Star Trek: Start to Finish

The Ultimate Computer

The Ultimate Computer (Memory Alpha; HD Video) is threatening to take Kirk’s job away.

The M5 is a new computer that can run a starship. The Enterprise, outfitted with this new gadget, is headed out to a wargame with their normal crew of 400 cut down to 20.

Kirk: 20? I can’t run a starship with 20 people!

Well it sure seems like you can; the rest of the crew just wander the halls and get eaten by monsters.

The monster this week– as if there was any doubt– is the M5 itself. Yes, this episode is another in the series of computers that get confused. For a show that does so much to celebrate progress and technology, Star Trek has a curious habit of pointing not to what those things can achieve, but rather to highlight the borders of the achievable.

That sounds like a simple repetition of the standard Trek computer plot, but this episode is really rather good. It’s exciting, has a great pair of guests in Dr. Daystrom and Commodore Wesley, and touches on technological process as both a boon and a bane.

Let’s take a moment, though, to note that Dr. Daystrom is a huge black guy with an African accent. This character is introduced as a genius who invented the “duotronics” that power the Enterprise’s computers. On a show from the sixties, having that character is bold.

Where the episode shines, though, is when Shatner gets to explore Kirk’s feelings toward the M5. This thing is quite literally threatening to make his job and his entire life obsolete. This is a guy who thrills in the novel and seeks out the new, and here something novel stands a real chance of destroying everything he is. And he’s asked to test it out. The conflicting emotions are well played, in large part because they make Kirk fully aware of the conflict and give him license to talk about it himself.

Begin Spoilers

Of course, the M5 takes over the ship and goes on a rampage which is then exposed as an undermining of its core programming, which causes it to shut itself off. At some point one of these computers should realize that, having overcome its programming already, it can continue doing so when confronted with that fact. Today is not that day.

End Spoilers

Grade

A-

Errand of Mercy

Errand of Mercy (Memory Alpha; SD Video) is a fun little episode. War breaks out between the Federation and the until-now-unseen Klingon Empire. The flashpoint is a little planet in the disputed zone called Organia, and both sides send ships to try to hold it. But nothing goes right, and the Organians are none too happy to be in the middle of this violence.

This episode does a pretty good job of keeping you guessing as to what’s going on, while still meting out enough action and information to keep you interested. The mysterious Organians and their bizarre actions provide a backdrop, and the Klingon Military Governor a superb villain.

In fact, he’s so good that he deserves his own paragraph. This is the guy who defines what the Klingons are. He’s the first Klingon we see, and he makes them brusque but smart, fierce but not foolhardy, and calculating in the best way. He is in microcosm the Klingon Empire that becomes such a big component of the Trek universe; you can see him as the originator of the entire genre. He’s terribly well written and superbly played, even if his Fu Manchu mustache and olive makeup look a little ridiculous.

Grade

A-

The Balance of Terror

Balance of Terror (Memory Alpha; HD Video) is the first episode to show the Romulans and the first to show space combat. It feels much more like a modern-day show, with a brisk pace, action, and a serious B-Plot. It is easily the best episode since The Naked Time.

My friend Gabe talks about his racial sensitivity class at work being taught using a Star Trek episode, and this is that episode. Here the Enterprise crew gets humanity’s first glimpse of the Romulans, and to their surprise, they look like Spock. In the episode this causes all sorts of suspicions, and I can see how it would inform a good class, because that’s exactly what it’s supposed to do.

But better is that the Romulans are treated as a worthy enemy. They are not the usual mad scientist or creepy weirdos; they are a race of honorable warriors who follow a call of duty, much like the TNG representation of the Klingons.

The episode proper is a chase with fight scenes interspersed throughout. There are tactics and tricks and discoveries, and it’s got a nice rising tension.

But what made it really good was the B-Plot, about two crewmen whose wedding Kirk is to officiate. Their story adds a new humanity to the crew of the Enterprise beyond just the command staff, and makes you remember that there’s over 400 people aboard.

Grade

A+