"The Doomsday Machine" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #35 and was first broadcast on October 20, 1967. It was repeated on April 19, 1968. It was written by Norman Spinrad, and directed by Marc Daniels. The starship Enterprise as it appeared on Star Trek Star Trek is a culturally significant science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s. ... October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 72 days remaining. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Norman Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American science fiction author. ...

Quick Overview: The Enterprise plays a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with an alien planet-killing machine. The starship Enterprise (NX-01). ...

The Constellation enters the planet killer.

On stardate 4202.9, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, responds to a distress call and finds that seven planets in an L370 star system have been destroyed. A check of a nearby system, L374, finds that all but two of its planets have been destroyed. Energy output within the system interferes with communications, but they still manage to pick up another distress call coming from the USS Constellation. The ship is found adrift and heavily damaged, barely operating on reserve power. The ship's bridge is completely blown apart and uninhabitable. Image from Star Trek: The Original Series episode The Doomsday Machine © 1967 Paramount Picture, produced by Gene Roddenberry. ... Stardate is the dating convention used in the fictional Star Trek universe. ... Starship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... James Tiberius Kirk, a fictional character in the Star Trek television series, was the captain of the Starship Enterprise (NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-A). ... Three ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Constellation, in honor, according to the US Congress, of the new constellation of stars on the flag of the United States. ...

Kirk sends over a boarding party to inspect the ship and locate survivors. They find only the Constellation's commanding officer, Commodore Matthew Decker, remaining aboard, holed up inside the auxiliary control room. Mr. Scott reports the ship's warp engines are damaged beyond repair and the ship's weapon systems are nearly exhausted. Decker is beamed aboard the Enterprise where Dr. McCoy looks him over. Decker is incoherent and in shock, unable to respond to questions and only says "that thing" attacked him. Montgomery Scott, nicknamed Scotty, is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe. ... Dr. Leonard H. McCoy Leonard Horatio McCoy, M.D., nicknamed Bones, is a fictional character in the fictional Star Trek universe, played by the late DeForest Kelley (January 20, 1920 - June 11, 1999). ...

Scotty manages to playback the Constellation's flight recorder and they find out Decker discovered the obliterated systems and went to investigate as one of the worlds was breaking up. They soon came across an enormous "machine" with a conical shell miles in length and a giant maw filled with sparkling energy. The machine then attacked the Constellation, damaging the ship so severely that Decker had to beam his remaining crew to the surface of one of the remaining planets. The machine then destroyed that world and all Decker could do is watch helplessly.

The machine soon makes an appearance while Kirk and Scotty are overseeing repairs on the Constellation. Mr. Spock believes that it is a "doomsday machine", built according to the theory of mutually assured destruction. Spock orders an evasive course to pick up the Captain and repair crew, then exits the system's interference to warn Starfleet Command. Commodore Decker whose transfer to sickbay was preempted by the Red Alert, pulls rank on Spock and assumes command of the Enterprise. He then orders a full attack against the machine. Ambassador Spock, commonly called Mr. ... Mutually assured destruction (MAD) is the doctrine of military strategy in which a full scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ... Mutually assured destruction (MAD) is the doctrine of military strategy in which a full scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ... Starfleet Command In the fictional world of Star Trek, Starfleet Command is the headquarters of Starfleet, the directorate of exploration and defense for the United Federation of Planets. ... A sick bay is a nautical term for the location in a ship that is used for medical purposes[1]. Categories: Stub ... Typical Red Alert visual indicator visible behind Kirk, from The Immunity Syndrome Red Alert is the highest state of alert for Starfleet in the Star Trek fictional universe. ...

As Spock had warned, the ship's weaponry is ineffective against the machine's pure neutronium shell and the Enterprise is badly damaged in the machine's counter attack. Back on board the Constellation, Kirk manages to fire off a few shots at the planet killer, which distracts it before it can finish off the Enterprise. The machine then targets the Constellation, but the Enterprise pulls a distraction of its own. Appearing confused, the planet killer disengages pursues the Enterprise which unable to elude it with its warp drive damaged from the engagement and it has less than 24 hours before its impulse drive fuel is exhausted as well. General Name, Symbol, Number neutronium, Nnn, 0 Chemical series noble gases Group, Period, Block 18, 0, 0 Appearance colorless Image:.jpg Atomic mass  ? g/mol Electron configuration none Electrons per shell 0 Physical properties Phase plasma Miscellaneous Notable isotopes References Neutronium is a colloquial and often misused term for an...

After contacting the Enterprise and learning about Decker's take over, Kirk furiously orders Spock, on his personal authority, to relieve Commodore Decker of command. Spock has the Commodore returned to sick bay, but then Decker escapes and steals a shuttlecraft which he pilots on a suicide attack into the planet killer's maw. Decker's meager attack fails to destroy the machine, but a slight reduction in the machine's energy output, believed caused by the anti-matter explosion of the shuttle's reactor, reveals the attack still had a slight effect. A suicide bombing is a bomb attack on people or property, committed by a person who knows the explosion will cause his or her own death (see suicide, suicide weapons). ...

Kirk and Scott get an idea to rig the Constellation with a timed explosive and try Decker's plan on a much larger scale. Kirk comments that the only way to destroy the planet killer is to destroy the Constellation with it as the shuttle proved to have a slight effect of the planet killer and a starship might have the necessary power to destroy it, thus the Constellation. The Constellation is nothing but a dead hulk, with little to gain if the landing party stays aboard. With the loss of the crew of the Constellation, this means that they cannot activate the Constellation's destruct system and since there is no antimatter left to detonate the warp core within, Kirk suggests detonating the ship's impulse engines as it enters the maw of the planet killer. An action that Spock points out will cause a nuclear explosion of nearly 100 megatons. Unfortunately, Scotty tells Kirk someone must stay behind until the last minute and guide the ship in manually. Kirk volunteers to do it and orders Scotty and the rest of the repair crew back to the Enterprise. The USS Enterprise NCC-1701 after the Auto Destruct was used. ...

With everything set, Kirk steers the completely deserted Constellation on a course into the planet killer's maw. Kirk activates the bomb and calls for a beam out, however, the earlier battle had damaged the Enterprise's transporter and the system finally shorts out at the worst possible moment. Scotty rushes to make repairs while Kirk nervously watches the energy maw of the doomsday machine drawing closer. Scott's repairs work, and at the last second, Kirk is beamed out as the ship enters the maw. The resulting explosion burns out the doomsday machine, and its indestructible body shell remains drifting dead in space.

The episode ends with speculation that if this really is a doomsday machine, there may be more out there somewhere.

Trivia

There is a school of thought that speculates that the energy barrier around the perimeter of the galaxy was created to keep these planet killers out. If this is true, then it is not 100% effective. The Enterprise at the Great Barrier. ...

There is another school of thought that connects these planet killers with a speculative ancient race that may have fought the Borg. This was the premise behind the Peter David TNG novel Vendetta. The Borg are a race of cyborgs in the Star Trek fictional universe. ... Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956) is an American writer, best known for his work in comic books and Star Trek novels. ... The title as it appeared in most episodes opening credits. ...

James Doohan briefly loses his Scottish accent when he says the words "Thirty seconds later, poof!," while explaining to Kirk how to use the Constellation's self-destruct switch. James Doohan as Scotty on Star Trek James Montgomery Doohan (March 3, 1920 – July 20, 2005) was a Irish-Canadian character and voice actor best known for his portrayal of Scotty in the television and movie series Star Trek. ... Royal motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (Latin: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within the UK Languages with Official Status1 English Scottish Gaelic Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ...

External Links

The Doomsday Machine article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki Memory Alpha is the name of a collaborative project launched in November 2003 by Harry Doddema and Dan Carlson. ... Star Trek collectively refers to six science fiction television series spanning 726 episodes, ten motion pictures, and hundreds of novels, video games, and other works of fiction all set within the same fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry in the early- to mid-1960s. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Wiki Science A wiki is a web application that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content. ...