Episode of the Week : The Ultimate Computer
- Thread starter Botany Bay
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I think this is one of the strongest episdodes ever. Kirk is facing an existential threat to his very being: commanding a starship is his first, best destiny and he very nearly loses it to a machine.
The dialogue given Spock and McCoy sparkles, acting as a chorus to Kirk's struggle as well as showcasing the triumvirate at its best. Spock especially shows how keenly he understands his friend when he said "Captain, a starship also runs on loyalty to one man, and nothing can replace it, or him."
William Marshall's performance was at turns pedantic, menacing, and pathetic. I believe that casting an African American in that role subverted the mad scientist trope while presenting a powerfully optimistic view of the future. In spite of his tragic end, Richard Daystrom is personally responsible for the ship's computers which were an integral part of what made the Enterprise almost a character herself.
The beats in every act rang true and the act-endings were gripping.
This one ranks with "Amok Time" and "City on the Edge of Forever" in its exploration of the relationships among Kirk, Spock, and McCoy: 10.
The dialogue given Spock and McCoy sparkles, acting as a chorus to Kirk's struggle as well as showcasing the triumvirate at its best. Spock especially shows how keenly he understands his friend when he said "Captain, a starship also runs on loyalty to one man, and nothing can replace it, or him."
William Marshall's performance was at turns pedantic, menacing, and pathetic. I believe that casting an African American in that role subverted the mad scientist trope while presenting a powerfully optimistic view of the future. In spite of his tragic end, Richard Daystrom is personally responsible for the ship's computers which were an integral part of what made the Enterprise almost a character herself.
The beats in every act rang true and the act-endings were gripping.
This one ranks with "Amok Time" and "City on the Edge of Forever" in its exploration of the relationships among Kirk, Spock, and McCoy: 10.
Hugely important episode in so many ways in real life, not just in the Trek universe. How many young black children in the 1960s had their first view of a distinguished respected black scientist from this episode. In many interviews adults in their 60s today reflect back on this episode as pivotal for the respect Kirk showed to Daystrom.
9. By far the best episode of the second half of the second season, and the last episode of the series that warrants so high a rating.
The acting across the board is superb. Shatner has a number of great scenes, and is at his very best as he sardonically asks, "And how long will it be before we all get in the way?!?" Strong performances from all the principles, notably Kelley and Doohan. William Marshall and Barry Russo also turn in very strong performances.
The relevance of the episode's issue--machines replacing man--was prescient; this was emerging as a serious concern in the mid-20th century, and recent history supports the theory that as time passes and technology advances, this will become an ever more immediate and disconcerting subject.
So why not a 10? The "Kirk talks yet another computer to death" shtick is wearing thin after nearly two seasons. If they had thought of a more clever solution, then we would be talking about a 10.
Still, I loved seeing 4 other starships. Of course, that leads me to ask.... when do we get the next version of the "why is a Starfleet Command commodore commanding the Lexington and not the ship's captain? thread"
The acting across the board is superb. Shatner has a number of great scenes, and is at his very best as he sardonically asks, "And how long will it be before we all get in the way?!?" Strong performances from all the principles, notably Kelley and Doohan. William Marshall and Barry Russo also turn in very strong performances.
The relevance of the episode's issue--machines replacing man--was prescient; this was emerging as a serious concern in the mid-20th century, and recent history supports the theory that as time passes and technology advances, this will become an ever more immediate and disconcerting subject.
So why not a 10? The "Kirk talks yet another computer to death" shtick is wearing thin after nearly two seasons. If they had thought of a more clever solution, then we would be talking about a 10.
Still, I loved seeing 4 other starships. Of course, that leads me to ask.... when do we get the next version of the "why is a Starfleet Command commodore commanding the Lexington and not the ship's captain? thread"
The computer voice is one of those times when most viewers have no idea it's Jimmy.
The additional starships and exciting space battle are great, but kind of a missed opportunity in the CBS remastered version.
The additional starships and exciting space battle are great, but kind of a missed opportunity in the CBS remastered version.
Dorothy Fontana did the teleplay. I thought it had some good insight into Kirk's character. The fault is in the space battle sequences. Why the other ships didn't warp away at the first sign of trouble is strange. I think if it were written in the TNG era, ACT4 would be a technobable solution to communicate with the other ships and take M5 offline. I do like a good "Kirk talks computer into suicide" speech, but we get enough of that with "Return of the Archons" and "The Changeling".
Several stupid things make it only a 7 for me.
First, that, given the experimental nature of the M5 and that this is a "live fire" exercise, the Enterprise's weapons should have been modified in such a fashion that they can't fire at anything more than "thud" strength. In Top Gun exercises the planes are not loaded with live ammo. They could have established that Scotty pulled some components out of of the phasers to reduce them to 1/1000th power, but M5 is so smart it figures out how to route power into the systems by some unconventional means, etc., and show it thinks WAY outside the box and cannot be controlled.
Second, M5 destroying the Woden. How do you go from "this unit must survive" to "go out of my way to blow up anything and everything in space, even when it's not even approaching me"? If M5 has Daystrom's engrams, sense of self-importance, and, maybe even sense of injustice of "lessers" building off his work, I could maybe see it lashing out at any other computer controlled "competitor", but no one ever discusses the WHY M5 would do something so pointless.
Third, Wesley. He's written as an idiot, i.e. thinking Kirk is responsible for what the M5 is doing, given he knows a) Kirk personally, that b) M5 is an experimental system, and c) they forced most of Kirk's crew off the ship, leaving him short-handed. The first conclusion he ought to have come to when hit with full phasers is that M5 was malfunctioning, then, when no one shut it off, assumed that M5 had incapacitated or killed the crew.
Finally, realistically there should be a hundred ways Scotty could sabotage the ship to stop M5, including using a phaser to damage critical components, but, instead, they let M5 be another magical computer which can do anything. I'd have bought it if M5 trapped the whole crew in the top of the saucer and Scotty had to blow his way through 20 bulkheads to even get near a critical system. That would have been even more dramatic, as he runs out of time and Kirk is forced to deploy his trademark logic-fu on M5's Achilles heel.
Great character stuff tho, and exciting in the last act. Just wish it was a little smarter.
First, that, given the experimental nature of the M5 and that this is a "live fire" exercise, the Enterprise's weapons should have been modified in such a fashion that they can't fire at anything more than "thud" strength. In Top Gun exercises the planes are not loaded with live ammo. They could have established that Scotty pulled some components out of of the phasers to reduce them to 1/1000th power, but M5 is so smart it figures out how to route power into the systems by some unconventional means, etc., and show it thinks WAY outside the box and cannot be controlled.
Second, M5 destroying the Woden. How do you go from "this unit must survive" to "go out of my way to blow up anything and everything in space, even when it's not even approaching me"? If M5 has Daystrom's engrams, sense of self-importance, and, maybe even sense of injustice of "lessers" building off his work, I could maybe see it lashing out at any other computer controlled "competitor", but no one ever discusses the WHY M5 would do something so pointless.
Third, Wesley. He's written as an idiot, i.e. thinking Kirk is responsible for what the M5 is doing, given he knows a) Kirk personally, that b) M5 is an experimental system, and c) they forced most of Kirk's crew off the ship, leaving him short-handed. The first conclusion he ought to have come to when hit with full phasers is that M5 was malfunctioning, then, when no one shut it off, assumed that M5 had incapacitated or killed the crew.
Finally, realistically there should be a hundred ways Scotty could sabotage the ship to stop M5, including using a phaser to damage critical components, but, instead, they let M5 be another magical computer which can do anything. I'd have bought it if M5 trapped the whole crew in the top of the saucer and Scotty had to blow his way through 20 bulkheads to even get near a critical system. That would have been even more dramatic, as he runs out of time and Kirk is forced to deploy his trademark logic-fu on M5's Achilles heel.
Great character stuff tho, and exciting in the last act. Just wish it was a little smarter.
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Yeah, I always wanted to slap Wesley for the combination of first rubbing Kirk's nose in his uselessness while the M5 controlled the ship, then automatically assuming that Kirk was personally responsible the second something went wrong.
I'm still willing to suspend my disbelief in spite of the valid criticisms above.
Still, Daystrom's paranoia is revealed during his "four toys to be crushed" speech. That M-5 was equally paranoid explains the destruction of the Woden for me. True, we don't see the triggering event but there is enough in the story for me to put the pieces together in the fourth act.
Similarly, Wesley's assumptions about Kirk ring false, mainly because Barry Russo played the part with an easy, avuncular charm. If Gene Lyons, William Schallert, or any number of stock irritants played Wesley, the his motivations would cut together like butter. A superior officer riding a subordinate is typical. Add to that that Wesley's prestige and credibility is bound up in the success of the M-5 program: his willful blindness to the obvious answer is understandable.
Of course, I've been knee-deep in the Aubrey/Maturin series lately, so I might be over-reading the politically interested flag officer angle.
Are parts of this ep undercooked? Sure. But it still holds my attention after all these years.
Still, Daystrom's paranoia is revealed during his "four toys to be crushed" speech. That M-5 was equally paranoid explains the destruction of the Woden for me. True, we don't see the triggering event but there is enough in the story for me to put the pieces together in the fourth act.
Similarly, Wesley's assumptions about Kirk ring false, mainly because Barry Russo played the part with an easy, avuncular charm. If Gene Lyons, William Schallert, or any number of stock irritants played Wesley, the his motivations would cut together like butter. A superior officer riding a subordinate is typical. Add to that that Wesley's prestige and credibility is bound up in the success of the M-5 program: his willful blindness to the obvious answer is understandable.
Of course, I've been knee-deep in the Aubrey/Maturin series lately, so I might be over-reading the politically interested flag officer angle.
Are parts of this ep undercooked? Sure. But it still holds my attention after all these years.
The whole point of M5 attacking the Woden was that it wasn't a rational act. It was the act of a computer that's programming was based on the brain engrams of somebody who was secretly batshit crazy.
I just looked it up and found that Woden is another name for the Norse god Odin. And his wife was named Frigg. 
That was totally worth my time!
That was totally worth my time!Regarding M5 being unstoppable, it actually should make sense: a ruthless intelligence in control of the anti-intruder systems of a starship ought to make life hell (if short) for our heroes. The failure of those systems to actually stop any intruders in in any of the other episodes could be attributed to the heroes not being ruthless enough...
But intruder control never was a TOS feature. Forcefields to block movement were something the intruders themselves would install; there weren't any locks to be picked; and while cameras supposedly followed bridge action, there was no way to monitor what was going on in the corridors (except in the Mirror Universe).
Which probably saved our heroes in this episode. If M5 could actually eavesdrop on all the scheming, it could have gone truly medieval on the heroes.
As for the Woden thing, remember that M5 was already pounced once by "hostile" starships. Those took great care to establish themselves as a "drill". The Woden did not... We can easily speculate that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and that M5 didn't really comprehend the situation, despite being given instructions on how to react to a "drill". M5 need not have been crazy like a human would be - it was merely fundamentally inhuman (i.e. not human enough), and the heroes failed to appreciate this until it was too late.
Timo Saloniemi
But intruder control never was a TOS feature. Forcefields to block movement were something the intruders themselves would install; there weren't any locks to be picked; and while cameras supposedly followed bridge action, there was no way to monitor what was going on in the corridors (except in the Mirror Universe).
Which probably saved our heroes in this episode. If M5 could actually eavesdrop on all the scheming, it could have gone truly medieval on the heroes.
As for the Woden thing, remember that M5 was already pounced once by "hostile" starships. Those took great care to establish themselves as a "drill". The Woden did not... We can easily speculate that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and that M5 didn't really comprehend the situation, despite being given instructions on how to react to a "drill". M5 need not have been crazy like a human would be - it was merely fundamentally inhuman (i.e. not human enough), and the heroes failed to appreciate this until it was too late.
Timo Saloniemi
This is the last great episode of TOS; I gave it a 9. On my laptop, my hard drive is named "M5" and my computer name is "M5-Multitronic".
Have you ever heard someone make light of a situation that deeply upsets the other person? I think that's what the Captain Dunsel line is, plus a dramatic device to really hit Kirk with the circumstance. I thought Spock's reaction was priceless. No emotions. Nimoy was so perfect in showing just enough to see that, yes, Spock was clearly feeling emotions but he wasn't going to let the emotions control his actions. If Bones knew what he said meant, he'd have flown off the handle but Spock just held it in.
There's just too much good stuff in this one. And I think not all computers being talked to death are created equal. I personally find The Changeling to be one of the worst episodes made, for reasons I've stated elsewhere. I don't know why it gets a pass and Alternative Factor doesn't, I find the latter better than the former. So that just leaves Landru and Norman. I really think that Kirk's "talks a computer to death" is another one of those exaggerations of the character as it assumed legendary status that don't hold up to scrutiny of the facts. Add to that, Landru and M-5 were more like a computerized version of a mind than a true computer, it really doesn't hold up very well to me.
There's just too much good stuff in this one. And I think not all computers being talked to death are created equal. I personally find The Changeling to be one of the worst episodes made, for reasons I've stated elsewhere. I don't know why it gets a pass and Alternative Factor doesn't, I find the latter better than the former. So that just leaves Landru and Norman. I really think that Kirk's "talks a computer to death" is another one of those exaggerations of the character as it assumed legendary status that don't hold up to scrutiny of the facts. Add to that, Landru and M-5 were more like a computerized version of a mind than a true computer, it really doesn't hold up very well to me.
Sadly not a favorite of mine. Don't get me wrong it has rewatchability and William Marshall is great but pulling another Landru/Changeling plot by debating/convincing a computer it is in error was getting redundant. Those other two episodes were earlier if I am not mistaken.
I gave it a 5+.
I gave it a 5+.
Jimmy is also the voice of Starfleet!
I don't know why I still like the original shot of the four ships in formation better. I know all of the perspective issues with it (because it is what it is: one ship pasted four times). But the Remastered version didn't have anywhere near the same weight that the original did.
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