• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread

"What Are Little Girls Made Of?", Episode 7, October 20th

Tonight's Episode: Captain Kirk gets trapped on a planet with a fembot, a mandroid and Lurch. Sounds like a beginning of a joke? Find out who will throw the final punchline tonight!
 
Star Trek
"What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
Stardate 2712.4

For the 50th anniversary, I'm happy to do this the 1966 way, but as an old production order man, this is where airdate order really starts to disagree with me--We're up to the 10th episode made, with #'s 12 and 11 scheduled for the next two weeks, before we finally get to #3, the first regular production episode (which I've come to think of as the third pilot).

TV viewers haven't seen "The Cage" or "The Menagerie" at this point, but the show is kind of repeating itself with the advanced mechanistic culture living underground schtick. And the deja vu gets paid forward in a couple weeks when we get "Dagger of the Mind"...the episode immediately after this one in production order, which always bore a lot of resemblance to this one in my...

Andrea_zpsxkjak6lt.jpg


...

I'm sorry, was I saying something...?

The android-making turntable makes no damn sense outside of dramatically obscuring the transformation for TV viewers. For a guy with such a smooth chest, Shat sure has some hairy legs. Kirk's spur-of-the-moment inspiration for outing the android is clever, and it gives us a good early example of Kirk and Spock working together as a well-oiled machine.

Kirk starts getting his lady-killer and his computer-killer on at the same time!

"THAT was the equation!" This scene between Ted Cassidy and Shat turns into Dueling Hams.

Ah, Andrea...yeah, she's hot as anything, but don't let her handle your phaser.... ;)

*
 
The opening narration says this is the third expedition searching for Korby, which was probably meant to highlight the importance of this "required reading at the academy" dude. I could get the second expedition, just in case the first one missed something, but third seems like overkill. Though if the previous two were searching for him in the same way as the Enterprise did, by just hailing and hoping someone would pick up, I can understand why they sent another one. ;)

Chapel asks Spock has he ever been engaged, he conveniently doesn't answer...

The premise for Korby's actions doesn't really make sense. He wanted to secretly transform people into androids, the idea of which might rub stalwart starfleet captains the wrong way, but given how we've seen the more greedy, selfish side of future humanity only last week I'm sure he'd have no trouble finding volunteers that would gladly pay up for eternal robot life.

This is the first episode that takes place almost entirely off the Enterprise, and that is entirely driven by Kirk, more so than even The Enemy Within which had two Captain Kirks(granted there's two of them here too). The ship and especially ship life that's been a staple of the earlier episodes is completely absent, Spock has a minor role, Uhura's just there to open hailing frequencies, and the rest don't even show up.

We also have our first dead redhirts here, the start of a proud tradition. RIP Mathews and the other guy.

Overall, It's a bit of a shoddily built episode, conveniently wrapped up with a bunch of robot murder-suicides. The only episode that prominently features Chapel, but she's mostly there to scream, look weirded out and witness the awesomeness of Kirk. Still, I kinda have a soft spot for it, it is entertaining even though the themes of "human>robot" and "ancient advanced selfdestructing civilization(this time via senile skynet that forgets the equation for murdering organics)" are probably some of the most overused ones.

He's Dead - Mix said:
For a guy with such a smooth chest, Shat sure has some hairy legs.
Click to expand...

With all the shirt tearing he's subjected to, it's no wonder he has no chest hair. :D
 
I realised now that Budd Albright is the first actor (extra, really) to die twice on Star Trek. First as Barnhart in The Man Trap and now as Rayburn in What Are Little Girls Made Of?
 
reverse dodge said:
The premise for Korby's actions doesn't really make sense. He wanted to secretly transform people into androids, the idea of which might rub stalwart starfleet captains the wrong way, but given how we've seen the more greedy, selfish side of future humanity only last week I'm sure he'd have no trouble finding volunteers that would gladly pay up for eternal robot life.
Click to expand...
Except if they went public, then the authorities (as represented by Kirk in the episode) would have taken charge of everything. And the androids based on real people weren't really the people they thought they were, though Korby had deluded himself into thinking he was. The unnatural behavior of his assistant (Brown?) made that all the more evident.

"Korby" wasn't a reliable narrator. It was a plan to infiltrate and take over, plain and simple.
 
Last edited:
My problem with this one has always been that I'm still utterly mystified as to why Andrea has this contradictory kissing and killing thing. They play it as if this is some profundity that the viewer is meant to follow and understand.

And what test was Andrea mis-applying to bot Kirk, that caused her to phaser him? "I ran into the real Kirk in the caves and phasered him, Corbypoo. I knew he was real and not a robot because he said kissing is illogical!"
 
She killed him because he pissed her off, that's all. The implication is that because she looks and acts femme, that she's wired like a female. Hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned ... whether she be made of Plastic ... or Flesh & Blood.
 
I always liked this episode in spite of the fact that Dr. McCoy is not in it. One of the rare episodes that DeForrest Kelley did not appear in. As a kid watching these episode Ted Cassidy as Rook Scared me quite a bit. I like the makeup of his head. He looked quite alien and scary. I always like a story that has a bottomless pit and somebody falls in it never to be seen again. It is amusing to see what Kirk is holding as his weapon to fight off Rook. Classic Roddenberry.
 
2takesfrakes said:
She killed him because he pissed her off, that's all. The implication is that because she looks and acts femme, that she's wired like a female. Hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned ... whether she be made of Plastic ... or Flesh & Blood.
Click to expand...

Maybe. She seems to associate kissing and killing, though. I've never been sure who fired the phaser that did away with her and Corby, but it usually seems to be her. Kiss then slap. Kiss then kill. As if it were some behavior pattern she memorized.
-----------------------
Just remembered, Andrea went to Corby and started to tell him she'd killed the real Kirk, then she found that the real Kirk was with Corby, and went oops. So why did "it is illogical" make her sure he wasn't the android?
 
Last edited:
Fifty years ago, the way the world was, then, the way entertainment went, back then ... who knows what we're meant to get out of it? You may well be entirely right, but ... I've always gotten the very distinct impression that Corby pulled the trigger and not the fembot. Like any Man, he knew that if he HAD to die, then, what could be better than to die in the arms of a beautiful woman?
 
Tallguy said:
I watched it last night. Corby pulls the trigger.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I guess I try to fit everything into the idea that Andrea has somehow become conditioned into an automatic kissing-violence pattern, maybe by an early scene with Kirk. I forget how that scene goes, though.
 
UnknownSample said:
Thanks. I guess I try to fit everything into the idea that Andrea has somehow become conditioned into an automatic kissing-violence pattern, maybe by an early scene with Kirk. I forget how that scene goes, though.
Click to expand...
She does kiss Kirk the second time and then tries to slap him again, but that is never revisited in the episode.

Does Corby ever mention what happened to Brown? Did he make Brown up after the real Brown was dead? Or was Brown the same as Corby?

And why does Brown get all burned and sparky but Corby and Andrea disintegrate? (I know, classic Star Trek phaser problem.)
 
Tallguy said:
Did he make Brown up after the real Brown was dead?
Click to expand...
I thought you asked if he had invented him. I'm like, "No, Chapel remembered him as a real person." But I see you mean, did Korby create the Brown android from Brown's mind or just approximate him after he died and his consciousness was subsequently irretrievable?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

U
Gimmee Your Top Quartile, TOS Edition (20 episodes)
Replies
6
Views
3K
Etbj SMY
Etbj SMY
F
Most Disliked Episode of TOS, Season 1 - 2025 Edition
2 3
Replies
47
Views
7K
Etbj SMY
Etbj SMY
F
The Most Disliked Episode of TOS, Season 2 - 2025 Edition...
2
Replies
30
Views
3K
Qonfounding Ghooool
Qonfounding Ghooool
BlueStuff
The Least Disliked Episode 2025 - TOS Season 1
2 3
Replies
48
Views
5K
Vger23
Vger23
J
A (potentially) unpopular opinion
3 4 5
Replies
84
Views
10K
Henoch
Henoch
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top