Good Morning.

Let's take a detour into the science fiction realm this morning. I remain strong with The Force, but I've also served aboard several Federation Starships.

Both universes are vast and varied, and have many fans of different ages and genres. But we're going deep into the past today, to 6 October 1967.




That scene is from the ST:TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror", which originally aired on the aforementioned date.

It's long been a fan favorite. Captain Kirk and his crew are transported to a parallel universe in a transporter accident. There, they discover everything is reversed, and the Federation is actually an Evil Empire. They eventually figure out what's going on, and are able to escape in the nick of time.

But what's interesting is their counterparts - the Evil Twins of Kirk, McCoy, Scott, Uhura, and Chekov are transported into our universe, and proceed to wreak havoc until they are thrown in the brig by the "regular" Mr. Spock.

It's a good story. But the whole premise of how Kirk and crew were able to survive in the parallel universe, while their counterparts were picked up nearly instantly in the "Prime" timelime, is summed up succinctly by Mr. Spock in a single sentence.

"As civilized men, they were able to impersonate barbarians much easier than it was for barbarians to imitate civilized men. "

No matter who has actually changed places now, it is painfully obvious that we are living in a parallel universe.