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List Price: $19.99 | | Label: CBS Paramount International Television
Salesrank: 46903
Released: July 10, 2001 |
| Our Price: $7.99 |
| Used Price: $3.92 |
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MPAA Rating:
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
"The Ultimate Computer," Ep. 53 - Kirk stands by helplessly as his ship is used to test an advanced computer that turns out to be as flawed as its inventor. "The Omega Glory," Ep. 54 - Kirk and crew encounter a ghost ship, a madman captain, a deadly virus and 1,000-year-old natives on planet Omega IV.
Description of Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 27, Episodes 53 & 54: The Ultimate Computer/ The Omega Glory:
"The Ultimate Computer"
Kirk reluctantly agrees to play along with a Federation test of a new supercomputer, designed by the brilliant Dr. Daystrom (William Marshall, the booming baritone stage actor most famous for Blacula) to run a starship almost single-handedly. It does its job too well, locking the human crew out of ship operations and using deadly force during the Federation war games. Spock and McCoy continue their now-legendary banter about man versus machine while Kirk muses over the obsolescence of his own command. Marshall is excellent as a former-boy-wonder genius banking his reputation on this breakthrough, treating his creation like a son. That's not too far from the truth: designed after his brain pattern, this thinking, reasoning, learning machine carries with it the insecurities and desperation of its creator. The fears of the emerging digital revolution explored in The Ultimate Computer in 1968 remain today: what is the fate of man in the face of technological efficiency? Films from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Colossus: The Forbin Project to Demon Seed and The Matrix have echoed these themes, and this Trek episode--primitive special effects, zero-budget sets, and all--stands up to them quite nicely. --Sean Axmaker
"The Omega Glory"
What is it with Starfleet captains? So many of them become wildly grandiose. Witness "The Omega Glory," in which another starship commander, Ronald Tracey (Morgan Woodward), tramples the Prime Directive by interfering in a long-running conflict between primitive societies, in this case the Yangs and Kohms of planet Omega IV. Siding with the Kohms, Tracey creates an imbalance of power that Kirk works to adjust by arming the Yangs proportionately. The script by series creator Gene Roddenberry is one of his not-so-subtle allegories for the state of the world in the 1960s, specifically our own cold war between nuclear superpowers. So bluntly drawn is Roddenberry's parallel between Omega IV and 20th-century Earth that this is one of the few Star Trek episodes that risks becoming completely absurd after a point. William Shatner (Captain Kirk) takes the biggest risk of all with a passionate, lengthy speech of the sort pranksters like comic actor Kevin Dunn are wont to imitate today. But the fact is that Shatner pulls off such chancy material very well, and certainly does so here. --Tom Keogh
Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 27, Episodes 53 & 54: The Ultimate Computer/ The Omega Glory Reviews:
"this unit must survive" 
2007-02-06 -
In 'The Ultimate Computer' mathematics genius Dr Daystrom (William Marshall) installs a new supercomputer, the M-5, aboard the Enterprise. It can run a star-ship better than humans, and it's to be tested in war games against four other federation ships. Daystrom is such a genius even Spock can only be of small help to him. McCoy says to Spock, "This is what you'd like isn't it Spock?", "you'd prefer a ship run by computer". Spock replies, "I don't find it preferable" in understatement.
When the war games begin, not only does the Enterprise react faster than the other ships, but the M-5 has shields and weapons set to maximum. The M-5 has malfunctioned. It's taken complete control of the Enterprise and doesn't see this as a game. The enterprise destroys one Star-ship and heavily damages one or two of the others.
Dr Daystrom, - "lecturing to fools, who don't even begin to understand my systems; lessor minds and competitors, building, on my work" - a mad genius it turns out, whose own 'brain engrams' have been used in the creation of the computer, tries to talk the M-5 into disconnecting itself. The talk almost sounds as if it is a man in conversation with his child or even with himself, "this unit must survive", M-5 insists.
Kirk asks M-5 to scan the Star-ship Hood. The M-5 reports there are no life-signs aboard. 'You have murdered', Kirk proclaims, and both the M-5 and Dr Daystrom have a mini-breakdown giving the crew a chance to disconnect the faulty computer.
One Really Good Episode and One Really Ridiculous One! 
2006-12-17 - If you are deciding which volumes to keep, this one only just falls under the "nice to have but dispensable" category which is a pity because the first episode, "The Ultimate Computer" is actually one of the best episodes from the second season and comes after a string of mediocre episodes. We get a very interesting premise: "Will computers/technology ever make humans redundant? This similar premise has been visited many times over since in movies like "Terminator", "The Matrix" and "I, Robot" and will probably still strike a chord with viewers many years into the future as well. The acting is very good and coupled with one of the better scripts ever written for Trek make this a very memorable episode indeed.
Now for the downside: "The Omega Glory" is a ridiculous episode which unlike the very similar episodes "Piece of the Action" and "Patterns of Force" in which the virtually identical parallels with Earth history were explained by Prime Directive violations, we are expected to believe that inexplicably, some planet light years away developed the Declaration of Independence word-for-word and have exactly the same flag as the U.S. The two warring factions are also called the Yanks and the Communists! The ridiculous plot and average acting makes this among the 3 worst ever episodes in the entire Trekdom.
I see that Amazon is now offering downloads of individual episodes for about $2 each. It's probably a good way to get around this conundrum and perhaps order the one episode and forget the other one as quickly as possible!
Still fun to watch
2006-11-11 - Even though the original "Trek" is showing its age and the effects weren't digital. I think they are still fun to watch. The Omega Glory on this set was one I remember the first time I saw. How cool, an "earth-type" planet that had a war we didn't then the shocking ending. Maybe to corny for belief but if you just sit back and don't look too deep these shows still are VERY entertaining.
Brillant 
2005-11-25 - Dr Daystrom created the ultimate computer, M-5. Spock observes that M-5 does not think in a logical order. McCoy pokes fun at Spock suggesting Spock has been waiting for the right computer too come along. Spock is somewhat annoy with McCoy. McCoy does not want M-5 access to run the Enterprises replacing a crew of over 300 people; Kirk does not want to stand in the way of progress; and Daystrom push off the Kirks cautionous stance by telling they don't understand the new computer capabilities. After an error in tactical response M-5 manages to kill 51 people in a drill against the Excaliber leaving it too drift lifelessly in space. Daystrom has imprinted his brain engrams into silicon circuitry that runs M-5. McCoy chastises Spock about having faith in M-5. Spock tells McCoy, he acknowledges M-5s efficiency but he does not wish too be a servant of a machine, nor does he believe the machine is a God, and does not believe humans are Gods.
Daystrom begins talking with M-5, as if he is talking with himself. He asks M-5 who will atone for the deaths of the Excaliber? Daystrom reality is one of hyper achievement in an attempt to prove his computer theories are beyond reproach, criticism, or rejection by his peers. M-5 perceptions matched his biological perceptions and a duelistic dialogue between man and machine occurred. Daystrom sees the accident as a training exercise where M-5 must learn like a child, who has made a mistake. This one indication Daystrom is insane. Kirk wants to know about M-1 through M-4, too which Daystrom confess that they have failed. M-5 seems like a risk considering previous models failed. However, M-5 represent a quantum leap forward in design and architecture, a perfect model of the human brain. Spock seems to think M-5 is not capable of value judgments, concluding that M-5 is not a spiritual machine, therefore, it can not have wisdom, compassion, and feeling; Man against the thinking machines. Kirk points human superiority, telling the team, he knew the other commander would not fire on Enterprise without first finding out if all alternatives had been depleted. The other command would use wisdom and discretion before taking action rather than follow an exacting strategy suggesting compassion and wisdom from the other human, a trait M-5 missed. Human have the power of discernment.
Kirk asks M-5, why it killed; M-5 explains, too survive and preserve the technology of its creator; Kirk asks M-5, if it is morally ok to kill; M-5 answers that it is not and killing is immoral to God and man; Kirk then ask M-5 what is the punishment; and M-5 commits computer annihilation.
Makes you wonder how Trek wou;d've looked w/Ron Tracy in command.
2005-08-13 - These two episodes share the theme of great genius gone wrong. In "Computer", Kirk struggles to free the Enterprise from the grip of a computer that's become self-aware. "Omega" had Kirk and crew trapped on a primitive planet whose history is being altered by another starship captain. Though "Omega" is probably more ridiculed (especially for its ending) it's actually a great episode, and the clear winner of the two.
Not to say that "Ultimate Computer" is a bad ep - far from it. When the "Enterprise" has Dr. Daystrom's M-5 computer installed so that it can take part in a series of wargames (uh oh!!), the ship also gets Daystrom himself. Ufortunately, the machine gets too big to take orders from the crew, and not only goes into business for itself, but soon crosses the line between wargames and pure war. You just can't say enough about actor William Marshal's booming voice. You'd think that a man who finds it easier to connect with machines than mankind would sound more like Wally Cox - making Marshall's role here one of creative mis-casting. "Ultimate" is also in search of a coherent theme. Until the machine loses its cybernetic mind, "Computer" is a great story about men at risk of being made obsolescent by machines. And then it goes wrong - and the computer decides that it's human and proceeds to make a great case for it by losing its mind. While "The Next Generation" blurred the line between AI and human intelligence, this episode just assumes that machines consider themselves human and therefore free to act utterly illogically. The promising plot arc, in which the imperfect minds of Captain Kirk & Crew manage to out-think the master brain, is lost. Instead of a great discussion about the ironic virtues of man's imperfect mind, we get some morality play about its supremacy. This is old hat for Trek, which confronted our heroes with a host of thinking machines that also proved susceptible to being talked out of their existence by imperfect men (Nomad, Landru & V'Ger come to mind). This was the episode that introduced (to Trek, anyway) the term "Dunsel".
"Omega Glory" takes lumps for its ridiculous looking ending, but it's still a great ep - a great variation on the theme of alien societies that model themselves on shreds of our own. Discovering a derelict starship in orbit of an unexplored planet, Kirk finds its crew wiped out by a mysterious plague - their bodies dissolved into dry crystals. Realizing that they're infected, Kirk & Crew follow the recorded warnings of the now dead crew of the other ship - beam down to the planet's surface. There, they find two warring civilizations - Kohms and Yangs. The first is peaceful, and seems to take its orders from Ron Tracy, the captain of the stricken ship. The Yangs are savage - the bad guys. Unfortunately, Tracey has more than the safety of the Kohms to think about. The immunity of the planet seems to have turned its inhabitants into immortal supermen. Has Tracy discovered the "Fountain of Youth?" And will he have to violate the "Prime Directive" to learn its secret? This was a great ep. that works off its great casting - veteran TV actor Morgan Woodward chews up the script as Tracy, making you wonder how Trek would have looked had it been a show about his adventures. The ending, in which Kirk rhapsodizes about the virtues of knowing freedom, is pure corn, but Tracy's character keeps the story humming with his fire and brimstone delivery. (As an alternate-Earth society story, like "Patterns of Force" or "Bread & Circuses", "Glory" is unique in that it saves that revelation for the end.)
Trivia: In "Glory", Ron Tracy thinks he's found the fountain of youth. In the "Logan's Run" TV show, Woodward played an "Elder" - one of the select few men who were allowed to live past their 30th birthday, even if secretly.
