On further reflection, if the plot of The Way to Eden had been worked into a TNG episode, the hippies would have succeeded, managing to escape the icky technoworld of the Federation and live idyllic lives in paradise. The classic example is that god-awful Insurrection movie, but any episode that uses the word “spiritual” would qualify.
The more cynical DS9 took a grimmer view, depicting a tech-less agrarian society that resembled a POW camp and was run by a sociopathic zealot.
I could watch “Spock’s Brain” again, which is one measure of its tolerability. I have a hard time sitting through the Space Hippies, or the Omega Glory, or the one with half-white/half-black Frank Gorshin, or the one with the crashed spaceship sending reality ripples through space.
By the way, the Boston Museum of Science used to have a Brain exhibit with life-sized models of animal brains under a big plastic dome. I couldn’t pass the damned thing without saying “200 Quatloos on the Earthman!”
30 Helens surveyed agree: Lazarus must die.
30 Helens Agree: The word “surveyed” was not used in the sketch.
I put it to you that the Great Trek Phrase to Use at Will is “Bonk bonk, bad kid.”
Um, hello…KHAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNN!
I try to work in “unfortunate rice-picking machine accident” whenever I can.
Pffft. The winner is clearly “He’s dead, Jim.”
“No more bonk bonk!”
Proof positive that William Shatner can say anything with a straight face.
Ahhh but that was because they were banished to the iceage planet surface with nothing. The Women had all the technology at their disposal and for no reason, except that they were women, they failed to be able to repair or upkeep without the man brain.
Scotty himself even says"Those women could never have set up
anything as complex as this. Why, that takes engineering genius."
Before you say “he was refering to just the ones he met” you must realize he is also dismissing the entire female population of the planet. Why wouldn’t there be brainy female engineers elswhere in teh complex Mr Scott?? HMMM???
Ok Why I hate “Spock’s Brain”
Spock’s flip top head: Where he can have not one but two envasive cranial surgeries, the last by a doctor with no more skills, and his hair isn’t even mussed a litle.
That Amazing Vulcan Physique His Mighty brain is pulled out and yet he continues to breathe and his heart keeps pounding. How!!! I can allow for the oh he’s alien thing to a point. They guy is half human… And how in Og’s name would it be evolutionaily necessary for Vulcans body to work after their brains have been removed?
** The Sickbay discovery** Ok she peels Spocks spongey mass from his amazing Vulcan skull to save her people. What does she do next? (Goes to Disneyland… no) She seals up the empty noggin and then trots his Amazing Vulcan physique off to sick bay!! Ok, Maybe she had to take him to Sickbay first to scoop out the juicy innards but how!!! and Fianally Why seal up the head!!!
Robot Spock With three buttons, no knobs joysticks or rollers, McCoy can make spock walk, turn, grab a hand and force another to push a button. All they needed was a button to make him tapdance and he’d be perfect!!
And why does he click when he is in operation?!
The Trial ware Teacher OK Super computers that shoot knowledge into your head are pretty cool. Pretty handy too.
But once the knowledge drains out why wouldn’t McCoy take another spin… Or why wouldn’t Kirk, or Scotty use it next to finish up… I mean it didn’t kill McCoy, it only gave him a headache, or dry eyes… I couldn’t quite tell. It also seem’s to given him a huge case of the arogants "Of Course! It’s so simple a child could do it"but really why would it be dangerous to fill his turnip one more time.
** Spock’s Surgury assisting skills** Ok it is just beyond dumb to have McCoy hook up teh vocal chords to assit in the brain operation. What was he really doing!!! Ok hook up my arm… good that works… Ok hook up my left vulcan nut! Great!!
I mean come on!!!
If McCoy waqs unsure of what he was doing how the hell good is it to have a patient start shouting out instructions!!! That’s like me sitting in the stands Yelling “GET A GOAL!!!” sure, it’s cathartic for me, but it accomplishes nothing. If McCoy doesn’t know he doesn’t know!
The fact that I can go on and on makes this the worst episode
Who’s dead Doctor Ekers?
Jim {Beam me up Scotty*}
BTW: Anyone interested in a few hands of Fizzbin?
**Space Hippies is nearly unwatchable. **
Actually the real phrase is much funnier… it is “NO MORE BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!”
Interesting take on the good Lazarus, BTW.
AF, in my opinion should win out above all, even including “Wink of an Eye” and some of the others mentioned here, “Brain” included. (Couldn’t they have at least had the vacant-skulled Spock on a bed with antigravs, if they absolutely HAD to drag him along? The sight of “Spock” walking around on box-command, then standing dully when the others were knocked unconscious was both ugly AND silly. And McCoy was able to make such a marionette grapple with one of the women? Please!)
As horrible as it and “Wink” were in conception, AF was bad in basic concept, developed concept, AND execution.
My main concern with the twin personae is not that they were really indistinguishable in personality, but rather, WHEN did Kirk even once see the “good” Lazarus??? I mean, before the final conversation at the conclusion. Yet Kirk makes leading remarks to Spock and they agree that he seems like two different men at different times. I’m not even sure when ANYONE had the chance to observe the good one and notice his speech and behavior patterns, in order to make a report to others. IIRC, the only observation on him was that he stole crystals. (That wouldn’t give Kirk or anyone else very much reason to trust him, BTW. Not even at the end when he explained the tremendous need for them to stop his foe and save the Universe.)
It all adds up to lousy production values that make this episode spectacularly bad as TV episodes go for the entire generation! What is even more surprising is that this happened in the first season, and Gene was directing for the first two seasons.
And exact copies of large pieces of matter being needed for matter-antimatter annihilation? Really? Not only does this not make sense, it isn’t even exactly true on the particle level. Put an anti-proton and a neutron together and you get something rather similar to pair annihilation.
True Blue Jack
Well, you just need to look at the remote control closely…
Sorry… but what was that episode where they had to re-create the gunfight at the OK Corral?
That has to be somewhere in the top/bottom 10.
My brother and I love to quote this line. Geeks R Us.
You, too. 
Ah, “Spectre of the Gun.” The landing party had to go up against Holliday and the Brothers Earp.
I know far too much about this series.
Cheese… cheese… WHAT IS CHEESE?
Hey! That was the only cool part of the whole episode! ^ :dubious: ^
It won’t win any contests for “Worst Trek Evar”, but I really get irked over the episode with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Checkov having a shootout at the OK Corral, if only because the entire episode screams “WE HAVE NO BUDGET!” (which they didn’t at the time).
Vulcan Politics?