RTR Blog: Matt's Favourite Doppelgangers

Many years ago when I was in high school, I had a doppelganger. His name was Joel. He was two grades below me, looked like me and was on the wrestling team. Other than that, I knew nothing about him. Which of us was good and which was evil is certainly a matter of debate (and would probably depend on who you ask), but nonetheless, we existed.

As Andrew and I discussed in the opening of episode 21 of RTR, there have been many doppelgangers introduced in various ways over the course of Star Trek. "Mirror, Mirror" of the Original Series introduced us to an entire universe of doppelgangers, a universe explored (too) extensively in Deep Space Nine, featured wonderfully in Enterprise and most recently visited by the crew of the Discovery. There were also transporter accidents, clones and other shenanigans that resulted in alternate versions of our heroes. I mentioned a few off the top of my head that I liked and upon further thought, I give you my more thought out list of favourite Star Trek doppelgangers.

Thomas Riker ("Second Chances" TNG, "Defiant" DS9)

I start the list with a classic transporter accident which leaves a copy of Riker stranded on a research station for seven years. The older Riker encounters his double when the Enterprise returns to the research station to upload the stations data during a rare atmospheric window in which the surface is accessible. I really liked the conflict between the young raw and the older, more seasoned and mellow self. The younger Riker was daring and wanted to take all kinds of risks to complete the mission while the older wiser Riker insisted on taking precautions. The copy, known by the end of the episode as Thomas Riker, got a cool sequel in DS9 when he hijacked the Defiant and used it to expose a covert Cardassian ship building facility on behalf of the Maquis. I've always wondered what happened to goatee sporting Thomas.

Mirror Garak (various DS9)

Several episodes of DS9 (too many depending on who you ask) explore the mirror universe first seen in the TOS classic "Mirror, Mirror". The mirror universe counterparts of our heroes are all pretty interesting, but the one that stood out most to me was Garak (disclaimer: Garak is my favourite). At Garak's core is a self-interested individual who achieves his objectives through subtle manipulation and observation. His mirror universe counterpart is at his core the same self-interested individual, but achieves those objectives in a very different way. In the mirror universe, Garak is a flat out collaborator who sucks up to whomever is in power at any given time. Whether it be the Intendant, the Regent .. it doesn't matter. If it is in Garak's interest to ally himself with someone to save his skin, that's who he's pals with. I found the contrast between the two Garak's to be very interesting throughout the mirror universe episodes.

Evil Kirk ("The Enemy Within" TOS)

Another transporter malfunction leaves us with Kirk split into two halves, one good and one evil. The evil version provided for some great entertainment as he wandered the corridors drunk on Saurian brandy and looking for trouble. The attempted rape of Yeoman Rand was certainly a bit disturbing and a low point in this episode, but it led to evil Kirk running amok on the ship with only scratches on his face to distinguish him from the good Kirk. William Shatner's over the top acting was perfect for this episode with the evil Kirk yelling and insisting he is not the bad guy. It was a rare insance where Shatner going over the top was incredibly effective, especially the scene where the evil Kirk tries to frame the good Kirk by covering up the scratches with makeup. I'm not sure how I felt about the good and evil alien dog though.

Mirror Sulu ("Mirror, Mirror" TOS)

I take us back to the mirror universe to look at the murderous and scheming mirror universe Sulu. Most people like to talk about how great the mirror Spock is in this episode, but for me Sulu steals the show. There's the scar that makes him look pretty badass. There's the scene where he hits on Uhura when Kirk and Spock aren't on the bridge. The contrast between mirror Sulu and normal Sulu is pretty stark and I thought made the episode very interesting. Not only was Sulu the ruthless chief of security, he alos had grand schemes of becoming captain in true mirror universe fashion by eliminating Kirk and Spock in one fell swoop. Unfortunately his plans fell short when Marlena decided to help Kirk and the other away team members from the original universe escape. It was certainly a fun episode that explored the darker side of Sulu.

Singing Picard ("Allegiance" TNG)

This one was somewhat unique in that a band of aliens replaced Picard with a double who acted very differently than the real thing. This one was certainly a bit odd, but I imagine it was particularly fun for Patrick Stewart to act completely out of character in this episode. Although the reasoning for the aliens replacing Picard with a duplicate who was completely different was not quite made clear in the episode, it was nonetheless fun watching this bizarro Picard work his magic with Crusher, lead his men in song and lead the ship to the brink of destruction. Once the jig was up, Riker caps off the episode with a solid gold line when he tells an unwitting Picard "I didn't think you were that good a singer".

Shinzon ("Star Trek: Nemesis")

I mention Shinzon for two reasons: I love the idea of a Romulan plot to replace Picard with a clone and I love Tom Hardy (side note: a fun explanation of how the Romulans got a hold of Picard's DNA is offered in the Next Generation novel "Death in Winter"). I thought Tom Hardy was a pretty good choice and actually did a decent job portraying a younger, more evil version of Captain Picard. Yes, the plot was a bit dumb and yes the movie overall was not very good, but I didn't think the character Shinzon had a whole lot to do with it. I look at this one a very interesting idea that was executed incredibly poorly.

As always thanks for reading, and if you want to hear/see more great Star Trek goodness from RTR, check out our most recent review of the season 7 TNG episode "Homeward" here: http://randomtrekreview.blogspot.com/2019/07/rtr-23-brotherly-love.html