Star Trek, the original series, season 2 episode 6: The Doomsday Machine


Kirk: "What about the Constellation's tapes?"
Spock: "She was attacked by what appears to be, essentially, a robot...an automated weapon of immense size and power. Its apparent function is to smash planets to rubble, and then digest the debris for fuel. It is therefore self-sustaining as long as there are planetary bodies for it to feed on."
Kirk: "A robot weapon that purposely destroys entire solar systems. Why?"
Spock: "Unknown, Captain. However, Mister Sulu has computed the path of the machine, using the destroyed solar systems as a base course. Projecting back on our star charts, we find that it came from outside, from another galaxy."
Kirk: "What is the projected course of this thing?"
Spock: "If it follows its present path, it will go through the most densely populated section of our galaxy."


release year: 1967
genre: television sci-fi
viewing setting: home streaming 9/8/22 and home Bluray 7/14/17 and home DVD 11/2/15 and 2/22/13

synopsis: The Enterprise and its heavily-damaged sister ship, the Constellation, must work together to stop a gigantic, aggressive planet-killing machine.

impressions: This was one of the best, and the most-remembered (for me, and I suspect many other people.) This thing's basically a gigantic, mobile, indestructible cone that can cut apart and devour planets - as well as any ships that get too close. Anything like that will likely make for a fun episode. This 2006 version has a lot of remastering and CGI beefing-up of the starships and the alien machine.

activation point: 15:00 - this is when the planet-killer first shows up out of nowhere and attacks

acting: Kirk and Spock both have a lot to do this time, but they're regulars. Scotty has some quietly funny lines and comments. William Windom is the shell-shocked other captain who made some unfortunate decisions and now grasps at any chance to redeem himself, whatever the cost.

final word: Good space-battle type episode with epic scope, ideas, and implications.

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