Dr. Richard Daystrom has a problem. A lifetime of sophomore slump leads to enormous pressure for his fifth multitronic experiment to succeed against an abrasive reception from likely every other officer in Starfleet. Daystrom's worldview is built around deep-seated expectations that his work enriches (nay, saves!) humanity and over the course of "The Ultimate Computer" these expectations suffer a complete spin. As M5 murderously fails to deliver on those expectations, in fact un-saving people by killing them into the hundreds, Daystrom breaks and deteriorates quite spectacularly. His long buried emotional turmoil boils to the surface in a fierce, unfocused diatribe:

"Twenty years of groping to prove the things I'd done before were not accidents. Seminars and lectures to rows of fools who couldn't begin to understand my systems. Colleagues - colleagues laughing behind my back at the boy wonder and becoming famous, building on my work. Building on my work!"

Shot in close-up this scene is powerfully performed by the magnificent William Marshall. It represents the last contact with sanity for his character for a long while if not permanently. Yeah, so what?

Well here arrives the remastered version of "The Ultimate Computer." I admit my Richards' Factor was pretty high, since it's only reasonable that the remastering folks would take special care of this gem, structured around a strong story with so many opportunities for special effect upgrades. Aggravation arises from unsatisfied expectation.

Yet for me, most of the effects were underwhelming. The Enterprise herself lacks the heft of the original model. The new ships were at first welcome to see, arriving at the war games in staggered formation instead of the clumsy composite image of the original. (Admirably they did keep the ships as Connies.) But they were sadly underused in the new, disappointing in combat, with these great ships separated by such distances that hits were made on teensy little targets. Even the phaser death of Excalibur was handled better in the original.

Yet if that was the extent of it I'd be whinging about something else today. But they cut Daystrom's last line from above! Later was removed crucial dialogue establishing the human factor of Kirk's trust in Wesley (and vice versa) that saves the situation. I sincerely hope that the excision of critical dialogue was a poor but expected (!) decision on behalf of commercial-minded local broadcasters and not a part of the official "improvement." Daystrom convincingly expresses the proper attitude towards that folly that aggrandizes its shoddy imposition built on the work of masters.


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