Star Trek: 10 Episodes That Are UNWATCHABLE Now
8. Turnabout Intruder
Turnabout Intruder is another episode that was bound to be on a list like this, though it is a more frustrating entry. William Shatner, as Janice Lester as James T. Kirk, is acting his pants off here, truly selling it for the back seats. There is a lot of fun to be found in this final episode of The Original Series, though then - that final line ruins everything.
Head canon has done a lot of work in retconning Kirk’s closing assertion - her life could have been as rich as any woman’s…if only… This inadvertently became the final line of Star Trek, referencing Lester’s madness, brought about by her exclusion from Starfleet on the basis of her sex. In short - in 1969, women couldn’t become Starship captains.
Enterprise quickly changed that, introducing Captain Erica Hernandez of the NX-02 Columbia, and thank the great bird for that, because for a show that was as progressive as Star Trek was, that was a curiously strange, regressive inclusion. Gene Roddenberry had been removed from active involvement in Trek by that point, with Fred Freiberger stepping in as show runner. Whatever the exact logic behind the line, its placement in Star Trek history immediately ensured it became infamous.
When rewatching Star Trek, there are some episodes that are ‘so bad they’re good,’ with Spock’s Brain easily falling into that camp. It’s nonsense, but it’s harmless. There are those stinkers like And The Children Shall Lead, while some other episodes are simply dull. Turnabout Intruder is sadly misogynistic, it’s the final episode, and it was a low point for the show. If one was to watch it, we suggest watching it out of order. Try not to leave that taste in your mouth before moving on to Beyond The Farthest Star.