10 More Classic Star Trek Episodes Based On Real-Life Events

Feminism in one form or another goes back at least as far as the suffragette movement of the 19th century. Since Rosie the Riveter in World War II, the discussion had revolved around the idea of women working in traditionally male jobs, such as riveters, longshoremen, and now Starship captains.

Turnabout Intruder begins with the bizarre proposition that women are prohibited from commanding Federation starships. (the episode strongly implies this, but leaves a little wiggle room, while the Blish novelization states it explicitly). In 1968, women were unable to command combat vessels, mainly because women didn't serve in combat at all. Whatever you think of that arrangement, it didn’t correspond to Star Trek’s premise that women could serve on the Enterprise, but not command it.

Dr. Janice Lester tries to fight this situation, not with pickets and protest marches, but by using alien bodyswap technology to take Kirk’s place, by actually putting her own mind into Kirk’s body and vice versa. Lester’s chances of getting away with this deception long-term are nil. She hasn’t had Kirk’s years of training, and is mentally unstable to boot, as shown by the fact that she has Spock, McCoy and Scotty facing illegal death sentences shortly after taking command.

Of course, Janice Lester is just one nutty, fictional individual. Her actions don’t really reflect on anyone else… Except that since the episode is clearly Trek’s commentary on women’s lib, some reviewers can and have gotten the idea that the show’s message is that women want to do these jobs, but ultimately can’t handle them.

Oh well, this was the last episode. Maybe they were forced to use a script from some hack writer who didn’t understand the series. The story was by someone named Rodden… berry… Hmmmm…