How to even approach an episode as iconically, awesomely bad as “Spock’s Brain”?
It’s infamous as one of the worst TOS episodes, and yet is so over the top that it’s hard not to just laugh at. Even though yes, it’s sexist. Kyle Andersen at Nerdist actually argued it’s more sexist than “Mudd’s Women.”
Michelle Erica Green at Trek Today says “nothing about the episode makes any sense at all” and suggests it feels more like a sci-fi parody. Or better yet:
For me, the best way to watch this episode is through slash fan glasses – that is, to assume that the entire original series is a subtextual romance between Kirk and Spock, and in this installment, a panicked, pouting Kirk must rescue his beloved from the evil horde of bimbos who have no proper appreciation for his body.
So where do I even start? My Women at Warp co-podcaster Sue suggested I just respond to the whole thing with Tina Belcher .gifs. So I started that, but I found that “Spock’s Brain” had a relative lack of butts and the two things just didn’t really go together.
So instead I will have to save Tina and instead leave you with this “Spock’s Brain” acrostic.
S is for Spock’s brain, which gets stolen by spacey disco ladies called the Eymorgs. Luckily, Kirk is confident that if a brain is removed, it can totes be put back. It’s just like a lightbulb!
P is for “pain and delight,” which the technologically-advanced Eymorgs bring to the cavemen-like Morgs who live on the planet’s surface.
O is for: “Oh no, the away team is incapacitated by the Eymorg leader, Kara, and fitted with super duper budget-looking pain belts.”
C is for the Controller, the disembodied brain of a man who protects the women, because lord knows the women have no brains of their own.
K is for Kirk trying to flatter Kara to get to the Controller.
(It…doesn’t work.)
S is for seriously, what the fuck is even going on?
B is for “Brain and brain…what IS brain?”
R is for remote-control Spock!
And Sulu is in command, with Uhura backing him up on the bridge. I kinda just want them to steal the ship and have their own kick-ass adventures.
Into the mind of McCoy goes the knowledge of how to put Spock’s brain back!
New lives as housewives to cavemen? Sounds…good…
Bechdel Test: Fail
