#Star trek turnabout intruder series

Shatner immediately fell ill, and has commented in more recent years that he suspects that, in an example of a phenomenon many have experienced, his immune system simply gave in at the prospect of his hectic work schedule coming to a sudden end. Paramount would no longer have to pay him to prep the shooting of an episode that would never go before the cameras. While his status as the series’ star, and an ally of producer Fred Freiberger in difficult times, may have meant him being informed early anyway, letting Shatner in on the bad news was just another opportunity to save money. William Shatner was due to direct the next episode scheduled for production, Theodore Sturgeon’s 'The Joy Machine', which would now not be happening. Not everyone was informed as soon as the decision was made, with senior crew being told before the cast.

#Star trek turnabout intruder series

With most episodes of Star Trek taking a week to film, the series cast and crew were suddenly days from being out of work, while still having to put together, for one last time, an hour-long episode of one of the most technically complex series yet made for American television. When turning down a fourth season of Star Trek NBC also cut their losses and reined back their current order from 26 to 24, although pre-production on the season’s back two was relatively advanced. To many involved it probably felt like a mercy killing when, in very early January 1969, Star Trek was finally cancelled during the production of 'Turnabout Intruder', the 24th episode of that third season.

Perhaps more seriously, the programme constantly suffered from budget difficulties created by network NBC’s frequent refusal to tell producers Paramount exactly how many episodes of Star Trek they required of them or release funds to allow those that they wanted to be made. The series had limped through a third season that saw all of the programme’s remaining original production staff depart, and loud, and often public, fan disapproval of the series’ current direction. At best, 'Turnabout Intruder' is a cautionary example, and at worst, it's the embodiment of everything the show was supposed to be against.Star Trek’s final episode was not an event, not in the way those of its spin-offs have been. It’s earned a place at the bottom of the heap. It’s perhaps a small blessing that circumstances limited its initial viewership, but Star Trek’s subsequent ascent to the heights of pop culture allowed its unpleasantness to come along. “Turnabout Intruder” completes a sad descent from that original moment, depicting women as crazed, hysterical lunatics blinded by uncontrolled emotion. Even The Orginal Series' first pilot, “ The Cage,” was rejected in part because it portrayed a woman in a position of authority on the Enterprise.

Systemic sexism was inescapable at the time. To that, “Turnabout Intruder” adds a healthy amount of sexual jealousy, portraying Janice as mad with hatred for Kirk over his rejection of her years ago. Not even “Spock’s Brain” ascribed insanity to a woman aspiring to leadership, nor did it infer that a woman could not do the job once she had it. Once she has it, she’s unable to execute it properly, arousing the suspicion of the crew immediately with her “irrational” and manic commands. Janice Lester, afflicted with radiation-based madness, plots to swap places with Kirk to become captain. Subsequent shows have thankfully ignored the line, but it’s key to the episode drama since it explains the antagonist’s intense jealousy toward Kirk. However, it pales before “Turnabout Intruder,” which starts with the apparently canonical assertion that women can’t serve as captains in Starfleet.