Warning: contains spoilers forStar Trek: Defiant#26!
For the first time in over 30 years,Star Trekhas brought a powerful doomsday weapon back into continuity. In its five decades of existence, theStar Trekfranchise has featured some truly terrifying weapons, ones that make the blood run cold. Of all these devices,one ranks far above the rest: “the Doomsday Machine,” and it returns, sort of, inStar Trek: Defiant#26.
Star Trek: Defiant#26 was written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Davide Tinto. The issue, part three ofThe Lore War,offers insight into Lore’s “menagerie,” where he keeps “anomalies” and “incongruities.” A text piece in the issue offers a breakdown of what exactly is in the menagerie. One of them is the “engineer of pre-galactic ‘Doomsday Machines.’” There is only one engineer in the menagerie, but it has proven to be resistant to all forms of torture and information extraction.
“The Doomsday Machine” Is One ofStar Trek’sGreatest Episodes
The Doomsday Machine Has Captured the Imagination ofStar TrekFans
The reference to a “Doomsday Machine” will be familiar to longtimeStar Trekfans, as it is a reference to one of the very best episodes in the entire franchise. In the classicStar Trek’ssecond season, Kirk and theEnterpriseencountered a mysterious device that sliced up planets and consumed them for fuel. Spock christened it “the Doomsday Machine,” and the crew proceeded to find a way to stop it. Kirk and company narrowly defeated the Doomsday Machine, and its fate after the episode ended is unknown.
The episode “The Doomsday Machine” was written by noted science fiction novelist Norman Spinrad.
While the fate of the Doomsday Machine was never revealed on-screen, the novels picked its story up. Published in 1990 and written byTrekand comics scribe Peter David,Vendetta,aStar Trek: The Next Generationnovel, followed up on “The Doomsday Machine”, telling its origins in the process. According toVendetta,the Doomsday Machine was created by the Preservers as an anti-Borg weapon, and there was more than one. A renegade El-Aurian, a race whowas destroyed by the Borg, found the prototype of the Doomsday Machine and used it for its intended purpose.
Vendettafeatured some deep-cut elements from across theStar Trekuniverse, namely the aforementioned Preservers. Much like the Doomsday Machine, the Preservers were introduced in the classicStar Trek, in the third season episode “The Paradise Syndrome.” One of the oldest races in the galaxy, the Preservers traveled the cosmos, seeding various worlds with life. In the episode, Kirk and company found a colony of Indigenous people in a distant world, having been moved there by the Preservers centuries prior. Just like the Doomsday Machine, the Preservers were never followed up on-screen.
Star TrekMay Never Follow Up “The Doomsday Machine” On-Screen
Yet theStar TrekComics and Novels Have Followed Up on the Doomsday Machine
The text piece inStar Trek: Defiant#26 subtly acknowledges the events ofVendetta.Much like “The Doomsday Machine” is considered a classicStar Trekepisode,Vendettais a highly regarded novel.Vendettais a tense and gripping read, one with non-stop action, high stakes and numerous Easter Eggs. While certain elements ofVendettahave been rendered out of canon by later television shows and movies, the origin it provided for the Doomsday Machine does not contradict established lore.Defiant’stext piece also acknowledgesVendetta’srevelation that there is more than one Doomsday Machine too.
This is good news for theStar Trekuniverse, for the idea of Lore having access to a Doomsday Machine is a terrifying prospect.
Now, with theStar Trekuniverse consumed byThe Lore War,the Doomsday Machines make their return, in a fashion. Lore has only captured one of the Doomsday Machine builders, and fortunately not one of the Machines themselves. The Preserverin Lore’s Menagerie has also resistedthe android’s brutal and no doubt violent attempts to obtain information, a testament to the utterly alien nature of the species. This is good news for theStar Trekuniverse, for the idea of Lore having access to a Doomsday Machine is a terrifying prospect.
