Fix the episode: "Spock's Brain"

[Warped9]

Getting into the current spirit of things.

"Spock's Brain" has to be one of most widely known of Star Trek episodes even if only for its title. It sounds so B mvoie and the story's idea doesn't help: a beautiful alien steals Spock's brain and Kirk races against time to retrieve it.

The episode does have a few genuine WTF moments, too, which doesn't help.

But aside from all that at the heart of this episode lies a genuinely valid science fiction idea: a living mind is needed to run a society (in the strictest sense many living minds are needed to run a society, but here we only need one). And large portions of this episode are played totally straight and are perfectly acceptable, but it's mostly undermined by poor choice in story elements.

Was it really necessary to have Spock's body brought along like some mechanized zombie??? In James Blish's adaptation I recall Spock's body being left aboard ship until the surgery was ready to proceed. As is it comes across as too absurd. Also was it really necessary to have the Morg women be total airheads??? A little nuance would have worked wonders here. But the last bloody straw was having Spock speak and direct McCoy through completion of the surgery. And then to end the whole thing with a cheap laugh. Gimme a freakin' break!

Most of the episode is played straight with few missteps, but every so often one of the aforementioned absurdities would ruin what had been accomplished up to that point. It's really hard to accept that Gene Coon could turn in such a botched effort in writing this. I quite liked the design of the alien ship. I like the story idea, but I'm disappointed with aspects of its execution. And all I can add is that as disappointing as it is I like it better than "And The Children Shall Lead."


I imagine there could be a number of ways to fix this episode so lets hear some ideas. For myself one of the first things I'd fix would be the title. Even something as unimaginative as "The Controller" would be an improvement.

Anyone?

 

[Taelon]

Harnessing all the Eymorg creatures with the torture belts and giving the controls to the Morg people they'd enslaved.

Vengeance is a dish best served again and again and again.

 

[T'Girl]

Giving "THE WOMEN" average intelligence is the only change that really needed to be made.

 

[Ithekro]

You can't fix Spock's Brain.

 

[Grant]

Getting into the current spirit of things.

"Spock's Brain" has to be one of most widely known of Star Trek episodes even if only for its title. It sounds so B mvoie and the story's idea doesn't help: a beautiful alien steals Spock's brain and Kirk races against time to retrieve it.

The episode does have a few genuine WTF moments, too, which doesn't help.

But aside from all that at the heart of this episode lies a genuinely valid science fiction idea: a living mind is needed to run a society (in the strictest sense many living minds are needed to run a society, but here we only need one). And large portions of this episode are played totally straight and are perfectly acceptable, but it's mostly undermined by poor choice in story elements.

Was it really necessary to have Spock's body brought along like some mechanized zombie??? In James Blish's adaptation I recall Spock's body being left aboard ship until the surgery was ready to proceed. As is it comes across as too absurd. Also was it really necessary to have the Morg women be total airheads??? A little nuance would have worked wonders here. But the last bloody straw was having Spock speak and direct McCoy through completion of the surgery. And then to end the whole thing with a cheap laugh. Gimme a freakin' break!

Most of the episode is played straight with few missteps, but every so often one of the aforementioned absurdities would ruin what had been accomplished up to that point. It's really hard to accept that Gene Coon could turn in such a botched effort in writing this. I quite liked the design of the alien ship. I like the story idea, but I'm disappointed with aspects of its execution. And all I can add is that as disappointing as it is I like it better than "And The Children Shall Lead."


I imagine there could be a number of ways to fix this episode so lets hear some ideas. For myself one of the first things I'd fix would be the title. Even something as unimaginative as "The Controller" would be an improvement.

Anyone?

The zombie body was one of two unforgivable blunders of the episode. Leave his body on the ship and the episode is way better.

Giving "THE WOMEN" average intelligence is the only change that really needed to be made.

This is the other. Surgically removing a brain is so complicated that it would have been fine to have the women be of normal intelligence--in fact had they known/remembered that they had taken the brain and used the teacher to install it.......

the second half the episode could have been the women leading a spirited defense of their city using the males as muscle. Heck, make the female leader a rather clever strategist/ fighter and you have a little urban warfare as Kirk and co. have to fight their way to the control room.

Screw the controller belts and give the women and their dim-witted men regular hand weapons and have a cool war of attrition with kirk finally breaking into the control room and letting McCoy use the teacher.

Could that have worked?

 

[ZapBrannigan]

For myself one of the first things I'd fix would be the title. Even something as unimaginative as "The Controller" would be an improvement.

How about "The Great Cerebral Rebellion"?

I actually enjoy this episode, but more for Fred Steiner's score and the female guest stars than anything else.

 

[Metryq]

I quite liked the design of the alien ship.

I know you're speaking of the aesthetics of the model, but I'll never get over the technical gaffe of having the chief engineer of a warp driven starship salivating over an ion rocket. "Ah, they could teach us a thing or two!"

And why did they take Spock's brain? Kirk is the brain of the Enterprise. If they had taken his brain, the episode could have realized its true Playboy bunny potential. (What sci-fi schlock movie was it with men vs. women space battles with long rockets vs. ring-like space stations?) At the end of the episode, Kirk could awake in sickbay to find that it was all a dream induced by fever picked up on Priapus V.

As for the episode the way it was, why did the alien women need the pain belts to control the men? The one who attacked the Enterprise was able to take out the entire crew with the push of a button.

 

[Push The Button]

Have Spock wearing a bandage post-reinstallation, or at least mess up his hair a little. Also, agreed, lose the remote-controlled Spock body.

 

[T'Girl]

but I'll never get over the technical gaffe of having the chief engineer of a warp driven starship salivating over an ion rocket. "Ah, they could teach us a thing or two!"

Not a rocket, but an ion powered warp drive. Starfleet has ion powered warp drive in their shuttles (court martial) but this ship was bigger and different in a way that impressed Scotty.

 

[Warped9]

Back in the day ion power would have sounded really exotic to the average viewer.

 

[Melakon]

(What sci-fi schlock movie was it with men vs. women space battles with long rockets vs. ring-like space stations?)

I don't know about a film, but I think that was an SNL sketch with a title like "Planet of the Men vs. Planet of the Women", and it had an old style rocketship docking into the center of a ringed space station.

The title "Spock's Brain" reminds me of Curt Siodmak's "Donovan's Brain", though the only similarity is a brain in a vat.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

But aside from all that at the heart of this episode lies a genuinely valid science fiction idea: a living mind is needed to run a society (in the strictest sense many living minds are needed to run a society, but here we only need one).

No. The basic premise is irretrievably stupid. It's staggeringly idiotic that TEH WOMEN would go into deep space in search of a brain to run their planet.

Where are they going to look? In this whole galaxy, where are they going to look for their Controller? How are they going to find it?

See what I did there?

This is one of those episodes that's a classic just the way it is. To fix it would be a crime against science!

 

[Metryq]

Not a rocket, but an ion powered warp drive.

If Scotty had said steam-powered, you'd still defend it? And if the shuttles have "ion-powered warp drive," why would Scotty be flipping out over the alien ship? Doesn't wash.

Back in the day ion power would have sounded really exotic to the average viewer.

Bingo. During the ride down in the elevator, Scotty also reports detecting a power source—

SCOTT: Captain, that power we picked up above, we're getting closer.
KIRK: A lot of it?
SCOTT: Enough to push this planet out of orbit.
KIRK: What source?
SCOTT: Either a nuclear pile a hundred miles across or
KIRK: Or what?
SCOTT: Ion power.

Dum-dum-dum! (dramatic music)

 

[Kemaiku]

Have their society explained as being damaged by the interaction with a more advanced culture that died off shortly into the process and leaving behind only half finished projects.

One of which maybe a terraforming project to help "fix" the surface of the planet in some way (I haven't watched in a while, I think I remember an ice age being mentioned), but also building an underground shelter as the process will be lengthy. But the environmental control system is based around bioneural circuitry like Voyager (but more advanced and genetically quite alien to the natives and humans).

An android that is only marginally functional in some ways has all the needed information and the last starship (the ion propulsion vessel) at his command, but takes orders from the natives.

Have the natives not be stupid, but a female dominated society that is still recovering from this interaction, and struggling to complete everything they need to survive.

Consulting the android, they find that it knows of other races, and Vulcans have the highest chance of compatability with the controller. With no real ethical programming, it complies with their every demand, and they track down the Enterprise, and take the Spock's brain, the android doing the surgery.

Everyone wakes up, Spock is on life support, they track down the vessel due to it's unique and rather obvious ion wake. They arrive at the planet and beam down, sans Spock, and have just...a lot less insanely stupid conversations, and have to argue with the natives to give the brain back.

But face a dilemma that they know their race will die if they die, having nothing that can support then otherwise. Eventually Kirk and co arrive at the control room and talk to Spock.

The android, through some Kirk-god-logic-fu, agrees to use the last of it's power and intellect to not only restore the brain, but try to think of a new interface.

It succeeds, to a point, where McCoy's own medical knowledge is enough to finish the process, Spock wakes days later with bandages and a splitting headache, not to return to duty for some time. He will need physical therapy for a few weeks for the lesser problems but make a complete recovery. The android is quite burned out and useless.

The android leaves enough for Scotty to engineer a biomechanical "brain" based on that and the ships own scans of Spock's brain during the surgery to tide them over until Starfleet thinks of a better solution.

 

[Grant]

^^But that's basically re-writing the whole episode.

My original idea was......

what if they had a few extra days to do a quick re-write of the scripts and make changes that would make the episodes better but not fundamentally change them.

That's why I like the two suggestions listed earlier

Just leave Spock on the ship till they need him for the operation and not have the women be morons but know exactly what happened and be willing to defend their method of dealing with needing a new controller--stealing an alien brain.

Also the fixes should require very little budget change at all.

 

[Kemaiku]

^^But that's basically re-writing the whole episode.

If there was one episode that needed it...

 

[Green Shirt]

(What sci-fi schlock movie was it with men vs. women space battles with long rockets vs. ring-like space stations?)

I don't know about a film, but I think that was an SNL sketch with a title like "Planet of the Men vs. Planet of the Women", and it had an old style rocketship docking into the center of a ringed space station.

They did a docking sequence like that in one of the Rocky Jones episodes.

 

[Grant]

^^But that's basically re-writing the whole episode.

If there was one episode that needed it...

You're not wrong.

 

[telerites]

It would have more interesting if they took McCoy's brain. Think about how emotionally he would control things. Dammit I'm a Doctor, not some mechanized control computer.

 

[Warped9]

Have their society explained as being damaged by the interaction with a more advanced culture that died off shortly into the process and leaving behind only half finished projects.

One of which maybe a terraforming project to help "fix" the surface of the planet in some way (I haven't watched in a while, I think I remember an ice age being mentioned), but also building an underground shelter as the process will be lengthy. But the environmental control system is based around bioneural circuitry like Voyager (but more advanced and genetically quite alien to the natives and humans).

An android that is only marginally functional in some ways has all the needed information and the last starship (the ion propulsion vessel) at his command, but takes orders from the natives.

Have the natives not be stupid, but a female dominated society that is still recovering from this interaction, and struggling to complete everything they need to survive.

Consulting the android, they find that it knows of other races, and Vulcans have the highest chance of compatability with the controller. With no real ethical programming, it complies with their every demand, and they track down the Enterprise, and take the Spock's brain, the android doing the surgery.

Everyone wakes up, Spock is on life support, they track down the vessel due to it's unique and rather obvious ion wake. They arrive at the planet and beam down, sans Spock, and have just...a lot less insanely stupid conversations, and have to argue with the natives to give the brain back.

But face a dilemma that they know their race will die if they die, having nothing that can support then otherwise. Eventually Kirk and co arrive at the control room and talk to Spock.

The android, through some Kirk-god-logic-fu, agrees to use the last of it's power and intellect to not only restore the brain, but try to think of a new interface.

It succeeds, to a point, where McCoy's own medical knowledge is enough to finish the process, Spock wakes days later with bandages and a splitting headache, not to return to duty for some time. He will need physical therapy for a few weeks for the lesser problems but make a complete recovery. The android is quite burned out and useless.

The android leaves enough for Scotty to engineer a biomechanical "brain" based on that and the ships own scans of Spock's brain during the surgery to tide them over until Starfleet thinks of a better solution.

While I don't think a complete rewrite would be necessary there are ideas in this that could have been incorporated.

Kara would simply have to know (or learn) how to get aboard her ship and how to perform the operation. As for piloting the ship a computer programmed to do just that and programmed to know where to look would do whatever was required. Upon detecting the Enterprise it would automatically scan for suitable lifeforms and subsequently inform Kara who was suitable.

Given that, for the sake of pacing, all this could have happened exactly this way offscreen and before the filmed events. Kara and the other women needn't be airheads, but they also don't have any knowledge whatsoever about how their machinery works. That's actually similar to today when millions of people know how to use a given technology but haven't a clue as to how to repair it or build it themselves. Kara could even have had her memory wiped so that she could have no reccollection of having performed the surgery and taking Spock's brain.