William Shatner Movie:

		List Price: $19.99		Label: CBS Paramount International Television Salesrank: 41299 Released: February 13, 2001
		Our Price: $6.68
		Used Price: $3.82
		MPAA Rating: Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
"The Changeling," Ep. 37 - Nomad, a deadly robotic space probe, is on target for Earth. Can Captain Kirk outsmart the killer computer? "The Apple," Ep. 38 - Vaal, protector of Gamma Trianguli VI, tries everything is its power to destroy Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise during an ill-fated visit to the strange planet.

Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 19, Episodes 37 & 38: The Changeling/ The Apple Reviews:
Filler Eps from an Otherwise Great Season!
2006-10-24 - If you are picking and choosing which volumes to keep, you can safely give this one a miss without missing too much. The first episode is interesting though because the theme is very similar to the V'ger story from the first Star Trek movie. The tension and tight plot are redeeming factors to an otherwise average episode.

The second and weaker episode shows an emotionally vulnerable Kirk who questions himself and his abilities when a number of his crew die on an Eden-like planet behaving as if he is a rookie captain who has only just lost members of his crew on dangerous assignments. The rest of the episode is very forgettable and ranks among the worst of all 3 seasons combined.

STANDARD STAR TREK STORIES!!!
2002-09-16 - Volume 19 of The Star Trek DVD series contains to standard episodes of the second season. Although neither of the episodes are bad they are definetly far from ground breaking! It's logical to assume that this would not be the first DVD a Star Trek fan would get from this series but if you are a die hard fan then you may as well purchase this (unless you can get a DVD with more than 2 episodes).

The first episode here is THE CHANGELING. The Enterprise runs across the ancient Nomad probe which has gone from galaxy to galaxy destroying biological inperfections. The somewhat damaged probe believes that Kirk is his creator and obeys Kirks commands. However the probe continues to follow out it's function and begins to destroy all biological inperfections on the Enterprise aka innocent crew men! The episode is well written but the Nomad probe looks really cheesy and Kirk arguing with it is even more ridiculous. Still this episode is quite watchable.
(Note: Vic Perrin does the voice of Nomad he also did the voice of Dr. Zin in Jonny Quest and appeared in various Sci-Fi Adventure shows)

THE APPLE is one of those Star Trek episodes where the crew finds a paradise and later finds out it's a living hell. When they arrive on this beautiful planet, 3 crew men are killed, Spock is constantly abused by the planet's plant life and lightning bolts from the sky and the idol worshipping natives with bad wigs and sun burned skin are too ignorant to help the crew. If thats not bad enough the Enterprise is being held by the idol Vaal (that is actually a machine controlling the natives) in a force field. Now don't get me wrong this is a good episode but this is typical Trek. This plot has been done a hundred times better in other Star Trek episodes but this is still decent. This was also the first Star Trek episode I ever saw : )

Overall a decent collection of episodes but nothing very special here. Both shows are good and watchable but I recommend venturing into a different Star Trek collection before buying this one. Recommended.

Two super machines - Two different kinds of fun classic trek
2002-08-06 - A great pair of episodes - exemplifying both the campy and the genuinely creepy aspects of sci-fi on classic trek. First, the creepy...

The Enterprise encounters a machine (small enough to be towed though the Enterprise's corridors with a virtually invisible wire, yet powerful enough to wipe out both whole civilizations and Lt. Uhuru's voice). Though unrecognizable and sentient beyond any human technology, the machine identifies itself as "Nomad" - a robot probe launched from Earth in the 21st century. Even stranger - the probe identifies Kirk as its creator. Thinking quickly, Spock convinces Kirk not to correct the machine's error (though since the mistake saves the ship from destruction, it was more instinct than inference) and, though unsure of the machine's true nature at first, Kirk keeps Nomad in the dark. We learn that Nomad, to some extent, is the same Nomad created in the 21st century - a unique experiment combining space exploration and artificial intelligence, and cooked up by an eccentric inventor whose name sounds like Kirk's. We also learn that Nomad had encountered and merged with an alien probe with a seemingly similar mission, but far greater powers. The mind-meld in which Spock learns the horrific truth adds a chill and also some depth to the machine, which is one of the most perfect examples of coldly calculating AI on any major science fiction program. Though Classic Trek repeatedly concocted alien superbeings based on computers that had evolved to the point where they thought themselves gods ("For the world is hollow"; "Return of the Archons"; "The Ultimate Computer" and "The Apple"), this episode rose from the pack, and remains conceptually indistinguishable from "Star Trek, The Motion Picture" despite the far superior FX of that film.

If "The Changeling" was creepy, then "The Apple" is a campy treat - we've got a primitive yet beautiful race on a wild and dangerous planet who are completely ignorant of matters of love (but not innocent enough to keep from laughing when first hearing Spock's name); we've got the Enterprise in peril and Scotty unsurprisingly predicting disaster; we've got Spock and Checkhov play acting to trap a suspicious spying alien ("what do you expect, wy-olins?") and we've got an army of starfleet personnel in red shirts dropping like flies. First finding a lush alien world when landing, the crew quickly realize that the planet is a death trap - full of flowers shooting poisonous spores and prone to storms that pepper the planet with precisely aimed lightning bolts. It's no surprise that the planet is "managed" by a huge and powerful computer which the natives worship as a god. When the god, Vol, commands annihilation of the intruders - an order issued via telepathy to the tribal leader played by Peter Graves - the crew fight back. In the end, phaser power settles the argument, though that's still more convincing than in other episodes where the all-powerful machine is blasted out of existence merely because somebody asked the ultimate question. On a side note, DC comics published monthly adventures of Star Trek, including a three-issue sequel to this episode which was fun but also reminded me how much fun the show was. Next Generation was never this enjoyable.

Not the best Original Series episodes but stil enjoyable.
2001-06-12 - At this point, in the TOS run, the number of truly great episodes is starting to dwindle a bit and being replaced more and more by episodes that have good intentions but they aren't always realized on screen. Case in point is "The Apple" (or as I call it--"Spock's Really Bad Day") which is once again an examination of the theme that humanity wasn't intended for a paradise we don't work to achieve and the classic Trek theme of Kirk vs. Computers. Yes, this one has some great moments--Kirk firing Scotty, Spock getting repeatedly abused by plant spores/darts and lightning and Kirk using the Enterprise's phasers to destroy Baal. It's campy at times, but it's still always entertaining (a claim that certain modern Treks can't always claims--namely Voyager).

The other episode on this disc is The Changeling which is an interesting storyline. It's one of about three or four episodes that influenced the storyline of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It's got nice performances and it works fairly well as a ship in the bottle type of story (done to save money as Trek was an expensive show). However, compared to other ship in the bottle classics such as the Doomsday Machine it falls a bit short.

The Changling /The Apple
2001-06-03 - "The Changling" a great story with excellent SFX. "The Apple" considered one of the poorly written episodes of TOS. However, it does contain a few highlights...watch Yeoman Landon...she's got a real nice kick!