Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 35: The Doomsday Machine [VHS]

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4 star:		(1)
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I can't resist writing the review of one of the most exciting, action-packed, interesting science fiction hours ever done. Forget the fact that modern CGI could do special effects 20X better; this story of the Enterprise versus an hugely powerful alien planet killer while Kirk and the crew face off against the obsessed Captain of the destroyed starship Constellation (Matt Decker, played by William Windom) makes for great drama. Never have the stakes been higher for Kirk ( perhaps except in "City on the Edge of Forever", which is a more personal story, this is a pure Kirk, crew and the Enterprise adventure) as the Captain, watching helplessly on a viewscreen, sees his beloved crew and ship facing imminent destruction inside the fiery maw of the tremendous planet killer.
The fantastic score, quick pacing and terrific performance make it a standout SF episode comparable to any series. It isn't perfect, some may consider the planet killer a cornucopia in space, but it is one of the most satisfying episodes of Trek with a terrific moral about superweapons. It has an air of immediacy and freshness even today. If you don't have all the episodes already, you should have this one. Even casual fans like it. A side note:
compare the ability of the Enterprise to withstand attack in this show to subsequent movies. After the first film, the ship was evidently depowered. This episode almost borders on comic book level combat, but it works because it puts the larger than life characters in a situation where you're not sure they can make it.

Long before the 1975 Speilberg film I have to call this one Jaws in space. It has William Windom as a broken captain because all of his crew beamed into space to avoid this cone shaped planet eater. It has all the classic adventure elements to make this one of the best episodes of all time. I love the scenes when Kirk has to board the doomed Constitution Class Starship to lure the planet killer to it's demise. Buy it!

I just wanted you fellow trekkies to know that I consider this episode to be the finest of the entire batch of 78 episodes. It's considered by many to be the most dramatic of the episodes and additionally, It's Spock's best performance, Period. "Vulcans NEVER Bluff!" It should get more credit as an outstanding episode. You won't go wrong with this one.

In "The Doomsday Machine," Captain Kirk and the crew find an injured ship with a commander that has just witnessed his whole crew die aboard his ship after a tube-shaped creature in space attacked his ship. Kirk has to do what he can to help the ill and paranoid commander whom he has a lot of respect for, while also keeping the Enterprise a safe distance from this galactic creature that can eat whole planets.

"The Doomsday Machine" isn't my favorite episode of Star Trek - The Original Series, but it's definitely one of the best. It has great acting, especially by Spock, good effects, and it's exciting. If you like the classic episodes of Star Trek, get this episode now!!!

I consider this the best TV show ever. Who could come up with such relevant ideas for a script in such a tasteful manner. Not anyone else yet.

It sends chills down my spine to see Kirk at the end keeping his cool while he faces the machine.

Spock was Spock, Kirk was kirk that's that.

Classic confrontations throughout. (Spock/Decker, Kirk/Decker, Spock/McCoy (nothing new here), in other words Decker vs. the Enterprise crew!) I always wonder what would have happened if Kirk & Co. would have beamed back at the same time as Decker & McCoy. Decker outranks Kirk... would he be able to "assume command" the same way he did over Spock? Episode is superbly written, acted, and played. McCoy fans will be disappointed when he gets an early out by being ordered off the bridge by Decker, but not before his usual humor gets in replying to Decker's "You are out of line, Doctor." with a terse "So are you........................SIR!" Get it, watch it, enjoy it - again & again!

This episode has always intrigued me, no matter how many times I view it! The best reason is that it's the first time we get to see a star ship damaged, both internally and externally.

Second, it's one of the best "tongue in cheek" spots for both Nimoy and Kelly.

Third, if they were ever to REMAKE this scenario, or ever enhance the original (all you DS9 fans know what I am talking about) they could have a field day and get away with it!

Not to mention, if it were remade, image that PLAYMATES toys could have a field day!

I've lagged on enough, suffice to say that it's one of the best episodes from the classic series!

In my opinion this particular episode is among the 5 best "Star Trek Original Series" episodes.

On the back of the video box it plainly says, "Kirk is stuck on a disabled ship while its revenge-crazed commander seizes control of the Enterprise from Spock and pursues a planet-killing robot ship".

This is a concise and correct synopsis, though what doesn't come across is the anxiety and tension that this episode oozes. I can recall seeing this episode in the spring of 1967 and I wanted it to never end. I got severe chills down my spine every time the phasers fired at the planet killer. I still recall [memorized] the exact words that Commodore Decker whimpered out as he explained what happened to his ship and crew to Kirk and Doctor McCoy. For years my friends and I took turns uttering the dialogue of Decker in crisis. Also very memorable, during the conflict between Decker and Spock when Spock finally relieved Decker of command, was Spock's poignant intonation, "Vulcans never bluff," followed by Decker's, "No, I don't suppose that they do." That scene still brings a lump to my throat almost 40 years later.

Everything everyone says about this being over-the-top and a bit too much may be true, but that is not how this type of episode or any of the original series episodes should be judged. Let's forget about "Moby Dick" for now. "The Doomsday Machine" had real impact and evoked reactions from Star Trek fans like myself in a way that few episodes did. Add to that, there is a good central message and we feel something about the show, the characters, and the episode for having watched it -- some of us many, many times.

When all is said and done, how many 40-year-old TV programs evoke such a response?

This is The Original Series' most intense episode, and still elicits nail-biting even after numerous viewings.

While other reviews have given us the story line in brief, suffice it to say that with it's limited budget, this episode holds up well and upped the bar for all TV Science Fiction to follow.

"Doomsday Machine" went over budget due to special FX issues, and up to it's time was the most FX-laden TV show in history. It was also one of the most expensive to produce, and was a trying project for Star Trek's 60's-era FX house to complete. Fortunately, a local toy store had a model of the "USS Enterprise" for sale, which was quickly purchased, burned with a cigarette lighter, and stressed to look like a destroyed Starship "Constellation", thus saving thousands in new model building. One can clearly see that the "Constellation" is a toy when viewed from behind as it flys into the Planet Killer's fiery maw. Very well done!

William Windom's whigged-out portrayal of Commodore Decker is absolutely perfect and adds tension to the plot. The Planet Killer itself, while frequently panned for it's papier mache-look, is terrifying for the time and well done, in my opinion. It appears malevolent, albeit coldly computerized, and massive. The sound effects of this episode and the music round out a first-rate episode.

Sent to investigate the destruction of several planetary systems, the U.S.S. Enterprise discovers a crippled starship, the U.S.S. Constellation, floating in space. Commodore Matthew Decker is the only one left on the ship. Kirk and Scotty remain on board the Constellation to try and repair the starship, while McCoy beams Decker aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. Decker informs the crew that a giant robot ship, a planet-eating machine made by a long-dead alien race, is roaming the galaxies, consuming all in its path for fuel, including whole planets. When Decker challenged it, the "berserker," as he calls it, attacked. Decker beamed his entire crew to the planet's surface below, only to have the robot consume that planet, killing the Constellation's entire crew. When the "berserker" returns, Decker, consumed with guilt over the loss of his crew, pulls rank on Spock and takes control of the U.S.S. Enterprise. He seems determined to destroy the machine, even at the cost of another ship and crew. Kirk, still on board the Constellation, contacts Spock and supports his claim that Decker is exhibiting suicidal behavior and is therefore, unfit to command. Thwarted, Decker steals a shuttlecraft and flies it down the 'throat' of the giant robot ship, killing himself. Realizing that Decker's idea, on a larger scale, might work, he sets the Constellation to self-destruct and send it after Decker's shuttlecraft. Due to a transporter glitch, Kirk barely makes it back to the U.S.S. Enterprise before the Constellation explodes, destroying the planet killer in it's path.