Star Trek – The Original Series, Vol. 27, Episodes 53 & 54: The Ultimate Computer/ The Omega Glory
Description
“The Ultimate Computer,” Ep. 53 – Kirk stands by helplessly as his ship is used to test an advanced computer that turns out to be as flawed as its inventor. “The Omega Glory,” Ep. 54 – Kirk and crew encounter a ghost ship, a madman captain, a deadly virus and 1,000-year-old natives on planet Omega IV. Amazon.com
“The Ultimate Computer”
Kirk reluctantly agrees to play along with a Federation test of a new supercomputer, designed by the brilliant Dr. Days… More >>
Star Trek – The Original Series, Vol. 27, Episodes 53 & 54: The Ultimate Computer/ The Omega Glory
This latest TOS DVD features one of the better TOS episodes, “The Ultimate Computer”, and one of the worst, “The Omega Glory”. “Ultimate Computer” is probably the last great TOS episode, focusing on the age-old conflict between man and machine–can a computer run the Enterprise as well as man? On the other hand, “Omega Glory” is an annoying, thinly-disguised (and dated) commentary on the Viet Nam War. The new DVD release features superb video quality, although the audio had a few flaws (”hiccups” in the dialog, picture and sound out of synch at times).
Rating: 4 / 5
Gene Roddenberry had a dream and it was star trek his infinitive vision lives on today with all the new star trek series but his origonal series is still one of the best in these two episodes he continued to live true to the rest or the star trek episodes I recomend this and all the origonal star trek episodes
Rating: 5 / 5
If you are deciding which volumes to keep, this one only just falls under the “nice to have but dispensable” category which is a pity because the first episode, “The Ultimate Computer” is actually one of the best episodes from the second season and comes after a string of mediocre episodes. We get a very interesting premise: “Will computers/technology ever make humans redundant? This similar premise has been visited many times over since in movies like “Terminator”, “The Matrix” and “I, Robot” and will probably still strike a chord with viewers many years into the future as well. The acting is very good and coupled with one of the better scripts ever written for Trek make this a very memorable episode indeed.
Now for the downside: “The Omega Glory” is a ridiculous episode which unlike the very similar episodes “Piece of the Action” and “Patterns of Force” in which the virtually identical parallels with Earth history were explained by Prime Directive violations, we are expected to believe that inexplicably, some planet light years away developed the Declaration of Independence word-for-word and have exactly the same flag as the U.S. The two warring factions are also called the Yanks and the Communists! The ridiculous plot and average acting makes this among the 3 worst ever episodes in the entire Trekdom.
I see that Amazon is now offering downloads of individual episodes for about $2 each. It’s probably a good way to get around this conundrum and perhaps order the one episode and forget the other one as quickly as possible!
Rating: 3 / 5
These two episodes share the theme of great genius gone wrong. In “Computer”, Kirk struggles to free the Enterprise from the grip of a computer that’s become self-aware. “Omega” had Kirk and crew trapped on a primitive planet whose history is being altered by another starship captain. Though “Omega” is probably more ridiculed (especially for its ending) it’s actually a great episode, and the clear winner of the two.
Not to say that “Ultimate Computer” is a bad ep – far from it. When the “Enterprise” has Dr. Daystrom’s M-5 computer installed so that it can take part in a series of wargames (uh oh!!), the ship also gets Daystrom himself. Ufortunately, the machine gets too big to take orders from the crew, and not only goes into business for itself, but soon crosses the line between wargames and pure war. You just can’t say enough about actor William Marshal’s booming voice. You’d think that a man who finds it easier to connect with machines than mankind would sound more like Wally Cox – making Marshall’s role here one of creative mis-casting. “Ultimate” is also in search of a coherent theme. Until the machine loses its cybernetic mind, “Computer” is a great story about men at risk of being made obsolescent by machines. And then it goes wrong – and the computer decides that it’s human and proceeds to make a great case for it by losing its mind. While “The Next Generation” blurred the line between AI and human intelligence, this episode just assumes that machines consider themselves human and therefore free to act utterly illogically. The promising plot arc, in which the imperfect minds of Captain Kirk & Crew manage to out-think the master brain, is lost. Instead of a great discussion about the ironic virtues of man’s imperfect mind, we get some morality play about its supremacy. This is old hat for Trek, which confronted our heroes with a host of thinking machines that also proved susceptible to being talked out of their existence by imperfect men (Nomad, Landru & V’Ger come to mind). This was the episode that introduced (to Trek, anyway) the term “Dunsel”.
“Omega Glory” takes lumps for its ridiculous looking ending, but it’s still a great ep – a great variation on the theme of alien societies that model themselves on shreds of our own. Discovering a derelict starship in orbit of an unexplored planet, Kirk finds its crew wiped out by a mysterious plague – their bodies dissolved into dry crystals. Realizing that they’re infected, Kirk & Crew follow the recorded warnings of the now dead crew of the other ship – beam down to the planet’s surface. There, they find two warring civilizations – Kohms and Yangs. The first is peaceful, and seems to take its orders from Ron Tracy, the captain of the stricken ship. The Yangs are savage – the bad guys. Unfortunately, Tracey has more than the safety of the Kohms to think about. The immunity of the planet seems to have turned its inhabitants into immortal supermen. Has Tracy discovered the “Fountain of Youth?” And will he have to violate the “Prime Directive” to learn its secret? This was a great ep. that works off its great casting – veteran TV actor Morgan Woodward chews up the script as Tracy, making you wonder how Trek would have looked had it been a show about his adventures. The ending, in which Kirk rhapsodizes about the virtues of knowing freedom, is pure corn, but Tracy’s character keeps the story humming with his fire and brimstone delivery. (As an alternate-Earth society story, like “Patterns of Force” or “Bread & Circuses”, “Glory” is unique in that it saves that revelation for the end.)
Trivia: In “Glory”, Ron Tracy thinks he’s found the fountain of youth. In the “Logan’s Run” TV show, Woodward played an “Elder” – one of the select few men who were allowed to live past their 30th birthday, even if secretly.
Rating: 4 / 5
The Ultimate Computer
Approaching a Starfleet space station, the Enterprise receives orders to test a new computer system. The M-5 multitronic unit, created by foremost computer scientist Dr. Richard Daystrom, is the next evolution in vessel operation and control. The M-5 can operate a starship with a limited number of crew members, a fact that Kirk can’t believe. The machine will be tested in vessel maneuvers, routine contact problems, and war game exercises against a task force commanded by veteran ship commander, Commodore Robert Wesley. With the majority of the Enterprise crew on the space station the ship gets underway with a crew of twenty.
Kirk, who thinks that having a single computer run a starship is dangerous, reluctantly goes along with the tests; at first all goes well. The M-5 performs everything asked of it with smooth precision. Various ship maneuvers and landing party decisions for a planetary survey mission are handled by the M-5 with the professionalism and experience of a veteran starship crew. Kirk uneasily watches on as the M-5 handles all the things he has trained his entire life to do. His frustration is further fueled after he witnesses his ship under control of the M-5 reacting to an unscheduled attack drill. The USS Lexington under the command of Commodore Wesley and the USS Excalibur under the command of Captain Harris are outmaneuvered by the M-5 unit and have multiple “hits” scored against them.
Kirk’s uneasiness is justified when the M-5 destroys the SS Woden, an automated ore freighter. Kirk orders the Enterprise back to the space station and the M-5 to be taken off-line. The M-5 has ideas of its own as the machine, which has protected itself with a force field, kills an engineer trying to disconnect it while drawing more power. With the main attack force for the war games on the way, Spock and Scotty attempt to bypass the M-5, and Kirk and McCoy try to delve into Daystrom himself. In his early twenties, Dr. Richard Daystrom won awards and accolades for his duotronic breakthrough. The Enterprise and her sister ships in Starfleet utilize the duotronic computer systems created by Daystrom. That triumph in Daystrom’s career was about a quarter of a century ago and the M-5 unit was to be his comeback.
The M-5 unit shows what a superior system it really is when it fools Scotty and Spock, thwarting their attempt to regain control of the ship. The machine that was impressed with Daystrom’s personality to make it more suited to starship control seems invincible and there seems to be no hope for the approaching task force. Kirk’s fears are brought to reality when the M-5 opens fire on the unshielded task force with weapons at full power. The machine launches devastating attacks against the task force comprising of the USS Lexington, Excalibur, Potemkin and Hood. The starships were damaged in the unprovoked and calculated M-5 attack pattern. The M-5 renders the Excalibur severely crippled, killing the crew aboard. Kirk desperately has Daystrom try and talk some “sense” into his creation only to find the doctor an unstable man who is proud of what his “child” has done. Wesley receives permission from Starfleet to stop the Enterprise at all costs with the remaining ships at his command. Trying one final gambit Kirk attempts to convince the M-5 that it has committed murder. The machine using the right and wrong lessons that were programmed into it deactivates itself leaving the ship open to attack. The Enterprise’s shields drop, and when the task force goes in for the kill Wesley breaks off the attack at the last second.
Great space battles as the Enterprise tests the M-5 unit. I guess they figured if the M-5 could survive Kirk then it was ready for mass production and use!
Rating: 5 / 5