fires on the Lexington, killing 53, and then turns to the Excalibur, killing all aboard and leaving her adrift. Commodore Wesley assumes that Kirk himself is responsible for the attacks, and requests permission from Starfleet Command to destroy the Enterprise. Daystrom, having indicated that the engrams he used were his own, believes he can reason with the M-5, but his conversation with the unit quickly degenerates into a self-pitying lament over his own career disappointments. McCoy warns Kirk that he sees a psychotic episode coming, and as Daystrom begins loudly to proclaim his and his creation's invincibility, Spock subdues him with a Vulcan nerve pinch. Kirk then tries to persuade the M-5 to stop its attacks. The M-5 acknowledges Kirk, who asks M-5 what its purpose is. M-5 responds that its purpose is to protect lives. Kirk rejoins that it acted contrary to its purpose by murdering people. M-5 acknowledges that it has committed murder and must therefore die, and shuts itself down. In so doing, it also cripples the Enterprise. Having received permission to destroy Enterprise, the other Federation ships close in. Since Scott is unable to restore communications immediately, Kirk decides to allow the ship to drift with shields down, hoping that Commodore Wesley will realize that the threat has passed. The gamble pays off as the Commodore orders his ships to stand down at the last moment. Production and reception In 2011, this episode was noted by Forbes as one of the top ten episodes of the franchise that explores the implications of advanced technology, in particular the danger of A.I. In 2016, SyFy ranked guest star William Marshall's performance as Dr. Daystrom as the 14th best guest star on the original series. The original draft was given to Ray Bradbury by mathematician and Star Trek fan Laurence Wolfe to give to Gene Roddenberry. Michelle Erica Green of Trek Today maintains that it is one of McCoy's best episodes and praises the episode for taking place entirely on the Enterprise. She states that the M-5 turns out to be one of Trek'''s best villains and that the analogy of computers taking over for humans is still powerful today. References External links "The Ultimate Computer" Review of the remastered episode at TrekMovie.com Star Trek: The Original Series (season 2) episodes 1968 American television episodes Television episodes about artificial intelligence Television episodes written by D. C. Fontana Films scored