Rating: 
Summary: If the writers only had a brain....
Review: "Spock's Brain" focuses too much on special effects and not on the story...it's very weak. See the premiere of the "rear projection" viewscreen."Is There In Truth..." A great I.D.I.C. story about a non-corporeal lifeform that is so dazzling, no one can look at it without going insane!
Rating: 
Summary: In defense of Paramount
Review: Although, not the best that came out of the TOS series, they do hold to the Star Trek anthem. There is a message / morale in each of these episodes. As for only having 2 episodes per CD....well if you really want a bargin wait until they come out in the blue laser disk. Otherwise, suck it up. They have to make money somehow.
Rating:
Summary: Spock's Brain a Dream? You Decide
Review: First and foremost, I want to say that I love the third season of Star Trek. Almost as much as the first and certainly more than the second. The stifling morality plays, Prime Directive stories, Earth history parallels, and parables for contemporary political problems of Season 2 were dropped, and we were back to unabashed science fiction and fantasy elements. Planets doomed to destruction. A world with poisonous atmosphere. A disease-free society with severe overpopulation. Another planet ravaged by race hatred because one race is the mirror image of the other. Time travel. Non-corporeal alien life forms that can commandeer a woman's body, that feed on violent emotion, or that induce madness at their sight. Android love albeit fleeting. A hollow asteroid-spaceship. A means of speedier existence in another plane of time. Two universes with an interdimensional barrier. Alien technology enabling a body-to-body soul transfer. Abraham Lincoln reincarnated. Fantastic stuff. I fail to see why the third season is so reviled. Its imagination-stretching capacity is the essence of what I feel science fiction should be. And contrary to allegations, I see very little illogical characterization in the third season. Why is it unlike Scotty to fall in love? Why couldn't McCoy fall in love as well, particularly when he has not long to live? Why cannot Spock, between Pon-Farrs, be platonically attracted to a highly cultured female of a cloud city? Is Kirk really more exaggerated by William Shatner in Season 3 than in Seasons 1 and 2? His command and his ship are under seige just as often in Season 3- if not more so. This is the season wherein he's brought to his knees by telepaths who delight in embarrassing him, wherein enemy Klingons have seized control of his ship, wherein he must act insane, and wherein he loses his memory, is tortured by robed aliens, falls in love involuntarily (for a change) due to an aphrodesiac, nearly is lost in space, and finds himself in a woman's body. Characterization never had to be so adaptable as in the third season, and the cast does an admirable job. All this said, one can only admit "Spock's Brain" to be a major misfire. Not one technical aspect to the story was given due consideration. But the solution seems to be thus. It is a dream. After Kara renders everyone unconscious on the Enterprise, someone dreams the remainder of the episode. Who? Is it Kirk? Or Spock? It could be anyone. But at least the dream scenario accommodates the absurdity of the episode, and we can ponder on this. When the episode ends, there is a cut from Spock prattling about the society on the glacial planet to the Enterprise in space with no planet in sight. Odd, to say the least. Maybe Kirk and company were never on the planet? Maybe the business with Spock's brain was all just a dream?
Rating:
Summary: i like Spock's Brain
Review: I like Spock's Brain. i dont care what others say! As for 2 shows on the DVD... thats almost 2 hours. At best you could put 4 shows ... maybe with out losing image quality. You can't put 8 hours without losing image quality. I also think the price is fair for 2 shows. the image quality could have been a little better, that's why I gave it a 3 star rating. but the image quality is not to bad.
Rating:
Summary: Yummy pipin'-hot Trek-cheese!
Review: If ever there was a choice slice from the cheese wheel that was the third season of 'Star Trek', the episode 'Spock's Brain' is it! Along with the Space Hippie eppie 'The Way To Eden', this particular (mis)adventure to recover our beloved half-Vulcan's grey matter is proof positive that even during its worst moments, classic 'Trek could still be pretty freakin' entertaining. McCoy's exaggerated expressions of uncertainty and trepidation whilst attempting the brain-restoration surgery is worth at least a rental to see!
Then of course there's 'Is There In Truth No Beauty?', featuring Mr. Spock goin' nutso after gazing on the hideously ugly Medusan Ambassador Kollos without the proper eye protection (you should've listened to the shop teacher, Spock)! It just figures, don't it? You just get your brain re-installed, and alla sudden you do something to get it thrown out of whack. Fortunately, the green-blooded logician makes a full recovery. Another testament to Spock's reputation as the Timex of 'Star Trek': he takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!
'... No Beauty?' also features actress Diana Muldaur's second guest appearance in Gene Roddenberry's little 23rd-century epic. She's one of only a handful of 'Trek thespian alums to play at least three different characters in this realm of cult TV sci-fi. Aside from this outing, there was her previous appearance as Dr. Ann Mulhall in 'Return to Tomorrow', and her subsequent one-year stint as Dr. Crusher's replacement aboard the NextGen Enterprise. Talk about rackin' up the frequent-flier miles!
'Late
Rating:
Summary: Leonard Nimoy and the emotional extremes of Mr. Spock
Review: Leonard Nimoy gets to play great both emotional extremes in the pair of third season episodes collected on Volume 31 of the Star Trek DVD series (obviously, he should be on the cover of this one). You have to feel a little sorry for the actor when you watch "Spock's Brain." Not only did he spend three years playing the emotionless Vulcan, in this episode he has to play Spock without a brain. That is because a woman beams onto the Enterprise, steals it, and disappears. When the Enterprise catches up with her on Sigma Draconis VI, she can barely hold an intelligent conversation with Kirk. It seems the planet used to have an advanced technology until a new ice age. Now the women live underground in technological comfort while the men have remained on the surface and started regressing to primitive status. Kara, the woman who performed the surgery, could only do so because of the "Teacher," a machine that gave her the necessary knowledge, albeit temporarily. When she refuses to put the brain back (they need it to run their city computer), McCoy volunteers. I must admit that one of my favorite scenes with DeForest Kelley is when he looks at the other with fire in his eyes and exclaims, "A child could do it!" Yes, "Spock's Brain" is one of the more bizarre plots they came up with for the show's inconsistent third season and the sight of McCoy guiding around Spock's brainless body by remote control is pretty laughable, but you have to have some respect for the earnestness of the cast. Besides, there is something to be said for McCoy and Spock bickering DURING the brain surgery. Nimoy gets considerably more opportunity to act in "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" The Enterprise is carrying Kollos, the Medusan ambassador, back to his home planet. Although formless creatures, the Medusans are so hideous that looking at them drives humans mad (and apparently they do not mind being called by the name of the creature from Greek mythology). Kollos is able to do mind melds with the telepathic but blind Dr. Miranda Jones (Diana Muldaur in her second appearance on the show; she played Dr. Ann Mulhall in "Return to Tomorrow"). Unfortunately, Larry Marvick, a starship designer along for the ride, is jealous of Miranda's relationship with Kollos and tries to kill the Medusan. Of course, he goes insane when he sees Kollos and runs off to Engineering where he puts the Enterprise into high warp. By the time Scotty gets things back to normal the ship has traveled way beyond the known galaxy. To get them back home, Kirk has Spock do a mind meld with Kollos since Miranda cannot see to pilot the ship. Everything works fine as Kollos shares Spock's body, but then "they" forget to put on the protective glasses when the merge ends. Now Kirk needs Miranda to put aside her jealousy at the intimacy Spock has shared with Kollos and save the Vulcan's sanity. Reflecting on this episode I am struck by how love triangles on Star Trek were a lot more effective when they did not involve Kirk. Muldar's performance is at the heart of this episode and it is arguably the finest work by an actress in the show's entire run. Her scenes with Shatner are nothing compared to her clashes with Spock; I especially like the look on Kirk's face when Spock tells Miranda that while she can do almost anything a sighted person can do, flying a starship is not one of them. This is a very good Star Trek episode that more than makes up for the bit with Spock's brain on the first one.
Rating:
Summary: Leonard Nimoy and the emotional extremes of Mr. Spock
Review: Leonard Nimoy gets to play great both emotional extremes in the pair of third season episodes collected on Volume 31 of the Star Trek DVD series (obviously, he should be on the cover of this one). You have to feel a little sorry for the actor when you watch "Spock's Brain." Not only did he spend three years playing the emotionless Vulcan, in this episode he has to play Spock without a brain. That is because a woman beams onto the Enterprise, steals it, and disappears. When the Enterprise catches up with her on Sigma Draconis VI, she can barely hold an intelligent conversation with Kirk. It seems the planet used to have an advanced technology until a new ice age. Now the women live underground in technological comfort while the men have remained on the surface and started regressing to primitive status. Kara, the woman who performed the surgery, could only do so because of the "Teacher," a machine that gave her the necessary knowledge, albeit temporarily. When she refuses to put the brain back (they need it to run their city computer), McCoy volunteers. I must admit that one of my favorite scenes with DeForest Kelley is when he looks at the other with fire in his eyes and exclaims, "A child could do it!" Yes, "Spock's Brain" is one of the more bizarre plots they came up with for the show's inconsistent third season and the sight of McCoy guiding around Spock's brainless body by remote control is pretty laughable, but you have to have some respect for the earnestness of the cast. Besides, there is something to be said for McCoy and Spock bickering DURING the brain surgery. Nimoy gets considerably more opportunity to act in "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" The Enterprise is carrying Kollos, the Medusan ambassador, back to his home planet. Although formless creatures, the Medusans are so hideous that looking at them drives humans mad (and apparently they do not mind being called by the name of the creature from Greek mythology). Kollos is able to do mind melds with the telepathic but blind Dr. Miranda Jones (Diana Muldaur in her second appearance on the show; she played Dr. Ann Mulhall in "Return to Tomorrow"). Unfortunately, Larry Marvick, a starship designer along for the ride, is jealous of Miranda's relationship with Kollos and tries to kill the Medusan. Of course, he goes insane when he sees Kollos and runs off to Engineering where he puts the Enterprise into high warp. By the time Scotty gets things back to normal the ship has traveled way beyond the known galaxy. To get them back home, Kirk has Spock do a mind meld with Kollos since Miranda cannot see to pilot the ship. Everything works fine as Kollos shares Spock's body, but then "they" forget to put on the protective glasses when the merge ends. Now Kirk needs Miranda to put aside her jealousy at the intimacy Spock has shared with Kollos and save the Vulcan's sanity. Reflecting on this episode I am struck by how love triangles on Star Trek were a lot more effective when they did not involve Kirk. Muldar's performance is at the heart of this episode and it is arguably the finest work by an actress in the show's entire run. Her scenes with Shatner are nothing compared to her clashes with Spock; I especially like the look on Kirk's face when Spock tells Miranda that while she can do almost anything a sighted person can do, flying a starship is not one of them. This is a very good Star Trek episode that more than makes up for the bit with Spock's brain on the first one.
Rating: 
Summary: Spock's Brain is not good, Beauty is good!
Review: Lots of Star Trek Original DVDs to buy-but be forewarned! Spock's Brain is a dud--even though it has a classic guest star question--"Brain, brain, what is brain?" Answer: It is what you stole from Spock after stunning the Enterpise crew!!!! Speaking of Spock, he turns into a remote control TV and manages to guide Dr McCoy through Brain Surgery--and Spock has no brain!!!!!! This episode insults Spock's character. As Trekkies say, "Bad Star Trek is still pretty good." Maybe--it is, at least, slightly campy. Luckily, you have another episode on the DVD, "Beauty" is a good examination of prejudice based on looks-- a subject that is still taboo in our society. If you are one of the few Dr. Pulaski (Next Gen, season 2) fans, she does a good acting job in this episode. The Medusa is an interesting character. My other gripe is that Star Trek Originals do NOT give any extras-commentary from an actor would help these DVDs sell. You get 2 episodes and that is all!
Rating:
Summary: Spock's Brain is not good, Beauty is good!
Review: Lots of Star Trek Original DVDs to buy-but be forewarned! Spock's Brain is a dud--even though it has a classic guest star question--"Brain, brain, what is brain?" Answer: It is what you stole from Spock after stunning the Enterpise crew!!!! Speaking of Spock, he turns into a remote control TV and manages to guide Dr McCoy through Brain Surgery--and Spock has no brain!!!!!! This episode insults Spock's character. As Trekkies say, "Bad Star Trek is still pretty good." Maybe--it is, at least, slightly campy. Luckily, you have another episode on the DVD, "Beauty" is a good examination of prejudice based on looks-- a subject that is still taboo in our society. If you are one of the few Dr. Pulaski (Next Gen, season 2) fans, she does a good acting job in this episode. The Medusa is an interesting character. My other gripe is that Star Trek Originals do NOT give any extras-commentary from an actor would help these DVDs sell. You get 2 episodes and that is all!
Rating:
Summary: Brain and Brain, What is Brain?
Review: Maybe you'll all think I'm an idiot, but I loved this episode. For 35 years, I would recall one of my favorite phrases coined for my own amusement. After all, Star Trek is supposed to be amusing! I will admit it's hard to think what the moral to this story would be, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment. Also, I never get tired of hearing, "I never should have re-connected his vocal chords" (or was it mouth?) Guess it takes all kinds of Trekkers, or is it Trekkies? I can't keep up. ;D
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