CBS have released an image from "Spocks Brain" Remastered. It is the new ‘ion ship’
Original
CBS Description:
In the episode "Spock’s Brain" the ion propulsion spacecraft spotted by the Enterprise in 2268 certainly impressed Scotty with its design and technology. The comparison between the original and the remastered version provides two totally different looks, with styles defined more by the contemporary technology. The original (bottom photo) is a standard rocket-shaped configuration. At the time, "spaceships" tended to fall into a one of two classic looks, the other being the the flying saucer.The new, remastered version (top photo) of the ion propulsion craft is smaller and more utilitarian, reflecting its single-person occupancy, and it ditches the unnecessary missile/rocket configuration. The design also reflects more modern-day ion propulsion prototypes.
UPDATE: Aint it Cool News has a new shot of the the beam down with a new glacier
(click image for more)
No Video Yet: We are told that there has been a delay on the video preview, will put that up as soon as available.
VOTE in the new Spock’s Brain Poll…just how bad is it?
Image courtesy of CBS and Startrek.com
looks great!
That’s a great change. God, this episode could use some serious SFX face-lifting, and hopefully that can lift it from mediocre to decent. Although the kind of ridiculous plot will always curse it to the low tier of Trek. At least there’s plenty of room for improvement.
Brains, brains and more brains. Could be some good old fashioned fun.;) Him I still think someone was in the sonic shower and dreamed this ST tale.;)
Hmmm. I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand its a cool looking little ship. On the other, I’m a big fan of retro-classic pointy rocket designs. I’ll reserve judgement until I can actually see the thing in context.
Looks good, but I doubt anything can save this episode. Having said that, it was definately imaginative and daring, and must get credit for that.
What a welcomed change. This looks much better than that crapy rocket. The new design is not retro, but looks very cool and more futuristic.
Cool change.
I hope they do some rotoscoping on the planet surfaces and maybe make some of the bridge displays more interactive.
How can they redo “Spock’s Brain” and not “The Ultimate Computer”???
I don’t see it listed as one of the episodes being enhanced.
It would be great to see the war games with the other starships.
Well its uhhh nice…its looks like a boob with rockets now.
…Too bad they cant re-master the hammy script . To me this episode was proof enough Rick Berman was Fred Friedberger’s illegitimate love child.
Nothing can “fix” this episode but it’s worth seeing for camp value and a few production novelties such as the only time moving images were rear-projected on the main viewscreen for the actors to interact with.
It’s the ion-powered “Brain Container!”
A welcome improvement. It kind of reminds me of the ship from “ET”.
John
Looks very cool. Much better than the ‘rocket’ style ship.
All the computing technology in the world will not be enough to fix this episode. I say, Katy bar the door, pull out all the stops, throw stuff in from the movies and even other TV shows. Maybe splice in some FX from UFO or Buck Rogers. Have a dancing bear. Or better yet, some dancing girls. Anything to distract from the story.
I think that about 14 minutes after they shot the original episode, they all looked at each other and said “What were we thinking?”
In my universe, “Spock’s Brain” is definitely in the “so bad its good” category, as compared to something like “The Alternative Factor”, which is just so bad, its bad. At least “Spock’s Brain” is fun, goofy, colorful, completely implausible, and just plain entertaining. Especially the miniskirts and go-go boots.
(and somebody needs to plunder youtube for the terrific parody of “Spock’s Brain” that turned up in an episode of “The Wonder Years” – Fred Savage had Shatner’s “hit with an invisible ray like a punch in the stomach” moves down pat)
Personally I don’t feel it needed redesigning, even if the original was a cliché of rocket ships. Still, the new design is quite good too.
This looks very cool. However, as others have said, the plot is hopeless.
The Star Trek Voyager first season episode “Phage” did a MUCH better job with a similar subject matter, IMO.
I hope CBS-D changes the display of the Sigma Driconus solar system on the bridge view screen. They probably won’t though considering it was a projected image with a lot of interaction and would invole a lot of rotoscoping.
Contemporary design. This is just the worst, man. CBS just proved they have nop desire to fit the aesthetic of TOS, they just want to revise it to look more in line with the modern series. Shame on you, CBS.
#8-Mike T.:
If CBS-D remastered all the good and effects heavy episodes now, what would be left for them to do in the second batch?
#19-Mark 2000:
I can guarantee you that if Gene Rodenberry were still alive, he would approve of such a change. Star Trek is a liberal franchise that is all about new ideals. And from reading all of your past and present threads, you seem to be incredibly conservative when it comes to Star Trek.
P.S. This is coming from a conservative person!
I remember seeing this episode around the age of 8 or ten with my brother (around 73 or 74ish I’d guess). We thought it was way cool. Then as an adult, I saw it again and thought “Oh my” and not in the good way like in Generations when Kirk is getting his first glimpse of a glorious afterlife, but no, an “Oh my” as in jeesh this is really stupid. But of course I still have a fondness for it, and still enjoy watching it. But, um, yeah it’s not the greatest Trek…
^23
I dunno man… I didn’t fully appreciate it until adulthood (well, Frat Boy Hood) when hundreds of Draconians were on campus, drunk and lookin’ to party:
“Grain and grain, what is grain!”
Olde Timey Frat Boie
#9 I think Roddenberry would have approved a space boob.
I always wondered about this episode. It’s the episode that never managed to suspend my disbelief. It’s a zombie episode: it needs brains.
GAH!!!! What did they do to my PRECIOUS?!!!!! My precious ion ship has been ruined!!!!!
Seriously, I liked the other design better. It just needed some slight modification!
Damn.
Now I know how some of you felt when the Tholian ships were changed.
GAH!!!! What did they do to my PRECIOUS?!!!!! My precious ion ship has been ruined!!!!! This DOES look like a big flying BOOBIE!!!!
Seriously, I liked the other design better. It just needed some slight modification!
Damn.
Now I know how some of you felt when the Tholian ships were changed.
As much as I smile watching this one, annoyingly its the one older folks think of when they say all sci-fi is infantile.
Just like Adam West’s Batman ruined comics for the next 30 years.
However those people are dying off. And Adam is known as the mayor on Family Guy.
So there!
Worst episode ever!
No amount of FX changes will help the plot.
It was a parody of the outlandish space fantasy tropes the series had come to rely on. There’s an interview on the internets somewhere (youtube?), where David Gerrold talks about it. I can never decide if it works or not, but it proves that TOS has a sense of humor, fun and self awareness (as opposed to self-consciousness) that the later series lost sight of.
Let’s not dis’ on Adam West, now. :)
The 60s Batman show got more young people involved in reading comics than ever before… which in turn, gave rise to comics rebirth in the 80s and 90s.
so there.
:)
CBS-D raped my ION SHIP!!! :-(
All I wanted was some glowing panels on the wings… that’s about all it needed.
Woe be unto CBS-D!
However, they can make it up to me if they just add some CGI mountains to the planetscape and get rid of that cyclorama…or maybe make the planet another ringed plane…I dunno. But I do not approve of what they did to my precious…
I agree…the 60s Batman was good in it’s own warped way. ;-)
I am still wond’rin why they didn’t just put frickking glowing panels on my ion ship! Damn…
Oh…and James Blish’s novelization of Spock’s Brain (based on the script) describes the ship as a “needle thin splinter of glow”. That flyin’ TIT sure as hell is not “needle thin”…nor could it be described as a “splinter”.
But, the original ship sure came closer to that description! Damn….I was expecting something cool.
Thanks again for raping my ion ship, CBS-D! :-(
I agree…the 60s Batman was good in it’s own warped way. ;-)
I am still wond’rin why they didn’t just put frickking glowing panels on my ion ship! Or MAYBE add a cockpit bubble for Kara. Damn…
Oh…and James Blish’s novelization of Spock’s Brain (based on the script) describes the ship as a “needle thin splinter of glow”. That flyin’ TIT sure as hell is not “needle thin”…nor could it be described as a “splinter”.
But, the original ship sure came closer to that description! Damn….I was expecting something cool.
Thanks again for raping my ion ship, CBS-D! :-(
# 8 – Mike T and everyone here. I read your comment on where you say that the Ultimate Computer won’t be enhanced. Where is this list? Could you please link me to it so I can refer to it myself?
Thank you very much!
Have a nice weekend!
The original ion ship didn’t even look like an ion ship!
The new one is much, much, much, much better!!!
The original Ion Ship looked like a leftover prop from the Flash Gordon serials. The new one looks like it went off course from Babylon 5.
35…
The current Remastered schedule only goes to September, and doesn’t include such effects-heavy episodes as Ultimate Computer, Galileo 7, and The Enterprise Incident. They’ll probably be on the next list, for the second “season” of Remastered TOS.
If the DVD sets will follow TOS Season order, there are still a lot of Season 1 episodes yet to be Remastered by October or November to meet the Chirstmas due date. Charlie X, Conscience of the King, Court Martial, Galileo 7, This Side of Paradise, Operation Annhilate…
Re 34:
Oh, sure. When the ship was a flying penis it was fine. Now it’s a flying tit, though — that’s just unacceptable!
I like the new mammary just fine, thank you. It provides a much better visual sense of why Scotty would be so impressed with the ship in the first place.
It’s a brain bucket, a very nicely rendered one.
re post 38: There’s nothing that says that CBS D has a separate team solely focused on Season One episodes right now working to that Christmas deadline.
As much as “The Doomsday Machine” was a litmus test for CBS-D to shine up a Star Trek jewel, “Spock’s Brain” will be the same for turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse.
Will new FX enhance a practically unwatchable episode? My thought is most likely not, but it”l be fun to see what they toss out out there.
My hat’s off to them for their courage in even attempting this one. Not sure I’d have the nerve to do it myself.
Cool new design for the ship. And the story isn’t that bad, written by Gene Coon for cryin’ out loud. Now it’s execution….well…..it’s still a hoot to watch. And Adam West was genius….hell that whole show was genius. Those who took it seriously just wasn’t in on the joke. West was in on it, big time, and he was hilarious.
New Ion Ship = Why not?
Spock’s Brain = Harmless entertainment
60s Batman = Great
Star Trek XI = Oh, never mind :)
Come on guys… it is an ion-powered testicle. That’s why Jimmy’s line conveyed the sense of being impressed.
It looks like Battle Beyond the Stars!
SHAD!
#21: I don’t think it’s conservative to want consistency within a show (Ships look the same style as interiors) and I also don’t find it conservative to LIKE the 60s SciFi aesthetic. It’s a great look. A unique look. Why do we need to tear all the old stuff down and homogenize it to modern tastes? That seems silly. Someone designed that ship and if they wanted to make it more detailed and interesting within the confines of the original I would have patted them on the back.
BTW to anyone with thinks this episode is the worst ever, its still more watchable than anything in Voyager or Enterprise or the last 4 movies.
I like the new ship, but it seems somehow wrong that a hot alien with gogo boots and a mini skirt is not longer traveling in something that looks phallic.
#46Mark 2000
It’s not a “unique” look..it was Flash Gordon and that look went away in the 50’s.
And as to the more “watchable”….. No, I disagree, but I will properly call my statement an opinion.
THEEtrekmaster… what’s with your posts?
THEEtrekmaster… what’s with your posts?
It’s a shame I didn’t wait long enough to put this episode and “And the Children Shall Lead” onto the same DVD.