Star Trek – The Original Series, Vol. 20, Episodes 39 & 40: Mirror Mirror/ The Deadly Years
Oct/095
Description
“Mirror, Mirror,” Ep. 39 – Beamed up during an ion storm, Kirk and the landing party find themselves in a mirror universe aboard a U.S.S. Enterprise run by ruthless barbarians. “The Deadly Years,” Ep. 40 – A landing party from the U.S.S. Enterprise becomes ill with a fatal aging disease and Chekov is the only one unaffected. Spock and McCoy search for a remedy using him as a guinea pig.Amazon.com
“Mirror, Mirror”
When their mission to secure a mineral trade ends in failure, a freak ion storm catches Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty in mid-beam-up and sends them to a parallel dimension where Federation leaders are as ruthless as the Klingons, and Star Fleet promotions are attained by assassination. They find themselves on an alternate Enterprise, peopled with evil counterparts to the people they know (all attired in glittery, glam-rock uniforms), including most famously an evil, goateed Spock whom Kirk must convince to overthrow the empire. Kirk and his landing party try to fit in with this crew of villains who are threatening with annihilation the planet where the mineral trade went sour, while searching for a way back to their world and fending off assassination attempts. Mirror, Mirror achieves the best of what Star Trek is capable, which is to say space opera brought to a high pitch by melodrama. Everyone appears to be having great fun turning their characters to the dark side, especially George Takei, whose evil Sulu beams when making his assassination attempt against Captain Kirk, and Leonard Nimoy, who makes Spock’s shift from the meditative logician to the ruthless goateed one seem, well, quite logical. This episode in particular fueled popular culture in such a way that in some circles it is now impossible to sport a goatee without being called “the evil Spock.” The story of the evil Spock is continued in the Deep Space Nine episode Crossover. –Jim Gay
“The Deadly Years”
While on the planet Gamma Hydra IV, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty are infected with an unknown disease that causes premature aging. The only member of the party unaffected is Chekov (Walter Koenig), who becomes McCoy’s guinea pig while searching for a cure back on the Enterprise. A nifty idea with some poignant overtones, the story by David P. Harmon startles a viewer with the sight of these familiar folks rapidly graying, wrinkling, weakening, and suffering memory loss. At the same time, Harmon is careful to age each character as a unique individual. Kirk slows down more than the longer-lived Spock, while McCoy remains mentally keen, if physically brittle. As for poor Scotty, well…
The dramatic subtext in “The Deadly Years” concerns the perennial conflict over when and how to decide that someone has become too old to execute crucial responsibilities. In that sense, this episode feels constantly relevant and uniquely entertaining: let’s just say some of these actors play “old” a little better than others. (Director Joseph Pevney has reported that there was a lot of conflict over who was stealing old-guy moves from whom.) With all this going on, one might not notice that guest star Charles Drake is a truly familiar face, having been cast in The Maltese Falcon and Now, Voyager. –Tom Keogh
Star Trek – The Original Series, Vol. 20, Episodes 39 & 40: Mirror Mirror/ The Deadly Years
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11:53 pm on October 31st, 2009
The “Mirror, Mirror” episode contained the following dialogue in 1965 that would prove prophetic almost four decades later.
1st Officer Spock: “Terror must be maintained or the empire is doomed. It is the logic of history.”
Captain Kirk: “Conquest is easy. Control is not. We may have bitten off more than we can chew.”
Rating: 5 / 5
1:50 am on November 1st, 2009
“Mirror, Mirror”
Caught in the beginnings of an ion storm, Kirk, McCoy and Uhura interrupt their negotiations with the Halkans for dilithium crystals, to return to the U.S.S. Enterprise. Scotty beams the landing party aboard as a burst from the storm hits the starship. The transporter short-circuits, sending Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura into a parallel universe. In this world, they soon discover the “Galactic Empire” is maintained by fear and assassination. Now, aboard the parallel version of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the four must find a way to remain undetected until they can return to their own universe.
Meanwhile, the I.S.S. Enterprise versions of Kirk, Scott, McCoy and Uhura have been beamed on board the positive U.S.S. Enterprise. Their behavior is so different from their counterparts that Spock immediately realizes something is wrong. He puts the four in the brig until the transporter could be checked and repaired.
On the I.S.S. Enterprise, the parallel Chekov is foiled in an attempt to assassinate Kirk. When Kirk refuses to give an order to destroy the Halkans, who have refused to give up their dilithium crystals, the bearded Spock becomes suspicious.
The Imperial Starfleet sends a secret message to the bearded Spock, telling him to kill Captain Kirk and assume command of the starship I.S.S. Enterprise. Finding an unexpected ally in the bearded Spock, Kirk continues to stall while his three comrades gather the information needed to send them back to their own universe. Scotty tells Kirk that if the four don’t leave in three hours, they will be trapped forever in the mirror universe.
The bearded Spock has no desire to become captain, and therefore a mark for assassination. Along with Lieutenant Marlena Moreau, who wants the parallel Kirk back because she is “the Captain’s woman,” they help return the four U.S.S. Enterprise officers to their own world. Before he goes, Kirk talks to the bearded Spock, telling him the advantages of a Federation-system over the anarchy of this universe. Spock seems almost convinced that he should in fact get rid of his Kirk, seize control of the I.S.S. Enterprise, and manipulate the Imperial Starfleet into working toward a more civilized universe. With the dimension barrier about ready to collapse and seconds to spare, the small U.S.S. Enterprise crew beam on their own ship. Kirk can only hope that the parallel Kirk will find changes from the bearded Spock.
“The Deadly Years”
On the way to Starbase 10, the U.S.S. Enterprise stops to deliver supplies to the colonists of Gamma Hydra IV. A landing party, consisting of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Lieutenant Galway and Chekov beam to the planet’s surface. They find that accelerated aging has taken place, killing most of the colonists. Chekov is terrified when he discovers the first body. The only survivors, an elderly couple who claim to be in their twenties, die shortly after meeting the U.S.S. Enterprise crew. When the landing party returns to the U.S.S. Enterprise, the aging acceleration begins to affect the entire crew … except Chekov, who remains unaffected. While Kirk wants to remain in orbit around Gamma Hydra IV until a cure can be affected, one of his passengers, Commodore Stocker, wants to proceed to Starbase 10 where he feels the best medical aid can be found.
Each person on the U.S.S. Enterprise begins to show the effects of old age and soon Kirk is unable to command, as are Scotty and Spock. Command falls to Commodore Stocker, who, while an efficient desk officer, has no deep space training. Thinking he will save time, Stocker plots a course through the Romulan Neutral Zone on his way to Starbase 10. The Romulans are waiting and begin an attack.
Stocker, panicked and inexperienced, has no idea what to do. As the U.S.S. Enterprise is surrounded, McCoy comes up with an antidote to the aging sickness … adrenaline. Chekov, he explains, wasn’t affected because his fear at finding the bodies on Gamma Hydra IV had already kicked his natural adrenaline into high gear.
McCoy restores Kirk to normal in time to save the U.S.S. Enterprise by reusing his famous “corbomite” bluff and telling the Romulans that the U.S.S. Enterprise would destroy anything within a 200,000 kilometer radius. McCoy distributes the antidote and restores everyone to their normal state.
Rating: 4 / 5
3:18 am on November 1st, 2009
I think is one the most interesting episodes of the Star Trek:TOS! Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror is a fantastic! In the Star Trek Mirror Universe, their is no Federation. It is called the Empire! Spock has a beard! The Enterprise crew acts evil and barbaric! This is alternate reality where Human beings and Aliens behave differently. I think this Star Trek episode is great! I Highly Recommend it! A
Rating: 5 / 5
5:43 am on November 1st, 2009
I saw this episode when it was first shown in 1967 and I loved it then. It inspired me to write a 266 page novel of my own, based on but not like this program. Over the years I watched it every chance I got and kept looking for a copy of my own. I was delighted when I found it on Amazon and ordered it immediately. The idea of another universe existing alongside our on in another dimension has always appealed to me and, I found this one really intriguing and great to watch. I wish they had done some follow ups, it would have been interesting to follow the exploits of that other Mr.Spock and Captain Kirk on their voyages for the Empire. I would reccommend this one to every Star Trek fan. It is simply fantastic.
Rating: 5 / 5
6:19 am on November 1st, 2009
If you are picking and choosing the volumes to keep, this one falls into the “nice to have but not essential” category, the others being “essential” and “don’t waste your money”. The interesting thing about “Mirror, Mirror” despite the stretch of credibility it requires from the viewer to accept is that the concept is revisited on at least a couple of Deep Space Nine episodes years later. Still, as an overall episode, this is the more entertaining of the two on this volume.
“The Deadly Years” just like its theme of old age seems to drag on a little although the sub plot of a competency hearing for Captain Kirk was quite entertaining. Otherwise, we have at best two average episodes that you won’t miss in your collection.
Rating: 4 / 5