The Doomsday Machine (TOS episode)
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| Star Trek: TOS episode | |
| "The Doomsday Machine" | |
 The Constellation enters the planet killer, The Doomsday Machine. |
|
| Episode no. | 35 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 035 |
| Airdate | October 20, 1967 |
| Writer(s) | Norman Spinrad |
| Director | Marc Daniels |
| Guest star(s) | William Windom Elizabeth Rogers John Copage Eddie Paskey William Blackburn Richard Compton Tim Burns Jerry Catron John Winston Vince Deadrick |
| Year | 2267 |
| Stardate | 4202.9 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "The Apple" |
| Next | "Catspaw" |
"The Doomsday Machine" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #35, production #35, and was first broadcast on October 20, 1967. It was repeated on April 19, 1968. It was written by Norman Spinrad, and directed by Marc Daniels.
Overview: The Enterprise plays a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with an alien planet-killing machine.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
On stardate 4202.9, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, responds to a distress call and finds that seven planets in star system L370 have been destroyed. A check of a nearby system, L374, finds that all but two of its planets have been destroyed. Energy output within the system interferes with communications, but they still manage to pick up another distress call coming from the USS Constellation. The ship is found adrift, heavily damaged and barely operating on reserve power. The ship's bridge is completely blown apart and uninhabitable.
Kirk beams over with a boarding party to inspect the ship and locate survivors. They find only the Constellation's commanding officer, Commodore Matthew Decker, remaining aboard, holed up inside the auxiliary control room. Mr. Scott reports the ship's warp engines are damaged beyond repair and the ship's weapon systems are exhausted. Decker is incoherent and in shock, unable to respond to questions and only says "that thing" attacked him.
Scotty manages to playback the Constellation's flight recorder and they find out Decker discovered the obliterated systems and went to investigate as one of the worlds was breaking up. They soon came across an enormous machine with a conical shell miles in length and a giant opening at one end filled with sparkling energy. The machine then attacked the Constellation, damaging the ship so severely that Decker had to beam his remaining crew to the surface of one of the remaining planets. The machine then destroyed that world and all Decker could do was to watch helplessly.
Mr. Spock describes the machine as a robot, the function of which is to break down planets into rubble and consume it for fuel. Kirk believes that it is a "doomsday machine", built according to the theory of mutually assured destruction.
Decker is beamed aboard the Enterprise where Dr. McCoy is to look him over, while Kirk and Scotty are overseeing repairs on the Constellation. However, upon their arrival aboard, a red alert sounds, and both doctor and patient head for the bridge. Drawn to the energy output of the Enterprise, the machine has reappeared in the vicinity, and is generating sufficient subspace interference to render communication with Starfleet Command impossible. Spock orders an evasive course to pick up the captain and repair crew, then exit the system in order reach safety and to warn Starfleet Command. The machine attacks the ship, but damage is limited to the transporter and communications before the robotic weapon appears to lose interest and veers off. Commodore Decker, whose transfer to sickbay had been preempted by the Red Alert, pulls rank on Spock, and over the protest of both the First Officer and Dr. McCoy, assumes command of the Enterprise. Since regulations prohibit them from stopping Decker, the Commodore orders a full attack against the machine.
As Spock warned, the ship's weaponry is ineffective against the machine's pure neutronium shell, and the Enterprise is badly damaged in the machine's counterattack. The ship is then drawn towards the machine's maw and cannot break free. Back on board the Constellation, Kirk, using a phaser bank Scotty has recharged, manages to fire off a few shots at the planet killer and distract it before it can finish off the Enterprise. The machine then targets the Constellation, but the Enterprise pulls a distraction of its own. Appearing confused, the planet killer disengages and then pursues the Enterprise. However, the situation is still grave with Spock estimating that the ship can only maintain its distance and speed for seven hours with its warp drive damaged, whereas the planet killer has nearly unlimited fuel.
After contacting the Enterprise and learning about Decker's takeover, Kirk invokes his personal authority as ship's captain and furiously orders Spock to relieve Decker of command. A charged standoff ensues, during which Decker attempts to brazen it out. Spock threatens to have Decker arrested if he does not yield the conn, declaring that "Vulcans never bluff,". The increasingly unstable Decker relents. Spock has the commodore escorted to Sickbay, but on the way Decker overpowers his security escort and steals a shuttlecraft. He pilots it on a direct suicide attack course into the planet killer's maw. Decker's attack fails to destroy the machine, but a slight reduction in the machine's energy output, believed caused by the anti-matter explosion of the shuttle's reactor, reveals the attack still had a slight effect.
Kirk gets an idea to have Scotty rig the Constellation with a 30-second delayed time explosive and try Decker's plan on a much larger scale. While the loss of crew means that they cannot activate the destruct system and there is no antimatter left with which to detonate the warp core, Kirk suggests detonating the ship's impulse engines as it enters the maw of the planet killer. Spock calculates that this action will result in a nuclear explosion of 97.835 megatons.
Someone must stay behind until the last 30 seconds to guide the ship in manually, and Kirk orders Scotty and the rest of the repair crew back to the Enterprise.
With everything set, Kirk steers a course into the planet killer's maw. Kirk activates the detonation and calls for a beam out. However, the earlier battle had damaged the Enterprise's transporter and the system's emergency repairs short out when activated, at the worst possible moment. Scotty rushes to make repairs while Kirk nervously watches the energy maw of the doomsday machine drawing closer. Scott's repairs work and, at the last second, Kirk is beamed out as the ship enters the maw. The resulting explosion burns out the doomsday machine, and its indestructible body shell remains drifting dead in space.
The episode ends with speculation that if this really is a doomsday machine, there may be more out there somewhere.
[edit] Trivia
- The incidental music of this episode was composed by Sol Kaplan and is considered one of the classic series' most signature themes. The distinctive martial cadence and innovative use of the muted trumpet and a powerful brass section made it one of the most stirring themes of dramatic tension. Major parts were recycled in later episodes when a sense of nail-biting suspense was called for in the direction.
- The planet killer itself was created from a design by Greg Jein and consisted of a conical form covered with tin foil and photographed with special lighting to give it an alien texture. The inner core was a slow-motion matte overlay of a welding arc.
- This is the first episode of Star Trek to feature a Federation Starship other than the U.S.S. Enterprise.
- James Doohan briefly loses his Scottish accent when he says the words "Thirty seconds later, poof," while explaining to Kirk how to use the Constellation's self-destruct switch.
- The actual filming prop of the Constellation was constructed from an AMT model kit of the Enterprise. The Constellation's registry of NCC-1017 was produced by rearranging the Enterprise's registry (NCC-1701) on the model.
- Writer Norman Spinrad conceived of the role of Decker being portrayed by Robert Ryan, who was unavailable due to other commitments.
- In most of the earlier drafts of the screenplay, Decker did not sacrifice himself, but instead survived to admit his mistakes and voluntarily retire. The James Blish adaption of the episode is based on this earlier version, and also has Decker's first name being "Brand". The core of this scene was later recycled into the ending of The Deadly Years, where Commodore Stocker admits to Kirk that his taking command of the Enterprise was in the wrong.
- The episode is constantly ranked in the top five of any "top ten" polls taken amongst fans with regards to their favorite Star Trek episodes.
- Willard Decker in Star Trek: The Motion Picture was based on a character intended to be the son of Matt Decker in the Star Trek: Phase II series. This piece of information is not mentioned in the movie, however; the characters' familial relationship is not canon.
[edit] Spin-off sequels
- According to the game Star Trek Star Fleet Academy, there is a school of thought that speculates that the energy barrier around the perimeter of the galaxy was created to keep these planet killers out. This information is found in the library computer on the bridge. If this is true, then it is not 100% effective.
- Another, and far more popular, school of thought connects these planet killers with The Preservers, an ancient race first mentioned in The Paradise Syndrome, and may have fought the Borg as well as created the energy barrier. This was the premise behind Peter David's TNG novel Vendetta. This method of attack used against the Borg would be consistent with that seen used by Species 8472 in Star Trek: Voyager.
- "In Harm's Way", the first regular episode of the fan-made series Star Trek: New Voyages, was an unofficial sequel to this episode. That episode even had a cameo by William Windom, reprising his role as Commodore Matt Decker.
- The Doomsday Machine appears in Amarillo Design Bureau Inc.'s Star Fleet Battles first monster-based scenario (SM1.0) as "The Planet Crusher" (or "The Creature that ate Sheboygan III"). It was a basic monster scenario enabling a beginning player to learn how to fight his starship. The monster moved by automatic rules, allowing for one person to play the scenario.
[edit] External links
- The Doomsday Machine at StarTrek.com
- The Doomsday Machine article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
| Last produced: "Amok Time" |
Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 2 |
Next produced: "Wolf in the Fold" |
| Last transmitted: "The Apple" |
Next transmitted: "Catspaw" |
