"Turnabout Intruder," a Star Trek Memory

[Carolyn Marie]

"Turnabout Intruder" was the very last episode of the original series, with Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, et. al. It is widely derided as sexist, badly acted, and suggests that overly ambitious women are probably mentally unstable.

I was talking to a colleague today about Star Trek, and this episode popped into my mind. How many of you have seen it, or know about it? The memory brought back strong emotions, for reasons that will make sense to most of you.

The plot involves a brilliant and beautiful woman who was spurned by a young James Kirk. She harbors a lifelong resentment of his career, his power, his virility, and comes to hate her own body, which she considers to be a "prison" of sorts. Sound familiar, FtM's? She comes into possession of an alien device, that she tricks Kirk into, that switches her mind with his. He wakes up in a female body, and for most of the show, no one (rightly so) believes him when he says he is Kirk.

So why my strong memories of this? Not because it was Emmy Award material, for sure. Imagine how a trans teen would feel, seeing a character's male mind suddenly and "magically" put inside the body of a beautiful woman. Oh, my goodness, how I did daydream after watching that episode; imagining myself in Kirk's place, being put inside that body, and instead of wanting out, wanting more than anything to stay right there. Over and over again, I played that scenario inside my head, thinking how wonderful such a device would be, and how sad that it was just a T.V. show.

FtM's would, of course, identify with the female character, but only insofar as the desire to leave her body, not in a desire to hurt anyone else.

Fantasy can be a useful thing. It can inspire and instruct and give rise to dreams. I still don't have that machine, but I've achieved some measure of that dream that I had back in 1969. As for Kirk, he should never have given that body back. LOL!

HUGS

Carolyn Marie

[Guest Motormouth18]

I have the last season on DVD(I'm a huge trekkie). I'll have to dust it off, re-watch that particular episode, and then I'll give my feedback of it.

Most of TOS had women in situations/positions that I don't like/wouldn't want to be in.

[Guest fantomphlame]

I remember that episode so well. It always made me sad afterwards, but I always wanted to see it again anyway because of how much I longed to be released from my birth-assigned gender. When I was younger, my parents would do runs of their DVD set of the show, and I always wondered why that episode was taboo. Until I talked to them about people who have gender identity issues and learned what they thought of that.

But yes, it brings many contradictory feelings. It is largely sexist and annoying, but it does involve my ultimate dream of just magically waking up in a woman's body.

[Cyndee]

Yeah, I watched it as it first aired, and just about all them first run on Friday nights back then, except this episode first aired on a Tuesday. I was and always will be a "treky".

That episode hit my physci as a young person I was only 10 or 11, do I ever remember the fantasy of the body swap. As grew older and watched it later in life I realized how superficial the program really was, but wow just the fantasy of being somehow being changed into a woman, was extremely powerful for me. And now some 44 years later it's becoming reality. For me this was to be the future.....

Cyndi -

[Guest frida314]

In the same era, I reread "I Will Fear No Evil" by Robert A. Heinlein many times.

(Cut & pasted from Goodreads):

Johann Sebastian Bach Smith is immensely rich; and very old. His mind is still keen, so he has surgeons transplant his brain into a new body; the body of his gorgeous, recently deceased secretary, Eunice.

But Eunice hasn't completely vacated her body...

With what you've said about the Star Trek episode, I so much daydreamed living as Smith. At that time, I had not associated what was in my mind with what I could be in daily life. As I remember, the conversations Johann and Eunice, existing in one mind were deliciously witty. Thank you Carolyn, there was so much good sci fi then.

[Guest April Kristie]

I too grew up ensconced in the fantasy world of Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry was way ahead of his time and this perhaps well meaning but the very poorly acted episode did stick with me for a long time as well (Shatner you always were a major ham). Thank you Carolyn Marie for the reprise of the engram! I too felt that fantasy of the easy changeover to female, but did not like the woman they chose as the subject. I lived in an abusive household and her anger resonated differently for me. Male anger is a bugaboo I have tried to stay away from, hence the term so many placed on me of gentle giant, most never knew how really gentle! Finally, could we ever really think that this fantasy of changing over would be so easy? We all know how hard we have to work it to make it real!

[Carolyn Marie]

In the same era, I reread "I Will Fear No Evil" by Robert A. Heinlein many times.

(Cut & pasted from Goodreads):.

I love that novel. It's one of my favorites of Heinlein, probably for much the same reasons you gave, Frida. When you think about it (and there have been many threads here about this subject), fiction in books and film are filled with gender switching characters and situations. One has to wonder whether some of the authors were themselves trans. I'd bet on it.

HUGS

Carolyn Marie

[Guest LizMarie]

If some of those authors were not trans, I'd imagine they would have been receptive to trans folk.

[JJ]

This is the one episode of Star Trek I have only seen through a couple of times because I loathe it. I had not sat down and thought about it in a long time -nor did I analyze it at the time beyond feeling deeply insulted and offended by the portrayal of the woman. The unmistakable implication that wanting to be a man drove her mad and made her so unstable. Hysterical. I in no sense identified with her-it was Kirk I identified with -and felt there was nothing masculine about her at all. After the switch she was portrayed in the most sexist way any character in Star Trek ever was to me. Hysterical and both mentally and emotionally unable to handle command. Because she was a woman it was clear.

One thing I did wish was that such a machine existed because i was sure there were those who wanted a female body as I wanted a male ine. And I was sure I would not be a caricature of a man with a woman's brain either. She was no FTM. Not the way she was portrayed.

I wonder how other FTMs feel about the episode? I can see where there would be mixed feelings for many trans whether FTM or MTF seeing someone able to do what we longed to do but delivered with such a negative message about the female gender and the impact of the gender dysphoria we feel

Johnny

[Guest ~Brenda~]

Two to beam up Scotty....

[Guest Opal]

One of the premises of that last episode of TOS was that in Star Fleet, only males could ascend to the rank of Captain. This was even after the Russians had flown a woman into space. A 'transparent aluminum' ceiling, so to speak and to mix eras. It is not an episode that is shown regularly. I do not believe that the alien device used was ever brought up again in later Star Trek series, although TNG did have an episode about a planet that forced its people to live celibate lives and deny themselves any feelings of gender nor sexual attraction.

I, too, was quite fascinated with such a mind-switching device.

[Guest ValerieD]

One of the premises of that last episode of TOS was that in Star Fleet, only males could ascend to the rank of Captain.

That was never actually stated - the exact line is "your world of starship captains doesn't allow women", which could also be interpreted as frustration that captains are married to their ships and that any romance is secondary to command. Given that Lester was clearly mentally unstable, I don't think we can rely on her actions for any indication of Starfleet policy.

I have a feeling that Roddenberry had given up on doing any form of quality control by the point this episode was made. The sexism in this episode is very uncharacteristic of a series that was otherwise very progressive for its time.