Spock's Brain
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 20 September 1968
- ON
- NBC
- STARDATE
- 5431.4
- DIRECTED BY
- Marc Daniels
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 61
WRITTEN BYWritten by Lee Cronin
Lee Cronin was a pseudonym used by Gene L. Coon, who had left the production staff.
A mysterious woman beams aboard, knocks out the crew and steals Spock's brain. With his body failing, Kirk has barely a day to track her down and get it back.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
An alien woman beams aboard the Enterprise, renders the crew unconscious and leaves with Spock's brain, surgically removed. McCoy keeps the body alive, but Kirk has only about a day to restore it. The trail leads to Sigma Draconis VI, an ice-age world where primitive men roam the frozen surface while women live in an advanced complex below. Their leader Kara took the brain to act as the Controller that runs their underground home, though the women barely understand their own technology. Their knowledge comes from the Teacher, a machine that grants learning for a few hours at a time. McCoy uses it to gain the skill to replace the brain, but the knowledge fades during the operation, and the partly restored Spock talks him through the rest. Kirk tells Kara her people must now learn to live together on the surface, and a revived Spock lectures his rescuers at length, to McCoy's dismay.
- 01The third season opener, and the first episode after NBC moved Star Trek to a late Friday night slot.
- 02Leonard Nimoy later admitted he was embarrassed throughout the shoot.
- 03William Shatner described the plot as a tribute to the NBC executives who had cut the show's budget.