Spock mind-melds with aluminum!

Oh, holy cow! These original series episodes were so visionary, and so retarded at the same time! The Enterprise is investigating why all communication from the Malurian system has ceased. When they apporach the system, it becomes evident that there is no communication because there are no life forms. Over 4 billion people are gone - no plants, no animals, nothing that lives.

While trying to figure out what could have happened to these people, these giant white things that look like Honda-sized tic-tacs come flying at Enterprise, jarring the crew about. Kirk opens a hailing frequency and tells the unknown vessel that is pommelling them that they are on a peaceful mission. The attacks stop and communication ensues - but the other side communicates so fast, it burns out some of their communication equipment.

The one communicating to them identifies himself as Nomad. The vessel, which weighs over 500 kilos but is only 1 meter high, isn't big enough for any of the crew to beam over as Nomad requests, so they beam Nomad over instead. Expecting a very tiny alien to come out of the ship, they suddenly realize that this entire mechanical object is Nomad.

Nomad was sent out by Earth "in the early 2000s" according to Kirk on a mission to scout for life. Nomad collided with a meteor and was damaged and had lost a good portion of its memory until it encountered another probe, this one alien, with equally advanced artificial intelligence. The alien probe, which had the mission of sterilizing imperfections in soil for colonization purposes, merged with Nomad to repair one another. The convoluted mixup made Nomad think his duty was to sterlize anything that isn't perfect. This is what happened to the poor Malurians - they were killed because they were imperfect.

The only thing that is saving the Enterprise crew is that the mentally scarred probe thinks Kirk created him. The probe apparently has the same quirks as humans - the creator was really Jackson Roykirk, but Nomad thinks the name is familiar enough.

Nomad is restless when it doesn't have a job to do - he's a type-A personality probe, ya know. Kirk (Nomad refers to him as Creator) orders him to stay in one place, but Nomad then gets itchy pants (or panels) and goes wandering. It keeps analyzing its surroundings and sterilizes what it thinks needs sterlizing. It claims that it has a perpetual source or renewable energy/power, which would explain how it was able to zap 4 billion people out of existence without it's batteries going bad.

While trying to find out a way to talk some sense into it, Spock opts to mindmeld with Nomad. PULLLEASE! This is so illogical, it hurts my brain stem! Later, it kills Scotty, but under orders from Kirk, it brings him back to life.

It mosies into Uhura's quarters and freaks out because she's singing and zaps her head until she has no knowledge and has to be taught to read and write all over again - but Dr. McCoy says that in just a few hours, she's already at college level and in a couple of days, she'll be ready for duty. WHAT?!

My generous gift of 4 stars is due to the fact that these shows are nearly 40 years old and are incredibly visionary - but holy cow, there is some cheesy crap in here! Some great acting and cool concepts - but that mind-melding with the scrap heap slapped a star right off this review. Shazam - what were they thinkin'?!

Another episode of technology gone wild

The Enterprise is investigating the disappearance of all life in the Malurian system when it suddenly comes under attack. The attacker is very powerful, and the Enterprise shields are battered with energy bursts until they fail. Suddenly, after Captain Kirk attempts to communicate with the attacker, the attack ends. It is a small mechanical device that calls itself Nomad. After investigation, Spock learns that a probe called Nomad was launched from Earth many years ago and that a man named Jackson Roy Kirk was the designer. However, this device is significantly different from the original, which had a mission to simply make contact with new life. When asked, Nomad tells them about the "other." After melding with it, Spock surmises that Nomad collided with another probe whose mission was to sterilize planets as a prelude to colonization. Somehow, the combination of the two probes was able to repair itself and then proceed on a new mission to destroy life (biological imperfections) on planets.
As Nomad learns more about the Enterprise, it announces that it is going to return to Earth. Kirk and crew grow more desperate in their attempts to control Nomad, as it kills some security men and Scotty. Fortunately, Nomad is able to repair Scotty but tells Kirk that his biological units are flawed. Kirk then errs when he tells Nomad that he is flawed and created Nomad. This starts a cycle where Nomad starts questioning Kirk, but finally Kirk uses logic to stress the circuits of Nomad. Since its' mission is to seek out and destroy imperfections and Nomad is imperfect for having made the error of thinking Kirk is the creator, Kirk argues that Nomad must commit suicide to remove the imperfection. It is beamed off the Enterprise right before it self-destructs.
This is one more of the episodes based on technology gone wild and the premise was used again in the creation of Vy'ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. While there is reason to wonder if aliens may encounter our spacecraft and use the information against humans, the idea that a probe would somehow fuse with an alien craft and get off mission is a bit farfetched. Nevertheless, it is a very intense episode, well acted, especially by the main three characters. However, the performance of Nichelle Nichols as a brain-wiped Uhura was weak and the "revelation" that she could be reeducated overplayed. In terms of quality, I rank it in the middle of the episodes in the original series.
While I enjoyed the episode, the one point that puzzled me is why Spock never asked Nomad to download the contents of its' memory tapes. As science officer, Spock should have been highly interested in all the data Nomad had accumulated, which would have been of great scientific value. It also would have added an element of realism that was sorely needed.

Uninspired

This episode, which features a confused and destructive floating robot, is an unspectacular offering. Like several episodes, it ably enough explores the unfortunate fact that technology is fallible, and that even with the best intentions, things can and do go wrong. This ship-based episode is less exciting than some of its neighbors, although there are a few dramatic scenes. On the negative side, the idea that Uhura could be rapidly re-programmed would be laughable if it wasn't so insulting to her. Also tedious is Kirk's outwitting of Nomad. And just how did NOMAD manage to mesh so smoothly with 'the other.'? Shouldn't he look a little the worse for wear? As a final gripe, I'll note that NOMAD wasn't much of an actor, although I suppose he didn't have much to work with.