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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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Star Trek: The Changeling

4 comments:

In his book on the making of "The Trouble with Tribbles", David Gerrold mentions viewing the rushes of the teaser of this episode, where everyone is throwing themselves across the bridge, and how one of the actresses was cursing each time she threw herself to the deck. Turned out she had broken her arm. As for the faster-than-Warp-10 thing (they also went faster than Warp 10 in "By Any Other Name" and "That Which Survives", among others, it's because they were using the "old scale" - they didn't decide on Warp 10 as the top of the scale until TNG.

What I find funniest about this episode is Spock saying that the blast from Nomad was equal to 90 photon torpedos, and the shields have dropped 25%. So the Enterprise shields can absorb 360 photon torpedos before they fail? It sure doesn't seem like it in other episodes.

The best part for me is Kirk's face when Spock admits he didn't think the Captain had the logical ability in him to outwit The Nomad.

I mentioned the original motion picture before, as I saw it in the theater as a kid with my parents. It was not a very good movie, and Wrath of Khan is so much better, but you can indeed see the root of V-ger/Voyager here. I rather like this one overall, but wish they had handled a few things a bit differently, made it a bit less god-like but still a threat. The voice work was good and even the effects for Nomad/Tan Ru were decent for the day. And I concur on the voice for sure. I'd probably rate this one a tad higher than 2/4 probably 2.5/4 which isn't that different really. Not one of the greats, but not one of those 'ugh' ones either.

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• View history

Nomad (or Nomad MK-15c ) was an interstellar space probe designed by Jackson Roykirk and launched from Earth in the year 2002 with a mission of seeking out new life. It was a prototype, and the only one of its type built.

History [ ]

Nomad in the mirror universe .

In flight, Nomad was damaged by a meteor and lost contact with Earth. It later merged with an alien probe called Tan Ru , resulting in a powerful new machine which, due to scrambled programming, destroyed anything that was perceived as imperfect.

Nomad was rediscovered by the USS Enterprise in 2267 , after it had destroyed the inhabitants of the Malurian system . Mistaking Captain James T. Kirk for Jackson Roykirk, Nomad allowed itself to be brought aboard Enterprise . There, it erased the memory of Lieutenant Nyota Uhura , and killed Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott -- although Nomad was able to then "repair" him. Eventually, Kirk managed to convince Nomad it was imperfect itself, and thus leading it to self-destruct. ( TOS episode : " The Changeling ", ST website  : StarTrek.com )

Captain Anne Gauvreau claimed to have recovered other Nomad probes in deep space, which she in turn sold to the Smithsonian Institution . ( TOS novel : Prime Directive )

External link [ ]

• Nomad article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 The Chase
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

The Changeling Stardate: 3451.9 Original Airdate: 29 Sep, 1967

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The Changeling

• View history
• 2.1.1 Plot Oversights
• 2.2 Equipment Oddities
• 2.3.1 Character error
• 2.3.2 Continuity
• 2.3.3 Revealing mistakes
• 2.4 Nit Central

Summary [ ]

Contact with the Maluriuan system is lost, and it turns out that all life in that system has been wiped out, a population of four billion. Soon the Enterprise comes under attack too. Only when Kirk sends a hailing, the attacker, a small space probe, stands down and agrees to be beamed aboard. The probe named "Nomad" calls the human crew "primitive" but is of the opinion that Kirk created it. Spock looks up that Nomad was built by a scientist named Jackson Roykirk and was launched from Earth on a mission to seek out new lifeforms in the early 21st century. The probe was declared lost, but obviously survived with damaged memory banks, so it now mistakes "Kirk" for "Roykirk".

In the meantime Nomad enters the bridge and erases Uhura's memory when it attempts to read her mind. It kills Scott, who comes to help her, but later successfully "repairs" the "Unit Scott". In a mind-meld Spock finds out that the damaged Nomad actually encountered a powerful alien probe called Tan Ru, built to sterilize soil samples, and somehow merged with it, and it gave itself the new programming to "sterilize imperfect lifeforms". The probe escapes from the holding cell, kills the security personnel and heads for the engine room where it boosts the power of the engines until Kirk tells Nomad to stop it.

Kirk reveals to Nomad that he himself, the alleged "Creator", is a primitive lifeform too, which Spock labels as a "foolish mistake". But then Kirk goes even one step further and accuses Nomad of being flawed, for the probe mistook him for its creator. Using antigrav units, Kirk and Spock carry the probe to the transporter room and beam it into deep space, where Nomad carries out its mission to "sterilize imperfection" and destroys itself.

Errors and Explanations [ ]

The nitpicker's guide for classic trekkers [ ], plot oversights [ ].

• When worrying about how to deal with Nomad, Kirk misses the simple solution. Why not order it back into the transporter, begin beaming it out, and then have a transporter accident? The Enterprise has enough of those by chance. Surely it wouldn't be that difficult to make it happen on purpose. Nomad may refuse to leave, and start attacking people at random.
• At one point, Nomad scans Uhura’s mind and erases her memory. Since there's no brain damage, McCoy and Chapel set about to retrain her. It generates some cute moments but a plot oversight as well. lf the teaching facilities aboard the Enterprise are so advanced that they can take a person and completely re-educate him or her to function on a starship in just one week, why does Starfleet need an Academy? The retraining could allow Uhura to access copies of her active memories from her sub-conscious. [N 1]
• To learn more about Nomad, Spock uses his Vulcan mind meld technique. In all other instances of the Vulcan mind meld, the participants shared each other’s thoughts completely. Then why doesn't Nomad learn the truth about Kirk from this incident? The complete sharing of thought may only occur when both participants of the meld are biological and/or sentient life forms.

Equipment Oddities [ ]

• Equipment Oddities for “ The Return of the Archons ," mentions a statement by Scott that seemed to indicate that he was using the warp engines to supplement the shields. When Lieutenant Barclay did this in “ The Nth Degree ," everyone was amazed. This episode absolutely establishes that Scott can use the warp engines to supplement the shields. As the second energy bolt approaches the ship, Sulu reports a loss of navigational power, and Scott immediately pipes up that he has rerouted the energy from the warp engines into the shields. Changes in technology may have made the technique unnecessary.
• In retaliation for the attack, Kirk fires a photon torpedo at Nomad. It has no effect, and Kirk wonders out loud about what kind of entity could absorb that much energy. Wait a minute: Spock said that each of Nomads energy bolts had the power of ninety photon torpedoes. The shields of the Enterprise have absorbed three such attacks. That's equivalent to the power of 270 photon torpedoes, and Kirk is amazed that Nomad can absorb the power of one photon torpedo? Nomad is slightly smaller than the torpedo.
• The transporter room gains a sensor scanning station with this episode. Most likely part of an equipment upgrade.

Internet Movie Database [ ]

Character error [ ].

• When Spock, Kirk and McCoy view a diagram that shows the various parts of the NOMAD probe, the lower right of the diagram contains the annotation: "Computer Data Banks Recall & Transmition". The word "Transmition" should read "Transmission". Possibly a corruption of the records.

Continuity [ ]

• When the security team is escorting Nomad back to the holding area, he goes his own way. As one of the security crewmen orders him to stop, he begins to reach for his phaser. But in the next camera angle, he has already got his phaser out and trained on Nomad. The security team are probably trained to get their weapons out as quickly as possible.
• (at around 30 mins) When the Sick Bay doors open and Nomad comes out after reading Captain Kirk's medical file, his antenna is extended, but in the next shot when he enters the hallway it's retracted. Nomad probably acquired the ability to quickly retract the antenna.

Revealing mistakes [ ]

• During Nomad's initial attack on the Enterprise, the bridge crew react to the "hit" so violently that the helm/navigation console is lifted clear off the ground and almost tipped over. The support brackets could have been weakened.

Nit Central [ ]

• Mike Konczewski on Thursday, October 15, 1998 - 9:02 am: Apart from the problems with future history, there's the problem with Jackson Roykirk being the father of Nomad. Now, I realize that a deep space probe would be a significant leap foward in space science, but so was Voyager, or the Mariner probes, or Apollo. Can anyone name the "father" of these space ships? No, because such a massive undertaking has many "fathers." How could Nomad be different? Roykirk could have been in overall charge of the whole development process.
• Isn't Nomad's launch date (A.D. 2020) during the period of Earth's great economic and social problems, just prior to WWIII? How did that society have the resources to launch what must have been a very expensive probe? Maybe they managed to cobble it together from a load of spare parts!
• Brian Lombard on Saturday, February 13, 1999 - 10:31 pm: How exactly did Nomad operate the turbolift to get to the bridge? Mike Konczewski on Monday, February 15, 1999 - 7:17 am: The turbo-lift is voice operated; all he had to do was give it directions. Alternately, he could have directly interfaced with the controls, using his radio antenna.
• ↑ IMDB listed the following under Incorrectly regarded as goofs - Uhura's memory is erased, her mind emptied and left blank, yet she is trained to read up to a first grade level and converse in Swahili in about an hour. No attempt is made to explain her remarkably rapid progress, but since it is also never thoroughly explained what exactly Nomad did to her, it is anyone's speculation as to how quickly she could recover.
• 1 Who Mourns for Adonais?
• 2 Yesterday's Enterprise
• 3 The Magnificent Ferengi

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Star Trek - Nomad On the Rampage

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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Tan Ru was an advanced alien probe of unknown origin and great power, programmed to collect and sterilize soil samples, possibly in anticipation of colonization .

In 2267 , while in deep space , Tan Ru eventually encountered the Earth probe Nomad , which had been sent into space to seek out new life, and which had suffered a serious loss of memory after a collision with a meteoroid . When the two probes met, directives from Tan Ru were somehow transferred and merged with those left in Nomad 's memory banks . This created a semi-sentient probe with the unintended directive to seek out new life and sterilize it if it was "imperfect", with Nomad as the body and predominant voice during their co-existence. ( TOS : " The Changeling ")

• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)