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The Changeling (episode)

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(written from a Production point of view)

For the Gamma Quadrant species, please see Changeling.

The Enterprise finds an ancient interstellar probe from Earth, missing for 265 years, which has somehow mutated into a powerful and intelligent machine bent on sterilizing entire populations that do not meet its standards of perfection.

Summary

Teaser

The USS Enterprise is en route to the Malurian star system, investigating a distress call. Lieutenant Uhura has received no response to hails on any frequency, even after Captain Kirk reminds her of a Federation science team transmitter from Doctor Manway. However, Spock's sensor data contains tragic news: although there should be over four billion Malurians there are absolutely no readings of life anywhere in the system. As Kirk and Spock speculate about what could have caused the eradication of life in such a short time, a large bolt of energy comes out of nowhere. Kirk orders red alert, and the object violently impacts upon the Enterprise's shields.

Act One

The entire crew is hurled around, and when things stabilize, Kirk orders Uhura to inform Starfleet of the apparent disappearance and the attack. Spock reports that the shields will stand only three more such impacts, as they have been reduced by 20%. The Enterprise's shields continue to be battered by repeated attacks. Finally, after the shields are completely gone and a photon torpedo in response has been completely absorbed, Kirk orders Uhura to hail the very small object Spock has identified as the source of attack. The object stops its assault and tries to respond to the hail with an old-style binary code. The crew has some difficulty translating, but eventually succeeds. The object identifies itself as Nomad, and its mission as "non-hostile."

As it is only a fraction over one meter in length Kirk has it beamed aboard, if only to prevent it from firing on the ship again. It introduces itself and Kirk remembers the launch of a probe named Nomad in the early 2000s, and Spock says it was reported destroyed with no more in the series.

Later it is revealed that the object had stopped its assault when it heard Kirk's name, somehow believing that Kirk is its creator.

Act Two

Scotty's dead, Jim

"He's dead, Jim."

Nomad wastes no time investigating the ship, with only Kirk's orders preventing it from having free rein. Knowing how powerful it is, and that it stated it was programmed to destroy "biological infestation," Kirk orders two security guards to watch it at all times, but Nomad is able to evade them. Furthermore, it seems highly logically-minded and gets confused whenever it encounters something illogical; when it hears Uhura singing "Beyond Antares" on the bridge from the auxiliary control room, it leaves Lieutenant Singh, who was watching it, and goes to investigate.

Meanwhile, Kirk and Spock check the computer on Nomad's creation and launch. Originally, Nomad was built by Jackson Roykirk for a deep-space extraterrestrial contact mission early in the 21st century, in the year 2002, but was lost in a meteor shower, where it was presumed destroyed. Somehow, it got a directive to kill, and must have killed the Malurians.

Nomad arrives on the bridge to question Uhura, and it is unsatisfied with her explanation of the song's function and wipes her memory, requiring her to be reeducated. Scott, seeing this, attempts to save Uhura from the probe, but is thrown clear of Nomad, landing near the viewscreen. Upon Dr. McCoy's examination of Scott, he declares him dead, to Kirk's shock.

Act Three

Just after Scott's death, Nomad announces to Kirk if he wishes to have the Enterprise's chief engineer "repaired". Kirk immediately replies in the affirmative, although McCoy tells him that Scott must be revived soon. Spock has detailed files on Human physiology brought up at his station, which Nomad scans. McCoy then leads Nomad to sickbay, where the probe instantly revives Scott, who is baffled as to why everyone is looking down at him on a bio-bed. Kirk also orders Nomad to help Uhura, but Nomad says it is not possible. McCoy and Nurse Chapel proceed to re-educate her using the computer.

This event proves disconcerting to Kirk, who then orders Nomad to be guarded and analyzed by Spock. After the analysis and a background check on Nomad in the ship's data banks, Spock gets enough details through a mind meld with the probe to fill in the blanks. After the meteor collision, Nomad was disoriented and wandered through space until coming into contact with Tan Ru, an alien probe whose mission was to collect and sterilize soil samples, presumably as a prelude to colonization. The two melded into this new Nomad, combining their technology and missions into one extremely powerful probe bent on sterilizing any imperfect lifeforms it encountered, using its own perceptions of perfection (i.e. itself) as a measuring stick. As such, it destroyed all life in the Malurian star system but because its original programming was damaged and corrupted in the merger, it erroneously equates Kirk with its creator, not realizing that the two are different people and its creator has been, in fact, dead for centuries.

While Kirk and Spock are gone, Nomad leaves the confined area and decides to improve the efficiency of engineering, taking the Enterprise eventually to warp 10 in the process. Kirk arrives and forces it to stop. Unfortunately, the mind meld and an unintentional admittance from Kirk confirms to Nomad that its creator is an imperfect biological entity, and with that knowledge, it leaves on Kirk's order to contemplate the new data with two security officers. They deduce it will not obey for long and eventually sterilize Earth.

Act Four

En route, Nomad instead escapes, killing the two guards, and goes to sickbay to scan Kirk's personnel file. McCoy finds Nurse Chapel has been attacked, and signals Kirk and Spock to come to sickbay. They realize Nomad is gathering the information they feared. Furthermore, Scott informs them from the bridge that Nomad has turned off all life support on the ship.

With little time left, Kirk comes to recognize Nomad's refabricated mission and takes a gamble to confront it again before it returns to Earth to "sterilize" the planet's population. Through a questioning to Nomad on its prime directive in engineering, Kirk confirms his suspicions that it must execute it with no exceptions, and then reveals that he indeed is not Nomad's creator. He explains that Nomad had mistaken himself for Roykirk who is long dead, the two men's names being similar, and as such Nomad has committed an error; furthermore, it has compounded that error with two more, specifically failing to realize its mistake and failing to immediately execute its prime directive as a result. This causes Nomad to lock up in an irreversible logic loop, its stubborn belief that it is perfect conflicting with the realization that it is in error. Capitalizing on the weakened Nomad, Spock and Kirk manage to get it to the transporter room with anti-gravs and have Scott beam it out into space just as it executes its prime function on itself. The explosion is detected near the Enterprise and Nomad is no more.

Later, on the bridge, Spock commends Kirk on his dazzling display of logic that allowed them to defeat Nomad. McCoy enters through the turbolift and reports that Uhura is now reading at a college level and should be able to return to duty within the week. Spock laments the loss of Nomad, noting that it was a "remarkable instrument." Kirk jokingly wonders what Spock is so upset about, given that the machine considered Kirk to be its "mother". "You saw what it did for Scott. What a doctor it would have made. My son, the doctor. Kind of gets you right here, doesn't it?" Kirk says while pointing to his heart.

Log entries

  • "Captain's log, stardate 3541.9. The presence of Nomad aboard my ship has become nightmarish. Now, it apparently means to return to Earth. Once there, it would automatically destroy all life."

Memorable quotes

"This is our point of origin, the star we know as Sol."
"You are from the third planet?"
"Yes."
"A planet with one large natural satellite?"
"Yes."
"The planet is called Earth?"
"Yes."

- Kirk and Nomad, on the location of the planet Earth in Sector 001


"This is one of your units, creator?"
"Yes, he is."
"It functions irrationally."

- Nomad and Kirk, on the "unit" McCoy


"Spock, Bones. Come with – us."

- Kirk, referring to Nomad


"That unit is a woman."
"A mass of conflicting impulses."

- Spock and Nomad, on the "unit" Uhura


"This unit is different. It is well-ordered."

- Nomad, on the "unit" Spock


"A man is not just a biological unit that you can patch together."

- McCoy, after Nomad heals Scott


"The ball is bl-u-ee. Bl-u-ey. Bluey?"

- Uhura, as she relearns English


"The creation of perfection is no error."

- Nomad, refuting Kirk's claim that its creation was an error


"You are the Creator."
"You're wrong! Jackson Roykirk, your creator, is dead! You have mistaken me for him, you are in error! You did not discover your mistake, you have made two errors. You are flawed and imperfect. And you have not corrected by sterilization, you have made three errors!"

- Nomad, sent into a logic feedback loop by Kirk


"My congratulations, captain. A dazzling display of logic."
"You didn't think I had it in me, did you, Spock?"
"No, sir."

- Spock and Kirk, on Nomad's induced self-destruction by Kirk


"It's not easy to lose a bright and promising son... my son – the doctor."

- Kirk, whose "son – the doctor" brought Scott back to life, about Nomad

Background information

  • Although never credited, this episode – which depicted an Earth-launched space probe that acquires almost unimaginable powers in the course of the search for its "Creator" – became the inspiration behind the first Star Trek film. (It also inspired "The Questor Tapes", a 1974 series pilot written by Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon which also featured a robot with a damaged memory who searched for its creator.) For this reason, some fans have appended to Star Trek: The Motion Picture the pun subtitle "Where Nomad Has Gone Before." (Star Trek: The Original Series 365, p. 188)
  • Also never credited, the idea behind this episode was inspired by the last episode of the original The Outer Limits. That episode, called "The Probe" (with Janos Prohaska, in a Horta-like rubber suit, and Mark Richman), featured an alien automated probe which headed for Earth after apparently encountering one of our deep space exploration devices. As in the Trek episode, the probe nearly kills everyone because of its imperative to sterilize. (citation needed • edit)
  • Director Marc Daniels portrays Jackson Roykirk in the photograph, wearing Scott's dress uniform.
  • Eddie Paskey is seen in a gold shirt in this episode so he would match the standard stock footage screen shot with George Takei and an extra's left shoulder. In "The Corbomite Maneuver" he is seen wearing gold in the corridor during Kirk-to-crew announcements (the same shot was recycled in many episodes, including "The Menagerie, Part I" and "Assignment: Earth"). Paskey also appears in a red technician's jumpsuit in the main engineering scenes.
  • Lemli's first name, Roger, is given in this episode. His last name wasn't revealed until the following season, in "The Lights of Zetar".
  • William Blackburn appears in three different uniform colors in this episode: his usual gold (as Hadley), a blue uniform in a corridor scene, and in a red technician's jumpsuit in main engineering.
  • After Nomad explodes, William Shatner quickly raises his hand to the camera as the scene fades away. An outtake of this scene is incorporated into the blooper reel of the show's second season: At one point, Shatner turns to the camera and declares, "Listen, about that bacon – no, really!" and then appears to swallow something, presumably medication for an upset stomach. His comment follows an earlier outtake that shows him sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge and confiding, "No, listen, that bacon is really bad... it just stays with you all day."
  • Also in the blooper reel: When Shatner tells Nomad that the Enterprise is prepared to beam it aboard, James Doohan says, "But captain – you forgot all about the environment and all that stuff. Do you want to really do that?" A grinning Doohan steps out of camera frame, leaving a slightly perplexed Shatner behind, bemusedly shaking his head. Doohan did not deliberately ruin the take, however. It was already ruined since Shatner actually did forget to say the dialogue concerning the environment.
  • Footage of Nomad exiting the turbolift is recycled to show him leaving sickbay.
  • When the two security guards shoot Nomad for not obeying them, the visual effects artists apparently used the door frame behind the guards as a guideline for the boundary of Nomad's shields. This has the unfortunate effect of making it seem as if the guards' phaser beams are striking the door frame.
  • Spock mentions that Nomad's first attack on the Enterprise was the equivalent of ninety photon torpedoes. Surprisingly, this attack only reduced the shields by 20%. This seems even stranger a few moments later, when Nomad absorbs the energy of a single photon torpedo and Kirk wonders how anything could "absorb so much energy – and survive".
  • Surprisingly, too, Uhura is re-educated within a matter of days, presumably with all her memories intact as well. Possibly her memories were not really erased, but overwritten, just as a computer file may have its FAT entry overwritten but can easily be recovered. Exabytes of data would take a while to restore but would not take nearly as long as learning from a zero start-point.
  • This episode marks one of four times Kirk is able to "talk a computer to death". This technique is also used in "The Return of the Archons", "I, Mudd", and "The Ultimate Computer", and was similarly done to a robot in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
  • Even though this episode is stated to take place on stardate 3541.9, the episode list from the official website says it takes place on stardate 3451.9.
  • In conventions, Nichelle Nichols frequently tells a story of getting into a dispute with director Marc Daniels over the filming of this episode. As it had already been established that Uhura's first language was Swahili, Nichols believed that, after her mind was erased, Uhura would revert to her first language. However, as Nichols herself did not speak Swahili, Daniels wanted Uhura to just speak English. Nichols refused to, telling Daniels, "Nichelle Nichols doesn't speak Swahili, but Uhura does!" Gene Roddenberry was eventually brought in to settle the dispute, and he sided with Nichols. A linguist specializing in Swahili was then brought in to write the few lines of Swahili that are spoken in the episode.

Production timeline

Video and DVD releases

This release included "Space Seed" and was originally unrated, as it was released prior to the Video Recordings Act 1984. After 1985, it received a rating of PG.

Apocrypha

Tokyopop's Star Trek: The Manga: Kakan ni Shinkou had a story titled "Communications Breakdown", set after the episode. The story starts with a captain's log mentioning that it's been twelve days since the encounter with Nomad.

Links and references

Starring

Also starring

Featuring

With

And

Uncredited co-stars

Stunt double

Stand-ins

References

analysis sector; anatomy; Antares; antigrav; antimatter input valve; auxiliary control room; ball; Beyond Antares; binary; biological unit; "Bones"; brain; brig; census; central nervous system; changeling; chart fourteen a; college; condition red; Creator; damper; dog; Earth; energy release control; English language; evasive maneuvers; Federation; force field; hyperencephalogram; interfactor; interplanetary code; interplanetary war; kilogram; kilometer; life support system; logic; Luna; Malurians; Malurian system; manual override; Manway; mathematics; matter-antimatter propulsion system; meter; meteor; Milky Way Galaxy; natural satellite; neurology; Nomad; non sequitur; parasitical beings; personnel file; physical; physiology; polymass; population; prototype; reader; reading; red alert; Roykirk, Jackson; ship's translator; shock; Sol; speech; Starfleet Academy; Starfleet code; Starfleet Command; structural integrity; Swahili language; Symbalene blood burn; Tan Ru; tape; translator computer; Vulcan mind probe

Library computer references

acquisition sensor; coupler prediction scanner; data assimilation digital encoder; International Designator; Jupiter; magnetohydodynamic vernier-pulse; Mars; Mercury; Neptune; Pluto; regenerative mode emulsifier; Saturn; selective amplifier screen; Sol system; sperographic analysis computer; tracking screen; transmission; Uranus; Venus

Timeline

2002
Nomad built
2267
Malurian system destroyed

External links

Previous episode produced:
"Wolf in the Fold" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 2 		Next episode produced:
"The Apple"
Previous episode aired:
"Who Mourns for Adonais?" 		Next episode aired:
"Mirror, Mirror"
Previous remastered episode aired:
"The Enemy Within" 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
"The Ultimate Computer"
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