PATTERNS OF FORCE was described by someone at the IMDB as "the serious version of A PIECE OF THE ACTION".  That's about right.  Unlike the alleged "parallel evolution" of THE OMEGA GLORY and BREAD AND CIRCUSES, the gangster planet and Nazi planet were both the direct results of Earth missions contaminating the indiginous cultures.  Of course, this meant in both cases, Kirk was free to "interfere", since he was trying to put right was was put wrong from previous interference.

This was one intense, nasty episode... and yet, unlike B&C, it's eminently watchable, even entertaining.  I wonder, maybe Nazi stories are easier to deal with than Roman Empire stories, because in WW2, there were, in the long run, much greater powers poised to take down an obviously insane, hate-filled, self-destructive country... while, with Rome, there was nothing to stop them (apart from a mesage of peace and brotherhood, which itself became perverted when a Roman emperor decided to CO-OPT it as his new STATE RELIGION).

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Time for some catch-up...

THE MAGICKS OF MEGAS-TU was another "variation on a theme".  If THE SURVIVOR was a "kindler, gentler" version of THE MAN TRAP, so this one was for WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?  The Enterprise investigates the CENTER of the galaxy, where it's believed the "creation point" may be, and find matter still being created... and wind up getting sucked into another dimension, where the physical and scientific laws do not apply or work.  With everything on The Enterpsise shutting down, including life support, they're all moments from an early death, when a strange figure appears on their view screen, before materializing on The Bridge.  In the tradition of Trelayne, Apollo and Abraham Lincoln (heh), "Lucien", a rather Satanic-looking character with horns, a beard, a big smile, and GOAT's legs (!!) explains that in this universe, MAGIC not only exists, but is the way everything works.

As in previous episodes, he invites Kirk & co. down to his planet to celebrate a "reunion", as he and his people once visited Earth in ages past.  He explains that everywhere they went, they were advisors, teachers, builders... until they were forced to leave.  Suddenly, Lucien seems afraid, sends the crew back to the Bridge and warns them not to "give themselves away".  Determined to be able to defend themselves if required, Spock insists that magic MUST work here, because here, it is-- "logical".  (The moment where he says trhis reminds me of the scene in SPECTRE OF THE GUN, where he argues that McCoy's knock-out potion "must" work-- but since it doesn't, it proves that things are not as they seem.)  But after both he & Sulu manage to employ magic, Lucien warns them that such "mental energy can be traced".  And sure enough, others of his kind arrive, and wisk the bridge crew to a replica of Salem, Massachusetts, at the time of the witch trials!

The leader, Asmodeus, explains that everywhere on Earth the story was the same.  While some accepted their friendship and help, as many wanted to use them to gain supreme power over others, and when they refused to help, they were branded as "evil" beings to be hunted down, persecuted, and killed. Spock, who's not from Earth, "defends" the Earth people, and has Kirk argue that mankind, while still imperfect, has been trying to grow and become better than they were.  Seeing their arrival as a fluke, Asmodeus says they can leave... but Lucien, who betrayed his own kind, must be imprisoned for all eternity.  Kirk insists that for someone like him, it would be worse than death-- and so fights to defend Lucien, even though Asmodeus reveals his other name was actually "Lucifer"!  Kirk insists he cares nothing for legends, only that Lucien is a fellow being, deserving of respect.  At which point, Asmodeus admits the entire "trial" was a test, to see if their computer records were accurate or just faked.  Lucien knew it the whole time, and happy he's been proven right, invokes one of his "favorite old customs"-- drinking a toast to new friendships.

As usual with these cartoons, there's a lot of good, and not so good, in this one.  The way some of the animation sequences are edited together is a bit dodgy.  George Takei doing the very annoyed voice of one of the Megans is all too obviously George Takei. And James Doohan's voice as Lucien, while not really obvious as Doohan, tends to be a bit over-the-top (but then, so does the way they animated the character). On the other hand, Ed Bishop (the star of Gerry Anderson's UFO and one of the main voices on CAPTAIN SCARLET before that) makes for a welcome guest-star, the kind this show could have used a lot more of.

I've seen a lot of talk at the IMDB message boards about "the episode with Satan", and do kinda wonder how such a character appearing on a "kids' show" might have been received in some parts of the country. But then, they kinda had the same concern back in 1966 with Mr. Spock! It's interesting that during Barry Letts' run as producer on DOCTOR WHO, that show also did a show about a cloven-hooved alien who served as the basis for legends of THE DEVIL (THE DAEMONS), but in this case, Lucien turns out to be a very likable, jovial character.  If The Enterprise never returned to Megas-Tu, one could easily imagine Lucien deciding to come to our universe again for some happy frolicking.

I'm not familiar with writer Larry Brody, but checking his resume, I see he's had a LONG career writint TV shows, including a TON of animated cartoons, from 1969 up to 2002.

Strangely enough, the much-maligned feature film STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER also had The Enterprise travel to the CENTER of our galaxy (wouldn't such a trip take a lot longer than is suggested in either story?) and both involve very loud, happy, bearded guys who are full of themselves.  (In the case of the movie, it was Lucille Ball's SON-in-law! Think about THAT one!) Given a choice, I'd rather consider the cartoons, even this one, as "real" STAR TREK, more than any of the movies. 

COURT MARTIAL was seriously underminded by being held back until after THE MENAGERIE.  It may not be the best ST episode out there, but the human drama of it (and some clever technical ideas) almost succeed in pushing itself past some logic holes that try to drag it down like a Starship whose orbit is beginning to decay. (Or somerthing.)

The bar Kirk confronts some of his former classmates in reminds me a lot of the one in STAR TREK III (or is that the other way round?).  There has got to be a serious "conflict of interest" in having the prosecuting attourney be a former LOVER of the defendant. And what kind of court procedure is this, anyway, when they seem to go back and forth at random between the prosecutor's case and the defense attourney's case?  When Sam Cogley calls a witness, presumably the prosecution has rested, and it's the defense's turn. Yet no sooner does he get his first witness up, then the prosecutor pulls out her BIG evidence against him. Wouldn't she have done this sooner?  Didn't the writer of this ever watch any PERRY MASON?

The two best parts of the episode, of course, are when Kirk mentions chess, which inspires Spock to check out the computer programming, and he tells McCoy he's won his 5th game in a row... and when Cogley compares the rights of human beings to those of MACHINES.

With Kirk under so much suspicion of "hating" the alleged dead man, shouldn't he be the LAST one to go down to Engineering-- ALONE-- to look for him? And where the hell is SCOTTY while all this is going on, and HIS engines are put at such risk?

I continue to think this is one of those genre stories forcibly crammed into a sci-fi setting which just barely manages to be watchable, despite itself. If nothing else, it's probably Elisha Cook Jr.'s career-defining moment (all those noirish detective thrillers aside, of course).  Either this, or HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL.  (That may be what STAR TREK needed... a "haunted house" murder mystery story!)

THE MENAGERIE remains a compelling experience. It still blows my mind this was one of the first stories I ever saw (my 3rd, if I recall rightly).

Watching this right after COURT MARTIAL, you can't miss that early in the story, Kirk argues that "computer records can be altered"-- obviously a direct reference to the story made only the week before (but not aired until about 8 weeks LATER!). One thing that I'm still a bit baffled by... why does Mendez dig out the "Talos IV" record for Kirk to read? Of all the possible missions or adventures that Pike & Spock may have shared in their years together, why THAT one? Knowing that the Mendez we saw for most of the story was only an illusion, the question might be, how early did the ilusion first appear?  WAS the Mendez who dug out the Talos IV record only an illusion-- and he was setting Kirk up to understand what was going on?

It amazes me how this story really takes me back to 1966, when I was just 7 years old and watching STAR TREK first-run. The way the story is structured, you really can't predict where the hell it's going, or why... so the cliffhanger at the end of Part 1 really makes you desperately want to make sure you see the 2nd half of the story!  As a kid, I always had trouble watching almost any show that regularly, and 2-parters wrre problematic.  But I managed to see both parts of this one!  My bedtime on school nights was normally 9 PM, so I practically had to beg my parents for special permission to stay up an extra half-hour for this. Good thing... a few weeks later, incredibly, my DAD got hooked, and from then on, I never had to ask for permission to stay up for STAR TREK.

For me, the one down point of the 2-parter is, having seen the uncut original pilot, I'm now all too familiar with what "extra" scenes got cut for the 2-parter, and I feel them missing now, even though I was unaware of them being there for decades.  What I do find strange about my tape of the pilot is, the poor sound qualuty is NOT limited to the previously-missing scenes, but extends far into other scenes where the sound is PERFECT in my 2-hour "movie" version taped off the air.  WTF??  Paramount MUST have fixed this problem on DVDs by now... haven't they?

Watching THE MENAGERIE is a bit mind-boggling in places.  You're sitting in your home, watching STAR TREK... on the show, Kirk, Spock, Mendez (?) and Pike are watching broadcasts from Telos IV of events that happened 13 years go.  Within the broadcasts, the Telosians are watching Pike, who in turn is experiencing events from his own memories, like the battle at that fortress.

There's a warning in this story, about how illusions are a "trap", like a drug, and when illusions become more important than reality, people turn away from reality, and eventually stop living, and even forget how to fix the machines their ancestors built.  I sometimes think the not-so-hidden message of the original story was, "TV is dangerous-- STOP watching or you'll stop LIVING!"  I don't think NBC would be happy with that kind of message.

However, the "revised" ending in the "sequel" is much more upbeat.  Apparently, after 13 years, the Telosians realized they didn't have to lure someone to their planet and make them a slave for the sake of rebuilding their civilization.  Instead, they could use their talents to HELP someone who'd been horribly, permanently crippled, live out the rest of his life happily.

I'm reminded of how Arthur C. Clarke, who apparently lost the use of his legs at some point, was a strong advocate for sending crippled people into space, where they could operate in a weightless environment.  (If memory serves, this was one of the details in his book 2061: ODYSSEY THREE.)

It just occurs to me now, if they could reach into Pike's mind (and Vina's), wouldn't others be able, using the Telosians like "translators", be able to communicate with him?  Maybe, at least on some very limited and controlled level, they SHOULD have allowed further visits to Telos.  The planet could become the futuristic equivalent of an old-age home.

"Carter Winston" in the episode THE SURVIVOR said, "It's important to be productive."  Perhaps the Telosians realized this.  A sequel to this-- or at least, some story that at least once referenced such things-- could have been welcome.  Assuming they didn't F*** things up by doing a really bad sequel.

SHORE LEAVE is another episode that always takes me back in my memories to when I first saw it.  It's kind of mind-boggling that this was run right after BALANCE OF TERROR (and before THE GALILEO SEVEN). Talk about contrast.

Coming in production right after THE MENAGERIE, where a person could be made to see and experience anything by the power of mental illusions, here we have a story where strange things continue to happen without any immediate explanation-- causing at least one person (Dr. McCoy) to mistakenly conclude that "These things are not real. An illusion can't hurt us."  But... they're NOT illusions!

I think the most "magical" moment in this story has to be when Kirk runs across the desert, stops when he sees some wild flowers growing, and then, this over-powering piece of romantic music comes on, at which point he sees... "Ruth".  We never learn much about her, other than she was someone he knew at the Acedemy.  But from the brief impression she makes, something tells me that, of all the women Kirk ever knew over the years, she may well have been the "sweetest".  (That piece of music got reused extensively in THIS SIDE OF PARADISE, for when Spock falls in love... but it was really Ruth's theme!) I can only somehow imagine that Kirk's "world" and Ruth's were just too different-- but she seems like someone I liked to have gotten to know.

It strikes me this is the first time the Enterprise winds up having its power drained off while orbiting some planet, although in this case, the exact cause of that is never explained.  Spock barely manages to beam down to the surface, just before all contact is cut off.

It's almost ironic that in such a seemingly-peaceful, idyllic story, that Kirk winds up having one of the most brutal, knock-down drag-out fights ever seen on the show.  By the time it's over, he looks a horrific mess (and so does his shirt). I must confess, all these years later, there were several people in my life that i would have liked to have done what Kirk did to Finnegan.

Something I never noticed until reading the IMDB, is that the character "Angela" (who spent half the episode flirting with Lt. Esteban Rodriguez) was played by Barbara Baldavin, who had earlier appeared as the same character in BALANCE OF TERROR, and would pop up again in TURNABOUT INTRUDER.  (That's a long time between appearances!)  I also finally noticed that after the "strafing run" (where it looks like she hit her head on a tree while running), she suddenly turns up in the line-up midway thru the last scene on the planet.  Very odd.  And I note that Perry Lopez, who played Rodriguez (his only appearance on the show), was in 3 episodes of HEC RAMSEY in the 70's as Sgt. Juan Mendoza.  (I was just watching those a few months ago.)

Tonia Banks, as Yeoman Emily Barrows, looked to be a replacement for Yeoman Rand. She starts out catching Kirk's eye, but then becomes the focus of McCoy instead.  Too bad this was her only appearance.

Something else I never noticed before the IMDB was that Bruce Mars, who played Finegan, and who didn't have too much of a TV career, actually was in 3 different STAR TREK, each time as a different character (the others being THE CORBOMITE MANEUVER and ASSIGNMENT EARTH).

This episode always leaves me with the biggest smile on my face.  While it may not be that "deep" or complex or meaningful or even that intense (apart from a couple of scenes), this has always been one of my favorites, and in a small way, it may be one of the high points of the series.  From here, for the most part, that height was maintained, at least through THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE and JOURNEY TO BABEL, before it began its long, slow plunge down.  For such a brief moment in history, this was really such an amazing, wonderful TV series.

THE SQUIRE OF GOTHOS -- isn't it hard to believe that this was written by the same guy who did BALANCE OF TERROR (Paul Schneider)? The only thing they seem to have in common are characters obsessed with military and warfare. It's easy to see, with this being made right after SHORE LEAVE, why they slotted THE GALILEO SEVEN in between.  Otherwise, you'd have 2 "light-hearted" stories back-to-back. Not that I mind, watching them in production order.

If several episodes had an OUTER LIMITS feel to them, this one definitely feels like a LOST IN SPACE.  One wonders how it's possible William Campbell never turned up on that show? Like Roger C. Carmel, it seems he'd have been a natural.  (Oddly enough, both Malachi Throne and Ted Cassidy did turn up on LIS... and in the same episode.)

I realize that according to the plot, The Enterprise is in a hurry to deliver some much-needed supplies somewhere when they're diverted to Gothos. But I can't help wonder, almost every time I watch this, why everyone seems so hard-headed about Trelayne.  Isn't the main purpose of their mission of exploration to seek out and contact new forms of life? With so much mystery surrounding Trelayne, his actions, his physical being, wouldn't he qualify? Yet Kirk & co. are in such a hurry to just "put as much space between us and that madman as possible". I can't help but think that, if they'd stuck around, or offered to leave a few crewmen behind to investigate, or even invited HIM to come along with them on their journey, things might have gone a lot better.

Yeoman Teresa Ross (Venita Wolf) becomes the latest in a rotating cast or pretty women popping up in the crew that we get to see once, and never again. Maybe Gene Coon didn't want too much distracting from Kirk, Spock & McCoy? Funny enough, I've also seen Wolf pop up as "Brenda", one of Mickey Dolenz' many girlfriends, on THE MONKEES.  She was in the episode about "Shahku" (the phony health club manager). Brenda kept repeating words in a rather funny fashion.  "That's why I like you, Brenda, you're different from all the other girls. You've got intelligence."  "Yeah... intelligence."

This episode also marks the first of 3 appearances by Michael Barrier as Lt. DeSalle. He's very trigger-happy in this, ready to not only shoot first, but without waiting for orders to do so. Amazing Kirk left HIM in charge of the ship later on in CATSPAW, where he kept pushng Chekov around.  (Maybe enough crewmen complained and he wound up being transfered to another ship?)

It cracks me up that Trelayne's father is voiced by the same actor who did The Guardian Of Forever (Bart La Rue).

ONCE UPON A PLANET -- it somehow figures that the very day after I watched SHORE LEAVE again, I'd wind up sitting thru the sequel.  I must confess, this one bugs me. It's got a lot of interesting ideas in it, but certain things about this make me wish they'd never done. it. Chuck Menville, who apparently had a LONG career writing TV cartoons (many of them for Filmation) also did THE PRACTICAL JOKER, which for a long time has been one of my least-favorite ST cartoons.  In fact, that one seems like a "variation on a theme" of THIS one.

Things start out very dull, as McCoy, Sulu & Uhura beam down to the "Amusement Planet", this time knowing what's going on.  Only things start happening that aren't what they expect-- even for this place.  McCoy is almost killed by the Queen of hearts (from Alice Through The Looking Glass) and Uhura disappears.  Kirk and co. find a large stone memorial-- for it seems "The Keeper" of the planet has passed away!  But instead of someone else taking his place, his people have left the planet's factory computer in charge of the place, all on its own. And in ANOTHER "variation on a theme" plot, we have a computer that has developed its own sense of self, reasoned that machines are superior to people and therefore must "rule" the galaxy, and come to the wrong conclusion that the crew of the Enterprise are "slaves" of the "sky machine" in orbit.

Even more illogical, despite thinking the Enterprise must be "one of its kind", it reaches out and takes control of the ship, and has a new computer installed in the engine room, so that it can free itself of its planetary "prison" and use the ship to travel the stars seeking out more of its kind. WHAT th'...??

Things get rather nasty for awhile, and Uhura's attempts to explain things to the computer just aren't getting through.  When finally confronted by Kirk & Spock, however, it finally is made to realize the truth.  Further, Spock tells it that serving others by choice is a noble thing, and the computer has special talents which should be cherished.  Spock proposes that if it continues running the planet as before, the entire galaxy will come to visit, and it can learn so much from them without having to leave home. It agrees with his logic-- on the condition that while they're there, "We must have more of these discussions."

Yes, it's another computer gone mad story, but for once, with a happy ending.  The way this one mistakes humans for "slaves" of the Enterprise reminds me too much of V'Ger from ST:TMP. There's a lot of good ideas here, especially in the final scene, but overall, the general feeling I have is that this story, but its very existence, almost manages to "ruin" the classic story it's a sequel to. It's too bad they couldn't have done this on some OTHER planet.

If I've been paying attention, this episode actually marks the first time we get to hear Lt. Arex talk (voiced by James Doohan) as well as Lt. M'Ress (Majel Barrett... prrrrrrrr).  I find it odd that Scotty should pronouncer her name "Em Ress" (rather than "Muh-Ress"). We also get to see what happens if someone shuts off the artificial gravity on the ship (something they never had the budget to do on the live-action show).

The next episode filmed after SHORE LEAVE and THE SQUIRE OF GOTHOS, both rather light-hearted affairs, begins with a scene that suggests this trend may continue.  Kirk has been invited to dinner by the commander of the base on Cestus 3, and has been asked specifically to bring his "tactical" people with him, to look into an interesting "problem".  As Kirk & McCoy discuss the commander's well-known hospitality, there's an air of relaxed frivolity that would lead one to think we're about to watch another fun story.

Then they beam down and discover the ENTIRE BASE has been destroyed-- before they ever arrived!  Yep-- it's ARENA-- one of the most "intense" stories of the year, and a stylistic follow-up to BALANCE OF TERROR!

The first act after the opening credits may be the most intense, violent and scary in the entire season, as the base continues to be bombarded by enemy fire, one of Kirk's men is vaporized before his eyes, explosions keep going off, and the Enterprise is forced to leave orbit because above, the enemy ship (which we never see) is attacking THEM at the same time! Eventually, Kirk manages to find a mortar, and stops the local attack. A moment later, the enemy ship apparently beams any remaining crew back up and leaves orbit.  The Enterprise is off in hot pursuit, as the conclusion is reached:  in order to prevent any further such attacks, it must NEVER reach its home base! (This was almost exactly what was aaid about the Romulans earlier.)

But then things take a completely unexpected turn when, on passing an unexplored star system (about which certain "rumors and legends" have been heard), their ship is scanned, and then, BOTH ships come to a sudden, forced halt, dead in space!  And then The Control Voice from THE OUTER LIMITS (Vic Perrin) speaks, telling Kirk "WE shall decide the fate of your conflict".  Kirk & the captain of the alien ship are both beamed to a desert planet, where we get our first, shocking view of the enemy-- a man-shaped reptile!

The rest of the episode is a one-on-one battle to the death between Kirk and The Gorn, filmed on the same location used in THE ZANTI MISFITS (with Bruce Dern). In a replay of THE MENAGERIE, the bridge crew is allowed to watch the conflict as it happens on the view screen.  Oddly enough, it's only when Kirk fashions another "mortar" out of crude materials at hand that he's finally able to bring down his opponent, who's so much stronger than he is.  But at the last second, Kirk refuses to kill, realizing that perhaps the Gorn did see the Earth base as "invaders".  The Gorn vanishes, and a Metron appears, telling Kirk his showing mercy was quite surprising, and indicated there's hope and potential for the human race.  He vanishes, saying they may resume contact when they're ready (which may be in a thousand or two years).

What baffles me is the number of modern viewers who feel compelled to complain about the look of the Gorn. I never had any problems with it!  I thought it was one of the coolest-looking aliens seen on the show.  (But then, I was used to watching LOST IN SPACE, which got exceptionally silly during the 1966-67 season. Compared to that, everything on STAR TREK seemed impressive!)

I always liked the design of the Gorn - I thought it was a cool-looking thing. I even found it interesting that it sounded as though it were perpetually on the verge of hacking up a phlegmball - sort of a distant cousin of the Ice Warriors.

It also sounded a bit like it was laughing to itself, probably at the thought of how easily it was going to crush this puny Earthman.

THE ALTERNATIVE FACTOR is the one everyone keeps saying is the "worst" of Season 1 (I give that to MIRI) or possibly the worst of all 3 seasons (no way!).  Flawed, yes, but still, far more watchable than many, I find.

It's interesting that, coming straight after ARENA, this is the 2nd one in a row where the idea of an "invasion" is brought up.  In the previous story, it was The Gorn (and they considered the Earthmen the invaders!).  Here, it turns out to be just one man... well, two.  One of whom is insane, and doesn't care if the consequences of his actions result in untold destruction.

I paid very close attention this time.  McCoy mentions patching up Lazarus' head wound, then seeing it gone.  We then see Lazarus in the rec room, where he seems far more relaxed than up to that point.  Smiling, even.  Then he steps into the hallway, and suddenly, has an "attack". The next moment, the wounded, crazy Lazarus is there, just in time to make McCoy look like a fool when he re-checks the head injury.  Later still, after the crazy Lazarus has stolen the dilithium crystals (in a scene we don't get to see!), the "sane" Lazarus sabotages some circuitry, causing a fire, and HE steals more of the crystals.  But how does he get back to his universe, since the "crazy" Lazarus is shown having to install the ones HE stole in HIS ship? You just wanna shake your head and scream, "Make it stop!  MAKE IT STOP!!!"   : )

One of the big problems here is, the whole idea of how these 2 guys are travelling between dimensions, and changing places, is not consistent.  We're led to believe that the way to travel between universes is via the "corridor", entered thru the dimensional ship. It seems one doesn't have to come out thru the other ship when you reach the other side, you just come out at some random point.  But HOW does one Lazarus reach the other, and they switch places?  Somebody did NOT think this thing through!

Of course, the idea that bothers me even more than this, is that the "entire universe" should be affected by a matter and anti-matter man simply being in the same universe. 

At the IMDB, "FlyByNight32" said: 

" I can live with a dimension-crossing paranoid maniac. I can live with him being a threat to the immediate area, several solar systems, maybe even the galaxy.  But the universe?  I don't even want to talk about the basic flaws in the whole matter-antimatter plot point, but 150-200 lbs of matter and antimatter wouldn't take out the universe."

"HawksRevenge" said:

"The episode could have used more detail and the whole universe being annihilated thing is basically "The same matter can't occupy the same space at the same time" The fact that they were in the same universe at the same time has no bearing!!"

"KennethFrankel" said:

"antimatter may not blow up all at once. Of course, it is possible that the rate of interaction is great enough that for all intents and purposes, it looks like a big explosion. You might have to be more than 10 miles away from the 2 guys when they are fighting, but the universe is safe."

I think that about sums it up.  It's no wonder I strongly suspect this was a LEFTOVER script from THE OUTER LIMITS' 2nd season, especially considering the presence of director Gerd Oswald, who did 14 episodes of that show!  The whole thing might have made more sense set on Earth, with ONLY Earth being in danger. After all, how / why should the effect of anti-mater touching matter carry over an infinity of EMPTY space?  And wouldn't the 2 Lazarus' actually have to touch in the first place for this to happen?

As has been pointed out, there are still more plot holes in this thing. I tell you, it makes me wanna really give it some thought and try writing my own version of this, one that would actually make sense.  I know, I'm making fun of this a lot here... and yet, I really do have fun watching it.

The crazy thing is-- in this case, the LOST IN SPACE version of this story done the following year was actually BETTER than this one! 

Robert Brown (no relation to Roger Moore's 2-time sidekick) later starred in HERE COME THE BRIDES (52 episodes), and later still, PRIMUS (26 episodes), 1972's answer to SEA HUNT!  Meanwhile, Janet MacLachlan ("Charlene Masters") had a long career guesting on a ton of TV series over the next few decades, including 6 episodes of CAGNEY AND LACEY.  As with so many other attrractive ladies on this show, a shame she was only in this ONE episode.

I thought that they needed the ships to cross the barrier while the other person was still there, while they could force the crossing by some effort but that they only changed places. The ships allowed them to enter into the corridor between worlds and exit at a place of their own choosing, but as long as they were just switching places they didn't need the ships. I wondered where the Anti-matter Enterprise was?

imploding cause theygot the intermix formula wrong?

Mark S. Ogilvie said:


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