And Then There's the Problem of Superheroes

It is a fantastic scene.

In the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series, the writers got incredibly lazy.

I don't just mean "Spock's Brain," which is totally giggle-worthy. I mean how often the writers solve a problem by having Spock step in.

He is the superhero of the third season.

If I were Shatner, I would have been understandably annoyed.

Someone needs to get the ship back from the far reaches of space--oh, Spock will mind meld with Kollos and make it happen; someone needs to figure out how to use the anti-asteroid machine on the planet--Spock will make a series of unbelievably intuitive leaps to fix the problem; someone needs to calm everybody's nerves so they don't get shot up by bullets--oooh, mind meld again!

In The Nitpicker's Guides, Phil Farrand begins to end summaries in Season 3 with the phrase "Thankfully, Spock..."

It's a great example of how giving viewers too much of what they think they want is not necessarily a good idea. People loved Spock--okay, in this episode Spock single-handedly saves Mrs. Jones's kitten from a tree while simultaneously mind-melding with terrorists during Pon Farr.

After a while, it loses its appeal--and makes one appreciate the willingness of Patrick Stewart to appear weak. "Q Who?" is often commended as one of the most powerful TNG episodes of all time, precisely because Captain Picard begs for help when he realizes the Enterprise is utterly out of its depth.

Give our heroes weaknesses--we will love them a little more.