Ignoring anything TNG and onwards, was Spock’s Brain really the worst that TOS could offer? Was it actually a pretty good episode?
Thinking about it, the science behind this science fiction episode was more interesting and less hoky than in other episodes. Spock’s description of how his brain no longer controls lungs and heart but the ventilation of a huge complex is intriguing at least. And the ion drive used at the start of the episode is described by one scientist as the reason he was interested in science in the first place.
The idea behind it all isn’t too bad either, a super intelligence runs a civilisation using a human as the computing power. Is that really any worse (or more unlikely) than being chased by a witch’s giant cat, the American constitution turning up light years from America, Earth recreated in its entirety light years from our solar system, someone recreating Nazi Germany almost perfectly again the other side of the quadrant.
Spock’s Brain IMHO gets a bum rap for no good reason. It stands out as a TOS episode, that’s for sure. And perhaps that’s the only reason why its looked down upon, not bad, but just so crazy we’d rather laugh than try and take it seriously.
Nah, not the worst episode. I found the one with the “space hippies” to be worse; embarassing and irritating to watch, in fact. Also, I hated the one you mentioned where the aliens just happened to develop the American flag and Constitution, word for word.
The worst one was when the Sun worshippers ended up being Son worshippers. Har dee har har. Maybe I can suspend my belief enough to believe the Universal Translator but not so much that they have the same homophones too.
“Spock’s Brain” sucks, but for my money the worst TOS episode is the Halloween one with the black cat, witches, etc., the name of which I have blocked out of my mind to make room for memories of a particularly good Rotel dip I had a couple of Superbowls ago.
I think there’s an interesting idea buried somewhere in this episode, but it suffers in the details. And there’s something about the image of Dr. McCoy taking his remote-controlled Spock (new from Radio Shack!) out for a walk that just makes it impossible to take the rest of the episode seriously.
The only TOS episode that I just about can’t stand to be in the room with is the leftblack-rightwhite guy versus the leftwhite-rightblack guy. Please hit me over the head with a bigger sledgehammer, you’re being too subtle. If I want an illustrative lesson on racism, there’s more nuanced complexity, better character development, and a better plot in The Sneetches.
The concept of “Spock’s Brain” wasn’t bad - it just got tangled up in bizarre sexual politics and some really dopey pseudoscience about the brain itself. Scotty pretending to faint so Kirk could grab the phaser is one of my all-time favourite Trek moments. I always wondered why, if McCoy’s ability was fading, couldn’t Scott or Kirk get helmet-zapped and continue the procedure?
“The Way to Eden” I’d tolerate as a product of its time. For episodes I thought had weak plots, I’d nominate:
[ul][li]“The Alternative Factor” (Lazarus and his evil twin skip between the matter and anti-matter universes)[/li][li]“The Gamesters of Triskallion” (no quatloos for you!)[/li][li]“The Omega Glory” (yangs v. comms)[/li][li]“And the Children Shall Lead” (“Hail hail, call the angel, get a court date!”)[/li][li]“Is There in Truth No Beauty” (proto-Pulaski gets lectured on how women should behave)[/li][li]“For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky” (didn’t care for it, though it had a nice anti-religion message)[/li][li]“Plato’s Stepchildren” (what the fuck was THAT?!)[/li][li]“The Empath” (watch dancer act out falling in slow motion, being a leaf in autumn like her ballet instructor taught her)[/li][li]“Requiem for Methuselah” (“Lousy young punks, get off my robot!”)[/ul][/li]
I think it’s notable that relatively few of these episodes are sanctimonious to the audience. Comparison with a list of worst TNG episodes is pretty telling.
Okay, but how many times have you bet 20 quatloos on the newcomers? The quatloo has been the unit of currency in almost all of my serious adult relationships.
I kinda like “Spock’s Brain.” My least favorite TOS episode is “The Cloud Minders.” Oddly, this is the only episode that I did not see during the show’s original run. I missed it because I was ill, and didn’t get to see it until several years later, when Trek went into syndication. Yecch. It sucked. I felt better about not having seen it first-run.
Put me down for “The Way To Eden” as worst, followed closely by “And the Children Shall Lead” and “The Omega Glory.” “Spock’s Brain” is too campy to be that bad.
Bryan Ecker
I’ll second some of those episodes you chose:
• “The Alternative Factor” - (aka the Lazarus episode). Which was the “good Lazarus”? I could never figure it out because they both acted like an incredible pain in the ass.
• “Plato’s Stepchildren” - Just a bunch of spoiled, lazy, mind-controlling cretins. You know they will get their asses kicked but you hope it would happen about 5 minutes into the episode.
• “The Empath” - What a waste of time and what a strange way to determine if someone’s planet is worth saving.
I don’t know the title of this one, but the Giant Cell episode crept along rather badly. They finally discover that the way to destroy it was to attack … the nucleus!! What a revelation. I thought they were going to go after the food vacuole. :smack:
I’ve always contended that “The Way To Eden” better known as “The Space Hippies” episode was the absolute worst of the lot. For too many reasons to go into.
I’ll give you “Herbert” it was cute and is right up there with “Correlate Norman” as a great Trek Phrase to use at will.
“Spock’s Brain” for all it’s campiness is still no where near the worst 10, though it can easily fall in the bottom third.
My top 10 worst TOS episodes would probably read:
The Way to Eden (The Beloved Space Hippies and the jam session with the original Air Guitar – and the Wheel)
The Omega Glory (The American flag and Communists)
The Savage Curtain (Abraham Lincoln fights along side Kirk and . . do you really need to hear more?)
The Alternative Factor (Lazarus and a mess disguised as a plot)
The Apple (What is it with Trek and bad Biblical Metaphors?)
Who Mourns for Adonis (Plato’s Stepchildren’s red headed bastard child)
The Squire of Gothos (Baby Q, made more annoying by being on heavy rotation on my local channel–you know, back when there were only three of them)
Elaan of Troyus (I still don’t buy Kirk loving the Enterprise more than sex)
The Paradise Syndrome (Wherein they prove that if you hit Kirk with enough rocks, his wife will die and lose their child)
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (You half-white; You Half-Black; You Ass-hats)
It is arguable that “Spock’s Brain” could be on this list – I’ll admit it is awful. But reviewing this list two things jump out at me:
Trek was probably a season away from Jumping the Shark (unless they managed to pull out of the third season nose dive represented here)
and
Roddenberry wrote two fo my worst three episodes
Some of the nearly bad enough, but not quite bad enough for this list are:
Spock’s Brain (okay, maybe it’s closer than I thought)
And The Children Shall Lead
Patterns of Force ([garyowens]Space Nazis[/garyowens])
That Which Survives (I am for Kirk – yeah, baby, aren’t you all?)
Wolf in the Fold (We know who Jack the Ripper was – no, really)