The Alternative Factor

"The Alternative Factor" is a first season episode of '. It is episode #20, and was broadcast on March 23 1967. The episode was written by Don Ingalls, and directed by Gerd Oswald.

Trivia

Despite some of the impressive visual effects, (for the time), this episode is generally considered the worst of Star Trek's first season. There are reasons for this; John Drew Barrymore was originally cast as Lazarus, but on the morning filming began he was nowhere to be found. The part had to be recast in a hurry with Robert Brown. The producers filed a grievance with the Screen Actors Guild, which suspended Barrymore from employment in its jurisdiction for six months as punishment.

Related Topics:
John Drew Barrymore - Robert Brown - Grievance - Screen Actors Guild

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The original script also called for Lazarus to have a relationship with an African-American woman on the Enterprise crew. NBC, however, became leery of whether its affiliates in Southern states would broadcast the episode, and demanded rewrites both during production and afterwards. Ultimately, it was decided to edit that storyline out of the episode completely with the character reduced to a walk-on in one scene, and the storyline clearly suffered.

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Bloopers

• In the scene where Lazarus is being interrogated in the meeting room by Kirk, you will notice Lazarus' beard is wearing quite thin and losing hair, (some of it is sticking to his shoulder). In the next scene when they beam down to the planet, his beard is full again.
• Lazarus' spaceship has a plastic dome on top, however In the scenes where Kirk crosses dimensions and talks to the "sane" Lazarus, (as seen in the sample picture above), the dome of Lazarus' spaceship is missing. A wider shot shows it lying on the ground behind the ship.
• Starfleet has received reports of time disruptions from "all over the galaxy and far beyond." All other episodes suggest that there is no Starfleet presence outside the galaxy