2.35 : The Doomsday Machine.

[Dave]

The one with the planet killing machine, and crazy Commodore Decker.

Decker made a decision to beam his crew to a planet "for safety", only to find the planet destroyed and the USS Constellation spared. He is a man very similar to Kirk, so we can identify with that, and the fact that Kirk may have done the same. The guilt ridden Matt Decker we see, distraught, and in shock, and is presumably what Kirk might become if he ever made a similar error of judgement. Only Decker realised that the doomsday machine had chopped up planets in the system, and that his crew were sent to the next planet in line. And couldn't he give Spock more detail on the planet killers weapon range, it might have helped a bit. Sounds like that would have given McCoy enough to certify him as unfit to command to me

Scotty loses his Scottish accent for one brief line of dialogue about the detonation trigger he has wired for the Constellation ("and thirty seconds later. . . poof!")

 

[Technomage]

This is one of my favourite TOS episodes - I really enjoyed the cat and mouse game they were playing with the Planet Killer and the method they used to finally destroy it.

I would've liked to see this device revisited in some other Trek series, as there were probably more than one of them out there, plus it would have been interesting to see a newer class of ship go up against one.

 

[warstarcerberus]

best show of them all

wonder how many more are out there think the klingons would beat this

 

[Steve Jordan]

Re: best show of them all

wonder how many more are out there think the klingons would beat this

Are you kidding? Once the Klingons realized that sacrificing their ship would kill it, they'd be lining up for the "honor." They could fit half their fleet in there!

Seriously, the melodrama in this one was great, and the angst of a tortured Decker was palpable. I particularly loved Decker's rubbing the data tapes in his hand, ala The Caine Mutiny's Capt. Queeg. And the soundtrack and lighting were some of the best use of atmosphere in TOS.

Such a shame the Constellation was such a cheap-looking AMT model.

 

[Steve Jordan]

FYI: I just came from watching this episode in the new "remastered effects" version. As one of the episodes that featured a lot of space scenes, I think it was one of the best uses of the new effects in the series (assuming you're not too much of a purist to condone watching the new effects versions).

I can't say the Domsday Machine came off looking any more menacing--stubbier, maybe--but seeing the damaged U.S.S. Constellation limping and bucking through space was great. (Such a shame my local station insists on editing out seconds here and there, and even entire snatches of conversation, to get those precious extra commercials in.)

 

[BAYLOR]

One of the best episodes of the Original series .

 

[Extollager]

best show of them all

Could be, at that. It's really good all the way through.

 

[Droflet]

Agreed.

 

[BAYLOR]

Could be, at that. It's really good all the way through.

Written by Norman Spinrad and he is an outstanding writer.

 

[Extollager]

Topnotch teleplay. Nice use of the Star Trek ensemble (though where was Uhura?) to generate appropriate, interesting dialogue, and one of the very most interesting guest roles. The production team needed a strong, strong performance from the guest actor to carry the Commodore Decker role, and they got it from William Windom. I literally got goosebumps watching, yet again, his tortured first scene.

One can pick a nit or two -- the scale seems off in a number of scenes: if the Enterprise is that far away from the killer device, i.e. there's really, say, 500 or a thousand miles between them, but they look that close, the Enterprise must be enormous and so must be its crew. This problem could have been avoided if it weren't for the fact that the two objects seem to be on the same plane.

But this one, like "Naked Time" which I recently commented on, has that nice quality of being a science fiction teleplay in which the problem is resolved by people working hard at the scientific or engineering situation, + taking risks. A rather good knuckle-biter.

 

[BAYLOR]

They original wanted Robert Ryan for the role of Matt Decker.

 

[BAYLOR]

The one with the planet killing machine, and crazy Commodore Decker.

Decker made a decision to beam his crew to a planet "for safety", only to find the planet destroyed and the USS Constellation spared. He is a man very similar to Kirk, so we can identify with that, and the fact that Kirk may have done the same. The guilt ridden Matt Decker we see, distraught, and in shock, and is presumably what Kirk might become if he ever made a similar error of judgement. Only Decker realised that the doomsday machine had chopped up planets in the system, and that his crew were sent to the next planet in line. And couldn't he give Spock more detail on the planet killers weapon range, it might have helped a bit. Sounds like that would have given McCoy enough to certify him as unfit to command to me

Scotty loses his Scottish accent for one brief line of dialogue about the detonation trigger he has wired for the Constellation ("and thirty seconds later. . . poof!")

Given the fact that he was up against a planet Killer, beaming his crew onto a planet was an idiotic decision . One that he should have thought through. His crew would have made it had they stayed on the Constellation.

After having destroyed his own ship and gotten his crew killed n futile attempt to destroy the Planet Killer. Why would he repeat the same stupidity with the Enterprise and its crew? Had he survived, he would have probably been court marshaled.

 

[KGeo777]

Maybe he felt he could beam them down and then distract the weapon. Seems like an extremely rash move but it did allow for that great bit of guilt-ridden dialogue about him being helpless to save them. My guess is they were so shocked to face such a weapon that they didn't think it through.

I like the fact that Kirk is not freaking out about Dekker taking command. I almost expected Kirk to say something "how dare you want to take my ship." But since they are friends and Kirk isn't going to assume that Dekker will be crazy, he doesn't react like that.
Also that he is is busy repairing the ship--he has the skills to do some maintenance on the ship.
Best Scotty episode I remember.
But the CGI is really bad in the restoration. They need to redo it. The planet killer looks bland compared to he original./

 

[KGeo777]

Actually-if the crew had stayed on the ship-they could have died anyway.
The Enterprise would have found them-been unable to beam them aboard in time.
If the possibility of ramming the ship into the planet killer had occurred to them--it would have meant sacrificing the crew of the ship.

 

[BAYLOR]

Actually-if the crew had stayed on the ship-they could have died anyway.
The Enterprise would have found them-been unable to beam them aboard in time.
If the possibility of ramming the ship into the planet killer had occurred to them--it would have meant sacrificing the crew of the ship.

Even so, I wouldn't have beamed them down What Decker did was dumb. I would worked on trying to fix life support. Also the Enterprise coming along , could have still and could helped restore enough systems to keep them alive and they still could take Constellation in tow .

 

[KGeo777]

But the planet killer was in the area right?
So if they had, then they would been more vulnerable. Could they go to warp with the Constellation in tow?

Another interesting thing is Dekker saves Kirk's life--(despite being the one who puts him in that situation).
Kirk blasts the weapon and it turns and then Dekker blasts it so it gets distracted again.

"I don't recognize your authority! You're bluffing."

 

[BAYLOR]

But the planet killer was in the area right?
So if they had, then they would been more vulnerable. Could they go to warp with the Constellation in tow?

Im thinking that thye might have had enough to time beam the surviving Constellation crew over to safety of Enterprise

Another interesting thing is Dekker saves Kirk's life--(despite being the one who puts him in that situation).
Kirk blasts the weapon and it turns and then Dekker blasts it so it gets distracted again.

He does and scarily enough , I actually liked Matt Decker and felt bad for him when when he went down the maw of the Planet killer . In the novelization of the trek of episode by James Blish, Decker( who goes by the name Brand ) survives and gets to acknowledge that Constellation would be last command. And interestingly Matt Decker played by William Windom shows up in the Fan made Phase II Star Trek Episode In Harms Way. What happened is that instead of dying in the explosion The Shuttle with Decker got sent back in time and Decker lived out his life in the 21st century .

"I don't recognize your authority! You're bluffing."

A surprisingly good dramatic moment. Originally Roddenberry wanted Robert Ryan in the role of Matt Decker but, he was unavailable. In retrospect Ryan wouldn't have turned in as a good or as memorable a performance as William Windom did.