Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 61: Spock's Brain [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

One of the most amazing and bizarre episodes of Star Trek.. the pure ridiculousness and absurdity pulls you in and makes you wonder "how will they get spock's brain back from the beautiful space vixens!?!". Pure genius! One of the best episodes of Star Trek ever!

Spock's Brain is what people would call a "golden turkey". This means that a movie/episode is so bad it's good. Spock's Brain is perhaps the best example of a "golden turkey". This episode will keep you laughing all 51 minutes. It is obvious that the cast members were embarrassed acting out certain scenes. Spock is visibly embarrassed walking around like Frankenstein and Kirk is practically laughing at the end when he asks Spock how he is doing.

In this one an alien bimbo with a short skirt takes Spock's brain to run a planet. It's one of those we need your vast intelligence to save our world episodes. We get to see McCoy perform brain surgery on our favorite Vulcan. He has to put his brain back. That's the tricky part. That's the big hightlight of the episode. The hokey scene where McCoy is given the information to perform the surgery. It would have been good if Mystery Science Theater 3000 got a hold of this one.

"Spock's Brain" is probably he goofiest, campiest Star Trek episode of all time. We've got grunting cavemen, mini-skirted, empty-headed space babes, a missing brain, a mind-booster that looks like an old-time hair dryer, and some of the corniest dialogue ever penned. You can either groan all the way through, or learn to laugh, preferably in the company of like-minded friends. You have to wonder what the cast thought of having to deliver howlers like these: "Jim, his brain is gone!" "Why would they want his brain? What use is it?" "Brain? What is brain?" The whole thing is an exercise in absurdity, but it's fun, Grade-B absurdity.

You know the I love lucy episode with the young guy named Arthur who has a crush on Lucy? Do you remember the Andy Griffith episode with the talking dog that fooled Goober or the Twilight Zone with Elizabeth Montgomery and Charles Bronson as members of opposing armies after a war? Yeah, even the best tv series have at least one bad episode and Star Trek has just a couple, but this is the grand stinker. An alien in a shiny mini-skirt steals Spocks brain and carts it off to her world so that is can run an underground city. It sounds bad and what really makes this episode so weak is just cut and dry everything is done, I mean this is just 1950's drive-in type science fiction. A few years ago I was trying to tape all the episodes and when this one came on the station must have had difficulties because the picture was there, but there was no sound. I actually sat there watching for about twenty minutes thinking "You know it is actually better this way". There are three things that actually define the third season of Star Trek. Number one is Kirk's stomach stands out more then ever, number two is Scotty has a funny hair-do and number three is most of the writing was weaker and this is the lowest of the low. I think my favorite part of this episode was that Chekov got to be in charge of a couple of other people, that is probably the only real positve thing about this epsiode.

"Spock's Brain" stops just short of being a parody of every mediocre Star Trek script ever written. You see, there are these scantily-clad priestesses who serve a machine that controls their civilization. Once every 10,000 years or so, the high priestess has to go steal a brain to help run the life-support machinery (the brain pumps liquids, recirculates air, etc., actually not a bad sci-fi idea). After searching through the universe, she decides that Spock's brain is the most perfect one she's come across, so she zaps the crew of the Enterprise and makes off with the Vulcan's grey matter.

The episode only lacks one element to complete the ST formula: Kirk doesn't get to seduce any of the priestesses. Not that he wouldn't like to. The males on the planet -- all troglydytes -- refer to the priestesses as "the givers of pain and delight." "We've certainly seen the delightful aspects," comments Kirk, appreciating the women's mini skirts and go-go boots.

But all that being said, if you can sit back and relax, you might be able to enjoy "Spock's Brain" as good campy fun. The scene at the end where McCoy has to put back the brain but regrets reconnecting Spock's vocal chords, is as funny as the writer intended.

One other thing helps to redeem this episode, though it is legendary for being the worst ever of the original series. The idea of The Teacher, a device that imparts fantastic knowledge though only for a short time, is intriguing. When McCoy puts on the Teacher, the background music is dramatic, as is De Kelly's acting. "Yes of course... a child could do it. A child could do it!"

I have given this episode, the worst in my opinion of the entire series, 2 stars because this was my favorite television program of all time and any "Star Trek" episode is worth watching at least once. Having Mr. Spock silent for an entire episode clearly demonstrated his value to the series and, frankly, this episode seeemed lacking in every area. The story was ridiculous, the plot was not realistic even by Star Trek standards, and the dialogue was really gibberish.

WHAT "SPOCK'S BRAIN" IS ALL ABOUT:

A female-dominated society living underground with the help of "The Teacher" hijacked Mr. Spock's brain from the Enterprise, but left his body there [alive for only a few hours unless the brain is found]. The show is the search for Spock's brain and the subsequent effort Dr. McCoy makes to reinstall it in its proper receptacle. The show does improve a little as they are reconnecting Spock's mouth, but not much. If this were an interesting episode I would go into more detail, but it was really much ado about nothing. In short, it's a "reel" no-brainer!

If you have not seen this episode, please do see it as it is worth a look. In accordance with my opinion, however, this is commonly believed to be one of the very weakest efforts from this fascinating series.

This episode has only two things going, dialog that is somewhat funny (most likely unintentionally), and beautiful women clad only in the absolute minimum required by the censors. The rest of the story is so preposterous that I rank it in my list of the five worst episodes of the original series. A society has somehow been split where the females live underground with the technology, but understand none of it. In essence the ultimate bimbos. The males live above ground and appear to have retained some intelligence, but are considered brutes by the females. Since this society has survived for a long time, one wonders how they manage to procreate.
Fortunately for the society, there is a fancy hair dryer hat that connects them directly to the computer database containing vast amounts of knowledge, including how to remove and reattach a human brain. Unfortunately, the knowledge fades from human memory after a short period of time.
Females from the society obtain the knowledge that allows them to extract a brain and then beam aboard the Enterprise and remove Spock's brain, leaving the body. They apparently need it to run their machinery, since theirs are so devoid of knowledge. The quick thinking Dr. McCoy attaches a device to Spock's head that keeps his body alive and allows them to control it. The usual party beam to the planet with Spock's animated body in an attempt to recover the brain. Absurdity is piled on absurdity, as Nimoy looks like an actor trying to keep a straight Vulcan face while knowing it is ridiculous, a point he makes in his book, "I Am Spock." McCoy eventually puts on the hair dryer hat, gains the knowledge and is able to reattach the brain in the nick of time.
The "high" point, other than the babes, is when Dr. McCoy says, "I never should have connected his mouth." With no underlying significant message to hold this pointless episode together, it fails in all respects. It is one of the few that I turn off when I see that it is the episode currently being shown.

This is a great Star Trek episode. If you don't think so then you either analyze star trek too deeply or have no sense of humor, possibly both. It was obviously done tongue in cheek and with a nod to 50's sci fi.
Some highlights:
1. Cool wrist bands which render the star trek crew unconsious. A writer of the Wonder Years had been impressed with this part of the episode and did an homage to it in a Wonder Years episode.
2. The facial expressions of McCoy, when he wears the helmet which temporarily emparts advanced surgical knowledge to him are priceless!
3. The fact that the crew members can converse with Spock's brain which had been previously disembodied is hilarious. In addition, the fact that Spock can move about without his brain is very amusing. Does the gadget which makes this possible look similar to the device used on Checkov to revive him in The Voyage Home?

Don't be too hard on this episode. It's definitely a throwback to an earlier type of Sci-Fi -- Forbidden Planet and its ilk, with beautiful, brainless babes who must be rescued from themselves -- not the ground-breaking fiction of the best Star Trek. But it's still a lot of fun.

And if you've ever had a really dumb day, where you can't seem to think straight or get anything done and stuff that was clear as water the day before is now opaque as mud, well, all I can say is "Brain and brain, what is brain?"

If you laugh at Spock's Brain, check out "Amazon Women on the Moon."