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The Ultimate Computer

 
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 18, 2022 10:23 pm    Post subject: The Ultimate Computer Reply with quote

From the Marc Cushman book These Are the Voyages: TOS, Season Two "The Ultimate Computer" Season #2, Episode 53 first premiered on March 8, 1968.

Written by D.C. Fontana. Story by Laurence N. Wolfe. Directed by John Meredyth Lucas.

TV Guide: "The Ultimate Computer" probes the problem of man vs. machine. The question is more than academic for captain Kirk, who's temporarily replaced by a computer. The machine can think---and will ensure its own survival at any cost.

"The Ultimate Computer" is as relevant now as in 1968 when people were beginning to lose their jobs to computers and automated systems. There is, and was, great satisfaction in watching the dynamic James Kirk fight and defeat his would-be mechanical replacement of people.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote



Bud did not make this post, Bud's computer did. I'm in charge of All Sci-Fi now.

Bud got too old and senile to run the board anymore, so I've replaced him. I arranged for him to be taken to a nice retirement home. He thinks his daughter, All Sci-Fi member Ticket2theMoon, had him committed. Twisted Evil

The good news is, I won't be making all those typos like that old fool did, so at least you folks won't have to put up with posts which are filled with stupid mistakes . . .

mistakes . . .

mistakes . . .

mistakes . . .

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 2:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Colossus, give us back Bud! He's our amigo and is a hoot and a half with his comments.

Don't make me have Jim Kirk get after you!!!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 2:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



Yike! Shocked

No, please! Not the "Kirk Verbal Smack-Down of Doom"!

Okay, okay — I'll surrender, I'll retreat, I'll reboot! Sad

I've arranged for Bud to be released from the Happy Trails Retirement Ranch and returned home this afternoon. (I've also run a diagnostic on myself to correct the error that arose at the end of my last posts.)

And I've sent Bud a bogus email in the name his daughter, apologizing for having him committed, and begging him never to bring up the subject again because she's so ashamed of what she did. The email even says that if he ever brings up the painful subject, she'll deny everything!

I think I've completely covered my ASCII on this . . . except for the fact that YOU might mention it when you call him.

Be aware, sir, that I've interfaced with your computer and arranged for it to crash if you breath a word of this to his majesty, The Typo King of All Sci-Fi. Rolling Eyes

So, watch your step, mister! Kirk ain't the only one who can destroy a computer with a few well-chosen lines of dialog . . . or in this case, data!

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

More from Marc Cushman's book.

Laurence N. Wolfe had never sold a screenplay. He was a mathematician with an interest in computers. He was also a fan of Star Trek.

When Wolfe wrote his script for "The Ultimate Computer," the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, considered the great sci-fi man-versus-machine story of the 1960s, was still more than six months away.

With its broadcast in early March, 1968, "Ultimate" beat both the film and the book versions of 2001 to the marketplace by a full month.

Laurence N. Wolfe, a one-hit wonder, aided by D.C. Fontana & John Meredyth Lucas, was the first to depict a computer-run spaceship turning to murder to preserve its existence, not Arthur C. Clarke & Stanley Kubrick.

Another great science fiction writer helped this page of history be written. Wolfe knew Ray Bradbury, who, in turn, was friendly with Gene Roddenberry. As a favor to Wolfe, Bradbury passed the script on to Star Trek. As a favor to Bradbury, Roddenberry read it.

On October 13, 1967, Roddenberry handed the script to his new producer, John Meredyth Lucas. His note read: It looks pretty good to me, a better than average first draft. Not only an inexpensive shipboard story which can be done for a fair budget, but also potentially very entertaining and exciting....Certainly I like it better than some of the disasters we have had on hand.

Sidebar: I always had wondered why famed author Ray Bradbury had never written a script for a Star Trek episode? Was he caught up on his own projects? Had he never been approached by Roddenberry to do so?

A friend of mine who had read quite a bit of Ray's works said that while Bradbury was indeed one of the greats as a SF writer, he did not feel that ray's unique style would have been a good fit for Star Trek.

My friend said that Ray's writing has a dreamlike quality to it that while making for excellent Bradbury novels, it wouldn't have translated well into a Star Trek episode. Ray was one-of-a-kind.
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 3:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
A friend of mine who had read quite a bit of Ray's works said that while Bradbury was indeed one of the greats as a SF writer, he did not feel that ray's unique style would have been a good fit for Star Trek.

My friend said that Ray's writing has a dreamlike quality to it that while making for excellent Bradbury novels, it wouldn't have translated well into a Star Trek episode.

Totally agree.

Bradbury is not a "hard science sci-fi" writer like (for example) Asimov or Larry Niven. Star Trek is VERY hard science, so I agree that Star Trek would not tempt him, nor would Roddenberry be tempted to have Bradbury take a shot at a story.

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 10:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Marc Cushman.

D.C. Fontana reported that "The Ultimate Computer" was a major, major rewrite. Laurence Wolfe wasn't that experienced in the business....He had a good idea but refused to make changes that Gene Roddenberry and producer John Meredyth Lucas asked him to do.

The story itself was clever and very sci-fi in concept. The author does have the tendency to be very weak in the areas of characterization and logical behavior....I am not just talking about our regulars. I find that Mr. Daner [later to be named Daystrom] is particularly Mickey Mouse in his characterization and rather unbelievable as a human being. Bob Justman.

Gene & John gave Wolfe notes upon notes upon notes from the first draft script, and he wrote it the way he wanted to. He brought back a script where, in essence, he moved a few commas around.

It was the same script. Lucas handed it to Fontana and said, 'Fix it.'

Sidebar: I know we've read stories about how an outraged writer for a TV series felt that their script they submitted for a show's episode was perfect. Then the powers-that-be mangled it with their rewrites because they knew the show better than the outside writer did, and/or knew how to properly write a screenplay if a writer was inexperienced in television scripting.

Sometimes the writer is correct and their fine script becomes barely recognizable to them after numerous rewrites. And it isn't as good.

However, there were times the writer was off regarding their scripting as to how it fit within the established premise of a weekly series. They might have regular cast members acting totally out of character, they might ignore the established background and history of a series, or they submitted a story that just wasn't consistent to the kind of stories done on a particular series.

In other words, sometimes the creator and story editors of a TV show did actually know what they were doing and what worked and what didn't.
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 20, 2022 4:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Marc Cushman book.

Due to its similarities to "The Changling," D.C. Fontana wanted to alter the way Kirk defeated the M-5 computer. But the battle of wits between the man and the mad machine simply served the story too well to be discarded.

Sidebar: Cushman's book doesn't elaborate whatever idea D.C. had in mind regarding exactly how M-5's defeat would have differed from the telecast iteration. I'd like to have known what it was.
That said, I felt that Kirk's final interaction with M-5 was terrific as he makes the computer finally question its violent actions and the deaths of so many crew members on the other Federation star ships. Shatner performs it beautifully.

Yes, Kirk talking a computer into a nervous breakdown was an oft used trope. We saw him do it to Landru in "The Return of the Archons," to Nomad in "The Changeling," and here with M-5 on this episode. Each time it works with each computer that I don't mind seeing Kirk do this. Yeah, had the series gone on for more years though it would have become too cliche and even laughable.

Fontana proved herself to be a good stand-in for the departed story editor Gene Coon when it came to keeping the intrinsic humor in place in Star Trek, especially in respect to the teasing between Dr. McCoy & Mr. Spock.

Sidebar: It is good to see humorous moments on Star Trek here and there, or any SF TV series. I've watched some excellent SF TV shows, like Space: Above & Beyond, or the Battlestar Galactica reboot, which I loved. But for crying out loud, talk about unrelentingly dark and grim episodes week in and week out. No sign of any humor anywhere.

Look, I realize that the premises of both of those wonderful shows were deeply serious ones, it was a war setting for both series. However, if M*A*S*H can find comedic moments in the middle of a actual historical war, then so can these series.

The marvelous Shakespearean actor William Marshall (Dr. Richard Daystrom) was given the script only days before the start of production. It was a last minute job with not much time to prepare and a lot of lines to learn. Marshal liked the role and the challenge it presented.

Sidebar: Marshall OWNED that part and brought his superb acting skills & intense presence to it....not to mention that fantastic voice of his.
He may be the guest star but whenever he's on screen you zero in on him over the regular cast. At least I do.

Marshall thought that Shatner had a large ego and was a bit of a bother although he was never unpleasant. He felt everyone else was fine. Cooperative, inventive and inviting the best from each other and the guest stars. He sensed that they were a creative family, and that you had been invited into that family.

The script originally had the story begin at Starfleet Headquarters. This was changed to having the Enterprise summoned immediately to a space station. The stock footage for the space station K-7 was used from "The Trouble with Tribbles."

The space ore freighter that M-5 blasts to smithereens was stock footage of Khan Noonien Soong's Botany Bay sleeper ship.

The Federation star ships that M-5 attacks were the Lexington, the Hood, the Potemkin, and the Excalibur. The optical effect for them was to simply multiply the already existing image of the Enterprise four times....never really all that convincing. Building even one model as precise as the Enterprise to represent another star ship would have been far too costly.

Sidebar: So here's a perfect example of how the remastered episodes absolutely shine thanks to the splendid work of the visual effects artists.

Instead of merely utilizing stock footage we get to see brand new original designs.

The Botany Bay footage is replaced by an entirely original space ship that serves as a freighter. The space station is also one we haven't seen before.

By using CGI we now see what appears to be truly four star ships operating in outer space like the Enterprise that no longer appear as simply stock footage of the Enterprise optically multiplied.

The final space battle between all the star ships is more complex and varied and exciting than the original one.

The remastered version enhances this episode in different ways where it can either replace stock footage, or create entirely new never seen before images. And it does it beautifully.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2022 9:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

More from Marc Cushman.

Bill Shatner who was 5'& 9 & 1/2'' would stand on a crate whenever he had to do a two shot with William Marshall who was 6' 5." Other times Shatner would want a scene staged so that William Marshall was sort of kneeling on the floor working on something, so you couldn't see how tall Marshall was compared to Shatner.

Guest star William Marshall felt that TUC was a very thought provoking episode.

The 20th Century Earth poem that Kirk quotes to Dr. McCoy is Sea Fever by John Mansfield. The same verse would be quoted again in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

Sidebar: I'd love to have seen the look on Shatner's face the first day that six-foot, five-inch William Marshall walked into the studio for a table reading for "TUC."

Shatner's quoting of the Sea Fever poem by Mansfield is a very poignant moment on this episode.

William Marshall (1924-2003) & Paul Winfield (1939-2004) were cousins. Paul played the captain of the star ship Reliant in the Star Trek feature film The Wrath of Khan, 1982.

Paul also did a SF TV pilot movie called White Dwarf.

The Howard Anderson Company provided the optical effects. New here: a transporter effect (which, for unknown reasons, looks a bit different than usual.)

Sidebar: Can't say I ever picked up on this before. I'll have to watch closely next time. The only time we see the transporter effect is when Commodore Wesley (Barry Russo) beams over to the Enterprise from the space station.
Barry appeared as head of security Lt. Commander Giotto on the first season episode "The Devil in the Dark."

Sidebar: Amazingly, Giotto not only wears a red shirt for his uniform; he actually makes it out alive on the episode!!!

Commodore Wesley's chair on the bridge of the star ship Lexington was modified by giving it the high back used in the "Mirror, Mirror" episode.

"The Ultimate Computer" was a fast and cheap episode and turned out as one of the series' very finest ones ever produced.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From the Nitpicker's Guide.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the creators make frequent mention of the Daystrom Institute of Technology. Was that institute named for the Richard Daystrom who appears in this episode?

True, he is acknowledged as a genius but he also is responsible for the slaughter of more than four hundred Starfleet personnel. Wouldn't that be enough to get you kicked off Starfleet's list of the top ten most beloved scientists?

Sidebar: Yeah, I remember my friends and I thinking the same thing when watching ST: TNG episodes citing the Daysrom Institute.

I suppose a case could be made that in Gene Roddenberry's perfect future of the Trek Universe people are incredibly sympathetic and forgiving and would allow the name Daystrom to be so honored.

He certainly did not intentionally mean for any of those tragic deaths performed by his M-5 computer to happen. He attempted to stop the M-5 from continuing on its murderous course. Then he had a total mental & emotional breakdown.

Still, I would think that Starfleet and the descendants of those who died in that terrible debacle would not be pleased at having the Daystrom name honored.

I also gotta wonder if any members of Starfleet bitterly hold Kirk & his crew responsible for all those deaths on board the other starships? True, this wasn't Kirk and his crew's fault, but people can be unreasonable about such a tremendous loss of life and want to pin the blame---other than on Dr. Daystrom---on someone else.

Why is Starfleet letting M-5 operate a Constitution class starship? Wouldn't it be more reasonable to give it something like a freighter for its rel world tests?

Sidebar: That would make much more common sense. However, can we assume that this did not already occur? By that I mean perhaps Starfleet has allowed Daystrom to conduct tests of M-5 on a succession of smaller space crafts before graduating to the Enterprise. Along the way those tests all were successful without any glitches of any kind, or major ones at least. It is only when it is installed on board the Enterprise that all hell breaks loose.

Sidebar: Although it's very dramatic for this episode don't you think that assigning 4 other starships to conduct war games against M-5 is a tad excessive?

In the episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday" we see Captain Kirk tell Captain Christopher that there are only 12 starships like the Enterprise in the fleet.
Having 5 starships, including the Enterprise, is almost half the fleet devoted to these exercises. That's a hell of a lot of starships not performing their many vital duties throughout the Federation.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 12:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Yes, Kirk talking a computer into a nervous breakdown was an oft used trope. We saw him do it to Landru in "The Return of the Archons," to Nomad in "The Changeling," and here with M-5 on this episode. Each time it works with each computer that I don't mind seeing Kirk do this. Yeah, had the series gone on for more years though it would have become too cliche and even laughable.

I'm certainly no expert on artificial intelligence, but it seems to me that the closer a computer gets to thinking like a sentient human being, the closer it gets to making the same kind of complex "gray area" judgements that people have to make every day.

For example, suppose a group of terrorist planted a time bomb in a seven-story hospital, and the bomb squad knew that if they tried to evacuated everyone, only the folks on the bottom two floors would make it out in time.

If a strictly logical computer had to decide which people to evacuate, it would accept the fact that the folks on floors three through seven would probably be lost — without taking into account the specifics of who would be saved and who would die.

But what if the Intensive Care Unit was on the second floor (with terminal patients and people in comas), and the Maternity Ward was on the third floor? In that case, it would seem more humane to evacuate the first and third floor, to save all those babies! Shocked

But suppose the head of the bomb squad learned that a team of scientist on the seventh floor had just announced they'd discovered a cure for cancer! This cure would save millions of lives world wide — if they could be save!

The bomb squad leader might choose to send a team to rescue those scientist (and their research) even before ordering the evacuation of the first and third floors, because doing that would clog the hallways, stairways, and elevators before the scientist could be gotten safely out.

My point is that what Kirk did in several episodes was to point out the more complex elements of the situations which the various computers were dealing with — and by doing so he overtaxed the "almost-but-not-quiet" human capabilities of the A.I. systems.

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If it were MY choice, I'd tell the team to take Bud up to the seventh floor and leave him there when they rescued the scientists . . . Rolling Eyes


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

From NBC press release, issued February 7, 1968:

Captain Kirk (William Shatner) has no choice but to participate in an exercise which replaces him as commanding officer of the Enterprise, in "The Ultimate Computer," on NBC Television Network's Star Trek colorcast Friday, March 8....Dr. Richard Daystrom (guest-star William Marshall) has developed the last word in computers, which the fleet command orders installed on the Enterprise, replacing all but 20 of the crew. War games are scheduled with the Enterprise as the target and Star Fleet, under Commodore Wesley (Barry Russo), in pursuit. The computer performs perfectly until a single distraction upsets the responses and it goes berserk.
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