Production Order Group Viewing 2018

I too like Palmer very much in this episode. I feel like I'm betraying Uhura saying that though.

 

She crops up a few times in John Byrne's New Visions and mans tge engineering console in ST Continues so we could have had both.

 

Lt.Palmer turned up again in The Way to Eden! Although I can't say I remember her being in that one? Was she in Uhura's seat again I wonder?
JB

 

She was, except for her nap.

 

Doomsday Machine is for sure one of my favourite episodes. The drama, action, and characterisation were great. It has some real tension and edge of the seat moments and I admire the fact that they thought about their fictional technology and why some common get out if jail free cards couldn't be played.

I look at Kirk in this episode and I look at Kirk in ST 2009 and I ask myself why Nukirk was thought to be worthy of promotion since he was pretty much proposing the same strategy as Decker and it was only the Spocks that steered him towards a successful solution.

I love the conflict with the chain of command in this one. It feels more organic than in the Deadly Years.

Probably my one criticism is that, while it's nice to see Lt Palmer, it might have been cool to feature Uhura as part of the repair team to give her some off-ship time exercising some of her technical skills again.

 

YES. The having/wanting line is for my money one of the best in TOS. I love how in delivering it, and so coolly to boot, Spock makes T'Pring and Stonn look like petulant, immature, frisky little tools. Which they were. Not bad for a half-Vulcan.

I think it's a fantastic exchange. And it's easily Majel Barrett's best acting moment ever when she responds to Spock's request for more Plomeek soup. This is not even in my top 20 favorite episodes and yet I never fail to start choking up when Chapel says she'd be very glad to do that.

Yeah, I don't get that from the scene at all either. Honestly, there are people who just seem to have some need to project, uh, certain things on Spock that simply aren't there. Intriguingly, though, most of those people also seem to get annoyed by Droxine and sometimes Zarabeth.

 

Spock seems to be projecting an I'm sorry vibe towards Chapel in Amok time in his quarters rather than a proposition I thought!
JB

 

DOOMSDAY MACHINE

It seems the better the episode, the less I have to say about it! This tale is just a ripping nautical yarn from beginning to end.

Other thoughts:

• Wow, is that a freshly made captain’s wraparound tunic? Looks nice!
• Kirk’s engineering background (first suggested in Court Martial) shows up again here.
• The special effects on the remastered version of this episode are very well done and actually improve the tension in many scenes (instead of just being distracting)

Eek, that's a grim thought.
However, it might help paper over one of the weaker aspects of this otherwise great story; after all WHY did Decker ever think it was a good idea to beam down his crew onto a planet when there was a planet eater in the vicinity?

 

I agree with all your bullets.
When Kirk got to Aux Control, the view screen was not working and I interpret this as maybe the external sensors were down, not just a broken view screen. Decker's ship was a wreck with no warp, no impulse, no weapons, no shields, no comms and probably couldn't support the crew. There was probably a long lull in the battle, which Decker mistakenly assumed the DM was gone. Decker must have beamed all the dead down to the surface for a proper burial. (Remember how important this was to the members of the Galileo Seven even under the threat of attack, so, this must be a strong space-thing to bury the dead, ASAP. Even Gary Mitchell thought to bury Kirk after he killed him; out of respect and friendship, right?) The DM may have left the battle area to move along its original coarse, but did a long range scan to the next system and calculated it needed more fuel. It looped back around to eat one more planet for dessert, and bam, the disaster.

By the way, I never considered Decker to be one of Starfleet's finest. Kirk and Spock quickly assessed the tactical situation and realized to retreat and get help, while Decker continued to attack until his ship was wrecked, then he did the same mistake with the Enterprise. He was captain Ahab hunting his whale.

 

These posts about The Doomsday Machine are fantastic. Just like the episode.

I can never get enough of Scotty and Kirk fixing up the Constellation. NEVER!! Kirk and Washburn (good actor!) fixing the viewscreen, Scott recharging the phasers, the two of them each thinking to cross-connect the propulsion controls, Scotty hooking in the intercom system. Also love the smiles Shatner gives when the phasers are recharged and (more subtly) Scott turns on the newly fixed intercom. This was an absolutely top-flight episode and it seems like everyone involved loved doing it.

 

NEW SETS!
I can't believe I forgot to mention these:

• Auxiliary Control - where most of the aforementioned Kirk repair work takes place. I vaguely recall that this set was built so as to better differentiate the action between the Enterprise and the Constitution. It's a highly detailed flexible set that will show up several more times (and we even get to see the other wall sometimes!)
• Engineering - the 2-level version makes its first appearance, but just like Auxiliary control it's on another ship! I don't think the Enterprise equivalent will make its entrance for another couple of weeks, so I'll save my thoughts until then

In a related note, I LOVE the depiction of the damaged interiors of the Constellation. It's surprisingly effective how bent tubes and dangling cables can present a ship barely holding itself together.

TREK FIRST:
In that we see a sister ship of the Enterprise, both exterior and interior. Given how many of these duplicates we will see over the next 2 years, it's a surprising to me that we never saw any in Season One

 

Is that true about Auxiliary Control? I seem to remember something about that too. It would indeed have been a little bit confusing for the viewer if Kirk was on the Constellation's bridge. Not only that, but they would have had to shoot most of the scenes in the episode, the vast majority in fact, on the bridge set, and keep redressing it with whatever they wanted to do to convey damage to the Constellation's version. So come to think of it that was a really inspired decision. It's interesting to think about them building a whole new set for one script. Perhaps another sign that they knew what a great episode they had?

Maybe they wanted to maintain the Enterprise's uniqueness and reinforce the Hornblower-in-space motif a bit more? However, the Menagerie and Court Martial didn't really assist that effort. In any case, they only ever board two others, and TW is so well done as a whole that I don't find any fault with it. The Exeter scenes in OG are good too. Of course, then there's also the Gideonites' version . . . .

 

Interesting...2 duplicate interiors per season!

As far as exteriors go, there's also the 4 starships in Ultimate Computer.

 

It was unusual to add a new standing set to the Enterprise interior, but great when they did it. I really like the Emergency Manual Monitor set that was built in stilts over Engineering. Budget-wise, EMM and Auxiliary Control were more like the shuttlecraft interior, in that they were built with the intention of using them in multiple episodes. ACC wasn't purpose-built just for The Doomsday Machine.

 

In Court Martial we first hear of the USS Intrepid but sadly we never see her, not even in The Immunity Syndrome!!! And she is instrumental to the basic plot!
JB

 

Sure. And we see the bridge of the Lexington on the screen, although Wesley has a different backing on his command chair.

I guess because I don't watch OG too much - despite the presence of that most experienced Starfleet captain, Ron Tracey!! - TW doesn't seem duplicative. Also, since they don environmental suits in TW, it's like they seem to have learned their lesson after boarding the Exeter without them, which wasn't a good plan. And honestly, TDD and TW are so good that I don't care that they boarded another Constitution-class ship in each.

 

Wolf In The Fold

A belly dancer! I have to say, I'm liking the start of this episode.

It's fun seeing Kirk, McCoy, and Scotty enjoying themselves. A little drinking, a little implied sex...'

Hengist is from Rigel IV. Rigel is the busiest system in the Federation. Rigel IV is okay, just don't go to Rigel VII. Wasn't Rigel at risk from the Planet Killer last week?

"She's dead, Jim." Is that the first time McCoy says SHE'S dead, Jim?

"Beam down a technician with a psychotricorder." No! Beam down Lt. Noel! Wait, that means she dies. Nevermind.

This is like a ghost story. Fun.

They really shouldn't let Scotty sit next to the women.

Poor Jaris lost his wife. I really feel bad for him here.

Jaris confronting Scotty: "You are not of the body and will be absorbed for the good of Argelius."

"Women are more easily and deeply terrified generating more sheer horror than the male of the species." Oh boy. I think I might be terrified to express this opinion in the presence of women.

I'm sorry, realizing that the badguy is Piglet just puts a whole silly spin on this episode. His evil voice is so funny and creepy at the same time. I love when he's drugged. "Die die die."' Haha.

"No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no" That was usually my reaction to having to do complex math problems.

Wonder why Redjac targeted Scotty for possession so often. Did his head injury make him more susceptible or was it just a matter of opportunity. Come to think of it, if Redjac just waits until the Enterprise leaves, it could kill to its heart's content longer.

Spock shoving Kyle out of the way. "Your agonizer please." "I'm sorry, Mr. Spock, really!"

What's wrong with taking McCoy and Scotty back to Argelius in their drugged state? I'm sure they'd have a good time.

This episode is guilty, as others are too, of the main characters laughing at the end after people have been killed including their own crewman. On the other hand, their job is so stressful they probably can't dwell on all the death or they'd go nuts.

Kirk: "Mr. Spock, this cafe has women that are so..." Spock: "Sorry, sir, I just had my Pon Farr."

So they cured Scotty of his hatred of women with a night on the town. Moral of the story: drinking and sex cure mental illness.

A good episode. I always liked it. Interesting to think of Jack the Ripper as an evil entity that took to space. It's a little strange how long it takes to get to the badguy and then how quickly they wrap it up, but it's a good story along the way.

In the 70's I used to see stories investigating who Jack the Ripper really was, but you don't hear about it anymore. Maybe we've had too many worse massacres since. Jack the Ripper is quaint now.

Alien Watch! New entries..
Season 1
Talosians
That big ugly Rigellian guy Pike fought in illusion
Vina as an Orion girl in illusion
Glimpse of other aliens captured by Talosians
Ron Howard's brother
That dog from Enemy Within
Salt monster
That hand plant...Gertrude
Spock (duh)
Charlie's parents (Thasians)*
Romulans!
(Ruk)
Miri's planet kids (bonk bonk)
Giant ape creatures of Taurus II
Shore Leave Caretaker guy
Trelaine and his folks*
Gorn
Metrons*
The Lazerii
The remarkably human-looking aliens of Beta 3. (RotA)
The remarkably human-looking aliens of Emineminar VII (AToA)
The Triffids of Omicron Ceti III (TSoP)
The refreshingly non-human-looking Horta
Organians*
Klingons! (Remarkably human looking).
(The Guardian of Forever)
Flying pancakes

Season 2
Sylvia and Korob
The Companion
The remarkably human looking (though tall) Cappellans.
Native Pollux IV-ians (Apollo and his gang)
Full-blooded Vulcans
The remarkably human looking citizens of Argelius II (WitF)
Redjac

*Alien Watch sublist: omnipotent aliens!

 

I can't get over the massive plot hole: I don't recall ever seeing a woman in engineering ;-p

 

Maybe Redjac was also inhabiting the bodies of some of those other murderers too, Polty? I'll bet he didn't do the time with his hosts though!!!
JB

 

No wonder.
Allow a woman in engineering and look what happens.

There was Masters in everyone's favourite episode "Alternative Factor". It was probably allowed because she was hiding in a science uniform.