Star Trek TOS S2E6: The Doomsday Machine
Three cheers against the atom bomb. Or for it. One of those.
See the Star Trek TOS Rewatch Index page for links to all the episodes covered so far.
“THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE” Rating: 8.5/10
Science-fiction legend Norman Spinrad wrote “The Doomsday Machine”, one of Star Trek’s best pure suspense scripts.
The episode has some parallels with “Balance of Terror”, another space-battle multiple-cliffhanger episode with Cold War themes of nuclear apocalypse. While “Balance of Terror” was an apology for Cold War policy, especially in Vietnam, Spinrad—an avowed leftist—tilts more towards critique. Ultimately, though, the politics seem more tacked on than essential; this is, above all, a great space yarn.
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