"The Doomsday Machine"

The Enterprise is investigating the mysterious annihilation of numerous star systems when it comes upon the shattered hulk of one of its sister ships, the Federation Starship Constellation. Kirk beams aboard and finds the Constellation’s commander, Commodore Matthew Decker, in a state of shock. Decker is the only member of the Constellation’s crew still aboard. Decker recounts what became of his crew, how he beamed his people down to the planet below because the Constellation was severely damaged. Tragically, the planet was destroyed by what Decker refers to as a “planet killer,” a massive robotic device capable of destroying entire planets. Kirk tries to get the Constellation up and running while Decker returns to the Enterprise for medical treatment. Decker quickly pulls rank and tries to take command of the Enterprise in an Ahab-like quest to destroy what Kirk called “the doomsday device.” Kirk contacts the Enterprise and authorizes Spock to assume command. A desperate Decker steals a shuttlecraft and runs a kamikaze attack on the planet-killer, causing little damage and killing himself in the process. Kirk decides to try the same tactic, this time with the awesome energies of the Constellation’s now-working matter-antimatter warp drive. Kirk is beamed off at the last minute as the Constellation literally rams down the maw of the Doomsday Machine, destroying it forever.

Story

“The Doomsday Machine” is an epic episode, which offers everything one could want from story: human drama, intrigue, and action. Characters with real flaws and feelings are at its core, and as a result, it is one of the finest hours of Trek ever.

Action

Holy crap, is there ever action in “The Doomsday Machine.” It never lets up. From the moment we learn of the mystery of the destroyed star systems, we know something is up and the intensity and suspense level ratchets up. There’s horror, suspense, and high drama in this episode. We have the Enterprise’s mad run against the Doomsday Machine under the equally mad command of Commodore Decker, we have Decker’s suicide shuttle attack, and we have the last-minute beam out of Captain Kirk as the once-mighty Constellation makes her final voyage into the belly of the beast.

Performances

The performances in “The Doomsday Machine” are top notch all around. The regulars are all at the top of their game, and William Windom’s performance as Decker is one of the finest in the entire series. It’s not easy to run the gamut of emotions required by Decker’s role, but Windom does so and more, anchoring the entire dramatic and tragic tale of which he is the emotional center. Shatner does a terrific job of playing a Kirk who is tormented by what his old friend Decker has become, and at the possibility of what he might become, should he not succeed in yet again finding a way to cheat death at its own game.

Trektastic Moments

“The Doomsday Machine” is itself one big Trektastic Moment, a true classic of the series. We have a tense, brooding, and determined Kirk, who will not give up in his search for a way to stop the seemingly-unstoppable foe he’s up against. We have the ever-loyal Spock and the ever-irascible McCoy, who are briefly at odds over Decker’s temporary command of the Enterprise. We also have Scotty feverishly working to bring about one of his many miracles, a Trek mainstay from early on in the series.

A nice bit of continuity would later be established years later in the first Star Trek motion picture, which featured Commodore Decker's son Captain Willard Decker as the new captain of the Enterprise, a major role in the film. "The Motion Picture" will come later on in The Trektastic Voyage, around August of 2007.

Overall

“The Doomsday Machine” has tremendous acting, drama, and suspense, and a haunting emotional core. Highest possible recommendation.

The episode’s title card, featuring a painful shot of the shattered wreck of the U.S.S. Constellation.


The heroic and tortured Commodore Willard Decker.


The killer beast of the star-seas, the Doomsday Machine.