The Enemy Within (TOS episode)
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- This article is about the Star Trek'' episode. For other, similarly titled fiction, see: The Enemy Within (disambiguation).
Quick Overview: A transporter mishap creates two versions of Captain Kirk, one good and one evil and neither able to function separately for long.
On stardate 1672.1, the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is on a geological mission of the planet Alpha 117. Down on the planet, Geological Technician Fisher falls from an embankment and injures his hand. He is immediately beamed back to the Enterprise for medical treatment. During the beamup, the transporter system behaves oddly. Nearly losing the technician, Mr. Scott immediately checks over the transporter equipment but finds nothing wrong. He only notices magnetic dust from some ore samples covering Fisher's uniform when the technician materializes. Scotty tells him to have the uniform decontaminated.
Soon, Captain Kirk beams back to the ship and this time the transporter seems to work smoothly. Kirk and his officers then leave the area, however a moment later, a second Captain Kirk materializes on the transporter pad. Since no one was left in the transporter room, the crew is unaware of this second Kirk's arrival. This Kirk is actually a materialization of the true Captain's split persona; a physical manifestation of his more selfish and evil qualities.
The first thing the "evil" Kirk does is head to sickbay where he demands a drink of brandy from Dr. McCoy. McCoy does not understand this sudden, aggressive mood swing displayed by his Captain.
Back in the transporter room, Scotty receives an animal specimen that the remaining landing party beams up from the planet. It is a small, horned dog-like creature; however, two dogs arrive on the transporter pads. One is extremely vicious and the other very timid, yet both look identical. Confirming the team only beamed one animal to the ship, Scotty realizes something is very wrong with the transporter system and he is forced to strand the remaining landing team (including Lt. Sulu) on the planet until further notice.
Meanwhile, the evil Kirk (appearing drunk and disorderly), enters the quarters of Yeoman Janice Rand and lies in wait for her. When she arrives and after a few minutes, she suddenly notices him and becomes startled -wondering why the Captain is her cabin. She asks the Captain (evil Kirk) if there is anything he needs. He seductively replies that, "Jim will do here Janice." He goes on to claim that she is "too beautiful too ignore" and "too much woman". The evil Kirk walks closer to her and claims that they have both "been pretending too long". He then assults her and pins her to the floor, where she manages to fight back and scratche his face with her sharp finger nails and then run to Crewman Fisher for help. Unfortunately, the evil Kirk incapacitates Fisher before he can call for Mr. Spock's assistance. Simultaneously elsewhere on the ship, the good Captain Kirk begins to show signs of weakness and loses both his ability to make decisions and give orders to the crew.
The evil Kirk manages to acquire a phaser from a crewman whom he knocks unconscious, then he goes hiding down on the lower decks of the ship. Anticipating his moves, the good Kirk finds the evil Kirk and Spock disables him with a Vulcan nerve pinch. Now that the sinister half of Kirk is disabled, Spock does not know for sure how to proceed next since the evil Kirk is showing fatigue and signs that he may be dying.
It is quickly surmised that neither Kirk can survive in this separated state for long and time is running out; not only for the Captain, but for the crew stranded on the planet who report a rapid drop in surface temperature and fear they could freeze to death.
Scotty reports that an ionizer component of the transporter is damaged and that it will take a week to repair, however Spock pressures Mr. Scott; indicating that the Captain and the landing party do not have that much time. Mr. Spock and Scotty get to work and jury-rig a connection to power the transporter off the ship's impulse drive. They manage unsuccessfully to recombine the dog-creature, and it instantly dies as a result of the strain. Not giving up hope, Scotty continues to work on the problem.
In the meantime, the good Kirk leads his dark half to the transporter room; however, the evil Kirk manages to overpower him and rushes off to the bridge, where along the way he runs into Yeoman Rand near the turbolift. He tries to come across as the good Kirk towards Rand and attempts to seductively explain their recent encounter. The evil Kirk (pretending to be the good Kirk) tells Rand that "the animal part of me came to your cabin". Before he enters the turbolift he asks Rand, "You don't mind if I come to your cabin later?". Rand, surprised by the question, agrees to met him later in her cabin. When he enters the bridge he orders the ship to leave orbit. The good Kirk follows him there and confronts him. Eventually the evil Kirk is restrained and both Kirks are taken back to the transporter where Scotty claims everything should work now. With fingers crossed Scotty beams both Kirks away, and finally a single Kirk returns. True to the original Kirk's form, the first words out of his mouth are an order: "Get those men up here fast!". Scotty then brings back the landing party, who aside from a little frostbite, are fine.
Back on the bridge, Kirk is himself once again. He tells Spock, "Thank you, from both of us." When asked what to tell the crew, Kirk decides that they should be told that the intruder is back where he belongs, and to leave it at that.
Trivia
- The reason shuttlecraft were unavailable to retrieve the landing party is that the studio decided to defer constructing the shuttlecraft sets until the second season of the series. (Or at least until the episode "The Galileo Seven". But this seems like an unnecessary plot contrivance that the crew forgets about.) The non-canon novel Ship of the Line offers a possible explanation as to why shuttlecraft were not used. Participating in a historical recreation program on the holodeck, Captain Jean-Luc Picard asks Captain Kirk why they're not using shuttlecraft, and Kirk replies that atmospheric conditions made it impossible to land a shuttle on the surface.
- The film is reversed left-to-right for the first twenty minutes or so; note that William Shatner's hair is parted on the wrong side and that the shirt he wears has no insignia on it.
- In the 1995 film, Virtuosity, this episode was shown while Darryl Lindenmeyer (played by Stephen Spinella) was flipping through channels in his hotel while hiding out.
- This is the first episode in which Spock uses the Vulcan nerve pinch.
- In a 1986 Saturday Night Live skit, William Shatner claimed he was performing the Evil Kirk from "The Enemy Within" after losing his temper and telling a roomful of Trekkies to "get a life". It should be noted, though, that Shatner referred to "The Enemy Within" as "episode 37," when, in fact, it was episode 5.
- This is the first episode in which Kirk wears his collarless tunic shirt.
Famous Quotes
- Animal Kirk to Yeoman Rand: "We've both been pretending too long."
- Animal Kirk to Yeoman Rand: "You're too beautiful to ignore ... too much a woman."
- Doctor McCoy: "He's dead, Jim" - this is the first time this classic line was used in the series.
External links
- #redirect
- [Five-Minute The Enemy Within] — Parody version
| Last produced: "Mudd's Women" | | Next produced: "The Man Trap" |
| Last transmitted: "The Naked Time" | Next transmitted: "Mudd's Women" |
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