STAR TREK TURNABOUT INTRUDER SERIES
This was the final Original Series episode, I remember it aired around the time of Apollo 11. I remember this whole thing clearly, NBC pulled Trek after the Christmas Break, ABC made an arrangement to show the final episodes. Well, 2 really good years and one pretty good year. But, the next new Trek episode would be in animated form, in 1973. We see the results on the TNG and Voyager shows. One could argue, tongue in cheek, that after this incident, Starfleet began an aggressive promotion program geared towards females, to avoid further such protests. We really don't know what Starfleet's approach is here, even though Kirk seems to agree with Lester on this point - perhaps he was humoring her - it's, again, more of a message to policymakers of the sixties. When Lester, in the beginning, makes her comment about how Starfleet doesn't allow female starship captains, it seems to me as more of an attack, by Roddenberry, on the social mores of the sixties, a commentary on inequality (between males & females, in this case) similar to other statements by many 3rd season episodes on the status quo of that decade. Very few people are suited for command, in reality.
STAR TREK TURNABOUT INTRUDER PC
It's PC to buy into that, but I believe it's simply telling us that Lester is unsuited for command. This episode is not telling us that females, as a rule, are not suited to command positions. She is not representative of the typical female of the 23rd century. The viewer should remember that the female character, Lester, is an unbalanced woman, probably even deranged. Shatner, known for overacting in a few episodes - especially in the final season - gets to indulge himself here and it suits this particular episode very well. In discussing Shatner's memorable interpretation of a female mind, we often forget Smith's performance as Kirk the actress must have studied some of Shatner's past performances and it shows. Note also how, in logical order, Kirk's senior officers go over to his side, despite surface appearances of the usual routine: first Spock, of course, followed by Scotty & McCoy, then Sulu & Chekov too bad Uhura is missing. When Lester, in Kirk's body, first walks onto the bridge and starts issuing orders, we learn that the job of a starship captain is made up of many little details and any even minor deviation will start causing problems.and raised eyebrows (by, guess who?). After Kirk's body is appropriated by Lester, the subtleties kick in: note how Shatner now says 'Captain Kirk to Enterprise' instead of his usual shorthand 'Kirk to Enterprise.' And, it's these subtle changes in his behavior that prove to be Lester's undoing, not the later screaming fits, when Lester knows she is losing her bid to retain control of the ship indefinitely.
But, the episode's strengths are not just these standouts this isn't some half-baked attempt at role reversal. These are incredible to watch, whether for the 1st or 10th time. Some of these scenes are unforgettable: Kirk physically attacking Janice Lester (now actually Kirk) as McCoy and Spock look on, shocked, fearing the worst that tense, somber moment when Spock must decide to believe that Kirk is trapped in Lester's body the entire hearing sequence, where Kirk (actually Janice Lester) steadily implodes into rampaging hysteria the scene in the hallway directly afterwards, where Scott & McCoy plot their mutiny Sulu & Chekov, nervously realizing how wrong things really are. There are many detractors of this episode, for reasons we'll get into in a bit, but one also cannot overlook several scenes of nearly rapturous, quasi-Shakespearean melodrama affixed to a science fiction plot line.
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