The worst Star Trek episode of all time
There are several candidates for Star Trek worst episode; understandable, really, considering that there are over seven hundred of them. Often people refer to stories like Code of Honoror thresholdor These are the tripswhich recently won a fan vote to find the worst episode of the franchise. Most of the time, people tend to highlight episodes of Traveler or Pursue as the lowest of the low, fitting the bad reputation of these iterations of Star Trek enjoy.
However, I would argue that each of these decisions is wrong – the worst episode of Star Trek, alwaysdoes not come from one of the spin-off series: It is actually one of the earliest episodes of The original series.
The enemy within was first broadcast on October 6th 1966, the fifth episode of Star Trek ever aired. You probably know it, if at all, as the episode where Kirk is split in half, with William Shatner delivering rather memorable performances as “bad Kirk” and “good Kirk.” It is, if not iconic, certainly well remembered; it is generally considered a decent episode that is a good representation of the kind of camp fun and high ambitions of The original series, because it is a science fiction version of the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde History, some references to Jung’s philosophical ideas and an alien who is obviously a dog with a few straws stuck to the back of its head.
So far, so ordinary. It is not exactly the kind of episode that you would “the worst ever”nor – as I put it in a recent review published on my website – “An episode that deserves to be struck from the record – not just quietly forgotten, but actively denied.”
But, you see, this isn’t just an episode of silly running around after a van crash; it validates and normalizes rape and rape culture in a way that no other episode of Star Trek.
About halfway through the episode, the “bad” Kirk attempts to rape Janice Rand, so the text is implicitly suggesting that Kirk is, on some level, a rapist, and that male sexuality, on some primal level, arises from the desire to rape. That the episode culminates in the “bad” Kirk – or more accurately, the rapist Kirk – being reintegrated into the “good” Kirk, because both aspects are apparently necessary for the whole thing to work, does not help condemn these actions, but rather actively justifies them.
The rape scene is followed by an interrogation; Spock and the “good” Kirk try to find out what happened. It is deeply uncomfortable and at times disturbing:
EDGE: Then he kissed me and said that we, that he was the captain and could give me orders. I didn’t know what to do. When you mentioned the feelings we had hidden, you started talking about us.
CHURCH: Us?
EDGE: Well, he’s the captain. I couldn’t just. You started hurting me. I had to fight you and scratch your face.
CHURCH: Yeoman, look at me. Look at me, look at my face. Are there any scratches?
EDGE: I was sure I had scratched you. I was scared. Maybe…
CHURCH: Yeoman. I was in my room. That wasn’t me.
EDGE: Sir, Fisher saw you too.
CHURCH: Fisher saw?
EDGE: If it hadn’t been like that. I can understand that. I don’t want to get you in trouble. I wouldn’t have even mentioned it!
CHURCH: That wasn’t me!
The text alone doesn’t quite convey how horrific it is in the actual episode; there’s something about Grace Lee Whitney’s visibly shaken performance that makes it even more uncomfortable. (Shatner’s “methodical” approach of slapping her between scenes to get her in “the right frame of mind” probably didn’t help.) But consider these lines and the implication they carry: They openly refer to a systematic abuse of power dynamics, with Rand unwilling to “just mention it”because Kirk “is the captain”despite him “An order” her and forces himself on her. Given the course of this episode, it is hardly surprising that the “good” Kirk pays little attention to her worries and focuses exclusively on himself.
Finally, the closing lines make it clear how much this episode is a product of rape culture. We not only see Janice Rand apologize to KirkAs if what happened was her fault, Spock makes a joke about how the other Kirk had some “interesting qualities” towards Janice. Grace Lee Whitney, who played Janice, probably summed it up best:
“I can’t think of a more cruel and insensitive comment a man (or Vulcan) could make to a woman who has just been sexually assaulted! But some men actually believe that women want to be raped. So the screenwriter presents us with a lascivious Mr. Spock who suggests that Yeoman Rand enjoyed his rape and found the evil Kirk attractive!”
For everything we promote Star Trek as a glimpse into a utopian future, a show made by a group of visionaries, sometimes it’s quite obviously not. Because this episode posits that it’s OK for the main character to try to rape another character (who, let’s not forget, was considered the romantic lead of the show at the time), and was made by a group of people who presumably had no problem with what they were doing.
If Star Trek is to fulfill his promise of a better future, then The enemy within must remain in the past.
Related:
Star Trek: TOS Reviews
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