Out of town this weekend, so I'm gonna give you 2 Treks tonight... Just because the number of these corresponds to the number of days blogging on Blogspot and I don't want to lose c0unt.
57. Spock's Brain
FORMULA: The Cage + By Any Other Name + The Apple + What Are Little Girls Made Of? - anything that might've made those episodes any good
WHY WE LIKE IT: It achieves a kind of kitsch grandeur.
WHY WE DON'T: Guest director Ed Wood.
REVIEW: As the episode starts, you get a sense that the creators are showing off some pretty sweet optical effects, which gets you all warm inside at the prospect of an all-new season. A new model ship (not fuzzy lights or "he's too far away for a visual") and you see Kirk walk in front of the viewscreen for the first time (I guess they used rear projection). The icy planet is also one of the better realized worlds as seen from orbit.
But as soon as the terrible title, Spock's Brain, comes up on the screen, it's all downhill. The dialogue is extra cheesy, making sure to mention that title as often as possible, with the Imorgs' childish blather being especially frustrating.
Plot holes abound, and suspension of disbelief becomes harder and harder to maintain, between turning Spock into a robot zombie that can still be made to grab a woman and press specific buttons from a simple remote control, and the removal and restoration of his brain without so much as a scar, there's plenty to groan about. When he gets up from the table and starts droning on and on, though it provides the final joke, that's just not Spock. He's never been that talkative. Either McCoy reconnected him wrong, or bad writing is to blame.
And what's with that weird operation montage, with the cross-fading between all the faces mugging at the camera? That's right out of Ed Wood or The Brain That Wouldn't Die! Sure, you can enjoy it as a piece of high camp - I was often reminded of certain episodes of the Batman television show - and lines like "Spock, you're a disenbodied brain!" "Fascinating." do amuse, but a script that has the most popular character turned into a zombie isn't very smart. And so that the other actors don't feel left out of the humiliation, they get some large green navels strapped on. Yeeech.
LESSON: Sorry, the knowledge imparted by the Teacher has left me...
REWATCHABILITY - Low: My memories had it at a personal Medium, but rewatching it, though I was never bored, it's just terribly written, directed, edited, designed, and yes, acted. The regulars try their best, but a few cool opticals can't save this material.
57. Spock's BrainFORMULA: The Cage + By Any Other Name + The Apple + What Are Little Girls Made Of? - anything that might've made those episodes any good
WHY WE LIKE IT: It achieves a kind of kitsch grandeur.
WHY WE DON'T: Guest director Ed Wood.
REVIEW: As the episode starts, you get a sense that the creators are showing off some pretty sweet optical effects, which gets you all warm inside at the prospect of an all-new season. A new model ship (not fuzzy lights or "he's too far away for a visual") and you see Kirk walk in front of the viewscreen for the first time (I guess they used rear projection). The icy planet is also one of the better realized worlds as seen from orbit.
But as soon as the terrible title, Spock's Brain, comes up on the screen, it's all downhill. The dialogue is extra cheesy, making sure to mention that title as often as possible, with the Imorgs' childish blather being especially frustrating.
Plot holes abound, and suspension of disbelief becomes harder and harder to maintain, between turning Spock into a robot zombie that can still be made to grab a woman and press specific buttons from a simple remote control, and the removal and restoration of his brain without so much as a scar, there's plenty to groan about. When he gets up from the table and starts droning on and on, though it provides the final joke, that's just not Spock. He's never been that talkative. Either McCoy reconnected him wrong, or bad writing is to blame.
And what's with that weird operation montage, with the cross-fading between all the faces mugging at the camera? That's right out of Ed Wood or The Brain That Wouldn't Die! Sure, you can enjoy it as a piece of high camp - I was often reminded of certain episodes of the Batman television show - and lines like "Spock, you're a disenbodied brain!" "Fascinating." do amuse, but a script that has the most popular character turned into a zombie isn't very smart. And so that the other actors don't feel left out of the humiliation, they get some large green navels strapped on. Yeeech.
LESSON: Sorry, the knowledge imparted by the Teacher has left me...
REWATCHABILITY - Low: My memories had it at a personal Medium, but rewatching it, though I was never bored, it's just terribly written, directed, edited, designed, and yes, acted. The regulars try their best, but a few cool opticals can't save this material.
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P.S. Sorry for the pathetic comment. I'm a doctor not a blogger.