I had completely forgotten how truly awful this episode is.<\/p>\n
An alien spacecraft using ion drive approaches the Enterprise.\u00a0 A go-go dancer complete with big hair, go-go boots, micro-dress and vinyl bustier beams aboard the Enterprise bridge knocks out the crew and micro-surgically removes Spock\u2019s brain and takes it away.\u00a0 You would think that would be enough, but there\u2019s more.<\/p>\n
McCoy somehow manages to put Spock\u2019s brainless body on life support but warns Kirk that he can only survive for 24 hours without his brain.\u00a0 The Enterprise follows the ion trail to a planet that is covered by Ice Age glaciation but has some kind of energy source below the surface.\u00a0 On the surface are largish humanoid Neolithic men who attack the Enterprise landing party.\u00a0 A captured man of the tribe who call themselves the Morg warns the crew of the Eymorg, the “givers of pain and delight.”\u00a0 We find out that the Eymorg are the women who live below the surface and have energy weapons that they use to torture the surface-dwelling men if they don\u2019t take out the garbage and perform their more delightful husbandly duties on schedule.<\/p>\n
Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Spock\u2019s body proceed to the Underground Kingdom of the Go-Go Dancers.\u00a0 Spock\u2019s body is controlled by McCoy using some kind of Nintendo joystick device.\u00a0 Once there, Kirk and company battle it out with the go-go dancers and eventually get the upper hand.\u00a0 It seems Spock\u2019s Brain is being used as a sort of thermostat to control the climate control in the underground lair.\u00a0 The head go-go dancer refuses to put Spock\u2019s brain back in his body so McCoy has to use the \u201ceducator\u201d helmet to learn how to perform the surgery.\u00a0 But halfway through the operation McCoy begins to forget how to do it so they reattach Spock\u2019s vocal cords and he coaches McCoy through the rest of the surgery.\u00a0 Kirk tells the head go-go dancer that without Spock\u2019s brain they will have to return to the surface and learn to control their men through the more conventional method of nagging them.<\/p>\n
Watching this episode has really depressed me.\u00a0 I have to watch the rest of season three before I can end this task and this episode has hammered home just how bad it will be.\u00a0 There is nothing good about this episode.\u00a0 The script is beyond poor.\u00a0 They even forgot some of the conventions of their \u201ctechnology.\u201d\u00a0 They referred to the ion drive of the aliens as highly advanced whereas ion drive is the much less sophisticated and slower impulse power that the Enterprise uses when its warp engines are unavailable.\u00a0 The dialog between Kirk and the bridge crew when they are debating which planet is likely to be the one they are looking for sounds like a family trying to decide which restaurant to stop at during a long trip, \u201cWendy\u2019s or Dairy Queen?\u201d<\/p>\n
The tribesmen on the planet have the worst wigs and beards I\u2019ve ever seen on this or any show.\u00a0 The go-go dancers don\u2019t have any meaningful dialog beyond saying, \u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u201d\u00a0 And McCoy tries so hard to project horror at the removal of Spock\u2019s brain that his facial expression looks more like someone suffering a stroke.\u00a0 In general, all the actors look confused and dispirited.\u00a0 Even Shatner looks sullen.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he really wanted the brain back.\u00a0 He just wanted his paycheck and maybe the head go-go dancer\u2019s phone number.<\/p>\n
This episode is awful on all levels so I will award it a 1 \/\/ 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had completely forgotten how truly awful this episode is. An alien spacecraft using ion drive approaches the Enterprise.\u00a0 A go-go dancer complete with big<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[237,4,244,2149,240],"tags":[2150,38,1355,44,309,265,1691,3246,293,154,1692,837],"class_list":["post-15733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-tv-reviews","category-star-trek","category-tv-reviews","tag-gene-roddenberry","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-sci-fi","tag-sci-fi-tv-review","tag-science-fiction","tag-sff-tv-show-reviews","tag-spocks-brain","tag-star-trek","tag-tv-review","tag-tv-reviews","tag-william-shatner"],"yoast_head":"\n