“Spock’s Brain”
Written by Lee Cronin
Directed by Marc Daniels
Season 3, Episode 1
Production episode: 3×06
Original air date: September 20, 1968
Star date: 5431.4
Mission summary
Enterprise is at red alert, everyone watching the viewscreen as a silver rocket approaches. No one answers their hails, and the technology and design is wholly alien. Engineer Scott is excited though: “I’ve never seen anything like her. And ion propulsion at that. They could teach us a thing or two.” But Captain Kirk is more interested in the woman beaming directly onto the Bridge, who seems to have left most of her outfit behind.
Kirk introduces himself but she just smiles vapidly. When security red shirts rush in from the turbolift, she presses a button on her armband. The lights flicker and dim while everyone on the Bridge collapses. She presses more buttons, systematically knocking out the rest of the crew on all decks—grinning all the while. She strolls across the Bridge to fondle Spock’s shiny bowl cut.
The lights come up and the Bridge crew awakens, disoriented. Kirk notices that Spock is missing and Dr. McCoy calls him to Sickbay with some bad news: the science officer is dead. No, he’s “worse than dead”!
MCCOY: His brain is gone.
KIRK: His what?
MCCOY: It’s been removed surgically.
KIRK: How could he survive?
MCCOY: It’s the greatest technical job I’ve ever seen. Every nerve ending in the brain must’ve been neatly sealed. Nothing ripped, nothing torn, no bleeding. It’s a medical miracle.
No one can quite believe this perfectly plausible scenario. Kirk takes a wild guess: the woman who arranged their impromptu naptime might be responsible. The Vulcan’s genes can keep his mindless body alive for another twenty-four hours, but McCoy’s dubious that they can track down the thief in time: “In this whole galaxy, where are you going to look for Spock’s brain? How are you going to find it?” And even if they can recover it, he doesn’t know how to put it back! But Kirk can’t be bothered with details right now.
Sulu manages to follow the ion trail of the woman’s ship, but they lose it at the Sigma Draconis system. There are three Class M planets there that can support life. Chekov pulls up a Powerpoint presentation and they all discuss the merits of each option. But with only eight hours and thirty-five minutes left to locate Spock’s brain, Kirk can’t afford to guess incorrectly. Though none of the planets seems technologically advanced enough to build a spaceship, one of them displays some anomalous energy readings: Sigma Draconis VI, a primitive planet experiencing an ice age. What the hell, that’s never steered them wrong yet. Kirk decides to beam down to the tropical zone on the sixth planet.
CHEKOV: What if you guess wrong, Captain?
KIRK: If I guess wrong, Mr. Spock is dead. Spock will die.
Everyone clear on that? It’s hard to keep up with the many twists in this high-concept plot.
Anyway, a landing party explores the chilly surface of the planet. “Life-form readings, Mr. Spock?” Oops. Scotty gives him a Look. “Mr. Scott,” he corrects himself. The cavemen-like natives soon find them though, literally attacking them with sticks and stones—which are no match for a phaser beam set on wide dispersal. The primitives flee, leaving behind their leader. Kirk attempts to engage him in friendly conversation.
KIRK: We mean you no harm. We’re not your enemies, we’re your friends. We only wish to talk to you.
MORG: You are not the Others?
KIRK: No. We come from a far place. We are men.
MORG: Men?
KIRK: Like yourselves.
MORG: You are small, like the Others.
KIRK: Who are the Others?
MORG: Givers of pain and delight.
The conversation breaks down from there: this poor man has no concept of “female” or “mate” or “companion.” He becomes agitated when Kirk asks him to bring them to the Others. (Perhaps he’s a fan of Lost.) He freaks out and runs off when Chekov discovers evidence of an underground compound. Not to be outdone, Scott finds a cave filled with food and weapons. But it turns out to be a trap with a laser tripwire in front of the stockpile. Kirk calls McCoy and tells him to beam down with Spock.
Spock arrives in hideous brown coveralls and metal headgear. McCoy shows them a neat trick: he’s rigged the Vulcan up to respond to a remote control. He walks him into the cave slowly, ticking with each step. Kirk trips the light sensor and a metal door slams shut. Then the room descends—the four of them are trapped in an elevator (and one of them looks like the devil). They’re swiftly approaching the source of the unusual power source they detected previously.
The elevator stops and the doors open into a corridor, revealing another scantily-clad woman waiting for them. Kirk phasers her before she can reach for her armband. When McCoy revives her, she identifies herself as Luma but is too simple-minded to tell them anything useful.
KIRK: Who’s in charge? I wish to speak to him.
LUMA: Him? What is him?
KIRK: What have you done with Spock’s brain? Where’ve you taken it?
LUMA: You are not Morg or Eymorg. I know nothing about a brain.
That’s fairly obvious. But Scott has picked up a strange signal on his communicator: Spock’s disembodied voice! Unfortunately he doesn’t know where or what he is. They head down a corridor in search of him and run into the woman from Enterprise who knocks them out with a boinging sound effect from her armband.
They wake up in chairs with spiffy new belts with giant green buckles, facing off the woman who captured them (Kara) and three other women. She doesn’t even recall coming to their ship and stealing Spock’s brain. Frustrated, Kirk asks to speak to someone in charge.
KARA: I am leader. There is no other.
SCOTT: That’s impossible. Who built the machines?
MCCOY: Who are the doctors? Who operates?
KIRK: Who controls this complex?
KARA: Control? Controller?
KIRK: Yes, the Controller. The Controller. Who controls? I would like to meet, to see him.
KARA: No. It is not permitted. Never! Controller is alone, apart. We serve Controller. No other is permitted near.
KIRK: We intend no harm.
KARA: You have come to destroy us.
KIRK: No, no, no. I promise you.
MCCOY: We just want to talk to somebody about Spock’s brain. That’s all.
KARA: Brain and brain! What is brain? It is Controller, is it not?
Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. The Controller—they’d like to see that. Kara refuses, activates their belts, and leaves Kirk, Scott, and McCoy in agony on the floor while she leaves with her little clique.
Kirk and his men easily overpower their Morg guards (who are also kept in line with green belts of their own) and recover their equipment. They resume contact with Spock’s brain through a communicator and he sends them a signal to lead them to him. They wander slowly—so slowly—through the corridors at the pace of a brainless R/C Vulcan until they reach a large chamber. Kara is already there, in distress about something. She turns when they enter and activates their belts. They fall to the floor, but Spock takes a licking and keeps on ticking—no brain, no pain.
Kirk reaches for his remote control and maneuvers the Vulcan’s body over to Kara. It grabs her by the wrists and presses the button that releases the men’s belts. Kara pleads with them not to take away the Controller, which it turns out is Spock’s brain. He’s been controlling the life support systems of the underground facility, as though he were regulating his own bodily functions.
Kirk demands that she put Spock’s brain back where it belongs, but she doesn’t know how to. The only way to gain it is through the Teacher, a spiky helmet that draws on a massive database to bestow temporary knowledge on a person. They force Kara into it and she becomes instantly intelligent and calculating. She turns one of their own phasers against them—set to kill. Scott distracts her with a brilliant strategy of his own: he pretends to faint. Kirk recovers the phaser from her, but she still refuses to help them.
McCoy offers to try the Teacher, driven by the desire to help his friend and to bring advanced medical techniques to the Federation. The incompatibility with his mind is painful, but it works:
Of course. Of course. A child could do it. A child could do it.
With his new knowledge, the doctor operates at breakneck pace on Spock while Kara complains.
KARA: You will have him back and we will be destroyed.
KIRK: No. You won’t be destroyed. You’ll be without your Controller for the first time, but you’ll be much better off, I think.
KARA: We will die.
KIRK: No, you’ll live and develop as you should have. All this shouldn’t have been done for you. Now the women here below and the men here above will control together.
KARA: They will not help us without the pain.
KIRK: There are other ways. You’ll discover them. You must move to the surface, you understand.
KARA: We will die above in the cold.
KIRK: No, you won’t. You’ll learn to build houses, to keep warm, to work. We’ll help you for a while. Humans have survived under worse conditions. It’s a matter of evolution. You’ll be fine.
The effects of the Teacher’s instruction begin to wear off and McCoy falters, forgets, and loses confidence in his abilities. Before he loses it entirely, he manages to reconnect Spock’s vocal chords… so Spock can talk him through the rest of the brain surgery.
The operation is a success and Spock sits up, not even a single hair out of place. McCoy must have triggered the expositional center of the brain, because Spock begins explaining the back story for those who couldn’t figure it out.
SPOCK: A remarkable example of a retrograde civilisation. At the peak, advanced beyond any of our capabilities and now operating at this primitive level which you saw. And it all began thousands of years ago when a glacial age reoccurred. This underground complex was developed for the women. The men remained above, and a male-female schism took place. A fascinating cultural development of a kind which never—
MCCOY: I knew it was wrong. I shouldn’t have done it.
KIRK: What’s that?
MCCOY: I should have never reconnected his mouth.
Analysis
Here it is at last, one of the most infamous episodes of Star Trek. This is almost universally denounced by even the most hardcore fans, but even I have defended it in the past as being funny if not intelligent. No more.
To be sure, this episode does offer its share of delight, but it delivers far more pain. For all its sins, its worst quality is that it’s simply boring. From the opening scene on the Bridge, what should be a tense moment becomes a prolonged series of reaction shots. Every conversation seems to drag in this and they even had to pull out a chart to fill the time. (Granted, there probably is a good amount of waiting around for things to happen on real ships, but this is television!) There’s something very wrong when most of the episode shows them walking through corridors as if they were on a slow trek through Mordor. This is a prime example of a ticking clock story (with the actual sound provided by the mechanized Spock, however inexplicable the source). But rather than add tension, the deadline only makes the episode seem to plod that much more; most viewers (especially those who have to watch this in order to review them) will be checking the time just as often as Kirk.
The normally talented cast can barely keep a straight face, hamming their way through ridiculous lines like, “In search of his brain, Doctor.” Leonard Nimoy literally phones it in, though he actually delivers a nuanced performance even in his limited role.
There are so many failures in this episode, from the bizarre outfits Kara and the other “Eymorg” sport (extra-mini-skirts and thigh-high boots) to the simplistic plot and laughable premise. The basic idea of a mind controlling a machine is, well, fascinating—certainly more so than the haphazard division of genders and Kirk’s continuing efforts to radically disrupt other people’s way of life. Once again we have an underground power source, and an advanced race with offspring who have forgotten how to use their technology. You know, the usual. It’s hardly worth pointing out all the plot holes, but there are a lot of them.
The third Star Trek film, “The Search for Spock,” is an interesting counterpart to this episode, in which they have Spock’s mind (preserved within Dr. McCoy’s) but must recover his body to put things right. It was a little bit silly (it was an odd-numbered film, after all), but somehow the mystical aspect of the Vulcan katra is easier to buy into than pseudo-science. “Spock’s Brain” is a parody of Star Trek that just isn’t very funny.
Fire away: what do you think are the best and worst aspects of “Spock’s Brain”?
Eugene’s Rating: Impulse (on a scale of Warp 1-6)
Torie Atkinson: By the time this episode was over I had forgotten how to eat an artichoke, how to multiply fractions, and any memories of my 16th birthday. “Spock’s Brain” is such a cute name for what is truly an assault on the psyche. It’s like the song that never ends–you’re sure you’re going to die any moment now, and yet you continue to exist, soullessly…
I couldn’t possibly explain what happened here. Can anyone? Gene L. Coon gave us “Errand of Mercy,” “Court Martial,” “A Taste of Armageddon” … Even his mediocre episodes (“Miri,” “Operation: Annihilate!”, “Bread and Circuses”) were interesting, focused, well-paced, and premised on reasonably meritorious science fictional ideas. And Marc Daniels! The absolutely brilliant television director we’ve seen craft masterpieces like in “The Menagerie,” “Space Seed,” and “Mirror, Mirror” is entirely obscured by a ham-handed, half-assed, sloppy shadow of himself.
As Eugene pointed out, the biggest sin of “Spock’s Brain” is how tediously boring it is. The pregnant….pauses… and long… looks… down… the… corridors… make Antiques Roadshow seem like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. The idea itself isn’t terrible–what if a human (or Vulcan) brain really could power a complex machine? What if you could upload your personality, grant yourself immortality and a kind of godhood over worshipful, ignorant children? What would you lose by doing so? I love these kinds of questions. One of my favorite parts of First Contact is the way that the Borg Queen tempts (well, seduces, really) Data into becoming human. It’s what he’s always wanted, what he’s been working toward for seven seasons of TNG. And yet, in the end, he realizes that becoming human would mean losing what makes him Data. To give that up would mean denying the worth of the person he already is. It’s a great science-fictional dilemma: what makes you you? Are you still you if you’re a machine? If you’re in a different body? I would have loved to see Spock wrestle with these identity issues. But no. No, instead, BRAIN WHAT IS BRAIN BRAIN BRAIN BRAIN BBBBBBBBBBBB–
Sorry. Shorted a circuit there for a minute.
There’s exactly one thing I liked about this episode, and that was when Kirk said to Spock: “You say you’re breathing, pumping blood, maintaining temperature? Is it possible that you’re re-circulating air, running heating plants, purifying water?” That was legitimately clever and I was impressed! And then I became unspeakably sad that a single metaphor had given me the greatest joy I had felt in forty minutes.
Maybe Antiques Roadshow is on….
Torie’s Rating: Warp engines offline! Quarter impulse power.
Best Line: (And Worst Line) KARA: “Brain and brain! What is brain?”
Syndication Edits: (For the first time, this might be the better version of this episode.) Many reaction shots as Kara’s ship approaches; an establishing shot of Enteprise following the ion trail; most of Chekov’s first report on Sigma Draconis VI, which eliminates a plot mistake: his claim that there are no energy readings; portions of the fight with the natives and the interrogation of the Morg; Luna introducing herself; Sulu’s log entry, where he refers to the planet as Sigma Draconis VII; Scott’s misogynistic comment, “Those women could never have set up anything as complex as this has to be;” Spock tells Kirk not to look for him; most of Kara’s absorption of knowledge from the Teacher; Kara threatening to kill Kirk; Kara declining to restore Spock’s brain, with “I would not” instead cutting directly to “No!”
Trivia: Lee Cronin’s (the alter ego of producer Gene L. Coon) original outline had some key differences from the final draft. A male alien named “Ehr Von” from the planet Nefel takes Spock’s brain while he explores an asteroid with Kirk and McCoy. Spock has to practice Vulcan mental techniques (slon porra) to retain his sanity. Spock had to be ordered to stop controlling the functions of the planet, and there was no Teacher—just good old-fashioned country medicine, with the help of some advanced medical textbooks and some alien surgeons. After the operation, Spock announced that the doctor had mixed up some of his ganglia, but no malpractice suit was necessary, because he could compensate with his superior control of his mind.
We can thank co-producer Robert Justman for the brilliant idea of having Spock direct his own brain surgery.
This is the only Star Trek episode to use a character’s name in the title.
In his autobiography Up Till Now, William Shatner jokes that this episode is a tribute to the NBC executives who cut the budget and moved the slow to a poor time slot in its final season.
The original score for this episode by Fred Steiner was recycled in “The Tholian Web” and “Day of the Dove.”
This is the only episode where Sulu records a log entry, good practice for his later stint as commander of the Excelsior, though the shot of him in the hot seat was reused from “The Omega Glory.”
The Teacher’s computer console is another instance where the M5 unit from “The Ultimate Computer” is repurposed.
This is the first episode where characters walk in front of the viewscreen while it shows a moving starfield.
This was the last episode directed by veteran director Marc Daniels, and it shows.
Other notes: Footage from this episode appears in the 1981 film Taps, entertaining young cadets at the Valley Forge Military Academy.
In addition to the behind-the-scenes changes in the production team, notably the introduction of Fred Freiberger, the show underwent a striking change on the screen: the title and credits for the third season are blue instead of yellow.
Previous episode: Season 2, Episode 26 – “Assignment: Earth“
Next episode: Season 3, Episode 2 – “The Enterprise Incident.” US residents can watch it for free at the CBS website.
“Spock’s Brain”
Written by Lee Cronin
Directed by Marc Daniels
Season 3, Episode 1
Production episode: 3×06
Original air date: September 20, 1968
Star date: 5431.4
Mission summary
Enterprise is at red alert, everyone watching the viewscreen as a silver rocket approaches. No one answers their hails, and the technology and design is wholly alien. Engineer Scott is excited though: “I’ve never seen anything like her. And ion propulsion at that. They could teach us a thing or two.” But Captain Kirk is more interested in the woman who beams directly onto the Bridge, who seems to have left most of her outfit behind.
Kirk introduces himself but she just smiles vapidly at him. When security red shirts rush in from the turbolift, she presses a button on her armband. The lights flicker and dim while everyone on the Bridge collapses. She presses more buttons, systematically knocking out the rest of the crew on all decks—grinning all the while. She strolls across the Bridge to fondle Spock’s shiny bowl cut.
The lights come up and the Bridge crew awakens, disoriented. Kirk notices that Spock is missing and Dr. McCoy calls him to Sickbay with some bad news: the science officer is dead. No, he’s “worse than dead”!
MCCOY: His brain is gone.
KIRK: His what?
MCCOY: It’s been removed surgically.
KIRK: How could he survive?
MCCOY: It’s the greatest technical job I’ve ever seen. Every nerve ending in the brain must’ve been neatly sealed. Nothing ripped, nothing torn, no bleeding. It’s a medical miracle.
No one can quite believe this perfectly plausible scenario. Kirk takes a wild guess: the woman who arranged their impromptu naptime might be responsible. The Vulcan’s genes can keep his mindless body alive for another twenty-four hours, but McCoy’s dubious that they can track down the thief in time: “In this whole galaxy, where are you going to look for Spock’s brain? How are you going to find it?” And even if they can recover it, he doesn’t know how to put it back! But Kirk can’t be bothered with details right now.
Sulu manages to follow the ion trail of the woman’s ship, but they lose it at the Sigma Draconis system. There are three Class M planets there that can support life. Chekov pulls up a Powerpoint presentation and they all discuss the merits of each option. But with only eight hours and thirty-five minutes left to locate Spock’s brain, Kirk can’t afford to guess incorrectly. Though none of the planets seems technologically advanced enough to build a spaceship, one of them displays some anomalous energy readings: Sigma Draconis VI, a primitive planet experiencing an ice age. What the hell, that’s never steered them wrong yet. Kirk decides to beam down to the tropical zone on the sixth planet.
CHEKOV: What if you guess wrong, Captain?
KIRK: If I guess wrong, Mr. Spock is dead. Spock will die.
Everyone clear on that? It’s hard to keep up with the many twists in this high-concept plot.
Anyway, a landing party explores the chilly surface of the planet. “Life-form readings, Mr. Spock?” Oops. Scotty gives him a Look. “Mr. Scott,” he corrects himself. The cavemen-like natives soon find them though, literally attacking them with sticks and stones—which are no match for a phaser beam set on wide dispersal. The primitives flee, leaving behind their leader. Kirk attempts to engage him in friendly conversation.
KIRK: We mean you no harm. We’re not your enemies, we’re your friends. We only wish to talk to you.
MORG: You are not the Others?
KIRK: No. We come from a far place. We are men.
MORG: Men?
KIRK: Like yourselves.
MORG: You are small, like the Others.
KIRK: Who are the Others?
MORG: Givers of pain and delight.
The conversation breaks down from there: this poor man has no concept of “female” or “mate” or “companion.” He becomes agitated when Kirk asks him to bring them to the Others. (Perhaps he’s a fan of Lost.) He freaks out and runs off when Chekov discovers evidence of an underground compound. Not to be outdone, Scott finds a cave filled with food and weapons. But it turns out to be a trap with a laser tripwire in front of the stockpile. Kirk calls McCoy and tells him to beam down with Spock.
Spock arrives in hideous brown coveralls and metal headgear. McCoy shows them a neat trick: he’s rigged the Vulcan up to respond to a remote control. He walks him into the cave slowly, ticking with each step. Kirk trips the light sensor and a metal door slams shut. Then the room descends—the four of them are trapped in an elevator (and one of them looks like the devil). They’re swiftly approaching the source of the unusual power source they detected previously.
The elevator stops and the doors open into a corridor, revealing another scantily-clad woman waiting for them. Kirk phasers her before she can reach for her armband. When McCoy revives her, she identifies herself as Luma but is too simple-minded to tell them anything useful.
KIRK: Who’s in charge? I wish to speak to him.
LUMA: Him? What is him?
KIRK: What have you done with Spock’s brain? Where’ve you taken it?
LUMA: You are not Morg or Eymorg. I know nothing about a brain.
That’s fairly obvious. But Scott has picked up a strange signal on his communicator: Spock’s disembodied voice! Unfortunately he doesn’t know where or what he is. They head down a corridor in search of him and run into the woman from Enterprise who knocks them out with a boinging sound effect from her armband.
They wake up in chairs with spiffy new belts with giant green buckles, facing off the woman who captured them (Kara) and three other women. She doesn’t even recall coming to their ship and stealing Spock’s brain. Frustrated, Kirk asks to speak to someone in charge.
KARA: I am leader. There is no other.
SCOTT: That’s impossible. Who built the machines?
MCCOY: Who are the doctors? Who operates?
KIRK: Who controls this complex?
KARA: Control? Controller?
KIRK: Yes, the Controller. The Controller. Who controls? I would like to meet, to see him.
KARA: No. It is not permitted. Never! Controller is alone, apart. We serve Controller. No other is permitted near.
KIRK: We intend no harm.
KARA: You have come to destroy us.
KIRK: No, no, no. I promise you.
MCCOY: We just want to talk to somebody about Spock’s brain. That’s all.
KARA: Brain and brain! What is brain? It is Controller, is it not?
Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. The Controller—they’d like to see that. Kara refuses, activates their belts, and leaves Kirk, Scott, and McCoy in agony on the floor while she leaves with her little clique.
Kirk and his men easily overpower their Morg guards (who are also kept in line with green belts of their own) and recover their equipment. They resume contact with Spock’s brain through a communicator and he sends them a signal to lead them to him. They wander slowly—so slowly—through the corridors at the pace of a brainless R/C Vulcan until they reach a large chamber. Kara is already there, in distress about something. She turns when they enter and activates their belts. They fall to the floor, but Spock takes a licking and keeps on ticking—no brain, no pain.
Kirk reaches for his remote control and maneuvers the Vulcan’s body over to Kara. It grabs her by the wrists and presses the button that releases the men’s belts. Kara pleads with them not to take away the Controller, which it turns out is Spock’s brain. He’s been controlling the life support systems of the underground facility, as though he were regulating his own bodily functions.
Kirk demands that she put Spock’s brain back where it belongs, but she doesn’t know how to. The only way to gain it is through the Teacher, a spiky helmet that draws on a massive database to bestow temporary knowledge on a person. They force Kara into it and she becomes instantly intelligent and calculating. She turns one of their own phasers against them—set to kill. Scott distracts her with a brilliant strategy of his own: he pretends to faint. Kirk recovers the phaser from her, but she still refuses to help them.
McCoy, offers to try the Teacher, driven by the desire to help his friend and to bring advanced medical techniques to the Federation. The incompatibility with his mind is painful, but it works:
Of course. Of course. A child could do it. A child could do it.
With his new knowledge, the doctor operates at breakneck pace on Spock while Kara complains.
KARA: You will have him back and we will be destroyed.
KIRK: No. You won’t be destroyed. You’ll be without your Controller for the first time, but you’ll be much better off, I think.
KARA: We will die.
KIRK: No, you’ll live and develop as you should have. All this shouldn’t have been done for you. Now the women here below and the men here above will control together.
KARA: They will not help us without the pain.
KIRK: There are other ways. You’ll discover them. You must move to the surface, you understand.
KARA: We will die above in the cold.
KIRK: No, you won’t. You’ll learn to build houses, to keep warm, to work. We’ll help you for a while. Humans have survived under worse conditions. It’s a matter of evolution. You’ll be fine.
The effects of the Teacher’s instruction begin to wear off and McCoy falters, forgets, and loses confidence in his abilities. Before he loses it entirely, he manages to reconnect Spock’s vocal chords… so Spock can talk him through the rest of the brain surgery.
The operation is a success and Spock sits up, not even a single hair out of place. McCoy must have triggered the expositional center of the brain, because Spock begins explaining the back story for those who couldn’t figure it out.
SPOCK: A remarkable example of a retrograde civilisation. At the peak, advanced beyond any of our capabilities and now operating at this primitive level which you saw. And it all began thousands of years ago when a glacial age reoccurred. This underground complex was developed for the women. The men remained above, and a male-female schism took place. A fascinating cultural development of a kind which never—
MCCOY: I knew it was wrong. I shouldn’t have done it.
KIRK: What’s that?
MCCOY: I should have never reconnected his mouth.
Analysis
Here it is at last, one of the most infamous episodes of Star Trek. This is almost universally denounced by even the most hardcore fans, but even I have defended it in the past as being funny if not intelligent. No more.
To be sure, this episode does offer its share of delight, but it delivers far more pain. For all its sins, its worst quality is that it’s simply boring. From the opening scene on the Bridge, what should be a tense moment becomes a prolonged series of reaction shots. Every conversation seems to drag in this and they even had to pull out a chart to fill the time. (Granted, there probably is a good amount of waiting around for things to happen on real ships, but this is television!) There’s something very wrong when most of the episode shows them walking through corridors as if they were on a slow trek through Mordor. This is a prime example of a ticking clock story (with the actual sound provided by the mechanized Spock, however inexplicable the source). But rather than add tension, the deadline only makes the episode seem to plod that much more; most viewers (especially those who have to watch this in order to review them) will be checking the time just as often as Kirk.
The normally talented cast can barely keep a straight face, hamming their way through ridiculous lines like, “In search of his brain, Doctor.” Leonard Nimoy literally phones in his performance, though he actually delivers a nuanced performance even in his limited role.
There are so many failures in this episode, from the bizarre outfits Kara and the other “Eymorg” sport (extra-mini-skirts and thigh-high boots) to the simplistic plot and laughable premise. The basic idea of a mind controlling a machine is, well, fascinating—certainly more so than the haphazard division of genders and Kirk’s continuing efforts to radically disrupt other people’s way of life. Once again we have an underground power source, and an advanced race with offspring who have forgotten how to use their technology. You know, the usual. It’s hardly worth pointing out all the plot holes, but there are a lot of them.
The third Star Trek film, “The Search for Spock,” is an interesting counterpart to this episode, in which they have Spock’s mind (preserved within Dr. McCoy’s) but must recover his body to put things right. It was a little bit silly (it was an odd-numbered film, after all), but somehow the mystical aspect of the Vulcan katra is easier to buy into than pseudo-science. “Spock’s Brain” is a parody of Star Trek that just isn’t very funny.
Fire away: what do you think are the best and worst aspects of “Spock’s Brain”?
Eugene’s Rating: Warp 0 (on a scale of 1-6)
Torie Atkinson:
Torie’s Rating:
Best Line: (And Worst Line) KARA: “Brain and brain! What is brain?”
Syndication Edits: (For the first time, this might be the better version of this episode.) Many reaction shots as Kara’s ship approaches; an establishing shot of Enteprise following the ion trail; most of Chekov’s first report on Sigma Draconis VI, which eliminates a plot mistake: his claim that there are no energy readings; portions of the fight with the natives and the interrogation of the Morg; Luna introducing herself; Sulu‘s log entry, where he refers to the planet as Sigma Draconis VII; Scott’s misogynistic comment, “Those women could never have set up anything as complex as this has to be;” Spock tells Kirk not to look for him; most of Kara’s absorption of knowledge from the Teacher; Kara threatening to kill Kirk; Kara declining to restore Spock’s brain, with “I would not” instead cutting directly to “No!”
Trivia: Lee Cronin’s (the alter ego of producer Gene L. Coon) original outline had some key differences from the final draft. A male alien named “Ehr Von” from the planet Nefel takes Spock’s brain while he explores an asteroid with Kirk and McCoy. Spock has to practice Vulcan mental techniques (slon porra) to retain his sanity. Spock had to be ordered to stop controlling the functions of the planet, and there was no Teacher—just good old-fashioned country medicine, with the help of some advanced medical textbooks and some alien surgeons. After the operation, Spock announced that the doctor had mixed up some of his ganglia, but no malpractice suit was necessary, because he could compensate with his superior control of his mind.
We can thank co-producer Robert Justman for the brilliant idea of having Spock direct his own brain surgery.
This is the only Star Trek episode to use a character’s name in the title.
In his autobiography Up Till Now, William Shatner jokes that this episode is a tribute to the NBC executives who cut the budget and moved the slow to a poor time slot in its final season.
The original score for this episode by Fred Steiner was recycled in “The Tholian Web” and “Day of the Dove.”
This is the only episode where Sulu records a log entry, good practice for his later stint as commander of the Excelsior, though the shot of him in the hot seat was reused from “The Omega Glory.”
The Teacher’s computer console is another instance where the M5 unit from “The Ultimate Computer” is repurposed.
This was the last episode directed by veteran director Marc Daniels, and it shows.
This is the first episode where characters walk in front of the viewscreen while it shows a moving starfield.
Other notes: Footage from this episode appears in the 1981 film Taps, entertaining young cadets at the Valley Forge Military Academy.
In addition to the behind-the-scenes changes in the production team, notably the introduction of Fred Freiberger, the show underwent a striking change on the screen: the title and credits for the third season are blue instead of yellow.
Next episode: Season 3, Episode 2-“The Enterprise Incident.” US residents can watch it for free at the CBS website.
See, you should have done this as a drinking game, like I suggested. Of course, you might have had to watch it a couple more times than you had to doing it sober…
I’ve always said that “Brain and brain! What is brain?” is a question that must have puzzled the writers of this episode.
I’ve been thinking about this episode for a while now, and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that, while this certainly may be the stupidest episode, it might not be the worst. That honor may be reserved for “The Savage Curtain”.
Something else to consider is that even though this was the first episode aired, it was the 6th episode produced for the season. Think about that. They’d just been through a near cancellation, saved only by massive fan response, they had a new, crappy time slot despite promises from the network), they had 5 other episodes in the can (most of them better, one outstanding), and they went with this… this… steaming pile. NBC wanted the show gone and they set out to damage it as much as they could. This was a deliberate insult to the fans.
Finally in Scotty’s defense, I don’t think his comment was meant misogynistically. There is no way those particular women could have built all that. They make the subjects of most blonde jokes look like Einstein.
Looking at the first five production episodes, they didn’t have a lot of good options. I think “The Enterprise Incident” probably would have been a better lead-in, but I think they may have been gambling on Spock’s sex appeal. Because nothing is sexier than a brown jumpsuit.
I’m also holding out for “The Way to Eden” as the worst episode; it’s so hard to choose in the third season, isn’t it? But you’re right–the script had some unfortunate lines that could have applied to the episode itself, such as the confused Morg’s comment, “Your words say nothing.”
…who says we didn’t do it as a drinking game? (We didn’t. Why risk having to watch it again??)
That’s a good point about the network. But why fund it at all at that point?
I don’t think Scotty’s comment is misogynistic either. These women probably can’t even dress themselves, let alone build anything of value. I wonder if it’s like Denny’s where you just point to the picture of what you want and the Teacher makes it for you.
That’s a good point about the network. But why fund it at all at that point?
Well, there was enough fan response to make NBC reconsider cancellation. Back then, there was still a belief in network loyalty (and it may even have existed to an extent). They needed a way to make the viewers give up on the show without hating NBC.
As for their options, obviously “The Enterprise Incident” was their best bet (though the network might have worried it was too political), but they could easily have gone with “Elaan” (big name guest star!) or “Paradise Syndrome”. The less said about the other two, the better.
I know what everyone says about this episode. And I don’t dispute it. But this was the first Star Trek episode I ever saw in my life and it hooked me on the series.
I don’t want to lose what it was for me in the cultural context of the time. So I’m not going to watch it again, because I’m sure I’ll have the same reaction everyone else does instead of the feeling of how jawdroppingly awesome it seemed when I was a nerdy thirteen year old. My impression then was, “Wow, this is so much cooler than Lost in Space.”
No question that “Spock’s Brain” is cooler than Lost in Space. If that says anything…
Like I said, there was certainly potential to develop some really challenging ideas and character moments, all utterly lost on a hack script and shoddy directing. But, you know, I can’t really think of a better episode for a nerdy 13-year-old. It’s got big brains, super computers, silly dialogue, a totally ridiculous plot, and is, well, fun. Imagine if you had seen, say, “Journey to Babel” first instead. How boring!, you probably would have thought. So no judgments here.
Besides, considering some of the other stuff on TV at the time…
My first Star Trek (aside from ST IV: The Journey Home) was TNG in syndication, and boy are there some doozies there…
Well, network loyalty meant more when there weren’t 300 channels and the internet all competing for viewer attention.
Big name guest stars have so far not fared well on Star Trek. For every Joan Collins we seem to get two Julie Newmars.
The return of Futurama has made me very skeptical about the benefits of lobbying for a beloved show. I’ve learned my lesson.
Hey, Lost in Space was hilarious! Often intentionally so. I used to do a killer Robot impression and had a friend who did a great Dr. Smith. Ummm… It was the 80s? You had to be there?
The first TOS episode I consciously remember seeing was “Operation: Annihilate!” The flying space pizzas made a real impression on 10-year-old-or-so me.
The new Futuramas may have clunked in a few spots at first, but I think this season is rolling fine now. (And note Leela’s improved, 2-button wrist multicontroller!)
And women in 60s miniskirts with thigh high boots for the 13 year olds who are just beginning to notice certain things….
Hiya, Eugene and Torie! I lost y’all for a while there…
Although Scott wasn’t sexist for his opinion that the Eymorg could not have built the underground, I did notice Kirk assumed their leader would be a “him”.
Memory did make this episode less dull. Maybe it was the aforementioned syndication cuts.
And yes, there will be worse.
Nope, we’re still here! Glad to see you. :)
But the leader was a “him”!
Which do you think are worse than this? Are they at least less boring?
I actually really liked Lost in Space. It was trying to be campy, so the humor usually worked. Except for that episode with the giant carrot… I’ve been meaning to watch some episodes again since they’re all on Hulu but I’m worried that it doesn’t hold up. Did you watch Lost in Space, Torie?
I think the first episode I actively watched was probably “The Menagerie,” with both parts broadcast back-to-back. I started watching during a marathon on WPIX-11 before DS9 premiered.
Yes, Kirk was far more at fault than Scott. Though I joked about the engineer being misogynistic, if anyone on the show had a reason to resent women, it would be him.
For me, this is only saved from being the single worst episode by the presence of the other bookend to the dreadful third season, The Turnabout Intruder, which relies so heavily on Shatner’s acting abilities, with predictably dire results.
Granted that my feminism may well put these two in the seat of dishonour; I also rather enjoy The Way to Eden, basically as among the best of the comic episodes. To be fair, I do tend to turn it off before the “his name was Adam” bit.
Well, I think “Who mourns for Adonais” was WAAAAAAAAAY worse than this one. This was a wee bit boring, but that was completely, infuriatingly dull and stupid. Well, de gustibus non est disputandum – let’s say: both are quite bad. :-)
This was an episode that marked me for the rest of my life. I was 7 when it aired and we watched the show, Spock’s tick-tick-ticking as the remote controlled Spock stuck with me. To this day when I think about walking around brain-dead to the world in the back of my head I hear that tick-tick-ticking of Spock on remote control.
Re-watching it I was struck how over-the-top most of the performances were. I imagine on the set the view must have been along the line of, ‘Man, this is crap and I just don’t care.’
Scary to think it gets worse.
I saw enough. Not to my taste at all.
I think “Turnabout Intruder” is the episode I’m most looking forward to since so many people seemed excited to see my (unabashedly feminist) reaction to it. For me the test will be: is it more offensive than “A Private Little War”?
I dunno, “Who Mourns for Adonais?” had a much more interesting conceit: what’s the difference between a god and a space douche? :) I also thought the appeal to Lt. Palermo’s humanity in it was really interesting. It had a lot more going on in it that this one did.
But you’re right, it’s kind of like comparing different flavors of gruel.
The actors were really not into this one at all. You know that they probably started every scene with a huge sigh, reminding themselves that they’ll make rent this month thanks to Gene L. Coon. DeForest Kelly was the worst–bless him, he just cannot fake enthusiasm.
That said, an actual R/C Spock? Would kind of be awesome. Especially when you’re 7, and you can use him to beat up all the jerks who make fun of you for liking Star Trek.
I’m actively dreading having to watch “The Way to Eden” again. I once vowed I would never re-watch it, then two years later I decided it couldn’t have been that bad so I gave it another chance and deeply regretted it. It’s been at least seventeen years though, so maybe it’s better than I remember? Please?
I only saw “Turnabout Intruder” a couple of times so I don’t remember anything in particular that was awful about it, but the premise suggests it may go horribly wrong.
How often do you think about walking around brain-dead? And why?
I just realized, he sounds like he has a little winding key on his back. Which would be kind of funny.
I’ma would-be writer, so I either brain dead most of the time from lack of sleep or thinking that the writer of (Fill in the Blank) is brain dead!
(And I’m working on a novel to reinvent the Zombie)
I know. DeForest chewed up more scenery in this one than Shatner did, that’s saying something. When I get an episode this bad I end up watching Scotty and all the tricks Jimmy Doohan does to hide his right hand.
“Turnabout Intruder” is offensive in different ways than “A Private Little War”, since it deals with 60s attitudes towards career women. But the thing I’m most waiting for is your response to Shatner’s performance. Let’s just say, I expect the word mincing to appear in the write-up somewhere.
It’s…special. For me, it’s worse than A Private Little War because it lampshades that they didn’t consider women the least bit capable of command, and they show it in the most ZOMG offensive way imaginable, by having Shatner be the woman in command. Just…ugh.
APLW was, though, quite thoroughly appalling.
But hey! At least they were in the Sixties. JJ Abrams hasn’t even got that in his defence. :D
Yeah, I’ve only seen Turnabout a couple of times myself, but it’s burnt into my brain permanently for all that. Let’s say as a girl trying to find a home in sff in the 70s?
Really. Not. Good.
It basically screamed at me, “Yes, there will be an awesome wonderful future with spaceships and aliens and shit, and it’s a No Girls Allowed club. Kinda like everything else, actually, so get your ass in the kitchen, unless it’s night, in which case, get it in the bedroom.”
Not that I have a strong opinion on it or anything.
I think Radio-Controlled Spock will be the name of my next Rock Band.
Are you somehow trying to imply that women* can appear in movies in a capacity OTHER than as an improbable, shallow love interest?
*seethes*
He had no excuse.
*I jest, what with the plurals. Of course we only need one woman as a major character. No need to do more than check it off the list.
You will think I am kidding, but my Rock Band avatars are TOS Trek and my Rock Band 2 avatars are TNG Trek (called Assimilate!).
/nerd
/lying (Please, like I could ever backslash-end being a nerd?)
This one might require some margaritas, is that what you’re saying? Okay. *makes a note*
Totally. And her only Crowning Moment of Awesome (being able to speak three dialects of Romulan, and using it to get crucial intel) went like this:
Kirk: “Uhura did all this awesome stuff, and I’m going to use it to get my unqualified ass into the captain’s chair!”
Uhura: “Yep, I did that.”
Only it’s fiction, of course, because she didn’t even get to confirm her CMOA. Yargh.
/lying (Please, like I could ever backslash-end being a nerd?)
LOL! Please advise on the colour and options you would like on your Personal Internetz, so I can get it sent out to you through the tubes.
We should really take pictures of those bands so we can post them here. You could explain how you designed them, or just let people revel in their geekiness without comment.
Watching — or reading — Torie go ballistic over the blatant, unvarnished, and execrable sexism should be entertaining, indeed. But I have to take issue with your dissing of Shatner’s performance. Really, for what it was meant to be, I think Shatner’s take on it was perfect.
I don’t see how you can blame the actor for delivering an excellent realisation of a character, even if the character and the surrounding narrative are abhorrent.
But — hey, this probably should wait for the actual Rewatch!
Okay, for completeness, and because I didn’t realise this was going on over here, I’ll copy my post from Tor.com, in case anyone cares. I don’t know; are we meant to post everything twice now? I’m afraid I’m easily confused….
==============
Ah, Season Three, its hour come round at last, slouches its way to ignominious debut….
I just never could figure out how they managed to get all that subtle movement out of Spock’s body with — what? — eight buttons and a dial? Did McCoy have the menu memorised? And when did he get a chance to brief Kirk on the controls, anyway?
Unlike our new reviewers, I actually thought the debate on the bridge over which planet to explore, complete with solar system chart, was pretty neat, and one of the few reasonable moments in the entire episode.
And I do agree that the cast did the best they could with what they had, as they almost always did.
So, other than the immortal phrases ‘You are not morg, you are not eymorg!’, ‘Givers of pain and delight’, and ‘Brain and brain! What is brain?!’, there’s not much else to take away from this episode.
And I notice that nobody is mentioning one of my favourite candidates for worst episode, ‘That Which Survives’ — possibly because it’s so bad and forgettable that everyone has, well, forgotten it. But it’s coming, don’t worry.
(I also liked the handy thermal uniforms which protected the landing party from the cold, despite not having any mittens or wool caps, and thus saving bunches on extra wardrobe. It’s like the Tories [and I don’t mean the good one of this blog] took over the production budget….)
If you can figure out how to screencap my Xbox, sure.
I’m especially proud of Geordi.
Yeah, being named Torie when we studied the American Revolution was a heap of fun. That scene reminded me of “The Naked Time,” actually, when they had “biohazard suits” and then the guy takes off his protective glove to touch a strange substance. Why the suits?
I liked the debate on the bridge, too. You sometimes forget that these people, in between man-wrestling and food cubes, have traditional ship-related tasks. Too bad we don’t get to see the unwashed deckhands loading torpedo bays… Oh wait, no it’s not.
The best thing about Lost in Space was Judy in that silver jumpsuit. Sigh…
Yeah, that bit with the glove always mystified me. What kind of hazmat training was Starfleet handing out? They’d probably privatised it.
“And The Children Shall Lead…” is my bottom one- poor telling of a so-so story. “Turnabout Intruder” will have some spots of poor effort, but is still very entertaining.
Stop asking about it! Just be patient. I don’t want anything spoiled for you.
I totally agree with you on the fine Spock controls, right down to his hands! And that debate on the Bridge was interesting and realistic, though I still think it went on a little too long.
Re: the thermals on the planet, for all Chekov’s posturing, I noted that he was the first to phaser the rocks to keep warm!
Also, I’m glad you found us! There’s no expectation that you post twice, but we’d sure miss you over here… :)
Oh, right. Maybe that’s what I liked about the show, but I might have had a crush on Penny. And the robot.
Training is so expensive, after all.
Well, the Robot would have been kinky, and Penny was cute, but just too wholesome. Judy, though — smoldering. Yow.
The fanwank explanation for this (and I’ll save most of the details for that thread when it happens) that I’ve seen is that Janice Lester is insane, and as the only character who says explicitly that women can’t be starship captains, it’s automatically a suspicious statement.
I realize that there’s more to it than that; I’m just throwing this out there for now.
I have to agree — “And the Children Shall Lead” has the fewest redeeming features (i.e. none). Every other episode had at least a moment of passing coolness, or a well-delivered line, or an interesting character/situation. But not this one.
It doesn’t help that, during the syndication years, it seemed to be on twice a week. (Whereas I think I only ever saw Turnabout Intruder twice, despite watching 6 times a week…)
Oh, so this is where the party is at now.
The one thing I’ll say in defense of this episode was that (it is claimed by the writer) it was written as a joke about how the revived Star Trek had its brain removed, and was picked up by the clueless showrunner. There’s ample evidence for that, but I have a bit of skepticism re. this claim since this was the very first episode of the third season. YMMV.
@52 ChurchHatesTucker
You found us! Welcome!
I certainly felt like they were pulling a joke on the fans, too.
I’m very sad that it took me this long to find the real Star Trek rewatch. Now I need to find the time to actually participate.
@ 54 toryx
It’s never too late! We’ll be here. :)
I am very late coming to this party, unfortunately, but I feel compelled to defend “Spock’s Brain” slightly–really only on the charge of boredom. I admit that there are many scenes in the episode that feel unnecessarily protracted, with lots of slow conversations and walking through corridors. One particularly bad scene has Scotty finding the cave on the surface containing the food and weapons, and the landing party all stand around and discuss it in ridiculously obvious terms: “It could be a warning! Or it could be a trap for the brutes! But won’t it trap us too? &c.” But there’s so much other hilarious stuff going on that I’m willing to put up with a bit of padding. Compare it to a classic “bad movie” like Bride of the Monster; watching that, you have to endure stretches of tedium–walking scenes, driving scenes, gratuitous stock footage, &c.–but it’s all worth it to be entertained by goofy dialogue, Bela Lugosi’s ham acting, the ludicrous apparition of Tor Johnson shambling about with his mouth wide open, and so forth.
I think there’s plenty of entertainment to be found in “Spock’s Brain”. Deliriously wretched dialogue, not just the infamous “brain and brain!” exclamation. Melodramatic line readings, e.g. “Spock’s…brain…CONTROLS!” or, “A child could do it!!” Bizarre attempts at humor that flop, e.g. “…delightful aspects,” or, “Science will triumph.” Costuming, sets, and special effects that clearly show nobody was really trying, e.g. the bit of gold-colored tulle wrapped around Spock’s head that’s supposedly covering his open skull, the wall with a hole that just barely hides the top of Spock’s head. The laughable hand-waving that covers up the plot’s multiple sins (fine motor control over Spock using ten buttons? Spock knows how to operate on himself?) All of this stuff is why I’ve actually watched “Spock’s Brain” several times over the years, which is more than I can say of three-fourths of the third season’s episodes. No way it’s boring, especially when compared to soporifics like “The Mark of Gideon” or “Requiem for Methuselah”.
Is it offensive? Certainly the episode seems to suggest that women, deprived of the society of men, inevitably become bubble-headed children too stupid to breathe. But then it’s also suggested the men, deprived of the society of women, inevitably become violent brutes who can barely string a half-dozen words together at a stretch. I suppose it’s just another instance of that hackneyed trope of science fiction, for which I partly blame Asimov and which Star Trek enthusiastically embraced, that once the central authority of a civilization collapses it takes about a week for everyone to revert to savagery and lose all knowledge of literacy, simple machines, and personal hygiene. There is Kirk’s seeming assumption that the real leader of the Eymorg society couldn’t possibly be any of the women he met, but Star Trek would do much worse in other episodes.
One more observation: I rather like it when Kara comes out from under the “Teacher” and sharply reprimands the men (and her own Controller!) for not taking her own ability into account: “…he is giving no credit to me!”
@56 etomlins
I used to be like you. I thought the camp outweighed the boredom, and defended the humor, but this time around it had a much different effect on me. Perhaps it comes from thinking so critically about the episodes for these reviews, or because we watched it in such close proximity to many better episodes. At this point, Torie and I have also seen this episode so many times, it’s hard to be a good judge of it anymore. Have you checked out our LaughTreks commentary for “Spock’s Brain” yet? When you’re trying to fill those long stretches of silence, you become all too aware of them.
#57, Eugene: I finally got round to watching the “Laugh Treks” along with “Spock’s Brain”. Very witty! The problem of filling dead zones is a serious one and it’s one reason that the MST3K folks deserve more credit than they sometimes get: anyone can make jokes when furnished with good material to base it on, but making jokes when there’s no material takes real ability. Anyway, when I cued up your riff track I laughed. A lot. Mind you, I was a bit drunk at the time….
I don’t think this is the worst episode ever. Heaven knows it’s not good, but it has a certain amount of goofy charm, which puts it ahead of “The Alternative Factor” and “And the Children Shall Lead.”
It’s also the first episode I ever saw — in 1969 (during the summer reruns), when I was 11 — so I’ll always have a soft spot for it.
While most of the execution was execrable, I thought the idea was kind of interesting. I mean, Spock’s brain has to be one of the wonders of the universe; it’s amazing that people didn’t try to steal the damned thing every week. :-) And brainless Spock being remote controlled was genuinely creepy; Nimoy did an amazing job of giving us a Spock with nobody home behind his eyes, and what a totally different creature THAT was.
People often attribute malice to NBC in their decision to air this episode first in Season 3, but I really doubt that. NBC understood almost nothing about Star Trek, but one of the few things they DID understand was that Spock was popular. I think they ran this episode first simply because it had Spock’s name in the title; they didn’t need any deeper motivation than that.