THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE | S.2.E.6
Star Trek - The Original Series
Original air date: October 20,1967
SYNOPSIS
The USS Enterprise encounters the wrecked USS Constellation and its distraught commodore who's determined to stop the giant planet-destroying robot ship that killed his crew.
CANON CONTEXT
Episode writer Norman Spinrad based the script on a novelette "The Planet Eater" that had been rejected by a number of publishers.
RECAP
Uh, am I the only one asking, “where the heck is Lt. Uhura?” And who the heck is this woman sitting in her chair!?
Another thought I had was how scary this nemesis is to make the Borg seem like child’s play. Then again, it did have a sort of earth worm meets mechanical Jaws look to it. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The Enterprise finds themselves in the middle of a galaxy that only a year ago had seven planets where now there are none. What happened? Amongst the wreckage is the USS Constellation just floating in space and badly damaged.
Kirk beams aboard with a small crew to look for survivors and try to ascertain what happened. While there they encounter Commodore Decker looking a bit out of sorts.
The man can hardly explain what he’s seen let alone what happened to his crew. Let’s just say he sent them to their deaths and now he’s hell bent on getting revenge by killing this supposed doomsday machine.
This thing basically chops up planets and eats them for nourishment. And it moves throughout the galaxy doing just that.
When Kirk decides to stay on the Constellation and sends Decker to the Enterprise to be examined he doesn’t realize he’s basically left a madman to take control of his ship. Commodore out ranks Lieutenant Spock who must relinquish the captain’s chair. And what does the commodore wish to do? Go after Moby Dick and kill it of course! Only problem is, this thing can’t be fired on or killed. It’s a super beast. And as usual, finding out its origins is not even discussed. If it were me I’d want to know who built it, when, how many planets it’s devoured and most importantly, if there are any others out there in space. All they care about is where it’s headed and how they must warn starfleet of its existence.
The captain orders Spock to take back control of his ship, to which the commodore is supposed to report to sick bay. Instead, he commandeers a small craft that he intends on flying into the eye of the beast.
This doesn’t work but it does weaken the thing slightly. That’s when Kirk comes up with the idea to send the battered Constellation into the beast and blow it up from the inside. Some cool images below of the beast as it nearly devours the Enterprise. Not to worry though, all is never lost when Kirk is in charge!
In the end, Decker dies, Kirk is transported back onto his ship at the 11th hour, and as always Spock speculates (jokingly?) what if there are other beasties out there. Are we at the Borg yet? I’m growing to appreciate them more and more!
DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?
Matt Decker: [distraught] They say there's no devil, Jim, but there is, right out of Hell. I saw it!
Capt. Kirk: Matt, where's your crew?
Matt Decker: On the third planet.
Capt. Kirk: There IS no third planet!
Matt Decker: [anguished] Don't you think I know that? There was, but not anymore! They called me; they BEGGED me for help, four hundred of them! I couldn't... I-I couldn't...
[begins sobbing]