THE STAR TREK FRANCHISE REWATCH PARTY #44 "The Doomsday Machine"
2d 20h ago by lemmy.world/u/aeronmelon in startrek
WARNING: This thread WILL contain unhidden spoilers for this entry. Because this re-watch is in a slightly-subjective chronological order and not in production order, please refrain from talking about the content of other episodes or movies in this thread. If you do, please put that content inside spoiler tags. Some people here may be watching Star Trek for the first time.
#44: Star Trek: The Original Series, season 2, episode 6 "The Doomsday Machine"
Written by Norman Spinrad, directed by Marc Daniels.
Stardate 4202.1 (May 2268)
"They called me. They begged me for help, 400 of them." - Commodore Decker
The Enterprise picks up a garbled distress call that seems to have originated from the USS Constellation. When they trace its origin into a previously surveyed star system they discover that almost all the planets that were there had been destroyed without explanation. Among the planetary fragments they find the Constellation, adrift and almost completely obliterated. When they beam aboard, none of the crew can be located until Commodore Matthew Decker (William Windom), the Constellations's commanding officer, is found collapsed at the auxiliary controls station. When he is brought to he immediately goes into shock and starts rambling about a planet killer, an impossibly-large beast that can devour entire planets... including the one Decker's entire crew had beamed down to when they were forced to abandon ship.
Originally released: 20 October 1967
"The Doomsday Machine" on Memory Alpha
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What did you think?
C'mon, Decker, why did you have to waste the shuttlecraft Einstein like that? If you're going to destroy a shuttle, use the Columbus. Nobody likes him anymore.
(They still had to make sure he stole something other than the Galileo, for thematic reasons.)
[off topic]
William Windom was in an underrated 1960s comedy based on the works of James Thurber.
"My World And Welcome To It" combined cartoons and live action.
pilot episode.
Visual effects comparison of the original broadcast & the Remastered versions.
The original effects of the maw of the planet killer are still pretty damn good. Both versions effectively evoke thalassophobia.
Man, I forgot about this episode!... I'ma have to rewatch it. I just began watching Star Trek, like two years ago, and I'm currently on the last season of Enterprise. It's been a LOT of Trek lol. I'm a sci-fi nerd who recently realized how much awesome sci-fi I missed
But TOS is still my favorite (and the only one I purchased on physical media (so far)). I've been geeked on Trek, and idk what to do about it... it hasn't stopped lol
I will say that my multi-year binge without prior bias, has left me with some fringe views; I can't stand McCoy, Discovery was ok, DS9 is Star Trek trying to be Star Gate (and is boring, but has the best character development as well as the best mirror mirror throwback), Odo is terrible at his job, Voy/Ent keeps it closest to the cuff of TOS... it's been a journey