This was recommended to me to review on the Kiwi Farms by a user there, so I decided to give a whirl.
We start the episode as Captain Kirk walks onto the bridge to get the news of a garbled distress call from a nearby solar system, only intelligible words being "Constellation." Worse, the planets in that system have all been destroyed.
Now, I know William Shatner gets accused of overacting, but his stunned "Wat?" to all this is actually pretty good.
As we cut to next scene, he's still in shock mode as Sulu reports yep, no sign their sensors were full of it, stuff is destroyed. However, Spock discovers the two innermost planets of the system they are currently investigating (as more than one seems to have been destroyed) seem to be intact. Also, given they are search for the "Constellation" and a starship currently lying adrift has it's distress beacon blinking on sensors, Kirk orders Sulu to head out to check on it.
As they approach the ship, Kirk realizes it suffered battle damage from whatever destroyed everything, orders a red alert, and they close in on the Constellation (a Constitution class vessel like the Enterprise) as we cut to opening credits.
As we cut back to the show, the Constellation has clearly suffered some serious damage all over the ship as the title card displays. After getting reports the Constellation bridge is uninhabitable but the rest of the ship has low but functional life support and thus life may be present (though subspace interference makes life signs hard to determine), he drops the alert to yellow, says he's going over with with McCoy, Scott, and a damage control team to check it out, leaves Spock the keys to the ship, then heads to the transporter room.
Once they beam over, Scott checks a nearby circuit panel and finds most of the wiring has shorted out, and if you pay attention, you can see he's missing part of a finger. He tried well to hide it on set, but James Doohan (Scott) lost part of that finger in WWII.
Anyway, they all split up to examine the ship, and it gets spooky fast. No one is around, and it's clear they had a warning shit went pear-shaped, no crap you'd expect like people drinking coffee during a break is obvious, so ship obviously was at battle stations when it got attacked. The two planets are considered as possibilities for where the crew went, but Spock calls and shoots that idea down, neither could sustain human life. They meet back up with Scott, who confirms the warp drive is dead and the phaser banks were definitely expended, but the impulse engines are still operable.
Kirk mentions the captain, Matt Decker, and indicates this is not how he'd expect to find his ship after an emergency.
Bit of an aside: Matt Decker is the father to Willard Decker from the first Star Trek movie, and the ST Novel "The Brave and the Bold, Part 1" has a "prequel" that explains how they know each other.
Scott has the idea they can check the captain's log backups from the still working ships computer, and as they head around to do that, they find Matt Decker (a Commodore, essentially a senior captain), and he's apparently in shock. McCoy gives him an adrenaline shot to get him responsive, and Kirk is all "Matt, what happened?"
He's a bit too insistent for Matt, who is still working off his shock, and McCoy tells Kirk to chill while Matt lets the adrenaline kick in. After a bit of waiting and Kirk ordering all records they find sent over to Spock to analyze, Decker finally gets his wits.
According to him, while the third planet in the system they are in was still around, what attacked his ship forced him to emergency beam the crew down because they were dead otherwise, and he did what any good captain does and stick around as the last man aboard.
As Kirk more gently tries to get more info out of Decker, Decker gets to utter the word "Hell" (a novelty on 1960s TV) when he says:
"They say there's no Devil....but right out of Hell I saw it!"
Kirk then decides to play a bit of hardball and asks about the crew on the third planet, telling the still PTSD riddled Decker the third planet isn't there anymore, and Decker starts crying, saying he's fully aware of that.
Before we go on, his actor did a great job showing a man who just watched a lot of people he tried to save die despite him and the shocked horrified aftermath.
Decker has a meltdown because he could do nothing to save them before the planet they were on was destroyed, and you just can't help but feel sorry for the man, as over four hundred lives died in vain because they all trusted him. As they leave Decker to work out the rest of his crying fit, Scott and Kirk come to the conclusion, based on the warp drive having flat-lined and all the interference they are still getting, that an energy dampening field hit the ship and crapped it out.
Decker finally snaps out of his funk and reveals he believes it to be a weapon and describes it being miles long and a maw that could "swallow a dozen star-ships". As they pump him for more info, he reveals they were investigating the "weapon" slicing up the late fourth planet with an anti-proton beam when it attacked them. They get in touch with Spock, who confirms this and adds it's apparently a machine that destroys planets and consumes the pieces for fuel, meaning it can keep going so long as it has planets to keep smashing up.
As Kirk is horrified, Spock reveals Sulu discovered worse news. This thing came from outside the galaxy and will continue destroying everything in theirs. McCoy wonders who built it, and Kirk doesn't know, he asks McCoy if he ever heard of the "Doomsday Machine". McCoy does the classic "I'm a doctor, not an X (mechanic being the X)", and Kirk segues into describing it.
The Doomsday Machine is supposed to be a device that could destroy both sides in a war, never meant to be used, but remaining as the ultimate bluff, and since Star Trek TOS was made while memories of WWII were still fresh, hydrogen bombs are referenced. Kirk postulates it was turned on, did it's job in another galaxy, and never stopped. Decker flips out and is all "who cares where it came from, how are we gonna stop it!"
Decker then has to be told to chill out when he insists on staying with his ship instead of heading to the Enterprise, but Kirk has to call him on the BS, saying the Constellation is dead, Decker can get more done on the Enterprise, and Kirk will be the one to ensure it gets towed. Decker calms down a bit, mumbles about he never lost a command before, and decides to cooperate.
As McCoy and Decker beam over, Spock gets Kirk on the horn and warns him the 'Doomsday Machine" (I'm shortening this to DM from now on) has come up on long range sensors, looking like a giant inverted worm. Worse, it just noticed the Enterprise, and like Decker said, it has one hell of a big mouth.
As we cut to the next scene, the Enterprise is hauling tail with the DM in pursuit. As Kirk asks Spock what their options are, he's not optimistic. It generates a massive amount of power, the subspace interference is severe as a result, and a direct attack could only get them killed. Kirk tells Spock it needs to be stopped NOW, Spock then decides to heed Kirk's request for a beam-out, which only makes the DM close in for the kill and fire a blast at it.
Thankfully, this was before the beaming, so Kirk and the away team are fine, but the Enterprise is damaged and Spock has to clear out for awhile, and he barely gets this to Kirk before the interference shorts out the comms. Kirk doesn't want to sit on his ass while his ship is getting attacked, so he tells Scott to work on the impulse engines while he tells Scott's assistant Washburne to stick around and help him get the ship view screen back online.
Meanwhile, we get some Spock and McCoy volleying insults as comic relief, then they notice the DM heading off for the next system with the Rigel colonies, and they make a discovery that anything under a certain size at a certain distance doesn't register to it as a threat. Spock decides to go pick up Kirk while keeping an eye on the DM, but Decker flips out and tries to pull rank, demanding they focus on the DM , citing the Rigel colonies. Spock is a bit annoyed as Decker flips his shit, and Spock has to remind Decker he does NOT have command of the Enterprise as he tells Sulu to follow his orders and ignore Decker.
Bit of an aside here, this would be correct naval protocol. While Decker would be senior in rank, his command was the Constellation, he would not have authority to commandeer another vessel in the same service unless the chain of command was dead or incapacitated and he was the only line officer who could take charge, at least in terms of rank alone being senior.
Decker then tries to fall back on his position as Commodore (which in a naval service is a captain in charge of other ships, essentially a halfway point between a captain and admiral) to take over since mere rank invoking didn't get his way, and Spock tells him he can do that, but all he'll do is get another ship and crew killed, pointing out Decker's plan to point blank phasers will be useless, the hull of the DM is solid neutronium and they don't have the firepower to do notable damage.
Decker gets his way, but not before protest from McCoy, who tries to get Spock to go along, but Spock and he have this dialogue.
Spock: Doctor, unless you can determine him physically or psychologically unfit for duty, I have to knuckle under.
McCoy: Okay then, he's unfit, on my authority.
Spock: You'll have to submit proof to make that stick.
McCoy: I haven't had time and you know it.
Decker practically troll faces the doctor and tells him to leave the bridge, and after one last token protest, he storms off the bridge. Decker then resumes barking orders, and after a brief stony silence, they reluctantly start taking his orders.
We then cut back to the Constellation as Commodore Matt "Ahab" Decker starts boring in on his white whale, where Scott tells Kirk the impulse engine circuits are locked up, so Kirk tells him to take anything not fried from the warp engines. Scott says "sure , but it's like hot-wiring a diesel engine's guts to an unleaded tank", and Kirk is all "do whatever it takes to get it working".
As Scott and Kirk go back to working on getting the Constellation to do more than idle, we cut back to Decker still going full retard. After a glancing shot from the DM that weakens the deflectors, Spock advises Decker to fall back, the deflectors will be fried if they get hit much more, Decker still wants to close in, and as we get a creepy shot of the Enterprise closing in on the DM, we cut back to where Kirk got the view-screen working finally as Scotty finishes hot-wiring the engines.
Kirk is then witness to Decker's fruitless attempts to do any damage whatsoever with phasers despite repeated shots, which the DM pretty much ignores as Decker reveals he had no better plan than "shoot it and hope it dies". Kirk desperately tries to get in touch with his ship, and desperately pleads for Scotty to get his jury-rigged engines up as he continues to watch Decker being an idiot with his ship.
The DM fires another glancing blow, and deflectors are fried. Worse, the DM is using a tractor beam to draw them in, and since warp engines just died, they have a minute to clear out before they are doomed. Decker doesn't give a shit and still wants to send them to their death cause his white whale needs destroyed, dammit.
Spock then reveals his trump card. Decker pretty much gave the command to commit suicide with the lives of the crew, and on that basis, Decker doesn't need a write-up by a doctor to be declared batshit insane, and Decker finally stands down and veers off.
Alas, it's too late, as they are being pulled inside.
As we cut back from the next intermission, Kirk is understandably trying to not lose his shit as he watches the Enterprise about to die and Scott finally gets those engines going. And, as Scott warned, the ship moves, but the engines freak out over the spit and pencil hotwire job and Kirk goes tumbling everywhere as the ship jerks and banks like crazy.Thankfully, the engines level out after being janky for a bit and Kirk can finally not wind up ass over tea kettle from the turbulence.
Thankfully, Scotty has some better news too. They have at least one bank of phasers Scott managed to recharge, and Kirk plans to use the Constellation as a lure to save the Enterprise. The plan works, but Decker is an idiot who doesn't realize Kirk was distracting the DM, not trying to kill it, as now it's Kirk who is in the firing line in a crippled ship. Worse, as Decker tries for another round of trying to kill it to no effect, Spock drops some truth bombs on Decker.
1. The DM is sucking in debris to refuel itself, the Enterprise can't recharge for a day at least.
2. They have only seven hours of power left before they are boned.
3. It will take a day for deflectors and warp drive to be repaired.
Decker is trying vainly to counter Spock's torrent of "this is being stupid, Commodore" rebuttals, and the comms woman interrupts and informs them they can finally contact the Constellation again. Decker takes the radio, and Kirk very quickly learns Decker was the moron who nearly got ANOTHER ship killed by being an imbecile.
Decker tries the rank pulling crap as well as hiding behind regulations to justify himself, but Kirk has had enough of Decker being an idiot and tells Spock HE'S ordering Decker be yanked out of the captain's chair. Spock complies, and Decker is all "You're bluffing" when Spock says he'll have Decker arrested.
Cue Spock signaling for security.
Upon realizing Spock will actually do it, Decker decides his dignity is worth a bit more than his pride. As Spock assumes command, he decides to make it stick by having security send Decker to sick bay to make sure Decker is on a leash.
We cut to Decker as Spock tells Kirk he's swinging around to pick him up, and Decker reveals he truly is batshit as he tries to overpower the security officer escorting him and appears to succeed after some hokey looking fighting moves.We cut to Decker sneaking off to the shuttle crafts as McCoy and the nurses go looking for the patient they were expecting. Meanwhile, Decker continues his mad tactical espionage action skills toward his goal.
We cut back to Kirk, who gets Scotty telling him they have 1/3 impulse and some weak shields. As Kirk tells Spock they'll meet for a pickup, Decker is sneaking off-ship in a shuttle. However, this does not go unnoticed by Sulu, and Spock immediately realizes who it is as he orders, too late, for the doors to shut.
Kirk catches on, and as he and the Enterprise hail Decker, an eerily calm Decker tells them he's well aware shooting it didn't work, so he's going to attempt a kamikaze run down the DM's throat. As Kirk and Spock try in vain to get Decker to turn back, Decker is obviously tormented by all the people who died because of his bad judgment call, and it's clear he means to atone for their deaths by using his own to destroy what killed them because of him.
Before I go on, Matt Decker's actor did an amazing job. Decker had this thousand-yard, soulless stare on his face, and the voice acting for the haunted man he clearly was playing was dead accurate.
As Kirk is freaking out, trying desperately to coax Matt away from his doom, Decker allows himself to be destroyed.
As we cut back from the next break, while Kirk is pissed Decker died for nothing, Spock and Sulu realized maybe Decker didn't, as the shuttlecraft exploding inside the DM actually weakened it a little. Kirk immediately seizes on this, the wheels in his brain turn as he realizes what that means, and he tells Spock to beam the away team save him and Scott back board as he plans to send the Constellation down the DM's throat, figuring a much larger vessel will choke it to death, especially if he can have the Constellation blow up inside the DM.
Spock is skeptical but realizes it's worth a shot, so he decides to check on things from his end while Kirk works on his.As Kirk finishes things, Spock admits sensors can't determine if this is going to work. Kirk is all "well, best plan we got", and Kirk repeats Decker's intention to ram the ship he's in down the DM's throat.
Spock is reassured Kirk isn't suicidal, he plans to beam himself and Scott out after the kamikaze course is set in stone, but Spock reminds Kirk the transporter is still fluky and the plan is still risky. Kirk is all "screw it, don't have better options".
Kirk has Scott arm the bomb, then has him beam aboard. Scott makes it, but determines the transporter is crapping out fast. Scott hauls ass to work on that as Kirk begins the death run. Scott barely gets it working and Kirk tells them to haul him out on his signal.
Kirk waits until he's damn sure the bomb is gonna be drawn in, then makes the order, but the transporter shits itself again. As Scott works like crazy, Kirk is about to go the way of Decker as Sulu counts down, and the transporter crew takes advantage of a brief restoration of power and crosses their fingers.
The Constellation cooks off right inside the maw of the DM, and as what looks like a neon road flare explodes, it dies.
And as we cut back to the transporter room, Kirk is still holding his communicator as the transporter crew is all "0_0 HE'S ALIVE!
As Kirk makes up to his bridge, Spock realizes the DM has gone dead. As he does, Kirk and Spock decide to preserve Matt Decker's dignity posthumously by noting officially he died in the line of duty (omitting the parts where he went full Captain Ahab). Kirk also notes, commenting on hydrogen bombs again, it's ironic they had to blow up the fusion reactor of a star-ship, effectively an H-Bomb of their own, to destroy another doomsday device.
After a bit of idle wondering whether there are more "doomsday machines" around, Kirk admits he doesn't know, but he found one more than enough.
Cue him and Spock sharing a brief sardonic look and grin as we cut to credits.
Overall, this was a good episode. Acting was on point, the monster of the week wasn't too contrived, the moral message was subtle yet effective, and it's theme is still a good one about the dangers of ultimate weapons and their power to destroy not only by how they kill, but how their use only leads others to their own destruction in turn.
No comments:
Post a Comment