The Enemy Within

Judging from those clips I've seen on YouTube over the years, I walked into 'The Enemy Within' expecting high theatricality. And there is that, certainly, but it's not the whole episode; far from it. Captain Kirk is split into two different people - those two halves of himself, reasonable compassion and violent animal - after beaming aboard the ship, while the lives of a landing party hang in the balance planetside.

But it's not just an excuse to see dramatically lit Shatner go to town on the scenery ("I'm Captain Kirk! I'M CAPTQAIN KIIIRK!"). And even though some of that silliness adds a bit of fun to this episode, it's more interesting as a study of the duality of our favorite starship captain. It's a great character, and we see how one half isn't Kirk without the other.

And it's got some established sci-fi cred in the writing department. Does this mean we can credit Richard Matheson(!) as the pioneer of the Transporter accident, Star Trek's favorite plot gimmick?

Either way, great episode.

8/10