Amazon.com "The Doomsday Machine" Writer Norman Spinrad had in mind a futuristic Moby Dick when he conjured up this story, though things didn't quite work out that way. The original idea was that the Enterprise would encounter an obsessive, Ahab-like captain whose Starfleet crew had been destroyed by a planet-killing robot ship, and who sought revenge by taking command of James T. Kirk's vessel for a private hunt. Alas, the tough-as-nails actor Robert Ryan proved unavailable for the guest spot, and Trek producers cast the more visibly vulnerable William Windom instead, softening the script accordingly. "The Doomsday Machine," as a result, falls short of its potential. The story still concerns the destruction of life aboard the starship Constellation and Kirk's inability to beam back aboard his own ship. But while a major conflict between Windom's unsteady character, Commodore Matt Decker, and that of Spock (Leonard Nimoy) for control of the Enterprise is entertaining enough, one yearns to see a real showdown. (In karmic terms, that face-off took place later in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, between then-Admiral Kirk and Decker's son, Captain Will Decker, played by Stephen Collins.) Also a little dubious is the tubular robot ship, which is supposed to look both mechanical and organic, yet resembles moldy cannoli. --Tom Keogh
"Wolf in the Fold" A randy Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and Scotty (James Doohan) take shore leave on planet Argelius II, a trip that becomes a nightmare when Scotty is suspected in a series of murders. From its opening scene featuring a seductive belly dancer to the ultimate revelation of the killer's identity, "Wolf in the Fold" has the aura of a psychological horror story. No wonder: the script is by Robert Bloch, author of the novel Psycho (basis for the Hitchcock film), who also came up with the idea of the Enterprise computers being overtaken by none other than Jack the Ripper. Actor John Fiedler, whose raspy, high-pitched voice is most familiar as the sound of Piglet in Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh, is very good as the ultra-annoying Hengist, a skeptical prosecutor out for Scotty's head. One of the few Trek episodes to focus on Scotty, "Wolf" is downright exotic at times in its spooky tone and depiction of the sensual life on Argelius II. (Director Joseph Pevney even spent some of Paramount's money getting a startling overhead shot of a séance.) Here's a weird factoid: Harlan Ellison, author of Trek's great "City on the Edge of Forever" episode, also once wrote a futuristic Jack-is-back story called (ta-da!) "City on the Edge of Tomorrow." --Tom Keogh
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