One of the most enduring concepts that Star Trek ever created was the “mirror universe”. It’s one of my favorites and why not? The premise that our heroes are savages who will kill to get what they want is fascinating. It’s a chance to see our favorite characters out of character and having a little fun. Rather than review one episode, I decided to quickly run through all of them.
Mirror, Mirror
Honestly the idea of parallel universes had its start in universe in a better forgotten episode from season 1. Of course it was this episode written by Jerome Bixby that got the train going. Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura are sent to a parallel world thanks to a transporter accident. And we get Spock with a beard, a nasty version of Sulu and Chekov first on scene scream! I kid but this episode is wonderful, and I’ve seen it a million times. Yeah it drags a little in the Marlena scenes but for the most part the episode is a wonderful break from normal TOS.
By the way some media coumt "The Tholian Web" for reasons I will explain below. I do not.
Next Generation have no mirror stories. On screen anyway, more below. So let’s jump to DS9.
Crossover
As I’ve said before there was no internet then so I had no idea this episode is happening (today there’d be announcements weeks in advance). So I was pleasantly surprised to see not only was it a mirror episode, but a true follow up to the original even dropping references to Kirk and Spock. I also like they did something different with the idea, with Terran’s being slave labor. Nana Visitor had a blast being “evil” Kira while we had both Odo and Quark killed off. Though at least they didn’t force every character in so we get no evil Bashir or Dax. Here. Just a fun fun episode.
Through the Looking Glass
The follow up came a year later with Sisko being the main character this time. The mirror universe recruits him to replace there Sisko who was killed. We get a mirror Bashir and Dax this time but they both work. And bonus we get mirror Tuvok!! Now that’s stunt casting I can get behind. The plot is Sisko rescuing the mirror version of his late wife and it’s…ok. It sorta falls flat in the end. I do like how wince there counterparts were killed the episode starts with Odo and Quark for no reason.
Shattered Mirror
The follow up to the previous, and it’s a decent one. Has a much better ending at least. One of the best space battles ever. This time Jake is dragged into the mix, I guess the creators realized fresh eye were needed to keep it from getting to stale. We also get evil Worf and Michael Dorn having way too much fun. Siskos wife is killed in this one but knowing it’s not really her I can’t really be torn up about it.
Resurrection
Season six began with a long war arc showing the Federation fighting the Dominion. At the end of the arc DS9 is recaptured in a very big episode. So it was inevitable that the next episode would be terrible. And this is. It’s boring and has no effect on anything. The idea of the mirror Kira coming to the prime universe is fine, but man is it badly done.
The Emporer's New Cloak
For some reason I’ll never know it was decided that the final mirror episode should double as a Ferengi episode. And it’s only ok. Yeah making Quark and Rom the viewpoint characters was different (especially since mirror Quark appeared only once). Rom even comments on the inconsistencies with the “mirror” universe. But the story is only ok and it doesn’t provide the resolution of the “mirror” episodes id have liked. And Vic Fontaine? Cmon!!
Voyager had no Mirror episode which was for the best. The closest we got was the episode “Living Witness” where revisionist history portrays the crew as psychotic mass murderers. For more on that check out my whole review.
As for Enterprise…
In a Mirror, Darkly
One of the few episodes I really liked even though I admit aspects of it are a little silly. The endless Gorn padding in part two for instance or the over the top acting. However not only is this a mirror episode it’s also a sequel to “The Tholian Web” and it works! Of course seeing the old Bridge and TOS effects just make it better. I also love how more relaxed Jolene Blalok seems out of her usual T’Pol outfit and wig. I love it despite the flaws, in fact the episode one me over right at the start with the recreation of first contact followed by an amazing “mirror” opening sequence.
And...ok I can't ignore it so let's get into this.
Discovery didn't just do an episode, they did an episode arc! That’s cool and I’ve heard good things but as I’ve mentioned many times now, I never got into Discovery. Id be tempted to check it out except for things. It’s like six episodes im not sitting through that! And more importantly since I’ve never watched the show all the references and callbacks would be totally lost on me.
Now I don’t usually cover expanded media but the mirror universe has been explored and explored in it. I can’t tell you how many stories ive read about what happened when “evil” Kirk returned to his Enterprise (yes I saw the episode of the fan series and it was….interesting).
There are a ton of stories out there, even video games
Here are three that I’m familiar with
The Mirror Universe Saga
Dark Mirror
I tried but hated this book. I was hooked by the idea we never got, a Next Generation mirror story. It follows some similar tones from the above comic, that the Empire is having trouble expanding and needs to conquer the prime universe, but is mostly forgettable. The worst thing is that it’s a book so a lot of the fun of a mirror story (seeing our character out of character) is lost.
Broken Mirror
Finally we get a more proper Mirror story. I say that because this came out after DS9 so the narrative ties into those episodes. It’s worth a read especially for Borg Data. I said the book didn’t work because we couldn’t see the characters. At least here we have pictures which helps.
The mirror universe is one of Treks biggest influences, everyone knows about how “evil” Spock had a goatee. It’s fun and dark and will endure for as long as the franchise does.
No comments:
Post a Comment