star trek nomad probe

The Changeling (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 Production timeline
• 4.2 Cast and Characters
• 4.3 Continuity
• 4.4 Video and DVD releases
• 4.5 Apocrypha
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Featuring
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 Stunt double
• 5.7 Stand-ins
• 5.8.1 Library computer references
• 5.9 External links

Summary [ ]

The USS Enterprise is en route to the Malurian star system , investigating a distress call . Lieutenant Uhura has received no response to hails on any frequency, even after Captain Kirk reminds her of a Federation science team transmitter from Doctor Manway . However, Spock 's sensor data contains tragic news: although there should be over four billion Malurians there are absolutely no readings of life anywhere in the system. As Kirk and Spock speculate about what could have caused the eradication of life in such a short time, a large bolt of energy comes out of nowhere. Kirk orders red alert , and the object violently impacts upon the Enterprise 's shields .

Act One [ ]

The entire crew is hurled around, and when things stabilize, Kirk orders Uhura to inform Starfleet of the apparent disappearance and the attack. Spock reports that the shields will stand only three more such impacts, as they have been reduced by 20%. The Enterprise 's shields continue to be battered by repeated attacks. Finally, after the shields are completely gone and a photon torpedo in response has been completely absorbed, Kirk orders Uhura to hail the very small object Spock has identified as the source of attack. The object stops its assault and tries to respond to the hail with an old-style binary code. The crew has some difficulty translating, but eventually succeeds. The object identifies itself as Nomad , and its mission as "non-hostile."

As it is only a fraction over one meter in length Kirk has it beamed aboard, if only to prevent it from firing on the ship again. It introduces itself and Kirk remembers the launch of a probe named Nomad in the early 2000s , and Spock says it was reported destroyed with no more in the series.

Later it is revealed that the object had stopped its assault when it heard Kirk's name , somehow believing that Kirk is its creator.

Act Two [ ]

" He's dead, Jim. "

Nomad wastes no time investigating the ship, with only Kirk's orders preventing it from having free rein. Knowing how powerful it is, and that it stated it was programmed to destroy "biological infestation," Kirk orders two security guards to watch it at all times, but Nomad is able to evade them. Furthermore, it seems highly logically -minded and gets confused whenever it encounters something illogical; when it hears Uhura singing " Beyond Antares " on the bridge from the auxiliary control room , it leaves Lieutenant Singh , who was watching it, and goes to investigate.

Meanwhile, Kirk and Spock check the computer on Nomad 's creation and launch. Originally, Nomad was built by Jackson Roykirk for a deep-space extraterrestrial contact mission early in the 21st century , in the year 2002 , but was lost in a meteor shower, where it was presumed destroyed. Somehow, it got a directive to kill, and must have killed the Malurians.

Nomad arrives on the bridge to question Uhura about the song. She attempts to explain it, but Nomad does not understand what music is. Nomad tries "probing" Uhura's mind to find the information, and wipes her memory in the process. Scott sees this and attempts to save Uhura from the probe, but Nomad retaliates violently. A blast of energy throws Scott aside, and he crashes to the floor near the viewscreen . Upon Dr. McCoy 's examination of Scott, he declares him dead, to Kirk's shock.

Act Three [ ]

Just after Scott's death, Nomad asks Kirk if he wishes to have the Enterprise 's chief engineer "repaired". Kirk immediately replies in the affirmative, although McCoy tells him that Scott must be revived soon. Spock has detailed files on Human physiology brought up at his station , which Nomad scans. McCoy then leads Nomad to sickbay , where the probe instantly revives Scott, who is baffled as to why everyone is looking down at him on a bio-bed . Kirk also orders Nomad to help Uhura, but Nomad says it is not possible. McCoy and Nurse Chapel proceed to re-educate her using the computer.

This event proves disconcerting to Kirk, who then orders Nomad to be guarded and analyzed by Spock. After the analysis and a background check on Nomad in the ship's data banks, Spock gets enough details through a mind meld with the probe to fill in the blanks. After the meteor collision, Nomad was disoriented and wandered through space until coming into contact with Tan Ru , an alien probe whose mission was to collect and sterilize soil samples , presumably as a prelude to colonization. The two melded into this new Nomad , combining their technology and missions into one extremely powerful probe bent on sterilizing any imperfect lifeforms it encountered, using its own perceptions of perfection (i.e. itself) as a measuring stick. As such, it destroyed all life in the Malurian star system but because its original programming was damaged and corrupted in the merger, it erroneously equates Kirk with its creator, not realizing that the two are different people and its creator has been, in fact, dead for centuries.

While Kirk and Spock are gone, Nomad leaves the confined area, killing two security officers in the process, and decides to improve the efficiency of engineering, taking the Enterprise eventually to warp 10 in the process. Kirk arrives and forces it to stop. Unfortunately, the mind meld and an unintentional admission from Kirk confirm to Nomad that its creator is an imperfect biological entity, and with that knowledge, it leaves on Kirk's order to contemplate the new data with two security officers. They deduce it will not obey for long and will eventually sterilize Earth.

Act Four [ ]

En route, Nomad escapes, killing the two guards, and goes to sickbay to scan Kirk's personnel file. McCoy finds Nurse Chapel has been attacked and signals Kirk and Spock to come to sickbay. They realize Nomad is gathering the information they feared. Furthermore, Scott informs them from the bridge that Nomad has turned off all life support on the ship.

With little time left, Kirk comes to recognize Nomad 's refabricated mission and takes a gamble to confront it again before it returns to Earth to "sterilize" the planet's population . Through questioning Nomad on its prime directive in engineering , Kirk confirms his suspicion that it must execute it with no exceptions, and then reveals that he indeed is not Nomad 's creator. He explains that Nomad had mistaken him for Roykirk who is long dead, the two men's names being similar, and as such Nomad has committed an error; furthermore, it has compounded that error with two more, specifically failing to realize its mistake and failing to immediately execute its prime directive as a result. This causes Nomad to lock up in an irreversible logic loop, its stubborn belief that it is perfect conflicting with the realization that it is in error. Capitalizing on the weakened Nomad , Spock and Kirk manage to get it to the transporter room with anti-gravs and have Scott beam it out into space just as it executes its prime function on itself. The explosion is detected near the Enterprise and Nomad is no more.

Later, on the bridge, Spock commends Kirk on his dazzling display of logic that allowed them to defeat Nomad . McCoy enters through the turbolift and reports that Uhura is now reading at a college level and should be able to return to duty within the week. Spock laments the loss of Nomad , noting that it was a " remarkable instrument. " Kirk jokingly wonders what Spock is so upset about, given that the machine considered Kirk to be its "mother". " You saw what it did for Scott. What a doctor it would have made. My son, the doctor. Kind of gets you right here, doesn't it? " Kirk says while pointing to his heart .

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2267

Memorable quotes [ ]

" This is one of your units, creator? " " Yes, he is. " " It functions irrationally. "

" My function is to probe for biological infestations, to destroy that which is not perfect. I am Nomad. "

" It would seem that Nomad is now seeking out perfect life-forms, perfection being measured by its own relentless logic. " " If what you say is true, then we have taken aboard our vessel a device which sooner or later must destroy us. "

" That unit is a woman. " " A mass of conflicting impulses. "

" Does the creator wish me to repair the unit? "

" A man is not just a biological unit that you can patch together. "

" This unit is different. It is well-ordered. "

" The creation of perfection is no error. "

" You are the Creator. " " You're wrong! Jackson Roykirk, your creator, is dead! You have mistaken me for him, you are in error! You did not discover your mistake, you have made two errors. You are flawed and imperfect. And you have not corrected by sterilization, you have made three errors!"

" My congratulations, Captain. A dazzling display of logic. " " You didn't think I had it in me, did you, Spock? " " No, sir. "

" It's not easy to lose a bright and promising son… my son – the doctor. "

Background information [ ]

Production timeline [ ].

• Story outline by John Meredyth Lucas : 15 March 1967
• Revised story outline: 16 March 1967
• First draft teleplay: 7 April 1967
• Second draft teleplay: late- April 1967
• Staff rewrite: 1 May 1967
• Final draft teleplay by D.C. Fontana : 29 May 1967
• Revised final draft by Gene L. Coon : 29 June 1967
• Additional page revisions: 30 June 1967 , 5 July 1967 , 11 July 1967
• Day 1 – 6 July 1967 , Thursday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Bridge
• Day 2 – 7 July 1967 , Friday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Bridge
• Day 3 – 10 July 1967 , Monday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Transporter room , Auxiliary control center
• Day 4 – 11 July 1967 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Engineering , Corridors
• Day 5 – 12 July 1967 , Wednesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Sickbay
• Day 6 – 13 July 1967 , Thursday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Brig , Briefing room
• Day 7 – 14 July 1967 , Friday (Half Day) – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Briefing room
• Additional filming (Pickup shots) – 21 July 1967 , Friday – Desilu Stage 9
• Original airdate: 29 September 1967
• Rerun airdate: 17 May 1968
• First UK airdate: 25 May 1970
• Although never credited, this episode – which depicted an Earth-launched space probe that acquires almost unimaginable powers in the course of the search for its "Creator" – became the inspiration behind the first Star Trek film . (It also inspired The Questor Tapes , a 1974 series pilot written by Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon which also featured a robot with a damaged memory who searched for its creator.) For this reason, some fans have appended to Star Trek: The Motion Picture the pun subtitle "Where Nomad Has Gone Before." ( Star Trek: The Original Series 365 , p. 188)

Cast and Characters [ ]

Jackson Roykirk

• Director Marc Daniels portrays Jackson Roykirk in the photograph, wearing Scott's dress uniform .
• Eddie Paskey is seen in a gold shirt in this episode so he would match the standard stock footage screen shot with George Takei and an extra's left shoulder. In " The Corbomite Maneuver " he is seen wearing gold in the corridor during Kirk-to-crew announcements (the same shot was recycled in many episodes, including " The Menagerie, Part I " and " Assignment: Earth "). Paskey also appears in a red technician's jumpsuit in the main engineering scenes.
• Lemli's first name, Roger, is given in this episode. His last name wasn't revealed until the following season, in " The Lights of Zetar ".
• In conventions, Nichelle Nichols frequently tells a story of getting into a dispute with director Marc Daniels over the filming of this episode. As it had already been established that Uhura's first language was Swahili, Nichols believed that, after her mind was erased, Uhura would revert to her first language. However, as Nichols herself did not speak Swahili, Daniels wanted Uhura to just speak English. Nichols refused to, telling Daniels, " Nichelle Nichols doesn't speak Swahili, but Uhura does! " Gene Roddenberry was eventually brought in to settle the dispute, and he sided with Nichols. A linguist specializing in Swahili was then brought in to write the few lines of Swahili that are spoken in the episode.
• For someone who had every single one of her memories erased, Uhura recovers in a remarkably short time. In fact, by the time of her next appearance, (" Mirror, Mirror "), Uhura has apparently re-gained all of her faculties. It is possible that Nomad did not fully erase her memories, merely "locked" them away, and it was possible, with time, for her to retrieve them.
• After Nomad explodes, William Shatner quickly raises his hand to the camera as the scene fades away. An outtake of this scene is incorporated into the blooper reel of the show's second season: At one point, Shatner turns to the camera and declares, " Listen, about that bacon – no, really! " and then appears to swallow something, presumably medication for an upset stomach. His comment follows an earlier outtake that shows him sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge and confiding, " No, listen, that bacon is really bad… it just stays with you all day. "
• Also in the blooper reel: When Shatner tells Nomad that the Enterprise is prepared to beam it aboard, James Doohan says, " But, Captain – you forgot all about the environment and all that stuff. Do you want to really do that? " A grinning Doohan steps out of camera frame, leaving a slightly perplexed Shatner behind, bemusedly shaking his head. Doohan did not deliberately ruin the take, however. It was already ruined since Shatner actually did forget to say the dialogue concerning the environment.

Continuity [ ]

• William Blackburn appears in three different uniform colors in this episode: his usual gold (as Hadley ), a blue uniform in a corridor scene, and in a red technician's jumpsuit in main engineering.
• Footage of Nomad exiting the turbolift is recycled to show it leaving sickbay.
• When the two security guards shoot Nomad for not obeying them, the visual effects artists apparently used the door frame behind the guards as a guideline for the boundary of Nomad 's shields. This has the unfortunate effect of making it seem as if the guards' phaser beams are striking the door frame.
• Spock mentions that Nomad 's first attack on the Enterprise was the equivalent of ninety photon torpedoes . Surprisingly, this attack only reduced the shields by 20%. This seems even stranger a few moments later, when Nomad absorbs the energy of a single photon torpedo and Kirk wonders how anything could "absorb so much energy – and survive".
• Surprisingly, too, Uhura is re-educated within a matter of days, presumably with all her memories intact. Possibly her memories were not truly erased, analogous to how a computer file's index entry can be overwritten but the data itself can still be recovered. Exabytes of data would take a while to restore but would not take nearly as long as learning from a zero start-point.
• This episode marks one of four times Kirk is able to " talk a computer to death ". This technique is also used in " The Return of the Archons ", " I, Mudd ", and " The Ultimate Computer ", and was similarly done to a robot in " What Are Little Girls Made Of? "
• Even though this episode is stated to take place on stardate 3541.9, the episode list from the official website says it takes place on stardate 3451.9.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• RCA CED Videodisc with Space Seed 1981
• UK VHS release ( CIC-Arena Video ): catalog number VHL 2057, April 1983
• Original US Betamax release: 1986
• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 20 , catalog number VHR 2353, release date unknown
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.3, 10 March 1997
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 19, 13 February 2001
• As part of the TOS Season 2 DVD collection

Apocrypha [ ]

Tokyopop 's Star Trek: The Manga : Kakan ni Shinkou had a story titled "Communications Breakdown", set after the episode. The story starts with a captain's log mentioning that it's been twelve days since the encounter with Nomad .

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Featuring [ ]

• James Doohan as Scott
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• George Takei as Sulu
• Majel Barrett as Christine Chapel
• Blaisdel Makee as Singh
• Barbara Gates as Crewwoman
• Meade Martin as Crewman
• Arnold Lessing as Security Guard
• Vic Perrin as Nomad's Voice

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• William Blackburn as Hadley
• Marc Daniels as Jackson Roykirk (photo)
• Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli
• Jeannie Malone as a Yeoman
• Robert Metz as Security Guard 2
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Frieda Rentie as a Lieutenant
• Security Guard 1
• Security Guard 3
• Transporter assistant

Stunt double [ ]

• Jay Jones as stunt double for James Doohan

Stand-ins [ ]

• William Blackburn as stand-in for DeForest Kelley
• Frank da Vinci as stand-in for Leonard Nimoy
• Roger Holloway as stand-in for James Doohan
• Eddie Paskey as stand-in for William Shatner

References [ ]

2000s ; 2002 ; accident ; alien ; analysis ; analysis sector ; anatomy ; anger ; answer ; Antares ; antigrav ; antimatter input valve ; aptitude ; area ; attack ; atmosphere (aka air ); audio ; auxiliary control room ; baby ; background radiation ; ball ; bearing ; " Beyond Antares "; billion ; binary ; biological function ; biological unit (aka "unit"); blue ; body ; " Bones "; brain ; brain damage ; brig (aka security cell ); census ; central nervous system ; chance ; changeling ; channel 1 ; Chart 14A ; chief engineer ; child ; choice ; circuit ; college ; collision ; colonization ; communication channel ; computer ; condition red ; contact ; cooperation ; coordinates ; Creator ; creature ; cylindrical ; damage ; damper ; danger ; data ; deep space ; degree ; disease organism ; distress call ; doctor ; dog ; dream ; Earth ; educational tape ; effect ; efficiency ; emotion ; emptiness ; energy ; energy release control ; engine ; engine efficiency ; English language ; environment ; error ; evasive maneuvers ; fact ; fairy ; Federation ; Federation science team ; feeling ; first grade ; flash feed ; flaw ; force field ; force field door ; formula ; frequency ; guard ; hailing frequency ; harm ; heart ; heat ; history computer ; Human ; hyperencephalogram ; hypothesis ; impulse power ; information ; instruction ; intelligence ; interfactor ; interplanetary code ; interplanetary war ; interstellar probe ; kilogram (aka kilo ); kilometer ; knowledge ; knowledge bank ; language equivalence ; Latin language ; launch point ; lecture ; legend ; length ; library ; lifeform ; life support system ; location ; log ; logic ; long range sensor sweep ; love ; Luna ; machine ; main computer ; maintenance crew C5 ; mark ; Malurians ; Malurian population ; Malurian system ; manual control ; manual override ; Manway ; mathematics ; matter-antimatter propulsion system ; mechanism ; medical history ; memory bank ; meter ; meteor ; Milky Way Galaxy ; Mind meld ; minute ; miracle ; mission ; mistake ; mother ; music ; name ; natural satellite ; neurology ; Nomad ; non sequitur ; opinion ; overload ; parasitical beings ; path ; percent ; perfection ; personnel file ; phaser bank ; photon torpedo ; physical ; physiology ; point of origin ; point of reference ; polymass ; population ; private transmitter ; probe ; problem ; programming ; programming tape ; protective screen ; prototype ; question ; radioactive residue ; range ; reader ; reading ; rebirth ; red alert ; repair crew (aka maintenance crew ); risk ; routine report ; Scots language ; science team ; scientist ; search ; security team ; sensor ; sensor range ; series ; shape ; shielding power ; ship's translator ; shock ; signal ; singing ; soil ; soil sample ; Sol ; Sol system ; son ; space ; spacecraft ; space happy ; speech ; speed ; " stand by "; star ; star chart ; Starfleet Academy ; Starfleet code ; Starfleet Command ; stress (physics) ; sterilization ; sterilization procedure ; structural integrity ; stubbornness ; Swahili language ; Symbalene blood burn ; symbol ; Tan Ru ; tape ; telepathy ; thing ; thinking machine ; thousand ; translator computer ; transmission speed ; Vulcan mind probe ; warp engine power ; warp factor ; warp maneuvering power ; warp power ; warp power indicator ; week ; weight ; woman ; working order

Library computer references [ ]

Nomad schematic: acquisition sensor ; coupler prediction scanner ; data assimilation digital encoder ; International Designator ; magnetohydodynamic vernier-pulse ; regenerative mode emulsifier ; selective amplifier screen ; sperographic analysis computer ; tracking screen ; transmission

Chart 14A locations: Jupiter ; Mars ; Mercury ; Neptune ; Pluto ; Saturn ; Uranus ; Venus

External links [ ]

• "The Changeling" at StarTrek.com
• " The Changeling " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " The Changeling " at Wikipedia
• " The Changeling " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• " The Changeling " at the Internet Movie Database

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The Changeling (Episode)

Stardate 3541.9 : The Enterprise encounters a probe named Nomad.

The Enterprise investigates the destruction of the Malurian system 's four billion inhabitants and locates an unexpected source: a self-contained computer/space probe of great power called Nomad . The device threatens the Enterprise, but Kirk and crew are temporarily saved when Nomad mistakes Captain James Kirk for its creator, Human scientist Jackson Roykirk . Nomad, a space probe launched in 2002 to seek out alien life in the galaxy , was damaged by a meteor that confused its programming and cut it off from Earth . It then encountered an alien probe, Tan-Ru , which was launched to secure sterilized soil samples. The resulting hybrid mechanism believes that its mission is to destroy imperfect life forms. Its altered programming and weapons make "the changeling" capable of fulfilling its new mission. Kirk uses the machine's confused image of him as a basis for its destruction: he convinces Nomad that it is imperfect, and the device is transported out into space before it self-destructs .

Image Gallery

Map of the Sol system (enhanced; Original )

Lt. Carlisle

Command Crewman

Security Officer Lemli

Ens. Roger Lemli

Medical Technician

Dr. Jackson Roykirk

Security Officer #1

Security Officer #2

Security Officer #3

Crewman Singh

Transporter Technician

Nomad schematic

Related Data

Created by Gene Roddenberry

Starring William Shatner

Also Starring Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Written by John Meredyth Lucas

Directed by Marc Daniels

Produced by Gene L. Coon

Executive Producer Gene Roddenberry

Associate Producer Robert H. Justman

Featuring James Doohan … Scott Nichelle Nichols … Uhura George Takei … Sulu Majel Barrett … Christine Chapel

With Blaisdell Makee … Singh Barbara Gates … Crewwoman Meade Martin … Crewman Arnold Lessing … Security Guard and Vic Perrin … Nomad 's Voice

Script Consultant D.C. Fontana

Assistant to the Producer Edward K. Milkis

Theme Music by Alexander Courage

Music Composed and Conducted by Fred Steiner

Director of Photography Jerry Finnerman

Art Director Walter M. Jefferies

Film Editor … Fabien Tordjmann Unit Manager … Gregg Peters Assistant Director … Elliot Schick Set Decorator … Joseph J. Stone Costumes Created by … William Ware Theiss Photographic Effects … Westheimer Company Sound Effects Editor … Douglas H. Grindstaff Music Editor … Jim Henrikson Re-Recording Mixer … Elden E. Ruberg , C.A.S. Production Mixer … Carl W. Daniels Script Supervisor … George A. Rutter Casting … Jospeh D'Agosta Sound … Glen Glenn Sound Co. Makeup Artist … Fred B. Phillips , S.M.A. Hair Styles … Pat Westmore Gaffer … George H. Merhoff Head Grip … George Rader Property Master … Irving A. Feinberg Special Effects … Jim Rugg

A Desilu Production In Association With Norway Corporation

Executive in Charge of Production Herbert F. Solow

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS2E3TheChangeling

Recap / Star Trek S2 E3 "The Changeling"

Edit locked.

Original air date: September 29, 1967

The episode starts off as most episodes start off: with the Enterprise on its way to a planet for Kirk to screw around with. Only, this time … there's no planet. The entire system they were assigned to go to has had all of its organic life forms vaporized , leading the crew to wonder just what the hell is going on. The answer comes in the form of a tiny vehicle firing massive amounts of plasma energy at the ship, resulting in a weak retaliation and the most ludicrous exchanges known to mankind:

Spock: Our shields absorbed (the) energy equivalent to 90 of our photon torpedoes . The energy used in repulsing this first attack reduced our shielding power 20% . (Kirk orders a single photon torpedoes launched, It does nothing .) Spock: No effect. The target absorbed (the) full energy of our torpedo. Kirk: [incredulous] Absorbed it? ... What could've absorbed that much energy, and survived??

Um … yeah. The Enterprise can absorb 450 torpedo hits , but Kirk is stunned when the other vehicle absorbed the detonation of one torpedo. note  Either they assumed it was a spaceborne Glass Cannon , or that something as small as two meters in length shouldn't be able to withstand that kind of attack.

Anyway, Kirk orders a hail to the probe, which inexplicably stops its attacks. After some exchanges of Translator Microbes , the probe, called "Nomad", ceases hostilities, referring to Kirk as " The Creator " in the process. It's brought aboard, against the concerns of Scotty , and is let loose on the ship. This can't possibly go wrong, can it? I mean, it's not possibly like it's able or willing to Kill All Humans and — oh, wait, it's shown to have the power to annihilate an entire planet's worth of organics, and tells the crew that its mission is to "sterilize all imperfect biological organisms". Right then, moving on …

The big three converge over what exactly Nomad is and what it's doing; it seems like the probe wasn't , in fact, able or willing to cause The End of the World as We Know It , in the first place, and its creator — Jackson Roykirk — programmed it for simple deep space exploration. By its own admission, Nomad clearly had an incident with what it calls "The Other", which altered its structure and programming, causing it to become Bender's non-alcoholic and more abusive ancestor and mistaking Kirk for its builder. Unfortunately, by the time they realize this, Nomad has already been lured to the bridge by the siren's song of Uhura, which confuses it and causes it to wipe her memory when it can't discern the logic of "music". And it kills Scotty, too, when he tries to interfere, but the machine fixes him right up afterwards, so it's no big deal. Of course, with Uhura's brain now wiped, we get a hilarious re-education subplot involving her trying to read "The dog has a ball". note  Unfortunately, the broadcast version of the remastered episode has severely truncated the scene where Uhura is re-learning how to read.

With time running out, and information on what happened to Nomad still scanty, Spock somehow manages to mind-meld with the thing. It turns out "The Other" is a probe called "Tan-Ru", sent by an alien society to collect and sterilize soil samples as a prelude to colonization, and they combined during a self-repair attempt into the current Nomad. How that gave it the ability to nuke a world is left to the imagination, and there is no time to speculate, as Nomad has shut down the life support systems of the ship, threatening everyone on board. After confronting the killer probe and confirming that its death orders have no loophole, Kirk does what he does best: confuse a computer to death, by dropping the Logic Bomb that Nomad isn't perfect as it mistook him for its long-dead creator. This melts down two computers — Nomad itself, and Spock's brain, as Kirk was never one for flawless logic, but luckily they're able to beam the probe off the ship before it blows itself up.

The Tropeling:

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot : Nomad, a deep-space probe, clearly had an incident with what it calls "The Other", quickly revealed to be an alien probe named Tan-Ru, which altered its structure and programming, causing it to become self-aware . Part of its new programming includes the sterilization of life as a prelude to alien colonization, corrupted from Tan-Ru's original mission. Spock: (mind-melding into a Machine Monotone ) I am Nomad. I am performing my … function. Deep emptiness … it approaches … collision … damage … blackness. … I am the Other. I am Tan-Ru … Tan-Ru … Nomad … Tan-Ru … error. Flaw. Imperfection. Must … sterilize. ( Beat ) Rebirth … we are complete … much power … gan ta nu ik-ta Tan-Ru … the Creator … instructs … search out … identify … sterilize imperfections. … We are Nomad … we are Nomad … we are complete. We are instructed … our purpose is clear … sterilize imperfections … sterilize imperfections … Nomad — sterilize — sterilize — NOMAD — STERILIZE —
• A Million Is a Statistic : A planetary population of four billion, sterilized by Nomad, isn't mentioned again in the episode.
• Alien Arts Are Appreciated : Nomad overhears Uhura singing to herself, and curiously approaches her about this unique form of "communication". The probe ultimately can't understand the idea of music and decides that it is frivolous.
• Back from the Dead : Scotty.
• Nomad claims that its mission is non-hostile, after having killed the inhabitants of four worlds .
• Spock claims that Kirk was just testing Nomad's memory banks, because he realised that Nomad's assumption that Kirk was The Creator was the only thing stopping it from 'purging' the 'biological infestation' on Enterprise .
• Blue-and-Orange Morality : Nomad is simply a computer carrying out (the garbled remnants of) its programming and that of Tan-Ru.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs : Nomad and Tan-Ru's programming is a rare dramatic example. Nomad's orders: Seek out new life forms. Tan-Ru's orders: Collect soil samples and sterilize them. Final result : Seek out and sterilize imperfect life forms.
• Continuity Nod : The song Uhura sings is "Beyond Antares", which she'd sung in full back in "The Conscience of the King" .
• Cooldown Hug : Kirk gives Spock one after a Mind Meld goes bad.
• Creator Cameo : Marc Daniels, the director of the episode, appears as the photo of Jackson Roykirk (at 17 minutes and 48 seconds into the episode, to be precise).
• Death Is Cheap : Scotty is killed by Nomad, then revived by it in a matter of minutes no worse for wear.
• Early-Installment Weirdness : The Enterprise is stated as passing warp 10 and then warp 15. Later series would establish warp 10 as the absolute maximum way to quantify speed and as infinite speed . This has led to fanon that in between TOS & TNG, the method of calculating warp speed was changed.
• Easy Amnesia : Nomad claims he's completely erased Uhura's mind, yet she is nearly "re-educated" by the end of the episode. It implies that Nomad didn't actually erase Uhura's memories, but simply blocked her access to them, another strike against the machine's supposed "perfection".
• "Eureka!" Moment : In the final confrontation with Nomad, Kirk, after confirming several times that Nomad will "sterilize" anything that is imperfect or in error without exception, decides to convince the probe that it itself is imperfect, and by its own logic should be eliminated .
• Exact Words : Kirk asks Nomad if he destroyed the system where they found him. He answers truthfully, "Not the 'system', but the biological infestation ."
• Fusion Dance : Spock's mind-meld with Nomad reveals that, after their collision long ago, Nomad and Tan-Ru underwent one of these as they merged and self-repaired. The "new" Nomad kept the Earth probe's name, the alien probe's power and hardware, and a blend of each other's programming (settling on "search out … identify … sterilize imperfections ").
• Gone Horribly Right : Nomad upgrades the Enterprise ' s engines, causing it to reach warp 10 and then warp 15 . However, the ship starts to break down because it is not designed to travel that fast, and so Kirk demands the upgrades reversed.
• Hates Being Touched : Nomad. Trying to touch it is not a good idea. Whether or not this is because it interprets any contact as an attack is not known. It will, however, allow itself to be touched (e.g. by Spock) if Kirk orders it to do so, because it believes that Kirk is its Creator.
• I'm Standing Right Here : Bones is clearly offended when Nomad says that he "functions erratically".
• "It" Is Dehumanizing : Nomad refers to everyone, human or Vulcan, as a "unit".
• It Runs on Nonsensoleum : How Nomad packs so much power into a couple-metres-long probe is never really explained.
• Jewish Mother : Invoked by Kirk, with tongue firmly in cheek, mock-mourning the probe that thought Kirk had created it: "You saw what it did to Scotty. What a doctor it would have made. [beat] My son, the doctor."
• Just Testing You : After Kirk asks Nomad why Nomad refers to him as "The Creator", Spock quickly interrupts, telling Nomad that "The Creator was just testing your memory banks".
• Little "No" : Spock: My congratulations, Captain. A dazzling display of logic. Kirk: You didn't think I had it in me, did you, Spock? Spock: No, sir.
• In the climax, Kirk convinces Nomad that it is itself imperfect by revealing that its creator, Jackson Roykirk, is dead and that Nomad mistook Kirk for him. Then he says that Nomad made another error by not discovering the first error, and then committed a third error by not sterilizing itself after the first two. This sends Nomad into a Villainous Breakdown that leads to its self-destruction.
• Also subverted earlier in the episode. Nomad came to see that Kirk (who it still thought was its Creator) also qualified as an "imperfect" being. When Kirk asked it how an imperfect being could have created a perfect machine, Nomad simply concluded that it had no idea.
• Machine Monotone : Spock slowly takes on this speech pattern as he mind-melds with Nomad, and even as he backs away from the probe, showing the gradual Mind Rape inflicted by the probe's powerful artificial intelligence.
• Spock says "… Nomad … sterilize …" over and over again after a mind meld gone wrong with the probe NOMAD.
• Nomad, after Kirk gives it a Logic Bomb , causing the probe to repeatedly shout "error", "analyze", "examine", "faulty" and so on in a progressively higher and more distorted tone until it self-destructs.
• Mechanical Abomination : Once a simple exploration device, Nomad now wields both the power to raze worlds and a vast, warped intelligence that drives it to kill.
• Mistaken Identity : Nomad thinks Kirk is his creator, Dr. Jackson Roykirk.
• Oh, Crap! : When Kirk, angry over Nomad referring to the redshirts he "sterilized" as "biological units", answers, "I'm a biological unit and I created you!" This confuses Nomad, and Kirk realizes that he was foolish to say it, as it now leaves everyone open to "sterilization".
• Only Mostly Dead : Scotty, but he gets better thanks to Nomad's intervention.
• Only Sane Man : Scotty is the only crew member who objects to bringing a planet-sterilizing superweapon aboard the ship. McCoy , to an extent, is also all kinds of apprehensive.
• Pintsized Powerhouse : Nomad, five hundred kilograms and a metre or two long, can knock out the Enterprise shields with just three blasts.
• Scotty is zapped by Nomad but revived, whereas every other Red Shirt it attacks is completely vaporized.
• Nurse Chapel somehow survives trying to stop Nomad from accessing Kirk's medical records as well, being only stunned. It happened off screen, so we don't know exactly how threatening she was to Nomad.
• Kirk also reveals at one point that he is a "biological unit" and thus imperfect, but his status as the Creator in Nomad's mind means Nomad never seriously tries to "sterilize" him.
• Poke in the Third Eye : The mind-meld with the probe's artificial mind goes seriously wrong, to the point that Spock is sent into a near-catatonic state as Nomad takes control of the meld. Kirk, who Nomad fortunately respects as its "Creator", has to order Nomad to let go of Spock and drag the Vulcan out into the corridor to recover.
• P.O.V. Cam : We get a couple of them from Nomad. Once when he follows a leery Bones to sickbay, and once when he walks off with some disgruntled guards.
• Reaction Shot : When Kirk drops the Logic Bomb , the camera briefly cuts to Nomad; it doesn't visibly react, but one can easily imagine that it's thinking "WTF?" after the Wham Line .
• Red Shirt : One of the highest body counts in the series, as Nomad vaporizes four security guards when he breaks confinement and kills (or at least incapacitates) two others.
• Robo Speak : This is how Nomad talks.
• Nomad mistook James T. Kirk for Jackson Roy kirk , his creator. Strike one.
• Nomad did not immediately discover his mistake and imperfection. Strike two.
• Nomad did not correct by sterilization. Strike THREE and yer' OUT!
• Screen Shake : And it's a doozy, with the entire bridge crew hurled back and forth as Nomad's opening shot hits the shields.
• Significant Name Overlap : It's downplayed, but James T. Kirk and Jackson Roykirk have some naming similarities, such as their first initials and the last (or all) four letters of their surnames. This is enough for Nomad, with its garbled programming, to mistake Kirk for Roykirk as its "Creator", and eventually lead to its own self-destruction after the mistake is clearly identified.
• Snap Back : Uhura is back to normal by the next episode, despite last being seen being taught to read again and only being able to speak Swahili. An earlier draft of the script had Nomad explaining that it had not purged her brain completely — her memories and experiences were intact, but her ability to express language was wiped. This line was probably cut for time. They probably taught her Swahili first because it was her original language. (By the way, she first says Sikumbuka — "I can't remember" — then ina mbwa ni tufe, "the dog has a ball.") The James Blish novelization still has this version.
• Speaks in Binary : Nomad while in space. It later changes to a mathematical message requesting language equivalence.
• This Cannot Be! : Kirk when told the entire population of the system has been destroyed, then when told that Nomad just absorbed the energy of a detonating photon torpedo with no damage.
• Title Drop : When Kirk discusses with Spock the old notion of a changeling — a creature left in place of a baby by the Fair Folk .
• Too Dumb to Live : You would think that after the deaths of the first couple of redshirts , the others would quit firing on the damn thing. But they don't.
• Touched by Vorlons : Nomad's destructive abilities were enhanced after the impact with an alien probe.
• Unexplained Recovery : Scott was tempting fate, wearing that red shirt in every episode. He got better, but at least four other Redshirts weren't so lucky.

• Villainous Breakdown : Kirk's Logic Bomb to Nomad leaves the probe shaking and erratically shouting "Error", "Analyze", "Must sterilize" and variations thereof in a rising and distorted voice, as it builds up to self-destruct.
• Weapon of Mass Destruction : Nomad counts as one, after its fusion with Tan-Ru.
• We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill : Kirk assures Nomad that they mean no harm, moments after firing a photon torpedo at it. And then Nomad, in a major Refuge in Audacity moment, states that its own mission is non-hostile, moments after pummeling the Enterprise with powerful energy bolts.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human? : Inverted. Nomad wants to kill anything that's too human. Spock is spared because he is so much more "orderly" than the human crew members. Spock seems almost flattered to be described as such.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds : Aw, he's just a little lost robot doing what he thinks he was programmed to do!
• Writers Cannot Do Math : The range to Nomad when it is firing at Enterprise is given as 90,000 km, and the plasma bolts are travelling at Warp 15. They shouldn't be taking several seconds to impact, they should be covering that distance in a tiny fraction of a second.

Video Example(s):

Captain kirk and nomad.

Captain Kirk exploits Nomad's belief that it is perfect and programming to eliminate imperfections by pointing out something it overlooked: In mistaking Kirk for its creator, it is itself imperfect, and thus must eliminate itself.

Example of: Logic Bomb

• Star Trek S2 E2 "Who Mourns for Adonais?"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S2 E4 "Mirror, Mirror"

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The Changeling (Episode)

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Travelling in the space, the Enterprise finds that some planets have desappeared. They discover that the guilt of this disappearance is an old space probe, called Nomad , built to discover, which was launched from Earth in the early '2000 and which has merged with another probe, built to destroy. Now It travells in the space destroying anything is not "right", and so anything which is biological or in other words human.

Star Trek (TV Series)

The changeling (1967), leonard nimoy: mister spock, photos .

Quotes 

Capt. Kirk : [of Uhura]  What d'you do to her?

Nomad : That unit is defective. Its thinking is chaotic. Absorbing it unsettled me.

Spock : That "unit" is a woman.

Nomad : A mass of conflicting impulses.

Spock : My congratulations, Captain - a dazzling display of logic.

Capt. Kirk : You didn't think I had it in me, did you, Spock?

Spock : [deadpan]  No, sir.

Spock : Your logic was impeccable, Captain. We are in grave danger.

Spock : [Places hands on Nomad and conducts mild meld]  I am Nomad. I am performing my function. Deep, emptiness. It approaches, collision, damage, blackness. I am the other. I am Tan Ru. Tan Ru. Nomad. Tan Ru. Error. Flaw. Imperfection. Must sterilize. Rebirth. We are complete. Much power. Gan Ta Nu Ika. Tan Ru. The creator instructs, search out, identify, sterilize imperfections. We are Nomad. We are Nomad. We are complete. We are instructed. Our purpose is clear. Sterilize imperfections. Sterilize imperfections. Nomad! Sterilize! Sterilize! Nomad! Sterilize!

Capt. Kirk : Spock!

Spock : Nomad! Sterilize!

Capt. Kirk : Nomad, you're in contact with the unit Spock! Stop! Stop!

Nomad : Acknowledged.

Capt. Kirk : [of Nomad's demise]  It's not easy to lose a bright and promising son.

Spock : Sir?

Capt. Kirk : Well, it thought I was its mother, didn't it? D'you think I am completely without feelings, Mr. Spock? You saw what it did to Scotty. What a doctor it would have made.

[a beat] 

Capt. Kirk : My son, the doctor.

Capt. Kirk : [fists his own heart]  Kind of gets you right there, doesn't it?

Spock : Intelligence does not necessarily require bulk, Mr. Scott.

Dr. McCoy : [looking at an isometric drawing of the NOMAD probe]  Well, that's not the same.

Spock : Essentially, it is, Doctor. I believe that more happened to it than just damage in the meteor collision. It mentioned "the other." The unanswered question is: the other WHAT?

Spock : [trying to fathom an explanation for the complete loss of life to a billion inhabitants virtually overnight]  Sensor readings would've revealed the presence of any disease organisms; they do not. In addition, we received a routine report from this system only a week ago - even the Cymbeline Blood Burn does not act that swiftly.

Spock : [Places hands on Nomad and conducts mind meld]  I am Nomad. I am performing my function. Deep, emptiness. It approaches, collision, damage, blackness. I am the other. I am Tan Ru. Tan Ru. Nomad. Tan Ru. Error. Flaw. Imperfection. Must sterilize. Rebirth. We are complete. Much power. Gan Ta Nu Ika. Tan Ru. The creator instructs, search out, identify, sterilize imperfections. We are Nomad. We are Nomad. We are complete. We are instructed. Our purpose is clear. Sterilize imperfections. Sterilize imperfections. Nomad! Sterilize! Sterilize! Nomad! Sterilize!

[to Nomad] 

Capt. Kirk : Stop it! You're in contact with the unit Spock! Stop! Stop!

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5 tos, tng & ds9 easter eggs in star trek’s anomaly storage room explained.

The anomaly storage room on the USS Cerritos in Star Trek: Lower Decks contains several artifacts Trek fans may recognize.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 3 - "In The Cradle of Vexilon"

• Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 3 features a visit to the anomaly storage room with Easter Eggs from various Star Trek shows, delighting long-time fans.
• The episode showcases numerous artifacts, including a Klingon bat'leth, a Vulcan lirpa, a Nomad probe, a Betazoid gift box, and a Romulan cloaking device.
• Lieutenant Dirk's hazing prompts Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford to seek revenge using the Wadi Chula Game and the Betazoid Gift Box, resulting in comedic chaos.

In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 3, "In the Cradle of Vexilon," the Lower Deckers visit the anomaly storage room on the USS Cerritos, which contains several Easter Eggs from various Star Trek shows. As Lieutenant Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) leads his first mission, Lieutenants Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells), and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) explore the anomaly storage room, where they find several artifacts that will be familiar to long-time Trek fans.

Soon after they arrive in the storage room, the lieutenants are called away by Lt. Dirk (Phil LaMarr) to scan hundreds of isolinear chips in search of one faulty chip. As Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford meticulously scan the chips, they come to the conclusion that they are being hazed by the senior officers. They then concoct a plan to get back at Lt. Dirk using the Wadi Chula Game and the Betazoid Gift Box from the anomaly room. Those two artifacts may be the ones most prominently featured, but several more Star Trek Easter Eggs are hiding in the Cerritos' anomaly storage room.

Related: Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4: Cast, Story & Everything We Know

5 Vulcan Lirpa

Many of the items in Star Trek: Lower Decks ' anomaly storage room are dangerous, and a number of weapons are hidden among the artifacts. A Klingon bat'leth can be seen in a box and a Vulcan lirpa is stuck behind some crates. A traditional Vulcan melee weapon, the lirpa is a long staff with a curved blade on one end and a club on the other. The lirpa was first seen in Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 1, "Amok Time," when Spock (Leonard Nimoy) returns to Vulcan because of his pon farr. As part of the kal-if-fee challenge issued by Spock's fiancée, T'Pring (Arlene Martel), Spock and Captain James Kirk (William Shatner) must fight one another with lirpas.

4 Nomad Probe

In Star Trek: TOS season 2, episode 8, "The Changeling," the Enterprise comes across a probe that had been launched from Earth 265 years before. At some point in its journey, Nomad merged with a powerful alien probe which gave it enhanced abilities. When Captain Kirk has the probe beamed aboard the Enterprise, the crew discover that it has now devoted itself to eliminating any biological lifeform that it deems imperfect. When Nomad begins killing crewmembers on the Enterprise, Kirk eventually talks the probe into destroying itself. It's unclear how a different Nomad probe ended up in storage on the Cerritos, but it nevertheless serves as a clever sight gag.

3 Betazoid Gift Box

A Betazoid gift box was used to house gifts given from one Betazoid to another, often as part of a marriage ceremony. The box had a face on it that could be used to relay messages to the receiver. Although the box's face is humanoid, it is not sentient and can only repeat phrases it had previously heard. In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, episode 11, "Haven," Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) receives a Betazoid gift box (Armin Shimerman) from the parents of a man she had been bonded with as a child. In Lower Decks season 4, episode 3, the gift box hilariously gets zapped with the same kind of Kataan probe that caused Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) to experience an entire second life in TNG season 5, episode 25, "The Inner Light."

2 Romulan Cloaking Device

When Rutherford, Mariner, and Tendi examine some of the artifacts, a circular Romulan cloaking device can be seen on a shelf behind them. This cloaking device, which rendered a ship invisible, resembles the one first seen in TOS season 3, episode 4, "The Enterprise Incident," in which Captain Kirk and Spock work together to steal the cloak from a Romulan ship. While Spock distracts (and seduces) the Romulan commander , Kirk finds the cloaking device and has it beamed over to the Enterprise. Interestingly, the Romulan cloak prop was crafted from part of Nomad's head and a sphere that was used in TOS season 2, episode 22, "Return to Tomorrow."

1 Wadi Chula Game

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1, episode 10, "Move Along Home," the Wadi species travel from the Gamma Quadrant to visit space station Deep Space 9. The Wadi people are very interested in games, and they head straight to Quark's bar on the station, eventually introducing him to their favorite game, Chula. The participants in Chula are transferred to a virtual world where they must solve puzzles until they can "move along home." The version of the game seen in Star Trek: Lower Decks is much smaller than the one on DS9 but seems to operate the same way. When Rutherford inadvertently gets sucked into the game, he hilariously speed-runs through the entire thing to get back to helping his friends.

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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Nomad is an antagonist from Star Trek: The Original Series . It was originally designed by humanity as an advanced probe, but it was damaged and set adrift. Later, after an encounter with a mysterious alien probe on a similar mission, Nomad was rebuilt as a powerful but irrational spacefaring entity. Nomad's faulty reasoning made it a serious danger to organic life until Captain James T. Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise managed to use its own logic against it.

Nomad was voiced by Vic Perrin.

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History [ ]

Nomad was designed by named Jackson Roykirk and launched from Earth in 2002 as the planet's first interstellar vessel to seek out extraterrestrial life. It was a prototype and the only one of its program built.

During its mission, Nomad was damaged by interstellar debris and lost contact with Earth. It later encountered an alien probe called Tan Ru in deep space. The two units merged, resulting in a powerful new construct with faulty programming. Nomad reinterpreted its mission to seek out and destroy anything that was perceived as imperfect, a condition that apparently applied to any organic living being.

In 2267, Nomad was eventually discovered by the USS Enterprise, shortly after it wiped out 4 billion inhabitants of the Malurian system. Originally deeming the Enterprise to be as imperfect as the Malurians, it opened fire on the vessel, nearly destroying it. It halted its attack when Captain James Kirk hailed the probe and introduced himself; Nomad had mistaken Captain Kirk for Roykirk.

Upon coming aboard the Enterprise, Nomad found the crew to be imperfect and wiped out the memory of Lieutenant Uhura as well as killing Montgomery Scott. Fortunately for Scotty, Nomad was able to "repair" him on the orders of Kirk. After investigating the probe, the crew learns what happened to Nomad: how it was damaged somewhere in deep space, then encountered an alien probe of unknown origin but great power, with which it merged. The alien probe's mission was to sterilize soil samples (presumably for research purposes), but the goals of the two probes were corrupted during their merger until the mission of the new single entity became to seek and sterilize life .

Using the ship's star charts, Nomad was able to fix coordinates on Earth and planned to return. Kirk was concerned that if Nomad returned to Earth and found it to be populated with imperfect lifeforms, it would sterilize the planet. Reasoning that Nomad could not be defeated with force, Captain Kirk devised a plan to stop it using its own logic. He reveals to Nomad that he is not Roykirk, its creator, that Nomad has erred in not discovering this error, and in not correcting this error immediately by terminating itself, thus convincing Nomad that it is a source of imperfection. He then told Nomad to "execute its purpose" (to destroy what was imperfect), and since it was imperfect, Nomad attempted to destroy itself, though Kirk was able to beam it out into space before it did so.

Characteristics [ ]

Despite its small size, barely larger than an average man, Nomad is immensely powerful, capable of generating tremendous bolts of energy that quickly drained the defensive force fields of the Enterprise . Repeated fire is enough to completely sterilize a planet's surface. Its own shields were sufficient to absorb the attacks of the Enterprise 's weapons. It has more precise beam weapons with a narrower area of effect, which are able to disintegrate small objects that it encounters on the ship. Its information system could read data from the Enterprise computers far faster than their maximum rate of transmission, resulting in damage to the ship's computer. It can erase a human being's memories. Nomad can modify the engines of the Enterprise to make its more efficient, and it can even "repair" a crewman who died after contacting Nomad's energy shield, effectively restoring him from death. However, whatever its original computing abilities, its brain had become corrupted during its long time in space and during its merger with the alien entity that granted it its power.

• In a prequel series that takes place centuries before the original series, spaceship crewman Travis Mayweather had a model of the Nomad probe in his quarters.
• The episode was the basis for the Star Trek Motion Picture.

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NOMAD From Original Star Trek Series With Light and Sound Effects

Introduction: NOMAD From Original Star Trek Series With Light and Sound Effects

If you are a fan of the original Star Trek series, you know what NOMAD is. It appeared in episode #37 "The Changeling". NOMAD is essentially a hybrid of an old earth space probe that collided with an alien space probe. The resulting hybrid probe gets its programming and mission corrupted in the process, and then goes on a genocidal quest to destroy "biological infestations" that it deems to be imperfect. This has always been one of my favorite episodes of the original series. In many ways it is the quintessential classic Star Trek episode. If you have never watched the original series, and have to pick one episode to watch, I suggest this one. Some highlights from this episode include: FOUR red shirts get smoked! McCoy gets to deliver his classic line "He's dead, Jim!" Spock performs a mind meld. Scotty gets killed, and then resuscitated. NOMAD's lines are all great. Almost everything he says is a quotable classic. Here’s a few of his best: "Non Sequiter. Your facts are uncoordinated." "Insufficient response" "I contain no parasitical beings." "I am NOMAD. I am Perfect" And the list goes on... I thought it would be really cool to have a model of NOMAD. Ideally I'd like to have a super accurate full scale model, but I don't really have that much motivation. I primarily wanted a model that matched the overall appearance and proportions of the original prop. I started out intending to build a one half scale model, but after finding other sources of information it turned out my scale is more like 1:1.5. This instructable covers the construction of the model and the sound and light effects.  Step 7 "Results" contains a link to a YouTube video of the model and the effects in operation. There are actually very few others who have attempted to build a NOMAD replica, at least that’s what I could find through the first 10 pages of various Google searches. I have added a step at the end titled “Resources” containing links to the examples I found.

Step 1: General Construction

I made the model as a number of individual sections, which are later assembled into the complete model. Each of the sections has a hole through the center. This allows the upper and lower sections to be connected to the main body via a threaded rod or bolt that passes through each section stack. I've numbered each section, starting at the bottom, as shown in the diagram. The second picture shows all the sections disassembled and primed before the final painting. Note the hole in the center of each piece used to connect the sections. The steps which follow contain the general details of how each section was made. Some of the sections are fairly trivial, just simple cylinders or discs. Others took more effort, such as the truncated cone like sections and the main body box. The cone like sections were made on my 7 X 12 mini lathe.  If you are not familiar with the mini lathe, I would highly recommend looking into it, if you are interested in that kind of thing.  An excellent place to get started is at http://www.mini-lathe.com/ .  This site have excellent tutorials, reviews, and how to guides for the mini lathe. For the most part, the sections are made from pine lumber, plywood, or MDF. I used almost entirely scrap pieces I had on hand.  As you may well know, lumber that is referred to as 2 by, like a 2 by 4, is actually only 1.5 inches thick. Also, lumber referred to as 1 by is actually only 0.75 inches thick. If I refer to 2" or 1" lumber, I am implying the actual dimensions of 1.5” or 0.75”.

Step 2: Summary of Each Section and Its Construction

Section 1 This section consists of an octagonal box with a 1/2" thick plywood disk on top. The octagonal portion is made from 2" pine lumber, with 1/2" plywood pieces for the top and bottom. The bottom of the box section can be removed to tighten the bolt that holds the lower sections to the main body. The picture shows this section with the bolt protruding from the top. This section ended up having several differences from the original prop. If you look closely at screen shots from the episode and the more detailed plans at the link in the resources step, you will see that this is actually a 12 sided piece instead of an 8 sided piece. Also, the width of mine is a bit too small relative to the rest of the model. Section 2 This section is a truncated cone shape. It was turned on a mini lathe. The piece was too thick to make from a single piece of stock lumber, so a 1.5" thick piece of pine was glued to a 0.75" thick piece of pine, to achieve the desired thickness. I used this approach of gluing together pieces of material to get the desired thickness on most of the other pieces that were turned on the lathe, as they were generally too large to be built from single piece of 1.5” material. This worked well, as I could build up the raw piece using standard thicknesses of material. If the overall length is too large, the excess can be easily removed with the lathe. To create a piece of stock from other thinner stock in this manner, coat the entire area of one of surfaces of the pieces to be joined with wood glue, then clamp the pieces together over night. The result is very strong, with the glue bond being actually stronger than the wood itself. Section 3 This is the 8 sided main body box. It was one of the more time consuming parts to build, but it is also straightforward. Notice the 3 groups of small holes drilled in each side as shown. I actually drilled all of these with a drill press. In order to make the uniform pattern of holes, I first drew up each of the hole patterns, printed them out on paper, and taped the pattern to the plywood at the proper location. I then drilled through the paper at each spot on the pattern. These three distinctive groups of holes are present on all four of the larger sides of the body. Drilling all those holes on each of the four sides was tedious, but I was pleased with the result. I suppose that if you don't want to drill all those holes you could just make some kind of a decal of the hole pattern instead, but I wanted to have lights inside that would shine through the holes. One side of the box is removable to access the inside, as is visible in the photo of the unassembled parts. Note the hole in the center, used to connect the pieces together with a bolt. Section 4 The top of the main body box in the original prop has several small pieces on it. I did not attempt to recreate these details exactly, as I felt they were secondary in importance to the overall model. I did try to replicate the general appearance of these items, but I know that I omitted many fine details. One of the links in the resources step contains plans that are very detailed, if you want to go that far. These small detail pieces were mounted on a sheet of 1/8” MDF. This whole assembly then mounts on top of the main body box. Section 5 This section is just a cylinder, made from 2 thicknesses of 1/2" plywood. Section 6 This section was probably the most challenging part. This is the large "head" section. I actually made this as three parts, and attached them together when complete. The diameter and length of this section as a whole exceeded the capabilities of my lathe, so I couldn't simply turn it on the lathe all as one large piece. Rather, I had to machine three separate pieces, and stack them up and glue them together after they were all complete. This was challenging because I had to make sure that the diameters matched up from piece to piece, without any visible discontinuities. There are three “probes” or antennas on this section the original prop that NOMAD would extend and retract in the episode. My model does not have extendable probes. Instead, they are depicted in the retracted position. I created these details with finishing washers, 10-24 threaded studs, and 10-24 T-nuts. The studs have a wood screw thread on one end, and 10-24 thread on the other. They are threaded into the wood, and then the finishing washers are placed on the stud and finally the T nuts are threaded onto the posts. Refer to the pictures below for details. Sections 7 This section is just two disks, made from ¼ “and ¾” plywood. Section 8 This is another truncated cone type of section, made on the lathe from a single 1.5" thick piece of pine lumber with a disk of ½” plywood attached on top of that. Section 9 This section is a set of 5 disks made from 1/8" thick MDF. Section 10 This is another truncated cone type of section made on the lathe. Section 11 The final section in the model is an antenna like piece on the very top. It is made from 3/16” and 1/8” dowels of different lengths. There is a small vane like piece on the very top of the center dowel, which I made from 1/8” MDF. The center dowel piece fits into a corresponding hole in the top of the section 10.

Step 3: Finishing and Painting

The grain on the wood pieces can be kind of coarse. Even after sanding, there are holes in the surface and visible grain. On the plywood pieces, the rough grain on the ends of the pieces cannot be really sanded smooth. To fill in these imperfections, I used wood putty. I just smeared it over the area as needed to fill any voids, and then sanded it smooth to the desired shape after it was dry. After the sanding and puttying was to my satisfaction, I first primed all the pieces with brown rusty metal primer. The final color of most of the pieces is grey. My paint mix doesn’t match the color of the original prop, but I thought it was close enough. Some parts on the original prop are obviously made from metal. The main body looks to be made of aluminum sheet metal, and the section just below the antenna on the very top also appears to be made of metal. I used aluminum paint for both of these sections, and the result looks fairly good.

Step 4: Sound and Light Effects

I wanted the model to have some of the effects as shown in the episode.  The sound and light effects componenes are all housed in the main body box.  A block diagram of the effects system is shown below. The sound effects are produced by recording dialog from the episode onto an MP3 player.  The audio is produced by playing back the recordings through an amplified speaker. The light effects are generated using custom circuitry that I designed to drive arrays of LEDs that are visible through the holes in the side of the model as shown in the diagram below. The following two sections cover the lighting and sound effects in more detail.

Step 5: Lighting Effects Details

If you watch the episode, there are two lighting effects in use. The upper two patterns of holes in the main body have red or red orange light shining out, which flickers on and off in sync with the voice. The lower square pattern of holes in the body has 5 individual green lights behind it which quickly flicker on and off in a seemingly random pattern. The 5 lights are arranged so that one is in each corner of the square and the last one is in the middle of the square, like the pattern of dots on the “5” side of a dice.  The light effects and their locations are shown in the diagram below. For the voice sync effect, I created a PIC microprocessor circuit which samples an audio signal and sets a digital output high when the amplitude of the audio signal is greater than a threshold. This signal is then used to control the gates of FETs which in turn activate several strings of red and yellow LEDs. These LEDs are positioned such that they shine through the upper two hole patterns in the body. This effect is essentially the same as a “light organ”. For the five random flashing green lights, I created a PIC microprocessor circuit that sets the five outputs either on and off as it continuously loops through a set of states stored in the program. Each of the five outputs on the processor control a FET that controls a string of LEDs corresponding to one of the five green lights on the model. The pattern of states generated was chosen randomly, to give the flickering effect like that seen in the episode. Circuit Description The function of the two effects circuits is as follows. Refer to the schematic. J2 is the power supply input. A 12 volt battery pack consisting of 8 AA cells powers all the lighting effects. The +5V supply is produced by voltage regulator VR1. D1 is a diode on the input to the regulator that prevents the circuit from being damaged if the power input is connected with the wrong polarity. Capacitors C4 and C5 filter the power supply input to the regulator. Capacitors C6 and C7 help stabilize the output of VR1. U2 is the processor used to produce the green light sequencing. C3 is a decoupling capacitor on the VDD pin of U2. Q1-Q5 are FETs used to drive the five strings of green LEDs. R5 - R9 are current limiting resistor for each of the LED strings. J1 is a 1/8" jack used for audio input. C1 capacitively couples the audio into the analog input of op amp U3.  R1 and R2 form a voltage divider which biases the input at ½ of VDD, so that the audio input signal swings above and below ½ VDD instead of above and below ground. This is needed because op amp is powered from the "single ended" supply (0 volts to 5 volts).  R20 and R19 set the gain of the amplifier.  The equation for determining the AC gain of the op amp circuit is GAIN= (1 +  R20/R19).  So, with the values shown in the schematic for R20 and R19, the gain will be 6.  C7 casues the gain at DC and very low freqencies to be 1.  As a result, the output of the amplifier is the AC portion of the input multiplied by the AC gain, plus the DC offset established by R1 and R2.  For the values shown, the output will be the amplified signal riding above and below 2.5 volts.  C8 is a decoupling capacitor for the VDD pins of the op amp. U1 is the processor used to produce the voice sync effects. The analog to digital converter input of the processor has an input range of 0 volts to VDD, so the output of the op amp is can be connected directly to it.  C2 is a decoupling capacitor on the VDD pin of U2. Q6 and Q7 are FETs used to drive the banks of red and yellow LED strings used for the voice sync effects. R10-R18 are current limiting resistor for each of the LED strings. R4 is a potentiometer used to set the audio input level at which the processor sets the output high. R3 is a pull down resistor that keeps the LEDs off while the output of the microprocessor is floating just after power up. The two light effects circuits were built onto a single solderless breadboard. The LEDs themselves were assembled onto a perf board, with the LEDs arranged in groups to align with the hole patterns on the model. The breadboard with the microprocessors, FETs, and the rest of the circuitry is mounted on the back of the LED board. Refer to the pictures below to see the breadboard and LED board assemblies. The completed breadboard and LED board assembly is shown in the pictures below.  This assembly is attached to one of the inside walls of the main body box.

Step 6: Light Effects Software Files and Overview

Two separate PIC 12F683 microprocessors generate the light effects, one for the flashing green lights, and the other for the red and yellow lights that flash in sync with the voice effects. Both programs were written in assembly using Microchip’s MPASM tool that is free on their website. The assembled *.hex file and *.asm source file for each program is included here, along with a high level flow chart showing how each program operates. The *.asm files also contain many comments throughout explaining the program operation. The general operation of each program is as follows. Flashing Green Lights The program running on the processor that generates the flashing green light effects just retrieves the LED settings from a table of 20 different states. Each state is displayed for 300 milliseconds, and then the next state is looked up from the table and displayed, and so on. The program loops through the table forever, giving the appearance that the lights are flashing randomly. Voice Sync Lights The program running on the processor that generates the lights that flash in sync with the voice effects samples the audio using the processors internal A/D converter. From each sample, the magnitude of the audio waveform is determined, and it is compared against a threshold value. If the magnitude is greater than the threshold, the digital output is set high, otherwise it is set low. The threshold is adjustable via the voltage on another input to the microprocessor. The A/D input is used to read the voltage on that input, and the result is used to determine the threshold. The program also incorporates some hysteresis to the magnitude comparison process. This program also produces two additional outputs which are not used in the light effects on the model, but may be useful for other purposes. The first is simply a digital output which is the complement of the one used to drive the voice LEDs. This output is high when the other is low, and vice versa. This would be useful if an inverted output were necessary, so that the output was low when the audio signal was larger than the threshold. The second unused output uses the processors PWM module to produce a PWM signal which has a duty cycle proportional to the magnitude of the audio signal.

Attachments

Step 7: Sound Effects Details

For the sound effects, I used a really cheap Slick MP3 player. The user interface of the MP3 player is horrible, but the playback quality is more than good enough for the model. The headphone output of the MP3 player is used to drive an amplified speaker for a PC.  Originally the amplified speaker setup had a left and right speaker.  I use only the left speaker, the other channel output of the amplifier is instead connected to the light effects circuit to control the lights that are synchronized to the voice. The pictures below show the MP3 player and the amplified speaker. I was able to find some audio files of NOMAD dialog on the web. I also captured some from the episode, and edited them as best I could. The files are loaded on the MP3 player.

Step 8: Results

Overall I am please with how the model turned out.  However, if I had to do it all over again, here are a few things that I would have done differently: The LED displays end up looking dim from the outside.  This is due to the fact that the main body is made of 1/2" plywood, so the LEDs on the board mounted inside are not very visible unless the model is viewed straight on.  This would be much less of a problem if the sides were made of, say, 1/16" sheet metal. I wanted the video (link below) to show the light effects clearly, so I dimmed the room lights.  However, the video ends up a bit dark and grainy as a result. The color is not as close of a match as it could be.  I just kind of eyeballed it, and it ended up being somewhat to light of a shade of grey.  Just a bit more black mixed in would make a difference.  I could go back and repaint it, but I have decided not to at this point. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the bottome two sections are different in shape are proportion compared to the original.  This is one area where I would have benefitted greatly by doing more research up front. Here is a link to a short YouTube video of my model playing showing it in operation, with light and sound effects. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZk7OZRNmII

Step 9: Resources

Arriving at suitable dimensions for the model was somewhat of a challenge. I started out trying to estimate dimensions myself from screen shots, and actually built some parts based on my own estimates. This turned out to be very difficult. Later on I began searching the web for any others who had built a NOMAD model. I didn’t find many, but the ones I did find are listed below. Some of the information is much better than my initial estimates. Alas, I found most of this material only after I had started building. I did go back and modify some of my earlier pieces slightly, based on the newer information. 1) http://www.homespunmagixx.com/nomad.asp These plans are for a 1/6" scale paper model. With that model, you cut out the pieces from paper and fold them up and glue them together. From what I can tell, the proportions in these plans look very good compared to screen shots from the episode. One mistake is that the very bottom section is 8 sided in the plans, but that piece on the actual prop was 12 sided. 2)  http://jerrysrobots.com/nomad/ These plans are from a guy who has put together some very detailed drawings for an extremely accurate full scale version. You can download his drawings in PDF format from his web site. This is the most accurate attempt I have seen. 3) http://www.therpf.com/f9/full-scale-nomad-37361/ I found a forum called the "Replica Prop Forum". This is a site for people who try to build copies of props from various movies and TV shows. The link goes to a thread with lots of pictures and comments on the work of another person who has undertaken construction of a very detailed replica. 4) http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=26041 This site is reporting a full scale kit that is available. It looks pretty good, but they want $300 for it. I used the first two sources above for determining the final dimensions I used in my model, but I also modified them somewhat based on what I thought "looked right" compared to screen shots, and also based on the materials and equipment I have at my disposal. I found a couple videos on You Tube of full size NOMAD models: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrVyYD6Siz8 This video is of a scratch built model. The poster of the video claims that a 2011 issue of "Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeler magazine"will contain a feature on how he made it . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FI_GODzZBg This video is of a model that the poster claims is from a kit purchased on eBay. These versions kind of put mine to shame, but I think that mine turned out okay for someone who isn’t a model builder as such.

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Nomad Probe by Eaglemoss (from The Changeling Star Trek TOS)

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Does anyone know what the mesurments of this miniature are? There is no indication nor an info about the scale (1:6?).  

I was surprised that they didn't list the product dimensions on this when I checked. Usually their trek ships are about 3-5.5 inches long. The only thing I came across was someone's youtube video and in the questions someone asked what the size was and the response was about 6" (a guess). I would assume about that as well - about 6" high. I can't seem to find any info on size. When it gets released and people buy it, someone will post the dimensions.  

I contacted eaglemoss and interrogated them several times, they were always unable to answer that question. Strange. If the Nomad probe would only be 6“ it would be too small for 1:6 scale action figures…  

indeed, UK and Germany.  

The Canadian site went down months ago. Not sure what happened there so I've been checking their US site since. US site states February 28, 2022 release date: https://shop.eaglemoss.com/us/hero-collector/star-trek/nomad-probe-starship I read that some have stated it will smaller than 1/6th scale. The other thing, if you look at the photo, you can get a rough estimate of height if you compare the Nomad model to the length of the black stand. Those are standard size. If you have some other Eaglemoss models, just measure how wide that black stand is and compare it to the Nomad photo.  

I have no idea what the size of the black stand is. Please help so that I can estimate the size of Nomad.  

looks like 1:6 scale. Thanx for sharing.  

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