Was Spock wrong to abandon the Rigel colonies?

[YARN]

Why would it do that latter bit? It's not actually chasing the Enterprise: it's trying to shake her off so that it can go to Rigel.

It's not really trying to do anything. It's a mindless machine following its programming. It's attracted to the power that emanates from warp nacelles and will attack a starship. The machine "loses interest" if a ship gets outside of its defensive perimeter, but it will focus attention on a ship that travels within that sphere. When the Enterprise closes within its attack range, the programmed thing for it to do is to turn and attack. It's not like its watch and muttering "Dammit, I really need to get to Rigel!"

The Doomsday machine heads off to Rigel moving from left to right. The Enterprise pursues, also moving from left to right. We get an intervening scene on the Constellation where Kirk is apparently spot welding. Next, we return to the Enterprise. She is still moving from left to right. We cut to the Constellation and she is moving in the opposite direction, from right to left. In plain English and following the grammar of television the message is indubitable - the Doomsday Machine has turned around.

If it were capable of warp insystem/immediately/whatever, it would leave the starship in its wake. Since it doesn't, there's something strange going on if it is warp-capable - but nothing amiss if it isn't.

As you said, it might have to move outside the system to engage its warp drive.

Then again, the Enterprise is warp-capable at this point too. If the Enterprise really is faster at warp, then it's plausible that she could catch up to the DM after giving it only a 4 minute head start (this is much different from the 10-15 light year head start involved in doubling back, and picking up, and clearing the interference, and notifying Starfleet, and then allegedly scooting off to cut it off before it reaches Rigel).

Excellent point. Then again, TOS-R shows us that "visibility" is limited by dense rubble,

When the two come into conflict, the original show (being the original), should take precedence in out interpretations. Or, if we insist on being democratic, we should take it that contradictory evidence from two equally legitimate sources requires that we must pass over such evidence (i.e., it cannot be counted for or against any given interpretation).

and even the original dialogue establishes our heroes are isolated by subspace interference.

When they scan L-370 they are able to discern with their sensors that that solar system had been destroyed.

Later, when they enter the limits of L-374, they are able to detect that the inner two planets (and ascertain their composition) are intact while everything else is blasted to rubble.

During these scenes Kirk orders sensor scans, and his officers comply. No one complains that their sensors are "wonky".

Their radio communications are suffering interference, but at no point are we told that there is anything amiss with the sensors. Palmer (the communications officer) complains of interference, but not Spock or Sulu. Ergo, we have no reason to believe that navigation or the science survey aspects of the ship are suffering these effects.

That they "can't take much more of this" before anything actually happens could be due to one of two things:

1) The DDM drains the ship's power by its third weapon, the one that isn't the tractor beam or the antiproton beam - the one that deactivated the antimatter aboard the Constellation. This could also explain the seven-hour fuel limit thing.

2) Spock is simply saying the deflectors can't do a repeat performance of the first encounter, as a preemptive warning to Decker.

Or we accept the most plausible explanation. They are being fired upon. We are getting caught up with a battle in progress. Check out how the scene plays at CBS.com.

A straight-line course of the battle away from the Constellation at best DDM speed would also match the facts, as long as best DDM speed is lower than best Constellation speed. The fight could merely keep the DDM from doing what it wants, namely accelerate to interstellar drive mode.

I don't think so. If the battle was not heading toward the Constellation, but away from it, there is too much ground to cover (again, this is simply bad writing offering us the convenience of putting Kirk right there to get into the fray).

Scotty and Decker argue for 4 minutes while the DDM runs for it. We then get the fanfare with a fly by shot with the Enterprise shown gaining on the DDM. Cut back to the Constellation where Kirk and Scottie spend a few minutes chatting and repairing. Basically, if we interpret things your way, the Enterprise (which can do much better than 1/3 impulse - she's still warp-capable at this point) should be at quite a distance from the Constellation.

Before the Constellation even engages her engines, however, when Kirk first looks through the view screen it looks as if the battle is right outside the ship.

 

[Timo]

When they scan L-370 they are able to discern with their sensors that that solar system had been destroyed. Later, when they enter the limits of L-374, they are able to detect that the inner two planets (and ascertain their composition) are intact while everything else is blasted to rubble. During these scenes Kirk orders sensor scans, and his officers comply. No one complains that their sensors are "wonky".

True. But the ship has to fly into a star system to discern whether planet-sized things are absent or present. In relation, spotting a spacecraft such as the DDM could well require point blank ranges. If the star system fringes are at 100 AU or so, then discerning the (less-than-)one-thousandth-as-large DDM might require a range of 0.1 AU in relation, or less than a lightminute. Which would jibe with what we hear and see.

The difficulty of spotting star system destruction is something they have been living through for the past few days or perhaps weeks. It shouldn't warrant dialogue at this point...

Before the Constellation even engages her engines, however, when Kirk first looks through the view screen it looks as if the battle is right outside the ship.

Which wouldn't be out of place for something happening on the other side of a star system in general Trek continuity, but would go against the idea that it's difficult to see around in the vicinity of the DDM...

Okay, so perhaps the DDM ran in circles there, and is in fact faster than the Constellation.

We're still left sort of hanging on whether the DDM would be faster between stars than our heroes. The episode repeatedly shows it as being slower insystem, and while we can very well argue that outsystem would be different, it does take some arguing. Not the most smoothly executed plotline here...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[YARN]

The difficulty of spotting star system destruction is something they have been living through for the past few days or perhaps weeks. It shouldn't warrant dialogue at this point...

Hmmm, it seems that you are suggesting that the warrant is that the bridge crew already knows what's up. Even if we accept this notion, however, I would suggest that the proper word here is not "warranted," but rather "necessary." It's not like Mr. Spock would be chastised for mentioning that his sensors were having a hard time making out planets in the system: "Interference is still obscuring instrumental readings, but two planets are still intact." If you are correct, this sort of line would not be unwarranted, so much as (from the informational needs of the bridge crew) not crucially needed.

Strictly speaking, however, there is a lot of information that is mentioned that was not necessary. Kirk reviews information the crew already knows. Why? For exposition. What matters is that these scenes are where we the audience are told what we need to know. When the bridge crew of the Enterprise are talking about the what, where, and when of it all, their job is not really to inform each other of the situation, but rather the audience.

Oops! There is evidence in favor of your argument.

KIRK: Radiation levels?
SPOCK: Normal, but subspace interference makes readings difficult.
SULU: No other vessels in the area, Captain. All scanners show clear.

This bit of dialogue is doubly embarrassing. Spock is offering a bit of information you claim is not warranted at this point. More troubling, however, is that we do get a positive report of an instance of some sensor difficulties.

But also notice the line which immediately follows. Sulu confidently asserts that there are NO other vessels in the area, because all his scanners are clear. If Sulu is a competent officer, he would not make so confident a report if his scanner information were significantly unreliable due to the interference. Hence, the conclusion we should draw is that the Enterprise's scanners/sensors are working well enough at long range detection, but are having a difficult time with fine detail close-range scanning.

It must be owned, however, that this mitigates my original point. It still seems, however, that the Enterprise crew is confident that her sensors are working well enough and that, therefore, it would be puzzling that the DDM would be able to surprise them "out of nowhere" if it were simply lumbering on impulse.

Consider the 4 minute head start. The point where the DDM has been heading away from them for 4 minutes as Spock and Decker argue. They not only have no trouble tracking the DDM, but they have a nice magnified view screen image of the thing when Decker engages the thing. If so, it would seem that they should have easily detected it (even seen the thing as a nice big fat color image), a few minutes before they were in any danger. That is, if the DDM was lumbering along at impulse power.

At any rate, even if the claim of this argument is not quite as strong as it was before this evidence, it still counts against the idea that the DDM is impulse-only. Moreover, there are plenty of other reasons I have offered which indicate that the DDM is a warp capable machine.

Okay, so perhaps the DDM ran in circles there, and is in fact faster than the Constellation.

We're still left sort of hanging on whether the DDM would be faster between stars than our heroes. The episode repeatedly shows it as being slower insystem, and while we can very well argue that outsystem would be different, it does take some arguing. Not the most smoothly executed plotline here...

Timo Saloniemi

Agreed.

On the other hand, this was a TV episode and (presumably) Spinrad had to grind out the script in a short amount of time.

What strikes me about revisiting this episode is how much it hangs together so very well. The dialogue is bursting with exposition (this arguably would have been more comfortable as a two-parter) and there is a lot going on, but it all fits together pretty well. There is only one scene that drags a bit without any real necessity (where Scotty is pulling on a wall panel and Kirk is working on his big screen), but apart from that the episode really does not have any fat on it. The effects are dodgy and the physics are wrong (as per usual), but it's a great our of television.

I think this is true of TOS, in general.

 

[blssdwlf]

I pieced together one possible version of the "Battle at L-374" based on the original aired episode (not new-FX, that will be for another day )

Combatants:

• Starfleet
  2x Starships (NCC-1017 and NCC-1701)
  1x Shuttle (from NCC-1701)
• The Doomsday People
  1x Doomsday Machine (DM)

Data from other episodes:

• Warp 8/9 speeds in system results in "actual" speeds of ~5c ("Tomorrow is Yesterday", "Operation:Annihilate","Paradise Syndrome")
• Max transporter range about 30,000km ("Obsession")
• .04 ly is outside of phaser range ("Obsession")

Assumptions:

• 1017 beams down crew to the 3rd planet. This places the 3rd planet orbit very close to 1017's current position. Orbit line picked to assume 1701 would choose escape direction that allows a run into open space if necessary.
• "1/3rd impulse power" is about 1/3rd max acceleration.

Map

Created using the Constellation as the reference point.

Not visible is the DM's "circling chase" of the 1701 around the 1017 because of the scale of the map.

 

[BillJ]

So it still comes back to this question: did Spock have enough time to contact Starfleet and save Rigel?

 

[blssdwlf]

So it still comes back to this question: did Spock have enough time to contact Starfleet and save Rigel?

Contact Starfleet and save Rigel? Probably no based on Spock's lack of counter argument. There probably isn't enough time for resources to get to Rigel or intercept the DM*

*Of course, that is based on Spock's reasoning that a single ship cannot combat the DM. He wasn't considering the Constellation as possible help or a suicide run by a ship on the DM.

 

[Timo]

Sulu confidently asserts that there are NO other vessels in the area, because all his scanners are clear. If Sulu is a competent officer, he would not make so confident a report if his scanner information were significantly unreliable due to the interference.

Depends on how starships are spotted. Spock reports that the attacker has "some kind of a total conversion drive", which Sulu might not have recognized for what it was. Although the dialogue probably was intended to convey that this exotic drive allows the monster to "come in fast" and surprise our heroes that way, we can interpret it whatever way best fits our aims.

Detecting the black beast by solely visual means might be nigh-impossible - but keeping visual track of it once its emission characteristics were known could be much easier. Thus, seeing the long distance imagery later in the episode would not prove it could have been easily obtained earlier in the episode.

Warp 8/9 speeds in system results in "actual" speeds of ~5c ("Tomorrow is Yesterday", "Operation:Annihilate","Paradise Syndrome")

A neat idea as such - but why do our heroes use warp when it does them no good? When their ships are explicitly limited to impulse, they still basically perform the same. Why choose warp 8 at one time and impulse at another if it always gives you half a cee?

In "DDM", we don't have to believe that our heroes would ever have used high warp to achieve their half a cee. In "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and ST, we can argue that warp is necessary for the time travel formula, and everything else is secondary. But in "Paradise Syndrome", there's no reason to do high warp instead of high impulse if both give less than two lightmonths in a few hours.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[blssdwlf]

Warp 8/9 speeds in system results in "actual" speeds of ~5c ("Tomorrow is Yesterday", "Operation:Annihilate","Paradise Syndrome")

A neat idea as such - but why do our heroes use warp when it does them no good? When their ships are explicitly limited to impulse, they still basically perform the same. Why choose warp 8 at one time and impulse at another if it always gives you half a cee?

It might not be that clear in my diagram, but Warp 8/9 = Five c (not Point Five c) I'm assuming in TOS, warp drive is preferred because it is generally faster (and stronger than the impulse units) and that the fuel efficiency is better than the more fuel-limited impulse engines.

In "DDM", we don't have to believe that our heroes would ever have used high warp to achieve their half a cee. In "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and ST, we can argue that warp is necessary for the time travel formula, and everything else is secondary. But in "Paradise Syndrome", there's no reason to do high warp instead of high impulse if both give less than two lightmonths in a few hours.

Timo Saloniemi

For "Paradise Syndrome" I guesstimated 4 hours at 5c which is about 59.223 days at 0.0146c coming back at impulse I didn't give the asteroid too fast an incoming speed to give the it more time to affect the planet.

 

[kkozoriz1]

Detecting the black beast by solely visual means might be nigh-impossible - but keeping visual track of it once its emission characteristics were known could be much easier. Thus, seeing the long distance imagery later in the episode would not prove it could have been easily obtained earlier in the episode.

Timo Saloniemi

You might only get energy emissions if you're looking right down the throat of the DDM. I would imagine that the neutronium hull would mask pretty much anything else.

 

[Timo]

It might not be that clear in my diagram, but Warp 8/9 = Five c (not Point Five c)

Whoops! My mistake.

For "Paradise Syndrome" I guesstimated 4 hours at 5c which is about 59.223 days at 0.0146c coming back at impulse

Interestingly, Spock seems to think that without warp drive, the ship (or her shuttles, for that matter) can't or shouldn't reach the planet any faster than the supposedly freefall asteroid. Indeed, we see the ship coasting all the way, her bow pointing whichever way in the establishing shots.

If it's "can't", then we might think the asteroid is high-relativistic and the various woes of high-relativistic flight preclude the ship from going any faster. But Spock may have sound reasons for making it a "shouldn't". As far as he knows, Kirk is either already dead or doing fine; "intermediate states" are unlikely...

That's another episode where the propulsion tech could stand a bit closer scrutiny. But it doesn't directly affect "DDM" if we don't want it to. In "Elaan of Troyius", insystem impulse travel from planet A to B was said to be distressingly slow compared with insystem warp (and later it was indicated that insystem warp in combat would be a huge advantage over insystem impulse, although there agility was more the question). We could use that to argue that not all star systems (and indeed not most of them) turn very high warp speeds into very low warp or even sublight speeds, at least not all the time.

You might only get energy emissions if you're looking right down the throat of the DDM. I would imagine that the neutronium hull would mask pretty much anything else.

That's a beautiful idea. Too bad the establishing shot of the incoming monster is a side view; doesn't disprove the theory by any means, but doesn't blatantly reinforce it, either.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[blssdwlf]

Interestingly, Spock seems to think that without warp drive, the ship (or her shuttles, for that matter) can't or shouldn't reach the planet any faster than the supposedly freefall asteroid. Indeed, we see the ship coasting all the way, her bow pointing whichever way in the establishing shots.

If it's "can't", then we might think the asteroid is high-relativistic and the various woes of high-relativistic flight preclude the ship from going any faster. But Spock may have sound reasons for making it a "shouldn't". As far as he knows, Kirk is either already dead or doing fine; "intermediate states" are unlikely...

I figure there could be different variations. If we speculate the Enterprise heading away from the system's sun (and thus picking more speed up the further she goes out) then in "The Paradise Syndrome" she might be doing 200-300c at Warp 9 for ~4 hours out to 0.12 ly (allowing for a 59 day travel back at impulse doing ~0.74c). Or even dare say she went further out and they were pushing FTL-impulse on the way back?

But in anycase, the lack of shuttle use is quite interesting. There isn't any reason to exclude shuttle use unless...

• They were not carrying any shuttles that had the speed and range necessary for a rescue attempt?
• They were (once again!) not carrying any shuttles?

That's another episode where the propulsion tech could stand a bit closer scrutiny. But it doesn't directly affect "DDM" if we don't want it to. In "Elaan of Troyius", insystem impulse travel from planet A to B was said to be distressingly slow compared with insystem warp (and later it was indicated that insystem warp in combat would be a huge advantage over insystem impulse, although there agility was more the question). We could use that to argue that not all star systems (and indeed not most of them) turn very high warp speeds into very low warp or even sublight speeds, at least not all the time.

Or possibly that the in-system warp speed is based on proximity to stars and planets? In "Elaan of Troyius" they're heading from the inner planet to the outer planet? The further one gets out to more actual speed could be achieved... perhaps another reason the Klingons waited a bit before jumping the Enterprise? I'd imagine the star charts would look pretty neat with all sorts of warp terrain

You might only get energy emissions if you're looking right down the throat of the DDM. I would imagine that the neutronium hull would mask pretty much anything else.

That's a beautiful idea. Too bad the establishing shot of the incoming monster is a side view; doesn't disprove the theory by any means, but doesn't blatantly reinforce it, either.

Another speculation is that when the Enterprise made their first scan didn't know what to look for. It was only after they downloaded the Constellation's sensor logs were when they knew what to look for and perhaps allowed the Enterprise to evade the DM in a timely fashion as it was approaching...

 

[Timo]

...It wouldn't make any sense for the DDM to actually venture outside L-374 after eating planets III and IV but not finishing II and I, now would it? So the idea that it was invisible because it was merely distant and came in fast is not particularly appealing. Some measure of stealth would be a more palatable explanation, and a combination of a novel drive/power system and a stealthy hull would work fine.

There isn't any reason to exclude shuttle use unless...

• They were not carrying any shuttles that had the speed and range necessary for a rescue attempt?
• They were (once again!) not carrying any shuttles?

There were at least two options for being at the planet more than four hours before the asteroid. Shuttles and impulse drive would both have been available. Since Spock explicitly refused to use the latter, he wouldn't have used the former, either. Probably he believed that there'd be no point in looking for Kirk, since an intense search right after his disappearance had proven completely fruitless. Spock probably correctly deduced the Obelisk was behind Kirk's disappearance, and also deduced that its secrets would not be revealed faster with in situ study than with careful shipboard analysis. He'd have taken extensive sensor readings both with his tricorder and with the ship's sensors, after all; there'd be absolutely nothing further he could do. He already had all the data.

I'd imagine the star charts would look pretty neat with all sorts of warp terrain

But since we virtually never get references to warp terrain in interstellar space, I'd be happier with blaming "subspace weather" in the immediate proximity of stars. And not all stars, and not all the time, so that we could explain the times when our heroes warp in and out of Earth orbit without problem, and the times they slow down to impulse even when it's literally the end of the world.

Interstellar "subspace weather" consists of passing storms. Bajor as a system has been established as having regular "foul weather", plus more or less permanent zones of it. It would be fun to think that Earth is also an extremely stormy and foreboding place, which is why no self-respecting warp-driven species has ever bothered to approach it before 2063... Why risk being stranded insystem for weeks or months, or even subspacewrecked, when all the planet has to offer is "early industrial"?

When Earth gets more advanced, the weather patterns there are finally properly charted, and regular warp navigation can begin. But not before.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Wingsley]

I'm quoting the O.P. to take this extensive discussion back around to the beginning:

In The Doomsday Machine, early on Spock says their is no way for a single ship to defeat the planet killer due to its' solid neutronium hull.

Even after Kirk states, from the Constellation, that they cannot allow it to move on to the next solar system... Spock seems eager to just move away and warn Starfleet. He never seems to research or offer any ideas. Once Decker assumes command Spock almost seems like a kid who is going to 'take his ball and go home'.

So Spock was willing to abandon millions to a horrible fate, so he could warn Starfleet (we see the same issue crop up in Star Trek 2009).

It isn't like Rigel is some primitive world either. It seems to me that the Rigel colonies would have enough space traffic that someone would be able to move beyond subspace interference to send a general distress signal if the Enterprise failed to stop the planet killer.

So does anyone else think Spock was wrong?

While the wisdom (or alleged lack thereof) of Spock's stance on what to do with the alien machine has been thoroughly debated here, I can't help feeling we've missed a few serious points:

Step 1: McCoy and Decker had just arrived in the Enterprise's transporter room when Spock sounded Red Alert upon first sighting the alien machine.

Step 2: Spock was in contact with Kirk (still on the Constellation) for what appeared to be a few minutes, then the Enterprise was attacked for the first time.

Step 3: There was then an indeterminate period of time after the attack (long enough for a damage report to be prepared for Spock to sign) before the Enterprise finally shook off the pursuit of the alien machine. Once the machine began to move on, Spock decided to "circle back to pick up the Captain". At this point, Decker objects to Spock allowing the machine to slip away, undamaged.

While it is legitimate for Decker to criticize Spock, and perhaps even berate the Enterprise XO for suggesting that they abandon the fight to call for help, at no time does Spock actually give the order to do so. The only thing Spock actually says he intends to do is "circle back to pick up the Captain". He never orders the Enterprise to "escape this thing's subspace interference". He merely argues that point with Decker.

While it can be said that Spock's argumentative style was a huge mistake (Not a good idea to talk to a flag officer that way; not when you're only a commander) Spock never really abandoned Rigel. He simply expressed a desire to retrieve Kirk, the Enterprise's lawfully assigned commanding officer. It is Spock's duty, in these emergency circumstances, to retrieve Kirk and his boarding party from the still-"dead hulk" Constellation. Upon bringing Kirk aboard, it would then be Kirk's responsibility to work things out with Decker.

Given this, I would say this thread's O.P. missed a significant point. James T. Kirk is the captain of the Starship Enterprise. While Spock may be appointed command temporarily (or Decker may chose to transfer his flag to the Enterprise), it was the duty of Enterprise personnel to treat the boarding party aboard the Constellation was stranded personnel in need of rescue and to save their captain before formulating a strategy for dealing with the alien machine.

By Decker relieving Spock of command, neither man showed good form. Spock argued with Decker and then allowed Decker to keep shutting him up.

So in the end, Spock's orders never really abandoned anything. Decker did.

 

[YARN]

While it is legitimate for Decker to criticize Spock, and perhaps even berate the Enterprise XO for suggesting that they abandon the fight to call for help, at no time does Spock actually give the order to do so. The only thing Spock actually says he intends to do is "circle back to pick up the Captain". He never orders the Enterprise to "escape this thing's subspace interference". He merely argues that point with Decker.

So in the end, Spock's orders never really abandoned anything.

Spock states, "Logically, our primary duty is to survive in order warn Starfleet Command."

If Decker had not taken command, Spock was undoubtedly operating under both the belief and intention that the Enterprise would move off to send a warning to Starfleet.

No, Spock does not literally give the order, but he clearly intended to follow that path, he lobbied exclusively for that path, and if Decker had not intervened he most certainly would have followed that path.

I don't, therefore, see the semantics of whether he actually did give the order being particularly relevant to the overall argument.

Given this, I would say this thread's O.P. missed a significant point. James T. Kirk is the captain of the Starship Enterprise. While Spock may be appointed command temporarily (or Decker may chose to transfer his flag to the Enterprise), it was the duty of Enterprise personnel to treat the boarding party aboard the Constellation was stranded personnel in need of rescue and to save their captain before formulating a strategy for dealing with the alien machine.

When Decker objects to circling back on the grounds that millions of Rigelians would die, Spock adds insult to injury by announcing his full intentions -- not only will they go back to pick up the captain -- they will then move even farther away from the DDM to get a message off to Starfleet Command.

And it is only after Spock declares his FULL intention, that Decker intervenes.

Spock says NOTHING about formulating strategies to defeat the machine after they pick up the captain. On the contrary, Spock increasingly makes it clear that he believes that it is impossible to combat the DDM with the Enterprise.

By Decker relieving Spock of command, neither man showed good form. Spock argued with Decker and then allowed Decker to keep shutting him up.

At least Decker has the excuse that he just lost the an entire starship and was now dealing with a superior sounding XO who expresses no concern or even sense of duty toward a Starfleet colony which is under threat of a devastating alien weapon.

 

[BillJ]

So in the end, Spock's orders never really abandoned anything. Decker did.

We all know that Spock's intention was to take the Enterprise clear of the interference to contact Starfleet, hence abandoning Rigel.

 

[Warped9]

Not necessarily. Nowhere in the episode does it state how soon the DM would reach Rigel. It could be that it was quite close by or that Spock understand it would take some approximate time for Starfleet to dispatch an attack/defense force and it might not be timely enough to save Rigel. The dialogue seems to suggest that, but it doesn't actually say that.

Spock does say that a single ship cannot combat the machine and therefore they (the Enterprise) cannot save Rigel. And this was a reasonable conclusion given the facts they had at the time. But by warning Starfleet perhaps an attack/defense force could be assembled in time given that subspace communications travel a lot faster than a starship even in warp flight. If that's the reasoning then Spock isn't abandoning Rigel because knowing Kirk once they had warned Starfleet the Enterprise would have again engaged the DM as a delaying tactic to buy more time. During this action it's quite conceivable that someone would think of feeding the DM one helluva explosive.

 

[blssdwlf]

So in the end, Spock's orders never really abandoned anything. Decker did.

We all know that Spock's intention was to take the Enterprise clear of the interference to contact Starfleet, hence abandoning Rigel.

That is Spock's intention after picking Kirk up. We have NO idea whether Spock would have been able to follow that through once Kirk returned back to the ship and re-assumes command of the Enterprise.

It would seem that Spock's logic was...

• A single starship cannot combat it
• With the Constellation rendered useless as far as he was concerned, there were no other starships in range to help the Enterprise defend Rigel
  • Rigel was "dead already"
• The logical course of action was to retrieve Kirk and then get reinforcements to be able to take on the DDM
  • Because the DDM was heading into the most populated part of the galaxy. Lose Rigel, but have better odds in saving everyone else beyond Rigel.

 

[Wingsley]

All of this misses the point. Spock says he intends to "circle back and pick up the captain".

Spock orders Sulu to set course for the Constellation. That's it.

It doesn't matter what Spock intends to do after that. Once Kirk is aboard, it becomes Kirk's responsibility to speak for his own ship.

 

[YARN]

All of this misses the point. Spock says he intends to "circle back and pick up the captain".

Spock orders Sulu to set course for the Constellation. That's it.

It doesn't matter what Spock intends to do after that. Once Kirk is aboard, it becomes Kirk's responsibility to speak for his own ship.

Fine, then the questions that (re)emerge are...

Was Spock wrong in intending to abandon Rigel?

Was Spock wrong for attempting to abandon Rigel?

Was Spock wrong in arguing that they should abandon Rigel?

Was Spock (factually) wrong for (apparently) believing that Kirk would move off and warn Starfleet Command after he returned to the Enterprise?

Its funny that some of you are arguing to protect Spock in terms of Kirk's responsibilities, because this the strategy Spock himself follows. Even though Spock believed it was incorrect for Decker to assume command of the ship, even though he believed the ship was in grave danger under Decker's command, Spock does NOTHING to remove Decker from command.

It is only when Kirk loses it

Blast regulations! Mister Spock, I order you to assume command on my personal authority as Captain of the Enterprise.

that Spock intervenes. Nothing has changed in terms of regulations. Decker, by every rule in the book, is still in charge. The only thing that has changed is that Spock has his a$$ covered because it is Kirk and not Spock who is directly responsible for relieving Commodore Decker.

Spock is basically a non-agent in this episode. He does nothing productive to help Decker attack the machine (he just stands there like a child when Decker assumes command). And if Decker really is crazy, Spock does nothing until another agent tells him what to do. All he does is report about what can't be done while the senior officers (working independently and at cross purposes) figure out a way to do precisely what Spock say cannot be done.

 

[blssdwlf]

All he does is report about what can't be done while the senior officers (working independently and at cross purposes) figure out a way to do precisely what Spock say cannot be done.

And that's probably why Kirk can beat Spock at 3D chess