Let's talk "Spock's Brain"

[ozzfloyd]

Spock's Brain...hmm

Concept is not bad at all. Yeah, it's an all time stinker, but...I would contend that without the remote control Spock and "brain and brain, what is brain?" line, I think it ends up being a middling, forgettable episode. If it were just a tad better, we'd likely not be discussing it imo!

 

[Ssosmcin]

If one believes the Cushman books, the critical reviews of Spock's Brain were actually positive.

But really, The Cloud Minders, Mark of Gideon, And the Children Shall Lead, Wink of an Eye, Whom Gods Destroy and Turnabout Intruder are all lower ranked in my view. I could pick a few form the prior two seasons I like less also. A least Spock's Brain makes some kind of story sense. It's never dull, has a great soundtrack and imaginative camera work.

 

[Tango]

I’ve warmed to “Spock’s Brain” over the years. One of the things I liked, and shared with a few other third season episodes, was it’s old-school science-fiction premise. And, as others have also said, the bridge scene where they discuss their high-stakes bet on which planet to focus on I like quite a bit.

As for “Kirk’s Brain”, well, hey now he can be promoted to admiral! No, wait...

 

[whenyouknow]

The only thing I keep in my memory about this episode are the outfits for the girls. Love the skirts with the shiny thigh-high boots.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The worst episode has always been "And the Children."

"Plato's" is the most embarrassing episode if you are watching in mixed company (meaning non-fans are present).

"Spock's Brain" is a fun but unserious outing, with some chills, some laughs, some cheesecake, some cool shots (rear-screen on the bridge, prop close-ups), and a fantastic music score. And it was always trashed by people who seem to have watched it once, out of the corner of their eye while reading the paper. But if you pay attention, there's a lot to like.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Yeesh.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

It was the premiere episode of the third season after a huge fan campaign to keep the show on the air. I am positive that has a lot to do with it. It's also the schlock SF title of the episode.

Lost in Space has The Great Vegetable Rebellion which is considered the series' worst episode. But it's just the easiest to pick. There are a few much worse. But it's the cliche popular choice.



Eh, Space:1999 had a huge chunk of amazing episodes.

True that, but it was MISSION IMPOSSIBLE she won the three consecutive Emmys for. Going through divorce proceedings about the same time as 1999's run, Landau and Bain had a uniquely ominous ''chemistry'' at times. If the episode's great, Alan, Tony and Maya are likely involved.

 

[Moopsy]

"Spock's Brain" is the poster child for so-bad-it's-good television. I still remember watching this episode in the 1970s and laughing so hard at the absurdness of it all.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

On the surface, it introduces the terrifying idea that someone might steal your brain. But there's a message hiding in the story, as there usually is.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

On the surface, it introduces the terrifying idea that someone might steal your brain.

Or other parts.

CHEKOV'S TOUPEE.
SCOTTY'S .

 

[Farscape One]

Stealing a person's brain?

The Vidiians from VOY say, "Hold my beer."

 

[The Salt Umpire]

Yeesh.

See, Space:1999 had androids

 

[The Salt Umpire]

There's at least three TOS eps and probably more I like way less than Spock's Brain. Children, Plato and Empath come to mind easily. Sometimes silly SF is great, guys. It's art, don't make all of it serious and chock-full of existential threats.

If I was in charge of Trek, my hard rule would be only ONE existential threat every three or four seasons. BoBW and then AGT would have been perfect for my rule.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

There's at least three TOS eps and probably more I like way less than Spock's Brain. Children, Plato and Empath come to mind easily. Sometimes silly SF is great, guys. It's art, don't make all of it serious and chock-full of existential threats.

I don't think existential threats are the opposite of silly episodes. The way modern Trek gets sometimes with Section 31's AI destroying all life in the galaxy, robot tentacles coming out of space portal, and a mycelium reactor almost destroying the multiverse is also kind of ridiculous.

Personally I prefer Trek to be more believable and grounded. Silly episodes make me lose my sense of humour and get grumpy.

 

[The Salt Umpire]

Personally I prefer Trek to be more believable and grounded. Silly episodes make me lose my sense of humour and get grumpy.

So I'm hearing that The Alternative Factor isn't a fave since it's both (unintentionally) silly and existential.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

So I'm hearing that The Alternative Factor isn't a fave since it's both (unintentionally) silly and existential.

The Alternative Factor will make anyone grumpy!

(It's my least favourite TOS episode).

 

[Farscape One]

For me, "THE ALTERNATIVE FACTOR" is the second worst of TOS. At least Robert Brown's performance was good, despite a terrible script.

"AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD" takes the prize for worst TOS for me.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I can watch The Alternative Factor repeatedly. It's got a really fun overly dramatic delivery about that that I enjoy. The dialog is overbaked as hell. There's no humor. Everything is stated and re-stated like an Outer Limits episode.

This is amazing. Nimoy did more pauses than Shatner. It was a pause-a-thon.

KIRK: What's going on? This leaping from universe to universe. This wild talk about a murdering creature who destroys civilizations. What's the purpose?
SPOCK: Jim, madness has no purpose or reason, but it may have a goal. He must be stopped, held. Destroyed if necessary.
KIRK: I don't follow you.
SPOCK: Two parallel universes - project this. One positive, the other negative. Or, more specifically, one matter, the other...antimatter.
KIRK: Do you know what you're saying? Matter and antimatter have a tendency to cancel each other out. violently.
SPOCK: Precisely. Under certain conditions, when two identical particles of matter and antimatter meet...
KIRK: Like Lazarus. Identical. Like both Lazarus', only one is matter and the other antimatter. If they meet.
SPOCK: Annihilation, Jim. Total...complete...absolute...annihilation.
KIRK: Of everything that exists, everywhere.

This is peak over-ripe dialog and it's so fun for me.

I'm also not a SF TV snob. I love schlock. I love cheese. As long as the characters act like it's life or death, I go along with it. It's why I love the Irwin Allen shows when they just accept the absurdity with a straight face.

When the show's wink at us and themselves, that's when I tune out. So Spock's Brain is fine with me. So is Alternative Factor.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

An important note about Spock's Brain: if possible, you should watch with the original fx. At the very end, Kelley and Shatner perform a gag that the remastered edition omits, because it occurs during a film dissolve to the Enterprise. The remaster cuts away early to avoid the original fx in the dissolve. I missed it as a child but my father burst out laughing. He had to tell me what they did.

I have a little more to say on SB as well:

Much like "The Mark of Gideon" where they built a whole Enterprise mockup, "Spock's Brain" has an alien society doing something impractical that draws our heroes in.

• If you just need a humanoid brain, wouldn't your own planet be the place to get it? It's quicker, vastly cheaper, and a sure thing, compared to going out into the galaxy looking for one.

• If you go to all the trouble of mounting an interstellar space mission, what are your chances of running into an alien ship with a prime specimen like Spock on board? Seems more like an impossible dream than a sensible plan. Kara must have been heading for a specific solar system where she knows there are humanoids.

• If only a superior "brain from space" will do, then they should have preserved tissues from the old Controller and cloned him as needed. Or when they got the old one 10,000 years ago, they should have gotten some spares and kept them frozen for later use.

• It's not clear what Spock's brain could be doing in that box, that an electronic computer could not do.

I like "Spock's Brain" for its good points, but it also seems like a first-draft, wild-idea story that should have evolved into a more respectable plot about visiting Sigma Draconis, with no brain stealing involved. Who knows what it could have been, if more work had been put into the plot.

 

[fireproof78]

Spock's Brain suffers from sequestering a main character and then creating an implausible scenario when Spock is the one who makes it sound semi plausible. The "Givers of Pain and Delight" cave man dialog just is to strange to be enjoyable. Just uninteresting all across the board until act 3 but it's too late.

Bottom 5 TOS for me.