Lazarus (Robert Brown) was a troubledStar Trekcharacter whose desperate need to save the galaxy unwittingly turned him into an enemy that only his alternative counterpart could defeat. Yet, none of this was apparent when the Enterprise crew first encountered Lazarus inStar Trek: The Original Series. He initially just seemed like a disturbed man with a weird little beard. However, he alsostood out by being uniquely namedafter a major figure in the Christian Bible.
The crew had no idea that he was locked in a battle of epic proportions — with himself. They were completing a scientific survey of an uncharted planet in season 1, episode 27, “The Alternative Factor” when something very powerful rocked the ship two times. It left Captain Kirk (William Shatner) in an uncharacteristic state of panic as he demanded answers from his First Officer. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) explained that each time it was like the galaxy itself was on the verge of “winking out.” Even more odd? The previously uninhabited planet they’d been studying suddenly had a human on its surface.
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Starfleet Versus the Unknown
Captain Kirk did what all good Starfleet officers inStar Trekdo, and took an away team down for further investigation. First, they found a ship. Then they found its owner yelling from a hilltop about how it wasn’t “too late” and they still had time “to stop him,” before passing out. While it was unclear who he was or what he was talking about, the captain quickly realized that the Enterprise was still in the danger zone.
The ship was getting dangerously close to not having enough Dilithium to power its engines. In fact, Captain Kirk learned through a video conference with Commodore Barstow (Richard Derr) that all of Starfleet had been rocked by the same bizarre phenomenon. The commodore left the Enterprise in charge of figuring out what was happening and how to stop it. It was time to sit down for a face-to-face with the strange man himself.
Lazarus Versus Anti-Lazarus
“The Alternative Factor” isn’t exactlyone of the saddest episodes ofStar Trek, but the implications of its ending were kind of depressing. Lazarus turned out to be a scientist fighting an alternative version of himself he met while using an alternative warp to explore an alternative universe.The Original Seriesnever explored this concept further. Even in the episode itself, the reasoning behind the strange phenomenon was little more than sci-fi mumbo jumbo. It did, however, shed light on why Lazarus seemed to shift wildly between emotions while talking to everyone from Captain Kirk to Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley).
He was constantly shifting between his level-headed self and the hothead anti-Lazarus unknowingly sharing his body. They were locked in a battle of cosmic proportions, and it was literally tearing the galaxy apart. Fortunately, Lazarus eventually understood that stopping anti-Lazarus meanttrapping them both in the alternative timeline. They would be forever stuck in conflict, or as Captain Kirk puts it:
“[…] at each other’s throats throughout time.”
Lazarus replies:
“Is it such a large price to pay [for] the safety of two universes?”
Not The Mirror Universe
It would be easy to assume that the ‘Lazarus vs Anti-Lazarus’ situation was a precursor to the mirror verse. After all, it had a character discover a different version of themselves while exploring a world both the same as their own, but drastically different at the same time. Yet, apparently, the alternate universe and the mirror verse are two totally different concepts. The biggest difference seems to be that the mirror verse can exist without disrupting the original timeline.
Meanwhile, merely knowing about the alternate universe drove Lazarus to paranoid delusions that anti-Lazarus would bring about the destruction of his entire world. It left himstubbornly making increasingly dumb choicesand taking unnecessarily drastic actions, like attacking Lt. Charlene Masters (Janet MacLachlan) while trying to steal dilithium crystals.The Original Serieslater introduced the mirror verse in season 2, episode 4, “Mirror, Mirror.” It was full of drama and backstabbing, but at no point did the act of entering it drive anyone toward hysteria. It just left them a little traumatized and a lot more grateful for their original universe.
An Unpopular Episode
Star Trekhas a long history of boldly going where no other show has gone before. From series to series, the franchise takes chances on off-the-cuff episodes that either stick the landing or fumble the plot entirely. “The Alternative Factor” will probably never appear on anymainstream list discussing the best episodesofThe Original Series. In fact, it’s more likely to pop up when the focus is on the worst episodes the series had to offer. Many fans felt that the episode didn’t make sense, lacked substance, and was just boring.
It’s not the first to receive harsh criticism, but it’s one of the few that has never enjoyed a renaissance of changed hearts (like, for example, season 2, episode 7, “Cat’s Paw”). That being said, many individualStar Trekfans enjoy it on their own. They know that being a Trekkie sometimes means taking the drab with the exciting and the convoluted with the complex. Like Lazarus, they’ve learned to embrace the duality of their favorite franchise, even if it means locking themselves in endless combat with the parts of it they didn’t enjoy as much as others.
Lazarus was too consumed in destroying the alternate version of himself — until he wasn’t. Then he realized that only he could stop anti-Lazarus by sacrificing himself for a higher cause. It’s ironic that “The Alternative Factor” is strongly disliked by so manyStar Trekfans, because the ending is a lofty representation of the series itself. Instead of a concrete enemy and an easily solvable problem, it delved into the existential. It brought up complex questions about identity and how it takes moral strength to put the needs of the many over the needs of the one (or the few).
One might even argue thatStar Trekshould bring the character back, at least for an update on his containment with anti-Lazarus. Lazarus was a troubled man fighting to prevent galaxy-wide disaster – or so he thought. Even the worst version of himself was trying to achieve something good, although his methods left much to desire. Lazarus was many things in his briefStar Trekappearance. Most of all, though, he was just a guy having a really terrible day.
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