What Are Little Girls Made Of? by: Robert Bloch and directed by: James Goldstone

“What Are Little Girls Made Of?” is written by Robert Bloch and directed by James Goldstone.  It was filmed under production code 10, was the 7^th episode of Star Trek Season 1, and was broadcast on October 20, 1966.

 

The development of robotics and artificial intelligence have long been an integral part of science fiction stories, generally following the fear of being replaced by a robot uprising either covert or obvious.  It is these fears that “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” play off of, being the first Star Trek episode to actually feature robots, in this case androids created on a distant planet by a race of Old Ones.  Dr. Roger Korby, played by Michael Strong, discovered this planet but disappeared, leaving his fiancé Nurse Christine Chapel, played by Majel Barrett, who took her position on the Enterprise to find him.  This is a genuinely interesting setup for a character and it’s the only episode where Nurse Chapel gets to have the focus as a main character, though sadly her focus is in relation to her love for Korby which is a little limititng.  Limiting is perhaps how the setup for “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” can be described: there’s a lot that Robert Bloch could have done playing on the fears of androids and developing Korby as wanting to use the androids to take over the galaxy not for some dictatorial pursuit but it is eventually revealed to give everyone immortality through the transfer of consciousness.  This should be played for horror, and while it is played negatively, this isn’t an episode that really plays on the fears and horror of this as an idea.  Heck, it doesn’t really feel like a Star Trek episode at all, there really aren’t any interactions between the crew as the major players here are Chapel, Korby, and Captain Kirk who is duplicated as an android.  Yes, Spock makes an appearance but he is ancillary to the plot at best.

 

This is perhaps an episode that doesn’t actually want to be an episode of Star Trek, but its own piece of science fiction that has been put into the Star Trek format.  This isn’t a bad thing, but it does mean that the episode feels oddly paced and out of place for a majority of it.  Luckily, Bloch’s script does at least characterize Kirk well even if he really isn’t the main character of the episode, but there is the issue when the android is made in that it isn’t actually used for any tension about a duplicate Kirk going up to the Enterprise like “The Enemy Within” had just two episodes ago.  Honestly as an episode it’s one where it plays with ideas but it doesn’t fully explore any of them.  There is a great twist where Korby is in fact an android, revealed just before what would be the climax of the episode.  Andrea, an android Korby constructed based on a human, ends up destroying the android Kirk for very weak reasons (it won’t let her kiss him), and Ruk, an android indigenous to the planet played by Ted Cassidy, is convinced Korby is a threat to his existence so he is killed.  Korby then kisses Andrea, who professes her love for him, and they end up killing each other.  This is odd because it doesn’t really play out like a climax, especially since Robert Bloch is most famous for writing Psycho and director James Goldstone directed “Where No Man Has Gone Before” which was equally thrilling in its climax.

 

Overall, “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” is honestly a bit baffling.  The title references a nursery rhyme that doesn’t really play into the plot outside of the synthetic nature of the androids, and instead of feeling like a tense exploration of humanity it plays out like a stage play with a couple of genuinely good twists.  The acting is great, and the directing is stellar despite going overtime and overbudget, and the script should work but it feels like the whole isn’t quite the sum of its parts turning out a very average piece of television.  5/10.