The Doomsday Machine (TOS - S2E06)

[Hailing Frequencies Open]

The Doomsday Machine might be one of Star Trek's greatest examples of a bad day getting steadily worse. A giant planet-eating space cornucopia is chewing its way through solar systems, the Enterprise keeps getting battered around like a shuttlecraft in a washing machine, and Commodore Decker is one emotional breakdown away from replacing the ship’s operating manual with a copy of Moby-Dick. Meanwhile, Scotty is asked to perform approximately seventeen miracles before lunch.

In this episode of Treks and Tangents, Brian and Jaci dive into giant space weapons, questionable command decisions, accidental mental health commentary, and the timeless Star Trek tradition of solving every problem by flying something directly into it. Was Decker a tragic hero, a reckless villain, or just the unluckiest man in Starfleet? More importantly, how many times can Scotty save the day before the Federation is legally required to make him president?

[End Transmission]

Transcript

Intro/Turbolift Tease Recap

SPEAKER_03 0:10

Healing Frequencies Open and welcome aboard Treks and Tangents. I'm your co-host Brian.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

And I'm your co-host Jackie.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

I'm the Star Trek movie who checked off on tangents. And I'm your Star Trek expert who is here to get the tangents back on track.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Each episode we watch and talk about a different Star Trek episode, and this week we watched Star Trek, the original series, season two, episode six, The Doomsday Machine.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of our podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

I'm great at it.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Be sure to stick around to the end of this episode where we'll reveal our Star Note bonus episode topic, which we'll post on our Patreon, patreon.com slash treks and tangents. A little bonus episode where we'll take a deeper dive into a topic or two on the episode. And that's free for everyone who follows our Patreon. But thank you everyone for joining us again. Thank you for continuing to like, subscribe, share the podcast with people you know, comment on the episodes. We enjoy the comments, we enjoy engaging in that conversation.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Or maybe they have an idea why characters just don't show up in episodes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

Definitely share your thoughts to the episode or the topic. Always enjoy seeing other people's headcanon and other people's thoughts to Star Trek. It's Star Trek. We all get to invent our own stories. That's half the fun. Jackie gives this weird look. I need more information. Well, before we dive too deep into the episode and our thoughts for the episode, let's revisit last week's TurboLift tease. That's where I gave Jackie the title of this week's episode. And Jackie, without any other information, tried to guess the plot of this week's episode. So, computer, what was Jackie's prediction last week?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Jackie's prediction last week was, uh-oh. We come across Trelaine again, and this time he has grown up and he is angry. And so, instead of those tiny little machines behind the mirror that he made, we have a giant one that he has left on, and we have to figure out how to turn it off.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Jackie, how accurate do you think your guess was last week? Fail. Tremaine from the Squire of Game. Tremaine. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

I thought it was an L.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

We're gonna look it up. We're gonna pause we're gonna pause the episode right here and figure out who's right. I guess Tremaine.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Tremaine.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

So it's really not that important. Who's right? I'm right. On the it's really not that important. I was right. I got the name right. The Turbo Lifty. Congratulations. Yes, we're gonna re- I'll give you credit. We do occasionally in the original series revisit characters.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

And you said get creative, so I thought I liked him.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Trelaine does not make a reappearance. Oh I don't think ever. I don't think in in the television series. Wait, no. I have to think really. He does. He comes back, but it's like dis it's strange. No, it's Strange New Worlds, which is way one of the la it's one of the last series.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

That's on Paramount right now.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

They're all on Paramount right now.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Oh yeah, I have it in my list.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Yeah, Strange New Worlds, and then they did Starfleet Academy, so it's like the second to last, second to latest most modern series.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Anyway, it's a lot of Star Trek to watch.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

We're way off.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Jackie, gotta give you an F. I I deserve it. Yep, this time, nowhere near. But now that you've seen the episode,

Initial Impressions

SPEAKER_03 3:55

what did you think of this week's episode?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

I really liked it though. I don't I liked how intense it was. And except so much scientific language, I had no idea what I was learning and absorbing, but I was still entertained. Does that make sense? Like it was a good balance.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

No, it makes no sense because I'm trying to think of what scientific all the words.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

All the words. I even I even looked in in the memory alpha, and like somebody really loved this episode because he was like, it's so scientifically correct.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

Yeah. I think I made the comment last episode about it being one of the better engineering episodes. I think I was thinking of this episode. Maybe that's what I mean. Yeah, because spoiler, we're batch recording these back to back. So I yeah, I mean there's there's lots of different there, yeah, maybe, okay. I don't view it as that. I view it as just uh that that part of the scientific talk and the engineering talk doesn't stand out for me.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Because you know what's happening. This is the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth time I've seen the episode, and I still have no idea like the tiny intricate bits. How many times did you watch the episode?

SPEAKER_03 5:13

Five. Five to really? Yeah. You should be able to quote the episode by now.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

You pretty much can. Spock, do something. That's McCoy.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

I was gonna guess that was Kirk. Holy crap.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

That's yeah, that's when Decker took command, and Spock and McCoy is like DTF. Yeah. And Spock just looks at straight ahead. Okay. Pissed off.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

Okay, you know that you can't impersonate. We can't do impersonations on this podcast. So you like McCoy. You liked the episode. I did. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

It's I also liked that it showcased Kirk doing something other than looking pretty and winning. He had to fix the dead ship and actually show off his skills. Because remember, in Mirror Mirror, our viewers could think that Kirk just you know is like a Neppo baby, and one where he goes won his little title just by a push of a button. That could question things.

SPEAKER_03 6:14

Right, his mere universe self for sure. What's the name of the dead ship in the episode? Constellation. Okay, just checking, just checking.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Calm down. And also, um, Washburn disappears. He never beams back to that enterprise. It's just Kirk and Scotty. He fixed the circuits and disappears.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

He would have had to have damn, I really don't want that to be a plot hole because it doesn't come up anywhere. He would have had to have beamed back before Scotty beams out. Right. No, there has to be, there has to be a line where there has to be a line where it's mentioned that the rest of the repair crew is beaming back, and it's just gonna be Scotty and Kirk for a time on the constellation, and then Scotty beams out. They have to have that.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

No, that's glaring because Kirk is constantly working on the viewing screen. Washburn is supposed to connect like the circuit so that the board works, and then Scotty is like being Mr. Magic mechanic and fixing all of the engines and the transport room.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

Comment on this episode and let me know if if I'm misremembering it. I win. Is this another Tremaine versus Trelaine debate? Is it in fact a plot hole that he never beams off the constellation? They just that it's just missed. God, that would be that would be crazy to get to the end of the episode and be like, oh sh that'd be crazy if the ship is going into the to the planet killer. Yeah, hey, hey, hey, don't forget. That would be crazy. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Right. Yeah, Scotty beamed off, and I'm like, where's uh Mr. Washburn?

SPEAKER_03 7:59

Interesting. Okay. Dun dun dun. Well, I liked the episode too. To get back on track. It it's a good episode, it's entertaining. Is it fantastic? Is it top tier? Is it going to break the mold for Star Trek? No. But it's unique, it's got a fantastic science fiction plot aspect to it with this giant machine that's problematic. We'll talk about it. I like the fact that we have Matt Deckard, Commodore Matt Deckard, who It's also mentioned in Mirror Mirror.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

I was looking for Marlena.

SPEAKER_03 8:35

Pause the episode here, and I'm gonna pull up my notes from Mirror Mirror here and see if Jackie is out experting the expert in this episode. I am. Okay, so I failed. We spent way too much time answering that question. We went back to the episode. It's Commander Kenner.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Dang it.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

That she says she's gonna go to with Kirk rejecting her in Mirror Mirror. I also pulled up the uh Memory Alpha for Washburn. According to Memory Alpha, when the transporters were finally repaired in this episode, Washburn, Russ, and Elliot all return to the ship while Scott and Kirk stay behind. So there has to be some kind of line where they all beam back, whether he's mentioned by name or not, but that still would make for a funny, funny moment. So Well, we both win then. I will take that victory.

unknown 9:28

Darn it.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

So we're both entertained by the episode, but

Treking Through the Episode

SPEAKER_03 9:31

before we go too far off on a tangent and go too far off course, let's talk about the episode specifically. Jackie, why don't you walk us through it?

SPEAKER_01 9:42

We're starting on the bridge, and Enterprise is racing towards a distress call that they've received. And Kirk is asking for more information about this call from Lieutenant Palmer, who is in O'Hara's seat. Where is O'Hara? Not in this episode. Rude. I don't like Palmer. She reminds me of the nurse, but in a mean way.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Thank you. I was gonna say that voice is the same. My my thought process was she could easily instead of being a member of the crew, she could just be the voice of the computer. Like, yeah. I don't know. No, no, no, uh, not casting any like super heavy criticism, just as a character, Uhura versus Palmer. I'm not gonna pick Palmer.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

No, Ohura is so gentle and loving and cares. And Palmer was like, super cold. Yeah. And she's like, Oh, I can't understand what they're saying, but I heard like constellation. So Kirk knows that there's a ship called the Constellation.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

Because it is one of the very few ships that is the same designation and the same class as the Enterprise. Oh, okay, that makes more sense. There's not a billion ships out there in that same category. I think depending on what episode you watch or whatever, there's like 12 to 14.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Interesting. And so she is unable to pinpoint the location because there's a lot of subspace interference. But while they're chatting, Sulu announces that the Enterprise is entering the system L370. And then Spock says, um, the entire solar system has been destroyed.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

All the planets have been destroyed. The star is still there.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Correct. But there were seven planets there last year.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

And then they just keep going through into a new solar system, L374, and it too has been destroyed. We find out later that there are two planets, not there's still two planets alive, you know, quote. Correct. And this is where the constellation is, and it is commanded by Commodore Decker.

SPEAKER_03 11:59

Yes. Quick snapshot, two sentences or less. Overall, did you like Decker as a character?

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

Okay. I liked him too.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

I think it was important to touch on mental health, and I think it was fabulous how they did it.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

Yeah, it's definitely a good side plot to the episode. And I think it takes up the exact amount of time and weight to the episode plot without overbearing, without being too cheesy. And nothing really kind of takes away from that overall image of, yeah, hey guys, these guys are under a lot of stress. They kind of need to address this mental health thing. They do it earlier in the series where they refer to it as space madness, which is its own version of PTSD. It doesn't come up very often, but the idea of you're stuck in a tiny little spaceship on the edge of the galaxy facing unknown horrors, yeah, it's going to be stressful and people snap.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

Shell shock in space. Unfortunately, that doesn't carry forward very much. Mental health is going to be kind of in PTSD and things will come up in Star Trek from time to time. But yeah, it's a good episode and a good way to address it, I think.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

And the actor was phenomenal from start to finish.

SPEAKER_03 13:18

It's in my notes when we get to him, but yes, I really enjoyed how the uh not only the character, but how the actor portrayed him.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Even by standing, the different way he had his posture. I was like, winner.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Yeah, I'll beam in here a uh triple tidbit from the end of the episode. The actor who plays Matt Deckard thought the episode was silly and over the top. Not in a bad way. That was just his take to it.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Well, he did have crazy facial features.

SPEAKER_03 13:52

So then he chose to play the character over the top. Love it. And that's how we get his performance. And I think it works perfectly.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

And it makes sense, especially with what you just said about being in space, not what we normally deal with.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

So back to n back to where we are. And so, as we said, there are two planets that are safe and sound, but he can't tell for sure that it's the constellation, but it's the size of the ship, and it's just drifting. So it's just like dead in the water. And the ship's disaster beacon is going. And it sounds like a like a bird whistle. I just heard a whistle. Okay. And so this is when Kirk realizes that the constellation has been attacked, and now the Enterprise needs to get ready to be attacked. And get to your battle stations. Red alert. I was like, okay, I don't know where the danger is, but go, bro. I don't know where the danger is either.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

I think this is the episode. Again, I've watched so many episodes.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

It's like he wanted to be prepared.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

Back to back. This is the episode I'm thinking of. Later on in from the point that they call for red alert and they call for battle stations. I'm pretty sure that's the moment where we get the two security officers that kind of station up and post themselves on either side of the entrance to the turbo lift. No reason for it. They're there to they serve a purpose to the plot, but from a logistics point of view, there's no point in having security officers looming on the bridge. There's other problems to address. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

And so we have our beautiful intro music, do-do-do-do, and we come back and we see all the damage on the constellation. She's just floating about.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

She's screwed.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

And no communication, uh, spox sensors, life support is active, but he cannot tell if anybody's alive.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

There's no bridge. The bridge is gone.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

And no radiation. So we can go check it out.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

So Kirk then lessens like the red alert to yellow. So be near your battle stations just in case. And he takes a disaster team over to the constellation. And Scotty is the leader of his little engineer team, as well as taking McCoy, because you know, someone might be hurt and needs a doctor. Sure. And Spock is left in command on Enterprise. Right. Note. So Scotty on the constellation begins to check all the engines. He's assigning his team to check structural and damage checks, but Kirk cannot find any crew members.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

No, they can't find any crew members. I also like this part when they beam on and they're kind of wandering through. It was kind of neat. Like a ghost town. But it was neat to see them explore this damaged ship, but it's the same class as the Enterprise. So it's all these sets that we find familiar, but dressed up and battle scarred and battle damaged. I thought that was just kind of neat. I kind of wish that the bridge was intact. It would be kind of cool to see them go on the bridge of the constellation and have it be all disheveled and broken up and everything. That would have been fun.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

So it's later on, but isn't the viewing screen on the bridge?

SPEAKER_03 17:09

The view screen is any screen that can display an exterior or interior image. Oh. A view screen is literally just a television screen. So, yes, there is a giant view screen on the bridge, but there are more any you can have view screens elsewhere.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Okay. Okay, that that makes more sense for me. Okay. Alright, so and Kirk's like, I can't find any of the crew. Could they have beamed down to one of the two planets that are left?

SPEAKER_03 17:41

No.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Yeah, Spox like one's poisonous and the other one is like full of lead. No life.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Right. I think he says what he says specifically is one is super heated and is you know super hot, and then the other one is like a poisonous gas atmosphere. And then fun fact, we find out that the crew is beamed down to the third planet that has been destroyed. But this mirrors our solar system. Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, super hot, Venus, poisonous cloud, Earth. True. Yeah, fun little side note. Well, Mars would be the fourth planet, but they don't reference it in this moment.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Yes, I I studied the solar system.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

Name the planets in the solar system.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Don't forget Jupiter. That's a great song by Holtz. Okay, anyways, so Scotty determines that the warp drive has been damaged majorly, but the impulse engines can be rebuilt. So he's gonna work on that. But he does comment that whatever attacked the constellation, the constellation fought a great battle. They they tried. But if the life support is still active, where is the Commodore?

SPEAKER_03 18:56

Um where's the crew?

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Well, they we ask about Decker personally.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

And so they're like, oh, well, let's go check the auxiliary control room and listen to the log recordings. Guess who's there? Commodore Decker.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

You're looking at me like, go ahead, guess. I watched the episode too.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

And he is stunned, shocked, catatonic. They try to like talk to him, and he nothing. McCoy uses his fancy syringe and shoots him up with something. And Decker like reaches for where the puncture was in his neck, and then he like slowly comes around, and but he cannot say exactly what happened. So they have to listen to the log. And as he's listening to it, he begins to like sob uncontrollably.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

Yeah, he is definitely aware of his surroundings to a point where he hears his own log and he has to again fantastic acting. He's reliving those moments that the log is depicting and what the events in the log are leading up to.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

And the log says that subspace interference limited their ability to report all the destroyed solar systems that they found to Starfleet Command.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

Right, which is gonna be an ongoing problem. The Enterprise, likewise, is not going to be rad able to radio and alert Starfleet later.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

They encountered this thing as it started to basically tear through the fourth planet. Like it just destroyed it.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

That's where Mars went.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

And so Decker wanted to save his crew and he beamed them to the third planet for safety, and he would stay on the ship, you know, like the captain doesn't leave the ship, like the boat, and fight to the death of this thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Okay, let's go. Yeah, let's go on a tangent here. Let's just get this out of the way.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

But he sent them to the third planet, and the thing ate the third planet.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

Yeah, let's call it what it is. It's obvious that this thing is munching planets starting from the furthest from the sun out, which is interesting in itself because the planets don't line up exactly like that, but let's let's ignore that for the moment. It's obvious this thing is crunching down on the fourth planet. It will eventually crunch down on the third planet from the sun.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

I think he thought he could be able to fight it off. I mean, he's a Commodore.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

So he's super egotistical. I don't he is, you can see it throughout the episode. But he beamed them down to save them, so they've already tried to stop this thing. The ship has already been heavily damaged. So it's it's not that the ship was in perfect health and he was like, You guys go wait here. I'm gonna that that wouldn't make any sense. So the ship is heavily damaged. He goes, You can stay on this ship and die, or I can put you down on this planet, and I can try to saw save it. Maybe he thought he could divert it. You know, like a like a tag, like, hey, come over here. But my question is, this is not. This is not the captain of the Titanic with a majority of civilian passengers. This is a Starfleet ship that should know how to battle. This is one of the top ships in Starfleet, and they're all Starfleet officers. Why wouldn't they stay on the ship and all work towards stopping it or all go down with the ship? Can you imagine or can you picture the situation in reverse if it were the Enterprise? Can you imagine Kirk telling his entire crew just beam down to the planet and I'll try to stop it by myself? They'd refuse. Can you imagine the crew going along with that? Or would you maybe some of the non-essential personnel, but people like Spock, Scotty, McCoy?

SPEAKER_01 22:49

They'd give up their life to help save Enterprise.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

I think we've seen that time and time again. So it's a weird moment to me in the episode that you get the entire crew to beam down to the ship. The Commodore thinks he can operate this entire ship by himself and effectively stop this planet killer machine. Weird.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

And he's in agony because he heard them calling for him because the thing was attacking the planet.

SPEAKER_03 23:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

I mean, you can see that Kirk is understanding what he's he can empathize what he's going through because he had to do the same thing in like the last episode on the Apple.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

Yeah, multiple times Kirk has been in that situation. But again, I don't see Kirk making the same decision to just put everyone on the planet and I'll take it from here.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Correct. But anyways, Scotty interrupts and says, Officer Washburn has something to report. So all of the deflectors have been crashed through, the generators are damaged, their antimatter pods are also deactivated. How can they be deactivated? As they ponder the question. And then Scotty does confirm that whatever it is would be able to do that amount of damage and cause subspace interference at the same time. And then while they're talking, Commodore Decker like explodes and interrupts them because he could see it's like he's imagining the thing that they're talking about. And he's frightened. And he's trying to explain the damage that it did, that it wasn't just like someone's shooting them, the thing that attacked them was an actual weapon. Right. He says it was like miles long and it just like would swallow the starships. And then as he described that, I imagine like that giant whale shark just like brrrr, taking in whatever.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

Yeah. And it's the first moment where we start to get a scale or a sense of what this machine is as he's describing it before we see it.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

So he also mentions a giant beam, and when he did scan it, it was a pure anti-proton. What is that? Something very magical?

SPEAKER_03 25:04

Protons are part of an atom.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Yes. Oh, so it just melts them. Gone.

SPEAKER_03 25:09

So an anti-proton. Thank you. Would obliterate matter. Oh, that's not good. And that's been your sci-fi science explanation.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

And then Spock calls over, and there's super heavy subspace interference, and he cannot contact Starfleet Command either.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Still.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

But he was able to research the constellations like tapes. He has that ability. And does confirm that it was a giant robot thing that attacked them. So they go on to describe what this machine does. And we've learned that as it smashes the planets into rubble, it inhales that rubble and it becomes fuel. So it's constantly sustaining itself. As long as there are planets, it's alive.

SPEAKER_03 25:57

Right. And at some point, we also get the revelation that Spock does some calculations as to where it's going and it's going to go through the most dense part of the galaxy. He also calculates that based on its trajectory, it came from outside of our galaxy. So think about this for a moment. There's no planets out there in between galaxies. How did this thing fuel itself? It ate all the planets. There's no planets in between the galaxies. So it has no fuel.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

So it's hungry.

SPEAKER_03 26:31

And that's the whole crux of the end of the episode, is they can get this thing to dim-again, very similar to the Apple and Val. They can get it to dip in power briefly, and they can exploit it to a degree. So it's interesting. If you look at some of the non-canon material when Picard is at the Academy, he gives a report on the Planet Killer Machines, and one of the things he questions in his report is how could it have come from outside the galaxy? Because there'd be no fuel to sustain it in its journey. So he tries to postulate that it came from within our galaxy somewhere. Like a traitor. We'll get to where it came from later in the episode.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Well, McCoy has the same questions. Like, why would someone build that thing? Like, it makes no sense. Why would you do that? And then Kirk, of course, goes on about talking about a doomsday machine and how it's kind of like the H-bomb. Oh my gosh. And McCoy has to go, No, I'm a doctor, not a mechanic. Ugh, I don't like those lines.

SPEAKER_03 27:39

You don't like his little catchphrase there?

SPEAKER_01 27:40

Oh, those are annoying.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

Okay. So yeah, Kirk comes up with the theory that. So again, to tie into the title of the episode, we don't refer to this isn't the doomsday machine, this is a planet killer machine. But the a doomsday machine is an overall category. It is a large, hugely destructive weapon that is created not necessarily to use in warfare, but as a deterrent to make sure that the other side doesn't attack you. It is the metaphorical, this is why we have so many nuclear weapons to destroy the world over a hundred times or whatever. It is so that the other side doesn't attack you because it knows that you have this weapon to unleash that will destroy them. Interesting that Kirk comes up with that theory with no other information. Interesting that that is, in fact, we learn if you dig deeper into the Star Trek sources and non-canon, that is not the purpose of this weapon. This weapon is specifically this planet killer weapon that they encounter is a prototype. It is a smaller version of the final version, and it is created not necessarily as something to keep in your back pocket to deter the other side in warfare. It was specifically created by a race of aliens to use as a weapon to attack the Borg.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

That's as bad as that square with the button to disappear people.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

Yes. And it's also theorized that this thing was not accidentally launched or malfunctioned. It was intentionally launched and it was directed toward Borg space to destroy the Borg or to attack the Borg. And if Kirk had just left it alone and ignored it and let it chew its way through the galaxy. It would eventually reach Borg Space and maybe destroy the Borg before we encounter them in TNG. Side tangent. Dig up those stories. Those are interesting stories to get into. The Borg. Oh, I can't wait to get to TNG and we talk about the Borg.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

But now Decker is fully with us because he's like, it's gonna kill the colonies. What are we gonna do about it? But McCoy's like, dude, calm down. We need to get you back to the Enterprise so that we can make sure you are okay. Kirk has to literally tell him that the constellation is dead. He will stay on the constellation and get it ready so that it could be towed by the Enterprise to safety away.

SPEAKER_03 30:13

Yeah, that's even kind of a concession made by Kirk to get him to finally leave. Because I think Kirk's original plan was it's dead in the water, we're just gonna leave it. And then he was finally like, fine, we'll tow it.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Because Decker is embarrassed that he lost his command. He doesn't want to really say it.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

Yeah, it's a deep dive into his mental state. He's embarrassed, he's guilty that his crew is dead, he feels that he's responsible for the death of his crew and so forth. Yeah, he's unstable, which is wild that he gets to take over the enterprise, but we'll get to it.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

So Decker and McCoy go back to Enterprise, and Spock has announced red alert. So immediately as McCoy and Decker materialize, energize. Energize. Energize. Once they get onto the Enterprise, they run to the bridge. So the plan was to check on Decker, but they have to go back to the bridge because of the red alert and help Spock. They can see that the machine is coming back around, and Spock can see the machine in the viewing screen, and he's reporting that to Kirk, who is on the constellation. And what does it look like? It's gigantic, and it's a blue with like white spots. I'm assuming those are stars. But like I said, it's like a giant whale shark when I saw it.

SPEAKER_03 31:41

It is like a giant whale shark. It is like a straight cornucopia.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

Yeah. And Spock calls it the planet killer. And now it wants to attack Enterprise.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

It is definitely locking onto the Enterprise. We will see it quite frequently chase after ships within its vicinity. So it's not just on an autopilot. It's not like a giant dirge machine that is mining and completely mindless and on its own track. It is reacting to the Enterprise in this moment. It reacted to the constellation earlier when the constellation attacked it and was damaged. We'll see it do that quite frequently.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

And so even though the Enterprise can maneuver faster, the Map Machine is persistent. So Kirk's like, well, if it's a robot, can't we deactivate it? Like, if only it would be that easy. So the first plan is that Kirk, Scotty, and Washburn are going to go back to the Enterprise while they're towing the constellation. And this is when the robot attacks. And our dear Mr. Kyle, who plays a lot of roles in the Enterprise world, is at the transporter post and the transporter room. There's damage on the platform. And so Kirk Washburn and Scotty are stranded on the constellation.

SPEAKER_03 33:01

Yes, for the time being.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

So Kirk's like, Scotty, get to work on the engines. Washburn, you're coming with me. We have to fix this viewing screen. That's why I asked about it. And they want to see what's happening outside because they're no longer attached to the Enterprise. So they're just drifting away. Back on the Enterprise, McCoy reports that no casualties, but how are we doing? You know, because this machine is after us. And while the Enterprise cannot run the machine, it's still being chased. And we can see as Spock is explaining the status of everything. Decker like comes alive. Like he you can see it as they're talking in the background. He goes from like Wolter Little Flower, and he's like starting to get his his mind right. Like he's like, you know, you fake it till you make it.

SPEAKER_03 33:54

Yeah, I wouldn't call it he's getting his mind right.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

He thinks he is.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

Yes. He's certainly coming out of his canatonic state, and he's definitely putting thoughts together. They're not good thoughts, but they're they're thoughts.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

And then of course the machine like attacks them, and Spock is like, oh, random chance. You know, good thing it was in our favor. And of course, McCoy has to go. You mean we were darn lucky?

SPEAKER_03 34:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

I love McCoy in this.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

Top three characters, favorite character out of the top three. Kirk, Spock, McCoy.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

I have to throw Scotty in there.

SPEAKER_03 34:34

No, no, no. Of the three, I'll get there. Oh, of the three. Of the three. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, who's your favorite?

SPEAKER_01 34:40

McCoy.

SPEAKER_03 34:41

Who's your least favorite? Kirk. Get rid of Kirk. Spock, McCoy, Scotty. Who's your favorite? Spock.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

You like Spock? Because okay, well, are we doing it as a captain or as a person? As a person, as a character.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

McCoy. You like McCoy still over everyone?

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Yes, because I think that he speaks his mind and he's still like a human, uh, emotionally driven, but still can be compassionate and empathize. Scotty is a great person, also, but he also follows the rules and doesn't question things.

SPEAKER_03 35:14

Okay, top three characters, who's your favorite? McCoy, Scotty, or the original doctor from the cage who shows up to Captain Pike's quarters with Martinis.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

McCoy.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

Still McCoy.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Okay. I don't know. I just like him. He's just a doctor, not whatever.

SPEAKER_03 35:30

He's a hound dog.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Alright. So while they're like, yay, we're lucky, Sulu notices that the machine has veered away from the Enterprise and is going back to where it was going originally, the other solar system, the Rigal colonies. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:47

Interesting enough, because that would mean it's going to ignore the next the last two planets in this solar system.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

But Spock had like a theory that the machine doesn't go after he uses ships as an example of a certain circumference. Like that to be bigger.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

And within its path? Yes. So that would mean by circumstance, the last solar system that it passed through before this one where all seven planets were destroyed. Then circumstance says all seven of those planets happened to be in its path, so it didn't skip any of them. But in this solar system, two are not in its path.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Well, the constellation drew it out of its course. Okay. Dun dun dun. But Spock is concerned about Kirk being on being on the constellation by himself and Scotty too. So Spock is capped as command says he will follow the machine discreetly, but they're gonna circle back and go pick up the guys off of the constellation. And this is when Commodore Decker is like, no, we are not doing that. We have to go save the Rigel colonies. Millions of people are going to die. And I mean, Spock is aware of that importance, but they're only one ship, and so many things are wrong with the Enterprise that need to be fixed, and we still can't talk to Starfleet Command.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

Right. So that we still haven't warned Starfleet that this thing is coming. And yes, Commodore Decker is on this hell-bent-driven mission to stop, destroy the Planet Killer machine.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

Almost like revenge.

SPEAKER_03 37:24

Right. And in the end, this scene ends with him pulling out some rule book, some policy for Starfleet that says, I'm the highest ranking officer, I have the ability to take control of the starship.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

Spock pushes back against Decker, saying that the logical primary duty is that they are to survive and warn Starfleet command of this thing. But Decker pushes back against that and says that their primary duty is to maintain life and the safety of the Federation planets. In my opinion, that's kind of the same thing. They're just going about it differently. Sure. And of course, while they're arguing, the crew is just staring at them. Because they don't know who to listen to.

SPEAKER_03 38:11

Yeah, well, I mean, you so the order is going towards Sulu. If you watch, Sulu takes no action when he gets an order from Commodore Decker. Yep. He starts to take action when he gets the order from Spock. So he is loyal to that. And there's some back and forth. There's a whole part where McCoy has, as you gave the excellent impression from earlier.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

I'm a perfect actor.

SPEAKER_03 38:36

Where he's basically telling Spock, Come on, Spock, you can't let him do this. And Spock kind of gives the subcategory or the subplot of, well, you can declare him medically unfit to take command.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

He's like, I will do that then.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

But you have to back it up with medical records. But we have to question, he is he, Commodore Decker, is clearly unfit for duty mentally, but they still let him do. I mean, he's literally sitting in the chair fidgeting and chewing on data cards.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

I know that sounds like calm down, dude.

SPEAKER_03 39:07

I you would think at any point that they could medically relieve him. The way it should go, and I think it happens in other episodes of Star Trek where someone declares someone medically unfit, is if enough senior officers declare the captain, the commander, unfit for duty, in this case, Commodore Decker, Commodore Decker has to subject himself to a medical examination to either prove or disprove them. And so really, I would think that they would have the ability to look at him and say, dude, you're messed up. You need to not be in command. You need to go talk to McCoy. You need to go get him you need to go get medically cleared to take command. And if you pass his medical examination, we'll revisit it. So I think Spock really should have held his ground a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 39:57

Instead, he just like glared at him.

SPEAKER_03 40:00

He just kind of stepped to the side and was like, Alright, I give up.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

But also I would imagine it's kind of like overwhelming when someone's like freaking out and saying, I'm the boss, I'll tell you what to do.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

He's Vulcan. He does not get overwhelmed.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

He does remind him that he is a Vulcan. So Decker is in command now. And then Spock has to remind him that he already tried everything that the Commodore wants to do. Like, we gotta move on. You already have destroyed a ship and killed your crew. Like that was like he that's when Decker should have said, Oh, maybe I am not fit for duty.

SPEAKER_03 40:34

Maybe I should go get examined by McCoy and Nurse Chapel.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

Yeah, because I mean one ship and you're just gonna kill us, not fun. But, anyways, he also explains that our phasers cannot penetrate this machine because the hole is made of neutronium. They'll just bounce off. And then Decker just loves slapping this captain's chair because he's like, I am the boss, go away. Right. Don't make me dismiss you of duty, also.

SPEAKER_03 41:01

And so even with that information from Spock, even with because I'm sure that's what he tried to do with Constellation as well.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Exactly. Well, he said, I was too far away. This time I'll be closer.

SPEAKER_03 41:12

Yeah. So he does the exact same thing. He orders the Enterprise to make strafing runs against the Planet Killer machine firing the phasers. Interesting to note, at no point does anyone think to fire torpedoes at this thing.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

They use I forgot they had those.

SPEAKER_03 41:28

Really? Yeah. So did the writers.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

So there's the acting in it like the coy.

SPEAKER_03 41:33

So there's no torpedoes fired. They go after it, the Planet Killer machine with the phasers, and while they're making these uh trench runs on the machine firing the phasers, Kirk gets the view screen reactivated.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 41:51

And gets to kind of look around and sees the Enterprise attacking the machine. It's like, what the hell's going on?

SPEAKER_01 41:58

Because he has no idea that Decker is taking over.

SPEAKER_03 42:01

Because there's no communications at this point. The communication array on the Enterprise is still damaged.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

And I do like that because so Washburn at this time has disappeared. And Scotty is reporting how all the work that he's doing. And how are you doing, Kirk? And then Kirk tells Scotty, you work on your miracles, I'll work on my own. As they're like with their logical things.

SPEAKER_03 42:26

Right. But then we see the machine fight back against the Enterprise and Super scary. Again, history is repeating itself. The Enterprise is becoming severely damaged in its futile attempt to stop the Planet Killer machine.

SPEAKER_01 42:53

And Spock keeps telling him all this damage is happening. And Decker's like, I am still in command. Leave me alone. Get closer to the machine, please, Helmsman. Um, his name is Sulu. Kirk and Scotty have are able to use the impulse engine and distract the machine from the Enterprise, which allows the Enterprise to break loose from being attacked, and then it allows both ships to be in like a safety zone. Spock takes this time to confront Commodore. Your path is taking us on a very destructive path, and it seems to be suicidal. And if you are suicidal, then I can deem you mentally unfit and remove you from your post.

SPEAKER_03 43:43

And as they're slowly making repairs to the Enterprise from this ill-fated attack, they get the communication back between the Enterprise and the Constellation. Kirk is trying to get updates from Spock, but Commodore Decker is very much still bossy bossy. And insisting, no, I'm in charge, you'll talk to me. I've taken command. It's within the rules. I'm well within my authority to take command of the enterprise. And I am going to continue to find a way to use the enterprise to stop this machine. Kirk, of course, keeps calling him out saying this is stupid.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

I love that he called him a lunatic, taking my ship.

SPEAKER_03 44:20

Yes. Definitely arguing.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

And then Decker is super smug, pulling rink. Like, how dare you? Right. And also tell me to get off the throne.

SPEAKER_03 44:29

Yeah. And ultimately, what gets Deckered out of the captain's chair is not the doctor of the ship trying to declare him mentally unfit, not Spock telling him that, hey, this is a suicidal mission and you're mentally unfit. It's just Kirk telling Spock, I'm the captain of the ship and I'm ordering you to relieve Commander Decker. And it's like, okay, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

Security, security.

SPEAKER_03 44:56

Yeah. And that's what does it. I mean, Commodore Decker just doesn't fight it anymore. You know, Spock says, Hey, under the authority of the captain, Captain Kirk, I relieve you of command.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

And you're illogically thinking.

SPEAKER_03 45:10

Yes. And so Deckard submits and says, fine, gets out of the chair. Spock sends him down to Sick Bay, escorted by a security officer. He tries. Doesn't get there. And we get that coordinated fight scene.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

That was good.

SPEAKER_03 45:29

Did you notice as you were watching the scene as he's fighting with the security officer? If you look at the floor as the fight scene progresses, the scuff marks get more and more. Yeah. Way more than we would get in just a regular fight scene. Because it's just take after take after take of them fighting.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

So and he's continuously pretending that he's like, oh, so worn out. Well, and the security guard's like, stop beating me up, please.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

Yeah. But ultimately, he does knock out the security officer and drag him off into a side room.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

That I don't know why these doors don't lock.

SPEAKER_03 46:08

And ultimately, all of this culminates as Kirk and Spock are piloting the two ships back together so that they can reunite and formulate a new plan. Commodore Decker sneaks into the shuttlecraft bay and hijacks a shuttlecraft and launches it before he can be stopped.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

It's like, uh, who authorized the opening of the doors?

SPEAKER_03 46:34

Yeah. And before we go to the commercial credits to get into Act Four, we learn that Commodore Decker is now just going to fly. His plan is to fly the shuttlecraft not up into the side of the Planet Killer Machine. He's going to fly it up into the opening. Ram it down its throat. As he says. How stupid of a plan is this? This thing can literally cut up giant parts of planets and eat them for fuel. A tiny little shuttlecraft is gonna get it done. Like a fly. Yeah. Makes no sense to me. The ultimate ending also makes no sense to me, but it is what it is to get the episode to its conclusion.

SPEAKER_01 47:21

Spock has to call Kirk and you know share his condolences on losing his friend. Because of course Decker did die in the shuttlecraft. And Kirk's like, uh, I gotta keep going. But they noticed that uh there's a drop in power in the machine when a shuttlecraft went in there.

SPEAKER_03 47:44

Yep, deja vu to the Apple, deja vu to Apollo.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

It's like build-up.

SPEAKER_03 47:51

Yeah. These giant machines require power. When they use their power, they become slightly vulnerable, expose the vulnerability.

SPEAKER_01 47:59

Kirk comes up with a plan on how he's going to destroy the machine over after all. He's just gonna copy his dear friend, but make sure that the constellation has a gigantic explosion. So he has Scotty rig up something fancy, Scotty beams back to Enterprise. So Kirk is alone, and he has to, you know, direct the constellation to the right place. He's ready to beam back over to Enterprise, and the transporter doesn't work.

SPEAKER_03 48:32

No, we have to have this dramatic end to the episode where Scotty is frantically fixing something on the Enterprise.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

He's like the magical mechanic.

SPEAKER_03 48:42

Yes, and the constellation is moving closer and closer to the entrance to the mouth of the Planet Killer machine. It gets closer, the distance closes, the countdown continues, and you can beam me over whenever, gentlemen. Yes. But ultimately, Kirk is beamed over at the last second. The machine tries to eat the constellation, it creates a huge explosion, and it doesn't blow up the Doomsday machine, but it does shut it off.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

Like implode.

SPEAKER_03 49:11

Yeah, it just takes away all of its power, it becomes adrift in space. Dead.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

So Kirk then assumes command because it is his ship, and he has Sulu turn around. Let's conserve as much power as possible. Uh Lieutenant Palmer, please get all those repairs expedited, ASAP. And uh Scotty, you need to fix the warp drive. No rest for you. And then, of course, Kirk and Spock discuss together that the Commodore will get some fancy line about dying in the line of duty, you know, because of his death.

SPEAKER_03 49:46

Yeah, they're not gonna take they're not gonna let the past events of the day ruin his career. It's not gonna do any good.

SPEAKER_01 49:56

And then, of course, the irony of using one doomsday weapon in order to destroy another doomsday weapon. And hopeful Kirk's like, hopefully there aren't any more out there. This one was efficient enough. And then a little fancy little doot do do to do ending.

SPEAKER_03 50:13

Fun fact, I think if you go into the non-canon material, they encounter four other planet killer machines. Bad. I'm gonna- that's the end of the episode. I'll say roll credits. Uh I'll I'll hold my thought for the moment.

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_03 50:31

But Jackie, what did you think about season two, episode six, The Doomsday Machine?

SPEAKER_01 50:39

I actually did like it. I I'm sad all those people had to die, and there was so much wreckage. But Scotty got to be a winner. That actor who plays a Commodore was fantastic, and he didn't take away from anybody else. I think it was very good and enlightening at the same time. Because I'm sure in the 60s we didn't talk about mental health and fit for duty, you know, openly.

SPEAKER_03 51:02

All right. I also enjoy the episode. It's entertaining. As we mentioned, fantastic side plot or subplot to the mental health of Commodore Decker. I enjoy the science fiction aspect to it. The Planet Killer Machine is fantastic. Here's gonna be my complaint. There should be more context and backstory. I have the complaint several times in many of the episodes, but where does the Planet Killer Machine come from? The fact that it has this whole backstory that it's created as a weapon against the Borg, not as a Doomsday machine, like Kirk explains, but an actual weapon to be used in warfare, I think is fantastic. And because the Borg becomes such a prominent thing in Star Trek later, why don't we ever revisit it? Why don't we ever see more doomsday machines or planet killer machines in Star Trek in the television series?

SPEAKER_01 52:00

Because they didn't know about the Borg, it's like beginning of the show.

SPEAKER_03 52:04

Yeah, but we could retcon it. We could we could easily have a we could easily have a Voyager episode where they encounter another Planet Killer machine because they're in the Gamma Quadrant.

SPEAKER_01 52:17

I don't even know what that is. We're in the L370s.

SPEAKER_03 52:24

I I just wish that for the science fiction aspect of it, the Planet Killer Machine I think is a fantastic science fiction plot, and I wish we got more of it. The episode itself is entertaining, and I highly enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 52:38

It would have co been cool to see it smashing the earth.

SPEAKER_03 52:42

Actually break up a planet. Yeah, like yeah, that is kind of a disappointment. That's kind of like having the Death Star in Star Wars and never seeing it blow up a planet. That would be kind of disappointing.

SPEAKER_01 52:54

Everyone blows things up from within. It's like a storyline. Yes. Everybody.

SPEAKER_03 52:59

All the stars. All the stars. But before we round out our final thoughts, don't forget at the end of the episode, when you're done listening, jump over to our Patreon, patreon.com/slash treks and tangents, where we'll publish our Star Note bonus episode. We'll take a deeper dive into a question about the episode. We'll talk about random things. We'll laugh, we'll make fun of the episode. We'll just have a good time. And this week's Star Note topic or question is going to be was Commodore Decker a hero, a villain, or a victim?

SPEAKER_01 53:34

For real. That's the question.

SPEAKER_03 53:36

Join us over on Patreon. It is free. Our StarNote bonus episodes are free to all who follow our Patreon. Jackie, round out your thoughts and impressions with this episode by giving us your favorite quote and why.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

Okay, well, I have a favorite quote and then I have a why did you copy that? Why, why, why did Kirk say I'm gonna ram it down its throat when he didn't hear the Commodore say that on the Enterprise? Like they have the same line.

SPEAKER_03 54:07

Okay. Yeah, that's kind of weird. I they could have done without repeating it.

SPEAKER_01 54:11

Yeah, and it's kind of grotesque. Like it's one is enough.

SPEAKER_03 54:16

It fits Commodore Decker's personality and character, but not Kirk. Kirk could have come up with a different line.

SPEAKER_01 54:22

Exactly. More eloquent. All right, but my I did enjoy this quote. Like I said earlier, it's Scott and Kirk when they're fixing the constellation. And Scotty goes, I we can cross-connect the controls, but it'd make the ship almost impossible for one man to handle, as they're like, you know, fixing it. And then that's when Kirk just says, You worry about your miracles, Scotty, I'll worry about mine. And I chose this because it definitely exhibits the determination, the imagination, the extensive knowledge that the crew has to have on a starship that we don't see like in normal episodes. And like Scotty really is this unsung hero that he can pretty much fix anything that they ask him to, and he just goes dot dot dot connect and all right, I'll see you in ten minutes. And it's amazing. And in this episode, I think he would win on the popular contest.

SPEAKER_03 55:19

You are going to love Miles O'Brien in the next generation and DS9. He is also an engineer. Does Scotty leave me? Well, they get old.

SPEAKER_01 55:32

Oh, yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 55:34

They get old. You do get to see Scotty in the next generation. But Miles O'Brien is another engineer that can pretty much fix anything and has a very similar personality to Scotty. And so I think you'll really enjoy Miles.

SPEAKER_01 55:49

Miles O'Brien. So is he from like Scotland, Ireland, too? O'Brien?

SPEAKER_03 55:54

Yes. Oh, fancy. Yeah, you'll like him.

SPEAKER_01 55:57

Fancy.

SPEAKER_03 55:58

My my favorite quote to round out my final thoughts to the episode is gonna be Kirk and talking to Commodore Decker when they first discover him and they're trying to figure out what's going on when they're on the constellation. And Kirk says, Matt, where's your crew? On the third planet. There is no third planet. Don't you think I know that? There was, but not anymore.

SPEAKER_01 56:20

The quote itself I wanted to cry.

SPEAKER_03 56:22

Yeah, the quote itself is eh, whatever. But in that, that was the first moment on the rewatch where I really again fell in love with the acting, not necessarily creating thinking that Commodore Decker's a hero, but just the acting that he does. And again, he's doing it in an over-the-top way because I think he kind of misreads the room when it comes to recording the episode. Yes. But it fits. He does it so over the top. I think the actor does a fantastic job. And then that quote is just the moment that's the first time where you go, This is going to be a good guest star. He's actually going to do good as an actor.

SPEAKER_01 56:58

I think the over-the-top is forgiven because we realize this man, this character, this leader that's accomplished so much has lost his command. 400 people dead. And he thought he was saving them. He heard their cries for help and he couldn't do anything.

SPEAKER_03 57:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:17

Like he's broken. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:19

That's gonna be my favorite quote. Dun dun.

Tribble Tidbits

SPEAKER_03 57:22

Let's do our triple tidbits or interesting facts about the episode. And Jackie, why do we call them triple tidbits? Because tribbles are the best. Because sometimes triples are fun, sometimes triples are interesting, sometimes triples are sad and a nuisance. That's kind of well, they just need to be loved. It's gonna be a grab bag of random facts. So, first airing October 20, 1967, and this is actually gonna be my favorite triple tidbit, and it's kind of unrelated to Star Trek, but it's okay. Jackie, take a wild guess. What happened October 20th, 1967? I need to Google it. October 20th, 1967 is the exact same date that Roger Patterson and Robert Gimling captured their now famous footage of Bigfoot in Bluff Creek, California. You have seen the video. It is the green video of Bigfoot.

SPEAKER_01 58:20

When he's running in the woods?

SPEAKER_03 58:22

When he's just kind of walking along the creek bed toward the woods. Oh it is the exact so the day this episode aired is the same day that they captured that that footage, allegedly. So I just thought that was really cool. Every time I do the triple tidbits, I always plug the date into Google to see if anything exciting happened. And it's rare that anything really interesting matches up to the exact date.

SPEAKER_01 58:47

So I just thought that was someone that saw Bigfoot also.

SPEAKER_03 58:50

We do, and they are uh apparently a listener of the podcast. Hi! Love you. Welcome to fame. We won't name you in Docs, we promise. Okay, next question. Tidbit. Or is the question? No, it's tidbit. I'll I'll give the answer, but I want your thought first. Oh man. How did they the model that they used to film the Planet Killer Machine? I told you to think about it before we recorded. The actual model that they use and they float in front of the stars and all that. How did they make that model? Did you look up the original?

SPEAKER_01 59:25

I did, and it looks like one of those things that fly at the airport.

SPEAKER_03 59:30

It's called a windsock.

SPEAKER_01 59:32

Yes. Or like a butterfly net. Like it's like super long and cylindrical, and they had to like attach stuff to it to make it look ugly.

SPEAKER_03 59:40

So the original model was created by taking concrete and dipping a wind sock.

SPEAKER_01 59:46

That's heavy.

SPEAKER_03 59:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:48

I won!

SPEAKER_03 59:49

Yeah, so it's kind of like paper mache, but oh that'd be but yeah, the original model for the Planet Killer Machine is a windsock dipped in concrete.

SPEAKER_01 59:59

That's very creative.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:00

There was someone who wasn't happy with that final result. I think it was one of the, I think it was the writer of the original short story that they use, but in any case, that's that's what the original model was. Of course, if you go to Paramount Plus and watch the episode now, it's the remaster. It's if it's the remastered version, so it's all CGI. Uh of course, this episode has multiple references to Moby Dick, if you think about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:24

It very much shadows or parallels that whole story. Jackie's thinking about it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:31

Well, it only brings pushes more about that. My Planet Killer is a whale.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:37

Right. And then my last triple tidbit it is extremely obvious that when you watch the scene as the shuttlecraft is flying into the maw of the Planet Killer, that is not the correct scale. The shuttlecraft appears much larger, even though it's a little speck, it's still too big. This is done intentionally and purposely. It is not an accident or blooper. It is incorrect, but the producers of the show and the writers all decided when they put it all together, they had to make it look this way because otherwise the shuttlecraft would be too small to see from that shot.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:16

So right, and they wouldn't be able to see what Decker did.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:20

Right. So they intentionally make the decision to, in certain scenes, ignore the proportions of the ships and kind of like zoom in. And the Planet Killer machine so that it was more cinematic and less accurate. But those are your triple tidbits this

Episode Ranking

SPEAKER_03 1:01:37

week. And we'll, of course, now share our episode ranking where we pretend the episode is a member of our crew of our fictitious starship, and we'll assign a Starfleet rank to the episode. A higher rank means we found the episode more entertaining, and more importantly, a more valuable member of our crew. And of course, a lower ranking is the opposite. We found the episode less entertaining, but we also find the episode to be a more disposable member of our crew. Our ranking system starting at the bottom are enlisted members, uh, an ensign, lieutenant junior grade, and a lieutenant, all of which we can have an unlimited number of crew members at those ranks. And then above average episodes would be Lieutenant Commander, we can have seven, commanders, we can have five, captains, we can have one, and admirals, a perfect episode, we can have one. If none of that makes any sense, don't worry. We'll post a graphical representation of our rankings over at our Patreon, patreon.com slash treks and tangents. Again, free for everyone to view if you want. And we'll publish that Wednesday, the day after this episode goes live. So, Jackie, for your starship this season, the USS Luminaria.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:49

Luminara.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:51

Sorry. Luminara, what rank would you assign this episode? I am giving it Commander. Commander, your first commander for the season, and your first out of five commanders for the season. Yes. Why are you giving it this rank?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:06

I just really enjoyed this episode, and I again I'm huge on you know health. And so even though that they didn't blatantly talk about it, they touched on how important the mental health is and dealing with it. And this actor was fantastic, so he kind of like helped boost it up a bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:26

Alright. I'm gonna come in a little bit under you. I'm gonna assign this episode the rank of lieutenant commander. This is gonna be my first lieutenant commander for the season, first out of seven that I can have for this season. It's an entertaining episode. It is fantastic that they address mental health, and it's interesting to see that plot unfold. The Planet Killer Machine is a fantastic sci-fi plot line, but at the end of the day, I'm gonna say I'm entertained, but it's still an average episode. It is not a dooms it they needed to elaborate more on the sci-fi aspect. The fact that the actor who plays Commodore Decker cannot carry this episode any further. It needs more context to what the Planet Killer machine is, where it comes from, and what happens to it at the end of it. Because it's not blown up, it's just powered down and turned off. Like kind of come back alive. What are they gonna do with it? So I'm gonna kind of keep the episode there at above average, but still gonna be down there at Lieutenant Commander, the entry level to our officers for our ranking system, because it just comes up short. I can understand that. And again, if none of that made any sense, don't forget to check our Patreon on Wednesday where we'll post that graphical representation. For reference, as of the recording of this episode over at IMDB, the Doomsday Machine ranks an 8.7 out of 10. It is one of the top is one of the top-rated episodes for the season. And again, cool. In order for it to be a better episode for me, it needed more context for the sci-fi. Like substance. Yeah. Well, we'll

Turbolift Tease

SPEAKER_03 1:05:17

be back next week to trek through another episode, but before we go, we'll give a turbolift tease or elevator pitch to next episode's plot. I'll give Jackie the title of the next episode, and Jackie, with no other information, will give a brief pitch to the plot. Jackie, next week's episode is entitled Cat's Paw.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:38

The Enterprise encounters a cult on one of their expeditions. And even though they were going to be helping, you know, giving aid to someone else on that same planet, they learned about this cult, and now they are trying to help the cult members know that you know they're being ordered around. And then finally, we're able to get them to change their minds, and we get them to safety at the other part of the planet that they were just helping.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:08

And tune in next week to see how accurate Jackie's prediction is. If you want more show information, you can find and directly support our podcast on Patreon at patreon.com/slash treks and tangents. We've mentioned it a couple times throughout the episode. We have our Star Note bonus episode that we post every week alongside this podcast. Free for everyone to listen to who follows the podcast. We'll take a deeper dive into the episode. We'll talk about the character Commodore Decker and whether he was a villain or a victim or a hero. But we also will post the graphical representation to the rankings, as I mentioned, on Wednesday. For our supporters on our Patreon, we dive into the animated series for Star Trek. You can start binge watching those or binge listening to those, I should say. Uh, we also post our test episodes that we recorded to prepare for the podcast to kind of work out some of the kinks and the bugs to the podcast. Where we were very green. Very green. Wet behind the ears. We're still wet behind the ears. We're getting better. Umes. Eleven pages of notes. But if you are over on our Patreon, whether you support us or are a crew member of our Patreon or not, what would you like to see on the Patreon? Comment on the episode. Send us an email, treksantangents at gmail.com. What content would you like to see posted over on our Patreon? Let us know. Vote for Brian's Corner. Brian's Corner. Brian's Corner, Brian's Corner is uh a work in progress. I haven't fully decided what I want to do with that, but we'll figure it out. But besides our Patreon, you can follow us on X, x.com slash Trex underscore tangents, or also on Instagram at Blue Sky at Treks and Tangents, Jackie, where can people find you? And what are you up to?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:56

I'm very slow lately. I'm still recuperating from my hip replacement and planning the next one. But you can find all that fun information on my Instagram at JaboomJ-I-B-B-O-O-M. I still play my music. I still have my disability advocacy. And of course, we have to look cute while we're out in public with our with our outfits and our makeup. So I'll see you over there.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:25

Alright. You can watch me stream a variety of video games over at twitch.tv slash piratepoundtown. Over on YouTube on my main channel, PiratePoundtown, I post video games and other random content. Also on YouTube, I post coin collecting and other hobby content at Pirate Treasure Hunting. Socially, I'm on Blue Sky, PiratePound Town, and I'm trying to get better about posting on Instagram. You can find me on Instagram at Pineapple Cannibal. Links to all social media mention can be found in the episode description. Thank you everyone for tuning into this week's episode. We hope you had fun like we did, and we will see you all next week.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:04

Don't forget to get creative with your pop making.