10 Most Controversial Star Trek Episodes

This Richard Matheson-penned script arrives early enough in The Original Series's run, giving us both the cutest little alien dog ever and the Vulcan nerve pinch as well. It also gives us one of the worst scenes involving Spock in the entire franchise, as well as an extremely questionable approach to dealing with sexual assault.

In her autobiography, Janice Rand actress Grace Lee Whitney recalled that the episode was a minefield of trauma. She recalled William Shatner slapping her across the face to encourage her to get into the distressed state of mind the scene called for. She also felt that the final lines delivered by Spock were among the cruelest that he had ever uttered.

For this, she placed the blame at Matheson's feet. Spock comments that there were 'many interesting things' about the evil double of Kirk. As Whitney put it, what crueler thing could be said to a victim of assault, about the perpetrator?

Whitney posited that there was an assumption, among some males in the world, that women really do 'want' to be raped. Therefore, these closing lines would suggest that Spock was one of these men, which she felt was entirely out of character.

The episode is often lauded as one of the strongest of The Original Series's debut year, despite this approach to discussing assault.