A MACHINE TRIED TO TAKE THE WRONG MAN’S JOB

 

Episode Title:  The Ultimate Computer

Air Date: 3/8/1968

Written by Laurence N. Wolfe and Dorothy C. Fontana

Directed by John Meredyth Lucas

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              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie                 Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli                        Frank Da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent       Sean Morgan as Ensign Harper       Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                 William Marshall  as Dr. Richard Daystrom         Barry Russo as Commodore Robert Wesley        

Ships and Space Stations: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Lexington NCC-1709, USS Excalibur NCC-1664, USS Hood NCC-1703, USS Potemkin NCC-1657, Starbase 6

Planets:  Alpha Carinae II

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The USS Enterprise is arriving at Starbase 6.  Kirk feels the orders he received were rather strange and wants an explanation but the only message he gets from the Starbase is telling him to head down to his own transporter room for instructions.   Kirk complies going to the transporter room with Mr. Spock accompanying him.  When they arrive they find that Commodore Bob Wesley has beamed aboard.  Wesley says that they are all here to participate in wargames.

Commodore arrives on the Enterprise 

Commodore Wesley explains that Richard Daystrom, the famed scientist who had invented the duotronic computers which became the foundation of modern computers systems throughout the Federation including the systems on board the Enterprise, has a new invention.  The new invention is called the M-5 computer.  This new system can carry out the functions of a starship more effectively than a crew can.  This will make Starfleet officers and enlisted personnel no longer needed.  In other words it is here to steal their jobs.  To prove its efficiency Starfleet has arranged wargames in which Commodore Wesley will lead a squadron of starships against the Enterprise run by only the M-5 computer with twenty crew members assisting it.  

This machine will replace you!

Kirk can’t believe that a Federation starship would be able to run with only twenty crew members but he is set to meet Dr. Daystrom himself in the ship’s engineering section.  After giving Scotty the approval to allow Daystrom to took hood up the M-5 to the main engine, the two discuss the future of Starfleet.  Daystrom tells Kirk the purpose is to steal his job, for he doesn’t believe men should have to die in space.  He thinks all of Kirk’s concerns are just based on his fear of losing the prestige of being a starship captain.   This comment shakes Kirk up a bit to the point he consults Dr. McCoy who tells him to get over it.

The first test is arranging an exploration of a planet.  They go over to the planet Alpha Carinae II that they were scheduled to visit.   Kirk makes a landing party list and compares to the list that the M-5 generated.  There some minor differences such as deciding which geologist to assign, but there was also a major difference in that Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy weren’t included in the landing party for they were “unessential personnel.”  Kirk’s pride is hurt but more concerning the M-5 seems to be shutting down areas of the ship for no apparent reason.   Daystrom claims the reason is M-5 knows that with only twenty people aboard life support on empty decks makes no sense.

Kirk has no time to think this over because it is now time for the battle simulation.  Commodore Wesley leads his squadron against the Enterprise. With the M-5 in charge the Enterprise makes short work her four sister ships.  Wesley, shocked at their clear and quick defeat, has the Lexington communicate with the Enterprise.  In his message he congratulates the M-5 and “Captain Dunsel.” With this Kirk looks very hurt and walks off the bridge.  When McCoy asks Mr. Spock what that means Spock responds by telling him it is the phrase Starfleet Academy Midshipmen use to describe something that was useless.  With that in mind the two both decide that the each to give Kirk a pep talk to get him out of his funk for losing his job to a computer.

 During McCoy’s pep talk to Kirk he points out something strange he found on Daystrom’s psyche profile.  Daystrom invented his award winning duotronic computers at the age of 24.  Since then he hasn’t had any award winning breakthroughs and now he is middle aged.  He attends conferences and is often a guest and honor due to his past success.  McCoy thinks he came up with the M-5 to relive his past glories.  Kirk doesn’t think this is very reasonable for brilliance doesn’t work on a schedule.  They don’t get to finish their conversation as the Enterprise comes across an automated cargo vessel.  The M-5 destroys it because it came to view that ship as a threat. 

More trouble than its worth!

Kirk orders the M-5 shut down.  However the controls are not responding.  Now with a real emergency on their hands Kirk demands an explanation from Daystrom.  Daystrom tries to explain that the M-5 viewed the other ship as a threat that and it was just a minor malfunction.  Kirk demands that he shut the machine down.   They head to engineering with Mr. Scott and Ensign Harper try to disconnect it manually.  The M-5 responds by killing Ensign Harper.  Daystrom is still making excuses for the machine.  Spock and Scotty try another way to disengage it only to find out the M-5 had already rerouted and had tricked them into thinking their disconnection method would be effective.

Daystrom tries to reason with the M-5 talking to it like one would a child.  The bridge crew then learns the secret of the M-5.  One critique of computers is they have no humanity so Daystrom decided to scan a human mind into the M-5’s system and he confesses to have used his own mind.  Daystrom keeps trying to appeal to their shared values to no avail.  As the Starfleet Squadron returns M-5 has the Enterprise attack with full force.  The Excalibur is severally damaged with life support failing.  The life support completes its failure resulting in the death of the entire crew.  

With Daystrom not being helpful and still protective of the M-5 Spock is forced to nerve pinch him to get the scientist of the bridge.  Then Kirk, the Bane of All Artificial Intelligence, shows the universe that M-5 chose the wrong Captain to try to put out of work.   Appealing to the Daystrom-programed morals Kirk convinces the M-5 that it is a murder and deserves to be executed.  The M-5 is successfully talked into suicide and shuts itself down.  Kirk has Scotty disconnect the system but he is informed that communications is not yet up.  They do have shields but instead of raising them Kirk orders them to cut all power and be dead in the water.  This is the space ship equivalent to an animal lying on its back and exposing its belly.  However there is a danger that the squadron might see this as a trick, like Kirk did to the Romulans in The Balance of Terror, and attack on full.  Kirk decides it is a worthy sacrifice to make in order to save the life of the squadron.    Commodore Wesley gambles that this isn’t a tick and calls off the attack.

That poor redshirt didn't even get to leave the ship!

The end of the episode has Kirk and Spock reflecting that Wesley, following conventional tactics, should have destroyed them.  Kirk pointed out that he know what type of man Bob Wesley is and choose to have faith in his humanity.  In the end that is something that you cannot do with a machine. 

When your ship's destroying everything and there is nothing you can do!

Additional thoughts: Although outsourcing and immigration have often been convenient political targets to explain the loss of jobs, the truth of the matter is the number one killer of human jobs is automation.  Every year more and more jobs disappear due to machines taking over.  Bank teller jobs have never reached what they were once the ATM was invented, the E-Z pass system has eliminated the need for toll booth operators, and many more examples can be seen through society.  One can only imagine what will happen once automated cars and trucks become a thing of the future.  It has gotten to the point that industrialists such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have even suggested that in the future it may be necessary for the U.S. government to actually provide direct income to American citizens.  That thought goes against our American nature but maybe where we are heading.

In our literature and other fiction we have had man vs. machine stories aimed with humans prevailing as the heroes.   Some examples include John Henry vs. the steam powered steel driving machine, the horse that raced the train, and in Star Trek James T. Kirk vs. the M-5.   The movie War Games taught us that we always want a human hand at the control of any doomsday device, no matter how inefficient.  

The Enterprise vs. the Squadron 

When talking the M-5 into killing itself Kirk asks it “what is the penalty for murder?”  Kirk is lucky the M-5 didn’t take that too literally.  Last I checked violating General Order 4 was the only death penalty left on the books. If the M-5 thought hard enough it wouldn’t have committed suicide. 

Also someone needs to explain to Dr. Daystrom if we wanted to live our lives ruled by intelligent and benevolent machines then Kirk and crew would have just allowed the androids from planet Mudd to take over earlier this year.  Not only could they think at the same level as the M-5 and provide the same protection, they also had the added benefit of being beautiful and you could fornicate with them.  Just ask Ensign Chekov.    

It is all about finding the right type of A.I.

Since the series is about a single Starfleet vessel it always a treat when we get to see other Starfleet ships.  This episode spoils us with a squadron of starships.  All of them are Constitution-class.  It would have been nice I think if they had included some other classes of starship, but it was a sixties TV budget.  However, I will add the modern remastered effects make the whole thing look rather beautiful. 

I really liked the character of Commodore Wesley, and I wish they explored his relationship with Captain Kirk a little more.  They seem to know each other well.  Did Kirk once serve under him?  He has a higher rank and he is older than Kirk so it’s very possible they once served on ship together when Wesley was one of the ship senior officer’s and Kirk one of the junior officers.  I would have liked it better if they said that Kirk had once been Wesley’s first officer.  That would explain why the two men seemed to know how the others mind worked.  Also why does he have such a big Captain’s chair? I know the real reason, but what is the story reason?  Is because he is a commodore or is it that standard chair for those Constitution-classes built after the Enterprise?  

FINAL GRADE  5 of 5

THE SMARTEST STUPID PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE

 

Episode Title:  Patterns of Force

Air Date: 2/16/1968

Written by John Meredyth Lucas

Directed by Vincent McEveety

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”        Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura                 Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley           Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                Richard Evans as Isak             Eddie Paskey as Trooper                   Frank Da Vinci as Soldier at Party              Roger Holloway as Soldier at Party                       Valora Noland as Daras               Jeannie Malone as Blonde in Audience          Skip Homeier as Melakon                       David Brian as John Gill                 Patrick Horgan as Eneg            William Wintersole as Abrom             Gilbert Green as S.S. Major               Lev Mailer as S.S. Lieutenant             Ed McCready as S.S. Trooper          Peter Canon as Gestapo Lieutenant         Paul Baxley as First Trooper         Chuck Courtney as Davod        Bart La Rue as Newscaster         Benjie Bancroft as.          Soldier at Party       Sean Morgan               as Second Trooper        Joe Paz as S A Brigadier     Basil Poledouris as Trooper       Robert Strong as Soldier at Party

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Ekos and Zeon

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is on a mission to the planet Ekos looking for a lost Federation official named John Gill.  Ekos is in a system with another planet named Zeon.  Both planets have humanoid populations but Zeon is the more technologically and culturally advanced of the two having achieved both space flight and planetary unified government.  Ekos however has been fractured into small warring states for a number of years.  John Gill was sent there as an observer.  Gill himself is a professional and accomplished historian.  He was Captain Kirk’s history professor at Starfleet Academy.  Spock didn’t take his class but had read his publications and was impressed with his analysis. Spock especially liked Gill’s interpretation of history through causes and motivations rather than dates and events.   

Travel the universe and still run into Nazis!

Suddenly the Enterprise is attacked with an interplanetary missile with an armed nuclear warhead launched from Ekos.  They manage to destroy with ease but that raises another concern as Ekos were centuries away from such technology at last report.  Kirk decides to that he and Spock will have to investigate directly.  Kirk doesn’t want the Enterprise to stick around in orbit too long.  So he has Scotty drop them off and then come pick them up at a set time.  To insure and immediate extraction Kirk has Dr. McCoy place emergency transponders under their skin. 

Not so good at playing Nazi

Kirk and Spock beam down wearing civilian clothing that their records say match the local population.  When they get there they find a young man being chased by a squad of SS Nazis.  Wearing uniforms that seem to have come straight out of the 1930s or 40s, the squad beats up the poor man and drags him away.  Kirk wanted to interfere but their code of non-interference.  Thinking about this Kirk asks Spock about what are the odds that another culture could have developed an ideology identical to the Nazi party of Earth.  Spock says it’s impossible and I have lot more to say about that in the additional comments section because I don’t want to rant here.

Let's play the game who can get whipped the longest and not cry!

Kirk and Spock then come across a public broadcast.  In the broadcast they learn that the Nazis have managed to dominate the entire planet, which actually makes them much more successful than the Earth Nazis. Their target however in place of Jews and other minorities is the people of the planet Zeon.  They are trying to find every Zeonian living on Ekos and eliminate them before launching and interplanetary attack.  Kirk and Spock also learn of a new hero of the fatherland, a woman by the name of Daras.  Kirk reacts with some amusement when the broadcaster refers to the Enterprise as invader who was “ultimately destroyed.”  Lastly, they learn that John Gill is the Führer.  That last part is the most shocking of them all.  Kirk thought Gill was one of the gentlest people he had ever known. 

They decide they need to confront Gill, the two beat up some Nazis and steal their uniforms.  After leaving the two Nazis beaten and naked, Kirk and Spock head to Nazi headquarters. However they are caught immediately when Spock is forced to remove his helmet and expose his ears.  Next we see Kirk and Spock taking a whipping in the Nazi prison.  After the two Starfleet officers are put in a cell.  They find the Zeonian from earlier who the Nazis had captured.  His name is Isak and from him they learn that his people had sending over groups to Ekos to help them become more civilized and develop their planet.   While they received some support from the locals this also triggered the rise of the Nazi Party.  Kirk and Spock dig out their tracers and use the crystals inside to build a make-shift laser.  They beat up and steal the uniform of another Nazi and use the stolen uniform and some pick pocketing skills to get access to their lab where they are holding their communicators.  They find the communicators in pieces but take them anyway. 

Isak takes them to the Underground a place where the Resistance hides from the Nazis.  They are introduced to Abrom, their leader, and he is skeptical but trusts Isak’s recommendation.  Isak also learns that his wife has been killed brutally by the SS.  Later, it looks like they are discovered but it turns out Daras, the woman from the newsreel is actually a resistance spy.  She had been rewarded for exposing her father as a traitor to the party.  It was his idea so she could get into a trusted position.  Kirk revels to the Resistance that he and Spock are from another world, in fact a Federation of Planets, and the Führer is one of their people gone rogue. 

As a hero of the Fatherland, Daras is invited to party headquarters for the announcement of the Final Solution to the Zeonian problem.  As they sneak into the party they are able to get a glace of Gill, who was behind a secure bunker and he looked out of it.  The speech he was giving on camera seemed to be dubbed over.  Now once again in communication with the Enterprise, Kirk has Lt. Uhura send down Dr. McCoy dressed as a Nazi military physician.  After almost nearly getting caught, and especially odd that they didn’t considering they met the Chairman while they were imprisoned, Kirk gets his team into the same room with Jon Gill. When he is revived Kirk is able to confront him about what he had down.  Gill explained that the world was tearing itself apart and he felt that National Socialism was the answer so long as the racist and genocidal elements were removed.  He claimed the Nazi was the most efficient state Earth ever knew.  Spock clarifies his arguments for Kirk.  However it seems Gill was very wrong and that this type of government naturally generates hatred.    Deputy Führer Melakon is now the real power.  He seized control, drugged Gill to use a figurehead, and is waging the war on the people of Zeon. 

Escape with homemade lasers

As he recovers Gill gets on the radio again, to tell them that they have all been betrayed, ends the war, and recalls their space fleet.  A gun fight then ensues and the Führer and Deputy Führer are both killed.  It turns out the Chairman of the Party was also a Resistance spy with the two major leaders dead, he and Daras feel that they can lead their planet and Zeon back to peace.  Kirk and Spock are both hopeful that the two planets will one day join the Federation together.

I can play Nazi and pick pocket

Additional thoughts: Back when I was eleven in 1992 my cousin Tim who was about fifteen explained the concept of a “really smart dumb person” to me.  The example Tim gave was kid he went to school with who generally got good grades and was regarded by his teachers as rather smart.  “But,” he said, “if he were given a basketball that had the autographs of every member of the Dream Team on it, he would go out and try to play basketball with it.”

In response to the horror in my eleven year old mind of someone carelessly abusing such a precious object I asked him what he would do.  Tim answered “Simple, I would have him pass me the ball and then I would run away with it.  He is so dumb he wouldn’t understand what had just happened.  He would just figure that without his basketball he couldn’t play basketball anymore so he would just go home and do his homework.” 

Later I would learn the phrase “people smarts” or “street smarts.” It appears John Gill was deprived of those traits.  He might have been good as a historian but like my cousin’s classmate he was a really smart dumb person.  I mean who goes to a planet whose native inhabitants are ravaged by war and thinks “You know what this chaotic planet needs? Nazism, and lots of it!”   Even if you thought that there could be a begin sort of fascism that may create order from chaos, why didn’t you make up your own symbols, salutes, and all the rest?   He could do something like the Wave Experiment for example.  No, he decides what he must do is plagiarize the entire Third Reich.  You get the impression that Gill must have been thinking about this for quite some time. 

Not really a Nazi

The funny thing is fascism once had its defenders and admires even in the United States.  Joseph Kennedy is a famous example.  However this was before its true nature became exposed to the entire world.  Gill has knowledge looking back at the Nazis that is centuries old to say he should have known better is the understatement of the millennium.

 There are also some holes in the narrative.  Primarily how long was Gill there for?  In the beginning they state that Kirk had studied under him at the Academy and that he has been out of contact for months.  Now granted how long he was out of contact is not necessarily an indication of how long he was there, however given everyone actions it seems like he had been there for only a short time.  Until we actually get to Ekos.  Daras states that she grew up admiring him this would indicate that he had been there her whole life, and no one in the Federation was aware of his activities. 

A meeting of real Nazis and fake Nazis

Gill had to be there long enough to come to the conclusion the planet was helpless on its own, form a Nazi party, take over one of the states, conqueror the rest of the planet, then get overthrown and drugged by the Deputy Führer.  I think he would have to have been there for at least a decade and a half.  He must have left right after teaching Kirk’s class.

Asleep at the wheel

There are also problems with in the metaphors.  In this the people from the planet Zeon are more advanced and had been coming to Ekos to try and help them catch up.  The Ekosians see them as interfering outsiders, and despite their benevolence that is not entirely wrong even with the Nazi reaction definitely being wrong.   In real life the Jewish community had been living amongst the gentiles of Europe for almost two thousand years.  Some victims of the Holocaust had been war heroes for Germany in World War I, despite the Nazi demand to drive them out the truth was they were a part of these European communities not apart from them. 

You feel as if the average human "people smarts" IQ went up five points!

I am glad in this episode we got to see the effects of contamination like in A Piece of the Action, as opposed to the tired troupe of Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development.  Although I was sort of taken back when Kirk asks Spock what the chances of a parallel world forming a Nazi party with the same symbols and set of beliefs as Earth’s Nazis, Spock’s response was to tell the Captain it was all but impossible.  At which point Kirk should have responded with, “Are you sure, Mr. Spock?  Didn’t we come across a 20^th century type Roman Empire just a few months ago?  What about that planet last year with the immortal kids that looked like Earth from the 1960s?  Impossible? We run into this stuff all the time?”  It would have been better if Spock just quoted a number.

FINAL GRADE 3 of 5