Spock's Brain (TOS episode)
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"Spock's Brain" is a third season episode of , first broadcast September 20 1968. It was the first episode of the third season and the first to air after NBC moved the show from 8:30 P.M. to 10 P.M. on Friday nights. It was repeated July 8, 1969. It is episode #62, written by Gene L. Coon (under the pseudonym Lee Cronin) and directed by Marc Daniels.
Quick Overview: Captain Kirk pursues aliens who have stolen Spock's brain.
On stardate 5131.4, the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, encounters a curious ship of unusual design. Upon contact, the ship emits a transport beam and a mysterious woman appears to the Enterprise bridge. She stuns the entire crew using a braceletlike device, then examines each of them, taking particular interest in Mr. Spock, so much so, she somehow removes his brain, then disappears. When the crew awakens, Dr. McCoy finds Spock lying on a bed in sickbay and discovers what has happened to him. Thankfully, owing to the unusual physiology of Vulcans, Spock's body can survive in this "brainless" state mechanically, giving Captain Kirk about 24 hours to find his stolen brain.
Sensors detect the ship's ion trail, and Kirk follows it to the Sigma Draconis system. The system contains three planets that are reported to be inhabited: Sigma Draconis III, IV, and VI, however the recorded technological levels of each world are determined to be incapable of producing the kind of spacecraft that the Enterprise followed here. The sixth planet however, which shows no sign of industrial advancement at all, radiates energy transmissions that, Lt. Uhura states, contradict its technological scale. Playing on the hunch that the planet may be deceiving, Kirk beams a landing party to the surface.
Sigma Draconis VI is revealed to be a harsh world in the middle of an Ice Age, but the landing party has no trouble locating the local inhabitants, who attack them on sight, believing them to be "The Others". Kirk captures one of the attackers and questions him. The man reveals himself as a Morg and warns Kirk about the "givers of pain and delight". Kirk asks the Morg about the females of his kind, since there were none around, but is only met with the man's bewilderment. Kirk asks the Morg to help him find "the others", but he refuses and runs away.
The landing party soon comes upon the ruins of a buried city. They find an elevator that leads underground. Kirk calls Dr. McCoy down from the Enterprise and has the mechanically controlled Spock accompany him. McCoy has fashioned a device to remotely operate Spock's brainless body. The team heads down and they encounter a woman, Luma. Kirk stuns her with a phaser before she can activate her bracelet. When questioned, Luma shows she only has the mentality of a child.
Spock makes contact with the landing party through a communicator, but before anything can be done, Kirk and his party are apprehended by Kara, the woman from the bridge, who identifies herself as the leader of the Eymorgs, the apparent females of the Morg. The Eymorg captors place belts on the landing party that they can't remove, and that inflict intense pain upon them. Kirk demands to know what the Eymorgs have done with Spock's brain, but Kara responds with the deep philosophical statement, "Brain and brain, what is brain?" McCoy informs Kirk that if all the Eymorgs have such a low intelligence that they couldn't possibly be capable of removing a brain the way Spock's was removed; someone or something else must be behind all this.
The landing party manages to overpower their guard and follow Spock's instruction to the central "controller," which is actually his brain kept alive in a black box that is tied to a control panel. Here, they also find Kara, who immediately immobilizes the team using the pain belts. Kirk uses the remote that controls the mechanically operated Spock, and makes him grab Kara's wrist and press the release button on her bracelet. Once free of the pain, Kirk listens to Spock's brain, via communicator.
They realize that Spock is now the "Controller", a living computer that the Eymorgs hope will last 10,000 years. Spock says he operates the power systems of the planet, recirculating the air, running heating plants and pumping water, all the functions that requires a supreme intelligence for the regulation of a planetwide life support system. He also informs that the Eymorgs can gain temporary understanding of ancient knowledge from a machine called "the Great Teacher", which Kara leads them to.
Kirk forces Kara to put the Teacher on, hoping she will gain knowledge to undo the surgery on Spock, but she uses her new found knowledge to level a phaser at him instead. Mr. Scott pretends to faint, and Kirk uses the distraction to grab the phaser away from Kara. McCoy then tries the Teacher on, and discovers how to perform a "reverse brain transplant" on Spock. McCoy conducts the surgery and nearly manages to do so within the three-hour time limit that the implanted knowledge lasts. Mr. Spock provides some assistance himself after McCoy reestablishes his capacity to speak verbally.
Without their Controller, the Eymorgs fear for their existence. Kirk then informs Kara that the Eymorgs will have to take their chances on the surface and live as the Morgs do, and perhaps the two societies can share "the Teacher" device, and learn together. She is not too thrilled by the prospect, but Kirk at least offers some assistance.
Trivia
Though produced after "The Enterprise Incident," "Spock's Brain" aired first, opening the third season.Interestingly, according to one account, Coon never intended that the episode actually be produced. Gene Roddenberry asked him to write one more script for the series, and the already overworked Coon reportedly responded with "Spock's Brain," as a parody of what he considered to be Roddenberry's shallow understanding of science fiction.
McCoy (DeForest Kelley) utters another famous quote alongside his famous, "He's dead Jim...", or "I'm a doctor, not a ...". Here McCoy utters "His brain is gone!"
At conventions, Leonard Nimoy has stated that he did not want to do this episode saying "I did not wanna be there!" when referring to filming of this episode.
This is considered the worst Star Trek episode of all time according to most fans.
Nitpicks
- After identifying the planet as Sigma Draconis Six, James T. Kirk and Hikaru Sulu refer to it as Sigma Draconis Seven.
- Kirk mistakenly says the stardate is 4351.5 instead of 5431.5.
- When Pavel Chekov uses a phaser to heat a rock, there is a patch of snow next to the rock. The rock remains heated for some time while the snow remains.
External links
- [Official site episode entry]
- article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki
| Last produced: "And the Children Shall Lead" | | Next produced: "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" |
| Last transmitted: "" | Next transmitted: "The Enterprise Incident" |
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