The Changeling - Star Trek TV Episode [ Synopsis | Editorial Reviews ]
Production # 37 Episode # 32
Air Date: 9/29/1967
Stardate: 3451.9
The U.S.S. Enterprise is sent to investigate the destruction of the Malurian system and its four billion inhabitants. When it arrives at the coordinates, the starship itself is threatened by a space going, self-contained computer/probe calling itself Nomad. When Kirk identifies himself by name, Nomad mistakes him for "The Kirk," and thinks him to be his creator.
Nomad is beamed aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise and promptly erases Uhura's memory and kills Scotty, claiming that neither life form was perfect. At Kirk's demand Nomad repairs "the unit Scott," bringing him back to life.
Spock attempts a Vulcan mind meld with Nomad and learns that it was created on Earth in the twenty-first century by scientist Jackson Roykirk. Nomad's program was to seek out new life and report back to Earth. Damaged in space by a meteor, Nomad drifted until it found Tan Ru, an alien probe designed to sterilize soil. Using their self-repair systems, the two probes combined themselves into one. Nomad's programming was damaged and by joining with Tan Ru's now believes its mission is to seek out life and destroy anything that it does not believe perfect.
Kirk convinces Nomad that it had mistaken him, Captain James T. Kirk, for Nomad's creator, Jackson Roykirk, thus making Nomad imperfect and a candidate for "sterilization." A confused Nomad begins to self-destruct, exploding just after Kirk beams the changeling into space. Kirk checks on Uhura's progress after the attack by Nomad. McCoy informs him that her brain is undamaged and she must simply "relearn" what the probe erased.
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"The Changeling"
After destroying 4 billion people in the Malurian star system, a 21st-century NASA probe called Nomad--carrying friendly greetings to whatever unknown, extraterrestrial race might find it--has a violent encounter with the Enterprise, nearly blowing the starship out of the skies. Hoping to sidestep another attack, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock invite the diminutive, computer-driven, impossibly powerful spacecraft aboard to learn how its peaceful mission was supplanted by a program to destroy life. Written by John Meredyth Lucas, who was intrigued by the idea of a sentient, almost godlike machine that turns against its creator, "The Changeling" transcends, fortunately, Star Trek's cash-strapped special effects department (let's just say Nomad looks like a cross between the Tin Man and a 1960s beach radio) to become a compelling drama. Particularly memorable is Spock's mind-melding scene with Nomad, in which the Vulcan is shaken by the probe's chaotic memories of being captured and given destructive impulses. Frequent Trek director Marc Daniels was particularly proud of the way his crew made Nomad appear capable of independent movement: there was one model for hanging from a wire, a second for standing on a floor, and a third for riding on a dolly (to get a sinister, point-of-view traveling shot). If "The Changeling" sounds vaguely familiar, it should: the script was rewritten as the basis for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. --Tom KeoghAlso on this DVD
"The Apple"
A landing party beams down to Gamma Trianguli VI, a lush planet that's just like paradise... or is it? This is not the episode to be caught wearing a red shirt in: dangers abound and crew members drop like flies. Soon the party discovers a seemingly unspoiled tribe of innocents who spend their lives serving the god Vaal. Can it be that it's time to disobey the prime directive? The natives are all beautiful people with loincloths and entertaining hairdos, and of course Mr. Scott has an engineering dilemma. Another highlight is the sequence in which the natives learn a few facts of life from a particularly randy Mr. Chekov. Skip this one at your peril. --Ali Davis
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