Doomsday machine theory

[A Ruffian]

This just crossed my mind as I rewatched “the doomsday machine”. Kirk initially theorized the machine’s purpose as so:
“a doomsday machine that somebody used in a war uncounted years ago. They don't exist anymore, but the machine is still destroying."
My thought is if was used in a war from who knows how long ago, it probably was constructed to fight something very very powerful…and my guess might be…The Borg.
If said someone doesn’t exist anymore(which might be from the Borg), and the machine is impervious to any sort of laser beam(I think), was the machine’s purpose an attempt to stop the Borg?
Feel free to voice your thoughts and other theories if any, or correct me on stuff.

 

[drt]

This just crossed my mind as I rewatched “the doomsday machine”. Kirk initially theorized the machine’s purpose as so:
“a doomsday machine that somebody used in a war uncounted years ago. They don't exist anymore, but the machine is still destroying."
My thought is if was used in a war from who knows how long ago, it probably was constructed to fight something very very powerful…and my guess might be…The Borg.
If said someone doesn’t exist anymore(which might be from the Borg), and the machine is impervious to any sort of laser beam(I think), was the machine’s purpose an attempt to stop the Borg?
Feel free to voice your thoughts and other theories if any, or correct me on stuff.

This was the basis of a Trek novel called Vendetta from the early 1990s. I haven't read it for thirty years, but I recall it being pretty good.

 

[A Ruffian]

This was the basis of a Trek novel called Vendetta from the early 1990s. I haven't read it for thirty years, but I recall it being pretty good.

I read the summary of the book, it’s a very nice story.
I like that it was brought up in the book, but it’s listed as apocryphal.

 

[blssdwlf]

It seemed that whatever adversary the Doomsday Machine was meant to fight the enemy was weak to antiproton weaponry, could have their energy source suppressed by a power damping field and could not field a weapon that could easily blast through neutronium. I'm not sure if the Borg is a good match up as the targeted enemy.

 

[A Ruffian]

It seemed that whatever adversary the Doomsday Machine was meant to fight the enemy was weak to antiproton weaponry, could have their energy source suppressed by a power damping field and could not field a weapon that could easily blast through neutronium. I'm not sure if the Borg is a good match up as the targeted enemy.

Hmm…that does sound viable.

 

[BK613]

There's also the the little wrinkle about it coming 'from another galaxy'...my pick would be one of the Magellanic Clouds.

---------
Sometime after I read what happens to Earth (and why) in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I wondered if, rather than being a weapon, it might instead be a runaway automated bulldozer, sent into star systems to prep for construction of a Dyson's sphere or similar.

 

[Tosk]

but it’s listed as apocryphal

All the novels are. Only the shows and movies themselves are canonical.

 

[Qonundrum]

I read the summary of the book, it’s a very nice story.

I recall it being fairly great overall. I should re-read it again, it's only been three decades since I had last...

I like that it was brought up in the book, but it’s listed as apocryphal.

Especially after the events in "I, Borg" afterward.

Which is both good and bad. I adored the book when it came out, even if the use of the great galactic windsock o' doom there felt superfluous, though it took a second read to get out of the nostalgiabait mindset that's inevitable with the book tie-ins, regardless of franchise. The question arguably is, should/must everything be linked to a big bad (as friend or foe of it)?

 

[A Ruffian]

There's also the little wrinkle about it coming 'from another galaxy'...my pick would be one of the Magellanic Clouds.

Yep, there’s that problem. The Borg are said to originate from somewhere in the Delta Quadrant, so the pressing fact that the machine came from another galaxy does screw the theory quite up a bit.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I wonder if our future Starfleet heroes will ever meet the faction that created it. We could have our next big bad series adversary in the weapon's creators.

@BK613 your idea is interesting. As a force of nature/technology with no malevolent intent.

 

[BK613]

As a force of nature/technology with no malevolent intent.

Even its attacks on the starships could be considered more of a shooing away tactic, a measured response that says, 'Back off, I'm working here'. Because a device capable of blasting a planet into rubble as quickly as it did should have toasted the ships with no problem.

 

[blssdwlf]

Even its attacks on the starships could be considered more of a shooing away tactic, a measured response that says, 'Back off, I'm working here'. Because a device capable of blasting a planet into rubble as quickly as it did should have toasted the ships with no problem.

Seems like the comms systems are broken after all those years of demolishing planets. Instead of transmitting the below message it simply is sending overwhelming subspace noise.

"Hello, please do not be alarmed. I am the DDM Planetary Demolition Device and am scheduled to demolish your star system. I will suppress your power generation systems to facilitate quick and painless annihilation of abandoned operating machinery that your civilization cannot afford to dismantle. Please do not approach too closely or the automated system will defend itself from tampering. Thank you for trusting in DDM Services of the Andromeda Galaxy."

 

[Phoenix219]

I really wanted it to be an earlier version of a mining machine for the DSC S04 aliens that had no idea they were damaging anything.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I wonder if our future Starfleet heroes will ever meet the faction that created it. We could have our next big bad series adversary in the weapon's creators.

The internal episode logic says probably not. If the DDM came from an outside galaxy, and yet it is heading toward the Rigel system at an ordinary warp speed, then the DDM had to be launched so long ago that nobody would consider themselves its makers— and that's assuming their species is not extinct altogether. It would be like asking us to answer for the Neanderthals, and whatever they were up to in those days.

 

[Frontis]

Generally I am not a big fan of prequels but the Doomsday Machine offers some promising stuff to explore.

 

[publiusr]

I thought there was some resemblance to The Guardian... maybe the Whale Probe (out-of-canon/genre the ship from ARRIVAL).

All look roughly hewn.

 

[Metryq]

I really wanted it to be an earlier version of a mining machine for the DSC S04 aliens that had no idea they were damaging anything.

That doesn't dovetail with much of the DDM's actions in the episode. Although I've read sci-fi stories with Von Neumann probes run amok, like "The Changeling" (TOS).

Episode writer Norman Spinrad said he was thinking Moby Dick when he penned "The Doomsday Machine." Prior to hearing that interview, I'd thought the episode might have been inspired by Fred Saberhagen's Berserker stories. The stories vary quite a bit, and I'd have to go over them again to get the details correct, but I recall the first anthology (called simply Berserker) describing immense, Star Wars Death Star-sized battle machines. But instead of being the uncommunicative brute seen in the Star Trek episode, the first story "Without A Thought" depicts the Berserkers as devious and intelligent destroyers.

 

[Frontis]

The Doomsday Machine is for sure one of the most impressing things I saw in Star Trek...

 

[Dukhat]

There's no need to link the Doomsday Machine to the Borg or any other known alien race. The Small Universe syndrome in Star Trek is already bad enough without making more of it.

 

[Kor]

I read the summary of the book, it’s a very nice story.
I like that it was brought up in the book, but it’s listed as apocryphal.

Yes, the novels are not considered canon.

Kor