THIS EPISODE IS WHY REMASTERS WERE MADE!

Episode Title:  The Doomsday Machine

Air Date: 10/20/1967

Written by Norman Spinrad

Directed by Marc Daniels

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Elizabeth Rogers as Lieutenant Palmer          John Winston as  Lieutenant Kyle            Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie                 Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley     Richard Compton as Lieutenant Washburn         Roger Holloway as Lt. Roger Lemli                        John Copage as Ensign Elliott            Tim Burns as Crewman Russ               Jerry Catron as Crewman Montgomery               Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman              William Windom as Commodore Matthew Decker   

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Constellation NCC-1017, Einstein NCC-1701/6, Doomsday Planet Killer Device

Planets:  Not Anymore

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with the Enterprise traveling through solar systems whose planets have been destroyed yet their stars are intact.  Considering a supernova is the only known power that could destroy planets that quickly this makes finding out what did a priority.  In addition to that another Federation starship the USS Constellation had reported to have been in this sector but it hasn’t been heard from since.    Lt. Uhura is apparently on vacation so Lt. Palmer is filling in but she hasn’t been able to raise the other ship.

They manage to find the Constellation but when they do they see their sister ship is badly damaged.   The Constellation is just drifting in space.  According to readings taken from Mr. Spock the only thing that seems to be working on the ship is life support and just barely.  There are hull breaches in numerous places including the bridge. 

It doesn't get much worse than this!

Kirk leaves Spock in charge of the Enterprise and beams over to the Constellation with Dr. McCoy, Scotty, and an engineering team.  The engineering team must have been made up of crew members that just recently got their jobs because none of them are wearing a red engineering shirt.  Either that or realizing they going on an away mission traded shirts with their colleagues to increase their survival changes.  If that was true then it was a good plan because they all survive.

The one thing they all notice as they tour the wrecked halls of the Constellation is that no one from the crew is on board.  Not only are they not finding survivors, they aren’t finding bodies.   Kirk gets Scotty and his engineers to see if they can get the ship running again.  Kirk heads to the auxiliary control room—which is what they are calling the emergency bridge.  When he gets there he finds the ship’s captain, Commodore Matthew Decker, sitting at the helm in a state of shock.  He babbles incoherently as Kirk questions him.  When asked where his crew was Decker says he sent them to the third planet, which means they were all lost when it was destroyed.

Captain Kirk finds a broken man on a broken ship!

   As they play back Decker’s captain’s log, the distraught Commodore starts to regain his focus.  He describes a thing in space that was huge, with a gigantic mouth, and a weapon where it fires a beam of pure anti-protons.    Kirk has Spock analyze the data from the Constellation’s computers on the bridge of the Enterprise.  Mr. Spock determines that what the object that destroyed the planets and crippled the Constellation was not a ship but a device that is fully automated and destroys planets so it can use the remains for fuel.  He speculates that it the device is from outside our galaxy and Spock determines that its current course puts it on the path some of the most populated planets in space.  Its hull is made of solid neutronium so no individual Federation starship could damage it.

Horror story to tell!

After speaking with Spock, Kirk turns to McCoy and asks if he has ever heard of a doomsday device, to which Bones just throws up one of his classic “doctor” lines.  Kirk tells him that these things were weapons whose purpose was to be threatened not used, because if you were to use it that would be then end of everything.  That is what Kirk thinks they are fighting and those that created this device are now long dead having been destroyed by their own weapon that they used to destroy their enemies.

Kirk convinces Decker to go back to the Enterprise with Dr. McCoy by promising him that they will tow the Constellation with them.   Shortly after they get the Commodore on board the planet killer arrives.  Kirk orders the shields temporarily lowered so they can all get back but a blast from the device knocks the two starships apart!  Communications are out both ways.   The away team is stuck on a dead starship while the Enterprise doesn’t have her Captain at a time of need.

Captain Kirk and Mr. Scott immediately try to start repairing the damaged ship.  While on board the Enterprise the Commodore quickly grows tired with what he views as Spock’s passiveness towards this doomsday device.  In reality Spock is proceeding exactly as he should in these circumstances but Decker, in his state of delusion, can’t see that.  He pulls rank using his authority as a commodore to seize command of the Enterprise from Mr. Spock.   McCoy can’t believe what is happening and demands Spock do something.  Spock reminds the Doctor of his authority to declare a commanding officer unfit. This excites McCoy until Spock points out that he has to document the reason this fills McCoy so much fear that he forgets that he found Decker in state of shock and brought him to the Enterprise to be looked after.   Now seeing as there is nothing either of them can do the Commodore takes over and McCoy has to leave the bridge. 

Decker wants a new shot with a new ship!

The Commodore immediately goes on attack mode.  He reasons his earlier mistake was firing from too far a distance.  He flies the ship in closer and fires phasers.  As Spock predicted the planet killer is undamaged and it fires back.  The Enterprise takes on heavy damage but the Commodore still refuses to withdraw until Mr. Spock tells him that his current course is suicide and if he persists he could be relieved on that basis.  The Commodore complies and orders withdrawal but it is too late for the planet killer has them in a tractor beam and it’s pulling them in. 

Kirk finally fixes the Constellation’s viewer in the auxiliary control room and is able to witness the battle between his ship and the planet killer.  Seeing that the Enterprise is doomed unless something happens, Kirk asks Scott if he can get the impulse engines online.  Mr. Scott, who’s worth his weight in gold, tells him not only can they move but he can fire phasers.  Kirk leaps into action with the repaired Constellation attacking the planet killer causing it to release the Enterprise.   

Commodore Decker or Captain Ahab

Decker, excited that two ships are now attacking, is happy to contact his old ship with the now restored communication system.  However the moment Kirk can be heard he accuses Decker of being a lunatic and orders Spock to relieve Decker on his authority.  Spock complies and the Commodore is escorted off the bridge.  I don’t see how Kirk can do that seeing as he is only a captain and Decker is a commodore, but I guess since he took responsibility this gave Spock the freedom to act.

Decker shows like Captain Kirk he too has great fighting skills and beats up his security guard. He goes and steals the shuttle craft Einstein.  He decides to fly it into the planet killer.  Both Spock and Kirk try to talk him out of it over the communication system.  Decker claims he was prepared for death the moment he lost his crew.  He crashes into the giant mouth of planet killer destroying the shuttle craft and killing himself.  However Lt. Sulu notices that for a moment that the planet killer seemed to have been effected.  

 

I can captain two ships at once.

After going over the results they think they can do more serious damage if they fly the wrecked Constellation in there with a more controlled explosion.  Kirk sends everyone back except him and Mr. Scott.  Scotty rigs up the self-destruct device and Kirk begins to fly it in.  The Enterprise’s transporter was damaged in the battle so they can only get one of them at a time.  They take Mr. Scott first and then try to take the Captain.  They almost don’t get him but through the actions of Mr. Scott they manage to beam him over. The Constellation flies into the planet killer and blows up.  They win and the planet killer is destroyed.

Back on the Enterprise Kirk and Spock discuss doomsday devices and how they never want to see another one.   

Additional thoughts: Every now and again when I re-read these reviews I will notice a glaring typo that somehow escaped the editing process.  I am always very embarrassed and I imagine anyone involved with a show’s production suddenly noticing that the shuttle craft looks to be the same size as the starship as it heads into the planet killer might feel similar.  However it is not simple errors rather enhanced technological gain in graphics to why the series was remastered.  I can appreciate older cinema and I could always watch the original series fine before, but I have fallen in love with the new remasters.  And in this case they took an episode that was already great and made it even more amazing. 

(old effects video)

So Commodore Matthew Decker is an interesting character.   He is kind of like a broken Kirk.  We see in him as the shadow of the man he used to be only a few short days ago.  That Kirk-like captain has now been replaced by a Captain Ahab figure who is sole reason for living is his pursuit of that great white whale.  After losing his own ship in crew he ignores the perils for Captain Kirk’s.  In the end he loses his own life, it is too bad for him that he didn’t hear Kirk’s plea of “we are stronger with you than without you.” However his sacrifice did give them to tools to end the doomsday machine.

Also why is Decker a commodore?  Up until this point every commodore we’ve seen is in charge of a starbase.  Has Decker just recently been promoted and now he was waiting his new assignment so he could transfer from being a starship’s captain to a starbase commander?  I suppose if he had been another captain he might not have been able to take control of Kirk’s ship so easily.

Lt. Uhura sure picked a good time to take a vacation.  Okay maybe not if the Enterprise was destroyed she would probably be consumed with survivors’ guilt.  Although it did help the plot somewhat after her quick work in “Who Morns for Adonais” I think she probably would have had the ship to ship communication up sooner thus preventing the loony Decker from going gun ho with the Enterprise.   

Lastly I think Kirk and Mr. Scott should have traded places and have the Chief Engineer's survival at stake before getting beamed away at the last minute.  Even among those who watched this episode as it came out did anyone really think Kirk is going to die?  The opening credits right after “Star Trek” says “Starring William Shatner.”  We know he is not going anywhere, now Scotty on the other hand is only in the closing credits and sometimes his character isn’t even in an episode.  Fans might have sweat a little more.

 FINAL GRADE 5 of 5