Star Trek Retro Review: "Spock's Brain" (TOS) | Worst Episodes Ever
Вставка
- Опубліковано 6 бер 2024
- ▶Join this channel to get access to perks:
ua-cam.com/users/steveshivesjoin
▶Patreon: / steveshives
▶PayPal: www.paypal.me/SteveShives
▶Venmo: venmo.com/thatguysteveshives
▶Twitter: / steve_shives
▶Facebook: / thatguysteveshives
▶Instagram: / steve.shives
Listen to the Late Seating podcast:
▶RSS: / sounds.rss
▶Soundcloud: / late-seating
Listen to The Ensign's Log podcast:
▶RSS: / sounds.rss
▶Soundcloud: / the-ensigns-log-podcast
#startrek #review #startrektos #startrektheoriginalseries #spock - Розваги
McCoy: OK Jim, I've got Spock wired up to this remote control.
Kirk: Why, Bones?
McCoy: *_shrug_*
McCoy: This button makes him walk around... *_pushes button_*
Spock: *_walks around_*
Kirk: Interesting doctor, thank you.
McCoy: And this button makes him sing show tunes... *_pushes button_*
Spock: YOU'RE A GRAND OLD FLAG, YOU'RE A HIGH-FLYING-
Kirk: Yes, yes, thank you, doctor, that will be all for now.
McCoy: *_pushes button_*
Spock: *_farts loudly_*
Kirk: THANK YOU, DOCTOR, THAT WILL BE ALL.
Thank goodness there were only eight buttons!
In the future please refrain from writing funnier bits than those in the actual video. Thank you.
@@SteveShives
I learned a thing or two about funny Star Trek skits by watching a fellow on UA-cam.
Exactly this! McCoy's like: "Oh, come on, Jim. Don't tell me you've never wanted to drive Spock around the room like a toy car. I tell you, this is more fun than a bottle of Saurian brandy!"
Oh, I see Bones consulted with Elon Musk on the button choices...
"Spock's Brain" crawled so DS9's "The Magnificet Ferengi" could run. We could never have a remote controlled Voorta if we never had remote controlled Spock.
Exactly!
The Magnificent Ferengi is right up there with the best episodes of all time ❤
That's a cute self-reference in that DS9 episode indeed!
No remote controlled Vorta and no patience. (Sorry, I love that scene.)
Well said. And the thing I love about The Magnificent Ferengi is that the remote controlled Vorta works in that episode because it's clear how ridiculous that plan is.
And here I was thinking that "Aliens stole Neelix's lungs and we temporarily replaced them with holograms." was pushing the limits of believable medicine.
I always refer to that episode as "Neelix's Lungs" because of this one.
I hated this episode. They wasted a good opportunity to kill off Neelix for good.
@@sebastianoleary2743 Likewise. It inspired me to write a filk song about examples of tissue donation in Trek, both real and extrapolated. "But his lungs were snapped up by Vidiians, / A Horta can use a new tush / The Givers of Pain and Delight want his brain / Well he wasn't using it, very much / His lobes will go off to Ferengi / A Tin Man can use a new heart / His T-negative blood can do Vulcans good / Well, at least they can strip him for parts."
"We've secretly replaced Neelix's lungs with these genuine Folger's crystals. Let's see if anyone notices."
@@nataschavisser573 but if they killed off Neelix then, they'd have denied the existence of Tuvix in the future. 😜
I was 5 when TOS started, and I saw this episode when I was 7. "But how come Spock's hair wasn't shaved off?" I wailed. "Why does his hair look combed?"
you raise a very valid point
I was a little older than you, but I wondered the same thing.
"Spock's Brain" isn't the worst TOS episode. It's a campy mess, but it's an entertaining campy mess. "And the Children Shall Lead," "Turnabout Intruder," "The Way to Eden," and season 1's "The Alternative Factor" rank lower on my personal list.
I was surprised to hear that it was rated the worst. I always kinda liked it. 😂
Turnabout Intruder is abyssmal, agreed
Yup. All of the ones you listed are way worse than Spock's Brain. Throw in Plato's Stepchildren as absolutely horrendous.
yes, exactly my thoughts....and i think Devil in the Dark was the number one episode, Mirror, mirror second, city on edge of forever third, balance of terror fourth, and tomorrow is yesterday is fifth...
Yep, you said what I was thinking! "Spock's Brain" is Mystery Science 3000 funny, especially with some college age friends and a few brews, it can be one of the best comedy hours in television.
"Brain and brain! What is brain?!"
Deepest...writing...ever.
I don't care how terrible it is, I will always enjoy this line. And the delivery in the episode is perfect.
Been quoting that line for about 50 years. It’s good for so many situations! 😂
Love that line!!
That and "NO blah blah blah!" are the BEST lines in the franchise.
The most annoying thing about this episode is that whenever a regular news report came out about a NASA probe using an ion engine, they’d run a clip from this episode of Scotty gushing about that super powerful ion technology.
Excuse me, but ions are what power a Duracell battery. The Enterprise is powered by freakin’ anti-matter.
Scotty would be just as excited by a steam engine
It makes sense, tho. He's amazed they could fit enough D-cells into a ship that size to achieve warp speed.
To be entirely fair, using an ion drive for interstellar propulsion is fucking impressive. I'm with Scotty on this one.
That close-up of McCoy sweating furiously during the surgery is prime reaction image fodder.
There's at least two prior TOS episodes in which Kirk solicits opinions from the junior bridge officers. In "Balance of Terror," there's a briefing room scene in which Uhura and Sulu are notable for being calmly competent, a deliberate contrast to the irascible racist Stiles. Something similar happens in the episode with Balok. I've always appreciated these bits, as they give an in-story reason why those two, despite their lack of focus, stayed on the bridge so long: being good at their jobs.
One of my college friends responded to "Brain and brain, what is brain?" with, "YOU'LL never know honey!" in the cattiest tone imaginable when we were watching this episode and so the two lines are forever linked for me and make me crack up even more.
Sounds like something that one of my roomies from uni would have said to that line! We used to drink and play MST3000 with terrible movies all the time, so this episode would have been perfect!
Star Trek would be nowhere as interesting a fictional universe without their bad (or so-called "bad" episodes). Trek needs episodes like "Spock's Brain" and "The Way to Eden" as much as it needs "Balance of Terror" and "The City on the Edge of Forever". Without these goofy counterbalances Trek would just be something like Babylon 5.
“The Way To Eden” is my favourite “bad episode.”
You really sound, brother 🍐 !
Well said. I sort of like those bad episodes though. I also like “Sub Rosa” - terrible Star Trek is better than boring Star Trek
Agreed. A star trek with no stinkers is no star trek to me
I love “the way to Eden” if for no other reason than Charles Napier as a space hippy wearing thigh high boots.
I just wish that ST were like B5. I'm not dishing Trek, just mentioning that B5 is a particularly great kind of storytelling.
the other great line from this one: "You are not Morg. You are not I-morg. What are you??"
The remote controlled body is so wacky they only bring it back for a Ferengi episode of DS9. :)
One of the best ever! With Iggy Pop no less!
DS9 understood the assignment perfectly 😁
When people are discussing whether Star Trek: The Animated Series is too daft to be canon I say, 'Are you happy with "Spock's Brain" being Canon?' They usually say yes, actually. But one mate said, 'Not really.' I don't care much for canon myself. The story we're in now is the story. But sometimes it's weird to think that, canonically, the characters who were in Wrath of Khan once went through this nonsense.
When people are discussing whether Star Trek: The Animated Series is too daft to be canon I ask: "What is Captain Kirk's middle name?" 'Cause he only ever gave his full middle name in this series. Then, of course, there is the episode "Yesteryear." Which is pretty much a quality TOS episode that just happens to have been animated instead.
I don't much care about canon, but if I did, I'd explain "Spock's Brain" as a holo-novel the Doctor wrote one night when he was missing Kes and feeling surrounded by idiot protein chauvinists.
@@maxiemaxwell550"idiot protein chauvinists" oh I'm stealing that😂
About this being the episode the jokes are riffing on... I always thought "The Gamesters of Triskelion" was the best episode to show people if you wanted them to get jokes about Star Trek. A similar one to "Spock's Brain", in some ways, but it's also got forced gladiatorial combat and Kirk seducing a ridiculously attired alien woman. And it's in Season 2!
(Also, that cold open to "Gamesters", in which characters get ready to transport out and then just suddenly wink out of existence, seriously freaked me out as a kid--probably the biggest scare I ever got from Star Trek!)
But, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelique_Pettyjohn
There's numerous things that are funny in this episode, but McCoy's exasperated "WHERE are you going to look for Spock's brain?" which he asks Kirk in sickbay takes the cake for me. Amazingly, it imo perfectly captures both the ridiculousness of the premise and the frustration every fan must have felt when this was aired.
DeForrest Kelly reciting his terrible medical monologue like it's Shakespeare is *chef's kiss*
I imagine they were all fearful that if they started to laugh they'd never get the episode finished.
That and Mr. Kelly turning on the 'Horror-Baby-Blue' glare as he's losing the ability to do the operation. Just perfectly 'good' bad sci-fi!
I always thought "And the Children Shall Lead" won as worst episode. It's my worst, for sure.
Yeah that one is worse to me
There's also the one where Kirk swaps bodies with a woman and it's mostly misogyny throughout the episode (including "Women can't be captains"). That's one I will never watch again.
That and The Alternative Factor are my two favorite episodes of all of Star Trek.
@@johnchedsey1306I am impressed by the acting in that episode. Shatner convinces he’s really someone else and the guest actress is a good Kirk
That episode legit gives me a headache whenever those kids sing. I can't watch it.
Drinking game : take a shot every time someone says the word brain
Do you want to kill me?
"Margarine tub of agony," "Punch bowl of knowledge," oh, you make me laugh! I agree that it's a dumb episode, but I've always enjoyed watching it too. I also remember lmao when the kids did the over-acting "Oh-my-god-the-pain" scene on "The Wonder Years."
The Wonder Years scene is what I always remember almost instead of the actual episode. It really hits home the underlying misogyny of the episode, which is really just the underlying misogyny of the 1960s, and that (as I've written elsewhere in my own criticism work) an example of Kevin's misunderstanding that girls are, indeed, people (he learns that in the episode where Winnie tells him she doesn't know her own feelings, and Narrator!Kevin says "Maybe girls don't know what they want either? That's great! No, it was *terrible.* It means NONE of us have any idea what we're doing" or something to that effect). It's a great use of the scene to underscore both the time/place in which TWY takes place and also a subtle critique of TOS. I love it.
My favourite pop culture reference to this episode is that song by Semisonic ('Never You Mind').
"Switch on the box Mr. Spock is on the table,
Dr. McCoy is unable to connect his brain,
Sweatin' and straining',
It seemed so simple at the time..."
One good thing came from this episode: “Of course. Of course. A child could do it… a child could do it.” One of the greatest Star Trek quotes came from one of the absolute worst Star Trek episodes. It’s a line that I will often use completely at random and out of context to this day.
We all picked up remarks like that. I like, "What in the wide wide world o sports is a-goin on here!"
I used to play Star Trek Online. The saddest moment was when I said “Brain and brain! What is brain?” In our armada chat…and no one understood the reference.
"Plato's Stepchildren." I have tried since 1969 to remove the memory of that Kirk horsey ride from my brain, but I can't un-see it.
Carol Burnett's Star Trek parody was the best. I was 17 when "Spock's Brain" aired. My friend and I had written and submitted a script for Star Trek. It was better than "Spock's Brain." I still remember that sharp disappointment of watching that episode for the first time.
Damn, that's actually pretty based that you guys did that as teens, NGL
Totally agree, Steve. Spock's Brain is bad but not worst by any means. Eminently quotable: "Brain and brain; what is brain?" "Givers of pain and delight."
That line always brought a little shiver!😂🤣😆 Just realized that!!😆🤣😂
The surgery was so successful that it included styling his hair to cover the incisions.
😂🤣😆😁
Yes, I saw somewhere that Shatner made a similar remark when reviewing the series.
I've always wondered what Leonard Nimoy did to piss off the producers of the show that he got stuck in this episode that, by the rules of pay scales of the time, meant he had to take a pay cut.
If you are on screen without any dialog, you don't get paid as much as if you had lines to say. Voice over work was cheaply paid, too. So, with Spock on set, but not talking, except in two scenes, and the only other times you hear his voice it was added in post, he simply didn't make that much money this episode.
Kudos to you for "margarine tubs of agony" and "punch bowl of knowledge."
McCoy operating at warp speed and his instruments don't even red shift.
I lost a close friend to cancer back in 2004 and this is one of those episodes that we loved to riff on. Yelling "Brain and brain, what is brain" whenever we heard someone say something monumentally stupid would send us into fits of laughter. You seem like the right type of Trek fan. One that has a deep respect for the lore, but more than willing to laugh at, and with, the parts that were just plain silly.
"Brain and brain! What is brain?!"
Still my favorite line from the old series.
Gee, my sister says "Gem" was the worst episode, but I really liked that one.
I like this one too, just as I like ALL of that first series.
And I thought in "the Doomsday Machine" (TOS Season Two) Kirk walked in front of the viewscreen while they searched for the Constellation.
The punchbowl of knowledge.... snork! I always love listening to you talk Trek.
Besides this episode's problematic gender dynamics, those boots are just... so... extra.
And, if I may dissent slightly, I would say that between this and ... that... episode of Voyager, TNG's "Code of Honor" held the cup as Worst Trek Ever.
This isnt too far removed from the episode in DS9 when Quark and Roms mum was taken by the dominion and they exchange her for a captured vorta aboard empok nor. As they use a remote control type thing on the accidentally killed vorta.
I'm pretty sure that that episode was an homage to this one.
Btw, a fun fact: the dead, remote-controlled Vorta was played by none other than Iggy Pop. I didn't recognize him either.
🔔 STEVE @ 14:11: Yes, there were other episodes where Kirk consulted the crew about what course of action to take. At least one, anyway. 'Balance Of Terror' springs to mind.
I did like the scene where Kirk, Sulu, and Checkov were looking at the viewscreen to decide what planet to go too.
Yeah, okay, it's pretty ridiculous, but at the same time, I got the feeling that the screenplay was based on a more serious source material- like what they did with Fredric Brown's "Arena"!
I mean, look at some of the concepts- a machine that connects to the brain and transfers information? A controller hub that requires an organic computer to function?
The possibility of controling organic functions with inorganic devices, up to the point of essentially creating organic drones?
Come on- there are rough diamonds in this!
The spaceship looks like a bunch of marshmallows stuck together. Rather ironic considering Star Trek V. Also, the 'Punch Bowl of Knowledge.' 🤣 I'm going to be thinking about that for days now, and laughing every time.
I want a supercut of you describing star trek props
Your McCoy impression is pretty good!
It's been so very long since I've seen this episode that I either completely forgot, or missed it entirely, that the woman on the bridge had used the helmet, herself, and it's why she didn't remember anything. That's actually a pretty fuckin' solid sci-fi concept there. A knowledge helmet that only grants temporary genius? There's a really good story to mine out of that. Unfortunately it seems far too huge an idea to properly explore at this point in the show's run. Shame.
That said, I never hated this episode. Stuff like the remote having like 6 buttons to control a whole-ass humanoid? Even back in the day, when I first saw it, I knew that was a bit camp. But just like the Sonic Screwdriver on Doctor Who, I just assumed the exact details of how it worked didn't really matter to the plot so we can just accept it as a stand-in for whatever DOES make sense. Kind of like the gumdrop buttons on the bridge control panels.
But as a kid I remember being genuinely thrilled and worried over Spock's brain going missing. I just didn't take shit so seriously back then, and accepted the story at face value. I didn't have the benefit of decades of more sophisticated stories to compare it against. A lot of early Trek is like that. Not horrible in and of itself in the context of it's era. But it just ages badly once surrounded by more mature writing and better funded productions.
Ah well.
"You are not morg, you are not I-morg." "Fascinating."
I'd love to see this episode with an added canned laughter track! 😂😂😂
THANK you for putting my decades-old take on this into words: This CAN'T be the worst episode BECAUSE it's so watchable and enjoyable. You've even pegged that most memorable line of the episode: "Brain and brain! What is brain?" Well done, I'm in total agreement.
Kudos for sticking with the original model effects. Using the enhanced version would only have taken away from the overall badness. Also, as far as Science Fiction goes, the underlying trope of this episode goes way way back, perhaps all the way to H. G. Wells's "The Time Machine" where a planet's population is divided between the surface dwellers and those who live underground.
You're right--I think the episode was very likely influenced by the Eloi and Morlocks of "The Time Machine." And the intelligence-boosting device was probably suggested by a similar machine in "Forbidden Planet."
At least I could follow what was going on. I understood what was happening. There are episodes this season where I had no idea what was happening.
This was one of my favorite episodes when I was a kid. Every time I saw this one pop up in syndication, I had to stop and watch.
Steve just dropping in living color in a conversation and we don't stop everything to talk about how awesome some of the skits had been. Yep that's exactly what happened I tell ya.
"Spock's Brain" is incredibly silly, but I in no way consider it the worst TOS episode. That honor, in my humble opinion, goes to "The Galileo Seven", which absolutely destroys Spock's characterization. Spock's behavior in that episode is so aggressive and belligerent that it's cringe-worthy. I can barely watch it.
You always make me laugh. Will put on hockey pads and await for the Voyager review. I suspect there will be shots taken. 😂
I love this episode for a singular reason: Kirk simultaneously violates and abides by the Prime Directive. By getting Spock’s brain back he interferes with a civilization, because stealing brains is how they survive. Yet when he takes it back and they civilization doesn’t know what to do he’s like “Sorry, can’t help ya. Thems the rules.” And kindly fucks off.
Kara and Shaggy "wasn't me"
BRAIN AND BRAIN, WHAT IS BRAIN!
I guess I'll go first then...
BRAIN AND BRAIN! WHAT IS BRAIN?
Sorry I just had to....
Thank you!
The way nurse chapel dramatically falls she milks that for everything & everyone! Yes God!
I loved the TOS episodes when I was a kid, and I loved the TOS episodes when I was in my 20s for sometimes different reasons lol
Gotta love how they were talking about Sigma Draconis 7 the whole time, even though it was clearly marked as the sixth planet on the screen.
Weirdly, this is the first time I made a connection between the tech in "Spock's Brain" to that depicted in SNW “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”.
The weirdest thing is that the episode cuts away before we get the resolution. I assume Spock finds a good solution for the planet's problem.
I always loved how “The Wonder Years” quoted from this episode 😊
That's a good point about this episode. As ridiculous as its premise is, it's still watchable. Episodes like TNG's "Code of Honor" are so genuinely horrible that I skip over it and will never watch it again. I'm certain we'll get a recap of it soon enough. Spock's Brain is just goofy.
Not gonna lie, I loved this episode when I was a kid. Brain and brain! What is brain?
(00:40) _“Brain, brain, what is brain?!“_
Ah, the memories.... Thanks, Steve.
From the top of my head, in the Corbonite Maneuver, Balance of Terror Kirk did assemble his command crew for alternatives before committing to a course of action.
“Just a minute ago, this was child’s play!”
Thank you, Steve, for giving me a fresh appreciation for Let's Stick Spock's Brain In the Omelas Hole.
As bad as this episode might be, nothing will ever be worse than TNG's Code of Honor.
14:50 They would have staff meetings on TOS "Star Trek" three times, I think. One in the original Jeffery Hunter pilot, one in the William Shatner pilot, and one in "Balance of Terror". After the first season, those vanished, even though you would think that an exploratory vessel would be having meetings like that all the time.
When they did the digital remaster, they should have put a PlayStation controller in McCoy's hands. The episode's reputation would have soared
Thank you, as always, for this peek into Steve's brain.
Spock's Brain is basically what you get if you follow the standard tv show methodology of the era: Standard setup, stuff happens, reset button, Start over next episode. The writer was basically writing an anthology show with characters that has the same names as the other episodes.
I love Spock's brain! To me it is a perfect example of what made me fall in love with trek; its kitch, it's camp, it's weirdness.
My heart jumped when I heard you say that Threshold would be in this series but then immediately crashed when I realised that Profit & Lace would probably have to be too
I love Spock’s Brain. I think it’s because I remember watching it as a kid, maybe 6 years old, and it stuck out in my memory the same way City on the Edge of Forever did. A kid can’t tell the difference between a good episode and a bad one. And like you said, it’s a classic with all the Star Trek stuff you want. Who cares if it’s preposterous! 😂
This episode is definitely filled with sexism. However, and inadvertently, it also made a feminist/positive point to me. I was maybe eleven when I first saw this, watching it in syndication on my parent's new color tv set. Yes, I'm old. I was also a chubby little girl in the 1970s, when diet culture was ramping up, so I didn't fit beauty standards - but I was smart. Everyone said so.
Kara, like most of the women on Star Trek, was shown in soft focus throughout most of the episode, until she put the Teacher on her head. Then the focus went sharp and clear, and her expression changed from soft to, well, sharp and clear, and her voice changed as well. And I thought, "Wow. She's more beautiful NOW." That's when I learned that intelligence is beauty, too.
What's funny is that I'm sure that wasn't the intention at all. They thought that soft focus enhanced the actresses, and gentle, childlike expressions and voices were sexier - and, of course, I was not the target for that. They may even have wanted to make her LESS attractive at that point. I don't know. But I did learn that looks come from more than your actual physical features, and that that's a positive lesson.
One thing I always liked about this episode is Kara's transition from simple to a savvy, calculating and intelligent leader. She brings some gravitas to an otherwise silly episode. I don't think Marj Dusay, who played the character, gets enough credit for her performance. I wish they would have brought her back for another episode.
The actress who played Cara the brain thief who didn't know what the word brain meant, was Marj Dusay, a former Miss Kansas who also played the mother of an oh, so _not_ 1999 family in a 1967 Philco-Ford film showing how wonderful 1999 would be.
The film starts with the most awkward cuing in of an audience ever as her son asks, "What year is it? I forgot." Which explains why she soon stole Spock's brain -- to give her child a desperately needed one.
I kind of agree with your rating of Spock's Brain. I never understood the hate it receives. It's a ridiculous premise, but it is fun enough. It definitely isn't the worst TOS episode. In my opinion, Turnabout Intruder gets that title. That episode is one of the worst in all of Star Trek. It has a premise that is just as ridiculous as this, and proudly wears misogyny on its sleeve.
Let's not forget...they did it again...in Deep Space Nine when Quark and the other Ferengj made a dead Vorta walk, so they could trade him for his mom. Sorry I can't remember the episode name.
Hadn't watched a Trek Actually in a while, but clicked onto the latest "Code of Honour" review. "Worst episodes ever? Hope he's going to do Spock's Brain," I thought. Little did I know that you were 2 weeks ahead of me on that one. Good video!
I remember seeing a Star Trek parody on The Wonder Years, and the girls in the parody were all dressed up as Kara from this episode, complete with the wrist-mounted incapacitator device.
This episode has maybe the clearest view that James Doohan is missing the middle finger on his right hand.
He was part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Juno Beach Normandy in 1944. After the landing he was moving from one control zone to another and was strafed by friendly fire and hit 4 times. A cigarette case stopped one bullet. Two others caused minor injuries. And the fourth one blew off the middle finger on his right hand.
After he fakes fainting and Kirk grabs the phaser from the woman, Scotty grabs her from behind by the arms. You can clearly see he has only 3 fingers on his right hand.
Small correction: Mr. Doohan had the finger amputated by a surgeon. The bullet didn't blow the finger off; it did, however, injure the finger so badly that the surgeon said that he could save the finger but could not restore its mobility. Or he could amputate. He gave Doohan a few days to think about it. When Doohan saw other wounded men missing entire limbs, he thought "Ah well; it's only a finger," and told the surgeon to amputate. Doohan related the anecdote in his memoir "Beam Me Up, Scotty." It's a great read.
Loved this video! Excited for more installments in this series .. particularly that voyager one. Also would be thrilled to see other spins on this concept.. wonder what your worst superman ever would be haha
Ha ha!! We looked at this recently (we're just a small group of fans who meet up online after watching an episode) and this is an enjoyably bad episode. It's bad, but it also makes me laugh. Watching DeForest Kelley deliver ridiculous lines whilst trying to look deadly serious is a real treat!
Oh, "Spock's Brain" is utter shit, but I will defend that shit to dieing breath!
Fun(?) Fact: Famous Trek Fan Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated earlier the same year this was aired. So he never saw it.
I had to check the dates. Wasn't sure.
In "A Private Little War" (TOS Season Two), Kirk called on the Bridge crew of opinions, facts, and discussion.
Neelix watching this episode: “See? Maybe getting your lungs stolen isn’t the most ridiculous thing that could definitely happen to someone!”
I lagree with Steve 100% about this episode. So bad it's good.
You are NO fool… but you made me laugh! Best review of the ‘worst’ episode ever. Well done.
Good timing. I am listening to your podcast from the beginning and just recently got to this. The destroyer in gold peed on me...well he wanted to.
Watching this episode as a child, when McCoy said "she's like a child," I thought "hey! We're smarter than that!" This episode is so good to watch when you're a little boy.
I love the scene on the bridge that you call out with Chekov, Sulu and Uhura! They were a bright bunch!
"He's worse than dead...his bRaIn is gone" absolutely destroyed me when I was 8 and saw this for the first time. i can't even describe the effect that the line had on me. the shock. the awe. the horror. it changed me
Spock's Brain in Voyager: OH NO mysterious invisible experimenters have taken Chakotay's brain! Quick, strap him down to the operating table and give him a holographic copy of the last scan we have of his brain! It will keep his body alive until we can find where they took the real one!
When I was in high school, the diehard trekkers (which was what they called themselves) would watch every episode every weeknight except "And the Children Shall Lead". They would watch "Spock's Brain" and "The Way to Eden", but they could not tolerate "And the Children Shall Lead". That was the only episode they would skip, and they ALWAYS skipped it.
what about the "alternative factor"?
The funny thing is you could put a help wanted add in a Vulcan newspaper and the pointy eard devils would be lining up for the job. It would be like Vulcan heaven.
Same with Platos Children.
It would be like Royal Pains in the 22nd century.
I love how confusing the button use is in TOS, but especially this episode.
Yes! 🖖🏼 Been hoping you would review this classic! 🧠
I know this episode is hard to take seriously, but I always wondered why they didn't beam down Nurse Chapel to put the teacher on and continue the surgery... and McCoy could watch and take notes! I mean, if Kara could do it, they could use every crew member!
This is the consensus pick for worse over that hippie episode..?!? I mean at least this one has some quotable lines. Since I was a child I've said at points, "A child could do it! A *child* could do it!"