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Star Trek Review: THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE
Director Marc Daniels', "THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE," is an exciting
Sci-Fi adventure tale, pitting the Enterprise against a deadly, planet
destroying alien machine. Daniels directed numerous other classic Trek
episodes, including: "The Man Trap", "The Naked Time"
and "Space Seed".
Under Daniels' masterful direction, William Windom ("To Kill a
Mocking Bird", "The Bionic Woman", "My World and
Welcome to It") gives a multi-layered performance, as the haunted
Commodore Decker. Windom's Decker is truly a tragic figure, and his
performance sticks with you long after the episode is over.
Some have referred to this episode, as "Moby Dick " in space.
Because Windom's Decker could be compared to Bogart's famous performance
as Captain Queeg, it would be more appropriate to call "THE DOOMSDAY
MACHINE," as "Moby Dick" meets "The Caine Mutiny"
in space.
My favorite scene takes place late in the episode. Captain Kirk, alone,
is aboard the Constellation, on a collision course with the mouth of
the doomsday machine. With deadly contact mere moments away, Scotty
is having trouble beaming Kirk back to the Enterprise. The suspense
is considerable and Kirk/Shatner's concern and impatience, convincing.
The Special Effects of the doomsday machine in space are decent. According
to informed sources, the U.S.S. Constellation starship featured is actually
a plastic Enterprise model, bought in a hobby store, and dressed up
with Constellation decals and a different ship's number. Still photos
seem to bear out this claim.
"THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE" should be highly watchable for most
Sci-Fi viewers. William Windom fans will definitely dig this episode.
"THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE" will knock you dead!
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