Mirror, Mirror (6 Oct. 1967)

A transporter accident places Capt. Kirk's landing party in an alternate universe, where the Federation is a barbarically brutal empire.

Director:

Marc Daniels

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator), Jerome Bixby

Stars:

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
BarBara Luna	...	Marlena (as Barbara Luna)
James Doohan	...	Scott
George Takei	...	Sulu
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Vic Perrin	...	Tharn
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
John Winston	...	Lt. Kyle
Garth Pillsbury	...	Wilson
Pete Kellett	...	Kirk's Henchman

Storyline

Beamed up during an ion storm, which causes a transporter malfunction, the landing party of Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura find themselves in a mirror universe aboard a parallel Enterprise run by ruthless barbarians. The ion storm also caused their malicious counterparts to beam to the real starship. Kirk and the others must find a way home before they are discovered and exposed by their parallel crew members, who use treachery, back-stabbing and seduction to get what they want.

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Plot Keywords:

storm | empire | parallel universe | mistress | dagger | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 October 1967 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Desilu Productions, Norway Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Mirror Universe was the subject of a Star Trek graphic novel in 1991, written by Mike W. Barr, and published by DC Comics.

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Goofs

Obvious Stunt Doubles for Kirk and Spock in the fight scenes.

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Quotes

Bones: I'm a doctor, NOT an engineer.
Scotty: NOW you're an engineer.

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Connections

Edited into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Trials and Tribble-ations (1996)

User Reviews

The Agony of an Empire

When the bearded Spock says 'Your Agonizer, Please,' you know you're in for some great science fiction, Trek style. If I was under threat of an Agony Booth to make a choice, I'd have to go with this episode as my all-time favorite of the original series. Not an easy choice, of course. "The City on the Edge of Forever" is more literate and "The Trouble With Tribbles" may get by better on sheer entertainment value, but there's something about tapping into the dark side of all our beloved characters here which makes this an irresistible mix of tension and adventure - an ultimate Trek, if you will. For you see, it's not just the depiction of the alternate versions of Spock, Sulu and Chekov in this violent, parallel universe that's so intriguing. There's also the thrill of observing our Kirk swiftly adapt to his new environment: sure, he gets caught off-guard by the evil Chekov early on, but in the next minute he's knocking out his supposed savior - see, that's what the evil Kirk would do and our Kirk has already figured it all out. It's tantalizing, no pun intended, to surmise just how our good Kirk would have survived in this universe of the evil Empire had he been stuck there for the rest of his life; personally, I think he would've taken over the whole galaxy within the next decade - he's just that quick on his feet. Witness the scene of him and the bearded Spock as they stroll down the ship's corridor, their personal bodyguards following; Kirk's in complete control. I think part of him was looking forward to the prospect of remaining in this savage universe when it looked like he'd have to operate the transporter to send the others back near the end.

And it's not just Kirk - wonder of wonders, could this be our Uhura - taunting the evil Sulu, slapping him and stopping just short of sticking a little blade between his ribs? Looks to me like she was trained for a lot more than just communications - yes, she had that little scene of fright overcoming her before Kirk's pep talk, but after that, there was no stopping her. In a way, this episode is mesmerizing: you wonder what our intrepid foursome of cosmic castaways will run into next in every scene and how they'll handle it. The scripting doesn't disappoint: there are creative innovations to this strangely atmospheric Enterprise around every corner, subtle or jarring. The new gadgets are interesting but my favorite innovation is the entire concept of special bodyguards shadowing their superiors - that twist just spells Empire not Federation. Of course, the whole assassination angle is a dead giveaway. Plotwise, it's an excellent tightrope, and we get to see some of the best action scenes towards the climax. And then we have the evil, yet not so evil Spock. When Spock puts his mind to it, he can be pretty scary; it's hard to forget his sinister threat to Sulu. But, speaking of Sulu, strange as it may seem after all the great stuff just described, Takei as Sulu ends up with the greatest single scene of the episode. His bid to take over the ship, as he describes his plan to get rid of both Kirk & Spock, takes it all to yet another level. Dripping with slimy intensity, twirling his knife, a gleam of manic nastiness in his eyes, Takei just nails it. He should have played villains for the rest of his career.

The potency of this episode is reflected in the fact that the later Trek series, Deep Space Nine, featured several episodes as sequels to this one. However, good as they were for a DS9 series, they paled in comparison to this original wonder.