Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

"Turnabout Intruder" Full Reaction! - Star Trek: TOS Season 3 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-01-03 19:00:07
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Follow along using your own copy of the episode!One more to go after this!

Files

"Turnabout Intruder" Full Reaction! - Star Trek: TOS Season 3

Comments

William Terry

Regarding the sequence swap thanks bunny as from a bunny analysis the next one by most reviews is the better one. Nonetheless this is a good episode, repeating and expanding on the past episodes, bunny mentioned The Enemy Within and I think The Deadly Years is also a source for the guys running around trying to relieve Kirk, with the same talk about what's Starfleet going to think, but without everything collapsing with everyone aging out and the Romulans breathing down their necks. TI as an episode is great with lots of scenes focused on other than Kirk and Spock. Spock is great and my favorite scene is when Janice goes up to the bridge and in five minutes everyone figures out something's wrong from the orders she's given. I got a trivia answer to the question who was the last on camera in the series. Scotty!There's multiple lessons to take away, like don't get involved! Odd that they don't arrest Dr. Coleman as accessory to the killing of all the scientists on the planet. If you're thwarted in your career, don't go into medicine, as Dr. Lester did; be a lawyer, which she was clearly better at. Lots of great lines, which bunny gave a great deadpan expression to, including the classic "But her intense hatred of her own womanhood made life with her impossible!." And others: the IMDb page has a lot of quotes.

Lee

Gene Roddenberry once said that, during the making of "The Cage," NBC forced him to choose between having a female first officer or an alien science officer, so he kept the science officer and married the woman. That statement has since been debunked (in "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story," written by Herb Solow and Robert H. Justman); the network's actual concern was that the actress in the part (who was also Roddenberry's mistress at the time) wasn't talented enough to play a leading role. In any event, the series never depicted a woman in command of a Starfleet vessel... although that didn't seem to apply to alien races. Apparently the Romulans having a female commander didn't bother the network, or anyone else, in the slightest. Which only makes it weirder that the production staff would choose to codify a network rule that never existed in the first place and make it a Starfleet edict. When we consider how enlightened Federation citizens of the 23rd century were said to be, does this obvious sexism make any sense? There's also the way that Janice-as-Kirk was exposed due to increasingly hysterical behavior and not because of the questionable orders she was giving. This is why "Turnabout Intruder" has stuck in my craw for decades. The acting is superb, and every one of the regulars has a moment to shine (Nichelle Nichols didn't appear because of a singing engagement, and as Bunny pointed out, Uhura's absence is sorely missed in this). As has been the case throughout the third season, the fault lies solely in the writing. If only they could have depicted a competent female antagonist without relying on sexist tropes... if only. The replacement communications officer was played by Barbara Baldavin, who we've seen previously as Angela, the would-be bride in "Balance of Terror," and one of the Enterprise crew members on the amusement planet in "Shore Leave." (Memory Alpha lists her has having one scene in "Space Seed" that was deleted; she played a friend of McGivers'.) Given Bunny's enthusiastic response, I think she would have been fine watching this as the final episode of the original series. I hope she'll correct me if I am in error. 🖖 Edited to add: the episode Bunny was thinking of was "Return to Tomorrow," in which Kirk, Spock, and Dr. Ann Mulhall allow alien entities to possess their bodies temporarily.

Lee

My headcanon regarding the disposition of Dr. Coleman is that he was allowed to care for Janice in whatever penal colony they wound up in, as a fellow prisoner.

Marcus Hicks

Oh dear. In my opinion this ranks up with Spock's Brain as one of the weakest episodes of the Original Series. Surprised Shatner didn't get styrofoam poisoning, given how much he was chewing the scenery.

Mark Gosine

This Freaky Friday episode, the last of the TOS episodes, premiered just 6 weeks before the first moon launch on July 16, 1969. I know you are moving on to the animated series next, but I strongly suggest a thirteen-week diversion to watch Star Trek Continues. I have not found any fan fiction worthy of watching besides this incredible love letter to Trek (although recently there have been contenders for any fan fiction - non-Hollywood individuals are getting good!). Done by professions through fund raising; you're welcome. I suggest putting it to a vote.

Mark Gosine

Agreed. I prefer the Steve Martin scene chewing in, 'All of Me'. At least that was a comedy.

MntrTodd

Janice could not become a Captain because of her mental instability, not because of her gender. She simply used the "it's because I'm a woman!" rationalization. Gene Roddenberry, whose name is on this episode, is on record as saying he never intended the episode to say that women can't be starship captains.

SuicuneSol

I had heard a lot of negative things about this episode. Indeed, I burst out laughing at a few of Shatner's outbursts. But otherwise, it was kinda cool to see the entire crew nearly plotting a legitimate mutiny. I had heard of Shatner's depiction of a woman as being extremely sexist. But I would say the biggest sin of the episode wasn't anyone's acting, but the declaration that women couldn't be Captains which frankly I couldn't accept. It just doesn't seem like a law the Federation would have. And Janice isn't freaking out because she's a woman--she's freaking out because she's committed a major crime and is afraid she's gonna get exposed. She also doesn't understand that Kirk's authority doesn't come from him just "being the Captain", but from the implicit trust the crew has in him. She had no idea what Spock, McCoy, and the crew expects from Kirk and that caused her whole charade to unravel spectacularly.

bunnytails

Not quite! I saved "All Our Yesterdays" for last! Coming next time :)

bunnytails

Having watched "All Our Yesterdays" by this time, I would not really have minded either of these being my final episode. :)

bunnytails

Ah, interesting. Well that would make more sense to me. I thought it strange that they would add a rule like that when it seems to contradict the core messaging that they've established for this series.

Skyman's Follies

"Turnabout Intruder" is an interesting juxtaposition to "Where No Man Has Gone Before". At the very first introduction of Kirk, we see him fully-fleshed out by William Shatner who was seemingly born to play him (as opposed to Spock who took a dozen or so episodes to marinate). Kirk, as portrayed by Shatner (and I'll take this moment to respectfully cast a "no" vote watching "Star Trek Continues" before the animated series/movies as I prefer to finish what we started with this irreplacable cast) is the embodiment of command: decisive, balanced and, wherever necessary, merciful in sheltering victims from the weight of that command (he at first prefers to maroon Gary Mitchell before killing him, for example). Shatner's Kirk had an interesting evolution over the 3 Seasons from Season 1's no non-sense Captain, regularly reminding his crew to be better, to Season's 2 more approachable and far more comedic Captain, and finally resting on Season 3's somewhat less self-assured, more human (if less fun?), Captain, and, without giving spoilers, it seems to be where Shatner picks up the character again ten years later. Bunny, this has been an awesome journey re-watching these eps with you, you're amazing and looking forward to your reaction of the final ep with you -- certainly bittersweet : )

MntrTodd

This episode was inspired by the 1940s movie comedy TURNABOUT, in which a husband and wife wake up one morning to find that they've switched bodies.

Tony S in Phoenix

Wait a minute, something is off here, or rather NOT off if you get my meaning Bunny. Now to watch your reaction to one of my least liked episodes. BRB. Well, all I can add is I still don't care for it. Since Uhura couldn't be in this episode they did find a great replacement. Now to go see who this Red is...

dave zink

To me this episode is kind of goofy , it's like the writers came up w/ this episode the night B4 airing 😅I rank it 76 out of all 79 episodes , anyway "All Our Yesterdays" is really top notch , anyway turn up the heat at your house January is pretty cold ,Thanks again 🩵🩷

Lee

Thanks for the confirmation! There's actually a very good reason why "Turnabout Intruder" makes a better series finale than "All Our Yesterdays," but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Trilogian

Very gratifying Bunnytails appreciated this one. It gets a lot of negative rep, but once again, watching with a noob makes me appreciate it a lot more! Apart from Sandra Smith’s great performance as Jim Kirk, it cracks me up that Bill Shatner sticks his butt out way more than usual to portray Janice Lester!

Matthew Graves (Graviton)

This is usually one of the prime episodes people point to when they talk about Shatner’s hammy acting. It’s justified but I’ll give him this: if his goal was make absolutely certain he differentiated Kirk from possessed Kirk, well, mission accomplished. I know Roddenberry later in his life disclaimed it, but sure seems like the episode is at least giving credence to the idea that women are “too emotonal” to be captains. If that was not the intent they did a clumsy job with it. That aside, there’s stuff to like here. The character work of the officers dealing with a mutiny situation is especially impressive. Overall, not a favorite of mine but still worth watching

bunnytails

I would say including a larger portion of the cast is a good start.

Lee

Precisely. We rarely got to see the entire supporting cast involved in an episode, so that alone made this a good one to go out on... rampant sexism notwithstanding.

Greg

I'm super late in watching this due to personal issues going on, but I agree with a lot of what has been said here already. I don't think Gene intended the message to be that women couldn't be Captains in Starfleet -- that goes against everything the show stood for and the messaging of the last three years. It's very demanding and difficult to be picked to be a Captain, and among the things you go through are a battery of mental tests. I believe the Dr was disqualified for high command by one of these, something which (among with Kirk rejecting her and getting what she always wanted) helped drive her to the actions that are done in this episode. This has always been a 'meh' episode for me. Not much plot, but great acting -- it was fun seeing William Shatner chew the scenery as much as he did -- and an interesting premise at least. A poor choice for the show to end on, and I think that saving 'All Our Yesterdays' as the last episode to watch was a good idea (and now you've seen it I can say I really like that episode, one of the better ones for Season 3) The actress from "Orange is the New Black" is Kate Mulgrew, and yes, as your husband said, she does play a Captain in a later Star Trek show. I won't say anything else about that right now. One last point -- I do find it curious that Starfleet still has something on the books that calls for the death penalty. You would think that would be totally abolished by now. They never say what this 'General Order 4' is save for it being on the books still but not used in a very long time. If it's not mutiny, then it leaves me wondering what it is. It's totally not a thing by the time of the later shows.

Dave Riley

Sulu and Chekov refer to the only dealth penalty on the books as Star Fleet "General Order 4." I assumed that would be visiting Talos IV. I checked "The Menagerie" and the reference was General Order 7. Was this a continuity error or something other than Talos IV? Speaking of continuity, after three full seasons, why was Nurse Chapel's hair color now brunette in the final episode?

bunnytails

I noticed the change of hair color too. Strange!

Greg

I hadn't thought about it being a continuity error, but that would make a lot of sense and explain things.

bunnytails

I do like the idea of letting some time pass between TAS and the movies, as this is more in line with what audiences experienced back in the day.

bunnytails

Yeah, the mutiny part was great! I loved the exchanges between Scotty/Bones and Sulu/Chekov.

Timothy Bennett

There was actually a woman captain in Discovery which actually slightly pre-dated Kirk's Enterprise. That lends itself to the theory she was disqualified not solely based on her birth sex