The Doomsday Machine Greatest Episode in all of Star Trek

One of the finest episodes in all of Star Trek is without doubt "The Doomsday Machine," episode number 35, which was originally broadcast on October 20th, 1967.

The special effects are atrocious, the sets are too scarce, and the ship models are obviously recycled. Nevertheless, it all combines into a brilliantly acted, suspense-packed episode that is as entertaining as anything ever labeled Star Trek.

William Windom plays Commodore Matt Decker, skipper of the Starship Constellation, and gives a riveting performance as the Ahab-like defeated Captain obsessed with his nemesis. His exchanges with Leonard Nimoy on the bridge of the Enterprise as they battle for control of the ship are just plain good acting by both of them.

Decker's self-sacrificial last attempt to destroy the planet killer is arguably one of the best sequences in the entirety of the original series, due in no small part to the great musical motif which made it to the big screen eight years later in Steven Speilberg's film Jaws.

See if you can spot the shaking of the Constellation model as it approaches the Doomsday Machine in the last few minutes of the episode.