Many years ago I was at a Trek convention and DeForest Kelly was speaking. He said his favorite episode was "The City on the Edge of Forever". I asked for his worst episode. He said "My worst is 'What Are Little Girls Made of?' Why? Because I wasn't in that one".

This episode was written by Robert Bloch, who's best known for writing the novel, "Psycho", which was adapted as a film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Ruk the robot was played by Ted Cassidy, who's best known as Lurch, the zombie butler on the sitcom "The Addams Family".

Scottie's job is to tell Kirk that whatever he's asking for is impossible; then to get it done in the nick of time. He's VERY good at this!!

I still don't know what little girls are made of, but I very much appreciate whatever it took to make Andrea. Her loss is the real tragedy of this episode.

Scott is in charge of engineering, the entire operations division (all red shirts) and is the ship's second officer. He's in charge when Kirk and Spock are both gone. Since his post is not on the bridge, when Kirk and Spock both leave, usually a bridge officer takes "the conn," meaning they're in command until relieved, usually by Scotty. Scotty also often is the chief supervisor and technician of the ship's transporter, because it's the most critical and complex piece of equipment on the ship, other than the engines.

“They’re wearing red shirts. Should I be worried?” Yes. Yes, you should. 😉

Ted Cassidy also provided the voice of Balok’s puppet in The Corbomite Maneuver, and the Gorn captain in Arena. And Sherry Jackson is one of the most, if not the most beautiful woman to appear in Star Trek. Just the definition of beauty.

What's that? Actor Ted Cassidy, who played Lurch on the Adams Family TV show. He also did the narrator in the beginning credits of the Incredible Hulk TV show.

WHAT IS THAT! That is the actor, Ted Cassidy. His best-known role is of Lurch in the '60's TV series 'The Addams Family'. He was usually behind lots of make-up or a complete costume playing aliens or creatures like Bigfoot.

Ruk is played by Ted Cassidy, the same actor who played Lurch in the original "The Addams Family." He later went on to do the voice over in the intro for "The Incredible Hulk" in the 1970's

This human / machine question is explored a lot more in Trek going forward. And the cool thing is that it doesn't always come up with the same conclusions.

6:26 That is a type 1 phaser. It's the smaller and more portable Starfleet phaser. The type 2 phaser mainly seen so far is just the type 1 phaser mounted on top of a larger unit with a battery pack that forms a pistol grip. It's an extremely well thought-out modular design unlike anything ever seen in a sci-fi show at the time.

Ted Cassidy was a fine actor with a tremendous basso profundo voice which could inspire fear--or could be very warm. He will always be known as Lurch the butler in the television series based on Charles Addams' strange little cartoons for the New Yorker. He had a left-field hit with "Wesley", which is as far away from horror as you can get. It's on KZfaq. His son, who looks like him, helps keep his memory alive.

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet but the actress that plays nurse Christine Chapel is Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the wife of the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry. She is known as the First Lady of Star Trek. She was in the pilot The Cage as Number One, and later recast as nurse Chapel. Majel also played Lwaxana Troi's mother in The Next Generation. She is also popularly known as The Computer Voice as she voiced nearly all the computers in Star Trek! From this original series through to the 2009 Star Trek movie (recording her final performance just two weeks before she passed). There has been a few surprises since as her voice was again heard in an episode in Picard season 3. Also before her passing, her son Rod Roddenberry set-up a recording studio at home and together they recorded her voice to create a large phonetically library of her voice captured in WAV files. Even long after her passing, she still has many things to share with us!

The concept of replacing parts and at what point does the replacement cease to be the actual original person is part of the Ship of Theseus paradox. Its a very interesting as a philosophical riddle. Great, deep reaction!

“It looks like they’re having the Jello salad over dog food.” 😆

One of the great first season episodes and best Kirk ending line: “Roger Corby was never here”. Well known story of Andrea (Sherry Jackson) walking through the studio cafeteria wearing that costume and causing a sensation.

As chief engineer, Montgomery Scott is basically a mad genius who knows how to cobble pieces and parts together to make a functional system or system bypass or temporary fix to handle immediate needs. He is an engineer and mechanic and a bit of a genius. Hes extremely studious and knowledgeable in engineering, but also in mechanics in general, whether its warp drives, impulse drives, shields, electronics, transporters, and so on. He knows just about everything about just about everything stem-to-stern about his vessel and most other starfleet vessels, and non starfleet ships as well. Add to that, he is an excellent tactical commander and fierce warrior when needed. If a thing is broke, "Scotty" can fix it. He is known as a miracle worker among the bridge crew.

Thank you for watching this! Its one of my favourite episodes for the questions it poses, the Ship of Thesius problem, human consciousness, what we could lose if we mechanize or digitize ourselves. The "Stalactite" scene has since been memed into legend. Also great that youve watched Ghost in the Shell 1995 and played Soma. Another recommended movie is Metropolis from the 1920s.

The writer of this episode, Robert Bloch, was also a member of the original "Lovecraft Circle" around 90 years ago now. These were authors H.P. Lovecraft befriended, and/or whose careers he helped get started in some cases. He makes an oblique reference to HPL with his use of The Old Ones here, and also in a later episode Bloch scripted.

A chief engineer keeps the engines and power systems (and really anything mechanical) running properly and making repairs and/or modifications as needed, Montgomery Scott in particular is one of the best in Starfleet!

Sherry Jackson is in this episode. She was in the 1978 The Incredible Hulk TV episode Earthquakes Happen.

James Doohan had a silver cigarette case in his chest pack when he stormed the beach on D-Day. It saved his life as he was hit 8 times by machine gun fire, being hit once in the chest. He told the story on Howard Stern. He was also an Artillery Officer in WW2 and a highly trained actor.

This question is asked time and again in Star Trek. Along with freedom vs security.

One of their great plot twist episodes. Classic Red Shirt deaths, Kirk outsmarting the villain. I also loved that you caught the now famous stalactite joke. I never knew if they managed to slip that by the network censors or if it was just one of those unintentional accidents that we can all laugh at.

Montgomery Scott, is to be from Aberdeen, Scotland. The actor, James Dothan, was Canadian. He was in the Canadian Army, in WW2, went in on D-Day, received three wounds (one friendly fire, and German) -two fingers, partial shot off, and abdomen. There are a few times you can see his hand injury. James lived a good long life. Some of his ashes were sent into Space. The idea for Chief Engineer being Scottish, many Scots made steam engines, telephone, bridge engineers, science. Scotty is vital to Trek, as Engineer, Officer in Command, mentor.

Ruk was played by Ted Cassidy, who played different characters in three different ST episodes, but he was best known for playing Lurch in the original Addams Family tv series. "I am now programmed to please you also." "Oh. Do tell." "It's a giant dildo!" You have to love where Bunny's mind is at.😂 Bunny, if you end up watching The Next Generation episodes too, you'll probably enjoy the episode The Measure of a Man, in which a hearing is held to determine whether or not Data, the android should be considered human, and thus have all the rights of any other Star Fleet officer. It poses many of the same questions as this episode. What does it mean to be human? What is humanity? It's one of my favorite episodes.

Yes, Bunny. That's Christine Chapel, the same woman from The Naked Time, who told Spock she loves him.

@14:16 …. Yeah, that prop has been seen as such indeed. Never ceases to make me laugh and crack up when people see it for the first time.

What makes someone human or alive is also a major question that is explored in reference to the android crew member, "Data," in Star Trek The Next Generation. You have something special to look forward to!

Scotty is the chief engineer. He was a child prodigy became an engineer at 17. He’s also the operations officer which makes him third in command. He also has transporter responsibilities where he’s in charge of the transporter when Mr. Kyle isn’t there he also likes technical journals and technical manuals which later on he would write them, and other engineers, and Starfleet would learn from Scotty’s engineering background but that’s basically oh, he’s also one of four people who get into the ships armory, which is where all the weapons are Stored, and that’s really his responsibility is on board the enterprise to take care of the engines that makes the ship fly all over the cosmos and his transporter responsibility and the full operations of the shit. All the department heads would answer to him, and then he would brief Spock and then Spock would breathe Captain Kirk, so that’s how that goes , can’t wait for your next one. Keep up the good work and your dad would be very proud of you.

May I respectfully suggest “City on the Edge of Forever”. Voted as one of the best “episodes” of a television show, ever. It’s an incredible work of television art.

I kinda miss you including your dad at the end of the TOS reactions. It was sweet, and it reminds me of how I miss my dad, too; he was the one who introduced me to Star Trek, also.

The current series, streaming “Strange New Worlds” that follows Captain Chris’ Pike, and crew of the Enterprise,…there has been a hint of Corby, that sets up this episode. (Like, a decade before) 🖖

gotta love the plot twist that korby was an android all along. nurse chapel got a few good story lines during the series. the actress,majel barrett, came back as a different character in star trek the next generation as well as the voice of the enterprise D's computer.

Chapel is played by majel Barrett, same actress that played number one in the first pilot. On screen never mentioned, but there was a novel that had them as sisters.

Also, in the spinoff show Star Trek TNG, there is an Android crewmember on board that Starship Enterprise named "Data" and a lot of the themes revolved around him/it are some of the questions you asked about such as whether or not an artificial lifeforms is capable of possessing sentience or a spirit of some kind and so forth.

No wonder Ruk looks so familiar. He's Lurch from the Addams Family 🤔

This is a very interesting episode. It delves into the concept of living beings losing their humanity when they are incorporated into a mechanized form of their own likeness. It also shows opposite side of the dilemma when you create humanoid servants that are so perfected that they develop their own sense of feeling and self pride to the point where they eventually rebel against their own imperfect creators. This concept will be used in several future sci-fi movies like 2001:A Space Odyssey, Collosis The Forbin Project and The Terminator. No spoilers but future episodes of TOS will again address this subject of man vs machine with the dreaded warning: Be careful what you create.

Sherry Jackson's outfit, designed by William Ware Theiss, remains one of the most memorable costumes in the entire Star Trek series. Ms. Jackson had played Danny Thomas' daughter Terry in "Make Room For Daddy". She returned for one episode in the sequel, "Make Room For Granddaddy".

"Her" is the same actress that played "Number One" in the original pilot. She was also Mrs. Gene Roddenberry... The giant was also Lurch from the original "Addams Family."

The shot showing the activation of the phaser, is extremely brief - but you can see what looks like Korby’s finger or thumb move. His finger or thumb moved either directly onto the trigger, or onto Andrea’s finger, which was on the trigger. It’s clear that the creators’ intent were to show that the Korby android made a decision to wipe out both himself and Andrea. Why did the Korby android decide this? The episode never tells us. The Korby android could have simply been so horrified at the thought that ‘Andrea’ was gaining emotions - becoming some sort of in-between thing that was neither human nor programmable robot - that he made a decision to destroy it even though he’d die too. Alternately, the Korby android - who had thought and believed that he was a perfect transfer of Korby’s consciousness into an android body - had been suddenly forced by Kirk and Chapel, into the realization that, at the very least, that was not what happened: Either, that only a crude approximation of Korby survived, or that the original Korby’s •ambition to help humanity• had survived, but that the original Korby’s judgement and humanity had not. Once the Korby android had come around to Kirk’s point of view - “I’m not Korby, like I thought I was; I’m some kind of inhuman monster, and I wasn’t far from spreading more android-monsters across the galaxy! No way - this ends now!” Korby self-terminated to end the threat to humanity that he now realized he had become. ••• Don't know if you've seen 'The Fly' (1986), but I'm reminded of it now. Similar questions occur to viewers seeing that film: at what point does the protagonist's humanity disappear?

6'9" Ruk (Ted cassidy) was also Lurch in The Addams Family. A prolific actor he was seen everywhere in TV and movies in the late 60s and early 70s. Great character actor and nice guy who left us too soon.

One of Scotty’s most important duties: He drinks all the whisky.

There are two films that explore this theme you have discussed. "Bicentennial Man" with Robin Williams and "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" directed by Steven Spielberg. I think you will enjoy them, Bunny Tails.

Lots of deep questions with this episode… but then there’s that one dress Sherry Jackson (Andrea) wears and I forget what we’re talk8 g about… oh and Lurch of course! Great stuff.

@15:41 you see one of the first examples of... Captain Kirk's... way with women... which he is renowned for in popular culture LOL "Teach me how to LOVE, captain..." LOL

Yeah, I totally would have kept the Andrea model! I’ve never read it, but I think there’s a Star Trek novel where someone goes back that planet and starts mass producing Andreas for sale.

The episode you saw "Nurse Chappel" in was The Cage (the pilot episode), where she was a brunette, and, a completely different Character (first office). She was also the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry (who stopped dating Nichelle Nicols) to start dating Majel Barrett.

Scotty has arguably the most important, and most emotionally connecting to the ship job of them all, I'd say. He runs engineering, all the repairs, tweaks to efficiency, maintenance and otherwise general well being of the ship, their home, fall on his shoulders. He has an entire staff under him to help of course, but he isn't just assigning people to do the jobs like a manager, he is VERY hands on and HYPER protective over his baby, the ship that he loves. You can't not love something you pour so much time, effort and love into, to keep purring, right? You've seen how much Kirk loves his ship already, I honestly feel that pales to how much Scotty loves her. It's adorable. He is also, if I recall right, third in command, behind the Captain, and Mr Spock. So when both are down on the planet, Scotty will be the guy in the chair.

FYI: Andrea (Sherry Jackson) is in my Top Three list of favorite female guest stars. I can't mention the other two right now as that ventures into spoiler territory.

11:50 "Im programmed to please you also.". Oh please. Even in the 60s they knew what they were sneaking in.

You are not the first to notice the suggestive “rock” held by Kirk 😉 or, how seductive Andrea appears. ☺️ Some of Trek, is not for kids, yet teens and adults “notice”.

This episode isn't about the line between human and machine, nor is it about the nature of consciousness. These are metaphors in the story. This episode is about programming people. To try to make a perfect society by absolute control is an effort doomed to failure. Utopias were a big thing in the thought of the 1960s, and programmed societies were a common way of getting there. This episode says that when you program people to be "perfect," you have to program away everything that makes life worth living, and the whole thing falls apart.

Nurse Chappelle is Star Trek creater Gene Roddenberry's real wife and was the original #1 in the Star Trek series pilot.

Is case you didn’t know Nurse Christine Chapel, featured prominently in this episode, married Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry . They stayed together till death.

Gene Roddenberry had excellent taste in guest-starring actresses. I'm sure Star Trek influenced my own tastes and preferences in women.... especially in "Elaan of Troyus" (upcoming 1st season episode). Your thoughts on what constitutes being human were interesting, especially when you observed that Corby went "too far" when transferring himself into an android: it brought to my mind the age-old wisdom that "one cannot serve two masters". That a human cannot be an android and sn android cannot be a human. I think it suggests that the complete transference of the essence of a human being into a mechanical host could not result in what could properly be called "human". I believe it would eventually become clear that in order to be "human" we must experience human weaknesses and human vulnerabilities. Meaning that the essence which is transferred into the Android body would not feel pain or thirst or hunger and that would necessarily affect the experience of existence. As is clear upon a moment's reflection even something as fundamental as eating is not just the mere consumption of sustenance. People share meals together. At this time they discover commonalities and differences. They may like the same foods or they may have a discussion about something as simple as childhood experiences of drinking lemonade for the first time... Presumably such memories would remain but they would cease to become as relevant if the entire act of consuming drink or food becomes unnecessary. Eating as well gives people an opportunity to introduce others to new experiences, new cuisines... Or a simple act of sharing your apple pie with somebody is a small act of sacrifice or generosity. Or think about swimming, what would be the point of going for a swim if you were an android? You wouldn't need to hold your breath, there would be no thrill of jumping off the high dive because there is no danger to you. Again, certain experiences from which we infer meaning or we regard as significant moments of bonding with others would simply disappear. I believe this lack of human, organic feedback would eventually render us not human. I don't believe the soul is just the occupant of a "meat machine" but that there is a critical, fundamental connection between the spiritual and the biological which renders us human.

"I am programmed to please you as well." "OH. Do tell..." lol

I'm really enjoying rewatching these TOS episodes with you! Its been a minute, but there are so many great eps in this show, it was so ahead of its time. Thank you and happy watching!

They are made of bunny pellets and carrots. You are what you eat. Scotty keeps the ship going. Most of his lines are: I CANNOH KEEP HER GOING CAPPIN’! I was on an aircraft carrier Nimitz for 5 years of 8 in the navy. The chief Engineer of the ship ran the nuclear power engineering spaces deep inside the ship. And he had the rank of Captain… just like the commanding officer and executive officer of the ship. Funny coincidence- the ship had its own dentist who was also a Navy Captain! 😅 he was a very old man too. It’s like Dear Lord! This man is both a doctor and a high ranking naval officer… kind of like Bones on Star Trek 🤔

Uniform colors were adapted from the Navy's use of colors to show different functions on an aircraft carrier flight deck specifically in the original series, blue represented medical and science divisions, gold denoted command positions, and red was worn by engineering, security, and communications divisions.

Yup, we've seen this issue come up in Blade Runner too. The androids in this episode did have emotions, though maybe there was some form of disconnect, like with OpenAI scripting and AI art solutions, where knowledge is mimicked but not really possessed. Ruk had anger, and Andrea had some sense of love or unrequited love, though possibly they were imitating this and not actually feeling it. Or, perhaps they were growing more emotional the longer their neural nets functioned, a bit like in Blade Runner? It's a little unclear. I think the message given toward the end was that there was no fixing the disconnect, and this imperfection in the programming was what inspired the various incidents of violence. In a way, maybe the android emotions were less controllable than those of the humans. In AI, they might be called "hallucinations." "Andrea," BTW, means woman, with "Ander" meaning man. Of course, this is the root of "android." FWIW, some think there were Lovecraft references in the episode, such as "the Old Ones," the underground city, and the trapezoidal doors. Maybe Ruk's strange appearance was also due to Lovecraft influence? IDK.

I always considered Ruk to be one of the scariest TOS-Villains, mainly on account of how fast he moves. My brain always tells me something like "Someone that tall *shouldn't* be this quick!"

3:24 Yes, she's still Nurse Christine Chapel here -- but your question's a good one because she returns as several characters throughout the franchise. In fact, already: she was "Number One" in the original series pilot, and you've also heard her as the voice of the ship's computer.

Here, Kirk demonstrates his unique superpower: the ability to confuse a computer or elicit emotional responses from androids and similar constructs. Andrea is very pretty. I'm sure I had confused feelings seeing her that first time on my old family tv. The... detachable stalactite... has been memed to death because everybody saw what you did, and giggled at the sight of Kirk holding it. Scotty and the folks under him generally have to keep the ship running. Power comes from one place (the engine), but needs to be managed and distributed according to the ships' needs. An exaggerated example: weapons and shields can be fed extra power to enhance them, but there's a point where feeding them MOAR POWAH becomes useless (might cause an overload) and bad for other operations on the ship (less power to internal gravity, navigation, lighting, toilets...). Engineering also fabricates parts and tools that the ship or the crew may need. There's a station on the bridge where Scotty can monitor engineering remotely, but you'll find him more often in front of his master console in engineering, where the action really is.

Another enjoyable reaction! It's fun to see how you anticipate things, and react based on whether or not they come to be in each episode. And especially how you react to the styrofoam scenery. Nurse Chapel was played by Majel Barrett, who was one of Gene Roddenberry's mistresses until he divorced his wife and married Majel. She appeared as Nurse Chapel in The Naked Time, and she was also Pike's first officer in The Cage (thus the memory of the dark hair). She also played a third, almost ubiquitous, character in the series, including episodes you've already seen; it will be interesting to see if you spot this. Ted Cassidy played Ruk, but he's more famous as Lurch in the 1960's TV series The Addams Family where he played two characters. Did you notice that his voice also bears a striking resemblance to that of a menacing character in The Corbomite Maneuver? He was also an accomplished organist, and he was a DJ for a radio station in Dallas. He was present when JFK was killed, and he did some of the first media interviews in the aftermath. In this episode, they also brought back one of the original phaser pistols from The Cage. It was the one that Andrea used. Scotty is the ship's chief engineer and third in command. He's the reason that nothing ever breaks on the Enterprise (as quoted by Ron Moore, who wrote several episodes of the Next Generation and was responsible of the re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica in the early 2000's). We've already seen Scotty operate the transporter, replace the control boards on the bridge with unrelated ones salvaged from a mining operation, and implode the engines to initiate time travel. And he was the A/V guy for the wedding last week. I'm sure he also assigns the guy who shovels coal into his bonny bairns. James Doohan, who played Scotty, was a Canadian war veteran. He served in the infantry, artillery, and as pilot in the air force. On D-Day, he lost a finger during combat. He was good at hiding it, but occasionally you can see it onscreen. You don't see it when he operates the transporter because a stunt double did the hand shot. He was also very personable and gracious when I met him briefly at my first convention, a combined Star Trek and Doctor Who fan event. Here are some thought experiments: You have Granddad's axe. He's had it for many years. Over time, he replaced the head and the handle many times, and yet it's still Granddad's axe. Then he dies, and over time, you've replaced the head twice and the handle thrice. Yet it's still Granddad's axe. Or is it? People think of the word "protect" as meaning to safeguard, preserve, shield, defend, shelter, secure, and any number of noble-sounding things. Protect the species. Protect the habitat. Protect the economy. Protect our homes. Protect the children. Protect the religion. Protect ourselves. And yet, we come into conflict over these things. What are we willing to destroy to keep what we have? And who are we willing to kill for the right to live? Ruk said words to the effect of: The old ones grew fearful and began turning us off, so we destroyed them. Ruk and his kind may be more human than we give them credit for.

I also have spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to be human. I believe in the possibility of existence outside the universe we perceive, and that some form of communication between it and our universe is possible as well. Given those postulates, I see the part of us that includes life force, conscience, etc, what we call spirit, to exist beyond the universe and be paired with an organic body at conception. The union of these two parts itself is a third part, what one might term the soul. The soul includes our personality and humanity. To change either the spirit or the body completely to something else would change the soul's humanity, making one no longer human. On the other hand, since our bodies' cells are constantly being replaced with other cells of the same type, our experience teaches us that mere renewing of the body doesn't change one's humanity. In the cases of Corby and Christine Chapel, Corby has exchanged his body for something completely different, where Christine's body is almost certainly not composed of the same cells that it had when she met Corby years ago. In my view, Christine is still human, but Corby no longer is. Great reaction, BT!

Mr. Scott is the Chief Engineer onboard. In most eras each ship will have 1 Chief Engineer in charge of the engineering department. Like other dept. heads, they attend important briefings and are pretty high in the chain of command. They're stationed in Main Engineering and command a big crew of technicians. Engineering is under the Operations division, hence the red shirts. Aside from being a skilled manager, the Chief Engineer is also expected to be the best mechanical problem-solver onboard - often getting hands-on with tricky repair work. Scotty happens to be 3rd in command, after Kirk & Spock, but not every Chief Engineer holds that place in the chain of command. Scotty also often runs the transporter, though that seems to just be to get a recognizable character in the scene (plenty of other people can operate it). I think Deep Space 9 is the only show to have a Chief Engineer who's not an officer, but instead a lower ranking (but brilliant) workman.

"The fabric that goes over a couch" laughed for a month on that one Im 65 now thanks for the joke

14:15 If you're thinking that shot was an accident, just remember this was filmed in the 60s.

@@bunnytailsREACTS The question you raised about whether someone would still be human if they transfer their awareness to an android body is a great one. My conclusion is that, "yes" the android would be a human but would NOT be the SAME human. The Android would be a humanized copy, a genuine human but still only a copy of the original one, the original having died. It's similar with twins. Each is identical, yet a completely different human.

BunnyTales - this is not the First time Kirk & other men have gone Shirtless , but this was one way for getting Around the TV censors , lol.

Kirk must never be allowed to ask the question "can we keep her". The universe is not ready...

Really like how you give context for your thoughts using relatable media you've consumed over the years. I'm always intrigued to understand why people think the way they do, how they acquired their moral compass, what incidents triggered their fears, what inspired their hopes and dreams. The more we as a people understand each other, the less likely we are to engage in the type of conflict we're seeing around the world today.

Sherry Jackson started acting at about 6 years old, so by her late thirties she was tired of it and retired early. She never married but she is famous for dumping Elvis. She said in an interview that Shatner "REALLY kissed me" so hard that her lips were swollen as you can see afterward. When she was about 10 she was in "Trouble Along the Way" with John Wayne. They met the movie producer who said, "We'll have to cut your hair." She loved her curls and started to cry. John Wayne said to her in a raspy tone that sounded like he was ready to go to war over the issue, "Don't worry. NOBODY is going to touch your curls."

She was "Number One" in the original pilot, and is also the voice of the Enterprise Computer

This episode is dangerously-prophetic considering how fast Artificial Intelligence is progressing. They are already experimenting with transferring electro-chemical brain engrams into artificial memory storage.

Scotty's job as chief Engineer would be both that he would run and manage the engineering department, ensuring that any damage is repaired, the ship functions normally, and any necessary maintenance and expectations are done. Much of his work would be directing the engineering department and control the inner functions of the ship itself, most particularly the warp core powering the ship, the engines, and the distribution of power. He would also regularly interface with the Captain about such matters. Scotty is also the ship's second officer, meaning that if both Kirk and Spock are incapacitated, or off the ship, he assumes command.

Another great reaction, bunnytailsREACTS. To answer your question, yes, Christine was a brunette, her natural hair color in a previous episode you reacted to, The Menagerie. She played Number 1. Fun fact, the actress later married the writer of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry.

A human's memory and consciousness is integrated into a human brain, so a machine brain would be different. Like in this episode Corby can't convincingly argue that he is human at the end.

3:44 "... the upskirt shot ..." Remember, TOS is a product of the 1960s. It was a time of change: the peace movement, the civil rights movement, environmentalism, consumer protection, and let's not forget the sexual revolution. That last one was a very real thing, well discussed in the Wikipedia article "Sexual revolution".

One of the reasons why StarTrek explores these questions, and in The Next Generation goes way further with the android Data on the bridge crew, is because Roddenberry was good friends with and took inspiration from Isaac Asimov. Asimov was one of the most prolific hard science fiction authors most famous for his pieces on robots. (Perhaps most notably the three laws of robotics that run through a huge chunk of all fiction and are increasingly used as a foundation for reality as well.)

Have you seen Alita, Battle Angel? Sherry Jackson played the android Andrea when she was 24. She's now 81. Her outfit showing side cleavage got her a movie role when she walked into the commissary wearing it. Blake Edwards got her signed up that day.

Star Trek certainly raises a lot of philosophical questions!

2245 - THE SHIP OF THESEUS - A question was raised by ancient philosophers: After several hundreds of years of maintenance, if each individual piece of the Ship of Theseus was replaced, one after the other, was it still the same ship? This paradox was made famous by the BC tv comedy series 'Only Fools and Horses' where 'Trigger', an old friend of lead character, Del Boy Trotter, and local road sweeper, discussed the many times his sweeping brush' has had both its head and handle replaced numerous times over the years.

That is Christine Chapel, played by Majel Barrett (later Majel Barrett Roddenberry). She's just being lit differently. Incidentally, she has the record for greatest number of appearances of any actor in the Star Trek franchise, appearing in more than 250 episodes and 7 movies (as five different characters!) Andrea's costume is famous as an example of Trek costume designer William Ware's Theiss theory of what makes an outfit sexy: regardless of how much skin it actually shows, the sexiest outfit is the one that looks like it's *about* to show something it shouldn't, yet never does. I have a copy of it for my captain in Star Trek Online lol "He wanted to mix too much of the human and the machine. He wanted the best of both worlds." eyeballs_emoji

Stargate SG-1 deals with this humanity question in the 'Tin Man' episode. What happens after you're unknowingly turned into an android and don't realize that's been done and still think you're human? You're just told you can't go home, but not told why. Comtraya! Nurse Christine Chapel is played by Majel Barrett. She married Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in 1969. She is also the voice of the Enterprise computer and is in Star Trek NG as Troi's mother.

14:15 Ruk upon seeing Kirk and the rock. "That is Mine. Kirk - Yours? Ruk - it broke away from my nether regions. Kirk - OMG I didn't mean to handle it. You're not my type.

It's refreshing to see a reactor who is genuinely invested in the material. Immediately figuring out why Kirk repeated the phrase during the programming is a perfect example. Another is the philosophical examination afterward, which is what Star Trek used to be about before they made it about bad science, virtue signalling, f-bombs, and ripped out eyeballs. Jello cubes on a bed of dog food is a specialty of mine.

22:41 "Are they still the same if they replace everything?" This is an ancient paradox, discussed thoroughly in the Wikipedia article "Ship of Theseus". It is typical of TOS to raise a philosophical question: it takes a puzzle from the ancient past and places it in the speculative future. 🙂

Another interesting reaction! There's a bit of inconsistency in this episode but in response to your question, I think Kirk's phaser WAS set to stun when he fired at android Dr Brown (following his signature roll). Normally the stun setting renders the target unconscious by shocking the nervous system with a nonlethal amount of energy. Since the target happened to be an android/robot instead of organic, the energy probably caused something to short out or overload, probably a battery or capacitor, at that caused the visble damage. Remember when phasers are set to kill, the target is completely disintegrated, which didn't occur when Kirk shot Brown. Also, in situations which aren't already known to be life-threatening, Starfleet personnel don;t keep their weapons set to kill. By default going into an unknown situation, they normally have their weapons set to stun. On the topic of consciousness and what constitutes a human, I recommend the movie Ex Machina (2014). That might be a good one to react to, if you haven't already watched it.

1:27 Inferred from Enterprise, TNG and DS9 this era of Star Trek is the Age of Exploration. In Enterprise, the NX-01 Enterprise mostly went to places where other thriving and more powerful civilizations already exist. The local area is crowded. Everything is new to the Terrans, but there is not really a final frontier to go to. In TOS, the frontier is wide open as the new ships like the NCC1701 Enterprise travel beyond that bubble of civs. 85+ years later TNG and DS9 imply the former "frontier" is closed, due to the efforts of the ships in the TOS doing all the mapping and exploring. There are still pre-FTL civs and dead wonders, but are fewer unknown in civilized territory.

Fun Fact: Roc was played by Ted Cassidy who was Lurch in the Addams family.

Ted Cassidy's costume was designed to make him look bulkier and more muscular because Cassidy, though very tall, had a rather slight build.

Christine Chapel ( Majel Barret) was the woman inStar trek the cage and then all the other star treks. And she was married to Gene Roddenberry.

14:15 That's what most of the Star Trek fandom are in agreement about.

Loved this reaction. As a kid, I never "saw" the giant male appendage. The actress that played Andrea is one of my favorites from ALL the series. Interestingly in the recent Star Trek series "Picard", there is a twist of this plot basically in season 2, continues to season 3. Though it is not directly referenced. The actor playing giant android Ruk, he was very interesting person. Wish he would have been in more shows/movies. Had a great voice.

Another theme in this excellent episode is the question of "perfection". Korby thought he could create a perfect world, but it is not possible. There is a saying that goes all the way back to ancient times: "One man's meat is another man's poison." That which is perfect for Korby would be hellish for someone else. Even if Korby was only interested in pleasing himself, he wouldn't be able to create a personal Utopia. As we see in the episode, even though he has surrounded himself with "perfect" androids, he is not satisfied - - he wants more. He will always want more, he will never be satisfied. Maybe occasional moments of dissatisfaction are part of human nature. Those moments motivate us to want to explore, to boldly go where no one, where no bunny, has gone before.

An human body is a multicellular organism, regenerating its tissues through mitosis. An assembly of cells, that are regenerating their damaged molecules by assembling nutriments. An human body is never the same. It grows and it decays. But its structures are maintained similar. Traits of face of same individual are recognizable on its photos, at all ages. Sequelae, that were not initially present, are maintained until death. Some memories are re-enforced, sometimes, re-shaped. Some are lost. DNA is passed from past to next generation. That is never the same individual ; always a different body, always a different mind, changed by experience ; although he is made of atoms that are billions years old. Fascinating !

In the book "The Making of Star Trek", there is a discussion with the costume designer William Theiss. He had the principle that "the degree to which a costume is considered sexy is directly dependent upon how accident-prone it appears to be." The outfits were designed to be secure and allowed movement, and the actresses were comfortable once they were wearing them, but had the outward appearance like something might slip. Andrea's outfit in this episode is a prime example, along with the dress worn in "Who Mourns for Adonais?" (S2). The network censors were much different than today. They weren't allowed to show any side-boob, or the female navel. (Male double-standard: no problem showing Shatner's belly-button in this ep.)