mistake, and by not sterilizing itself as imperfect. Nomad begins to analyze the implications of Kirk's claims, a process that causes noticeable stress to its systems. Kirk and Spock carry Nomad in a rush to the transporter room and, with a final command from Kirk to "exercise your prime function," beam it into deep space. Seconds after transport, an explosion is detected near the Enterprise and Nomad is no more. The episode ends on a humorous note, with Kirk observing that he is proud that his "son" Nomad, having healed Mr. Scott, would have made a good doctor. Production The episode is one of only a handful in the original series that take place entirely aboard the Enterprise. The others include "Charlie X", "Journey to Babel", "Elaan of Troyius", and "Is There in Truth No Beauty?". The director, Marc Daniels, appears on screen as the still photo of Dr. Jackson Roykirk. Influence The episode is perhaps most known for being a predecessor to the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which also features an Earth probe that somehow merges with a powerful alien entity far from Earth and causes problems, as V'Ger. The plot arc of human weirdness confusing a powerful but malfunctioning robot (also seen in the Star Trek episode "The Return of the Archons" as well as various pieces of sci-fi pulp fiction) would go on to become a common trope in science-fiction, to the point of parody in more comedically inclined works such as Futurama. In 2001 the writers of the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Civilization" intentionally used the Malurians as the antagonists in reference to this episode. Reception In 2013, Phelim O'Neill of The Guardian made a list of representative Star Trek personal favorite episodes to watch (not necessarily the best) that included "The Changeling". A 2015 retrospective by Keith R. A. DeCandido found the episode disappointing for The Original Series, ranking it a 4/10. He thought the concept was decent, but DeCandido felt that the tone was unfitting. Various extreme events happen in the episode - billions of Malurians are killed off-screen, Scotty is killed by NOMAD and then resurrected, Uhura has her memories wiped, and four security officers are killed. Yet the characters don't seem to grapple with this: the crew has their normal banter and are oddly blasé about the situation, and the episode closes with a joke from Kirk. He also