Turnabout Intruder Medical Tests
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Star Trek
kerryedavis — 9 years ago(October 23, 2016 05:33 PM)
Supposedly the last test that McCoy gives to "Kirk" are for basic emotional structure and reactions etc. How could those results not drastically change once it's Dr Lester's personality - and emotional structure - supposedly in that body?
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sukhisoo — 9 years ago(October 23, 2016 05:47 PM)
This is not canon, but I pretend that there is a scene where Dr. Coleman hacks into the sick bay computer system and replaces the record of Kirk's emotional structure with those of Janice Lester. That scene was cut, though.
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jxh13 — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 03:34 AM)
How could those results not drastically change once it's Dr Lester's personality - and emotional structure - supposedly in that body?
I like Sukhisoo's answer, but, as an alternative, Janice Lester was some sort of Doctor, and t one time she had an affiliation with Star Fleet. Could she have had access to the standard test administered by McCoy, and prepared answers to beat the test in some way?
Clearly, she's a few dilithium crystals short of a functional warp core, but, she must have done some preparation for this moment. Even so, her lie is easy to expose, since there would be a wealth of information she didn't have access to that Kirk would know, confirmed by ship logs and the officer's experiences. Any reasonable investigation would have returned to Camus II, found the mind-switching equipment, and discovered what had happened. As a plan, hers ranks right up there with Ben Finney's. (1. Fake death. 2) Frame Kirk. 3) Hide in Engineering forever.) -
rockerchicksg1 — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 05:58 AM)
To quote Venus Flytrap, as plans go, it sounds perfectly Iranian.
I just got WKRP on DVD! I love Venus!
But really, how many stories did they have that fit nicely within an hour we see, even when more time was passing on-screen?
Well, the one with the asteroid where Kirk is married to the Native American girl covers a couple of months, doesn't it? "Doomsday Machine" was my dad's fave ep (and the first TOS ep I ever saw). He said that a lot of the scenes, especially near the end, are taking place at the same time. Is that the kind of thing you mean?
Always remember to keep Ridin The Storm Out, people! -
kerryedavis — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 07:20 PM)
No, I mean that the events shown in a nearly-hour-long episode for Paradise Syndrome (the one with the asteroid, indian chick, etc) were sufficient to explain the story. But it seems to me that whatever period of "real time" was covered by the events we saw in the nearly-hour-long episode for Turnabout Intruder, the events we saw were not sufficient to carry the story. At least not to do it well, and so Kirk/Lester "had to" overdo it. Such that, if something like that were to happen "in real life," it would take more than 50 minutes of exposition to adequately tell the story. Unless instead of showing actual events, you just had McCoy and Scotty and Spock talking about "Hey remember when Jim called that crewman the wrong name, and when he talked about how hot some GUY looked, and" etc. rather than actually showing those events which would have taken longer.
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grizzledgeezer — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 07:43 PM)
You're right, in principle.
The rule (one of the most basic) is "Show us, don't tell us." Unfortunately, most TV scripts tend to be line after line of expository dialog. It's only when you have a long arc (spread over multiple episodes, as in a cable series) that you can start showing why characters act the way they do. -
kerryedavis — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 07:50 PM)
One big difference is that so much of the "events" in Paradise Syndrome would have been just stuff like the Enterprise heading back towards the planet for MONTHS, and Spock sitting in his quarters trying to figure out those musical notes.. There was really no need for the audience to see much of that. But the aspects of Kirk/Lester interacting with the crew and raising suspicions etc needed more screen time.
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rockerchicksg1 — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 09:17 PM)
Okay, I see what you mean. Turnabout Intruder is kind of a weak ep, I think. I did enjoy seeing William Shatner acting like a psychotic woman though.
I agree that they could have done it better. I thought the nurse should have told somebody that "Janice" knew about the Enterprise's scheduled meeting with that other ship. She had only been aboard a couple of hours and was in sickbay the whole time. How could she have known that?
Always remember to keep Ridin The Storm Out, people! -
honesthughgrant — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 08:13 AM)
Of course, that brings up a question. Why did Spock have to do a "Mind Meld" with Lester-kirk, all he had to do ask "her" several simple questions that only Spock and Kirk could have known.
He then could've had McCoy and Scottie do the same. -
chris109 — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 10:20 AM)
Yes and no. How could she/he/it know who the bridge personnel were. They were called by name. And I would think Starfleet personnel would not be something someone could look up on the internet: at least on a starship. Kirk's engrams must have been transferred also.
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timmytony80 — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 07:53 PM)
Chris 109; I was just going 2 make that suggestion. Lester may have had access 2 that region of Kirk's brain that store's & facilitates his memories, personal experiences.
And vice versa, Kirk enjoying access to Lester's. Kirk, "Her intense loathing of her womanhood limiting her!" As if he knew her thoughts 4 fact. -
grizzledgeezer — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 12:51 PM)
Supposedly the last test that McCoy gives to "Kirk" are for basic emotional structure and reactions etc. How could those results not drastically change once it's Dr Lester's personality - and emotional structure - supposedly in that body?
You're raising the issue of mind/body duality.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism_(philosophy_of_mind)
If the mind is the product of the brain's biochemical reactions, then how could one swap minds?
I'm simply raising the point. I don't want to get into a discussion.