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After the terrible series finale ofStar Trek : The Original Series , Star Trekavoided using a pop sci - fi story trope for 53 years . With over 900 episodes of television under its belt , it ’s not surprising thatnewStar Trekshowscall back to some of the greatest hit . Star Trek ’s streaming geological era has revisit tropes that are staple of science fable , from time loop-the-loop and evil Gemini to rogue robots and alien imperium . Star Trek : Strange New Worldsdoes this particularly well , acknowledging tropes thatStar Trekinvented by search genres and revisiting old story ideas .
The serial finale ofStar Trek : The Original Series , " Turnabout Intruder " , is one of theworst episodes ofStar Trekfrom across the entire franchise . In it , Dr. Janice Lester ( Sandra Smith ) , an old flaming of Captain James T. Kirk ( William Shatner ) , apply a machine to swap her intellect into Kirk ’s body , and frailty versa , for become Captain of the USS Enterprise . It ’s readable to everyone , but especially to Spock ( Leonard Nimoy ) , that Kirk is decidedly not himself . When Lester refuses to loosen the trade , Kirk returns to his own physical structure through gossamer force of will .
It Took 53 Years For Star Trek To Do Another Body Swap After Star Trek: The Original Series' Finale
And Then 2022 HadTwoStar Trek Body Swap Episodes
For 53 years , theterribleStar Trek : The Original SeriesfinalemotivatedStar Trekto debar the sci - fi figure of speech of lineament swapping physical structure — butthat changed in 2022 , whenStar Trekreleasedtwobody - barter instalment . On June 2 , 2022,Strange New Worldsseason 1 , episode 5 , " Spock Amok " swap Lt . Spock ( Ethan Peck ) with his fiancée , T’Pring ( Gia Sandhu ) , using a Vulcankatra - sharing rite go awry . afterwards , Star Trek : Prodigyseason 1 , sequence 18 , " Mindwalk " , put Dal R’El ( Brett Gray ) and Admiral Kathryn Janeway ( Kate Mulgrew ) in each other ’s body via Dal ’s botched telepathy on December 15 , 2022 .
Star Trek : The Original Seriesseason 3 , episode 24 , " Turnabout Intruder " , beam on June 3 , 1969 , nearly 3 months after the former sequence , " All Our Yesterdays " , which transmit March 14 , 1969 .
It ’s uncanny thatStar Trekdid two body - swap episodes in the same year , butTOS’s"Turnabout Intruder " was such a bad episode that nullify the body - swap trope for more than 50 years is pretty justified . Even before accounting for the clamorous sexism that makes it a badStar Trekstoryline , " Turnabout Intruder " is airheaded and poorly written . It ’s never clear whether Dr. Janice Lester ’s motivation for taking over Kirk ’s body is really vengeance ( as an X ) , jealousy ( becauseKirk loves the Enterprise ) , or aspiration ( because Lester wants to be a police chief ) .
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds & Star Trek: Prodigy Improved On The Original Series' Captain Kirk Body Swap
Why Star Trek’s First Body Swap Episode Was So Bad
Thankfully , Strange New WorldsandProdigyboth improve upon Captain Kirk ’s eubstance swop with Janice Lester inTOS . In the new sequence , the inadvertent body trade are not only comic — they solve the characters ' problems . Strange New Worlds ' " Spock Amok " employ the body swap ’s confused high jinx to giveSpock and T’Pring ’s doomed relationshipa impermanent boost , because they understand each other better afterward . Prodigyswaps Dal and Janeway to get around the Protostar crew ’s unfitness to use subspace comms , and Kate Mulgrew and Brett Gray play each other ’s characters uproariously .
While it ’s entertaining to watch Shatner - as - Lester exhaustively devourTOS ’s scenery before it ’s pull down , there ’s not much full point to " Turnabout Intruder . "
" Turnabout Intruder " never does whatTrek ’s later body - trade stories did best , which is making either Kirk or Lester change after their experiencesin each other ’s bodies . Janice Lester bridges the stereotypes of " sick scientist " and " hysteric adult female , " but has no real depth , only a unmarried - minded idea that she ’s blend to take over Kirk ’s sprightliness . While it ’s entertaining to determine Shatner - as - Lester soundly devourTOS ’s scenery before it ’s dismantled , there ’s not much compass point to " Turnabout Intruder , " which terminate with Lester being cart aside by medical staff , while Kirk presumably go back to job as common .
Strange New Worlds & Prodigy Didn’t Plan To Make 2 Star Trek Body Swap Episodes
Different Star Trek Shows Using The Same Premise In 2022 Was A Coincidence
Interestingly , Strange New WorldsandProdigyprobably did n’t plan to do twoStar Trekbody - barter episodes in the same year . give-and-take aboutStar Trek : Prodigy ’s potential third seasonwith producers Kevin and Dan Hageman indicate that the quicken instalment are written at least two years in advance of come out on our screens . Unless they ’re working with the same characters , Star Trekseries do n’t usually have reason to apportion their chronicle beats . Strange New Worldswouldn’t knowProdigyhad already planned a torso swop , so 2022 ’s double dose ofStar Trekbody trade had to be a co-occurrence .
Star Trek : Strange New Worlds dropped a series of gorgeous character bill that suggest at just how monumental season 3 will be .
Ultimately , it does n’t matter thatStar Trekreused the torso barter plot in bothStar Trek : ProdigyandStar Trek : Strange New Worlds , because both of the newerStar Trekepisodes are well - compose , funny chapter in show with on-going story . Even thoughStar Trek : The Original Series ' " Turnabout Intruder " put a stain on the body swap trope that was comfortably avoided , ProdigyandStrange New Worldsupdate oldStar Trektropeswith modern storytelling techniques . Now , whenStar Trekcharacters see through each other ’s literal eyes , the episode have a long-lived , cocksure encroachment on the character reference and fans alike .
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