Halloween 4: Spock's Brain

Here we go with another post in our Halloween Countdown of Weird Shit as we look at movies, TV shows and comic books with stories in a sort of Halloween theme. 

In yesterday’s post, we looked at a French horror film where someone loses their face. 

Today, the horror continues as someone today loses an even more important body part… their brain!

What sick twisted tale of terror by H P Lovecraft recounts such a scandalous act of mutilation?

What spine tingling movie from John Carpenter presents this horrific act of brain theft?

No, my friends, the source of today’s story of suspense and cruelty is not from the fear soaked pages of a horror novel or the blood curdling flickers of a horror movie. No, we must turn to the future, the sleek and modern future of  humanity’s ascension to the stars.

I’m So Glad My Suffering Amuses You presents….

 Star Trek

Spock’s Brain

An alien female appears on the Enterprise and stuns everyone into submission with a bracelet weapon. 

When the crew regains consciousness, Dr. McCoy finds Spock lying on a bed in Sickbay with his brain... his brain…

OH MY GOD! HIS BRAIN, IT IS A GONE!!!!

Spock's trying to enjoy his spa day but that pesky Dr. McCoy won't leave him alone for 5 damn minutes.  

Vulcans are such tough birds physically, Spock can be kept alive without a brain but for no more than 24 hours so Capt. Kirk has to kick shit into gear.  

Kirk and the gang follow an ion trail to a star system with different planets to pick from. You know who would be helpful in figuring out which planet Spock’s brain is on? Spock!

Except no brain. Darn the luck! 

But Kirk makes a guess and in the interest in furthering the plot along, he guesses right. It’s a planet in the middle of an ice age. The inhabitants live underground because of course they do, this is Star Trek and everyone winds up in a fucking cave or underground thingy sooner or later. 

Anyway, the planet is divided between the Morgs (males) and the Eymorgs (females). The Eymorgs run things which means there are bed ruffles on everything. 

But the Eymorgs are not completely in control; their civilization relies on a device known as the Vibrator the Controller which is currently powered by…..

DUN DUN DUN!

Spock’s brain! 

Joining Kirk and McCoy on the landing party is Spock whose moving around thanks to a device McCoy slapped on this head.

McCoy keeps  hitting a button on the remote making Spock slap himself. “Stop hitting yourself!  Stop hitting yourself!  Stop hitting yourself!” McCoy is having way too much fun. 
The landing party is captured and forced to wear belts that inflict pain with the touch of a button and also clashes with the aesthetics of their Starfleet uniforms.  

Would you believe this is not the first time
Kirk's had to ask that question?  



D J Them Bones getting ready to lay down some sick beats at the club tonight, y'all!  

"No one can restore a brain!!!" you say? 

But yes they can, Dr. McCoy. Yes, they can! 

There’s another machine on the planet called “the Teacher” which can impart incredible levels of intelligence and skills into a human brain but for only a limited time.  

It gives an Eymorg just enough mental juice to do some tune ups on the Controller whenever it needs, for instance, a new brain installed.

McCoy decides to use the Teacher to learn how to restore Spock’s brain back to Spock’s body. 

Apparently  hitting a button on the remote making Spock slap himself while saying “Stop hitting yourself!  Stop hitting yourself!  Stop hitting yourself!” can get a bit tiresome. 

McCoy uses the device and begins restoring Spock’s brain to his body. But before the procedure can be completed, the knowledge fades from McCoy’s mind. However, McCoy had gotten far enough to reconnect Spock’s speech centers so Spock can talk McCoy through the rest of the process of re-connecting his brain.  

Spock tells McCoy how to reconnect his own brain.  

Without Spock’ brain, the Controller can no longer function to provide for the Eymorgs. 

Kirk assures the Eymorgs that they and the Morgs can learn to survive together.

Yes, he’s talking about them fucking. I know, it’s his solution for everything. 

"Spock's Brain" is considered by many Star Trek fans to be the worst episode of the series.

I think what make’s “Spock’s Brain” stand out so much is it's place in history. It’s the first episode of a third season that almost wasn’t. After 2 seasons, NBC was looking to cancel the show but an overwhelming fan response helped sway NBC towards keeping the show. From a historical perspective, there was a lot of expectations riding on the first episode of season 3.

So “Spock’s Brain” kind of stands out.

Also looking closely at the start of season 3 was NBC. Yes, NBC had decided to pull Star Trek from the brink and let it live but with the caveat of making the show on a greatly reduced budget. NBC was keen to see that the show was saving money.

"Spock's Brain" is a fairly expansive episode with scenes on the ship and on an alien world but each component part is cheaply made. NBC was getting what it was not paying for.

"Spock's Brain" was an embarrassment to those involved. Leonard Nimoy who had to spend most of the episode as an automaton was embarrassed.

Writer Gene Coon, normally one of Star Trek's best contributors, was embarrassed enough to slap his "Lee Cronin" pseudonym on it. 

"Spock's Brain" has earned it's notoriety as being among the worst of Star Trek.   As for being THE worst, you might think someone has stolen my brain but I would argue that other episodes challenge that.  Me, I’d give that distinction to Roddenberry’s “Omega Glory”. As stupid as “Spock’s Brain”, there is a certain joy that comes from reveling in the absurdity of it’s concept.

I think it's time to bring this post to a close. My nerd is showing.