The Ultimate Computer

Episode Summary & Review

Summary

Enterprise is chosen as the testbed for the revolutionary M-5 computer. The machine’s inventor, Richard Daystrom, claims it can take control of a starship, freeing men for less dangerous and more rewarding work. It all depends on whether his breakthrough technology, multitronics, is as powerful and capable as he says. After a few exercises, Spock begins to wonder exactly how multitronics works – for the M-5 does not react as computers typically do.

Our Take

A solid bottle episode that gets a lot of tension out of one idea: Kirk watching his own job get taken by a machine. William Marshall plays Daystrom with real fire, and the M-5’s escalating bad decisions keep things moving. The ending resolves things a bit too easily, but the middle stretch earns it.