History YMMV / StarTrekS1E27TheAlternativeFactor

* SpecialEffectsFailure: That constant "winking" effect with the overlays of a nebula and two ghostly figures struggling against each other. It was probably trying to be arty, but it comes across as pretentious, confusing, and just plain boring. All the scenes that get cut for syndication, and they couldn't reduce any of this useless {{Padding}}?

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The idea of a man going insane when he learns he has a double from another universe and wants to kill said double at all costs is one of the more interesting concepts in the series. Unfortunately, the episode does little to effectively build upon it, primarily due to the fact that the audience doesn't even find out any of this until the last five minutes or so.

** When the Enterprise destroys Lazarus' ship the ships shadow is still visible.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Two of the Enterprise's dilithium crystals have been stolen, and Kirk immediately suspects Lazarus, who, earlier that day, begged Kirk to give them to him so he could kill his enemy. Also, Kirk and Spock have been growing increasingly suspicious of Lazarus' true intentions.\\
'''You'd Expect''': The crew to keep constant watch on Lazarus, who, by this point, is resting in Sick Bay. [=McCoy=] even says Lazarus is "not going anywhere. Not this time."\\
'''Instead''': [=McCoy=] and the others leave Sick Bay, leaving no one to keep guard on their potentially dangerous guest. Sure enough, Lazarus leaves Sick Bay and takes the other two crystals.
** Kirk is accidentally transported to an antimatter universe, where he meets a parallel version of Lazarus who, unlike his prime universe counterpart, is completely sane. Anti-Lazarus confirms what Kirk and Spock have feared; that if he and Lazarus come into contact, it would set off a chain reaction that would destroy both universes.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Assuming we take the rather spurious science at face value, that Kirk would stun Lazarus, drag him back to the Enterprise and then have the Enterprise destroy Lazarus's spaceship, which would sever the link to the antimatter universe. Alternatively, just kill Lazarus, which would be a justifiable action given that two whole universes are at stake.\\
'''Instead''': Kirk and Anti-Lazarus come up with a plan whereby Kirk throws Lazarus into the dimensional link, where Anti-Lazarus will hold him. The Enterprise then destroys Lazarus's spaceship, ending the threat from him... but also consigning Anti-Lazarus to spend the rest of his life (if not the rest of ''time'') having a fistfight with his insane counterpart.
** Assuming the idea of trapping both Lazarus in the corridor is the best course of action.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Kirk, Spock, and the two security guards present to stun insane Lazarus with a phaser or at least work together to overpower him and then get to a safe distance and have the Enterprise destroy the ship as soon as possible to prevent the possibility he gets by his counterpart.\\
'''Instead''': Kirk struggles with the madman alone, tells the others to stay back and not help, pushes him into the corridor, beams up to the ship, goes from the transporter room to the bridge, AND THEN orders them to fire on the ship.
*** The episode is a total turkey, but to be fair, when Kirk struggles with the madman and tells the others to stay back, he doesn't have time to explain to the others what's going on.
* WTHCostumingDepartment: Robert Brown seems to be wearing a different fake beard in just about every scene. (Which, given that he practically went from casting to shooting, since he was a last second recast when the originally cast John Berrymore didn't show up on the first day of filming, he might well have been...)
* CreatorBacklash: Gene Roddenberry reportedly disliked the idea of a threat to the entire universe in which the Enterprise just happens to be the [[TheOnlyOne the only ship in the quadrant]]. He felt that even the galaxy was far too big for something like that and discouraged such plots in future scripts. He did not want this to become [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed a habit every week]].

* CreatorBacklash: Gene Roddenberry reportedly disliked the idea of a threat to the entire universe in which the Enterprise just happens to be the [[The Only One the only ship in the quadrant]]. As a result, he discouraged any plots with threats that endangered the entire galaxy or even most of the galaxy. He did not want this to become [[TheWorldIsDoomed a habit every week]].

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Robert Brown seems to be wearing a different fake beard in just about every scene.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Robert Brown seems to be wearing a different fake beard in just about every scene.

* WhatAnIdiot: Two of the Enterprise's dilithium crystals have been stolen, and Kirk immediately suspects Lazarus, who, earlier that day, begged Kirk to give them to him so he could kill his enemy. Also, Kirk and Spock have been growing increasingly suspicious of Lazarus' true intentions.\\

*** Assuming the idea of trapping both Lazarus in the corridor is the best course of action.\\

** Assuming the idea of trapping both Lazarus in the corridor is the best course of action.\\

'''You'd Expect''':
** The crew to keep constant watch on Lazarus, who, by this point, is resting in Sick Bay. [=McCoy=] even says Lazarus is "not going anywhere. Not this time."\\

* WhatAnIdiot: Bones grabs the IdiotBall. They got Laz in sick bay. Bones says he's "not going anywhere. Not this time." after telling a muscley RedShirt to take a hike. Bones and Kirk then walk off, leaving Laz unattended. Bones even lingers by the doorway, as if trying to remember something he forgot. Oh yeah, he should've either tranqed or restrained the madman who was trying to steal the dilithium crystals!

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The idea of a man going insane when he learns he has a double from another universe and wants to kill said double at all costs is one of the more interesting concepts in the series. Unfortunately, the episode does little to effectively build upon it.

* WhatAnIdiot: Bones grabs the IdiotBall. They got Laz in sick bay. Bones says he's "not going anywhere. Not this time." after telling a muscley RedShirt to take a hike. Bones and Kirk then walk off, leaving Laz unattended. Bones even lingers by the doorway, as if trying to remember something he forgot. Oh yeah, he should've either tranqed or restrained the madman who was trying to steal the dilithium crystals!

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The idea of a man going insane when he learns he has a double from another universe and wants to kill said double at all costs is one of the more interesting concepts in the series. Unfortunately, the episode does little to effectively build upon it.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: That constant "winking" effect with the overlays of a nebula and two ghostly figures struggling against each other. It was probably trying to be arty, but it comes across as pretentious, confusing, and just plain boring. All the scenes that get cut for syndication, and they couldn't reduce any of this useless {{Padding}}?