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Matt and Sean talk about gaining a lot of knowledge in a brief period of time, in Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 1, "Spock’s Brain.”
Matt and Sean talk about gaining a lot of knowledge in a brief period of time, in Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 1, "Spock’s Brain.”
- (00:00) - - Intro
- (02:11) - - Viewer feedback
- (05:15) - - Today's episode
- (06:17) - - This time in history
- (12:19) - - Episode discussion
Get in touch: https://trekintime.show/contact
Follow us on X: @byseanferrell @mattferrell or @undecidedmf
Creators and Guests
What is Trek In Time?
Join Sean and Matt as they rewatch all of Star Trek in order and in historical context.
Sean Ferrell: In this episode of Trek In Time, we're talking about big ideas. That's right. We're talking about the original series, Spock's Brain. Yes, everybody, it's finally here. Spock's Brain has reached us just in time for the new year. This is the 61st episode produced, the 56th aired, the first of the third season, which in my mind, for my brain, Sean's brain, I was questioning that, the logic of that, like this episode, really. But now that we've watched it, let's talk about it. Does it make sense to have this as the lead off of the third season? Welcome, everybody, to Trek In Time, where we're watching every episode of Star Trek in chronological star date order. We're also taking a look at the world at the time of original broadcast. So we're talking about September of 1968. And who are we? Well, I'm Sean Ferrell. I'm a writer. I wrote some sci fi, I write some horror. I write some stuff for kids. And with me, as always, is my brother Matt. He is that Matt behind Undecided with Matt Ferrell, which takes a look at emerging tech and its impact on our lives. And as we record this, we are in the past.
Matt Ferrell: That's right.
Sean Ferrell: All of you listening to this are in the future in 2026. We are stuck in 2025. So we hope all of you have had a safe entry into the new year and, well, let's be honest, Matt, I'm hoping that for us as well. So Happy New Year to you.
Matt Ferrell: Happy New Year to you, too.
Sean Ferrell: How are you doing today and what are your plans for the big holiday this evening?
Matt Ferrell: I'm trying not to panic because since we're in the past, I am in the process of prepping for going to CES and there is a lot of prep work, which kind of puts a damper on the holiday. So I am not thinking about New Year's Eve at all. I'm more concerned about do I have everything ready for CES next week?
Sean Ferrell: Okay, how about you? For me, I'm not going to CES and in fact, I took next week off, so I'm just looking forward to not doing anything. I'm going to do as much not anything as possible.
Matt Ferrell: I'm so jealous.
Sean Ferrell: So, as I mentioned, at the top, we are going to be talking about Spock's brain. But before we get into that, we always like to visit the mailbag and see what you've had to say about our previous episode. So, Matt, what did you find in the comments for us this week?
Matt Ferrell: Well, these comments are from the Enterprise Incident episode. And we had one from old Trekkie who wrote, the Enterprise Incident is one of my favorite episodes. I'm shocked and dismayed to learn that Spock's brain did so much better in the ratings. I can only imagine that they were so turned off by brain. Brain. What is brain? That they didn't come back to see this. Live long and prosper. Yes, we will be getting into that. Yes, we'll be getting to that today. Then we had one from AJ Chan, who wrote, I thought the Romulan commander was trying to seduce Spock by appealing to his emotions. She would have a vague sense of Vulcan culture, so maybe she thought she'd appeal to his suppressed passions. But she overplays her hand and her plan doesn't work. We had talked about how, like, she just. She just, like, came on strong would be one word to put does.
Sean Ferrell: Yes, right.
Matt Ferrell: And was appealing to him in ways that if you think that Romulan and Vulcan would know each other, she would know that what she was doing would not work. But I think AJ Chan's interpretation. Sorry, AJ little generous, but I see where you're coming from. And so, yeah, she may have thought, maybe I can appeal to his suppressed passions and kind of get him riled up. Then we had one from K. Colette. This is a quote. It would be illogical to assume that all conditions remain stable, unquote. Some peak Vulcan Riz there.
Sean Ferrell: Thank you for using the term riz, which I just learned what that means recently. So I am clearly middle aged.
Matt Ferrell: And finally, wrong answers only. Mark Loveless is back and he wrote for plot of and the children shall lead. A bunch of children who happen to be all related in real life to TOS Production staff all guest star in a weird supernatural episode involving an unseen entity that controls them. They're brought under control. When Uhura gets them all Lego to play with. The unseen entity dies from lack of attention. This is the first major example of product placement. This episode did worse than Spock's brain in the third season, but it still managed to inspire the Stephen King novel and subsequent movie Children of the Corn and of course, Stranger Things. Creators of both state that the children shall lead was the was an inspiration, but also stated that the whole reason they liked the episode was because, quote, it was better than that Enterprise incident and quote, Don Wrinkles. Don Rickles rules. There's so much inside information going on.
Sean Ferrell: There's a lot there. There's a lot of. Thank you. Thank you for that, Mark. That's a demonstration that you have been paying attention. So thank you for that.
Matt Ferrell: Yes.
Sean Ferrell: That noise you hear in the background, those flashing lights. No, it's not your celebration starting early. It's the Read alert. Which means it's time for Matt to tackle the Wikipedia description. Matt, this one, I think we're. I think we're entering a new territory here. We. We are all very familiar with how overwritten most of the descriptions were, but now we're entering haiku territory, so take it away, Matt.
Matt Ferrell: Captain Kirk pursues aliens who have stolen Spock's brain. That's it.
Sean Ferrell: Do you know anything else? That's it. Episode number one, Season three, Directed by Marc Daniels, written by Lee Cronin, with guest appearances by Marj Dusay as Kara, Sheila Leighton as Luma, and James Daris as Morg. Yes, Morg. We also get a sampling of everybody in the main cast. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig, and Majel Barrett. What was the world like at the time of original broadcast? This is on September 20, 1968. So we've moved backward in time because we've been talking about later in the fall and almost into the winter. So we have some new entries into things like the number one song of the week, it's People Got to Be Free by the Rascals. Take it away, Matt. You know, sometimes when Matt does his rendition of the number one song of the week, I'm struck by how it's almost as if neither he or I know the song or how it should go. Little fun fact about the Rascals, People Got to be free. This is an anthem for tolerance, and it was thought at the time to be an anthem in response to the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. And Robert F. Kennedy, both of which took place in 1968, earlier in the year. However, that doesn't line up because only one of those assassinations had taken place when they recorded this song. And instead, it turns out that the song was a response by the band to having been accosted by people in Fort Peters, Florida. When their van broke down, a group of what they described as rednecks approached them and harassed them for having long hair and beards, which, I mean, that's straight out of Easy Rider, isn't it? So, yep, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. And the number one film this week was a little film called Rosemary's Baby. This, of course, is the story of a woman named Rosemary who really enjoys raising her baby no, it's not. It's not that.
It's a harrowing horror film about the devil and it's disturbing. It's disturbing, yes. And on television we've been talking about the other shows that ran on Friday evenings. This would have been in the fall of 1968 on ABC. We've talked about their fall lineup already. Operation Entertainment, Felony Squad, the Don Rickles show, the Guns of Will Sonnet and Judd for the Defense. They moved into different programming in the winter with this is Tom Jones and the Generation Gap, which is the program that I'm talking about now. The Generation Gap was a primetime American game show that aired from February 7th to May 23rd of 1969 on ABC. It was originally hosted by Dennis Woolley, who was replaced by Jack Berry after 10 episodes had aired. It was two teams of three players, one composed of people under the age of 30, the other being people over 30. And at least one member of each team was a well known celebrity, occasionally playing against a relative on the other team. This to me sounded like there's literally a Trivial Pursuit clone which is called Mind the Gap, which is this game, which is questions having to do with generational differences. And when I saw this, I immediately, oh, the Generation Gap. Without even researching it, I figured, I know what that must be. And I was right. It's a pretty clear setup for a program.
What I did not know is, and I don't know if you know this, Matt, there is either recently or currently a new version of this game show.
Matt Ferrell: What?
Sean Ferrell: That was my response. Yeah. So I looked this up and I had to specify what I was looking for because there is currently or more recently this same program. What I thought was interesting about this instance of the program is, as I mentioned, it was originally hosted by Dennis Woolley and he was replaced by Jack Berry. Jack Berry struck a note in my head. I'm like, Jack Berry. How do I know that name? Jack Berry was the host of the Quiz Show 21, which was of course the origin of the movie Quiz Show. He was the host who was helping to rig the program and it put him on effectively a blacklist for 10 years. He came back, hosted this show for the remainder of its three months when it ran on ABC and. And in the closing show, when they announced that it was ending, he on camera, thanked everybody for the opportunity and made a very gracious thank you for his return, his opportunity to return to television. And this would in fact resurrect his career. He would go on to host other shows after this. So strange little nugget lost in the, in the details there and in the news on this day, September 20, 1968, we've moved back in time. So we're before the 1968 presidential election. So we have a big article with a photograph of Hubert Humphrey, who was running as the Democrat, and he was campaigning for president, having replaced Lyndon Baines Johnson, who chose not to run for reelection. However, the headline that stood out to me in this day was along the right column, Nixon promises to Heed Dissent in making Policy. And it was basically Richard Nixon promising that he would staff his Cabinet not with partisan picks, but with the best picks, saying that the people on his cabinet should have enough stature that they could sway him because of their knowledge and expertise.
Matt Ferrell: That's completely a different reality from where we are today.
Sean Ferrell: There you go. Wow. Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah.
Sean Ferrell: So on now to our discussion of this week's episode. As you may have heard, we're talking about Spock's brain. And the first thing I want to highlight about this episode, Matt, is that they use the term Spock's brain about 40,000 times. It's never just, we need to heal Spock, we need to fix Spock, we need to connect with Spock.
Matt Ferrell: His brain, man.
Sean Ferrell: It's a Spock's brain. Spock's brain. Spock's brain. Spock's brain. In fact, if it's at all possible, Matt, could we make a supercut of how many times they say Spock's brain in this episode and put it into the podcast right about. I don't know here if that's at all possible. I would appreciate it. Anyway, in our lead up to this episode, every time we've talked about season three, we've talked about there's. Star Trek has been relegated at this point to the Friday night time slot at 10pm for two years now. It is the death slot. And we have talked about how in the first season of Star Trek, they were getting about a 12 in the ratings, the Nielsen ratings. Then they moved down to about 11. And then they bottom out here in season three with bouncing it around a 10 for most of the time. There are some episodes like the Enterprise incident, which went pretty low. It was one of the lowest episodes of the season down around just below a 7. I believe this one hits at about a 9. It is the first episode of the season. I remember thinking, good Lord, that's how they let off season three. But every time we talked about this, you would say, can't wait to get to that one. Can't wait to get to that one. Can't wait to get to that one. So unbidden by you, uncalled for by our listeners and viewers, I'm going to say, Matt, you take charge. You lead us off, talk about this, and in fact play the role that I usually play where I kind of like move the pieces. You take over. Do it.
Matt Ferrell: I was about to say I'm going to be taking your position because you have more nostalgia for the original series than I do. So you're a little more forgiving of a lot of these episodes, but I can tell you're not going to be for this. For me, as a kid, I remember when we lived in the middle of upstate New York, and I remember this would be on the black and white TVs, and I remember you would watch this like it was a religion. And I would watch it occasionally.
Sean Ferrell: Isn't it?
Matt Ferrell: I only watched it occasionally. This is one of those episodes I have vivid memories of watching, like little five year old Matt watching this episode. And I loved it. I loved this episode. And that's why I've been so excited to get back to it, because I have not seen it for probably 40 years. And I gotta say, I still love it. Even though it is a dumb episode. It is so stupid, but I still love it. And I'm gonna be very upfront and say it's nostalgia that's kind of keeping me on the Spock's brain train here. But this one is.
Sean Ferrell: You, like, plugs out a T shirt. Yeah, Right.
Matt Ferrell: But there's a couple reasons why I like this one and I still like it today. And even though it's goofy as hell, like, there's so much in this episode that we can just rail on, but there are. There are elements for what they were doing is some real hard sci fi stuff. The way it's executed is goofy, but the ideas are really cool. The idea that somebody stole his brain to use it as a central processing unit in some kind of organic computer. I've done episodes on my YouTube channel, Sean, about organic computers. It's like, okay, here's a little. They're literally doing something in the 1960s about an organic computer using a human brain. That's freaking cool. And we actually have human brain cells being used in organic computers today. Very cool. Second thing, there's a whole bunch of matrix in this episode of basically, it's like Bones is like, I have no idea how they took his brain out. I don't know how I'm going to put it back in. Well, we have this machine over here that you can jack into and it will teach you how to do that. And when he took it off, I thought he was going to go, I know kung fu. It was the Matrix. So here's this really cool concept of being able to reprogram brains, like cyberpunk kind of stuff. Really cool concept. Again, big thumbs up from me. Just eating all this stuff up. Where the episode gets to me weird is the whole planet, the whole. The women are down below and the men are up above.
Sean Ferrell: Huh? Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: The men are big brutes and the women are just simple, like smooth brained simpletons.
Sean Ferrell: What?
Matt Ferrell: But on that note, I don't know why they separated them out. But again, to modern culture. There's a bunch of Wall-E in here I don't know if you picked up on. They become so reliant on this artificial intelligence that just takes care of them and answers any questions they have or any needs they need. It just takes care of them. They end up basically floating around their little floating chairs and big sausage fingers because they don't have to take care of anything anymore. Everything's taken care of for themselves. They don't know how to do it themselves anymore. So you've got Wall-E, you've got Matrix, you've got organic computers. It's like there's so much really cool hard sci fi stuff that a 1960s show is trying to tackle. And I love how they do it. There's some great character developments between Bones and how he's trying to help Spock and how he stands up for Spock. And there's just a wonderful character development that happens through all of this. But it is so typical for the era. Here's 1960s television stuck on Friday night. They're trying to keep the kids happy. And here's little five year old Matt going, hey, this is awesome. It was clearly executed at a very simpleton kind of level. And it comes across as just goofy because of that. But I still love it for those real heady, hard sci fi things that they're trying to tackle. Not well, but they try to tackle it. So for me, I still love this episode. And I recognize there's a heavy bias coming from me just because, like you, there's nostalgia I play here.
Sean Ferrell: All right, so about to blow your little mind. I loved this.
Matt Ferrell: I thought you were going to hate it.
Sean Ferrell: I loved it. I thought it was great. I found myself in a place where it was right off the bat, opening scenes like, I know what this episode is about. I have no memory of this and everything that you just said about the nostalgia, the vivid memory and everything that that brought to you, I had the exact inverse experience. I was like, oh, I don't remember any of this. I just remember when I was a kid, this one didn't land well with me. That's all I could recall. So as the episode started and I'm like, oh, this is a setup of this otherworldly appearance of the woman on the bridge. Everybody gets knocked out, Spock is gone. Get down to med bay. I'm like, oh, this is actually a pretty gripping opening to this. Yeah, really kind of well rendered around. Chapel says, I woke up and he was here. And like, McCoy's response of like, McCoy is freaked out. It's just like, well, yeah, and this is. I want to highlight here.
Matt Ferrell: There's no brain in his head.
Sean Ferrell: I want to highlight here.
Matt Ferrell: That'd be alarming.
Sean Ferrell: This is kind of a soft McCoy episode.
Matt Ferrell: It is.
Sean Ferrell: It kind of backs into being about him without being about him. Because the emotional push of this episode is Kirk is losing his mind about losing Spock. And one of the things I appreciated about this, there are a number of things that stood out to me that I was like, oh, these are the big moments for me that I want to make sure to talk about. Kirk does not hide the fact that this isn't just, I don't want to lose a crewman. This is Spock. He doesn't want to lose Spock. And here we go back to how has strange new worlds reinformed the original series? I know that there's a difference of opinion not only between you and me, but big groups of the fandom of Star Trek did not like the mind meld from strange new worlds between Kirk and Spock as a shortcut, as people said, to get to the kind of intimacy that they share. But for me, I enjoyed that. I liked that. And this episode kind of like pushed that right into the forefront for me of this is Kirk losing half of himself. He's having an emotional response without saying, I can't lose Spock. I can't lose Spock. He doesn't have to say it. Everybody around him is just like, the captain is losing half of himself. That's. It's not going to sit well. So there's that he is so in the foreground losing his emotional control over this that he's quick to fire phasers. He's pushing, pushing, pushing until he reaches a point where in conflict with the leadership council of the women who live in the subterranean levels. It's not until that. That he kind of comes back into himself and says, oh, yeah, I need to, like, I need to play this as Starfleet. I need. I need to be pushing for, like, understanding, not force. And he pulls himself back into control in that moment, but he's so in the foreground with the emotional response that McCoy's presence ends up being this nice, quiet, taking the foreground.
When it comes down to, you need to let me put that on my head so that I can gain the knowledge. You could potentially lose me, but you're guaranteed to lose Spock. And McCoy having another moment, by the.
Matt Ferrell: Way, that great moment.
Sean Ferrell: And it's another one of the moments of the show where McCoy, like, the curtains drop and McCoy in that moment is saying, I know what this sacrifice means, but I also know what losing Spock means and the kind of dynamic between the three of them of, yeah, Spock and I are going to bicker all the time. But that's our. For lack of a better term, that's our love language. That's our relationship. So when he. When that's all gone and Spock is not present at all, and he's like, you're guaranteed to lose him. I'm willing to take this risk to get him back. I found myself, like, this is really a strong moment, a very powerful moment. And you mentioned the kind of campy qualities of this. It's campy in the only way it can be. They're trying to do things at this point. Very little budget. They had. They had their budget slashed every season. So from season one to two and then two to three, it was slashed in half. So at this point, this episode is being done on a quarter of what episodes from the first season would have been. So of course, the operating theater looks like a piece of plywood with a little hole cut for his head. It doesn't make any sense, but it's like, it's fine. It's. It's. Go ahead.
Matt Ferrell: When the surgery is over, he sits up. It's like, there's nothing.
Sean Ferrell: There's nothing going on.
Matt Ferrell: Nothing going on. There's so much ridiculous about it. But it's like watching old Doctor who. It's like, it's campy. It's limited budget, limited special effects. They did best with what they had. And that's why I kept coming back to. For me, it's these hard sci fi concepts they're dealing with. And the emotional baggage and damage it's causing is so clear with Shatner and with Bones and like, from that, when Bones is having trouble even describing what happened to Spock. And Captain keeps saying, doctor, just get to it. Just get to it. And he goes, Bones. Like, he calls out to him as the friend of. Just like, please, just tell me, like, what the hell. It's like, there's so much kind of like, raw emotion at play here. It's just very touching with how it balances between those three characters. And it says so much about Spock, even though he's not. He's not in it. He's not present for most of the episode, but you learn so much about how much of a linchpin he is to these guys and the rest of the crew. And it even goes to Chekhov, man. Like, there's this scene on the bridge that reminded me of Strange New Worlds, how, like, the captains from strange new worlds. The way. The way that Pike goes to the crew and is like, all right, spitball here, guys. Let's go. It's like he's a very kind of collegial, kind of like, we're a team, we're a family. Let's troubleshoot this together. And then he picks the idea. He likes where Kirk tends to kind of be more cocksure and kind of, like, come in there with his own take. He has a little bit of a Pike moment in this episode where he goes to the front. He's standing in front of the screen. Spock is the guy who'd normally be, like, looking at all the stuff and being, like, figuring out what planet to go to to try to find this, the thing they're looking for. But Chekhov has to stand up into this.
And it's like, you get to see Chekhov be a very suitable Spock replacement. Like, he is a capable guy. And it was so cool to hear everybody spitballing of why they think this planet versus that planet. And Chekhov makes a very passionate appeal for. Well, the science says this. It's most likely this. And he gives. It's almost like he's in a human way, doing the Spock logic routine. And it was, like, so wonderful to see him do that. So it's like, you got to see all these characters step up in different ways because they all care about Spock and they all recognize what he means to the captain.
Sean Ferrell: And there were a couple of subtle things.
Matt Ferrell: I thought it was great.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah, there were some subtle things in the episode around all of that that I thought really stood out, one of which was Kirk walks out, and he says, they've entered the system where they've followed the ion trail and he says, full sensor sweep of all the planets. And Sulu, Chekov and Uhura all launch into motion. And I'm like, it normally would just be Spock. And I was like, this is a classic. It takes three people to replace the one. And it's so subtle that I don't even know if it's intentional. But in my head canon, that's what's happening. That's my interpretation of that scene. And then I completely agree with everything you had to say about Chekov getting up. I found myself thinking, why haven't they done this before? Turning the screen into a map. And they're all standing up there and making arguments about what they think is going on. You mentioned this is kind of like touching into hard sci fi. That's exactly what that scene is. It's beautifully done. It's like, well, here is the. The rough estimates of the level of technology and here's a map of the star system. And I'm just like, this is so cool. Just from a sci fi perspective, this is just cool.
Matt Ferrell: The other thing that I thought was, again, hard sci fi, the ion engine, that's a real thing. It's a real thing that. That's an actual thing we were actively developing today. And there are ion engines. And it's like, it's so cool how it works and that it works in space because there's no gravity and it's like just shooting little ions out of the back of an engine that can make it go forward. It's. It's so cool. And here it is, 1960s, we basically just got into space and they're talking about.
Sean Ferrell: It's like, hadn't even landed on the moon yet.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah. This episode, like, the fact that they were dealing with all these fantastic sci fi concepts on a show that was basically relegated for children on Friday nights.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: I was just shocked at how, like, prescient it was. I want to come back to that Wall-E angle again because for me, this episode felt very timeless for the time. It felt very relevant for the time we're in right now. Because with social media and AI starting to become an actual thing for us, we're heading into a world where there's. I've been reading a lot and hearing a lot about this where there's. I don't want to sound like the old man saying the younger generations are, you know. Ah, but like kids these days are not learning how to reason the way we did and where our parents did when we were in school, because there's more. The social media is kind of like rotting our brains and AI is taking away the, the need to have reasoning ability because, because the AI will do it for you and it's going to weaken our abilities. And I don't wanna sound like the old man on the hill, like it's the end of days, it's going to evolve into something different, whatever that ends up being. But I thought it was interesting that this episode is dealing with that it's going on. It's like basically saying, these people are so reliant on this artificial intelligence, they can't do the most basic things. They basically regress. Their brains have smoothed out. Like they have regressed as a species because of this. 10,000 years of this AI taking care of them. Yeah, that's today, Sean. You could write this episode today. You know what I mean? It's like, this is what's blowing my mind of. Here's this episode that was the first episode of the season. You had a bad taste in your mouth from it, from being a kid. And I find this actually a pretty profound episode. Goofy. But the concepts and what it's dealing with and then the emotional connections, I just loved it. I thought it was a really fun, just good time. I was very engaged the entire episode.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah, I. Even the elements that don't stand up to scrutiny are. Are just. Are. Yeah, well, the. The as you pen, as you mentioned, like, it's a very, like the separation of the sexes, the discussion around, like, don't you have a mate? Like, all that's very dated and unnecessary. And yeah, it's grinding things down to common denominators to spoon feed a message to the viewer that isn't necessary. And it's easy to dismiss. It's easy to just be like, it doesn't really matter. So it's like, okay, yeah, the planet is separated in this way. Who cares? At the end of it, it's like you people are living in a way that is. So it lands again in the terrain of. We haven't disrupted the Prime Directive because this is so stagnant as to be dead. And what we've done is now put you back on a path of having to do things. So we've seen that before. We've also seen the omniscient computer in control before, Landru. We've seen all of that before. However, this time around, it's like it feels fine because it's not from the perspective of we're being beset upon by this computer that controls everything. It's literally the computer that controls everything is a friend. We need to get him back. So it's flipped it upside down and it works better for it. So I'm like, okay, that's all compelling. I love the. As silly as that gray box over Leonard Nimoy's head is. I love the operation sequence.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah.
Sean Ferrell: For the immediacy of McCoy's. Like, a child could do it. A child could do it. It's so simple. And then halfway through it, he's just like, there's millions of gangs there. There's millions of gangs. So many neuronics. What am I gonna do? Like, it's great. Spock walking him through it himself. Which, from a certain perspective, doesn't make any sense because Spock is not a neuro assertion. So, yeah, push that to the side and just make it like, it's just fun and it's kind of goofy. It's. You mentioned Doctor who. It's a very Doctor who thing of, like, you press on the gangly and I'll tell you when they're correct. And he's like, yeah, yeah. Left forefinger, right forefinger. He's like, yeah.
Matt Ferrell: I mean, they're. They're playing off of actual brain surgery. How, like, they will keep somebody awake and talking, or if it's a musician, they'll actually have them playing an instrument while they're messing with the brain to make sure they're not. Not screwing something up. So it's like they're playing off of that. But it is, again, goofy as all get out. Like, just like, come on.
Sean Ferrell: Really?
Matt Ferrell: Yes.
Sean Ferrell: It's pretty goofy at moments, but it's dismissible and right down to the ending of. I feel like Leonard Nimoy in this episode was so vacant because he is literally being walked around like an automaton, which, I mean, that controller is ridiculous. Like, he's on drone mode. And they're like. It's literally like a knob and a couple of buttons. But it can do sophisticated things like grab a woman and press the button that it needs to in order.
Matt Ferrell: Because, Sean, they don't have wheelchair technology in the future. Yeah.
Sean Ferrell: But it's also fun. It's like watching him walk around. And at one point, I thought it was. I wonder if it was improvised. When they're taking him into the cave, the network of caves. And Scotty goes, no, Scotty goes like, keep him to the right.
Matt Ferrell: It's like, well, I don't think that was improv because, like, right before that, he kind of bumped into the bush. And then as he gets the opening he makes that comment, and I wonder if it was, like, deliberate written that way, because it was like he's a remote control car, and it's like, you're not controlling him. Well, it's like. I thought that was deliberate, that whole.
Sean Ferrell: Sequence, like, with the headgear and everything. It's ridiculous, but it's also fun. And I found myself thinking about this one in a very different light as we. As I got into it. And there are moments that the episode goes out of its way in a couple of places to show us things that don't actually have an impact on the show, on the narrative. And I feel like they're there just as fan service, because at this point, the entire crew is viewed as potential main characters. At any given moment. Everybody goes into the elevator and it drops down, and you get that nice moment where McCoy’s like, contact Chekov and have him set my stomach down. I thought that was a funny line. Cut to the outside, Chekov, and two red shirts. And Chekhov's like, we might as well be comfortable. And he goes over and phasers a couple of rocks. We've seen Sulu do that in the past, but here Chekhov is doing it, and they all get down and they're all warming their. Their hands above the rock, and I'm like, there was no point to that other than to say Chekhov knows what.
Matt Ferrell: He's doing, and Chekhov's in charge.
Sean Ferrell: Chekhov's in charge, and he knows what he's doing. So it's like, that's the only purpose for that. Later on, they go to the Enterprise where Sulu is like, captain's log, acting captain. We're still waiting for the captain, and we're doing all these things, and then it goes back to the planet. There's nothing added by going there and having that happen. And I'm like, it's merely to show that Sulu's in charge. Like, everybody else is away.
Matt Ferrell: Competent thing.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah, here's Sulu, and it just. Like, I'm acting captain and I'm in charge and everything's going well, and we know that things are happening on the planet. We know that they've located Spock's brain and they're trying to get it back. Like, what was the purpose of that other than to say everybody's potentially a main character?
Matt Ferrell: So I have a theory as to why they put this one first and not Enterprise incident. My thought is they did that because in the first two seasons, I know in the real world, Spock became incredibly popular, more than they expected. And I have a feeling they put this one first because of that. I think they were trying to play into the fan base that was really into Spock, and they were going to kick off season three with a big Spock episode. Spock's brain's been stolen. So I think I get why they did it. I think it was a mistake. So we talked about the Enterprise incident. I think it was a better episode. It's more exciting. So it's like, I think it would have worked better if they had flipped those potentially in their airing order. But I do think that this episode, probably for you as a kid, I think it resonated with the public the way it resonated with you as a kid. At the time, people probably just rolled their eyes and were like, wah. And so you probably lost a lot of potential viewers after airing this one first.
Sean Ferrell: Little fun fact for you, Matt. In the summer between the end of season two and at this point. Here we are at the beginning of season three, a song dropped. A 45 dropped. And.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah. Is it what I think?
Sean Ferrell: Leonard Nimoy performing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.
Matt Ferrell: Yep. Okay.
Sean Ferrell: It came out in July of 1967. So right in the middle. Yeah, there was. There was some surprise on the part of the producers, the network, and particularly William Shatner that the breakout star of the series was Nimoy and he was viewed as a sex symbol. And so he had. He had some star power. And I think you may be right by putting a title like Spock's Brain at number one on the season. Maybe they were trying to cash in and get some attention on that and it doesn't work. And it's like there's.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah.
Sean Ferrell: And it's interesting because the Enterprise incident and this putting them side to side, they almost feel like different programs because this one feels, like you said, it's more Doctor who ish, but it also has more hard sci fi, where the other one is more of an espionage story. I don't think that's necessarily a weakness in either one of them. I think it's a demonstration that Star Trek takes turns at playing in different genres and does it well. And I found myself pleasantly surprised to discover how much I was enjoying this one because the previous. Go around with this as a kid.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah.
Sean Ferrell: I just remember being like, what am I. What am I watching? You know, Sean, it's.
Matt Ferrell: It makes me. It makes me so happy. I'm so happy that you enjoyed it.
Sean Ferrell: So, viewers, listeners, what did you think about this one? Do you agree that this one holds together? Or did you find the goofy bits just outweigh everything else and it turns it into something that you just had a hard time watching? Let us know in the comments. As always, we look forward to hearing what you have to say. And don't forget commenting, liking, subscribing, sharing with your friends. Those are all very easy ways for you to support the podcast. If you want to support us more directly, you can go to trekintime.Show. Click the join button there. It allows you to throw some coins at our heads, don't damage our brains, and then we get down to the heavy, heavy business of talking about what you do with all the ganglia. Thank you so much everybody for taking the time to watch or listen, and we'll talk to you next time.