Rating  - Star Trek Episodes 35 & 36 ; Classic Melodrama
If you are a Star Trek fan, you can't get much better than the two episodes placed on this disc. I was only really interested in getting the Doomsday Machine episode (arguably one of the best melodramatic episodes of the series) but was pleasantly surprised to find it packaged with the over-the-top "suspense" of "Wolf in the Fold". I think it favorably compares to buying the 45 of KISS's "Beth" only to find "Detroit Rock City" on the flip side!
Rating  - A Keeper! Among the Better Eps of the Second Season!
Two more great episodes from the second and best season of Classic Trek with the second episode shading the first for the title of the better episode. Rebounding from a truly awful episode in "Catspaw", Robert Bloch, horror-writer extraodinaire responds with the brilliant horror-whodunnit "Wolf in the Fold". This episode alone is enough to warrant getting this volume.
"Doomsday Machine" provides a lot of action and is an above-average episode. Commodore Decker's ill-advised attempt at making amends for his prior mistakes leads to dire consequences for the crew.
If you are deciding which volumes to keep, this is one of them. Recommended.
Rating - Tight story line
The planet killer was a weapon machine left over from an unknown war, in a far part of the galaxy and it threatened too leave a path of destruction leading straight through earth's solar system. The Enterprise has its back against the wall and must fight the machine and by fighting activate the machines diabolical algorithms. This machine hull is pure neutrino, a substance so dense that phasers and photons have no affect and even in combination fire between two ships, the doomsday machines continues functioning.
The planet killer only survivor is Captain Matt Decker. Matt and Jim are academy buddies. Decker lost his crew after beaming them down on a planet the doomsday machine destroyed. The planet killer destroys by proximity, smashing planets into rumble and using the matter as fuel. So the machine is a weapon with unlimited power and capable of systematic destruction.
Decker looses no time in assuming command of the Enterprise and initiates an phaser and photo attack against the planet killer. Matt Decker thinks the machine is a monster, saying, "they say there is no devil, but I have seen him. Straight from the depths of hell." Decker thinks the machine is "Mobby Dick" and brings the enterprise too the brink of destruction before Spock considers Decker actions, suicidical and insane; Spock reasons that suicide is not rational and relieves Decker of the captains chair, too Jim's relief; Spock has acted valiantly; Decker escapes and navigates a shuttle into the machines nuclear furnance, in the front of the machine. Spock analyzes scans of the shuttles explosion and reports a notices, a drop in power, as Decker's shuttle explodes. Decker's sacrifice opens a strategy for Kirk to kill the machine. Jim says, "We will not question the wisdom of this man nor his sacrifice", Decker heroic act reveals a weakness in the machines design. Kirk is going to follow Decker's pattern but with more explosive power, as he sets the autodestruct on Decker's ship (anti matter and matter combination); Scotty must beam Kirk out at the last moment; Scotty with Spock assistence, works his magic and manage at the last second too beam Kirk out of the exploding ship; and the Doomsday machine ceases to function.
The Doomsday machine has become an important thread in subsequent Star Trek books, where the Doomsday machine was designed to destory the Borg. Star Trek IV, the enterprise team must travel back in time, capture a pair of humpback whales appeasing a cylinderical machine capable of disrupting earth's atmosphere and draining power from space stations. Similar too the Borg Cube the Doomsday machine proves too be a formable opponent of the enterprise: 1. It's defenses can not be compromised 2. It has unlimited energy 3. It does not operate on a moral code. The Doomsday machine has not feeling, compassion, or sense of purpose. Decker was right, the Doomsday machine is the destroyer. In contrast, Mobby Dick could be considered a sinister intelligence. Mobby Dick was the personification of evil; its albino skin indicative of a mutation or aberation of nature; its predatory behavior suggestive of a cruel beast bent on the ships destruction; and only the captains courage and insane determination can provide the drive to slay the monster.
Rating - The Doomsday Machine
The Doomsday Machine
Following a trail of debris and asteroids that are the planetary remains of Systems L370 through L374 the Starship Enterprise discovers the heavily damaged U.S.S. Constellation dead in space. Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and a damage control party beam over to the crippled starship to investigate the cause of its condition, they find the corridors littered with wreckage and debris as well as no one from the crew on board. The ship's phaser banks were completely exhausted and her warp drive was a hopeless pile of junk. Attempting to access the Constellation's computer logs in auxiliary control the landing party discovers the Constellation's commander, Commodore Matthew Decker. Decker relays a horrifying tale of a monstrous devil machine, which destroys planets by chopping them into rubble using a powerful anti-proton weapon.
Analysis of the Constellation's log tapes by Mr. Spock revealed that the Constellation had encountered an automated weapon of immense size and power slicing up the 4th Planet of System L374 and was using the debris for fuel. The U.S.S. Constellation had attempted to stop the marauding machine but was heavily damaged in the fight, with the ship dead in space and unable to support the crew Decker ordered that they beam down to the relative safety of the 3rd Planet in System L374. With the Commodore the last person on the Constellation the machine suddenly appeared and destroyed the 3rd Planet totally annihilating Decker's crew, the shock of watching his entire crew die while he was helpless to save them sent Decker over the edge. Kirk theorized that the "Doomsday Machine" as he called it was built primarily as a bluff and was never meant to be used but was used in a war uncounted centuries ago something like the 20th Century's H-Bomb.
Kirk orders McCoy and Decker to beam back to the Enterprise while he, Scotty and the damage control party stay on board the Constellation to get her ready to be towed to a repair facility. Decker's "Planet Killer" arrives just as McCoy and Decker beam over to the Enterprise, the machine attacks knocking out the Enterprise's transporter and stranding Kirk and the landing party aboard the derelict Constellation. The Enterprise suffers minor damage in the attack while the machine resumes its deadly original course right into the heart of the galaxy - the Rigel Colonies. Decker assumes command of the Enterprise from Spock and despite some colorful protests from Dr. McCoy, he orders the Enterprise to pursue and attack the Planet Killer before it can destroy the Rigel Colonies. Kirk and the damage control party work feverishly to restore the Constellation's main systems and her viewing screen in auxiliary control, the main screen is repaired and activated just in time for Kirk to see his ship attacking the Doomsday Device - the Enterprise's powerful weapons didn't even scratch the seemingly impenetrable neutronium outer hull of the Planet Killer.
The Enterprise takes a beating at the hands of the Planet Killer's main weapon which knocked out the starship's shields and caused multiple hull breaches and casualties. Spock manages to convince Decker that his course of action is foolhardy, reluctant; Decker orders the battered starship to veer off just as the machine traps the Enterprise with an extremely powerful tractor beam. Scotty manages to repair the Constellation's impulse drive and recharge one of her phaser banks, maneuvering the crippled ship into phaser range the Constellation is able to distract the Planet Killer there by releasing its hold on the Enterprise. After some assistance from Decker on the Enterprise both vessels manage to escape destruction.
Kirk finally managing to regain contact with the Enterprise orders Spock to take command from the obsessed and unstable Commodore. Decker relinquishing the bridge is ordered to be escorted to sickbay for an examination escorted by an Enterprise security officer. On the way to sickbay Decker overpowers his security escort and takes off for the hanger deck, reaching the shuttle bay he steals a shuttlecraft and heads for the Planet Killer. Kirk and Spock both attempt to convince the guilt ridden Decker to return to the Enterprise, Decker's feeling of guilt and sadness at the loss of his crew are too strong and he pilots the shuttle into the maw of the Doomsday Machine.
The shuttlecraft's explosion which caused a minute drop in the machine's power emanations gives Kirk an idea, having Scotty rig the Constellation's impulse engines to explode the ship is turned into a giant H-Bomb. Kirk's plan was to pilot the Constellation into the maw of the Planet Killer and detonate the impulse drive from the inside hopefully stopping the mechanical monster for good. The window of 30 seconds that the engines will explode after activating the countdown is very slim considering the fact that the Enterprise's transporter is not at 100% and therefore unreliable. Kirk decides to proceed despite the odds that are stacked against him. Scotty and the damage control party beam back to the Enterprise leaving Kirk alone on the Constellation, allowing him to complete final preparations before putting his plan into action. Scotty is able to repair the Enterprise's transporter and Kirk is transported off the Constellation just as the 97.835 megaton explosion created by the overloading impulse drive deactivates the Planet Killer.
One of Treks best, no question.
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