10 Star Trek Episodes That Just Didn't Work
3. Spock's Brain - TOS
This is perhaps one of the most infamously bad episodes of Star Trek. William Shatner recalled in his 2008 autobiography that it was a response to the show's slashed budget when it returned for the third season. Director Marc Daniels was also extremely frustrated with the lack of budget on this episode, declining to return to the series again, though he did write an Animated Series episode One Of Our Planets Is Missing.
The plot is thin. Spock's brain is stolen, but he doesn't die. McCoy gets a knowledge dump in his mind and reconnects the brain, while Spock talks him through it.
It should have been played for comedy, as the situation is utterly ridiculous. It wasn't the only time that Star Trek had dealt with the theft of organs, as Neelix would have his lungs stolen in The Phage. But stealing the Vulcan's brain was pushing it a little far, even by the standards of the sixties. As it was the opening episode of the third season of The Original Series, it was also something of a be careful what you wish for messages to the fans who had saved Star Trek with a letter-writing campaign.