This is probably my favourite TOS episode. I love the fact that the machine is never explained, beyond "having come from outside the galaxy". We see one of the typical Star Trek tropes: the mad Captain/Leader/Scientist who has become obsessed with destroying the thing that killed his crew/people. Also, the updated, restored version looks amazing.

21:00 Lorerunner, in your quick summary of how Spock gets the bridge back, you gloss over a tremendous acting moment between Spock and Decker. Spock doesn't say, "I never bluff." Spock says, "Vulcans never bluff." That "softening" of his face is in response to Spock statement. He looks over Spock (whose actions and arguments have been completely logical, completely "Vulcan," if you will) and evaluates the statement and answers, "No, I don't suppose that THEY do... Very well, Mr. Spock, the bridge is yours." Spock's first order is for the security guard to accompany the Commodore to sickbay for medical examination. He knows that he's going to need that evidence when Decker's inevitable protest to Star Fleet Command comes. Decker may have made the decision of desperate suicide in that moment, but Spock never considers that even a possibility, even though earlier Spock could have used his refusal to "veer off" as evidence of attempted suicide to relieve him of command. Beautifully acted by Windom and Nimoy.

William Windom, one of the finest actors in 60's television. The shear range of acting we see from "Commodore Decker" lifts this episode above many others from the Original series. Kudos to Elizabeth Rogers as Lt. Palmer - fantastic stand-in for Michelle Nichols' Lt. Uhura. Special shout out to the dedicated musical track for Doomsday Machine! I love how during the planet killer's first strike at the Enterprise, the sound track "skips" right at the perfect moment as the ship & crew recoil from the attack - a flub so good it was left in the final cut of the episode!

Did you notice Decker playing with tapes a'la the ball bearings from the Caine Mutiny?

The Doomsday Machine functions, as design, much like Balok’s cube buoy. Its simplicity makes it feel believably alien, completely original, and timeless. Unlike various other models or matte paintings, they will never be dated.

If I were to say there's a PERFECT episode of original Trek, or as near as it gets, then this is it. Tight scripting, a great premise, Windom is a great guest star whose performance showing his desperation and his brokeness really brings a lump to my throat every time, and the stakes feel big. Really big. Gosh, I want to go and watch it right now!

My personal favourite episode. And it's the killer ice cream cone! THIS is also the VERY first time we have a genuine Moby Dick parallel in Star Trek. And it's from Norman Spinrad who I'm not a big fan of, but everything in this script and episode I love. I always loved Commodore Decker being CLEARLY too emotionally damaged to actually do the job. It has one of the most harrowing moments in TOS, seeing the man in tears as he states "They begged for me to save them and I just had to watch them all die and it's MY fault". And the problem stems from when he's ultimately the most well intentioned extremist ever who is going to get the crew all killed. And Kirk tells him off for it because, yeah, you would. Seems to be a thing where the Deckers of Starfleet, whenever they meet Kirk, they either die or go MIA (after attempting to have sex with a NASA Space Probe). Possibly a curse. Who knows. The reason why the Cone terrifies me is that it is basically a Sand Worm from Dune in space. This thing is MAAAAAASSIVE and isn't thinking and it's a horrifying symbol of destruction.

Hands down, favorite episode of TOS. I was giddy when I saw this pop up in my feed.

I always considered this arguably the best episode of the original series. William Windoms performance was brilliant in fact I met him once and told him so. One of the best aspects that made this episode so great is that you get to see the Enterprise crew work under great tension and still perform with such efficiency and discipline to retrieve their captain as he destroys the planet killer.

This is definitely one of the better episodes, no question. And I've always liked Kirk demonstrating his ability to heroically repair the Constellation, which is in my brain the perfect Starfleety response to this action of winning through engineering. Thematically, I think it's also relevant that this script (a little bit preachily) is explicit that the doomsday machine is meant to be a stand-in for the H-bomb, something everybody would have been rightly scared of when this episode aired. And arguably, we should still be scared of it now.

The soundtrack made for that episode is just plain epic.

Every time I see Decker saying "we saw this thing taking huge chunks out of the planet..." I get absolute chills. Then you see it, and it's literally Hell coming at you. Yikes. Scared the hell out of me as a kid.

One thing that constantly amazes me about trek. FINE the 'fight' music is memed to hell and back, but trek has great 'background' music that can get punchy enough to be noticed but not actually work as something other than background music.

Always excellent ruminations! 🖖🏼🌟 I find the minimalist, crude, barbaric design of the Planet Killer most effective in portraying terror. It’s like a shark, or (actually much more terrifying for me) a lamprey! Lampreys have all the terror of a shark plus all the gross of a leech and all the evil of a snake.

As much as I love this episode, I remember always being humorously distracted by the thought that the original version Doomsday Machine looks EXACTLY like this Cone-shaped snack chip (whose name escapes me for the moment) from my childhood. And that always made the dramatic moments a bit "less dramatic" for me. Also, I love the Star Trek book "Vendetta" too (one of the few Star Trek paperbacks I own), and yes, it basically said that the Doomsday Machine was actually a prototype weapon meant to annihilate the Borg! The book is all about the FINAL, advanced version, on it's way to Borg space through the Alpha Quadrant. I think it was a good read. (though a little "soap-opra-ey") And the Anti-Proton weapons? Yeah. The book (as I remember) goes into that they ARE difficult to invent, and they ARE the "big guns". But HOW "big" depends on how "pure" of an anti-Proton beam you can make. Apparently, the more "pure" the harder it is to defend against. I don't know if there are any #'s, but I get the impression that the BIG races had things like 70s%-80s%-MAYBE even low 90s% pure Anti-proton beams. And that a 100% PURE Anti-Proton beam is LITERALLY unstoppable! (and completely Theoretical) Basically, the ULTIMATE WEAPON. Guess what % the Advanced Prototype Doomsday Machine has? (maybe THIS one too?) Yep. Scary. (Especially given the theory put forth that the REASON the completed final weapon was never launched was because its creators feared if they launched it, they would be unleashing a GREATER threat to the galaxy than even the Borg! - UBER Scary!)

Wouldn’t him being suicidal or experiencing a trauma automatically give McCoy an argument to relieve him under the Star Fleet regulation?

I think what may account for the discrepancy in William Windom intent and his actual acting might stem from the acting standards of the 60s. Just watch the black and white film "Sink the Bismarck!" when the crew of Prince of Wales see HMS Hood and 1,415 men of her crew get incinerated; everyone acts completely stiff, hardly anyone moves a muscle despite trying to convey shock. Even when the Admiralty is informed, despite claiming that the news is shocking, everyone has that stiff upper lip, even the female staff. For a man to let his guard down and act emotional and devastated in front of a camera must have just been something not done back then. It went against the conventions of Hollywood military masculinity. Even in the 1970's film Patton, the only man who acts emotionally devastated in that movie got slapped by Patton, such behavior might not have been seen as acceptable back then, so this is why Willian Windom might not have comprehended why people would take his performance seriously.

A lot of people complain that it was stupid of Deckard to send his crew down to the planet, but I think it adds to the episode by making his mistake be directly responsible for their deaths, adding to his pain.

Lorerunner nails the Doomsday Machine. It is its crudeness that works to sell it. It looks primal, like some kind of deep oceanic worm greatly magnified. It has a sense of menace about it that just would not have been conveyed with a more technological look.

I would love to hear Spock say, "We need to peace out." :-)

One of the most interesting ideas I’ve heard in regards to the reason why The Doomsday Machine looks so simple and uncomplicated - just this unrelenting “ice cream cone of death” is the following: The Doomsday Machine has been traveling space far longer than we can comprehend. It came from outside the galaxy. And it’s unclear whether it even has FTL capability. So imagine this ancient machine. Probably battered not only by enemy fleets of ships trying to stop it. But battered by intra-galactic travel. Traveling possibly not at FTL speeds, but at a high percentage of sublight speed. Impulse travel, if you will. It may have started out with sleek external features. Extra defense guns ringing the forward intake to prevent exactly the scenario of a kamikaze attack that later would indeed kill it. Reaction control thrusters. Maybe even it’s own version of warp nacelles. All gone now. Battered to pieces. Destroyed. Stripped away. Even the Neutronium hull left misshapen by interstellar scale impacts between the galaxies. Perhaps what we are seeing is only the core structure remaining. The machine at only 10% of it’s original capacity. It’s a shadow of what it once was. And yet even that is still capable of such almost incomprehensible destruction! What would one of these at the peak,of it’s abilities be like?

One of my favorite Episodes.

I was hoping to see some discussion around the professionalism and competence we see with Scotty, Washburn and Kirk getting a crippled ship marginally operational. The emotional tension Kirk shows being powerless as he is left to just watch. There seemed more actual weight to what an engineering team actually does in this, with Kirk even getting his hands a little dirty in the process as well. A missed opportunity. This is a fantastic episode of TOS.

Every time Mr Kyle man's transporter room with transporter malfunctions !

1) Personally, I agree 'Decker' was played using 1960s Saturday Morning Cartoon acting. It works fine for this episode but it hasn't aged well compared to what someone like Patrick Stewart would have done. 2) In my head canon the planet killer was already critically damaged when encountered, otherwise there is no way the Constellation able to fly down it's throat without being vaporized by secondary weaponry or stopped by forcefields.

I really like the discussion here on Defiance. It's making me see the episode in a new light. Yes, I can (now) agree that Decker's "we have to destroy it" is actually right in some ways. However, Decker would not compromise and chose a frontal assault, which simply could not work. Phasers coudn't penetrate the neutronium armor. Decker could have said "We are not going to retreat, and that is final. If a frontal assault won't work, get me something that will." He could have worked with Spock (and Kirk) and come up with that third option. But, either because of his trauma or a tragic flaw in his character or a combination of both, would not.

The end of this episode... GENIUS. Genuinely got a laugh out of me. :D Which is GOOD because of all the seriousness and RESPECT you show for the greatness of this TOS episode beforehand.

I should note that in real life navies (and considering the show was staffed by WW2 vets this would probably still apply in Star Trek), the captain still is in charge of their ship even if an admiral is present for the mission. The superior officer is there to see the bigger picture of things and to have a mission for the captain to carry out but the captain is responsible for how that mission is carried out and a commodore doesn't have the right to take command just because they don't like how things are going. I know the Commodore is kinda going crazy but all Kirk really had to do was say "uh no, that's not how it works" when he wanted to take over.

This is a great episode. Decker really is a sympatric antagonist in this episode. I'm forced to wonder what Matt Decker was like before he was broken. Though a question, why is a Commodore in charge of a single ship? He's functionally acting as a Captain here. It wasn't a squadron or flotilla he was in charge of, just the Constellation.

Anti proton weapons are still really difficult for the advanced species in STO so generally they're not absolutely pure anti proton. They always cut it with baking soda or something.

I liked the design of the planet killer because it did look like some one took a natural formation and built a machine into it.

I think I can see a way this was a bottle show even taking special effects into consideration. In the original airing, the effects showing the Doomsday Machine firing on the Enterprise were repeated. To say the Remastered version made the fight more dynamic is an understatement. I think this episode has more updated special effects shots than any other.

I still find it interesting that kirk took the enterprise back from Matt's son, in the motion picture. I have this head canon that kirk used Matt's break down against Will during Kirk's meeting with admiral nogura

I always feel sorry for Sulu in this episode, it's fairly obvious he recognises both officers have points in favour of their positions , but since Spock and decker are arguing instead of working together to create a solution. He has no way to intervene in a command dispute to bring a stop to the argument and get Spock and Decker working together.

Another in a long list of episodes that is better than anything Kurtzman Trek has ever done. One of my favorite episodes. Not as good as Amok Time or even City On The Edge Of Forever but very well done. Really well done for 67'. Also really nice music that was completely done for this episode. Also has a fantastic moment for Spock when stops the Enterprise from being destroyed. I like that it's Deckers dad from The Motion Picture. It gives the son a bit more depth to think that he may have had a bit of a grudge against Kirk for the death of his father. Boy,a lot of Construction class ships get destroyed in this series though. Lol. In fact I believe that the only other one, aside from the Enterprise, that makes it back is the Ark Royal.

Gee, I sure wish WE had one of them doomsday machines, eh doctor? Otherwise we'll have a doomsday gap.

I headcanon this takes place right after __The Changeling__ and Uhura is still recovering and that’s why they can’t contact Kirk for so long.

I didn't know the "day 37" thing was a running gag for Lore....

with the music and the monster with a giant maw, this episode has always reminded me of Jaws. I wonder if Spielberg took any inspiration from it?

All will fear the giant space Bugle snack Also you didn't mention the worst part of the Doomsday Machine in STO. It's not that you can only attack it from the front, it's that it takes forever to kill unless you're using specifically Hargh'peng torpedos.

I considered them sending a probe to warn Star Fleet, and recognized a probe could easily be destroyed by the killer.

I had always assumed he was Deckers father from Motion Picture because of the name. Twas obvious to me

I fully agree with your Rumination of this episode I loved it Doomsday Machine was awesome one of the best =)

I've always maintained that the music from this episode was the inspiration for the Jaws theme. I have no proof of this, but I believe it anyway. ;)

Prolly my favorite episode of TOS as well. Your description of the ships defending TNG's Utopia Planetia (if manned and knowing the odds) reminds me of a smaller scale Battle of the Line from B5.

And then in STO we have a Klingon pull a decker that goes out belting opera!

If your life were in danger, would you have me fight for you and lose, see Decker. Or would you have me regroup, bring friends, help you that way, but seem less concerned, see Spock. So, Spock is right.

I knew he was Decker from the movie's dad. Granted I don't know how I knew, but I felt like that was common knowledge.

This was the first episode I ever saw!

Planet Killer would have been a brilliant start to Star Trek: TMP.

Damnit Jim! It's a cornucopia from Hell!

No love lost for the Romulans or Klingons of the Era and Starfleet wouldn't want them to know about a new ultimate weapon. The Federation might like to know about the end of the Alpha quadrant.

I think Spock was correct, although maybe it's mainly just bias because it's Spock vs a one-off character. My reasoning is that warning Starfleet to make a proper strategic plan before it reaches critical Federation territory seems like an objectively better idea that continuing to fire phasers at the outer shell which is what the Commandore was trying when he was in the Captain's chair. Personally I read it as he thought of the shuttlecraft plan on the fly as he was being escorted to sick bay, which for all he knew was futile - the episode seems to suggest he was suicidal after the loss of the Constellation crew and the fact that the shuttle explosion damaged the planet killer wasn't a guaranteed result. And I think repairing the warp engines and heading back to a Starbase for reinforcements wouldn't even lead to the destruction of the Rigel colony, since it's heading there at well below the speed of light which we know because the Enterprise was staying ahead with impulse engines only and it took over a minute to swallow up the Constellation from 200,000 miles ahead initially. I don't remember the episode saying explicitly whether the colony is 100% screwed if it's not stopped immediately. On another note, I did like the "Klingons, I mean Vulcans, do not bluff" part.

The Doomsday Machine would have been better threat than V'Ger in the motion picture.

Anyone considered possible parallels between the 'planet killer' and the Vorlon 'planet killer' in B5 (Season 4)?

this one is one of my favorites

I read Vendetta when I was young, far before the appearance of the Borg queen - and man it was good -- the portrayal of the borg in that was far superior to current canon.

McCoy claimed that he did not have time to perform a psychological evaluation on Decker to determine he is unfit for command. Baloney! As a psychiatrist myself it is obvious that he is suffering from PTSD and survivor guilt, just from brief observations.He should never have been allowed to assume command of Enterprise. At the very least McCoy should have been given ample time to evaluate him.

Spock is right. They had to get word of it to Starfleet. Now, once that's done, they could go back, hope to try and reach it before it does too much more damage. But ultimately getting the word out should be top priority.

As much as I love this episode (and I do!), I can't award it a perfect 10/10 score. Decker going crazy as he flies into the maw is simply bad, as far as I'm concerned. Seriously, "over-the-top acting" doesn't even begin to describe it! This guy is on a show with William Freaking Shatner and still managed to be the one chewing the scenery! Other than that, though, this is about as perfect as a Trek episode (especially an action episode) can get. It has it all.... action, thrills, heroism, conflict, high stakes, tactics, and a (mostly) amazing guest actor. I especially love how Kirk points out the irony of nuclear weapons being what saves the day against an even more powerful WMD. The message is pretty clear.... humanity needs to start building more and more powerful nukes and to hell with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty! Not much else to say about an almost perfect episode. 9/10

Putting aside any existing fan fiction, what do you think happened to the giant Bugle snack chip in space? Did Starfleet or the Federation study it?

While I generally don't love the extra canonical and fan fiction tendency to connect every single thing in trek (the let's make the galaxy smaller model) I have always thought it was plausible that the Doomsday Machine and the Whale Probe were from the same place, they share some key features and it seems plausible that they were nearly the same thing but designed for different purposes, that the Doomsday Machine used to look a lot more like the probe but after countless eons attacking worlds and absorbing attacks from its victims had eroded or decayed into its cone shape we all know.

Summary: Following a distress-call from the starship Constellation, Enterprise finds a trail of destroyed planets. On the Constellation they find Commodore Decker, a former friend of Kirk who lost his crew and blames himself. Revenge-driven, Decker takes command of the Enterprise and is determined to destroy the planetkiller, a cone-shaped machine. Will Kirk succeed in stopping Decker and destroy the machine? (A nice Moby Dick parabel and with many intense scenes, this is one of the better episodes)

Spock was both right and correct. Sure, if the Enterprise had just "placed out" the rather large colony on Rigel (or whatever) would probably have been obliterated although the Enterprise COULD have given them enough warning to allow them to abandon it. Further the Enterprise stood no chance at beating the machine if it stood its ground and dead men tell no tales. There would not have been anyone to warn others what was coming. To quote Spock: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one".

Commodore W. W. Ahab of the USS Cabot Cove !

For some reason this episode just kind of slides off my brain without sticking. It's one of three or four TOS episodes that I downloaded off YT years ago, and of these I think I've watched this one least often, even though it's debatably the best-made. I just don't really care and I'm not sure why.

If i were to look at my 5 creative or technical works (1 music album, 2 business/personal app suites, and 2 nonfiction books) and pick a favorite, it would be that objectively below average but occasionally shows promise music album of instrumental and electronic compositions. Someone who equally finds value in all 5 types of work would probably say that's their least favorite. It's the emotional connection i have to that album that makes it my favorite and it was also created before the rest. Asked to pick a favorite, I'd pause too.. and probably just pick one of the 2 apps.

It's funny cuz I was watching the Doomsday machine revealed the concept video that Shem had made and actually spinrad was on there himself and he goes I think the quote was it's a pretty good episode! Why would you think he disliked it? I mean why would you say that he said that? Cuz he actually physically says the opposite if you want to watch that video it's a great video, more positive and fun than this one but that doesn't mean you shouldn't keep making yours. Express yourself always. Except with hate.

Okay I don't want to overload the comment section here I just had to go back and watch part of that video to make sure I was quoting Norman right he said it and I quote him himself saying in my opinion it is one of the best episodes! Why would you say that he didn't want or I mean that he disliked it? Why would you say he said that? I mean if he did I'd like to see or hear the interview where he said that cuz he can see and hear the interview here where he said and his opinion it's one of the best episodes! And the way the fans think it's the high point of his career it I had the whole idea that he got a kick out of the episode and just wondered why Roddenberry had him design a complicated Doomsday machine when he was going to just use a wind sock dipped and cement but he realized it was for budget issues but other than that I thought it was really great at the end during the concept shem's concept video

@Lorerunner - "Heralds"? Can you explain this reference a bit more? Memory Alpha isn't showing anything.

Myself I say Decker was morally right in that we need to protect life. Spock however was correct in that they couldn't win which meant they needed to retreat to send word and possibly devise a way of destroying this monster. But a fun episode and breakdown looking forward to the next one.

Step one, buy AMT Model of Enterprise, step two assemble model. Step three, burn said model with Zippo lighter.

Under regulations of course Decker was right. He was correct that it needed to be fought somehow. He was absolutely not correct in engaging it without a plan, with weapons he already knew would do nothing.

This channel should rename to Nerd Time.

I like fact that the machine looks like a whale, which reminds one of Moby Dick.

i have an idea for a game based in the star trek universe it would be called "the engineer" or something to that effect and the premise is your an engineer (lower class and goal is to become chief engineer) and you gotta fix the things IE replace parts align fields etc what do you guys think would you play it ?

Great ep, and I can't get through most STO eps. Shades of the TNG Borg (before they were humanized), and the character of Captain Decker is awesome Edit: Commodore not Captain

The constant red glow fading in and out within the background is distracting. I can't ignore it.

And I meant Stanley Cooper not Stanley Cooper! And I'm talking about Stanley Kubrick I'm just kidding around

I think the original model of the Doomsday machine looked better than the CG effect

P the interview b**** from the Doomsday machine revealed though didn't allude to Norman disliking the episode in any way he didn't think it was the Pinnacle of his career but he said to many it was and he lives with that but the only thing I heard him say contrary to anything he was doing was the design of the Doomsday machine and he didn't allude to not liking it at all he said he was on the set every day why they were filming it and he had written it with Robert Ryan and mine but he said Windham gave it a different spin and he lived with that and I don't hear anywhere where he disliked the episode I was wondering where you got that information from?

While I agree with the strengths of the episode I still did not like it overall. One element I just cannot understand is why do they even allow Deckard to be in charge? The man is clearly emotionally unstable and unfit for duty, as pointed out, but I guess the runtime's gotta run and yes it would not be as dramatic if he was locked in a room and only escaped at the end to sacrifice himself.

loved the episode except for the "may have come from outside our galaxy" trope 1) so its capable of intergalactic travel but is puttering around 2) there is nothing to eat outside the galaxy. 3) at this point only 1/10 of the galaxy is explored - they don't know what things are like on the other side of the galaxy. you reminded me - constellation really exploded with a BANG!!. in future battles ships that are destroyed just b..a....n.g.

I thought commodores are pencil pushers. How does decker get a starship?

You conflict me! This parts of your stuff I love and part of it just drives me to want to turn it off! But either way you succeed because like Stanley Cooper with 2001, it makes you think makes you talk about it so whatever you're doing I think you're doing it right. Expressing yourself is always right. As long as it's not hate.

-star trek doomsday- once would have made a brilliant star trek four, five or six . time... .

This episode is (almost) complete nonsense from start to finish: 1. Why do they sometimes plan to get close to Kirk to beam him over. Is there a distance limit to the transporter? What is it? Are they really ever farther apart than the ship is from the planets surface they beam onto in every other episode? They don't seem very close in the end when they beam him over? 2. "I want a full check and I am going to have a look at those engines". Did Scotty forget CAPTAIN Kirk ordered him to check the phaser banks? I know he apparently does it anyway, but this dialogue is pretty dumb. 3. How come the planet killer just appears out of nowhere? Didn't they say there were no other ship in the system? Are the scanners that bad? Did the planet killer leave the system and then return? If so, why did it return? Why didn't it consume the last two planets before leaving? Did it return to consume them? 4. The Constellation that is being towed directly behind the Enterprise isn't hit by the beam at all? Ok, sure, I guess. 5. How come they never consider getting the crew using one of the transporter ships (on either ship) if the transporter room isn't working? 6. Why does the giant machine programmed to eat planets try to tractor beam a ship into its inner self, when its apparently the only way for it to be destroyed? 7. Why is it not shooting at Kirk (or Decker) when he is flying the ship right into it? Is it pulling the Constellation into itself using the tractor beam? If yes, WHY? If not? WHY, it did so to the Enterprise? 9. Scotty randomly loaded one of the phaser banks, having no idea of Kirks plan, instead of repairing the things Kirk told him? Btw, why didn't Kirk tell him the plan? Did he just make it up ones it started working? Why did Scotty only reload one phaser bank anyway, why not all of them? Scotty being a magical repair man who can fix anything in seconds is just silly. 9. Why do they never try to fire the phasers INTO the planet eater, instead of shooting at the shell they KNOW is impregnable. 10. Why does the planet killer conveniently stop firing as soon as Spock claims the shields are out? 11. Why is no one trying to calculate how long it would take the planet killer to reach the next system to know if they have time to leave and come back or not? 12. Why do they not suggest going to the neighboring system, warn them and the federation and plan to make a desperate stand when the planet killer gets close. Towing the Constellation is a stupid excuse, just come back for it later, you know, after you dealt with the planet destroyer threatening millions or billions of lives. 13. Why did they escort Decker to the bridge and not the medical bay (red alert excuse is not enough. Why would MCCOY of all people be on the bridge in a red alert)? They also ignored Kirk again, since he said they should take Decker back to the Enterprise so McCoy can help him there. Guess he should have said "that is an order". 14. There seriously isn't a clause in the regulations that prevents a Commodore that has just lost his ship, entire crew and is clearly mentally unstable to just hijack another ship? OK. 15. Kirk tells Scotty to put a timer for 30 seconds and then the Enterprise tell him its a bad idea he says "i have no choice". Yes, he does. How about you tell Scotty "oh can you change that to 60 seconds"? 16. "Tell Scotty to repair warp drive". They are already repairing it. Is Scotty the only useful engineer on the ship? 17. Whats this random thing about running out of fuel. Why would they be here with a lack of fuel? 18. I don't believe for a second its possible to repair, fly and fire the Constellation using two to five people. Utter nonsense. 19. "Sever causalities on deck 3 and 4" - Wonder how many red shirts got nuked off screen? Wonder if they ever told Kirk about it? I agree the dialogue between Decker and Kirk is really good and that the design of the planet eater is great. Its just buried under a mountain of nonsense.