Reply #17: Other: The Doomsday Machine [View All]

[Babel_17]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708461/

I thought it was a great relevant episode. The music hit all the right notes and the sound effect when the weapon fired was very cool.

William Windom was a great guest star and didn't let Shatner steal the scenes (or his lines, another Shatner trait :)).

Additionally, the episode has even grown in relevance. A lot of futurists think nano-technology could be the real Doomsday Machine. Unleash it into space and it really could obliterate everything in its path. The Doomsday Machine of this episode can easily be taken as a possible example of a bungled application of this technology.

Windom's performance was really stellar, man vs. the creation of man's madness.

Huh, Norman Spinrad was the writer, ok, great script is accounted for.

Off Topic: Bug Jack Barron, by Spinrad, is a read many here might enjoy.

Bug Jack Barron (1969), a pre-cyberpunk tale of a cynical, exploitative talk-show host who gradually uncovers a conspiracy concerning an immortality treatment and the methods used in that treatment, was serialised in the British magazine New Worlds during Michael Moorcock's editorship. With its explicit language and cynical attitude to politicians, it roused one English Member of Parliament's ire at the magazine's partial funding by the British Arts Council. A memorable quote from this novel is, "The saddest day of your life isn't when you decide to sell out. The saddest day of your life is when you decide to sell out and nobody wants to buy."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Spinrad