I thought the Romulan Commander was great, right up to the point when she gave up her command to be with Spock and to become a prisoner of the Federation. That just reinforces negative stereotypes about women. YMMV.
TheGodBen Revisits Star Trek
- Thread starter TheGodBen
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Yeah, remember all that concern in The Enemy Within about how important it is for the captain to appear infallible and perfect in the eyes of the crew?
Well from the crew’s POV in this episode; shortly after Kirk is missing on Miramarnee’s planet for 2 months he goes crazy and takes the ship into the neutral zone like a glory seeking maniac. I’m sure a few of them questioned whether he was fit to go back on active duty.
And then he’s dead?
And then a Romulan which looks like Kirk appears on the Bridge?
This must be playing merry hell on the crew’s morale. How would this little escapade affect Kirk’s ability to command and inspire his crew in the future?
Well from the crew’s POV in this episode; shortly after Kirk is missing on Miramarnee’s planet for 2 months he goes crazy and takes the ship into the neutral zone like a glory seeking maniac. I’m sure a few of them questioned whether he was fit to go back on active duty.
And then he’s dead?
And then a Romulan which looks like Kirk appears on the Bridge?
This must be playing merry hell on the crew’s morale. How would this little escapade affect Kirk’s ability to command and inspire his crew in the future?
I remember loving the darker look at Starfleet when I was younger, so I don't know if that made me a little more predisposed towards Section 31 by the time they rolled around. Either way, it's a blast.
The Enterprise Incident is my favourite episode in season three. It's a shame that the Romulan Commander surrenders so willingly to Spock at the end, as their interplay in the rest of the episode is great.
The Enterprise Incident is my favourite episode in season three. It's a shame that the Romulan Commander surrenders so willingly to Spock at the end, as their interplay in the rest of the episode is great.
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Maybe. But it seems the show lost the Romulan ship model after its first appearance. What shots of it there are in "The Deadly Years" are leftover from "Balance of Terror".
That AMT kit was so screen-accurate, it could have replaced the hero miniature altogether. The kit was a precise replica of the studio model, in a smaller scale. Its molds were pantographed directly from the master tooling model of the studio miniature.
The most if not only accurate Trek model AMT ever released. And now I believe it was reissued by Polar Lights.
https://www.culttvmanshop.com/Classic-Klingon-D-7-Battle-Cruiser-from-AMT--90s-reissue_p_4771.html
And The Children Shall Lead (*)
Do you know what really bothers me about Star Trek Discovery? They didn’t use the canonical Federation flag from this era, by which I mean this glorious thing. What a beautiful flag.
Urgh, kids are the worst, am I right? If they’re not boring the arse off you by talking about Minecraft incessantly, they’re using the mental powers given to them by a green ghost to murder you. That’s why I don’t have any, they’re too much of a threat. All it takes is a creepy guy who can’t act for shit encouraging them to rule the universe and they’re all in on the scheme to murder billions of people. Of course, all they need to snap out of it is some home movies, then they’ll feel remorse for killing their parents. Now, once they’ve finished their sentences in juvenile detention, they can look forward to a life of overwhelming remorse, drug and alcohol dependence, and suicidal ideation.
I don’t think the writers of this one appreciated just how depressing this episode actually is. I think that’s what sticks out to me most about this episode, beyond the obvious problems of child acting, the evil green ghost’s non-acting, and William Shatner’s overacting. This story is treated as just another episode of Star Trek, there’s a complete lack of gravity to the subject matter they’re exploring here.
We almost had a new contender for best worst line, but it’s actually just a worst worst line.
The God Things: 12
Do you know what really bothers me about Star Trek Discovery? They didn’t use the canonical Federation flag from this era, by which I mean this glorious thing. What a beautiful flag.
Urgh, kids are the worst, am I right? If they’re not boring the arse off you by talking about Minecraft incessantly, they’re using the mental powers given to them by a green ghost to murder you. That’s why I don’t have any, they’re too much of a threat. All it takes is a creepy guy who can’t act for shit encouraging them to rule the universe and they’re all in on the scheme to murder billions of people. Of course, all they need to snap out of it is some home movies, then they’ll feel remorse for killing their parents. Now, once they’ve finished their sentences in juvenile detention, they can look forward to a life of overwhelming remorse, drug and alcohol dependence, and suicidal ideation.
I don’t think the writers of this one appreciated just how depressing this episode actually is. I think that’s what sticks out to me most about this episode, beyond the obvious problems of child acting, the evil green ghost’s non-acting, and William Shatner’s overacting. This story is treated as just another episode of Star Trek, there’s a complete lack of gravity to the subject matter they’re exploring here.
We almost had a new contender for best worst line, but it’s actually just a worst worst line.
The God Things: 12
Like some other third season episodes execution is everything. There is a genuinely dark horror story in ATCSL, but they bypass it. When the Gorgon shows up it’s WTF!
Some slight changes and this could have been a winner. Mind you when Kirk and Spock realize they just beamed two innocent security guards into open space while at warp that is a truly cold HOLY SHIT! moment to give you the creeps.
Some slight changes and this could have been a winner. Mind you when Kirk and Spock realize they just beamed two innocent security guards into open space while at warp that is a truly cold HOLY SHIT! moment to give you the creeps.
From one of the best episodes to one of the worst. This episode, along with The Way to Eden, are real barrel-scrapers.
At least Spock's Brain was unintentionally funny.
At least Spock's Brain was unintentionally funny.
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Child actors are often lambasted for dragging weekly television productions down but here they were one of the lesser issues and mostly gave a serviceable performance.
However, the plot is all over the place with cobbled together elements from Miri, The Deadly Years, Operation Annihilate, Charlie X (with regard to the pranks) and a subversion of the message from Devil In The Dark (the whole "he looks bad, therefore he is bad" trope really has no business in Star Trek).
On the plus side we got to see the larger recreation room at last and the Auxiliary Control is always welcome. Odd that Scotty was hanging around down there though and in fact I've never seen AC so well staffed! Was the Engine Room set unavailable?
However, the plot is all over the place with cobbled together elements from Miri, The Deadly Years, Operation Annihilate, Charlie X (with regard to the pranks) and a subversion of the message from Devil In The Dark (the whole "he looks bad, therefore he is bad" trope really has no business in Star Trek).
On the plus side we got to see the larger recreation room at last and the Auxiliary Control is always welcome. Odd that Scotty was hanging around down there though and in fact I've never seen AC so well staffed! Was the Engine Room set unavailable?
You can certainly see where all the Season 3 production budget went
I admit it. I am a third season apologist. I will defend the majority of the episodes of this year to my dying breath. But there is no defense of this one. It is, in my opinion, the worst episode of the series. Spock’s Brain is a masterpiece in comparison. Everybody overacts. Shatner is off the charts. The music, which is usually the strongest point, can be very annoying. “Ring Around the Rosie?” The jerkoff stings? There is some interesting imagery, and the concept is great, but nope. Awful. Only the immediate set up and the beaming the guards into space are “high points.”
Spock’s Brain (*)
There are many different kinds of bad episodes of Star Trek. The most common is an episode with a good concept that’s executed poorly, an understandable problem for speculative fiction. Rarer is the episode with a bad concept that’s executed well, and these episodes can be divisive amongst fans. The worst, of course, is an episode with a bad concept that’s executed poorly, The Omega Glory being an example that comes to mind.
Spock’s Brain is none of these. Spock’s Brain is an episode with a ridiculous concept that’s executed bizarrely. The core idea of the episode, that aliens steal Spock’s brain to use as a computer to run their society, is beyond parody from the very beginning, but everything else about the episode just adds to the absurdity. The aliens who stole the brain are beautiful bimbos who wear some of the silliest outfits in the series. Spock’s body is brought along on the mission with a remote control. Spock talks McCoy through the surgery to reattach his own brain. The episode just keeps compounding the original inexplicable idea with more and more inexplicable ideas.
And that’s the slightly redeeming aspect of the episode that prevents it from getting a zero, there’s entertainment value in watching a bad idea descend into lunacy. It’s like The Room, a movie that fails on every single level, but which is strangely rewatchable because of the mystery of how Tommy Wiseau’s mind works. Spock Brain is an episode I would happily show to non-Star Trek fans because there’s entertainment value in its badness, and it invites so many questions about its production. Did Gene Coon intentionally write a bad episode out of bitterness from the way he left the show? Was it meant to be a comedy but there was a failure in communication? Did the producers really think this was a good script, or were they behind schedule and needed an episode out quickly? How did Leonard Nimoy feel when walking around under remote control? Who decided that this episode was a suitable season 3 premiere? Were they trying to get the show cancelled again?
This is a dreadful episode. But I’d watch it over The Omega Glory in a heartbeat. So that’s something.
There are many different kinds of bad episodes of Star Trek. The most common is an episode with a good concept that’s executed poorly, an understandable problem for speculative fiction. Rarer is the episode with a bad concept that’s executed well, and these episodes can be divisive amongst fans. The worst, of course, is an episode with a bad concept that’s executed poorly, The Omega Glory being an example that comes to mind.
Spock’s Brain is none of these. Spock’s Brain is an episode with a ridiculous concept that’s executed bizarrely. The core idea of the episode, that aliens steal Spock’s brain to use as a computer to run their society, is beyond parody from the very beginning, but everything else about the episode just adds to the absurdity. The aliens who stole the brain are beautiful bimbos who wear some of the silliest outfits in the series. Spock’s body is brought along on the mission with a remote control. Spock talks McCoy through the surgery to reattach his own brain. The episode just keeps compounding the original inexplicable idea with more and more inexplicable ideas.
And that’s the slightly redeeming aspect of the episode that prevents it from getting a zero, there’s entertainment value in watching a bad idea descend into lunacy. It’s like The Room, a movie that fails on every single level, but which is strangely rewatchable because of the mystery of how Tommy Wiseau’s mind works. Spock Brain is an episode I would happily show to non-Star Trek fans because there’s entertainment value in its badness, and it invites so many questions about its production. Did Gene Coon intentionally write a bad episode out of bitterness from the way he left the show? Was it meant to be a comedy but there was a failure in communication? Did the producers really think this was a good script, or were they behind schedule and needed an episode out quickly? How did Leonard Nimoy feel when walking around under remote control? Who decided that this episode was a suitable season 3 premiere? Were they trying to get the show cancelled again?
This is a dreadful episode. But I’d watch it over The Omega Glory in a heartbeat. So that’s something.
A living mind interfaced with machinery was not a new idea in science fiction even when “Spock’s Brain” was made. The core idea is eliminating the organic body—the hands and feet that traditionally operate machinery—and connecting the brain directly to the hardware. This is actually done today albeit in a much more limited manner.
So the concept of a living mind directly controlling the machinery of a civilization is a valid science fiction idea.
“Spock’s Brain” works fine...until they beam remote control Spock down and meet the airheads underground. Then it all falls apart.
So the concept of a living mind directly controlling the machinery of a civilization is a valid science fiction idea.
“Spock’s Brain” works fine...until they beam remote control Spock down and meet the airheads underground. Then it all falls apart.
Apparently, early drafts of the script left Spock’s brainless body back on the ship, which led Nimoy to complain he was barely in the episode. So, my guess is, Nimoy was OK with walking around under remote control, because the alternative was to barely cameo in an episode.
SPOCK'S BRAIN is not that bad a "Star Trek" story if looked at from the POV of how many classic Trek messages it contains:
At the very least, this episode wasn't boring!
- Kara says "the need of my people for their Controller is greater than your need for your friend". So, you might say that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?
- Unfortunately, Kirk takes the ST3 interpretation instead (the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many)
- McCoy risks himself for Spock – good Trek message there
- At the end we get the usual Kirk speech about “men and women living together” regardless of the consequences to the societal norms of the planet…which bizarrely is another typical Trek message!
At the very least, this episode wasn't boring!
What is really at the heart of this is Spock was not given a choice. He was brutalized without consent and against his will. The Eymorg’s needs did not in any whatsoever justify what they did to Spock.
Spock was not willingly sacrificing himself in the course of duty. He was attacked and mutilated without provocation.
Spock was not willingly sacrificing himself in the course of duty. He was attacked and mutilated without provocation.
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