Star Trek (TV Series)

The Ultimate Computer (1968)

William Shatner: Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk

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Quotes 

• Captain James T. Kirk : Evaluation of M-5 performance. It'll be necessary for the log.

  Mr. Spock : The ship reacted more rapidly than human control could have maneuvered her. Tactics, deployment of weapons, all indicate an immense sophistication in computer control.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Machine over man, Spock? It was impressive. Might even be practical.

  Mr. Spock : Practical, Captain? Perhaps. But not desirable. Computers make excellent and efficient servants; but I have no wish to serve under them. Captain, a starship also runs on loyalty to one man, and nothing can replace it, or him.

• Captain James T. Kirk : Do you know the one, "All I ask is a tall ship"?

  Dr. McCoy : It's a line from a poem. A very old poem, isn't it?

  Captain James T. Kirk : 20th-century Earth. "All I... ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by." You... you could feel the wind at your back in those days. The sounds of the sea beneath you. And... even if you take away the wind and the... water, it's still the same. The ship is yours. You can feel her. And the stars are still there, Bones.

• Mr. Spock : Commodore Wesley is a dedicated commander. I should regret serving aboard the instrument of his death.

  Captain James T. Kirk : The instrument of his death will not be the Enterprise if I can help it.

• Captain James T. Kirk : Am I afraid of losing command to a computer? Daystrom was right. I can do a lot of other things. Am I afraid of losing the prestige and the power that goes with being a starship captain? Is that why I'm fighting it? Am I that petty?

  Dr. McCoy : Jim, if you have the awareness to ask yourself that question, you don't need me to answer it for you. Why don't you ask James T. Kirk? He's a pretty honest guy.

• Captain James T. Kirk : You know, I have... I have never felt this way before - at odds with... the ship. I sat there and watched my ship perform for a mass of circuits and relays, and felt... useless. Unneeded. To Captain Dunsel.

  Dr. McCoy : To James T. Kirk, Captain of the Enterprise.

• Dr. Richard Daystrom : M-5 is ready to take control of the ship.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Total control?

  Dr. Richard Daystrom : That is what it was designed for, Captain.

  Captain James T. Kirk : There are certain things men must do to remain men. Your computer would take that away.

  Dr. Richard Daystrom : There are other things a man like you might do. Or perhaps you object to the possible loss of the prestige and the ceremony accorded a starship captain. A computer can do your job and without all that.

  Captain James T. Kirk : You'll have to prove that to me, Doctor.

• Captain James T. Kirk : [about Dr. Daystrom]  At the age of twenty-four, he made the duotronic breakthrough that won him the Nobel and Zee-Magnees prizes.

  Dr. McCoy : In his early twenties, Jim. That's over a quarter of a century ago.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Isn't that enough for one lifetime?

  Dr. McCoy : Maybe that's the trouble. Where do you go from up? You publish articles, you give lectures, then you spend the rest of your life trying to recapture past glory.

  Captain James T. Kirk : All right, it's difficult. What's your point?

  Dr. McCoy : The M-1 through M-4, remember? Not entirely successful. That's the way Daystrom put it.

  Captain James T. Kirk : But a genius doesn't work on an assembly line basis. Did Einstein, Kazanga, or... or Sitar of Vulcan produce new and revolutionary theories on a regular schedule? You can't simply say, "Today I will be brilliant". No matter how long it took, he came out with multitronics - The M-5.

  Dr. McCoy : Right. The government bought it, then Daystrom had to make it work; and he did. But according to Spock, it works illogically.

  Captain James T. Kirk : And he won't let Spock near it. What're you saying - that he's... tampering with it, that he's making it act that way? Why?

  Dr. McCoy : Jim, if a man had a child who'd gone antisocial - killed, perhaps - he'd still tend to protect that child.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Now he's got you talking about that machine like a personality.

  Dr. McCoy : I'm afraid that's the way *he* thinks about it.

• Uhura : Sir, sensors are picking up four Federation starships. M-5 is altering course to intercept.

  Captain James T. Kirk : The main attack force. The war games.

  Dr. McCoy : But M-5 doesn't know it's a game.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Correction, Bones. Those four ships don't know it's M-5's game. And M-5 is going to destroy them.

• Captain James T. Kirk : The M-5 must be destroyed.

  Dr. Richard Daystrom : [distressed]  Destroyed, Kirk? No. We're invincible. Look what we've done: your mighty starships - four toys to be crushed as we choose!

• Captain James T. Kirk : There were many men aboard those ships. They were murdered. Must you survive by murder?

  M-5 : This unit cannot murder.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Why?

  M-5 : Murder is contrary to the laws of man and God.

  Captain James T. Kirk : But you HAVE murdered. Scan the starship Excalibur, which you destroyed. Is there life aboard?

  M-5 : No life.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Because you MURDERED it. What is the penalty for murder?

  M-5 : Death.

  Captain James T. Kirk : And how will you pay for your acts of murder?

  M-5 : This - unit - must - die.

• Captain James T. Kirk : [broadcasting on intership communications]  This is the Captain speaking. In approximately one minute, we'll be attacked by Federation starships. The M-5 no longer controls the ship, but then neither we control it. The M-5 has left itself, and us, open for destruction. For whatever satisfaction we may get from the knowledge, our nineteen lives will buy the survival of over one thousand of our fellow starship crewmen.

• Captain James T. Kirk : [after M-5 has disintegrated a crew member]  That wasn't a minor difficulty. That wasn't a robot. That thing murdered one of my crewmen and now you tell me you can't turn it off?

  Dr. Richard Daystrom : It wasn't a deliberate act. M-5's analysis told it it needed a new power source. The ensign... simply got in the way.

  Captain James T. Kirk : And how long will it be before all of us simply get in the way?

• Wesley : Have you heard of the M-5 multitronic unit?

  Captain James T. Kirk : That's, uh... Dr. Richard Daystrom's device, isn't it? Tell me about that.

  Mr. Spock : The most ambitious computer complex ever created. Its purpose is to correlate all computer activity aboard a starship, to provide the ultimate in vessel operation and control.

  Wesley : How do you know so much about it, Commander?

  Mr. Spock : I hold an A-7 computer expert classification, Commodore. I'm well acquainted with Dr. Daystrom's theories and discoveries. The basic design of all our ship's computers are Dr. Daystrom's.

• Captain James T. Kirk : M-5 is an honor, they tell me. Well, I'm honored.

• Captain James T. Kirk : What are you doing here, Bones?

  Dr. McCoy : Well, all the sickbay systems are shut down until such time as the M-5 is informed there are patients to be cared for.

• Captain James T. Kirk : I think that thing is wrong, and I don't know why.

  Dr. McCoy : Well, I think it's wrong, too, replacing men with mindless machines.

  Captain James T. Kirk : [touches back of neck]  No, no, no, I don't mean that. I'm getting a... red alert right here. That thing is dangerous.

• [M-5 has destroyed an unmanned ore freighter in an unprovoked attack] 

  Captain James T. Kirk : Disengage the computer. Lieutenant, contact Starfleet Command. Tell them we are breaking off M-5 tests and returning to the space station. Come along, Dr. Daystrom. M-5 is out of a job!

• Wesley : Dr. Daystrom will see to the installation himself and he'll supervise the tests. When he's ready, you'll receive your orders and proceed on the mission with a crew of twenty.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Twenty? I can't run a starship with twenty crew.

  Wesley : The M-5 can.

  Captain James T. Kirk : And what am I supposed to do?

  Wesley : You've got a great job, Jim. All you have to do is sit back and let the machine do the work.