"Star Trek" The Changeling (1967)

Director:

Marc Daniels

Writers:

John Meredyth Lucas (written by)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

29 September 1967 (Season 2, Episode 3)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A powerful reconstructed artificially intelligent Earth probe with a murderously twisted imperative comes on to the Enterprise and confuses Capt. Kirk as his creator.

Plot Keywords:

Federation | Space | Starship | Computer | Vulcan

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
James Doohan	...	Scott
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
George Takei	...	Sulu
Majel Barrett	...	Christine Chapel
Makee K. Blaisdell	...	Singh (as Blaisdel Makee)
Barbara Gates	...	Crewwoman
Meade Martin	...	Crewman
Arnold Lessing	...	Security Guard
Vic Perrin	...	Nomad's Voice (voice)

Runtime:

USA:60 min | Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

The alien probe that Nomad collided with was called Tan Ru.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: When Spock, Kirk and McCoy view a diagram that shows the various parts of the NOMAD probe, an obvious spelling error is seen on the diagram. The lower right of the diagram contains the annotation: "Computer Data Banks Recall & Transmition". The word "Transmition" should read "Transmission".

Quotes:

Capt. Kirk: [refering to the logic with which he defeated the probe] Didn't think I had it in me, did you , Spock?
Spock: [deadpan] No sir.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Team Knight Rider: Apocalypse Maybe (#1.20)" (1998)

Stupid

Classic Trek aficionados often pan the Third Season of Classic Trek as being the worst of the worst, and specifically they assign "Spock's Brain" as being the absolute worst Star Trek episode ever.

I disagree. I label "The Changeling" as the worst, and not because it was used as the basis for the first Star Trek feature film back in the late 70s.

No.

I just can't stand the execution of this story. The story concept is intriguing enough, but the interpersonal interaction with the mechanical antagonist and Enterprise crew, to me at least, is nearly laughable. If I'm watching classic Trek, and this thing happens to be on the DVD set I've got in the player, then I may keep it on in the background, but it's really painful to watch at times.

To me this episode is the poster boy for people to point at who think Star Trek is stupid. And you know what? I'd be hard pressed to deny them that claim after watching this particular installment.

I just don't know what went wrong here. For all the money that they had to spend on this episode, was this really the best the creative team could come up with? One is reminded of "Red Dwarf's" props department, and the Holly-Hop drive prop. Yeah, it's that bad.

Shatner and gang give us Kirk and crew to outwit a schizophrenic robot. It's a little cliché in that regard, which just adds another nail in the coffin for this episode, but it's not really the defining moment as some may think.

Not a worthy installment of the franchise, if somewhat interesting. Good acting (save for M-5), poor production values (again, M-5), and a lack of vision on how to properly present the story.

Take it for what it's worth.