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UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek The Original Series - S2E6 The Doomsday Machine (Patreon)

Published:
2022-08-12 18:12:23
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Here is our uncut reaction to an episode many people of have been waiting for... The Doomsday Machine! 

After the reaction, we have quite the in-depth discussion about the episode and how it relates to our feelings on the series as a whole so far. As a Patron, you get to hear the entire thing!

Have a bit of a busy weekend ahead personally, but we will try to get YouTube edited versions of this & Firefly posted soon.

Thank you for being a Patron & enjoy!

Files

Previews only

Patreon UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek The Original Series - S2E6 The Doomsday Machine

Comments

Timothy Nikiforovs

There's very much a Cpt. Ahab story going on with Decker, and it's far from the only one in Trek. Still, at least in the end he did accept responsibility and took a path that wouldn't kill another crew. Of course, he wasn't given much choice. Still it's a great guest performance. Hard to imagine how broken he must have been hearing his crew begging him to save them after he thought he'd just sent them to safety. Can't really blame him for losing his mind for a bit there. Like Kirk said, he actually accomplished something in his death, and as such it wasn't the worst way to go, especially given he would probably be deemed to unstable to get another command with guilt eating at him as it was. Despite Kirk's pleas, I think he knew his career was finished, and he'd just live hating himself for dooming his whole crew with 1 wrong decision. I'm sure he hoped to take down the planet killer, but mostly I think he just wanted to join his crew and end his own suffering. Sad story. I think as a kid I heard this was such a good episode, and mostly it was for the action/space battles and the tension of taking this machine down. Now I appreciate it more for Decker's character arc. For some years though, as far better action/space battle episodes emerged in later shows, but before appreciating Will Windom's role, I too questioned what was so special about this one.

Ken Schneyer

What is really good about the episode is the structure, the writing, and the acting. Decker isn't a jerk; he's someone suffering from very recent, extreme trauma and unbearable guilt. Everything he does is an attempt to undo, to make up for, his fatal error in causing the deaths of his crew. I wouldn't call it a "redemption" arc; I'd call it someone caught in the grip of his own pain and forced to act on it. Nor is his decision at the end a "redemption;" it is suicide in the hopes of taking his nemesis with him, because nothing else is bearable. It *so* *happens* that this gives Kirk the idea that allows him to destroy the Planet Killer, but that wasn't his purpose. This isn't really a "message" about nuclear weapons; they're just a background premise on which to base the most powerful character story Trek ever wrote.

Ken Schneyer
>>89483641

"Balance of Terror" was *also* primarily a character story. It is an interplay between Kirk and the Romulan Commander as leaders, as tacticians and as soldiers. We are watching their decisions, their anguish, their growing respect for (and fear of) each other. It wasn't about "cool space battles."

Ken Schneyer
>>89483641

"This Side of Paradise" and "City on the Edge of Forever" hit you over the head with their character arcs, and I'm just a moved by them as you are. I think, maybe, sometimes you are so distracted by the SciFi elements that you don't see the more subtle character arcs when they're there.

Ken Schneyer
>>89483641

Again, though, I value your honesty and your thoughtfulness, and I'm glad that you don't give reactions that just tell me what you think I want to hear. I just think that you're sometimes missing things because you're not looking for them. I mean, when people told you this was their favorite episode, did you honestly think it was because of that silly-looking, trumpet-shaped thing and the noises it made?

Collin Freeman

This is my favorite episode of season 2 and my 4th favorite episode overall. A 'bottle' episode, I think they called it - one that basically takes place all on board the ships without many guest-stars or on a planet. The reason for my liking this episode so much is William Windom's performance as Matt Decker. He gives a performance that I think was the best of any guest-star on the original series and deserved an Emmy. When Kirk says "There is no 3rd planet!" and Decker responds, starting with "Don't you think I know that? There WAS! But not ANYMORE!", I start to get get choked up almost as much as after Edith Keeler dies in City on the Edge of Forever. Windom delivers a performance that is a whole host of emotions, and he chews the scenery so well on the Enterprise in the captain's chair with those computer disks, like Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Miutiny as a ship captain who grows increasingly crazy. And if you think Decker was a dick, wait until you see The Omega Glory.

Collin Freeman
>>89483641

Agree with you on all of this, Ken. I think you nailed it all. Just to add my own 2 cents, these 'bottle' episodes that take place mainly on the ships without transporting down to a planet give us, the viewers, a chance to see Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew how they perform and respond under immense pressure and extreme circumstances. They are great character studies, and the main actors deserve a lot of credit for their portrayals in those scenes, as well as the guest-stars, like William Windom and Mark Lenard.

Brad Barter

The occasional replacement of characters such as Chekov, Sulu, Uhura etc in the realm of Star Trek and Star Fleet specifically is to show that these people work on shift rotations as well as for day and night. Am uncertain as to the reason why in such a heavy hitting episode both Chekov and especially Uhura were not included but I suspect either their schedules conflicted doing other projects etc but most likely was cost related and cheaper to have others in their place for one episode. Incidentally the caucasian actor/stand-in for Chekov is Billy Blackburn. He will be seen a lot this season filling in on the bridge but won't have any lines. As he became a series background regular he has since released home movies made on the set behind the scenes which are included as special features on the DVD set.

John Schmitt

An odd bit of trivia - William Windom’s great-grandfather, also named William Windom, was a U.S. Representative, Senator, and Secretary of the Treasury under three presidents. His portrait was on the front of the $ 2 bill.

Chas Summers

If you ever do ST extras down the line, you should really watch the Kirk waiting to get beamed up sequence from the original tv cut. All the added special effects in the revised version cut time from that sequence and make it a little less dramatic.

Chas Summers

When people recall this series fondly, it's due to the well defined characters and the action sequences framed with some of the best scoring in tv history. The score is so iconic for fight scenes it would be parodied in movies generations later. Even though you know Kirk won't die, you still have to set aside disbelief and enjoy the danger he is supposedly in.

Ricky Johnson

My favorite part about this one is how passionate Decker is with regard to his crew. Getting to know another star ship captain let's you get a glimpse into what it takes to get the job and maybe what makes Kirk and the enterprise special. Obviously, captains care about their crews, but Kirk appears to trust his people's opinions. Maybe Decker did his also but it certainly didn't appear that way.

Ken R

But is the episode really centered on the action, or on Decker's obsession? William Windom,who played Decker, turned in one of the best acting jobs of the entire series. Go back and watch the scene where he tells what happens to his crew, and then the scene where he seizes command. That's what the episode is about, not the phasers.

Jonathan

I think this episode got the most added cgi of the series. This is one of the episodes that comes again later in the Star Trek universe.

Jonathan

This amount of techno lingo is pretty common in later series

Jonathan

Your comments were interesting about not liking the “action” episodes. I think part of it may be first watching it as adults where I bet most people who consider this a favorite probably first discovered it as a kid and liked it even though the effects are bad (if you think the effects were boring now you should see the original)plus episodes like Balance of Terror or Errand of Mercy are favorites because they introduce species and actors that are big parts of Star Trek so seeing them at the start is extra cool. That’s why I love your reactions it really is seeing the reaction of someone who knows nothing of what’s coming in later series which is a lot of fun.

Joe Concepts
>>89506536

Watching this one just imagine Decker having a crew like Kirk, and how Kirk would react if Spock, McCoy, Scotty and all of them were killed? Even he would probably lose his mind.

Gary Leyh

Loved your thoughts after the episode and I agree. It's a good action episode but this series has not lasted so long because of the action episodes, people keep coming back because of the characters. I do appreciate Decker's performance though.

Elizabeth N

Interesting how you see this as one of the action episodes and not a character driven one. To me it's a bit of both, and I've always considered the character arc in this as the central aspect of the episode. Decker was someone who Kirk knew and respected and someone who was willing to put himself at risk to get his crew to safety on the planet. Not a typical villain of the week character, but someone who's turned to reckless vengeance by the extreme trauma and grief he's gone through. He's driven to destroy in much the same way the machine itself is, without reason or logic. Makes you wonder if the Enterprise had been destroyed while Kirk was alone on the Constellation, how would he have reacted?

Target Audience
>>89523658

Definitely a great character story in here! I think we just meant the plot of the episode is more "space-action" heavy than others we enjoy.

Ricky Johnson
>>89489325

Oh yea, that guy in Omega Glory gets what he deserves. I'm beginning to get what they like and don't like - I'm waiting for them to see A Piece of the Action. While it is not one of my favorites - it has its moments. I think everyone agrees about William Windom's performance.

Ricky Johnson
>>89506536

Good point - given Spock's reaction to finding Kirk alive after he thought he had killed him. You do get the feeling they genuinely care for one another. Good writing, good acting, good direction...

Rhett Coates

Did you guys notice the MUSIC playing up into the climax .... it's an echo of the "JAWS" theme, but written by composer Sol Kaplan for this episode a DECADE before that movie was made! Matt Decker was played by William Windom, who played Jessica Fletcher's doctor friend in "Murder She Wrote." In the first Star Trek movie (1979), Capt. Will Decker (played by Stephen Collins) was supposed to be Matt's Decker's son in the Star Trek timeline.

Rhett Coates

BTW, I noticed that in The Doomsday Machine REACTION video you posted, the actual audio/video of the episode is not visible/cannot be heard -- is that by design (copyright issues?), or is the LIBRARY computer I'm on have some sort of filter that prevents me from seeing/hearing the episode AS YOU WATCHED it? Please keep up the great work with 'Trek - seeing people watch it who've never seen it before is amazing - like seeing it myself, for the first time. THANKS for these; they're as great as the episodes!

Target Audience
>>89672917

We do not supply the full copyrighted content of what we are reacting to. You have to supply that yourself. We provide our reactions. That is why there is a timecode and blurred image to reference so you can match it up on your side. This is described in our tier description when you sign up.