Star Trek: 10 Times Captains Lost Control
9. Commodore Decker Takes On The Planet Killer
The Doomsday Machine remains one of the best episodes of the Original Series, mixing drama with action in a way that few of the other episodes ever really managed. The threat of the Planet Killer is akin to the threat of the shark from Jaws - it is seemingly unstoppable, simply devouring what it can.
The USS Constellation engages the machine and is almost blasted to pieces by the far superior entity. Commodore Matt Decker, in a bid to save his crew, beams them down to a planet's surface, intending to simply risk his own life by attacking with the damaged Constellation.
He then watches in horror as his crew are consumed while the machine destroys the world he set them down on, snapping his grasp on reality. He is lost aboard the wreck of his once proud ship, only to be later rescued by the USS Enterprise.
In the Enterprise, he sees the one thing he wants more than anything else: Revenge. The Enterprise is fully powered and he feels that he can engage the machine in a matched fight, though quickly discovers he has hopelessly underestimated it, narrowly avoiding destruction again.
As a desperate final act, he steaks a shuttle and flies directly toward the gaping mouth of the machine. Kirk tries to convince him to turn back but it is useless. With a final scream of terror, Decker is consumed by the planet killer as the shuttle explodes within.
While he made the ultimate sacrifice, it was enough to give the Enterprise the clues it needed to destroy the machine.