| By Lisa Shock on Wednesday, October 14, 1998 - 11:59 am: |
One of my favorites! Great camera angles, music, and a good story. I wonder why Uhura isn't in it? This is the only episode in which she does not appear.
| By George H. Daley Jr. on Monday, October 19, 1998 - 11:20 pm: |
I notice that some tools on Federation ships seem to have more than one use. This metallic tool with a clear plastic, cone shaped end that Kirk uses to fix the Constellation's viewscreen looks like the laser beacon DeSalle uses to try to hail the Enterprise in "The Squire of Gothos"
| By Charles Cabe on Tuesday, October 20, 1998 - 02:45 pm: |
Actually, it is fairly commom for tools to have many uses. In an episode of Macguyver, he uses a digital watch as a laser reflector, a detination timer, and (last but not least) to tell time.
| By Brian Lombard on Thursday, October 22, 1998 - 07:50 am: |
Sorry Lisa, but Uhura is also missing from "All
Our Yesterdays", as well as "Where No Man Has
Gone Before".
| By Brian Webber (Bwebber) on Thursday, October 22, 1998 - 11:32 am: |
I can't say anything that hasn't been said already, so I'll just say that this is definately my favorite episode.
| By Elio Arteaga on Saturday, October 24, 1998 - 10:20 pm: |
Yet another reference to the use of money in the Federation refuting Picard's contention in ST�First Contact that the Federation doesn't use money:
When Scotty miraculously gets phasers operational, Kirk says "Scotty, you've earned your pay for the week."
| By Alex Vincent on Saturday, October 24, 1998 - 10:25 pm: |
Elio -- I dispute that. Remember, Picard's work happened 100 years after Kirk's. A lot can happen in 100 years, as I'm sure this century proves...
| By D.K. Henderson on Sunday, October 25, 1998 - 11:35 am: |
Right near the end, as they're trying to beam Kirk back and the transporter goes boom, does anyone know just what it is that Scott mutters to himself as he goes diving back up the Jeffries tube? Perhaps this incident was one of the reasons Starfleet decided to put the communicators on the uniform. Scott has to waste valuable moments scrambling back out of the tube, stepping to the wall intercom, hitting it and telling them to try it again. By the way, he wastes words, too. A simple "GO!" would have sufficed. Best line, as Decker announces that they are going to attack again, "Not with MY ship!"
| By Todd M. Pence on Tuesday, October 27, 1998 - 11:03 am: |
Uhura is also missing from the following episodes: "Miri", "The Devil in the Dark", "Wolf in the Fold", "The Paradise Syndrome", "The Empath", "The Way to Eden" and "Turnabout Intruder", in addition to the three already mentioned.
| By Mike F. on Tuesday, October 27, 1998 - 12:29 pm: |
Jimmy Doohan mutters the same thing whenever he's supposed to be cursing - look for it in ST V. It sounds something like "Bogus Fat."
| By D.K. Henderson on Saturday, October 31, 1998 - 06:59 am: |
I wonder if it's suppose to be Gaelic?
| By Allan Olley on Saturday, October 31, 1998 - 09:18 pm: |
I just feel I should point out the idea that the federation does not use money is first advanced in the fourth movie, by Kirk. Of course perhaps at that time the federation had only recently made the change over and so that explains the referemces to money. Also, plenty of people besides the federation do use money, maybe it just rubs off on these starship crews.
| By Chris Franz on Thursday, November 12, 1998 - 10:10 pm: |
Acording to "Beam Me Up Scotty", James Doohan's autobiography, he said, "Bragus blath". He said it was "a made up scottish curse."
| By Johnny Veitch on Saturday, November 14, 1998 - 05:03 pm: |
The Constellation appears to be a slightly different type of ship than the Enterprise. Although it generally resembles a Constitution class starship the ends of the nacelles are neither vents nor spheres! Interestingly enough, this is what the Enterprise looked like in "The Cage". Presumably this is an early version of the Constitution class starship, and the Enterprise was upgraded between pilots but he Constellation wasn`t!
| By Shane Tourtellotte on Saturday, November 14, 1998 - 07:37 pm: |
Constellation looks different from Enterprise in this episode because the model they used for Constellation was the same kind being sold in toy stores. It didn't have the same detail as the Enterprise model, being considerably smaller and made for children to boot. This is how they brought episodes in without going over budget in those days.
| By Spockania on Sunday, December 13, 1998 - 07:11 am: |
Perhaps when Kirk says "Scotty, you've earned your pay for the week" he means Scotty can get his rations? Just because they don't use money doesn't mean there can't be a system of rewards or even plain payment. Perhaps the Enterprise crew gets paid in chicken sandwiches and coffee...
| By Johnny Veitch on Sunday, December 13, 1998 - 07:13 am: |
Or in those replicator-cards we saw in "And the Children Shall Lead".
| By Kail on Sunday, February 28, 1999 - 05:20 pm: |
Another of my favorite episodes. The actor doing Decker turned in a marvelous performance. There are many subtle moments in this episode that tickle me every time I see it. Decker making Spock come down to his intercom on the Captains chair, for one. Also when Decker says the thing had the maw the size of 12 starships, I can always hear Kirk say "It's maw? Did you see it's paw too?" Also, the security on the Enterprise seems very lax. Not only does Decker beat up his escort, he's able to just walk in and steal a shuttle.
| By Mf on Sunday, February 28, 1999 - 10:22 pm: |
Well he is an experienced Starship commander. It's a good fight scene. Also one of the few (only?) times in Trek we see a non-captain in regular command of a starship.
| By MikeC on Saturday, January 16, 1999 - 04:20 pm: |
GUEST STAR PATROL (not related to Space Patrol)
William Windom (Decker) is a familiar character actor, appears in some westerns (a notable episode of "Gunsmoke" I remember), and does a few commercials nowadays.
| By Ian Bland on Wednesday, January 20, 1999 - 10:28 pm: |
Regarding the use of money- Kirk also uses the phrase, "You've just earned your pay for the week" to Chekov in 'Who Mourns For Adonais?'.
And come to that, what's the point of selling tribbles if nobody's got any hard cash to buy them with?
| By Ian Bland on Wednesday, January 20, 1999 - 10:37 pm: |
Just wanted to add that this is my absolute favourite episode of the whole Trek universe- all the series AND the movies...
| By Jeff on Wednesday, January 27, 1999 - 04:42 pm: |
Solid nutronium, eh? A single starship could not combat it, eh? Federation metalurgists starship builders should have been all over that thing, building better starships in the 24th century!!!
| By BrianB on Wednesday, April 07, 1999 - 01:11 am: |
To most of the above:
I think most every reference to money is supposed to be an expression. Although it did take four movies to say our perfect Earth doesn't require money. In ST3, intergalactic money is referred to as credits. I think the Federation has known all along they explore a galaxy filled with money grubbing societies, even if Federation worlds don't use the stuff.
Additionally, maybe Scotty's pay is a bucket of donuts. Which explains his movie roles (Mmm, rolls!) A donut a day keeps the engineer away. Would you do it for a Scotty Snack?
| By Keith Alan Morgan on Saturday, April 17, 1999 - 03:34 am: |
About the Constellation, Spock says, "She may have been damaged by whatever destroyed the planets." Well, duh! I hope that observation didn't tax Spock's superior Vulcan brain to the max.
On page 54 of the Classic Guide, Phil said that Auxiliary Control is missing its identifying doorplate, in the episode I, Mudd. Maybe that explains why Kirk almost walked past the Constellation's Auxiliary Control room in this episode? Maybe no Constellation type ship has an identifying doorplate on Auxiliary Control.
Why didn't Decker evacuate some of his crew onto shuttles?
It is supposed that the Planet Killer came from another galaxy. If the planet killer needs to 'eat' planets for fuel, why would it leave one galaxy to travel through millions of light years of empty space to get to another?
For a robot, the designers gave it a very odd design. Why would a crooked tail be useful for the robot?
Why would the planet killer head for Rigel if there are two planets left in this solar system?
Since the planet killer converts matter into energy it seems unlikely that a similar function (i.e. exploding a ship) would cause the thing to shut down.
At the end Kirk philosophizes about using something like a hydrogen bomb to destroy the planet killer and considers that this may be the first time such a device has been used for a constructive purpose. Apparently Kirk is using a different definition of constructive then I am familiar with. Nothing was created by exploding the Constellation, instead the operating system of the planet killer was destroyed. Exploding the Constellation was a necessary purpose, but it was still destructive.
Isn't it incredible that the planet killer has the ability to break up whole planets into 'bite-size' pieces, but it has the darndest time destroying some piddledink little spaceships?
| By Jason on Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - 09:16 am: |
The way that the planet killer could have gotten from galexy to galexy is that it coasts unpowered throught space and uses the engines only when near a fuel source.
| By Matthew Patterson (Mpatterson) on Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - 04:07 pm: |
But you can't coast at warp speed! So it would have taken the thing millions or billions of years to get from one galaxy to the next. And wouldn't it still need fuel for basic operations like sensor sweeps to find fuel, scanning for a galaxy up ahead, etc.?
| By Mike Konczewski on Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - 04:44 pm: |
Space is not completely empty. There's dust and hydrogen atoms even between the galaxies. Hydrogen is the perfect fuel for sub-light speed spaceships. The machine could act like a ram-scoop and take in interstellar material as fuel.
As to the time, who cares? It's not alive. Maybe it was created by a civilization that existed early in the lifecycle of the universe. Galaxies were a lot closer back then.
Remember also that it doesn't have life support, lighting, or any of the other power-draining systems a starship has. Its power needs could be very conservative.
Maybe the fact that the ship had been traveling so long is is why the Enterprise was able to defeat it. It was worn out from the long trip.
| By Matthew Patterson (Mpatterson) on Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - 05:05 pm: |
Perhaps, but I thought that such free material was more likely to exist in a galaxy? And besides, the average density of matter in the universe is one proton per cubic centimeter. This includes all the planets, stars, etc. So it would seem that not only would intergalactic space be empty, it would be REALLY empty. And unless I am mistaken, not all of the free matter in space exists as hydrogen. Wouldn't it be hard to fuel a ship on just protons? Besides, you've still gotta have fuel for decelerating when you get where you want to go. Star Trek likes to pretend that this isn't true, but it is and it takes and awful lot of mass to do this. Plus, don't you need fuel to run the machines that take in matter? Thus requiring more fuel? Thus requiring that you have more machines? Thus requiring that you have more machines?�
| By MattS on Thursday, May 13, 1999 - 01:47 pm: |
Why doesn't the Enterprise scan for life signs when it approaches the Constellation? Well perhaps because of the interference caused by the planet-killer. But why doesn't McCoy scan for life signs with a tricorder once they're on board? It seems silly that they wander about looking for people.
Isn't it funny the way that Kirk tells Washburn to help him with the viewscreen right after Scott was about to take him to Engineering? Poor old Scotty has to work alone; that is unless the other guy they brought with them comes out of hiding.
I completely agree that Kirk doesn't seem to know what "constructive" means!
| By mf on Friday, May 14, 1999 - 03:13 pm: |
Why would the planet killer need energy to travel between galaxies? Just set course, fire it's engined, and let momentum carry it....
| By Mark Bowman on Monday, May 31, 1999 - 11:50 pm: |
The planet killer dosen't seem big enough to destroy
entire planets, much less consume them.
It isn't much bigger than 3 galaxy class
starships and it appears to less than a mile long
(a peice of dust compared to earth). Not
only that, it's mostly hollow, not leaving
any room for machinery capable to destroy
a planet instantly. Does it spend most of it's
time eating the planet, bit by bit, digesting
it, and then using up fuel before it moves on?
| By on Unrecorded Date: |
'>Mark Bowman on Tuesday, June 1, 1999 - 12:54 am:
The planet killer dosen't seem big enough to destroy
entire planets, much less consume them.
It isn't much bigger than 3 galaxy class
starships and it appears to less than a mile long
(a peice of dust compared to earth). Not
only that, it's mostly hollow, not leaving
any room for machinery capable to destroy
a planet instantly. Does it spend most of it's
time eating the planet, bit by bit, digesting
it, and then using up fuel before it moves on?
| By on Unrecorded Date: |
'>Mark Bowman on Tuesday, June 1, 1999 - 12:55 am:
The planet killer dosen't seem big enough to destroy
entire planets, much less consume them.
It isn't much bigger than 3 galaxy class
starships and it appears to less than a mile long
(a peice of dust compared to earth). Not
only that, it's mostly hollow, not leaving
any room for machinery capable to destroy
a planet instantly. Does it spend most of it's
time eating the planet, bit by bit, digesting
it, and then using up fuel before it moves on?
| By Adam Howarter on Wednesday, June 02, 1999 - 12:10 am: |
Yes. It uses it's antiproton beam to slice them up. But remember "planet killers don't kill planets, computers do."
| By Todd Pence on Wednesday, June 09, 1999 - 05:31 pm: |
Early in the episode when Spock and Kirk are discussing the planet killer, Spock tells him it probably uses the materials of the planets it destroys to maintain its fuel supply. Kirk then almost immediately asks him for what purpose the planet killer is destroying the planets of solar systems and Spock replies "Unknown". Hel-LO guys!! Spock, you JUST GAVE the explanation!
The actor who plays Washburn later went on to be a director on TNG.
Also on the issue of scanning for life-forms on the Constellation. Kirk states as soon as they come on board and have explored just the engineering sections that there are "no survivors". How does he know? The boarding party hasn't even made a concentrated effort to locate survivors as they did after boarding the Exetere at the beginning of "The Omega Glory". Sure enough, Kirk is soon proven wrong.
| By Todd Pence on Tuesday, June 15, 1999 - 07:47 pm: |
Lt. Palmer replaces Uhura in this episode and Uhura is also absent in "Wolf In the Fold", produced just after. This leads me to wonder if this possibly wasn't the period where Nichelle Nichols was considering leaving the show, and Elizabeth Rogers (the actress who plays Palmer) was being groomed as her replacement.
| By Johnny Veitch on Saturday, June 19, 1999 - 10:56 am: |
Also, Chekov is missing in this episode, the next episode, and the one after that (The Changeling). But then they make up for it with his large roles in the next few (The Apple; Mirror, Mirror; The Deadly Years; I, Mudd; The Trouble With Tribbles)
| By Todd Pence on Saturday, June 19, 1999 - 12:02 pm: |
Chekov caught a break because of Geroge Takei's having to take time off to film The Green Berets, Chekov's large roles in "The Trouble With Tribbles" and "The Gamesters of Triskellion" were both intended originally for Sulu.
| By Mark Bowman on Thursday, July 29, 1999 - 09:11 am: |
Early in the episode when Spock and Kirk are discussing the planet killer, Spock tells him it probably uses the materials of the planets it destroys to maintain its fuel supply. Kirk then almost immediately asks him for what purpose the planet killer is destroying the planets of solar systems and Spock replies "Unknown". Hel-LO guys!! Spock, you JUST GAVE the explanation!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Spock was probaly saying he didn't know why the
the planet killer was designed to do that
(it's mission) to begin with. I think they
did come up with a theory later in the episode.
| By John A. Lang on Friday, March 10, 2000 - 02:42 pm: |
Sol Kaplan did a splendid job on the music
for this episode...especially during
the sequence in which the Constellation is headed
toward the mouth of the machine.
It's reminicent of the theme from "Jaws"
| By KAM on Saturday, March 11, 2000 - 12:18 am: |
Don't you mean the theme from Jaws is reminiscent of that sequence? Jaws music was written later than the music from this episode.
| By John A. Lang on Saturday, March 11, 2000 - 03:39 am: |
Yeah, that's it! That's what I meant!
Brain skip.
Overtime at work will do that to ya!
| By Harvey Kitzman on Sunday, July 16, 2000 - 06:40 pm: |
I highly recommend that every Star Trek fan read Vendetta by Peter David. Not only is it one of the best novels in the series, it gives a plausible explanation as to the origin of the Doomsday Machine. I don't want to give anything away, so check out the book.
| By John A. Lang on Sunday, November 12, 2000 - 05:17 pm: |
OK...phasors are useless against the thing...what about photon torpedoes?
Sulu hasn't decided to switch over to the metric system..he uses "miles" instead of "kilometers"
How come the red alert lights stay on all the time instead of flash on & off?
The little oval lite on Uhura's speaker is still burned out.
The footage of the shuttlecraft comes from "The Galileo Seven"
| By John A. Lang on Sunday, November 12, 2000 - 05:21 pm: |
Scotty uses a device on the impulse engines
that looks simular to the instrument Spock used to fix the shuttlecraft in "Metamorphosis"
| By John A. Lang on Sunday, November 12, 2000 - 05:27 pm: |
The Enterprise looks transparent at times when it fires its phasors.
| By John A. Lang on Sunday, November 12, 2000 - 05:36 pm: |
Why is there security on the Bridge?
Granted, it look very military...but they weren't
stationed there before this episode unless an emergency arose...and what's the point anyway? Kirk just leaps out of his chair and cleans the person's clock anyhow!
Also,I don't understand how Decker allowed himself to be removed just because Kirk gave Spock a direct order to take over "on his authority as commander of the USS Enterprise"...
SO???? Decker still outranks you, Kirk! Worse yet, Spock sics security on Decker as well! If I were Commodore Decker, I'd bust the lot of them down a few ranks!
Also, when the need a reaction shot from the people on the Bridge, the creators use the same shot of the 3 people working on the panel over and over again!
| By John A. Lang on Monday, November 13, 2000 - 11:22 am: |
Speaking of the "ever so logical" Mr. Spock, wouldn't it have been more logical for BOTH security guards to escort the commodore below decks rather than just the one? I mean, the guy was acting like Captain Ahab for crying out loud!
I mean, he could've went down to auxilary control
and try to have the Enterprise attack the machine again or run a shuttlecraft down the things throat (like he does later)
The fight scene is juicy...it's one of my favorites thus far
| By John A. Lang on Friday, November 17, 2000 - 01:26 pm: |
The viewer in auxillary control on the Constellation is the same one that was used to watch Pike's voyage on "The Menagerie" (it's also Pike's viewer on "The Cage")
Another familiar instrument from another episode brought over to repair the Constellation is the red hand-held gun-like device...it was used by Spock in "The Naked Time"
At one point, Spcok points out their "fuel" is low. Fuel???? What fuel? The ship runs on matter/ antimatter & dilithium crystals. I've never seen an intergalatic "Texaco" anywhere in the series.
I love the footage they creators put together for the Bridge of the Enterprise, at one point, Kirk & Spock take a walk all the way around the Bridge. It's too cool!
| By John A. Lang on Friday, November 17, 2000 - 01:34 pm: |
Kirk must have incredible eye sight. The Enterprise is still very far from the Constellation yet Kirk is able to identify it.
We the viewers don't see the letters "USS CONSTELLATION" until the opening credits.
Granted, they were looking for the Constellation,
but it seems a bit too far fetched.
I know...they read the script!
| By John A. Lang on Saturday, November 18, 2000 - 12:58 am: |
The creators tried to pull a fast one on us...
One of the close-ups of McCoy in aux. control
on the Constellation is flipped!
How do I know?
Simple...McCoy always raises his right eyebrow,
in one of the closeups, he raises his left.
| By John Lang on Wednesday, November 29, 2000 - 03:00 am: |
Great Line:
"Not with my ship, you don't"
Kirk to Decker
I think this line is great because in the early 60's, there was a movie called "Not With My Wife, You Don't"
Now, in Kirk's line, switch "ship" with "wife" and it puts the Enterprise in a whole different light and it makes Kirk's obsession with the her that much more emphatic....
"You mess with my woman and I'll break your skull!"
| By John A. Lang on Tuesday, December 05, 2000 - 01:25 pm: |
There's a shot of the Enterprise running away from the Doomsday Machine that's inconsistant from the others...the domes of the warp naecelles inherit those needles again. (Like in "The Cage")
| By Jmodene on Friday, December 15, 2000 - 12:58 pm: |
Uhura also did not appear in "Turnabout Intruder" - Elizabeth Rogers made a return appearance as Lt. Palmer.
| By Todd Pence on Friday, December 15, 2000 - 05:16 pm: |
I mentioned "Turnabout Intruder" as one of the episodes - and she was not replaced by Rogers, but by Barbara Baldavin, who also appears as a crew member in "Balance of Terror" and "Shore Leave". Elizabeth Rogers appears in "The Way to Eden".
| By kerriem. on Friday, December 15, 2000 - 09:12 pm: |
The Enterprise is still very far from the Constellation yet Kirk is able to identify it?
Several eps of the various Trek series reference the sensors being able to ID ships before they come into visual range. (Indeed, security would almost demand it.)
Also, isn't 'fuel' is a pretty generic term for whatever makes a mechanical device go, even in this century? They do run out of it from time to time - the (admittedly non-canonical) DS9 novel 'Antimatter' explains just how the replacement stuff is ferried out to starships and stored therein.
Oh, and addendum to the Guest Star Alert: William Windom spent much of his later career as cranky-but-loveable Dr. Seth Hazlit, Jessica Fletcher's best buddy on 'Murder, She Wrote.'
I love this episode! No deep messages - just straight-ahead action, really suspensful thrills and great performances. Lots of fun.
| By John A. Lang on Wednesday, December 27, 2000 - 02:22 pm: |
KUDOS---to the camera people.
There is a FANTASTIC shot that shows part of the saucer and warp naecelle of the Enterprise, and "peeking" through the gap between the saucer and the naecelle is the Constellation.
A real Grade A-1 shot!
| By Todd Pence on Thursday, January 11, 2001 - 03:39 pm: |
This is another of the James Blish adaptations where he was apparently working from an earlier, less polished version of the script. In his version Commodore Decker (whose first name is Brand instead of Matt) SURVIVES the encounter with the doomsday machine and later at the end of the story expresses chagrin to Kirk for trying to usurp Kirk's command.
| By Adam Bomb on Thursday, January 11, 2001 - 08:01 pm: |
I wish the relationship between Will Decker in ST-TMP and Matt Decker here was better defined in that film. Just a line ot two from Kirk would have done it.
In Blish's later books, he seemed to be working from final drafts and the short stories were much closer to the filmed episodes.
| By Todd Pence on Friday, January 12, 2001 - 08:17 pm: |
This was not only because Blish was getting better scripts, but because he actually had seen the show (which he hadn't while writing his first few volumes). Also, his publishing company allowed him a higher page count per volume when the books began to sell, meaning that he no longer had to condense events in the episodes.
| By Adam Bomb on Monday, January 15, 2001 - 11:15 am: |
I think you're right, Todd. In the case of Blish's first book, he was writing from first drafts (hence the title "Unreal McCoy" instead of "Man Trap") Also, the book was to be out as the first shows aired. Check out the artwork on the first book-that was from NBC's promotional flyers and insider handouts-the same ones that rounded Spock's ears.
| By Adam Bomb on Monday, January 15, 2001 - 11:21 am: |
This is the first episode with Auxiliary Control, and the expanded and improved Engineering set. Too bad they had to be introduced as part of a smashed up ship.
| By Adam Bomb on Monday, January 15, 2001 - 11:24 am: |
I recant. "The Changeling" was the first ep to introduce both, at least in aired order. Was "Doomsday Machine" filmed before "Changeling?"
| By John A. Lang on Tuesday, January 16, 2001 - 12:54 pm: |
CLASSIC SCENE:
Kirk getting beamed off the Constellation at the very last second before exploding inside the Planet Killer
No matter how many times you see the scene, it's a nail-biter and keeps you on the edge of your seat.
| By John A. Lang on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 01:41 pm: |
When Spock asks for a damage report, you can hear Mr. Kyle say "Transporters are out" very clearly...as if he were standing on the Bridge....the problem is, Mr. Kyle is supposed to be in the transporter room. His voice should have sounded like it came over the intercom system...but as I pointed out, it don't!
| By John A. Lang on Thursday, January 18, 2001 - 01:49 am: |
The sound effects of the Doomsday Machine anti-proton beam come from the disrupter sfx in "Taste of Armegeddon"...
| By Adam Bomb on Thursday, January 18, 2001 - 04:14 pm: |
And quite possibly a gazillion sci-fi movies from the '50's and '60's. The bridge sound effect was used in "I Dream of Jeannie" and (I think) "Twilight Zone" prior to Trek.
| By Todd Pence on Friday, January 19, 2001 - 01:25 pm: |
Yes, it's the sound of Albert Salmi's time machine in "Execution". It's also used as a spaceship sound effect in "Third From The Sun," I think is the episode.
| By Adam Bomb on Saturday, January 20, 2001 - 02:25 pm: |
Yes, you're right. I think "Third from the Sun" is the one with the upside down shot of the "Forbidden Planet" ship.
William Windom's perf here is outstanding. From being bombed out early on to regaining his confidence and obsession. He is also one of the few Trek characters to need a shave all the way through the ep. (No matter how long Kirk or Spock stayed in a cell, they always looked neat and clean-shaven.)
| By GCapp on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 11:45 pm: |
This was my most favorite in the beginning, too. I really dig it. However, scaling could have been done better.
By constructive use, Kirk meant that the "old" doomsday machine was used to stop a "new" one from remaining a threat to life. The doomsday weapon became a useful tool to put an end to a threat.
It is curious that the machine didn't fire on Decker's shuttle or on the Constellation when they were aiming down its throat. Was it bored with this whole business, or did it think, "Ah, a non-combative free morsel of food!"
I suppose if the producers had a chance, they could have had the Enterprise "distracting" it... and maybe they were -- the killer was pursuing the Enterprise right up to the moment Kirk's and Scott's bomb blew up in its mouth. It may have had the brain of a "fly" - unable to concentrate on more than one danger or annoyance at a time. "Hmm, that starship still has lots of energy and its anti-matter is still a threat to me, so I'd better chase it and knock it out... that hunk of debris with power readings doesn't have any anti-matter, so it can't hurt me."
| By Rene on Friday, March 02, 2001 - 04:22 pm: |
I don't know if this is mentioned, but the uncut version of the episode has the Enterprise make an evasive maneuver after it's first attacked by the planet killer. Problem? The scene before shows everyone knocked away from their stations and they won't return to their stations until after that scene.
By the way, I am enjoying Space showing all the TOS uncut. So many scenes I never saw before.
| By John A. Lang on Thursday, March 08, 2001 - 02:12 am: |
EQUIPMENT ODDITY:
After Scott barely beams back, all the lights on the transporter control panel starts blinking rapidly....including the little oval light for the communications speaker.
| By John A. Lang on Sunday, April 08, 2001 - 01:51 am: |
The footage of Scott hanging on to the grille in Engineering comes from "Tomorrow is Yesterday"
GREAT MOMENT: Kirk operating the Constellation's functions by himself in Auxilary Control.
| By Mike on Sunday, April 08, 2001 - 05:50 pm: |
Jim "Who-needs-a-crew" Kirk again?
| By ian livingstone on Sunday, April 08, 2001 - 11:45 pm: |
As for the equipment oddity of the transporter console maybe an anti oddity: After all the bloomin thing is on the fritz so why not the comm panel light blinking on too. I know when my pc goes nuts all kinds of things happen from the printer spewing paper to the scanner running (don't ask)
| By John A. Lang on Tuesday, April 10, 2001 - 01:00 am: |
Hmm. Interest thought. I just kinda figured that they'd have something like that figured out by the 23rd century.
| By Derf on Monday, May 14, 2001 - 07:12 pm: |
The silliest thing ever filmed. Decker spent ALL his energies shooting phasers at the OUTSIDE of the machine ... never ONCE directing the phaser beams inside the maw. (also just as amazing ... Spock not suggesting it)
I know ... the machine fired on the Enterprise twice, therefore lining up the ship with it's maw (also it's firing port) might be considered foolish. But the machine fired on them even though they never lined up with it's maw, so why not take the chance?
| By Will S. on Thursday, May 17, 2001 - 07:53 am: |
It's Ma? What about it's Pa?
| By Derf on Thursday, May 17, 2001 - 11:50 am: |
Nyuk - nyuk - nyuk. Okay, its frontal opening. (it looks like a painted "Bugle" chip.)
| By Doomsday Machine II: The Sequel on Friday, May 18, 2001 - 05:22 am: |
I'ma lookin' fer the captain that shot me in the paw.
| By John A. Lang on Sunday, May 27, 2001 - 03:59 pm: |
William Windom also played the President of the U.S. in "Escape From The Planet of the Apes"
| By Anonymous on Tuesday, May 29, 2001 - 09:11 pm: |
I love this episode. With that said I can say this:
Solid neutronium = paper mache.
| By Chris Todaro on Thursday, May 31, 2001 - 05:46 pm: |
On the DVD version of this episode it looks to me like the security guard standing to the right of the turbo-lift doors suddenly turns into a different person when Spock threatens to arrest Commodore Decker. (He becomes taller and is hair changes style.)
| By John A. Lang on Thursday, May 31, 2001 - 06:13 pm: |
RUMINATION: This episode was nominated the Hugo Award at the 1968 World Science Fiction Convention for "Best Dramatic Presentation"
| By The Chronicler on Sunday, June 10, 2001 - 03:58 pm: |
The shuttle Decker steals is the 1701/7, the Galileo. So just how many lives does the Galileo have?
| By Wise Guy on Sunday, June 10, 2001 - 04:02 pm: |
Uh...Seven maybe?
| By Merat on Monday, June 11, 2001 - 06:28 am: |
Nope, they are ALL 1701/7, which also happens to be Admiral Ackbar's shuttle's number in a Star Wars book
| By John A. Lang on Monday, July 09, 2001 - 08:39 pm: |
The uniform colors don't make any sense at all.
Washburn is a part of the repair crew...therefore, he's a part of the engineering staff...if that's true....why is he wearing blue instead of red? For good luck, maybe?
| By John A. Lang on Monday, July 16, 2001 - 09:23 pm: |
Kirk has fallen into an interesting habit....when he's BY HIMSELF in the auxillary control room, he says, "Fire phasers" to...........whom?
Scotty & the others are in the Engineering section.
As far as I know there is no button or switch in Engineering to fire the phasers.
Time for some shore leave, Jim.
FUNNY THOUGHT.....
If Kirk DID get chopped up in the Doomsday Machine, would that make Kirk "Cap'n Crunch"?
| By Grumbar on Monday, July 16, 2001 - 09:36 pm: |
I thought there was some tech dude in the back area behind the grating that he was talking to.
| By Todd Pence on Monday, July 16, 2001 - 11:39 pm: |
What the heck happened to the font size on this board, anyway?
| By Anonymous on Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - 07:28 am: |
Let's see if this works...
| By Brian Lombard on Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - 12:29 pm: |
Why does COMMODORE Decker record a CAPTAIN'S log?
Wouldn't ships log be more appropriate?
| By Brian Fitzgerald on Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - 02:46 pm: |
As I understand it Captian can be both a rank and a title. For example if a Lt commander is in command of a ship he can still be refered to as the captian of the ship.
| By Will on Monday, September 17, 2001 - 11:29 am: |
Kirk flies the Constellation down the Doomsday Machine's throat.
He beams off, the ship blows up.
The interior of the machine is destroyed or heavily damaged, and Spock reports that it's 'quite dead'.
The Enterprise leaves the area for her next mission.
WHOOOAA! Back up there, partner!!!
The Enterprise LEAVES the area, leaving the D.M. sitting there (hopefully) dead, and he doesn't give Scotty a chance to check it out and find out how it works? Not even a warning bouy to tell passersby that this big 2-mile-long blue club is a deactivated weapon from another galaxy? He couldn't wait to bring Scotty and his engineers down to examine Vaal, and he once claimed that Mudd's tiny little ship was a menace to navigation. I should think that such an artifact shouldn't be left alone.
A comment about the heavy radiation from the Constellation explosion would have been in order, but the light-hearted comment about finding one of these machines 'quite sufficient' after 430 Constellation crew just died, to be really out of place.
Spock said the bridge was damaged on the Constellation and uninhabital, even though the model of the ship shows no exterior damage.
All those phaser attacks and not a photon torpedo in sight.
| By John A. Lang on Monday, September 17, 2001 - 04:38 pm: |
Also Uhura is missing...probably the biggest nit of them all!
| By Rene on Monday, September 17, 2001 - 09:10 pm: |
How is that a nit?
| By John A. Lang on Monday, September 17, 2001 - 11:14 pm: |
I should have clarified, Rene....Uhura is the one & ONLY Communications Officer for the USS Enterprise under Kirk's command. No one can hold a candle to Uhura. Sure, others have been at the post, but no one can do it like Uhura & she is by far the prettiest Communication Officer ever.(IMHO)
I hope that answers your question.
| By John A. Lang on Monday, September 17, 2001 - 11:15 pm: |
PS...the prettiest Communications Officer on the Enterprise, that is....
Rand is the prettiest on the Excelsior.
| By Padawan Observer on Sunday, September 30, 2001 - 04:22 am: |
Hey... what's with the Times New Roman?
Shouldn't that be on the the Bread And Circuses board?
| By Todd Pence on Sunday, September 30, 2001 - 08:18 pm: |
The only other communications officers besides Uhura are Alden ("Where No Man Has Gone Before"), Farrell ("Miri"), Palmer (this episode and "The Way To Eden") and "Lisa" ("Turnabout Intruder").
| By Adam Bomb on Sunday, September 30, 2001 - 08:25 pm: |
Farrell (Jim Goodwin) was also the navigator in "Mudd's Women" (or was it "Enemy Within?") A very versatile crewman, to be sure. I wonder if he was related to Laurel Goodwin, who played Yeoman J.M. Colt in "The Cage."
| By Todd Pence on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 07:06 pm: |
>Farrell (Jim Goodwin) was also the navigator >in "Mudd's Women" (or was it "Enemy Within?")
Both
| By Derf on Thursday, October 11, 2001 - 02:00 pm: |
Sulu: Entering limits of System L374, sir. Scanners show the same level of destruction.
Kirk: EVERY solar system in this sector BLASTED to rubble!
Observational note: WHY IN (intercesories' name) would Kirk go ANY farther than THIS!!! His bare HUMAN NATURE should've told him to contact Starfleet and GET MORE INFO!!!
| By Derf6217 on Thursday, October 11, 2001 - 02:30 pm: |
Spock: 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 it's present path, it will go through the most densely populated section of our galaxy.
HOW can Spock know this? Unless HIS (Vulcans) galaxy and Earth's galaxy resided in THE SAME "densely populated area"! Decker's assertion that "it's MILES long with a maw that could swallow a DOZEN starships" is still NO reason to suspect it could consume "the most densely populated section of OUR galaxy" ... (whatever that is).
| By ScottN on Thursday, October 11, 2001 - 04:59 pm: |
Uh, Vulcan's Galaxy and Earth's Galaxy are one and the same... the Milky Way???
What Spock had to have meant was the most densely populated section of the KNOWN galaxy. There's still a lot that's unknown (The - future - Gamma and Delta quadrants come to mind).
| By Derf on Thursday, October 11, 2001 - 10:50 pm: |
Should've known ... but on a more pressing matter ...
This was more-than-likely commented on before, but ...
The scene where Kirk and the junior engineer finally get the Constellation's viewscreen operational has Kirk with this comment, "What the hell's going on?!" The very next scene has the Constellation's viewscreen showing the Enterprise approaching the Doomsday Machine at close range. The NIT in the scene is that the stars on the viewscreen are moving from right to left making it appear that the Enterprise is approaching the machine, YET the same stars moving left to right also make it appear that the machine is moving BACKWARD.
| By ScottN on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 12:18 am: |
Anti-nit. The relative motion of the ships caused the optical illusion.
| By Derf on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 07:41 pm: |
Anti-anti-nit: The following scenes of the Enterprise being sucked into the maw of the doomsday machine STILL show the reverse star-field.
| By Derf on Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 04:53 pm: |
Maybe I should've said "Anti-em" and dredged-up visions of flying blue monkeys ...
| By Adam Bomb on Monday, March 11, 2002 - 07:48 am: |
This may have been said before, either in Phil's book or here, but-
Spock and Kirk walk past the viewscreen twice in this ep. In each case, the screen looks like a still picture of a starfield. Especially in the second case, at the end, shouldn't we have seen the dead planet killer on the screen, as the ship did not move or even turn?
There also seems to be one station missing from the starboard side of the bridge. There should be two stations between the library computer and that half-station next to the screen; there is only one.
This, of course, does not demean the high quality of this ep, but-nitpick we must.
| By Stuart on Friday, April 05, 2002 - 06:43 pm: |
Isnt the federation worried that the planet killer may collide with an inhabited planet as it drifts through space (no inertia remember). As we saw the planet killers' structure remained intact (uts been drifting through space for 100 years by the time of DS9 / voyager) This would be disaterous if the planet killer hit an inhabited planet. Being coinstructed of neutronium this weopon would be able to crush a planet if it was on a collision course. How would they try to divert a vessel of such high mass.
| By Sophie Hawksworth on Saturday, April 06, 2002 - 06:40 am: |
The chances of a wandering object intersecting a planet at any time in the future are remote. I saw the maths once, and the results were quite convincing.
Also the further an object is from a planet, the easier it is to deflect it. This far out, you could probably deflect the ship enough just by blowing on it.
| By Stuart on Sunday, April 07, 2002 - 08:03 am: |
The weopon is said to be "miles long" and constructed of pure neutronium. This would give it a mass equivelent to a neutron star (likely to be 20 times the mass of our sun). You'd need one mother of a nuke to deflect something that mass even an inch or two. The weapon was also headed to rigel when it was destroyed. If it is trundeling along at impulse in that direction in a few centuries it would act as a severe gravitational influence on the planets of rigel, throwing worlds from their orbit to the killers sphere of influence and causing bulging and surface fluctuations on rigel itself.
| By Electron on Sunday, April 07, 2002 - 05:46 pm: |
Where exactly does it say that neutronium is the stuff neutron stars are made of?
The ships and the shuttle obviously didn't suffer from the presence of such a giant mass.
| By KAM on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 06:03 am: |
If I'm not mistaken wasn't the planet killer in a star system. I believe it had destroyed 2 or 3 of it's planets & the Constellation probably didn't have time to drift out yet.
Also I believe the planet killer had to turn several times while trying to get the ships, so I doubt that at the end it is still on a course for Rigel.
Finally wouldn't the explosion of the Constellation have countered part or all of the planet killer's forward momentum?
I would think that the planet killer would most likely be pulled into orbit around the closest star.
| By Sophie Hawksworth on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 08:02 am: |
Stuart is right about neutronium being that dangerous, a fact which I had forgotten.
I believe neutronium is the correct term for the material in a neutron star, but I wonder if the creators really knew what they were saying!
I recall in the last DS9 episode, the door to the Cardassian commands building was neutronium. If it was really the stuff neutron stars are made of, why were people not pulled into the door and crushed by its gravity, and how would you ever open a door that heavy?
| By Stuart on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 01:17 pm: |
http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Neutronium
Has a good explaination of neutroniums origins and properties.
Rember folks Chandrasekhar limits the name. Neutroniums the Game!!
| By LUIGI NOVI on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 09:50 pm: |
Ditto for the bunker that housed the Iconian Gateway in To the Death(DS9) and the Think Tank's ship in Think Tank(VOY).
| By glennofnas on Monday, April 15, 2002 - 04:55 pm: |
The StarDate for this episode is assumed to be 4202.9 When I reviewed the DVD (which gives the StarDate 4202.9 on the cover) I realized that the only StarDate given in this episode is when they played back Decker's Captains Log and it is 4202.1 Then I realized that Kirk never makes ANY Captains Logs in this episode. I can't think of any other episode that this happens?? can you??
| By Andy H. on Saturday, June 01, 2002 - 11:44 am: |
Two oddities: In certain scenes, the four lights below the viewing screen in the Constellation's auxiliary control room flash in time to the background music. Also, where have all the Commodores gone? (Fed to planet killers, every one?) They don't seem to exist in ST:TNG or beyond.
| By Anonymous on Sunday, June 02, 2002 - 02:59 am: |
The real life navy got rid of the commodore rank so so did starfleet
| By Anonymous on Monday, June 03, 2002 - 04:08 pm: |
another 47 in reverse, system l-374
| By glennofnas on Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 05:24 pm: |
I did find another episode that has no captains log....Patterns of Force. Any connection?
| By Will on Wednesday, October 09, 2002 - 11:22 am: |
There's no stardate for Day Of The Dove, other than the comment 'Armageddon'.
| By John A. Lang on Wednesday, November 27, 2002 - 08:54 pm: |
LESLIE ALERT!
Mr. Leslie is seen at both the Engineering station and later he moves over to the next station at his right. (A jack of all trades, I'm tellin' ya!) I must add YET...AGAIN...Eddie Paskey is NOT mentioned in the closing credits! (Lawyer! Lawyer!)
Hey, Kirk....here's another possibly effective weapon...antimatter bombs!
| By Electron} on Wednesday, November 27, 2002 - 10:59 pm: |
That's the same problem like in "Obsession": Photon torpedoes are in fact matter-antimatter bombs.