After The Original Series' Terrible Finale, Star Trek Avoided A Sci-Fi Trope For 53 Years

After the terrible series finale of Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek avoided using a popular sci-fi story trope for 53 years. With over 900 episodes of television under its belt, it's not surprising that new Star Trek shows call back to some of the greatest hits. Star Trek's streaming era has revisited tropes that are staples of science fiction, from time loops and evil twins to rogue robots and alien empires. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds does this particularly well, acknowledging tropes that Star Trek invented by exploring genres and revisiting old story ideas.

The series finale of Star Trek: The Original Series, "Turnabout Intruder", is one of the worst episodes of Star Trek from across the entire franchise. In it, Dr. Janice Lester (Sandra Smith), an old flame of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), uses a device to swap her mind into Kirk's body, and vice versa, in order to become Captain of the USS Enterprise. It's clear to everyone, but especially to Spock (Leonard Nimoy), that Kirk is definitely not himself. When Lester refuses to undo the swap, Kirk returns to his own body through sheer force of will.

It Took 53 Years For Star Trek To Do Another Body Swap After Star Trek: The Original Series' Finale

And Then 2022 Had Two Star Trek Body Swap Episodes

For 53 years, the terrible Star Trek: The Original Series finale motivated Star Trek to avoid the sci-fi trope of characters swapping bodies — but that changed in 2022, when Star Trek released two body-swap episodes. On June 2, 2022, Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 5, "Spock Amok" swapped Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) with his fiancée, T'Pring (Gia Sandhu), using a Vulcan katra-sharing ritual gone awry. Later, Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 18, "Mindwalk", put Dal R'El (Brett Gray) and Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) in each other's bodies via Dal's botched telepathy on December 15, 2022.

It's weird that Star Trek did two body-swap episodes in the same year, but TOS's "Turnabout Intruder" was such a bad episode that avoiding the body-swap trope for more than 50 years is pretty justified. Even before accounting for the blatant sexism that makes it a bad Star Trek storyline, "Turnabout Intruder" is silly and poorly written. It's never clear whether Dr. Janice Lester's motivation for taking over Kirk's body is actually vengeance (as an ex), jealousy (because Kirk loves the Enterprise), or ambition (because Lester wants to be a captain).

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds & Star Trek: Prodigy Improved On The Original Series' Captain Kirk Body Swap

Why Star Trek's First Body Swap Episode Was So Bad

Thankfully, Strange New Worlds and Prodigy both improve upon Captain Kirk's body swap with Janice Lester in TOS. In the newer episodes, the accidental body swaps are not only funny — they solve the characters' problems. Strange New Worlds' "Spock Amok" uses the body swap's illogical hijinks to give Spock and T'Pring's doomed relationship a temporary boost, because they understand each other better afterward. Prodigy swaps Dal and Janeway to get around the Protostar crew's inability to use subspace comms, and Kate Mulgrew and Brett Gray play each other's characters hilariously.

"Turnabout Intruder" never does what Trek's later body-swap stories did best, which is making either Kirk or Lester change after their experiences in each other's bodies. Janice Lester bridges the stereotypes of "mad scientist" and "hysterical woman," but has no real depth, only a single-minded idea that she's going to take over Kirk's life. While it's entertaining to watch Shatner-as-Lester thoroughly devour TOS's scenery before it's dismantled, there's not much point to "Turnabout Intruder," which ends with Lester being carted away by medical staff, while Kirk presumably goes back to business as usual.

Strange New Worlds & Prodigy Didn't Plan To Make 2 Star Trek Body Swap Episodes

Different Star Trek Shows Using The Same Premise In 2022 Was A Coincidence

Interestingly, Strange New Worlds and Prodigy probably didn't plan to do two Star Trek body-swap episodes in the same year. Discussions about Star Trek: Prodigy's potential third season with producers Kevin and Dan Hageman indicate that the animated episodes are written at least two years in advance of appearing on our screens. Unless they're working with the same characters, Star Trek series don't usually have reason to share their story beats. Strange New Worlds wouldn't know Prodigy had already planned a body swap, so 2022's double dose of Star Trek body swaps had to be a coincidence.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter that Star Trek reused the body swap plot in both Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, because both of the newer Star Trek episodes are well-written, funny chapters in shows with ongoing stories. Even though Star Trek: The Original Series' "Turnabout Intruder" put a stain on the body swap trope that was best avoided, Prodigy and Strange New Worlds update old Star Trek tropes with modern storytelling techniques. Now, when Star Trek characters see through each other's literal eyes, the episodes have a lasting, positive impact on the characters and fans alike.