FIRST- Great Episode!

Like that Ion powered ship.

Lovin’ that beam down.

Just goes to show a well done preview can make anything look like a blockbuster superstar any time. Especially if you add that deep toned voice over guy!!!

Aaron R.

No amount of cgi can help this train wreck.

IN A WORLD… where bimbo space chicks steal Vulcan brains, one horny starship captain vows to get him some. This time, it’s personal.

Too bad they can’t remaster the story as well as the special effects.

“Brain and brain ! What is brain ?”
Almost worthy of MST3K.

This episode makes Weekend At Bernie’s look like Citizen Kane!!!

A friend of mine said this episode reminded him “of ratshit” and I replied, “hey, what have you got against ratshit?”

I would rather watch Spock’s Brain than:

Mudd’s Women, Charlie X, The Conscience of the King, The Alternative Factor, Catspaw, The Apple, A Private Little War, The Omega Glory, And The Children Shall Lead, Wink of An Eye, That Which Survives, The Mark of Gideon, The Lights of Zetar, Turnabout Intruder, and Star Trek XI.

Dude! I’m expecting awesome rotoscoping with new viewscreen visuals. Yeah!

I would rather watch Spock’s Brain than just MOST episodes of Voyager or Enterprise…Star Trek V, Insurrection or Nemesis!

So there!

#12. Amen!

I would rather watch Spocko’s Brain than:

League of extraordinary gentlemen
Catwoman
BJ and the bear
Falcon Crest
One life to live
Family guy
Smurfs
The Simpsons
Enterprise
The season of Andy Griffith starting when Barney left
Teletubbies
Heart to Heart
Voyager
Conan the Destroyer
Back to the Future part II
The Two Towers
The live action Fat Albert and Scooby Doo films
Fox news
Tool Time
Any film directed by Uwe Boll
Aliens vs. Predator
paint drying

Hey…easy there buddy, no dissin’ my best friend Bear!

*sigh*

They just HAD to put, “Brain and brain! What is brain!?!” in the preview..

anybody , remember that really bad steve martin movie from the 80s “The Man with Two Brains” ………………well i do , and god its almost as bad as this esp , shame on the effects people putting all that new stuff in and forcing us to watch this.

Oooooo! There’s gonnna tons of new fx in “The Search for Spock’s Brain”. ! I can’t wait! I can’t sleep…I’m so excited!

The Man with Two Brains is, quite frankly, hilarious…

Oh, come on people… let’s face it, if we could watch ANY video or film of the original cast doing their THING, of course we’d enjoy it! Hell, this group is so charismatic as a group, we’d watch them read THE PHONE BOOK!!! That’s not the point. In spite of their talent and best efforts, “Spock’s Brain” stinks on ice! Mmmmmboy, that’s a bad one,… as in TURD!!!

#19 agree
I really like “the Man with two Brains” as well. It is one of Steve Martin’s best movies IMO. There is some funny s–t in that movie.

“I just love to kill people” Spoken only like Merv Griffin can say. LOL!!

One of my absolute favourites.

Yes, I just typed that.

The joke is truly on anyone who actually takes this episode seriously. It’s comic, and it’s obvious. The plot is thin and goofy at best, but that’s the point. After being cancelled, it made sense to air this epsiode first as a reminder to have some fun with it because after all, it’s just a TV show. Shatner puts in what is easily his most over-the-top performance of Kirk ever…HILARIOUS! I simply can’t get enough of it. I always get the feeling I’m watching something straight out of the pulp mags with this one.

If viewed in the spirit intended, this one is a classic. Hell, it’s classic even if not viewed in the spirit it was intended, but for all the wrong reasons!

The new Ion ship and planet look awsome, I can’t wait.

#21 Funny, but I just bought the DVD for MW2B and it has My Blue Heaven on the flip side…both are great! That poem “Pointy birds” cracks me up every time…LOL Steve Martin was truly hilarious back in the day.

Anointy nointy…

Let’s just say Rick and/or Spockboy have plenty to work with on this one if they’re planning any parody vids…

#8Harry Ballz - June 7, 2007 how about “Weekend at Citizen Kane’s”

FredCFO wrote:

> Almost worthy of MST3K.

Then there is the faux MST3K show of Star Trek V.

I think personally the chick has a point, if you HAVE to steal someones brain to operate your society, you can do ALOT worse than Spockula right??

I think this episode get’s alot of heat because the premise is fairly uncomplex and straightforward.

I’m not being an apologist, as there’s really nothing to apologize for.

Conceptually, this episode is Trekkish in nature and is true to the concept of Trek. The execution of said idea is practical, concise , and to the point. There are notions of Landru here, and Vaal. Bones having “infinate” knowledge is certainly no less feasible than Star Trek- The Motion Picture, when for several brief moments, Spock knew ALL knowledge in the universe. Has anyone considered that when watching that film? It’s rather profound. Now granted, much like McCoy, Spock didn’t retain all of that information, but still, it’s actually a brilliant science fiction concept - The obtaining of the all.

Maybe this episode gets so much heat because of the chick character playing the bimbo role, I don’t know, but there are certainly FAR worse episodes of Trek to revile and despise.

Turnabout Intruder is probably the low point for me, but even then there are redeeming qualities and a subtle message.

The message of Spocks’ Brain is actually more relevant NOW then it was in 1969 - Don’t permit technology to think for you, do your own thinking.

Maybe I have lost my mind but I really like this episode …. I guess I would put myself in the “so bad its good” category.

As another poster on here has pointed out before the story could have worked it’s just the execution that lets it down, but I still consider it a fun episode and the new visuals can only help it seem less cheesy.

The Mountains in the background of the set for the planet surface looks fantastic!!! I really hope CBS digital do more of this in future episodes and go back and add backdrops to other episodes they have already worked on where the set could benefit from this treatment.

Looks like some nice work by CBS Digital on this one, and the remastered pringt and colour is looking glorious as usual.

Check out “aintitcool’s” link today for some nice comparison shots:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32909

“pringt”??? Sorry, that should have said “print”.

7 and 26.

You know that the MST3K guys do riffs on more mainstream movies now, right? They sell MP3s on www.rifftrax.com. One of the first movies they did was Star Trek V. They later did Star Trek VI (which I like). All the Rifftrax are good, you should pick them up.

As for Spock’s Brain, I’m really looking forward to seeing this for the first time. I didn’t know the girl was so angry that she didn’t know what a brain was. I was imagined her kind of teasing Kirk with the knowledge… Guess I was wrong.

Apologies…that link has ALREADY been put up earlier, and I didn’t notice.

“The Search For Spock’s Brain” should have been used in the preview…. missed opportunity.

I love the way they opened up that soundstage beam in! Wow.

I always used to wonder how they did brain-removal surgery and then out it back without removing or even messing up his hair. Later I realised that the only explanation was transporter-based surgery.

But they probably weren’t thinking that much when they made this embarrassing stinker.

Gene Coon wrote it as a COMEDY originally!..then clever third season producuer stepped in and said “no-no, we want a melo-drama!”

Fred Freiburger decided to make it “SERIOUS”…Shoulda kept it a straight up comedy as originally intended by Gene Coon!!!#

Still those moons and landscapes look great…truly….
” the givers …of pain…and delight!”

THEETtrekMaster- Voyager is a great show ( Enterprise also ). I disagree with you.

If they can Save Hitler’s Brain… certainly they can save Spocks!!

Robert Bernardo:

If only my MST3K boys could have taken a shot at ST5. That would have saved the movie.

Paramount wisely passed on a director’s cut. Nothing could have saved this piece of Star Dreck.

My namesake aires at last!

#34 — No, it was not originally a comedy.

I dispelled that myth by posting a link to the original draft (Gene Coon’s original story outline) either earlier in this thread or in the other Spock’s Brain thread…check it out…

TTM

#37, Dreck or not, I still would have liked to have seen Shatner’s original vision. I think The Shat should be given the opportunity to go back and finish his film. He should never have been saddled with that special effects company to begin with!

Robert Wise got the opportunity…why not Shatner?

It could make the difference between a horrible film and a so-so film…

“39, David Gerrold himself said at conventions that SPOCKS BRAIN was meant as a comedy, pradon but i’ll take his word first what Coon meant.

ummm..pardon the t master

(a) I believe you can download an mp3 track of MST3K’s Mike Nelson having a go at Star Trek V

and

(b) re: THEETrekMaster’s remarks - I think there’s a good movie to be molded out of Star Trek V. Not a *great* movie, but with some editing, a little voice-over, and completely re-done effects (including drastically reshaping the ending), there’s a good movie. I really think its a shame the studio wouldn’t give Shatner a chance. Perhaps, in the wake of Trek Remastered, they’ll reconsider it.

Noted film critic Roger Ebert has remarked many times that studios should stop remaking movies that were great the first time, and start remaking bad movies into good movies. A re-edited and digitally overhauled Star Trek V would be an interesting project. I wish Paramount would do it.

#41…read the FIRST DRAFT story treatment I posted here at TrekMovie and then tell me if you think that thing reads like a comedy! Just like the episode that aired…it only has funny lines at the end of the episode.

It’s not a comedy and never was written as such. Maybe he said “I’d like to make a comedy called “Spock’s Brain” but it sure never ended up on paper OR on film as such.

There is nothing in the drafts that resemble anything even approaching The Trouble With Tribbles — which was written as a comedy/light hearted piece.”

If Spock’s Brain was meant to be a comedy then it’s the single worst piece of comedy committed to film as it’s not funny — intentionally. The humor from the episode is 90% from the comedic value of bad storytelling, acting and film making!

Like you, I used to buy into the possibility it was written to be a comedy until I read the first draft…then I was convinced it was just poorly conceived and written.

The first place I read an assertion that it was originally planned as a comedy was in Allan Asherman’s Star Trek Compendium…and I consider Allan one of the foremost authorities on Trek out there. But, he was wrong on this one. The proof is in the writing.

#43, Star Trek V will always be a flawed film…but it could sure be made more palatable by redoing the effects and giving the film an ending that isn’t (as the released ending was) just cobbled together in the editing room with quick cuts.

The whole film was building up to Shatner’s originally planned ending…and instead it just fizzled out in a whimper of poor editing.

Ebert was right. Bad films should be given a makeover if there is footage to support the makeover or if redoing visuals will make an impact on how the film is received by audiences.

TTM

Forgot to add, I hope Shatner gets the chance to improve Star Trek V while he is still willing and able — and alive to do it. Looks to me like Paramount is wasting valuable time…

But, if they choose to do this then they should definitely get Daren Dochterman back to supervise the rework. He did and his team did a *ahem* stellar job on ST:TMP!

TTM

Personally, I don’t find “Spock’s Brain” any worse an episode than something like “The Gamesters of Triskeleon.” Both are pretty silly but that doesn’t make them unwatchable. I’ll agree it requires more than the usual level of suspension of disbelief but the show is lightweight and moves along fairly well. [I’m also fond of the editing and soaring music when McCoy dons “The Teacher.”]

Far worse are episodes that are little more than a test of endurance - episodes such as “The Lights of Zetar,” “That Which Survives” and “The Alternative Factor.”

The notion of a societal schism in which the technically advanced move underground and enslave the primitives on the surface is, of course, found earlier in H.G. Wells “Time Machine.” [You say, “Imorg,” I say, “Morlock.”]

Perhaps this episode is the wellspring of Gene Roddenberry’s fascination with female societies that enslave men, as can later be seen in “Planet Earth.”

No way “ST5″ could be turned into a better film unless you wrote a new story, had new effects and otherwise totally changed everything about it.

Some problems:

- 23rd Century fart jokes?
- David Lee Roth as a Klingon?
- Row, Row, Row your boat?
- A toilet in the brig?
- They couldn’t get Sean Connery so they got… Lawrence Luckinbill ?
- “Go Climb a Rock” sweat shirt … in the 23rd Century?
- Scotty and Uhuru?
- Chekov and Sulu looking at a Klingon woman’s ass? (George Takei acting up a storm against type)

Shall I go on? Nothing, nothing would fix this crap…

” 44 dear trekmaster,

Listen please, i was an official “helper” at the 74-76 Star Trek Conventions in nyc when we had the cons that helped bring Star Trek back, rek Friend,
I know what was saw with and those script drafts from several episode and on the top of one draft in Gene Coon’s handwriting was something to the effect of ,… “make this anther tribble show, or light comedy, here..”

So….to me that means that at one time before he wrote the draft you speak of he WAS at least “thinking about it”…making Spocks Brain as the comedy it coulda, and maybe shoulda?…been, Ya think!?

lol

Hey, …… no fighting here mate, im just an very true, and to be getting an OLDer fan who was there yes,…remembering the fun-madness of it all at an overpacked ballroom convention at the old Commadore Hotel in NYC!…tone time even helping get a frightened (at the happy crowd) William Shatner, through and Majel let e babysit youngr Rod jr..yes, I knew what was said and remember what I saw, …I have audeo tapes of those conventions, im going to post some of them with pictures and video on you tube.

Yes …”Spocks Brain” …was going to be a comdy at first, if you dont believe me, please just ask Majel Barret, or Bob Justman,…regreatably poor Fred Freiburger died 2 years ago, he can no longer defend himself….seems only a few of us see the genuis of some of his third season work, but it was not this episode….but thats a whole other topic…

Star Trek Lives!

P.S. These scripts were being sold at a dealers table, and Spock’s Brain with Gene Coon’s writting in the margins and a set of other scripts, were purchased by Joan Winston of Trek Fan fame, so she would verify and know my words are true, but I have not seen her since 1980.

Poor Gene Coon!, he died so young and never got to live to see all the fun and the crazyness that was attached to his and the othe Gene’s vision.

Shaye,

I too am an “old timer” — i.e., old fan. I also went to the 70’s cons…
I was basing my comments to you off the so-called “First draft”. First to me means, uhhhh…FIRST! LOL

But, if there IS an earlier draft than that…and one with Gene’s notes on it…I would sure love to read that one!

I met Bob Justman back in the 90’s and had the opportunity to talk to him pretty in depth…but I failed to ask him about Spock’s Brain.

Guess I should have…but I did manage to talk to him about working with Byron Haskins on The Outer Limits….;-)

TTM

yuppers!…and thats interesting about Bob’s Byron Haskins connection there…I always loved.. The Outer Limits too!

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