The Doomsday Machine

The Doomsday Machine is a war story at many levels. It is the story of war spun out of control exemplified by a self-sustaining ancient device which seeks, destroys and digests whole solar systems. It is a story about military conduct aboard Federation ships. And it is, of course, a parable connected to the development and proliferation of nuclear arms. Despite all this heady stuff, it is also one of the most suspenseful and driven episodes of TOS. It is remarkable that so many viewers seem to miss the obvious points made here now that we have deluded ourselves into believing that the bomb is no longer something to be afraid of.

The plot uses a simple device - a large, impenetrable and incomprehensible rocky-looking cone with some form of bizarre and very powerful energy within it - perhaps one of the strangest and most alien space monsters ever construed. Two starships, one crew-less and crippled, and one experiencing a power-struggle involving a possibly insane commander must figure out a way to survive and warn star fleet as the 'planet killer' is just about to reach a system inhabited by millions of colonists.

Marc Daniels' directing and an amazing performance by William Windom as Commodore Decker, CO of the Constellation, are highlights of this classic episode. The Norman Spinrad script is quite serious, but not at all heavy-handed, and the regular cast, especially Nimoy, also do outstanding work.

We're back to some overwhelmingly grim tidings with this episode, a jarring reminder that there are some very dangerous threats out there in space. In a way, this can be looked upon as a precursor to the entire Borg threat introduced on the TNG series; on that show, something like the Borg was needed to shake the Enterprise and the Federation out of their complacency - or, shake them to the core, as is done to Commodore Decker here. The actor, Windom, may very well have ended up with the single best performance, as Decker, during the run of the original series. His loss is almost unimaginable - his entire crew is dead, thanks to one wrong move on his part. He's a walking dead man during the course of this episode - it's easy to compare his character to Ahab from the famous 'Moby Dick' novel, and the monstrous killing machine here to the white whale. But, Windom brings something more to the part. He's compelling from start to finish and adds such startling nuances to an already deeply fascinating, dark character. Picture Kirk as slightly older, not so sure of himself anymore; add on devastating trauma and then complex psychosis composed of guilt, obsession, and suicidal feelings - Windom juggled all of these and more to great dramatic effect.

The cosmic threat of this huge alien weapon, while exciting in itself, takes on a much more darker tone thanks to the presence of Decker on the bridge of the Enterprise. The whole plot seems to take a back seat, for awhile at least, to the strange, awful relationship between our psycho-damaged commodore and this unfeeling machine. Everyone else becomes an incidental side player to the conflict between these two, but, of course, it's Decker, in his insanity, who creates a relationship; he no longer sees it as just a machine, a programmed robot, but as his personal devil. And one definition of insanity is trying the same thing over & over, expecting different results, such as phasers penetrating impenetrable Neutronium. He looks around his new bridge, replacing the one he lost on the Constellation, and sees only tools for his use. It's one of many great moments throughout, and usually on that bridge. The entire episode seems to have benefited from everyone giving an extra effort - from the ruined exterior and interior of the sister starship to that good fight scene between Decker and the security officer (it appeared as if they really tried to suggest a futuristic style of martial arts not seen before). The writing, direction and editing are all top notch. Not to mention, Windom, as Decker, ends up with probably the best death scene of the entire series.

"The Doomsday Machine" was always in my all-time top 10 list of original Trek episodes; just saw it again for the first time in several years -- luckily in HD. I first saw this episode as an 8-year old kid during the original NBC run and was just blown away. Even after sitting through the horribly "edited", after-school rerun version of this show many, many times, it still kicked ass! William Windom was great as the haggard, broken Commodore Decker and "The Doomsday Machine" has all the elements of the best Trek episodes: tight script, thinly-disguised references to 60's politics, self-sacrifice for the greater good, tactical improvisation under pressure, victory-snatched-from-jaws-of-defeat etc. etc. It just gets better with age! Hats off to all who participated in bringing this series back with updated FX - it looks great (new prints??). I'm sure it's close to what Gene Roddenberry might have done with the show way back in the day if he had access to all the modern CG bells and whistles...

If there was any Star Trek episode from the original 1960's series that would benefit from a CGI face-lift in the special effects department, it was "The Doomsday Machine". And now the hope has become a reality thanks to the new so-called "Remastered" editions of the series.

The primary shortcoming between the original Star Trek series of the 1960's versus newly produced film and television Science Fiction, such as Star Trek: The New Generation/Voyager, Babylon 5, Independence Day, Star Wars, and countless others, have been the special effects. The visual effects of the original series could never top the CGI effects achieved today. But now this shortcoming has been eliminated with the Star Trek Remastered series; all of the exceptional Star Trek episodes can be viewed as if being seen for the first time with effects that match any SF being produced today. And with the enjoyment of the acting, the story, the characters, and the dialog that made the original Star Trek not only the best SF series of all time but one of the greatest shows ever produced for television, the experience is a wonder to behold.

Overall the story and the acting of the original Star Trek's best episodes surpass most of the writing in typical SF produced in the 1990's and 2000's, and far more compelling than most of the spin-off series. The characters played by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley still rank as one of the best character-actor combinations of any Star Trek series, and certainly of any SF series to grace the small or large screen. Although Shatner was probably the weakest of the three, the sensibility he brought to Kirk meshed well with his other leads, Nimoy as Spock and Kelley as "Bones" McCoy, who were without a doubt the strongest actors of the series and balanced-out the team.

The Remastered Doomsday Machine is a case in point. "Doomsday" is one of the best-written and best-acted segments of any Star Trek series, be it original or spin-off. Norman Spinrad's compelling tale chronicles the USS Enterprise discovering a wrecked federation starship among space debris, the Constellation. (The original was unable to show any of the debris, and the wrecked ship looked like a small white plastic model.) The ship's demise was at the hands of a giant space weapon characterized as "the devil...straight out of hell" according to Commodore Decker, the last man aboard. As frightening as the Doomsday Machine was as shown in the original 1960's offering, the new Doomsday Machine as presented via CGI is a horrific wonder to behold; a behemoth the length of the Great Wall of China with a maw the size of Mt Everest that could swallow "a dozen starships". The artists that created the imagery did a tremendous job in maintaining the relative proportional sizes of the Doomsday Machine with the Enterprise and the smaller USS Constellation. At one point, the Enterprise appears the size of a flea as compared to the massive Doomsday Machine.

Part of the compelling nature of Doomsday is not just the monstrous "villain" itself, but also the intense dynamism between the characters in which Commodore Decker (William Windom, in one of the best guest performances of any Star Trek episode) attempts to take over command of the Enterprise to combat the machine. Kirk, Mr Scott, and a handful of technicians are left stranded aboard the wrecked Constellation. When Kirk realizes Decker is jeopardizing the safety of the Enterprise to combat the nearly-invincible Doomsday Machine, he is horrified but unable to intervene, or can he? Kirk and Mr Scott work furiously to bring the Constellation back to life...

On a melancholy note, James Doohan (Scotty), whose favorite ST Episode was "Doomsday" did not live to see the new remastered version. But I am certain he would have approved. All of the scenes with the actors are untouched and unchanged. In additions, some references in the dialog that indicate what's happening in space are shown with the CGI that were not present before. For example, after Kirk boards the Constellation and finds Decker, Kirk offers to tow the wrecked ship. The Enterprise is then shown towing the Constellation, which was never seen in the original episode. If you thought the original was good, the new remastered version is superb, and keeping with the spirit of the original. And when the Doomsday Machine makes its appearance, its design is fully based on the original, just a hell of a lot more terrifying! A tremendous Star Trek experience by any standard.

One of the other commentators described this story as "Moby Dick" in space, and William Windom makes a hell of an Ahab.

The Enterprise comes across the remains of the U.S.S. Constellation, whose only survivor is its commanding officer, Commodore Matt Decker (Windom). Kirk learns that the crew of the Constellation, as well as the star system it was patrolling, was the victim of a large, cone-shaped, matter-sucking machine. Decker, overwhelmed with guilt for the loss of his crew and an obsession for vengeance, takes command of the Enterprise (while Kirk is trying to repair the Constellation) and attempts to destroy the machine.

The key to this episode is Windom's superb performance, which is balanced against Nimoy's (as always) level-headed Spock and Shatner's sympathetic Kirk. The finale is also remarkably suspenseful.