Mirror Universe (Star Trek) - Parodies, Homages and Similar Stories

Parodies, Homages and Similar Stories

• The Mirror Universe concept has been much parodied, notably in the episode "Spookyfish" in the second season of South Park. In that episode, all of the "evil" doppelgänger children have Spock-esque moustaches and goatees.
• Another notable parody occurred in Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode 611, "Last of the Wild Horses".
• The Red Dwarf episode, "Dimension Jump" depicts an alternative universe in which each of the series' principal characters have alter-egos portrayed by the same actors. Dave Lister's alternative universe counterpart, nicknamed "Spanners", has a moustache and goatee like Spock's. Neither the doppelgängers or their world are not depicted as evil, yet the characters have traits opposite of their "normal" counterparts, such as Holly's and Kryten's alternative selves being living humans instead of sentient machines, Lister being a productive and skilled engineer instead of a slacker, Cat being a selfless humble Anglican priest instead of a vain, selfish feline with a cat religion, and Rimmer being dashing, brave, and humble instead of a snivelling self-important failure.
• There have also been episodes of the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess that reveal a "mirror universe" where all of the main characters are polar opposites of the normal characters. This same line of logic was used in an episode of Sealab 2021 and a This Modern World strip.
• Doctor Who has also depicted an alternative universe. In the serial Inferno, Britain fell to a fascist revolution in the forties, and became a totalitarian Republic. Scientific experimentation is allowed to run almost unchecked at the Eastchester "scientific labour camp", and ultimately results in the devastation of that universe's Earth. Although most of the alternative characters were not simply "evil" versions of their other selves, sharing essentially the same qualities (in particular Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw and Doctor Petra Williams). The episode reversed the facial hair trope; whereas the "normal" universe's Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart had a moustache, his fascist counterpart, Brigade Leader Lethbridge-Stewart was clean-shaven. In retirement, the "normal" Brigadier would grow a beard as well.A later appearance of the Inferno universe in the novel The Face of the Enemy includes Sergeant Benton saying "You mean like that Star Trek episode where Spock had a beard?". Doctor Who showed a different alternative universe in which Britain was a republic in "Rise of the Cybermen"-"Age of Steel", with momentary visits thereto thereafter.
• An episode of Codename: Kids Next Door, "Operation P.O.O.L.", features a mirror universe, in which everyone is the exact opposite of their normal selves.
• In Stargate SG-1's season nine episode "Ripple Effect", several alternative SG-1s appear through the Stargate, with varying differences.
• The Transformers Shattered Glass storyline from BotCon 2008 sees a mirror universe where the Autobots are evil and led by a cruel, sadistic Optimus Prime, while the Decepticons are the resistance to his tyranny, lead by a heroic and noble Megatron.
• In the Futurama episode The Farnsworth Parabox the characters travel into a parallel universe and immediately accuse the other side of being evil. Also in Futurama, Bender has a 'good twin' named Flexo, who is distinguished by a magnetically applied goatee and who first appeared in the episode The Lesser of Two Evils.
• NBC's Sitcom Community has a dark parallel timeline first established in the season 3 episode Remedial Chaos Theory. In it, Evil Troy and Evil Abed adopt evil goatees.
• The TV series "Seven Days" episode 61, season 3 "Kansas" had Lt. Frank Parker (Jonathan LaPaglia) sent into a "mirror universe", due to a mishap while testing their time travel technology. All of the "mirror characters" had opposite personalities and even the written language was literally reversed. The Star Trek homage was really obvious here.