Offen considered a best-of episode of the original Star Trek, the 6th episode of the second season first premiered on October 20, 1967. “The Doomsday Machine” really shows what a great hour of Trek could be. Directed by Marc Daniels and written by Norman Spinrad, this episode is noted for guest-starring the very talented William Windom as Commodore Matt Decker. Windom provided a great foil to William Shatner’s Kirk and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock, he brought the very best performance of these two actors.
The episode starts off with the USS Enterprise, following a trail of mysteriously destroyed star systems, picks up a distress beacon from another starship, the USS Constellation. Upon arrival, the Constellation is found drifting and severely damaged. When the away team beams aboard, they discover the only survivor is its Captain, Commodore Matt Decker, and he is suffering from severe mental trauma. Decker explains that he and his crew encountered a giant machine, miles long, that used beams to tear apart planets, and consuming the rubble for its fuel. Their attack on the machine was ineffective and after suffering heavy damage, Decker evacuated his crew to a nearby planet, only to have the machine destroy it, along with all of his crew.
Kirk theorizes that the machine is ancient, but must be stopped before it reaches more populated Federation star systems. The Enterprise takes the damaged Constellation in tow, and Decker beams across for treatment while Scotty, Kirk, and crewmen remain to make repairs. Spock informs Kirk of the sudden appearance of the so-called planet killer and begins to pursue the Enterprise. As the boarding party prepares to beam back, the Enterprise is attacked, damaging the transporter and disrupting the communications.
Decker, while Kirk is trapped on the Constellation, is now the senior officer on the Enterprise and assumes command. He orders a phaser attack, but they are useless against the machine and it is now caught in the planet killers tractor beam which begins to draw it towards the machine’s maw. Kirk and Scotty, now having completed the other ship’s repairs and been without communication, are shocked to see that the Enterprise had engaged the machine without much of a plan. Kirk attacks the machine to draw it’s attention long enough for the Enterprise to escape its hold.
Mr. Spock relieves Decker of command, on Kirk’s orders. After a heated exchange on the bridge of the Enterprise, Decker is escorted to sickbay for evaluation, but evades his escort and steals a shuttlecraft, flying it straight into the heart of the machine. Despite Kirk’s plea for him to return to the Enterprise and his own horror, Decker does not and dies.
Realizing Decker’s intention after sending a shuttlecraft had weakened it, and hoping it would have done more damage, Kirk plans to send the Constellation to the maw of the Planet Killer to have it explode. Over Spock’s objections, Kirk insists on piloting the damaged ship himself, and Scotty rigs a 30-second timer delay before the warp core detonation. With the rest of the boarding party transported back to the Enterprise, Kirk aims the Constellation at the Planet Killer, triggers the timer, and orders the Enterprise to beam him back, but the transporter malfunctions. Scotty races against the timer to make the repairs. At the very last second, Kirk is transported safely as the Constellation explodes inside the Planet Killer, ending the threat.
TV Guide ranked it number 4 on its list of the 10 best Star Trek episodes in 1996 for its 30th anniversary. Empire in 2016, for the 50th anniversary, ranked it 9th out of its top 50 of all time. At the time of that ranking, there were roughly 726 episodes and a dozen films live-action released. William Windom’s performance as Commodore Matt Decker was ranked 4th best guest star of on The Original Series by SyFy in 2016 as well. 2018, Collider, ranked it the 11th best episode of The Original Series also.
“The Doomsday Machine” is one of my personal favorites of The Orginal Series and an episode I point people towards to watch as it has everything. Politics, suspense, action and some of the best writing in a season filled with it. With all of its wide acclaim 52 years since its first premiere, clearly this is why it is still considered the absolutely one of the best of all time, and it is not just me who believes this.