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List Price: $19.99 | | Label: CBS Paramount International Television
Salesrank: 57856
Released: February 13, 2001 |
| Our Price: $24.99 |
| Used Price: $4.46 |
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MPAA Rating:
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
"Mirror, Mirror," Ep. 39 - Beamed up during an ion storm, Kirk and the landing party find themselves in a mirror universe aboard a U.S.S. Enterprise run by ruthless barbarians. "The Deadly Years," Ep. 40 - A landing party from the U.S.S. Enterprise becomes ill with a fatal aging disease and Chekov is the only one unaffected. Spock and McCoy search for a remedy using him as a guinea pig.
Description of Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 20, Episodes 39 & 40: Mirror Mirror/ The Deadly Years:
"Mirror, Mirror"
When their mission to secure a mineral trade ends in failure, a freak ion storm catches Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty in mid-beam-up and sends them to a parallel dimension where Federation leaders are as ruthless as the Klingons, and Star Fleet promotions are attained by assassination. They find themselves on an alternate Enterprise, peopled with evil counterparts to the people they know (all attired in glittery, glam-rock uniforms), including most famously an evil, goateed Spock whom Kirk must convince to overthrow the empire. Kirk and his landing party try to fit in with this crew of villains who are threatening with annihilation the planet where the mineral trade went sour, while searching for a way back to their world and fending off assassination attempts. Mirror, Mirror achieves the best of what Star Trek is capable, which is to say space opera brought to a high pitch by melodrama. Everyone appears to be having great fun turning their characters to the dark side, especially George Takei, whose evil Sulu beams when making his assassination attempt against Captain Kirk, and Leonard Nimoy, who makes Spock's shift from the meditative logician to the ruthless goateed one seem, well, quite logical. This episode in particular fueled popular culture in such a way that in some circles it is now impossible to sport a goatee without being called "the evil Spock." The story of the evil Spock is continued in the Deep Space Nine episode Crossover. --Jim Gay
"The Deadly Years"
While on the planet Gamma Hydra IV, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty are infected with an unknown disease that causes premature aging. The only member of the party unaffected is Chekov (Walter Koenig), who becomes McCoy's guinea pig while searching for a cure back on the Enterprise. A nifty idea with some poignant overtones, the story by David P. Harmon startles a viewer with the sight of these familiar folks rapidly graying, wrinkling, weakening, and suffering memory loss. At the same time, Harmon is careful to age each character as a unique individual. Kirk slows down more than the longer-lived Spock, while McCoy remains mentally keen, if physically brittle. As for poor Scotty, well...
The dramatic subtext in "The Deadly Years" concerns the perennial conflict over when and how to decide that someone has become too old to execute crucial responsibilities. In that sense, this episode feels constantly relevant and uniquely entertaining: let's just say some of these actors play "old" a little better than others. (Director Joseph Pevney has reported that there was a lot of conflict over who was stealing old-guy moves from whom.) With all this going on, one might not notice that guest star Charles Drake is a truly familiar face, having been cast in The Maltese Falcon and Now, Voyager. --Tom Keogh
Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 20, Episodes 39 & 40: Mirror Mirror/ The Deadly Years Reviews:
Star trek Mirror, Mirror! 
2008-03-15 - I think is one the most interesting episodes of the Star Trek:TOS! Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror is a fantastic! In the Star Trek Mirror Universe, their is no Federation. It is called the Empire! Spock has a beard! The Enterprise crew acts evil and barbaric! This is alternate reality where Human beings and Aliens behave differently. I think this Star Trek episode is great! I Highly Recommend it! A
This was a really great episode
2007-04-05 - I saw this episode when it was first shown in 1967 and I loved it then. It inspired me to write a 266 page novel of my own, based on but not like this program. Over the years I watched it every chance I got and kept looking for a copy of my own. I was delighted when I found it on Amazon and ordered it immediately. The idea of another universe existing alongside our on in another dimension has always appealed to me and, I found this one really intriguing and great to watch. I wish they had done some follow ups, it would have been interesting to follow the exploits of that other Mr.Spock and Captain Kirk on their voyages for the Empire. I would reccommend this one to every Star Trek fan. It is simply fantastic.
Not Among the Stronger Eps of the Second Season but Interesting Nonetheless! 
2006-10-24 - If you are picking and choosing the volumes to keep, this one falls into the "nice to have but not essential" category, the others being "essential" and "don't waste your money". The interesting thing about "Mirror, Mirror" despite the stretch of credibility it requires from the viewer to accept is that the concept is revisited on at least a couple of Deep Space Nine episodes years later. Still, as an overall episode, this is the more entertaining of the two on this volume.
"The Deadly Years" just like its theme of old age seems to drag on a little although the sub plot of a competency hearing for Captain Kirk was quite entertaining. Otherwise, we have at best two average episodes that you won't miss in your collection.
The deadly Years
2006-03-02 - One of my favorite episodes from the original series. The story deals with radiation sickness, it is not scientically acurate, but an excellent story regardles. The landing party ages 30 years for every day after being contaminated by a low dose of radiation.
Also using this episode to write a paper about radaition sick. Comparing a fictional story to reality and this episode makes for good writing. A double bonus!
Excellent Moral Drama
2005-11-19 - Spock is the constant in both universes: warlike tensions and forces surpressed by principles of logic and wisdom, an intellectual powerhouse in both universes. Spock offers wisdom. Most advanced and civilized societies have histories of brutality, conquest, and imperilism. Spock rational viewpoints seem neural in Universe that has migrated towards imperilism, militarism, and universal dominance.
This episode introduces the first rip in the space-time continum and poses the possibility of infinite alternate realities coexisting simulateously. On the time side, future episodes will explore more fully this rip in time, as Picard moves through time and problem solving with Data at different points in time. However, in Mirror/Mirror a moral diploma not physics theory is unreveling.
The Enterprise encounters an ion storm and while beam down to the Hulkins, they switch places with identities of an alternative Universe. The Alternate Universe is imperilistic, antagonistic, and forceful. In the Alternate Universe power, glory, and strength are worship and command structure advanced is through assassination by lower ranking officers. Captain Kirk has managed to maintain supreme power by a weapon of emmense power given too him by an alien race and with this video interface weapon, he has been able to locate his enemies and vaporize them. No opponent dare oppose Captain Kirk because that would mean annihilation. The Hulkins are a peaceful people driven by a deep morality code too preserve the peace. The Hulkins tell Captain Kirk, they can not give the Federation Dialithium mining rights because the Federation would use the power generated by the crystals for war and destruction. This information did not set well with the Alterate Federation council and a decision was made too destroy the Hulkins and take the crystals by Force.
Jim orders in the alternate universe instruct him to destroy the Hulkins. Spock is order to kill Kirk, if he fail in destorying the Hulkins and Sulu order to kill Spock should Spock fail in his assignment. Spock eventual deduces that the original landing party has been acting strange and engages in hand to hand combat, in which, he is fatally wounded; McCoy is allowed to remain for five minutes to save Spocks life; Spock revives and mind melds, gaining an exact understanding of the other Universe. Jim soldifies the moral debate with Spock before switch back too his universe. Kirk asks Spock how many years until the Hulkin Revolt. Spock tells Kirk, "five year". "What is the outcome?", "The rebellion will be crushed", "In every generation there must be one who is the voice of revolution" "A man must have the power" "In my quarters is a machine of emmense power", "Indeed", "Consider the useless of waste". The moral illogic of imperilism is that control comes at a high cost in human lives. War is wasteful, war only serves self interest, this is wasteful. Consider the possibility that there exists an infinite resource of energy, energy that does not come at the cost of human lives. Vulcan the God of fire and warfare yielding too the promise of infinite energy and infinite human diversity with a morality too use this energy peacefully producing long term responsibility and abundant utility from human prosperity.
