Kirk, beginning a [[Tyrant Takes the Helm]] plot. In Sickbay, Lester-in-Kirk meets with Dr. Coleman, with whom she is in cahoots. It's revealed that Lester murdered her expedition and Coleman was a willing accomplice. Man, does Kirk know how to pick 'em or what? After McCoy and a suddenly brunette Nurse Chapel arrive, Lester-in-Kirk announces that Kirk-in-Lester is being placed under the care of Dr. Coleman. McCoy protests that this violates Starfleet protocol since he is Chief Medical Officer, but Lester-in-Kirk ignores this. By the way, Lester-in-Kirk frankly talks about her scheme in [[Captain's Log|Captains Logs]]s. Does no one ever actually read those things?

During a recess, McCoy and Scotty discuss the fact that Kirk is [[Not Himself]] and agree they'll have to move against him. This becomes an [[Engineered Public Confession]], as the corridor was bugged (rare surveillance competence from Starfleet). Lester-in-Kirk decides she has the authority to pronounce a sentence of death for Spock, McCoy, and Scotty. Sulu and Chekov point out the death penalty is reserved for General Order 4<ref>They probably meant [[Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap/S1/E11 The Menagerie Part I|General Order 7]].</ref>, but the [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]]s are totes okay with this. When Lester-in-Kirk is back on the bridge, she and Kirk's essences briefly switch places again. Realizing the transfer is weakening, Lester-in-Kirk goes to Coleman and tells him to kill Kirk-in-Lester to ensure she won't go back into her own body. They set off to collect Kirk-in-Lester from the brig, but a scuffle ensues. In the midst of it, Kirk and Lester's essences slid back into their own bodies permanently.

Hey, you know how this episode has clearly portrayed Lester as an insane, power-hungry mass murderer? Well, forget about that. She's in a pretty body now and [[Females Are More Innocent]]. The episode wraps up with an [[Alas, Poor Villain]] ending, in which we learn Coleman was in love with Lester. (So he helped the woman he was in love with turn into a man? [[Ho Yay|What does that say about him?]]) Kirk delivers the last line of the series: "Her life could have been as rich as any woman's, if only... if only..." The meaning of this line is debated almost as much as the one from earlier. Does "if only" mean "if only she kept to her proper gender role" or "if only society hadn't forced her into a gender role she hated"?<ref>Or "if only she wasn't totes craze-craze"?</ref> Make up your own mind.

{{reflistrecapfooter}}