Dec

4

As a youth growing up in the buckeye state, I was quite fascinated with Science Fiction and the cutting edge television programs of the day. I had great interest in such programs as the Outer Limits, Rod Serling’s The Night Gallery and the Twilight Zone, and of course the most enduring of them all Star Trek.

Recently, I have noticed the return of the Star Trek original series to television, most notably CW 18. I have had the pleasure of reliving a most pleasant aspect of my youth by watching reruns of the 1966 series that ran for 3 years and spawned countless spin-offs and millions of Trekkies around the world..

One of my favorite episodes is season one episode five. This is the episode where the transporter malfunctions and splits objects into two personalities. After captain Kirk is beamed aboard, a few minutes later an evil Kirk materializes behind him unknown to those on the Starship.

When a space animal is beamed aboard the starship and splits into two entities; one tame and one vicious, it is discovered that the same thing has happened to Kirk. While one Kirk is good and honorable, the other is evil and runs amok on his ship, committing violent acts, including the attempted assault of Yeoman Janice Rand.

Meanwhile, the transporter continues to split objects into two entities, thus forcing the remainder of the ship’s landing party to remain on the planet’s surface. Alfa 177’s approaching night promises certain death from exposure and freezing temperatures to the unprotected landing party.

As time passes, the “good” Kirk is weakening, losing his ability to make decisions, while his “evil” half is dying. Neither Kirk can survive without his other half. Time is running out, not only for Captain Kirk, but for the landing party on the planet’s surface.

Scotty effects repairs on the transporter, but there’s no time to test it. McCoy is fearful because the “space dog” which had been split earlier, had gone through the repaired transporter and, while joined into one animal, was dead. Kirk takes the chance and beams down with his counterpart and returns to the U.S.S. Enterprise whole and alive. Quickly the landing party is beamed aboard, worse for the cold, but alive.

I find this episode most fascinating because it reveals the fact that deep inside us is a good half and a bad half. Ironically neither can survive without the other. This constant war within keeps us alive and vibrant and it is the delicate balance that allows us to make decisions and judgments. It also allows us to call upon the “good half” or the “evil half” predicated upon the circumstances at the time to effect the most positive outcome to an event.

This lesson is particularly important to Speculators that in order to perform at the highest level one needs to learn to call upon the various “halves” to effectuate the highest return on our invested capital.

I would like to hear from others who might have a favorite Star Trek episode that they find remarkable and share a present day use for the lessons learned from it.


Comments

Name

Email

Website

Speak your mind

Archives

Resources & Links

Search