# Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, and Star Trek's "The Enemy Within" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2014, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975 "2014-08-20T05:52:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/21 "2014-08-20T17:53:38Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I’ll go look up the TOS ep. I’m very curious to see it now. Is it on Netflix, or youtube or anything? [http://www.thedarewall.com/tv/star-trek/season/1/episode/4](http://www.thedarewall.com/tv/star-trek/season/1/episode/4) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/22 "2014-08-20T18:02:18Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > [http://www.thedarewall.com/tv/star-trek/season/1/episode/4](http://www.thedarewall.com/tv/star-trek/season/1/episode/4) Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/23 "2014-08-20T18:07:52Z")
Not to pick nits or anything, but… One thing about this episode has always bugged me (well, it did after about the tenth time I saw it): In the scene where they capture Evil Kirk down in Engineering, Spock uses the Vulcan nerve pinch for the first time and EK still manages to get off a good blast with his phaser, blowing a gawdawful hole in what is later revealed to be a vital transporter circuit. Later, up in Sick Bay, Scotty calmly notifies Good Kirk via communicator that he’s just “found” a new problem with the transporter, further delaying any attempt to rescue Sulu, et al. **WTF?!?** Kirk and Spock _know_ they’ve just knocked out a key piece of equipment, and they don’t bother reporting it to their Chief Engineer? _By accident_, Scotty finds evidence of sabotage in the lower decks and doesn’t freak out? Helluva way to run a starship, if you ask me! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/24 "2014-08-20T19:00:10Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > They also did a kind of reverse version, where Neelix and Tuvok get rolled up into ONE individual! And the new composite person kinda liked being who he was, as well as being decidedly less annoying than either of his components. I seem to remember that when they figured out how to split him back into the “real” cast members, nobody was all that happy about it! Well, that might have been because Janeway was committing murder. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/25 "2014-08-20T19:41:27Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > They also did a kind of reverse version, where Neelix and Tuvok get rolled up into ONE individual! And the new composite person kinda liked being who he was, as well as being **decidedly less annoying than either of his components**. Your memories of this character are _very_ different than mine. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/26 "2014-08-20T19:52:38Z")
[QUOTE=RivkahChaya] he becomes a full-on sociopath, trampling people in the streets (which is probably a stand-in for abusing women sexually), and finally committing a murder. [/QUOTE] Thanks for clearing up “trampling.” That term seemed strange to me when I read it. I thought it might have a been a Victorian term for assault, but still wondered if it involved actual trampling. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/27 "2014-08-20T20:48:45Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Thanks for clearing up “trampling.” That term seemed strange to me when I read it. I thought it might have a been a Victorian term for assault, but still wondered if it involved actual trampling. Oh, I think Stevenson meant that he literally ran right over her rather than waiting for her to get out of the way, but I think he just wrote that because he couldn’t write an explicit rape scene. For comparison, Oscar Wilde had the abuse of Sybil Vane originally much more explicit, and the scenes were heavily edited, something Wilde was not happy about, because he didn’t like the idea that Sybil complied (even if she was innocently seduced), and then had next-day regrets-- although, FWIW, the book doesn’t read like that to me, but I suppose it could to some people. I think the point was that a lot of male readers engage in reprehensible behavior, and would “excuse” [read: identify with] a lot of Dorian Gray’s early behavior. Wilde wanted it to be off the charts from the beginning. Anyway, back to Jekyll & Hyde, I think the two Hollywood movies, where Hyde woefully abuses a woman named Ivy and finally beats her to deathis actually spot-on, as far as Stevenson’s _intent_. They are also both quite terrifying, without being gory. I can’t even explain how terrifying. They really must be seen. They are both in public domain, so they should be pretty easy to find. The first is Paramount, 1931, and the second is MGM, 1941. It think the first is better, but the second is still very good. The plot point of abusing a woman goes back to the Sullivan play based on the novel, but the 1931 movie is much more explicit than the play. It’s an interesting progression, because the 1931 movie is pre-Hays Code, and more explicit than the 1941 film. Trivia: Richard Mansfield was appearing on stage in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in London in the Fall of 1888, and was so convincing, that a lot of people wrote to the police saying they should investigate him for the Jack the Ripper crimes. The theater eventually closed the play because of the crimes. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/28 "2014-08-20T21:11:40Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I always assumed the Trek story was heavily inspired by RLS. Another copy cat is the Incredible Hulk. The Incrediuble Hulk wasn’t, originally. At first, Banner had to get irradiated, something he found that he could consciously do with the help of a gamma ray emitter that looked like a bathroom scale. Later he found that he was changing from Banner to the Hulk (and back again) at what seemed to be random times. There was no rhyme or reason to it. Then later the Powers That Be apparently decided that he changed at moments of extreme rage or emotional stress. As for Dr. Jeckyll/Edward Hyde, the change was originally precipitated by drinking the required potion. The change back also required a potion (although I don’t recall RLS ever saying it was the same portion). Later on, the changes happened at random – NOT at moment of rage or emotional stress. I don’t think, to tell the truth, that such stress was ever a factor in Hyde’s transformation in RLS’s story. Of course, in the Alan Moore _League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_, Hyde is a very Hulk-l.ike creature, both enormouys (as RLS’s Hyde was definitely not) and changing under stress (again unlike RLS, but very much in accord with the later comic book Hulk). The movie retained the big size of Hyde, although he seemed to need his potion to change. he film _Van Helsing_\ copied the Hulking Huge Hyde from tLoEG. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/29 "2014-08-20T21:38:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > As for Dr. Jeckyll/Edward Hyde, the change was originally precipitated by drinking the required potion. The change back also required a potion (although I don’t recall RLS ever saying it was the same portion). Later on, the changes happened at random – NOT at moment of rage or emotional stress. I don’t think, to tell the truth, that such stress was ever a factor in Hyde’s transformation in RLS’s story In the book, the non-potion induced transformations happen when Jekyll is asleep. Stevenson does not state, but implies, that something in a dream may trigger them. The final one happens when Jekyll has been trying to keep the transformations at bay by performing selfless acts, and it works, until Jekyll realizes that he is enjoying his acts of charity, because he feels that he has not only redeemed himself, but actually become a superior person; his smugness precipitates his first non-sleeping, non-potion transformation, and drives him to suicide.In the Sullivan stage play, and most of the early movies that stick to the tenor, if not the exact plot of the book, the only non-potion changes are precipitated bylust, and “extreme emotional distress.” He transforms back as he dies, and that is his only “back to Jekyll” without potion.It’s notable that Hyde is one angry guy, though, and also that in the movies, Jekyll does not have clear memories of Hyde’s behavior. He remembers being Hyde as pleasant, but not the specifics of what Hyde does, because he doesn’t even recognize Ivy when she comes to him for help-- Hyde, however, is aware of Jekyll, and can quote things said to him verbatim. The book isn’t like that. In the book, there’s quite a bit of poking at Victorian society, and its obsession with appearances, while not caring much about what may lie beneath, something that is probably lost on 21st century readers, who have read _Jekyll & Hyde_, but not much else. I went through a Victorian “thing” when I was in high school (did I ever mention I was a weird kid?) When I wasn’t reading Torah commentary, I was reading Victorian novels, so I got it. Actually, it’d be an interesting companion piece to _The Scarlet Letter_, which is also a Victorian novel, even though high schools teach it as though it was written during the time in which it was set. BTW: “Hyde” means exactly what it sounds like-- “flesh,” as in, “the world, the flesh and the devil,” all the things that tempt people. I have no idea what the origin of “Jekyll” is, but if anyone else knows, I’d like to find out. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/30 "2014-08-20T21:50:55Z")
> [@](#): > > In the book, the non-potion induced transformations happen when Jekyll is asleep. Stevenson does not state, but implies, that something in a dream may trigger them. The final one happens Not completely true. He changes to Hyde in the Park, when he hasn’t been asleep. In fact, I only recall one transformation when he is awakened by a sleep by the rigors of the transformation. But it has been some time since I read it. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/31 "2014-08-20T22:17:23Z")
Re; the episode “Tuvix”, it always annoyed me that they _never_ stated if Tuvok and Neelix remembered anything about being a single entity. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/32 "2014-08-20T22:24:44Z")
Fun fact: Although in other media Hyde is sometimes portrayed as a giant, in the book he is physically smaller than Jekyll. That is because he manifests Jekyll’s bad side, which is real but is his less-developed side. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/33 "2014-08-20T22:25:25Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Re; the episode “Tuvix”, it always annoyed me that they _never_ stated if Tuvok and Neelix remembered anything about being a single entity. I seem to recall that it was explicit that they didn’t: that what Janeway did was to restore them to their existence before the fusion. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/34 "2014-08-20T22:44:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Not completely true. He changes to Hyde in the Park, when he hasn’t been asleep. In fact, I only recall one transformation when he is awakened by a sleep by the rigors of the transformation. But it has been some time since I read it. Yes. That would be the final one I discussed in my spoiler. Maybe you didn’t read the spoiler. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/35 "2014-08-20T22:46:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Fun fact: Although in other media Hyde is sometimes portrayed as a giant, in the book he is physically smaller than Jekyll. That is because he manifests Jekyll’s bad side, which is real but is his less-developed side. He’s also deformed, which is something mentioned in Lombroso’s “criminal types” theory. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/36 "2014-08-20T22:58:41Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > …and “Balance of Terror” was a thinly disguised version of _ **The Enemy Below** _. THINLY? It was a solid sub pic, particularly _The Enemy Below_. > [@terentii](#): > > **WTF?!?** Kirk and Spock _know_ they’ve just knocked out a key piece of equipment, and they don’t bother reporting it to their Chief Engineer? _By accident_, Scotty finds evidence of sabotage in the lower decks and doesn’t freak out? It’s CYA all the way down. I found it realistic. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/37 "2014-08-20T23:06:58Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > It’s CYA all the way down. I found it realistic. LOL. You just gave me a mental image of Kirk and Spock walking out of engineering while whistling inconspicuously. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/38 "2014-08-20T23:38:33Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > LOL. You just gave me a mental image of Kirk and Spock walking out of engineering while whistling inconspicuously. … and dragging the unconscious Evil Kirk between them. (Ever wonder how they managed to get him all the way to Sick Bay without being seen by anyone in the crew? :dubious: ) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/39 "2014-08-20T23:53:02Z")
Just turn around, McFly. You didn’t see anything. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975/40 "2014-08-21T00:53:38Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Yes. That would be the final one I discussed in my spoiler. Maybe you didn’t read the spoiler. No, I don’t see it. And the transformation in the park wasn’t precipitated by lust. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-and-star-treks-the-enemy-within/695975.md?page=3)