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The Doomsday Machine
Stardate 4202.9—While investigating the annihilation of several solar systems, the U.S.S. Enterprise discovers its sister ship, the U.S.S. Constellation, adrift and severely crippled. Upon beaming over to investigate, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and his landing party find a single survivor, Commodore Matt Decker (William Windom) in a state of deep shock and anguish. He tells of a gigantic alien planet killing machine which was responsible for the destruction of the neighboring star systems as well as his own ship and crew.
Kirk and his engineering team remain on board the U.S.S. Constellation to effect repairs while Decker is beamed back to the Enterprise for treatment. At that moment, the Planet Killer returns and attacks the U.S.S. Enterprise, damaging the ship's transporter. Decker, obsessed with the destruction of the machine, belligerently assumes command of the U.S.S. Enterprise and pursues the Planet Killer toward its next target. While Kirk struggles to repair the U.S.S. Constellation's main impulse engines, Decker attacks the Planet Killer.
Meanwhile, Kirk is able to restore the U.S.S. Constellation to operational status and draw the Planet Killer away from the U.S.S. Enterprise. He then orders Spock (Leonard Nimoy) to take command and confine Decker to sickbay. But Decker escapes and steals a shuttlecraft in a last desperate attempt to stop the Planet Killer. Guilt-ridden over the loss of his crew, he pilots the shuttlecraft directly into the maw of the machine, causing minor damage as the craft explodes.
Kirk senses Decker's strategy and rigs the U.S.S. Constellation's engines to self-destruct, then sends the crippled starship on a similar course right inside the Planet Killer. After barely transporting out in time, the U.S.S. Constellation detonates and the machine is destroyed. Kirk, while happy that he's destroyed the Planet Killer, also grieves the loss of a fine starship commander and friend.
Amok Time
Stardate 3372.7—Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are surprised to see the normally stoic, logical Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) suddenly behaving emotionally and irrationally, demanding leave to return to his home planet, Vulcan. Upon examination, McCoy learns that Spock is undergoing severe internal stresses which will prove fatal if gone unchecked. Spock tells Kirk that he has entered Pon Farr, the Vulcan mating cycle which occurs every seven years for Vulcan males and which requires him to return home to Vulcan to take a mate or die. Kirk, risking his career by disobeying orders from Starfleet to attend an inaugural ceremony on Altair VI, diverts the U.S.S. Enterprise to Vulcan where Spock's wife-to-be, T'Pring (Arlene Martel), betrothed to him since childhood, awaits his arrival.
Kirk and McCoy are invited to accompany Spock to the marriage ceremony Koon-Ut-Kal-If-Fee, which is presided over by T'Pau (Celia Lovsky), Vulcan's highest authoritative figure. T'Pring invokes her right to ritual combat, the Kal-If-Fee, in which she may choose a champion for Spock to fight in order to win her. Kirk is surprised when it is he that T'Pring chooses as her champion, but he agrees for Spock's sake, only to find that it is a fight to the death.
The first Challenge begins as Kirk and Spock fight with Lirpas, a combination bludgeon/battle axe. When they rest, McCoy injects Kirk with what he says is Tri-Ox compound to give Kirk a fighting chance in the thin Vulcan atmosphere. Combat resumes with the Ahn-Woon, a bola-like weapon which can also be used as a sling or garrote. Spock, deep in his blood-fever trance, or Plak Tow, strangles the captain and ultimately discovers that the Kal-If-Fee was a ruse by T'Pring to divorce herself from Spock in favor of another Vulcan lord.
Convinced he has killed Kirk, Spock prepares to resign and turn himself in for court martial when Kirk suddenly appears alive and well after taking not a Tri-Ox compound but a neural paralyzer to simulate death. Again showing an emotional reaction uncharacteristic of a Vulcan, Spock is overjoyed at finding his captain unhurt, while Kirk is happy that T'Pau has sent word to Starfleet exonerating him from disobeying orders to come to Vulcan.
About Gerald Fried
After studying music in New York, Gerald Fried began film scoring in the 1950's with low-budget B-movies such as THE CRY OF THE BABY KILLER and THE RETURN OF DRACULA in 1958 and from there went on to do TIMBUKTU and I BURY THE LIVING and the like (including the first three films of his childhood friend Stanley Kubrick). Fried eventually gained a reputation in the '60s and '70s as a top-notch television composer. He scored such notable miniseries as ROOTS and MYSTIC WARRIOR, but also worked behind the scenes for many popular TV series, including THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., IT's ABOUT TIME, GILLIGAN's ISLAND, LOST IN SPACE and STAR TREK. Says Fried of his score for AMOK TIME: "The music for AMOK TIME was written to reflect what I thought was the main theme of the episode: despite all the sophistication and intellectuality we may have accrued over the millennia, our species (and Vulcan off-shoots of same) is essentially grounded in the same biological, primitive inheritance which controlled our ancient ancestors. In fact, such philosophical speculations on the part of the writers, producers, etc., were what made my entire association with the STAR TREK series such a rewarding one. One way or another, all the episodes probed, or attempted to deal with, the internal, primal mysteries of our species in the guise of 'let's have an adventure" science fiction. The results were as rich a fare of TV drama as we've had.
About Sol Kaplan
A native of Philadelphia and an alumnus of the Curtis Institute, Sol Kaplan initially appeared to be destined for a career as a concert pianist. He made his Town Hall debut in 1939 and again later in both 1940 and 1941, performing in Carnegie Hall. In the same year, he composed his first film scores for Universal Picture's live action short, THE TELLTALE HEART. In the same year, he composed his first film score for MANHATTAN, LIES MY FATHER TOLD ME, HALLS OF MONTEZUMA, RAWHIDE, RETURN OF THE TEXAN, TITANIC, OVER THE EDGE, which was directed by his son, Janathan Kaplan, and NIAGRA, which was Marilyn Monroe's first starring film. In World War II, Kaplan wrote music for the film units of the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Army Signal Corps. His film career was disrupted during the '50s when he was blacklisted after appearing before the House Committee on Un-American activities. However, during that period he wrote the score for the film, SALT OF THE EARTH. Kaplan's theatre credits include a score written for the off-Broadway musical, THE BANKER'S DAUGHTER, written with Edward Eliscu. He was also musical director for "THE ZERO HOUR", a television special starring Zero Mostel. Over the course of STAR TREK's three-year run, Kaplan had scored two episodes, THE ENEMY WITHIN and THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE, both of which contain some of the more memorable cues used throughout the series. Sol Kaplan died of lung cancer on November 14, 1990, but he leaves a musical legacy that will be treasured by both STAR TREK and film aficionados for years to come.
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