Yes, have to admit I was amused by the drawing of the Crystalline Entity with people running from it with "scared" expressions... Hmm, perhaps this might mean something.
Just thinking about the oversized comm badges and collar pips cracks me up. They are just the perfect size to be both understated and hilarious. Any bigger and they would have been too slapsticky. One of the best visual gags in any Trek comedy episode.
bow-locks!
yeah, don't destroy the borg when you have a chance, let them live, the poor things, even if they will come back to bite your sorry ar...
if a vulcan was there, he would have seen how illogical it would have been not to take the chance: you spare their species, and how many other species will then be wiped away by the borg thanks to you in the next few centuries? and possibly yours too!
bumfingerers!
their "justification", the hope that hugh's individuality will change them, is one of the most stupid things you can come out with!
they constantly assimilate individuals, never been a problem, has it?
they could have tried, the borg would have survived because they are... well, the borg, and everyone's a winner.
but no.
there is a line between compassion and stupidity, and they crossed it.
by several kilo-parsecs ffs!
not a bad episode though.
at least is not filled with damn kids like too many episodes in season five.
Ugh, the "relationship" between Kes and Neelix in these early episodes is creepy as all hell. Only abusive men are as jealous and posessive as Neelix is, and like him, they don't let the woman have male friends.
Lt. Yarko - Sun, May 19, 2013, 4:29pm (USA Central)
>> I don't blame the actors. I am not sure what the writers, directors, and producers were thinking with this show.
>> I can't understand why she got out of uniform.
The producers were clearly selling sex on this show (and the later Voyager) which was just dumb. But even the original series had sexy girls, you say? Yes. And that was dumb too. Clearly, this approach didn't help either series.
The warning is from Trek itself that we took as mere storytelling rather than mankind's own issues. Exploration is not merely about exploring new star and nebulas, it's about exploring the uncharted possibilities of existence as Q had pointed out at the end of TNG's All Good Things....
Who among us that lived in the 90's could deny that we were overly hopeful. That we held too much heart with our technological progress creating a world that may resemble Star Trek. Yet, the dream ended, futurist like Fukyama and others forgot one important truth, mankind is not merely just a species, a nation, or a group, we are individual people making choices that affected everyone around us.
We need a new way to create the vision, because unless we have a bloody World War based on ideologies as Gene predicted, we would not have peace. Don't forget that Gene's vision of mankind's future also included a decmiation of half the world population.
Lt. Yarko - Sun, May 19, 2013, 12:36pm (USA Central)
To the commenters speculating on Garak's contract with Quark. I think you are taking it too seriously. I don't believe Garak ever had any intention to kill Quark. Why would he risk getting into trouble with his Federation/Bajoran hosts? To do Quark a favour? He doesn't seem motivated by money. He probably just went through the assassination scenarios for fun and suggesting he could kill Quark at any moment, again for fun. Am I the only one who thought this obvious?
Great character insights into Paris in this episode. We learn, finally, that he wants to be a pilot. He enjoys flying spacecraft, in that he prefers to man the helm. He also wants to control the trajectory of spaceborne machines, to "fly" them as it were. Deep, previously unexplored stuff here.
Lt. Yarko - Sun, May 19, 2013, 10:08am (USA Central)
I hate the DNA change episodes too. But, what annoyed me most about this episode is that it was totally disconnected from the Xindi storyline. They start out going to the planet because their Xindi data informed them it was the last place the Xindi ship visited. But then there is no explanation given as to why the Xindi ship had been there. The entire episode is a throw-away unless somehow it plays into a future episode. I suspect it won't, however.
This episode had the potential to be one of Enterprise's very best episodes but was ruined by the morally bankrupt ending. Captain Archer's decision to return the cogenitor to the Vissians was the wrong decision plain and simple. He basically sent a sentient being back into slavery and the individual chose suicide over continued nonexistence as a slave with no name and no rights whatsover.
Let's not sugarcoat this decision with ridiculous talk about the moralities of alien civilizations. There are no alien civilizations that we know of at this point in time. This is a work of fiction. The only moralities we can look to in this situation our human moralities. And by those standards Archer's decision to return the cogenitor is morally wrong.
And please no more talk about the prime directive. As a 40 plus year fan of Star Trek I can say with certainty that the prime directive does not apply to warp capable civilizations. Captain Archer is within his rights to consider a request for asylum from the cogenitor as he himself points out to the Vissian Captain. His big mistake was not to grant asylum in this instance.
Trip was wrong to interfere in Vissian affairs without getting the permission of the Captain or the First Officer. But he was not ultimately responsible for the death of the cogenitor. The Captain was responsible. It was his decision. The buck stopped with him. He made a command decision as Captain and he has to live with the consequences. To throw all the blame on Trip was cowardly and reflected very poorly on his leadership ability.
Lt. Yarko - Sat, May 18, 2013, 11:11pm (USA Central)
It wasn't a great episode, but it had cute moments. And, yes, it would have worked better if there had been prior signs of sexual tension between A and T, but there is no way anyone can convince me that all the hetero males working around T'Pol aren't stressing a bit down in the crotchal region. I try not to notice her body as I watch the show, but it takes effort. I had to laugh when Malcolm mentioned her bum (in another ep) and Trip acted surprised like he's never noticed it. How Malcolm focused on her bum and didn't say anything about her monstrous breasts regardless of whether or not he is a bum man, I don't know. I was sure he was going to say "Have you ever noticed her B--BS!?" I'm really quite annoyed at T'Pol's outfits. They are terribly unprofessional. But anything, I guess, to please the horny teenage fans. (sigh)
There is no way this episode is as bad as Spock's Brain! Give me a break. That episode had NO redeeming qualities at all.
I think this entire episode was designed so that Kira could strut around in black leather and be a sexy bisexual dominatrix. It feels very...um..."fan-powered"
Where is Samantha Wildman? You'd think the writers would at least make some attempt to explain her absence. I know Voyager had lazy writers but this was just ridiculous. Why didn't they just kill her off if they were never going to show her again? Samantha's absence has gone from a funny continuity error to a genuinely disturbing show of neglect. All it would have taken is one line to explain why she's never there, and the writers couldn't even do that. Shameful.
I just watched the episode for the first time and it moved me very much. Maybe it was because it touched some things that are close to home for me, but I thought it was great.
I did think the exposition was a bit long. I think they were trying to spell out the reasons for the taboo and convince the audience of its validity because it was a weak point.
I don't agree with the fact that the last dialogue was bad however. But I don't really watch soap opera so I can't compare ;)
I watched this episode recently--having heard of its reputation but never having seen it. I posted this brief review on my Facebook page:
So while many other Star Trek fans were gearing up to watch "Star Trek Into Darkness" (which sounds like an awesome movie--can't wait to see it!), instead, I finished watching the notoriously bad episode "Spock's Brain." Three thoughts:
1) Yeah. It's bad. Really bad. Plays out like a *parody* of Star Trek rather than the genuine article. The plot doesn't stand up to close scrutiny--in fact, it doesn't stand up to any kind of scrutiny.
2) But still--REMOTE-CONTROLLED SPOCK?? Wow, that's almost as cool as Park and Rec's DJ Roomba!
3) Nevertheless, the episode is much much better than bad Voyager or Enterprise (which is unfortunately too large a percentage of those shows). It's over-the-top campy, and I think it was meant to be taken that way. My sense is that neither the director nor the actors (particularly Shatner) didn't buy the premise, so they just hammed it up. As bad as it is--it's one of those things that's so bad I actually rather enjoyed watching it.
I'd also add that I agree with the comment above by Jeffrey that the bridge scene is a highlight of the show--almost TNG-like in its problem-solving approach. A nice touch in an otherwise rather embarrassing episode.
You're welcome, I'm sure. Of course, this episode DOES have SOME problems-chief of which is the implausibility(not to mention disputable utility) of a cryongenic capsule drifting out into deep space,light years away from earth. Let's log that one as a convenience of/for the writers,shall we? Ditto trouble with the Romulans and/or the Neutral Zone-which provides a crisis to distract Captain Picard & crew from their out-of-time passengers,thereby causing anxieties and conflicts to develop between them, which would ordinarily have been given some level of priority. However, these flaws do not detract from the greater points of interest; i.e., the differing responses of three ordinary humans who wake up 370 years in the future. Usually, anachronism is played for the Cheap Laugh, especially on TEEVEE: "Happy Days and "That 70s Show" being the best (and worst) examples.There's little of that here and, in fact, one of the more sophisticated yucks comes from the comparison of the Enterprise to the "Q.E.II". Although it is observed by Data that the C&W singer has adjusted most easily to the situation, I must point out that his "adjustment" involves the further pickling of his liver via prodigious consumption of martinis;picking up where he left off,back in the 21st Century.
This episode appears to have been filmed at a higher frame rate. The onacreen motion is both smoother and quicker, which may be why it seems more energetic.
I'm in agreement with the consensus about the series finale. But I'm seeing many comments ragging on the first two seasons which I thought were great. I recently re-watched the series and the first two seasons were actually my favorite. Season 3, with the linear plot line, enthralled me the first time I watched it but I wasn't as impressed watching it a second time. I think this plot line for an entire season contributed to the shows failure. For the casual fan, who didn't watch the show every week, they would have been completely lost tuning in at mid-season. Star Trek was always about exploration and not all out war.
Season 4 went back to the regular format but it was kind of hit or miss. The hurriedly thrown together series finale was a major bummer to an otherwise solid show. It's too bad SyFy channel never picked up the show. I think it would have been far more successful on cable and available during the age of streaming. Due to their poor advertising, I had no idea that this show even existed when it aired on television.
I, too, liked this episode. But, I agree with Jammer that in the earlier episodes Blalock misinterpreted emotionlessness with being almost inaudible. I have to blame the producers for that as well. They should have corrected her. The other Vulcans spoke plenty loudly while still keeping the emotions low. It's easy to simply blame the actress, but a good actor still needs feedback from the producers. The ball was dropped by everyone on this one.
@Joe I: I believe most of the dislike of Enterprise comes from jadedness and unrealistic expectation. None of the ST productions have been perfect, yet most Trek fans generally rate the original episodes much higher than the rest of the series. I don't think this has anything to do with the original episodes being of any better quality. (All but a very few are really just about godawful.) For example, this review dings Blalock for not being dynamic enough, but nowhere in any of Jammer's reviews does he ding Nimoy for being too emotional when he shouldn't be. (Watch the Uhura singing scene in Charlie X to see Nimoy showing plenty of emotion, which bugs me every time I see it.) In my opinion, he is harder on Enterprise than he is on the original series, and I don't know why this is. The fact is that most Trek fans are biased toward the series they first watched and nothing else can possibly compare. Is Enterprise perfect? By no means. But it is still good Trek as far as I am concerned.
Aside: I have noticed a lot of complaint about this series from what I consider to be the extreme nerd end of the fan spectrum that there are terrible problems of continuity with the other series. Some people have claimed that this problem caused them to stop watching the show. Of course, people are free to dislike what they want to dislike, but I think that to not watch the show for this reason is silly. There have to be continuity problems! In the original series, Kirk wrote with a PEN for gods' sakes! This show would totally suck in a major way if Archer had to use pre-60s technology all the time. There is no way a Trek show made in the 2000s could possibly be successful if it truly tried to be a real prequel. It's too bad that people can't just enjoy the show for what it is - a loose interpretation of the earlier timeline. In this respect, I really like it. It's fun. To nitpick continuity seems really - Vulcan.
Eithnepath - Sat, May 18, 2013, 8:06am (USA Central)
Yes, have to admit I was amused by the drawing of the Crystalline Entity with people running from it with "scared" expressions... Hmm, perhaps this might mean something.
The the crossing showed so much promise but only left me with heart break at it's failure...
Just thinking about the oversized comm badges and collar pips cracks me up. They are just the perfect size to be both understated and hilarious. Any bigger and they would have been too slapsticky. One of the best visual gags in any Trek comedy episode.
bow-locks!
yeah, don't destroy the borg when you have a chance, let them live, the poor things, even if they will come back to bite your sorry ar...
if a vulcan was there, he would have seen how illogical it would have been not to take the chance: you spare their species, and how many other species will then be wiped away by the borg thanks to you in the next few centuries? and possibly yours too!
bumfingerers!
their "justification", the hope that hugh's individuality will change them, is one of the most stupid things you can come out with!
they constantly assimilate individuals, never been a problem, has it?
they could have tried, the borg would have survived because they are... well, the borg, and everyone's a winner.
but no.
there is a line between compassion and stupidity, and they crossed it.
by several kilo-parsecs ffs!
not a bad episode though.
at least is not filled with damn kids like too many episodes in season five.
Ugh, the "relationship" between Kes and Neelix in these early episodes is creepy as all hell. Only abusive men are as jealous and posessive as Neelix is, and like him, they don't let the woman have male friends.
Not a bad episode.
>> I don't blame the actors. I am not sure what the writers, directors, and producers were thinking with this show.
>> I can't understand why she got out of uniform.
The producers were clearly selling sex on this show (and the later Voyager) which was just dumb. But even the original series had sexy girls, you say? Yes. And that was dumb too. Clearly, this approach didn't help either series.
>> She looks like a 12 yo girl
Not.
The warning is from Trek itself that we took as mere storytelling rather than mankind's own issues. Exploration is not merely about exploring new star and nebulas, it's about exploring the uncharted possibilities of existence as Q had pointed out at the end of TNG's All Good Things....
Who among us that lived in the 90's could deny that we were overly hopeful. That we held too much heart with our technological progress creating a world that may resemble Star Trek. Yet, the dream ended, futurist like Fukyama and others forgot one important truth, mankind is not merely just a species, a nation, or a group, we are individual people making choices that affected everyone around us.
We need a new way to create the vision, because unless we have a bloody World War based on ideologies as Gene predicted, we would not have peace. Don't forget that Gene's vision of mankind's future also included a decmiation of half the world population.
Vulcan zombies! Sweet! The strobing lights were way too much tho. A little of that goes along way.
This is a different Chris to the one above.
To the commenters speculating on Garak's contract with Quark. I think you are taking it too seriously. I don't believe Garak ever had any intention to kill Quark. Why would he risk getting into trouble with his Federation/Bajoran hosts? To do Quark a favour? He doesn't seem motivated by money. He probably just went through the assassination scenarios for fun and suggesting he could kill Quark at any moment, again for fun. Am I the only one who thought this obvious?
Great character insights into Paris in this episode. We learn, finally, that he wants to be a pilot. He enjoys flying spacecraft, in that he prefers to man the helm. He also wants to control the trajectory of spaceborne machines, to "fly" them as it were. Deep, previously unexplored stuff here.
I hate the DNA change episodes too. But, what annoyed me most about this episode is that it was totally disconnected from the Xindi storyline. They start out going to the planet because their Xindi data informed them it was the last place the Xindi ship visited. But then there is no explanation given as to why the Xindi ship had been there. The entire episode is a throw-away unless somehow it plays into a future episode. I suspect it won't, however.
This episode had the potential to be one of Enterprise's very best episodes but was ruined by the morally bankrupt ending. Captain Archer's decision to return the cogenitor to the Vissians was the wrong decision plain and simple. He basically sent a sentient being back into slavery and the individual chose suicide over continued nonexistence as a slave with no name and no rights whatsover.
Let's not sugarcoat this decision with ridiculous talk about the moralities of alien civilizations. There are no alien civilizations that we know of at this point in time. This is a work of fiction. The only moralities we can look to in this situation our human moralities. And by those standards Archer's decision to return the cogenitor is morally wrong.
And please no more talk about the prime directive. As a 40 plus year fan of Star Trek I can say with certainty that the prime directive does not apply to warp capable civilizations. Captain Archer is within his rights to consider a request for asylum from the cogenitor as he himself points out to the Vissian Captain. His big mistake was not to grant asylum in this instance.
Trip was wrong to interfere in Vissian affairs without getting the permission of the Captain or the First Officer. But he was not ultimately responsible for the death of the cogenitor. The Captain was responsible. It was his decision. The buck stopped with him. He made a command decision as Captain and he has to live with the consequences. To throw all the blame on Trip was cowardly and reflected very poorly on his leadership ability.
It wasn't a great episode, but it had cute moments. And, yes, it would have worked better if there had been prior signs of sexual tension between A and T, but there is no way anyone can convince me that all the hetero males working around T'Pol aren't stressing a bit down in the crotchal region. I try not to notice her body as I watch the show, but it takes effort. I had to laugh when Malcolm mentioned her bum (in another ep) and Trip acted surprised like he's never noticed it. How Malcolm focused on her bum and didn't say anything about her monstrous breasts regardless of whether or not he is a bum man, I don't know. I was sure he was going to say "Have you ever noticed her B--BS!?" I'm really quite annoyed at T'Pol's outfits. They are terribly unprofessional. But anything, I guess, to please the horny teenage fans. (sigh)
There is no way this episode is as bad as Spock's Brain! Give me a break. That episode had NO redeeming qualities at all.
I think this entire episode was designed so that Kira could strut around in black leather and be a sexy bisexual dominatrix. It feels very...um..."fan-powered"
Where is Samantha Wildman? You'd think the writers would at least make some attempt to explain her absence. I know Voyager had lazy writers but this was just ridiculous. Why didn't they just kill her off if they were never going to show her again? Samantha's absence has gone from a funny continuity error to a genuinely disturbing show of neglect. All it would have taken is one line to explain why she's never there, and the writers couldn't even do that. Shameful.
I just watched the episode for the first time and it moved me very much. Maybe it was because it touched some things that are close to home for me, but I thought it was great.
I did think the exposition was a bit long. I think they were trying to spell out the reasons for the taboo and convince the audience of its validity because it was a weak point.
I don't agree with the fact that the last dialogue was bad however. But I don't really watch soap opera so I can't compare ;)
I watched this episode recently--having heard of its reputation but never having seen it. I posted this brief review on my Facebook page:
So while many other Star Trek fans were gearing up to watch "Star Trek Into Darkness" (which sounds like an awesome movie--can't wait to see it!), instead, I finished watching the notoriously bad episode "Spock's Brain." Three thoughts:
1) Yeah. It's bad. Really bad. Plays out like a *parody* of Star Trek rather than the genuine article. The plot doesn't stand up to close scrutiny--in fact, it doesn't stand up to any kind of scrutiny.
2) But still--REMOTE-CONTROLLED SPOCK?? Wow, that's almost as cool as Park and Rec's DJ Roomba!
3) Nevertheless, the episode is much much better than bad Voyager or Enterprise (which is unfortunately too large a percentage of those shows). It's over-the-top campy, and I think it was meant to be taken that way. My sense is that neither the director nor the actors (particularly Shatner) didn't buy the premise, so they just hammed it up. As bad as it is--it's one of those things that's so bad I actually rather enjoyed watching it.
I'd also add that I agree with the comment above by Jeffrey that the bridge scene is a highlight of the show--almost TNG-like in its problem-solving approach. A nice touch in an otherwise rather embarrassing episode.
You're welcome, I'm sure. Of course, this episode DOES have SOME problems-chief of which is the implausibility(not to mention disputable utility) of a cryongenic capsule drifting out into deep space,light years away from earth. Let's log that one as a convenience of/for the writers,shall we? Ditto trouble with the Romulans and/or the Neutral Zone-which provides a crisis to distract Captain Picard & crew from their out-of-time passengers,thereby causing anxieties and conflicts to develop between them, which would ordinarily have been given some level of priority. However, these flaws do not detract from the greater points of interest; i.e., the differing responses of three ordinary humans who wake up 370 years in the future. Usually, anachronism is played for the Cheap Laugh, especially on TEEVEE: "Happy Days and "That 70s Show" being the best (and worst) examples.There's little of that here and, in fact, one of the more sophisticated yucks comes from the comparison of the Enterprise to the "Q.E.II". Although it is observed by Data that the C&W singer has adjusted most easily to the situation, I must point out that his "adjustment" involves the further pickling of his liver via prodigious consumption of martinis;picking up where he left off,back in the 21st Century.
This episode appears to have been filmed at a higher frame rate. The onacreen motion is both smoother and quicker, which may be why it seems more energetic.
Oh no, where is Michael? The reviews aren't the same without him. :(
I'm in agreement with the consensus about the series finale. But I'm seeing many comments ragging on the first two seasons which I thought were great. I recently re-watched the series and the first two seasons were actually my favorite. Season 3, with the linear plot line, enthralled me the first time I watched it but I wasn't as impressed watching it a second time. I think this plot line for an entire season contributed to the shows failure. For the casual fan, who didn't watch the show every week, they would have been completely lost tuning in at mid-season. Star Trek was always about exploration and not all out war.
Season 4 went back to the regular format but it was kind of hit or miss. The hurriedly thrown together series finale was a major bummer to an otherwise solid show. It's too bad SyFy channel never picked up the show. I think it would have been far more successful on cable and available during the age of streaming. Due to their poor advertising, I had no idea that this show even existed when it aired on television.
It was nice of the Agrathi to give Miles Bill Maher as a cellmate.
An all-around superb episode that is engrossing for the entire 45 minutes.
I, too, liked this episode. But, I agree with Jammer that in the earlier episodes Blalock misinterpreted emotionlessness with being almost inaudible. I have to blame the producers for that as well. They should have corrected her. The other Vulcans spoke plenty loudly while still keeping the emotions low. It's easy to simply blame the actress, but a good actor still needs feedback from the producers. The ball was dropped by everyone on this one.
@Joe I: I believe most of the dislike of Enterprise comes from jadedness and unrealistic expectation. None of the ST productions have been perfect, yet most Trek fans generally rate the original episodes much higher than the rest of the series. I don't think this has anything to do with the original episodes being of any better quality. (All but a very few are really just about godawful.) For example, this review dings Blalock for not being dynamic enough, but nowhere in any of Jammer's reviews does he ding Nimoy for being too emotional when he shouldn't be. (Watch the Uhura singing scene in Charlie X to see Nimoy showing plenty of emotion, which bugs me every time I see it.) In my opinion, he is harder on Enterprise than he is on the original series, and I don't know why this is. The fact is that most Trek fans are biased toward the series they first watched and nothing else can possibly compare. Is Enterprise perfect? By no means. But it is still good Trek as far as I am concerned.
Aside: I have noticed a lot of complaint about this series from what I consider to be the extreme nerd end of the fan spectrum that there are terrible problems of continuity with the other series. Some people have claimed that this problem caused them to stop watching the show. Of course, people are free to dislike what they want to dislike, but I think that to not watch the show for this reason is silly. There have to be continuity problems! In the original series, Kirk wrote with a PEN for gods' sakes! This show would totally suck in a major way if Archer had to use pre-60s technology all the time. There is no way a Trek show made in the 2000s could possibly be successful if it truly tried to be a real prequel. It's too bad that people can't just enjoy the show for what it is - a loose interpretation of the earlier timeline. In this respect, I really like it. It's fun. To nitpick continuity seems really - Vulcan.
"Exploitation begins at home", just ask any feminist.
The review is too harsh. There were one or two good lines. Anyway, it's a farce, so there's no point in nitpicking--within reason.
The final act and wormhole were tedious, but meh. It wasn't a boring episode. 3 star entertainment.
Great ep. Shame they didn't have more political courage and made the allegory a bit more transparent--isreal/palistine.