STAR TREK
The Changeling

From Wikipedia:

"The Changeling" is a season two episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, first broadcast on September 29, 1967 and repeated May 17, 1968. It is episode #32, production #37 and was written by John Meredyth Lucas, and directed by Marc Daniels.

The crew of the USS Enterprise deals with an indestructible planet-destroying space probe. The plot contains obvious similarities to the later 1979 Star Trek Movie. This episode is one of only a handful in the original series that take place entirely aboard the Enterprise. The others include "Journey to Babel", "The Ultimate Computer", "Charlie X", "Elaan of Troyius", "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", and "Is There in Truth No Beauty?".

More here.

It's not so much that this is a bad episode as that it's not a particularly good episode. I mean, it's well anchored by a damned fine idea: an old Earth unmanned exploration vehicle lost in space returns decades later as a super brilliant computer that wants to destroy its home planet. Unfortunately, Star Trek: The Motion Picture handles the idea much better, which is something I never thought I'd hear myself say. Yeah, last night's viewing didn't hold up too well for me.

This is not to say that there's nothing redeeming about "The Changeling." Like I said, it's not bad. We hear Uhura singing, always welcome, for the first time in the second season, which is coupled with a downright creepy and cool scene sequence where Nomad, the deranged space computer, silently follows her beautiful voice to the bridge so that he can wipe her mind of all knowledge. Shortly thereafter is another cool visual moment, a shot of Doctor McCoy leading Nomad to sickbay; the camera is about waist high, looking up at the Doctor, which gives a weird and menacing look to the proceedings. There's also a really beautiful exterior shot of the Enterprise, from overhead, showing the pulsing lights of the warp nacelles. There are some good lines and exchanges. Scotty says, "That mechanical beastie is up here!" McCoy manages to get in his trademark "He's dead, Jim," after Nomad has seemingly killed Scotty. Spock says to Kirk after his commander has defeated the space probe, "Your logic was impeccable, Captain, we are in grave danger." We see four red shirted security guards disintegrated by Nomad. And there are some solid performances. Scotty is particularly good, as is McCoy. Same with Spock and Uhura.

Kirk, on the other hand, as with his lackluster performance in "City on the Edge of Forever," phones his lines in. This is a particular drag because he defeats Nomad with his classic logic gambit. You know, the way he defeated Landru in "Return of the Archons," setting up a logical paradox that the computer brain can't process, which results in self-destruction. In "Archons" Kirk valiantly struggles to figure out how to defeat his opponent: in "The Changeling" he descends into self-parody; the scene is almost comedic because you already know what the outcome is going to be from the moment the Captain first starts to hint at the contradiction that will be Nomad's undoing--Kirk's near smirk doesn't help make the moment any more serious. Nomad's malfunctioning voice, too, is cartoonish, and worthy of ridicule.

I mean okay, like I've said many times before, if you're an old school Star Trek fan, you've got to be ready to laugh at unintentional comedy. But overall "The Changeling" works well enough that you don't want it to be funny. You want it to succeed, but, unfortunately, it doesn't quite pull it off.

There are other nagging moments.

Spock's mind meld with Nomad starts off well enough, alien and weird, as the first officer chants the name of Nomad's "other," Tan Ru, while Spock's Theme from "Amok Time" is revisited by the background music. Good solid Trek. But the scene takes a turn for the stupid when Nomad's psyche overwhelms the Vulcan, and Kirk has to break the meld in order to save Spock from certain brain trauma. That sounds a lot better than it plays on the screen. Kirk's overacting here is wildly insincere, and Spock just looks dumb reciting "Tan Ru" endlessly.

There is yet another dose of 1960s sexism sabotaging the show's futuristic verisimilitude:

Spock: That unit is a woman.

Nomad: A mass of conflicting impulses.

And I know that Star Trek broke all kinds of ground in terms of television racial stereotyping by portraying a black woman as a bridge officer in the future, but the scene where the white Nurse Chapel attempts to reeducate Uhura after Nomad has robbed her of her intellect just hurts to watch. Chapel chides the black officer for speaking in Swahili, a language that's actually pretty cool to hear on Star Trek, which is followed by the gruesome sight of a Southern white man, Doctor McCoy, and Chapel laughing at the now stupid African Uhura trying to phonetically sound out the English word "blue." I know that overall Star Trek's heart was in the right place. But it was still a product of its times.

But what the hell. Watch it anyway. It's still Star Trek, after all.


"I was singing."

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