Star Trek (1966) 2.03

The Changeling

The Enterprise comes in contact with a probe that attacks the ship and almost destroys it. The probe isn't very big and after conversing with the probe it is beamed aboard the Enterprise. The probe calls itself Nomad. It sees humans as inferior and flawed with the exception of Kirk who it mistakes for its creator, Jackson Roykirk.

Nomad gets distracted while exploring Engineering by the sound of Lieutenant Uhura singing. It goes to the bridge and probes her mind. Chief Engineer Scott sees that it is harming Uhura and tries to get it to stop. It kills him. Provided with sufficient knowledge of human biology and Scotty's medical records, it restores him to life. Uhura's memories have been wiped. Nurse Chapel works to get Lieutenant Uhura back up to speed.

Spock learns some more about Nomad Nomad's origins while via mind meld. The probe is an amalgam of Nomad, an early 21st century probe from Earth and Tan Ru, an alien probe that was built to take soil samples and eliminate imperfections.

Kirk grows increasingly concerned with what Nomad will attempt to do next. It says something about returning to its point of origin, Earth. He assigns security details to guard it but it kills them when they attempt to prevent it from doing what it wants to do.

Kirk finally outthinks Nomad, which insists that it is perfect, by pointing out that he is not Jackson Roykirk. If Nomad is perfect then it should have known that. This makes Nomad imperfect. It should destroy itself if it is imperfect. Nomad starts to experience confusion. Kirk, Spock, and Scotty rush it to the transporter room and beam it out into space where it destroys itself.

Thoughts

I recall seeing this episode before although I didn't remember many of the details.

A few things left me puzzled. Nomad is able to generate a series of attacks, early in the episode, that almost destroy the Enterprise. How? Nomad killed Scotty. Okay but, how was Nomad able to fix him so quickly? The man was dead. Nomad wasn't made to heal people. Similarly, the re-education of Uhura happened ridiculously fast.

This is a fun episode. I enjoyed watching it but I wouldn't say it is a great episode.

Notes

Vic Perrin was the voice of Nomad. His is the control voice that narrates the beginning and ending of episodes of The Outer Limits (1963). He was also in episodes of Four Star Playhouse, The Twilight Zone (1959), Kraft Suspense Theatre, The Invaders, and too many other shows that I have seen over the years. See my notes from the first of two episodes of Woman Woman in which he appeared, 1.09 Judgement from Outer Space - Part 1 for more about other shows and movies in which he has appeared.

None of the other guest stars in this episode played a major role.

John Meredyth Lucas wrote this episode. It is the first of four episodes of this show that he wrote. He also produced ten episodes of this show and directed three. He directed three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), and one of The Invaders (1.12 The Betrayed).

Marc Daniels directed this episode. It is the eighth of 15 episodes of this show that he directed. The previous one he directed was 2.02 Who Mourns for Adonais? He makes an uncredited cameo appearance as Jackson Roykirk when a photograph of Roykirk is shown on the screen. It is his only appearance in an episode of this show.