Turnabout Intruder

The third season of "Star Trek - The Original Series" is a curious beast. While it is well known as having some of the silliest episodes of the entire series (hello "Spock’s Brain" fans, where ever you are) it also has some of the deeper and more multi layered episodes of the three year run. Take the intimate examination of moral dilemma and self-sacrifice in "The Empath", or the comment on racial bigotry (none too subtly I’ll admit) in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". But the final episode of not only season three, but the original series as a whole, also provides much food for thought, especially on issues relating to gender, sexuality and self-esteem.

The episode, "Turnabout Intruder" begins with a research party on the planet Camus II. The party is led by Dr Janice Lester, and its members have mysteriously started to die of what appears to be radiation poisoning- thus the rescue mission by the Enterprise is initiated. Upon arrival, we learn two things: that Dr Lester and Kirk have a past- he used to love her. We also learn that Dr Lester has made an amazing discovery while on the planet- an ancient device which effects the process of "Life /entity transfer" i.e. the swap over of one persons personality, soul or very being, whatever you wish to call it, into the body of another person and vice versa.

It soon becomes apparent, as she stuns Kirk and secures him to the device, a maniacal expression on her face, that she intends to swap bodies with Kirk. But Why? -- Once inside Kirk's body, Dr Lester begins to reveal some of her thought processes:

Lester (in Kirk's body): "You had your chance Captain Kirk; you should have smothered the life in me. Then they would have said Dr Janice Lester died of radiation poisoning in the line of duty. Why didn’t you do it? You always wanted to didn’t you?... Now you’ll know the indignity of being a woman!"

What have we here? Gender insecurity? Low self esteem? Paranoia? She was obviously convinced that Kirk had wanted to kill her for some time.

Lester (Kirk): "Believe me, it’s better to be dead than to live alone in the body of a woman".

More evidence of fairly pronounced gender issues?

We soon learn that Dr. Lester has an assistant, Dr Coleman, and that the deaths of the other party members on the planet's surface weren’t accidental.

She and Coleman had colluded to allow Lester to fulfil her plan. Lester is now loved by Coleman. But once again, this makes no difference to her. To Coleman’s suggestion that she may still be in love with Kirk, she retorts:

Lester (Kirk): "Love him?... I love the life he led, the power of a star ship commander... that’s my life now".

Lester is a complex and tortured woman. She seems incapable of loving the men who have tried to get close to her. This maybe because she feels her womanhood so inferior in a male dominated world, that she hates herself as a result and rejects everyone who tries to love this worthless creature. She seems only to feel that she can be whole and reach her full potential as a man, or at least by possessing masculine characteristics. But there is another issue to consider. Upon assuming the physical being of a male, she must have realised that having any sort of relationship with a man would be very difficult. Maybe she hadn’t thought through the possibility that she would appeal to women after the procedure. The again, maybe she had! Maybe her desire was closeness with another woman, but felt she could only achieve this as a physical male. Either way, neither of these possibilities reflects well on this futures universe, which is supposed to provide opportunities for all. Early in the piece, Lester says:

"Your world of star ship captains doesn’t admit women".

Gene Roddenberry apparently hadn’t seen his future universe overcoming the "glass ceiling".

Lester seemed uncomfortable expressing any desires she may have had as herself, something which most of us can empathise with, I’m sure.

Once back on board the Enterprise, Lester, safely housed in Kirk's body, attempts to maintain control of herself, and the crew. William Shatner handles this "transgender" role well, with his amusing "femme-isms" and subtly increasing hysteria contrasting with his usual cool-headed, master-of-his-own-soul, captain-of-his-own-ship characterisation. Classic moments see him filing his nails during an exchange with McCoy, and later in the episode, when alone with Coleman, places his hand on Coleman’s shoulder, and looks at him quite tenderly, so that you almost think he’s about to plant one on him! This out-of-character behaviour alerts McCoy, who orders a physical and emotional examination.

Meanwhile, Kirk housed in Lester’s body is confined to sickbay, under the care of Coleman, upon Lester’s orders. When he awakes and realises what has happened, his frustration is all too evident.

Kirk (Lester): "I am not Janice Lester!"

Of course, Coleman ridicules him and the others disbelieve him. The expression on actress Sandra Smith's face as she tries to convince all and sundry that she’s Kirk make believable the pure frustration Kirk must have felt, As he looks in the mirror to see the face of Janice Lester peering back, images of the transfer experience flash through his mind, and just for a moment, you wonder if he’s not quite sure himself whether it really happened.

"You are insane, Dr Lester," says Coleman, doing nothing to dispel this feeling.

Just imagine yourself in that position. You’re trapped in a foreign body, not just foreign but the wrong gender and you try with all your being to tell people the truth and naturally they think you’re mad. Of course they do, that sort of thing doesn’t happen in real life, does it? That’s the stuff of science fiction isn’t it? ... Think again!! I wonder how many people empathised with Kirk's desperation to be believed in 1969?

Kirk realises that Spock is his only hope. Why? Apart from his telepathic abilities, Kirk reasoned to Spock:

Kirk (Lester): "You are closer to the captain than anyone in the universe; you know his thoughts. What does your telepathic mind tell you now?"

Kirk chose the closest person to him in the Universe, one who would know his every thought, his very being behind the façade of another body. "Closer than anyone in the Universe"... Kirk's own words. They put into perspective Kirk's reaction when Spock appeared to be dying, much later in their relationship.

Spock is finally convinced of Kirk's predicament, and is thus court martialled by Lester for mutiny. Unfortunately, McCoy’s scientific evidence from his examinations comes out in support of "Kirk".

Spock: "I am disappointed and deeply concerned that there is no objective evidence to support my position... so far".

Spock's comment partially sums up what was a major problem in the medical and scientific fields for many years, and is still a problem in some sectors of society today, i.e. If there's no concrete or scientific proof of something, or something can’t be seen with your own eyes, then it can’t be true!

Kirk (Lester): "No, I am not Captain Kirk, that is very apparent. I claim that whatever it is that makes James Kirk a living being, special to himself, is being held here in this body."

Lester (Kirk): "Can you tell me why Dr Janice Lester would agree to this ludicrous exchange?"

Kirk (Lester): "Yes, to get the power she craved. To attain a position she doesn’t merit by temperament or training. Most of all, she wanted to murder James Kirk, a man who once loved her; but her intense hatred of her own womanhood made life with her impossible."

Again, Lester’s issues with love, closeness and self-hatred are recalled, this time from Kirk's point of view. Spock, ever the pragmatist, pinpoints the core of the situation:

Spock: "There is only one issue here: is the story of life entity transfer believable? This crew has been witness to many strange events, they are trained to know that what seems to be impossible often is possible, given the scientific analysis of the phenomenon".

As Lester’s paranoia and instability reach their peak, the transfer process reveals a flaw: it starts to weaken and reverse. Coleman advises that the only course of action is to kill Lester’s original body. Before they can accomplish this though, the process breaks down, and Janice Lester returns to her body to live continue her life as a broken woman.

This was a great note for "Star Trek- The Original Series" to end on, and was as complex a character study as "Trek" ever did, as well as being a great vehicle for Bill Shatner to camp it up (more than usual!) It is a shame that it presented Lester as a woman so tortured by her female persona. But there were many issues raised on gender and sexuality which were unusual for a show of that era.

Spock’s quote (above) applies not only to the Enterprise crew, but also to all of us. As we go further afield, not only in space, but also on Earth and in ourselves, we witness more and more strange events. We never stop learning. We gradually understand that what used to seem impossible -- even abhorrent -- is, in fact, not only possible but can be quite beautiful. The evidence is all around us.