Was "Spock's Brain" really an intentional parody?

[Warped9]

For the longest time it's been asserted that "Spock's Brain" was an intentional parody. I've always had a hard time believing that because of two things. Firstly, there's a genuinely good SF story idea at the heart of it: a civilization needs a living mind to help it survive. Secondly, I find it hard to believe that the TOS staff and cast would intentionally spoof themselves within the context of Star Trek's "reality."

Now I think this question was answered here quite sometime back, but I don't recall the details.

And so was "Spock's Brain" indeed an intentional parody or was it an honest straightforward story that didn't work as intended?

 

[Sir Rhosis]

Going by Coon's first outline, it was a dead serious approach, not a parody or comedy. Maybe later, it became something different. I've reviewed the first outline, see the "Script Review" link below, then scroll down.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Warped9]

That's what I suspected because at heart it's a really good idea for a story.

I can't help but feel how a little rewriting could have done wonders:
- change the title to something less lame.
- make the Eymorg women less airheads.
- Spock shouldn't speak and guide McCoy during the operation.

Three little changes and already you're light years ahead of what we got.

 

[Gary7]

That's what I suspected because at heart it's a really good idea for a story.

I can't help but feel how a little rewriting could have done wonders:
- change the title to something less lame.
- make the Eymorg women less airheads.
- Spock shouldn't speak and guide McCoy during the operation.

Three little changes and already you're light years ahead of what we got.

That's what totally kills the story for me. I can deal with the title, but the setup between the Eymorg women and men was just plain silly. The other thing, about the brain booster having a temporary effect of only a few hours was just physiologically bunk. A neural connection is a neural connection! They don't just degrade all by themselves. And yeah... Spock may be highly intelligent, but it's quite clear in other episodes that he defers to McCoy's medical skills... he's not about to know how McCoy should reconnect his brain to his spinal cord.

For the "tension" moment, I'd rather have it more like something where McCoy ends up with a severe migraine headache as a side effect of the brain boosting, becoming incapacitated. Kirk manages to get a few possible remedies from the Eymorg, but it's a guess as to whether they'd help, do nothing, or kill McCoy. Kirk injects McCoy, who then starts to convulse. McCoy manages to regain enough consciousness to grab his medical pouch and provide the right serum to counteract the effects... his brain-pain is gone and he can get back to fixing Spock.


But OK, you don't want McCoy suddenly super-smart for the rest of the series. It could be that it comes with certain psychological challenges. And perhaps McCoy finds the expanded knowledge unsettling, he doesn't feel like he could adjust to it long-term, so they use the brain boosting machine to put him back to normal.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Legend has it that, while not intended as a parody, it was intended to be more comedic. Not sure how much stock to put into the legend at this point, so let me offer up this possiblity.

Even though Coon had left the show, he was still contractually obligated to provide a few more scripts (because of some legal technicalities, these were under his pseudonym, "Lee Cronin"). I suspect that "Spock's Brain" was thrown together to fulfill his contractual obligation, fully expecting that it would become one of those scripts that are bought but never filmed, and he was probably as flabbergasted as the rest of us when they not only filmed it, but played the ludicrous story deadpan straight.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

^^^But his original outline was not "ludicrous" (well, certainly no Eyemorg women and men in go-go boots and furs); and it was written "straight."

Sir Rhosis

 

[number6]

It was written straight. It was made into parody by its execution.

 

[Shatnertage]

Good points about the original outline and what made it funny. I prefer to think that, by the time they were shooting it, it had become a comedy. If not, of course, it's even funnier.

It is a good sci fi idea--a society that needs a living brain to function--but having Spock walk around via remote control is just too silly to even imagine being considered part of a serious story.

This is actually one of my favorite S3 episodes, too.

 

[number6]

I find it hard to believe that the TOS staff and cast would intentionally spoof themselves within the context of Star Trek's "reality."

That's because you choose to elevate the show to something it was never intended to be and have become an apologist for its shortcomings.

 

[Warped9]

I find it hard to believe that the TOS staff and cast would intentionally spoof themselves within the context of Star Trek's "reality."

That's because you choose to elevate the show to something it was never intended to be and have become an apologist for its shortcomings.

Not to that extent. But I suppose you can't stay on point instead of just trying to discredit someone. Says a lot.

It is...having Spock walk around via remote control is just too silly to even imagine being considered part of a serious story.

Actually I don't find that part all that absurd conceptually even if it looks odd as depicted.

 

[number6]

You're here to celebrate the merits of Spock's Brain. Are you that desperate to believe that the original show can't do anything wrong?

 

[Warped9]

You're here to celebrate the merits of Spock's Brain. Are you that desperate to believe that the original show can't do anything wrong?

That's not what I said. I posed a question as to the original intent of the story. I could list a whole host of things TOS got wrong. "Spocks Brain" isn't a shining moment, but what's the reason for it? Was it a parody gone wrong or a serious straightforward story gone wrong? It now seems the latter.

 

[number6]

It was always the latter. Every fan knows that.

 

[Warped9]

It was always the latter. Every fan knows that.

Not every fan knows that as evidenced by how often over the years I've heard and read it repeated that the episode was actually an intentional parody.

 

[number6]

Is it possible that people can't accept that Spock's Brain was just a bad script that Coon tossed off in a hurry because he was too busy with Wild Wild West?

 

[Warped9]

Is it possible that people can't accept that Spock's Brain was just a bad script that Coon tossed off in a hurry because he was too busy with Wild Wild West?

That's apparently the case, but some fans have tried to make excuses otherwise.

 

[number6]

People will go to great lengths to elevate TOS to some kind of higher art form

 

[the G-man]

The funny thing is: this is one of the first "Treks" I remember seeing as a kid (I know I'd seen others, but this is the first I actually remember) and back then it just seemed so COOL that to this day I can't hate this episode no matter how bad I now realize it is.

 

[Joker]

It's one of those crap episodes, of which there are quite a few, that excuses must always be made for.

It happens sometimes to television shows.

 

[number6]

It's one of those crap episodes, of which there are quite a few, that excuses must always be made for.

It happens sometimes to television shows.

It's one of those crap episodes TOS purists conveniently forget when they are so busy attacking the quality of the other Trek shows.