 Request Confirmed: Destroy the Enterprise!, 2009-05-15
This episode is a classic! It talks about an everyday issue, computers replacing man. It is as much of an issue now in 2009 as it was in 1968. It also shows that while computers are more efficient than man, man will always be superior. The ending to this episode is very suspenseful. I highly recommend this episode.
Kudos to Marshall for just being there!, 2003-02-23
Not only is this one of Star Trek's best episodes, it features an African-American actor in a groundbreaking role that impressed this then-thirteen-year-old upon its initial airing. Besides regular Nichelle Nichols ("Uhura"), William Marshall's "Dr.Daystrom" was a revelation that the future would be a place where a man would be measured by his intelligence and abilities, not solely on his color.I'm sure that Dr. King felt the same way when he saw "Ultimate", too.
 A certain event, a computer with a survival instinct, 2004-07-18
In this episode, a supercomputer called the M-5 is placed on board the Enterprise. It is so sophisticated that nearly all of the crew disembarks so that it can run the ship. However, it has been constructed using a human mind as a template. The creator of the computer, the brilliant Dr. Daystrom, used the patterns of his mind to build the circuits of the M-5. Unfortunately, Daystrom is mentally unstable, so the M-5 is also unstable.
When the M-5 is subjected to a war games exercise, it does not understand that it is a mock attack, so it treats it as a real one and destroys a star ship, killing everyone on board. The remaining ships then form an attack force, but Kirk is able to disable the computer and regain control of the Enterprise in the nick of time.
The most significant point in this episode is that a black man is portrayed as a very intelligent man who strongly defends his invention. He stands up to Kirk, interacting with the people in power as an equal, if not as a superior. Another point is that Dr. Daystrom has the most memorable reaction to the Vulcan neck pinch in the entire series.
I enjoyed the episode, it is often portrayed as anti-technology, but that is not true. I consider it an example of the reality of bleeding edge technology. Whenever a dramatic leap of technology has been attempted, there have been mishaps and deaths. Steam ships and locomotives blew up, ships sank, space shuttles exploded, planes crashed etc. Artificial intelligence (AI) remains an elusive goal with success being difficult to measure. However, one of the consequences of successfully implementing AI will be a computer behaving in a manner similar to that of the M-5, exhibiting a strong survival instinct. This is one of the episodes that is a safe prediction of a future event.
William Marshall Creates a Monster, 2008-01-23
Computers are useful for doing boring things like adding up columns of numbers. But would anyone in their right mind want to give computers the GLAMOROUS jobs? Writing novels, composing hit songs... or commanding a starship? As McCoy points out in this episode, having computers replace people is okay as long as they don't come after YOUR job. For Capt. Kirk the prospect of being replaced by a computer is especially horrifying.
Kirk has the "honor" of trying out the spanking new M-5 computer (think of HAL on steroids), meaning he must periodically give up control to M-5. But it's a dubious honor from the beginning, and when Capt Wesley gives Kirk the backhanded compliment of being "Captain Dunsel," it's downright insulting. No wonder M-5 later tries to destroy Wesley's attack force. Maybe it was trying to exact revenge for all the insults heaped on Kirk! Our sympathies are always with Kirk and never for a moment with M-5 and its inventor, Dr. Daystrom.
For all its reputed intelligence, M-5 is ultimately very stupid because it is unable to understand the simple concept of war games and decides to destroy a bunch of ships for real. That's an acceptable premise only if you regard AI (Artifical Intelligence) as unreliable. Beyond that, handing over decisions about who lives and who dies to a machine ought to be obviously unacceptable even in the 23rd Century.
The episode has a marvelous moment when Spock -- whom Bones accuses of being in love with the new computer -- finally shows his true colors, saying that a starship runs "on loyalty... to a man." (As Kirk ironically says in Star Trek II, Spock was "the most human.") Lovely also is the casting of William Marshall as the half-mad genius Dr. Daystrom. In the 21st century, we wouldn't bother to mention that a black man played a genius with a super-high IQ, thank God. But in the 1960s this made a strong statement. The casting of Marshall was color-blind, taking advantage of his strong presence and marvelous bass voice (much like casting James Earl Jones as Darth Vader). Too bad that he's about a foot and a half taller than Shatner, so that Kirk is forever looking up. That might actually be astute casting, though, as the intent is to make Kirk feel small and unimportant for most of the episode.
Do Not Trust Dr. Daystrom on computers., 2003-07-25
The U.S.S. Enterprise is to be the new test ship for the new M-5 multitronic computer system, a computer meant to be able to run a starship without human intervention. Also aboard for the test is Dr. Richard Daystrom, the inventor of the M-5 and an obsessive and unstable man. Initially the M-5 performs well, but when it decides to destroy a robot freighter, Kirk orders the test cancelled. The M-5, however, protects itself and makes it impossible for it to be disconnected. The computer becomes increasingly erratic, a result of Dr. Daystrom's decision to impress his engram onto the computer as part of its programming. Starting a scheduled war games drill, M-5 uses the full arsenal of the U.S.S. Enterprise to attack four other Federation starships. In a last-ditch appeal to the M-5, Kirk makes the computer realize that it has committed the sin of murder for killing the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur. Since Dr. Daystrom would be ethically abhorred at such an act, the M-5 is equally penitent and tries to commit suicide by leaving the U.S.S. Enterprise defenseless against a counter-attack by the remaining three Federation starships. The Federation fleet's intent is to destroy the U.S.S. Enterprise, for destroying the U.S.S. Excalibur. At the last moment, Spock and Scott are able to finish disconnecting the M-5 unit. Kirk keeps the shields down, gambling successfully that the attacking ships would not fire on an undefended vessel. Restoring communications next, the fleet is called off by Commodore Robert Wesley.
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