Do Androids dream of electric sheep?
Pro:
Nurse Chapel episode! Interesting insight into her personal life and inner workings as well as her loyalties
Yes Dr. Korby we understand without you saying it. That's why the female Bot is wearing barely any clothes and is super beautiful. For sure.
Kirk on the Spinning wheel, woooooo!
DoubleKirk the second
I mean we have to mention the phallic stone right
unspoken Kirk and Spock communication and trust in each other! Kirks entire plan on the imposter-Kirk getting caught relies on Spock understanding what he's trying to say, and it works, I love that for them.
First real „Kirk is not the womanizer pop culture thinks he is“: he only kisses the woman / android to manipulate / get closer to his goal and not out of pleasure
The android design & clothes in the episode are great
Great funky lightchoices in the cavesystem
First time Androids, a classic sci-fi narrative, which in different ways explores what it means to be human and what makes humanity better than AI; In this case the concept of feelings (see quote) but also Ruk without empathy and based on facts deciding who gets to live or die
First time Kirk outsmarting stronger opponents instead of using force, happens especially often with AI (in this case both Androids)
The tension in the episode holds up, with Kirk being trapped in an unfamiliar environment, Chapel torn between her fiance and duty and the other characters being possible enemies
The reveal that Dr. Korby was also a cyborg was great
Look, the beautiful stone design needs to be in a review. Science.
Con
pacing was a little off at times
Other AI episodes have explored the humanity vs. AI theme better later in the series
Slight brush with the idea that you can cheat death / become immortal by becoming a computer / android, but it happens so close to the end that it can't be looked at close enough. How much of the person Korby is still in there? He clearly shows emotions unlike the other Androids
based on that: Ruk said that the androids were turned off, essentially killed, so it was self defense - if the androids have human rights. Again, this is not the focus of the episode, but does raise question the episode doesn't answer (this won't get explored until Data in TNG later on)
I just really loved this moment. Kirk is so small!
Counter
Shirtless Kirk (I mean completly naked Kirk, technically)
Kirk fake womanizer (uses kissing to get them out)
Evil AI (this time it's androids)
Brains over Brawl
Meme: Kirk orgasm face.gif
Quote: "Can you imagine how life could be improved if we could do away with jealousy, greed, hate?" - Corby "It can also be improved by eliminating love, tenderness, sentiment. The other side of the coin, Doctor" - Kirk
Moment: Kirk and Spock talking about his use of unseemlgy language at the end.
Summary: Good episode that introduces the classic AI / Android storyline as well as some of it's ethical connotations, shows Kirk's ingenuity and how he and Spock work together perfectly. Previous Episode - Next Episode - All TOS Reviews
free naked spinny wheel Kirk at the end!