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50			  THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE
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WRITER: Norman Spinrad

GUESTS: William Windom (Matt Decker)
	Elizabeth Rogers
	John Copage
	Richard Compton
	John Winston
	Tim Burns

AIRED:  October 20, 1967

HACK-MAN rating: .325
Usenet rating:   .749

QUOTES:
=======
 - "I'm a doctor, not a mechanic." --McCoy
 - "They can't take much more of this." --Spock (about the deflectors)
 - "Gentlemen, I suggest you beam me aboard." --Kirk
 - "[Scotty,  you've earned  your pay  for the week]."  --Kirk   (and/or in
   "Balance of Terror")


			  THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE

PLOT:
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The Starship Enterprise  and the  damaged Starship  Constellation (sans its
400 crew)  battle  an  enormous  horn/carrot-shaped  machine  that destroys
planets and ships for fuel.  It came from outside the galaxy, and is headed
for the Rigel system, the most densely populated part  of the  galaxy.  Its
hull is solid neutronium.  Commodore Matt Decker, who  somehow got  to be a
starfleet officer  (and  good  friend  of  Kirk,   naturally),  steals  the
Enterprise (after destroying his  own ship  - the  Constellation NCC-1017 -
and his 400 crew), and eventually kamikazes himself  into the  horn with an
Enterprise shuttlecraft.  The seven planets  in system  L370 are destroyed,
and all but two planets on system L374 (Decker beamed his crew to the third
planet).

FACTS:
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 - Decker has a different insignia on his shirt--like a script capital "I".
 - No Uhura.
 - Decker is this week's dork.
 - USS Constellation's log is Stardate 4202.1.
 - Nominated for  "Outstanding Achievements in Film Editing"  Emmy in 67-68
   (Donald R. Rode).
 - Wil Decker (from the movies) is probably Matt Decker's son.
 - Transporter malfunction.

OPINIONS:
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The plot was okay, but Decker was bogus.   Is  there some  unwritten law in
Star Fleet  that  you  can't  be  a  high-ranking  official  unless  you're
borderline insane?