Spock wore a beard on that episode? I don't remember that.

No he did wear the prototype of what would become the Sony Walkman What surprises me that no toy company ever got the bright idea to make the Spock's Brain episode Spock into a remote controlled action figure.

@manfromatlantis : Now I understood what you meant. Sorry, I had just been released from the hospital (I had hip replacement surgery and I don't remember writing that last post).

Spock only wore a beard in the Mirror Mirror episode,the only other Trek episodes where Vulcans can be seen wearing beards are the two Mirror Darkly episodes of ENT and the Mirror Universe episodes of Discovery otherwise NO bearded Vulcans. Plus I'd imagine the network back in the 60's might have some issues with the goatee Spock since they already thought that the pointed ears made him look like the devil in the original pilot.

Yeah, good call. In addition to the devil issue, beards were highly uncommon in the post-war years, and by the 1960s facial hair of any kind was associated with the Beatniks, and later the Hippies (plus cowboys, of course, but that's another story.) When the hippies became mainstream, they brought facial hair with them to a certain extent, but in 1967, even a neatly trimmed goatee would have been unusual for a character in a mainstream TV show.

Would that explain why "ST: Discovery" is different from "ST: The Original Series", while both occur in the same time period: 1960's culture versus 21st century's?

Now a beard is accepted, and that's why Spock has one.

Perhaps the new series is in fact what Roddenberry wanted Star Trek to be all along, but he couldn't make it so because of what was acceptable in those times?

What a lovely thought!

I can hear Roddenberry now. "I don't care how bad the writing is and all the SJW nonsense, but I want Spock to have a beard, dammit! Or just forget the whole thing!"

Would that explain why "ST: Discovery" is different from "ST: The Original Series", while both occur in the same time period: 1960's culture versus 21st century's?

There's no question that TOS was very much a product of its times; you can see it in its attitudes, fashions, and often in the stories themselves. "A Private Little War" was a Vietnam War parable, "Way to Eden" was inspired by the counterculture, while "Bread and Circuses" and "Spock's Brain" can both be interpreted as parodies of television in general. Even the production design - all those brightly colored background lights were designed to sell color televisions for the Network.

Perhaps the new series is in fact what Roddenberry wanted Star Trek to be all along, but he couldn't make it so because of what was acceptable in those times?

Possibly. I'd like to think that TOS Season One came pretty close to Roddenberry's vision for the series: good storytelling with a science fiction twist, strong and diverse characters working together to overcome problems, and a clear moral. Because of how troubled the 60s were, he wanted to show an optimistic vision of the future.

I can hear Roddenberry now. "I don't care how bad the writing is and all the SJW nonsense, but I want Spock to have a beard, dammit! Or just forget the whole thing!"

Still it makes no sense for Spock to have beard Vulcans in the normal universe DON'T HAVE BEARDS never have never will period!It again shows the producers blatant disrespect for & ignorance of Trek fans and canon,they give Spock a beard since it's a fashion fad under millennials and metro men.Also it shows that former head of CBS Les Moonves still hates Star Trek (he in large part was instrumental for the demise of Enterprise) or stil doesn't understand Star Trek and it's fans the man focuses too much on reaching a current audience (like he did with Enterprise)while forgetting the shows history and it' followers.With Enterprise he tried targeting the young female audience with introducing the idea of having different boybands appear on the show every episode(Like Star Trek is The Monkeys ugh)with Discovery his aim is at millennials and metro men by having a Spock with a beard can you be more ff-in obvious.

@jxh13 said:

Perhaps the new series is in fact what Roddenberry wanted Star Trek to be all along, but he couldn't make it so because of what was acceptable in those times?

Possibly. I'd like to think that TOS Season One came pretty close to Roddenberry's vision for the series: good storytelling with a science fiction twist, strong and diverse characters working together to overcome problems, and a clear moral. Because of how troubled the 60s were, he wanted to show an optimistic vision of the future.

An optimistic future AFTER World War III devastates populations, creates Khan and his henchmen, etc.

and also gives us almost a century of Vulcan supervision,The Klingons,The Romulans , a Borg retcon attempt,the Xindi attack and in case of Discovery awfully bland and bi-polar people that are bigger assholes then the people of today.

Well yeah, maybe, but the whole "First Contact" thing (the movie, not the TNG episode) contradicts what we're told in Metamorphosis. Considering what Spock says about how Cochrane's name is revered throughout the known galaxy, it's clear the Cochrane discovered warp drive not just for Earth, but for EVERYONE. The "First Contact" retcon stuff was a bad idea, I think, and badly done too. How was "First Contact" Cochrane supposed to do all that stuff with an abandoned missile silo after WW III? Those missiles are liquid fueled, and they don't just make it there at the silo. Also it's been noted that the design of his missile warp ship doesn't have empty space between the nacelles which is apparently required. And did he supposedly have antimatter somehow? c'mon. They're also more than a little vague about how they landed safely back on Earth and got back to Montana, etc, etc. It seems obvious that the warp ship would have been destroyed by atmosphere re-entry even if they somehow made the capsule part survivable.

An optimistic future AFTER World War III devastates populations, creates Khan and his henchmen, etc.

Well, that's where we were at the time, bud. The Cold War, Vietnam, incredible amounts of Social Unrest,the Generation Gap, Racial tension, impending nuclear Armageddon, the re-emergence of hunger as a concern, sit-ins, Black Panthers, Weatherman, too many assassinations, the Manson Family, Kent State, the 1968 Republican Convention, Nixon - we packed a lot of angst into 1966-1969. Every time I listen to "Gimme Shelter," I get a little shiver of memory. Roddenberry's optimism may have been long term, but I still found it comforting.

@Knixon said:

An optimistic future AFTER World War III devastates populations, creates Khan and his henchmen, etc.

And from then on, having learned from their mistakes and boosted by the First Contact, humans have "boldly gone where no man (correction: no one) has gone before".

Humans have strived and surpassed all known species. They have founded The United Federation of Planets and brought peace everywhere. They've saved the universe countless times. Without the human dominance, the Borg would rule and Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans and many other species would be at perpetual war with each other.