“This is how you make an android.”
Last night I watched “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” This was the 10th episode to be produced but the 7th to be released. It first aired on October 20, 1966. It was written by Robert Bloch who would go on to write two more TOS episodes.
Story
Is it a coherent story?
The Enterprise is searching for the missing Dr. Roger Korby, a scientist whom Kirk has always wanted to meet and who is apparently often called the “Pasteur of archaeological medicine.” It’s been five years since Korby was last heard from. Nurse Christine Chapel gave up a career in bio research in order to serve aboard a starship and search for Korby, her fiancée. 5/5
Is it enjoyable to watch?
Yes, I quite like this episode. It’s beautiful to look at thanks to Jerry Finnerman’s lighting, Matt Jeffries’ sets, and William Ware Theiss’ costumes. The story is engaging and holds up well. 5/5
Is the dialogue strong and/or memorable?
The most memorable line in this episode goes to Kirk. Just before Korby builds a Kirk look-alike android, Kirk cleverly repeats to himself, “Mind your own business, Mr. Spock. I’m sick of your half-breed interference! Do you hear?” Later, this line helps Spock to identify the imposter android.
The other memorable lines are from Ted Cassidy as Ruk. Bloch was a Lovecraft fan and his work frequently references the “Old Ones.” Here, Ruk says that he was “left here by the Old Ones.” Later, Ruk tells Kirk that “It became necessary to destroy them” and that “survival must cancel out programming.” I’m not sure why those lines stand out to me but they always have. Possibly it’s Cassidy’s delivery that is memorable.
Finally, there’s also Korby’s matter of fact line to Chapel, “this is how you make an android”. 5/5
Does it serve the main cast well?
Kirk is well served by this episode. He comes across as extremely clever, having laid the trap I mentioned above. He also talks Korby into ordering Ruk to obey all of Chapel’s orders. Clearly, he sees the potential for things to go south from the beginning. He also gets to be a bit of an action hero. Spock and Kirk’s relationship is handled well. Spock knows Kirk well enough that he knows the captain would never call him a “half-breed”. He’s just as clever as Kirk in deducing that something nefarious is going on. 4/5
If there are guest or recurring characters, are they memorable or interesting?
Majel Barrett is memorable as Chapel. By this time, we’ve already met her in “The Naked Time”. She gets to give Andrea some great side eye. In an episode where it would have been easy for her to come across as naïve or unintelligent, that doesn’t happen.
Michael Strong is excellent as Roger Korby. For me, he’s one of the most memorable guest stars from TOS. He gets to play some wonderful scenes of emotional conflict.
Ted Cassidy is also great as Ruk. He’s not just the lumbering, silent Lurch that we’re familiar with from The Addams Family. He gets to do some interesting things and he’s an extremely memorable TOS alien. 4/5
World-building
Does it contribute positively to the Trek Universe?
This episode introduces us to a planet called EXO-III (a very memorable name). It helps us understand that there are Human scientists all over the galaxy studying things like archaeological medicine. It also introduces the concept of androids to the Trek universe. This is something that will become very important to later Treks. 4/5
Is it consistent with the rest of canon?
Here’s where we run into problems. Just recently, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (which is a prequel to TOS) has been playing with the relationship between Spock and Chapel. When we first met Chapel in “The Naked Time”, we learned she was in love with Spock but it was pretty clearly unrequited. SNW has retconned that. Also, at the beginning of this episode, when the Enterprise receives a message from Korby, Spock asks Chapel if she’s sure she remembers his voice. She asks Spock whether he’s ever been engaged – of course, on SNW, she already knows the answer to this. Not only that, but Spock has also met and heard Korby on SNW, so he should recognize the voice as well. However, on SNW, Korby is played by Cillian O’Sullivan with an Irish accent – something Michael Strong doesn’t have. It’s a big mess that makes it hard to accept that SNW takes place in the same timeline as TOS. Though this episode establishes what ought to have been canon, it’s deconstructed by SNW which makes this section difficult to rate.
That said, there are a couple of other important contributions. We learn that Kirk has a brother named George Samuel Kirk, and that only Kirk calls him Sam. This episode also introduces a tool that Trek will use several times again. A character will list a series of historical figures that includes one or two fictional ones. This is a clever way to establish some history that the audience hasn’t seen and the context makes it easy to understand who these fictional figures are. In this episode, Kirk lists “Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Hitler, Ferris, Maltuvis”. In some books and comics, Ferris is explained to have been an Augment dictator. Maltuvis is also a dictator, though his origins vary from book to book. 4/5
Is there something new and unique?
The androids are new and unique, but we’ve already seen a duplicate of Kirk, just a few weeks previously in “The Enemy Within” – and we will again. 3/5
Does the science seem plausible?
I like to believe that very Human-like androids are a possibility. Given the technology we have today, I think this does seem plausible. However, the business of transferring one’s consciousness to an android is less plausible. It’s even less plausible in the episode. Korby says he had to transfer his consciousness to an android body because he was frozen and dying. Now, he plans to duplicate and replace a variety of people and have them infiltrate every level of society. Given what we see here, it’s pretty clear that the androids wouldn’t fool everyone because even though the intellect might be transferred, the emotions aren’t – at least not fully. I can’t see how that would be different in real life science. 3/5
Production
Production design (sets, props)
The production design in this episode is excellent! There are cave sets which must have modular bits. Between moving pieces around and clever camera angles, it makes the sets seem quite extensive. Kirk is able to pull a phallic-looking stalactite from the cave ceiling. This is one of the most memed images from TOS.
The android duplicating machine is also a great set piece. It might not be highly realistic or plausible, but it looks terrific and they really get it spinning pretty quickly.
In terms of props, we see Kirk with a type I phaser. The redshirts that beam to the surface have type II phasers, and we can see that Rayburn’s still has a white handle. Korby’s assistant, Brown, and his android companion, Andrea, use the lasers from “The Cage”. Andrea serves Kirk and Chapel the infamous coloured food cubes. 5/5
Costumes
The costumes from this episode are extremely memorable. The variants of the green/blue coveralls worn by Brown, Andrea, Korby, and Android Kirk are burned into my memory. Ruk’s costume is also very memorable. Doug Drexler once shared a picture of himself with Denise Okuda, and another crew member who’s wearing Ruk’s costume (discovered in a Paramount warehouse). 5/5
Make-up and Hair
Chapel’s wig is less complex here than it was in her last appearance. I like this styling better. It’s more practical. Ruk’s make-up looks fairly simple when we can see it in today’s high definition, but it’s still effective. I imagine it was even more so on small TVs in the 60s. Towards the end of the episode, Korby is revealed as an android because he catches his hand in a door. Some of the synthetic skin peels away revealing circuitry beneath. I think they did a great job of this. 4/5
Visual Effects
Much of the double-Kirk stuff is done with doubles and cuts, but there is some split screen work in the lunch scene where you see both Kirks together and interacting. It looks terrific. I doubt it could have been done better today. Aside from that, the effects are mainly limited to phaser blasts and disintegrations, which are done well. 5/5
Music
The music for this episode was written by my favourite, Fred Steiner. He makes great use of strings in a score that will be used again in the future. 4/5
Acting (series regulars and guests)
I’ve already mentioned Strong as Korby. I think he does a really good job with this. Cassidy as Ruk is also really good. Sherry Jackson as Andrea is possibly the weakest link in the guest cast but it’s difficult to know if she’s just playing an android, or really is kind of wooden. Barrett is solid as Chapel. Shatner and Nimoy are strong as Kirk and Spock, respectively. 4/5
Direction (coherent, memorable)
This episode was directed by James Gladstone. Gladstone also directed the second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. From what I’ve read, I don’t think he liked the show, so he never returned, but I think he did a good job with this episode. I mentioned the cave sets above. That would have been pretty tricky to figure out – lots of lighting changes and time for resetting. When Kirk and Chapel first meet Brown, he’s backlit dramatically. It’s perhaps a grander entrance than the character deserves but it’s memorable.
In the scene of duplicating Kirk, there is a crane shot where we first pull back from Kirk on the machine, and then push back in. It’s really effective. He also had to deal with the spinning platform and the split screen work. 5/5
Philosophy
Is it thought-provoking?
The concept of transferring a Human consciousness into an android body has been a sci-fi staple for a long time. It’ll come up again in TNG. The questions it brings up surround whether it could ever be a complete transfer. Will something of the Human be lost? This episode posits that it would; that without emotions they could never really be the person they replaced. “What is it to be Human?” is perhaps as thought-provoking as one can get.
There’s also the story of the Old Ones who built their machines too well. This is something we really need to be thinking about in today’s AI-obsessed world. 5/5
Does it deal with a moral or ethical issue?
Korby’s plan is to slowly replace the Human race with duplicate androids. In the case of Kirk, we see that Korby is willing to do it against the will of the person being duplicated. Even if the ultimate result was a completely peaceful civilization, do the ends justify the means?
There’s also the idea that Korby creates the android Andrea as some kind of love slave. She tells Kirk that she’s not programmed for him, implying that she was programmed for someone else. Christine refers to her as a “mechanical geisha”. Korby tells Kirk that she’s a “totally logical computer” without emotions. When ordered to, she’ll kiss or kill, but towards the end of the episode there is a hint that she feels at least something. There’s some kind of conflict within her. Whether he intended or not, Korby has created a person who deserves to be treated as such. People are entitled to agency. 4/5
Is it consistent with Trek’s optimism and Humanism?
This episode is certainly consistent with Trek’s Humanism. It says that there is something special about Human beings that can’t be replicated by machines. For me, there’s not a lot of optimism. Korby is a scientist who’s idolized across the Federation. If even Korby can be swayed to murder and the desire to take over the galaxy with androids, what hope is there that the rest of Humanity can rise above base impulses? 4/5
IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility)
What comes up for me here is something racial. The fact that Kirk so quickly comes up with the idea of referring to Spock as a half-breed means that thought was pretty close to the surface in his mind. Certainly, Spock frequently refers to his Vulcan and Human halves at battle, but he never uses this term. At the end of the episode, Spock tells Kirk that he was “dismayed” by the captain’s use of the term half-breed. As much as it helped save the day, Spock is somewhat hurt by his friend’s casual discrimination. 4/5
Conclusion
My ratings for this episode total 86/100, making it my favourite episode of the series so far. I do really enjoy this one.
Purple Sloth Productions 