History Recap / StarTrekS2E24TheUltimateComputer

* BrokenSystemDogmatist: Daystrom slowly becomes this, along with his SanitySlippage, as he tries to explain away the errors that the M5 keeps making, until eventually the M5 starts killing people, and he goes all out AGodAmI.

* MamaDidntRaiseNoCriminal: Daystrom stubbornly refuses to admit his computer was at fault - he created it, and he's a pacifist, so his machine should not be able to engage in unprovoked aggression.

* SanitySlippage: As M-5's murderous misdeeds become more and more impossible to downplay, Dr. Daystrom's attempts to rationalize them drive him over the edge until he is raving hysterically and has to be neck-pinched into submission.

* {{Redshirt}}: When M-5 vaporizes one, Daystrom says "M-5 needed more power...the Ensign merely got in the way". At that, Kirk growls "And how long before we ''all'' 'just get in the way'?"

* FriendshipMoment: The other two members of the PowerTrio each try to support their captain and friend as he faces the possibility of losing his ship.

Commodore Wesley is just about to give orders to destroy the ''Enterprise'' when he notices her shields are down... Hesitating long enough to wonder what's wrong with the ''Enterprise'' was what caused our beloved crew to survive. Daystrom is sent to an asylum and the ''Enterprise'' goes on its way, just as inefficient (and just as entertaining) as ever.

* AIIsACrapshoot: And the dice were loaded, given who its "father" was...

!!Tropes:

* StockFootage: A close-up of the three scanning heads on the trident scanner in this episode seem to be a re-use of the disruptor weapons from "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E23ATasteOfArmageddon A Taste of Armageddon]]".

--> "I really don't know how to get to the M-5, Kirk. I really...do not know."

* MildlyMilitary: Kirk is in command of the ''Enterprise'' at the end of the episode as it flies back from the war game location to the starbase where the rest of the crew was left. If a current US naval vessel so much as ''dented'' another during an exercise (let alone effectively destroyed it, like ''Enterprise'' did to ''Excalibur''), [[TheChainsOfCommanding the captain would be relieved even if it wasn't directly their fault]] (or, as in Kirk's case, it wasn't remotely his fault at all).

* AndThatsTerrible: Daystrom has to tell the M5 that murder is wrong. Justified, as M5 is a machine, and therefore without compassion, conscience or anything beyond self preservation.

* LuddWasRight: Kirk does not like the idea of his job being taken over by a computer. Especially when M-5 tags him and [=McCoy=] as "non-essential personnel" for a landing party.

'''Bones:''' ''(rolls eyes)''

** How the ''Enterprise'' crew tries to take out M5. Scratch one RedShirt.

* FriendshipMoment: The other two members of the PowerTrio each [[Heartwarming/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries try to support their captain and friend]] as he faces the possibility of losing his ship.

* FutureSlang: A "dunsel" is a thing that serves no purpose.
** Ironically, the character in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' who was named after the slang term sacrificed himself and his ship to protect other ships, the very opposite of a thing that serves no purpose.

* JerkAss: Wesley, because of this line: "Our compliments to the M-5 unit, and regards to Captain Dunsel. Wesley out." As stated in FutureSlang, a "dunsel" is something which serves no useful purpose. Kirk is so stung by hearing it that all he can do is shamble off the bridge without a word, while the rest of the command crew looks very disgusted with Wesley's quip. Jeez Bob, what did Jim ever do to you?
** He has his good side, though. See ReasonableAuthorityFigure below.

-->'''Dr. Richard Daystrom:''' We ''will'' survive! ''Nothing'' can hurt you. I gave you that. You are great, I am great... (starting to lose focus) Twenty years of groping, to prove the things I'd done before were ''not'' accidents... ''seminars'' and ''lec''tures to rows of fools who couldn't ''begin'' to understand my systems! (remembering) Colleagues -- colleagues ''laughing'' behind my back at the Boy Wonder, and becoming famous building on ''my work.'' Building on '''''my work!'''''

** RedShirtArmy: The crews of the other ''Constitution''-class ships. We only meet Commodore Wesley, and the ''Excalibur'''s captain is the only other one given a name (when he dies).

* SanitySlippage: As M-5's murderous misdeeds become more and more impossible to downplay, Dr. Daystrom's attempts to rationalize them drive him over the edge until he is raving hysterically and has to be neckpinched into submission.

* JerkAss: Wesley, because of this line: "Our compliments to the M-5 unit, and regards to Captain Dunsel. Wesley out." As stated in FutureSlang, a "dunsel" is something which serves no useful purpose. Kirk is so stung by hearing it that all he can do is shamble off the bridge without a word. Jeez Bob, what did Jim ever do to you?

Commodore Wesley is just about to give orders to destroy the ''Enterprise'' when he notices her shields are down... Hesitating long enough to wonder what's wrong with the ''Enterprise'' was what caused our beloved crew to survive. The M-5 is sent back to the drawing board, Daystrom's sent to an asylum and the ''Enterprise'' goes on its way, just as inefficient (and just as entertaining) as ever.

* RealAwardFictionalCharacter: Daystrom is cited as a 2243 Nobel Prize winner for the invention of duotronic computers.

* MildlyMilitary: Kirk is in command of the ''Enterprise'' at the end of the episode as it flies back from the war game location to the starbase where the rest of the crew was left. If a current naval vessel so much as ''dented'' another during an exercise (let alone effectively destroyed it, like ''Enterprise'' did to ''Excalibur''), the captain would be relieved even if it wasn't directly their fault (or, as in Kirk's case, it wasn't remotely his fault at all).

Dr. Richard Daystrom (William Marshall[[note]]better known as Film/{{Blacula}} and the King of Cartoons from ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse''[[/note]]), creator of computer systems that ships all over Starfleet use, comes aboard to supervise a test of his new M-5 multitronic (?) computer. This computer would obsolete human crew, and cause marked improvements in efficiency among vessels in which it's installed.

After a series of tests including a great scare in which M-5 (in control of the ''Enterprise'' and activated by a simple flip-switch toggle on the Captain's chair) destroys an unmanned freighter, Kirk is severely concerned that the M-5 is becoming self-aware and possessed of a (severely misdirected) survivor instinct, a point which is driven home when it makes a RedShirt who tries to unplug it live up to his title.