Excellent writing and dialog by Richard Matheson explores two examples of duality in this episode. The obvious one deals with Captain Kirk, who's negative side gives him the power to be a leader, and is a necessary counterweight to his introspective but indecisive half. But wasn't in interesting to hear Spock explain how his own intelligence wins out over his human and alien selves?
Obviously, with all the trouble keeping track of the doppelganger Kirk, it looked like no one was left in charge of the prop department. The 'phony' Kirk arrived on board the Enterprise without an insignia on his shirt, but showed up with one in subsequent scenes. Similarly, when negative Kirk challenges positive Kirk on the bridge, the scratches have moved to the right side of his face. I always wonder why obvious mistakes like this aren't caught by someone that's part of the creative process.
You have to admit, Shatner seems to be having a grand old time in this one. It seems to me it would be more fun to play a villain than a hero, even if the hero (almost) always makes it to the end of the picture. Gene Roddenberry stepped out on a limb with this story, exploring as he did the topic of rape, and even though it involved the villainous Kirk, it was till shocking to see Shatner in that role. Also interesting to see how much screen time Grace Lee Whitney got in these early stories as Yeoman Rand. When I was watching these shows in random reruns during the Eighties, you didn't get the sense that she was such a key figure in the early first season episodes.
Obviously, with all the trouble keeping track of the doppelganger Kirk, it looked like no one was left in charge of the prop department. The 'phony' Kirk arrived on board the Enterprise without an insignia on his shirt, but showed up with one in subsequent scenes. Similarly, when negative Kirk challenges positive Kirk on the bridge, the scratches have moved to the right side of his face. I always wonder why obvious mistakes like this aren't caught by someone that's part of the creative process.
You have to admit, Shatner seems to be having a grand old time in this one. It seems to me it would be more fun to play a villain than a hero, even if the hero (almost) always makes it to the end of the picture. Gene Roddenberry stepped out on a limb with this story, exploring as he did the topic of rape, and even though it involved the villainous Kirk, it was till shocking to see Shatner in that role. Also interesting to see how much screen time Grace Lee Whitney got in these early stories as Yeoman Rand. When I was watching these shows in random reruns during the Eighties, you didn't get the sense that she was such a key figure in the early first season episodes.