“The Ultimate Computer,” possibly the last great TOS episode put on film

Well, that’s a provocative take! What about “Day of the Dove” and “The Enterprise Incident”?

RIP

Linus, I’m so sorry for your loss. : (

I recall hearing on NPR, I think, that most physicians die at home—in contrast to the general population—and in a survey, the majority of physicians, if given a cancer diagnosis, would opt for minimal and palliative care over aggressive treatment after the age of 75. I think it’s a quality versus quantity calculation. But of course they’re also a bit more inured to death, given their occupation.

I told my wife about his passing today, we agreed, not for the first time after seeing friends go through it, no treatment for us if we get that diagnosis. We spend our money, travel and party until we’re done. I can’t imagine the 13 months Coto went through. RIP.

I was convinced.

Not saying JML was going to be another Coon – level performer, but most of what he was responsible for was pretty watchable and rewatchable.

Also always thought he should have used the WGA to go after a piece of the TMP pie, given how close the “carbon units being patterned for data storage” was to Nomad’s directive to ‘sterilize imperfections.’

Indeed; my grandfather died of it 25 years ago this year, aged 74. I was in college, but somehow doesn’t seem that long ago. It’s definitely fresh in my memory.

Any kind of cancer just sucks! My dad died from pancreatic cancer 15 years ago at age 65 years old

Enterprise became much more focused in season three when Coto came onboard. The Xindi arc isn’t popular with everyone, but I really liked it. That lead to a unique season four that is made up of several discrete stories told in two and three episode arcs with an underlying arc about the founding of the Federation.

“But when I finally got back into Enterprise and made it to the much talked about fourth season, I finally understood why others loved it so much. He brought new life into that show.”

And new civilizations?

I heard, though, that Manny Coto’s season 4 was wonderful, and, after rewatching a lot of Quantum Leap with my kids, I’m interested in checking Enterprise out.

In any case, I’d like to offer my condolences and prayers (if Manny, an atheist, is ok with that), to Mr. Coto’s family. I lost my dad to salivary glad cancer over a couple of years ago and it was … truly horrible. So much blood, despair, and pain over four years. And, before that, my beloved mom-in-law to lung cancer, though she had never ever smoked). It’s horrible to see a love one suffer like this, knowing there’s nothing more you can do. Again, my thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Coto’s loved ones, both family and friends.

I’d say that when it comes to naming those who literally “rescued” the franchise at a moment when it might well have imploded and faded away once and for all, Michael Piller’s name belongs right alongside that of Gene Coon and Nicholas Meyer. I was glad to have been given the opportunity to attend his memorial service, as a way of showing my appreciation for his efforts.

He wrote “The Changeling” and “Elaan of Troyius,” but will probably be best remembered for directing “The Ultimate Computer,” possibly the last great TOS episode put on film. Lucas wanted to take over Gene Coon’s spot as producer after Coon quit, but Roddenberry was never convinced he had the chops for it.

Yes, I agree that his work in the 3rd season of Enterprise was very good, even though many fans say the fourth season was the best. The Zindi serial storyline was actually quite good, but I have to concur, Coto’s Similtude was an outstanding standalone episode (probably a top 5 in the series). It told Trip’s backstory and revealed more of the relationship with T’Pol despite him being in sickbay throughout the episode.

It also demonstrated you can have a season-long story arc, but you can still take a break and tell a great character building separate science fiction story within that structure. Something that Discovery really struggled to do, with a few exceptions like Adira’s Trill backstory and Georgiou’s meeting with the Guardian of Forever.

RIP Manny and condolences to his family and friends.

John Meredith Lucas was a producer of TOS’s second season. and he wrote and directed several episodes of that show.

The first one I thought of is Dorothy Fontana, who likewise left impossibly large footprints on the franchise.

I’m assuming Altman wasn’t intentionally slighting these others, though, just responding in the moment and forgetting the other titans whose passing came between Piller’s and Coto’s.

Truly a visionary with great respect for what came before in Trek lore. A great loss.

He made Enterprise appointment viewing.

I’ve never heard of John Meredith Lucas but didn’t know Peter Alan fields died..one of the things I find saddest is all those ppl who KNEW HIM PERSONALLY and WORKED with him probably didn’t know he died until after the fact and weren’t there when he died or said goodbye to him..yet they are perhaps regarded as friends..it’s kind of a crock..we are SO alone in this life and most ppl we meet even friends will not truly know us..how am I I supposed to find thst depressing and go on..Gene Rod#enberry was right when he said In a way we are all aliens on this planet and are lucky if we make one or two connections that are real..how am I supposed to go on and have hope after losing so much of my.famoly.given that is reality

Say what you want about that show, but effectively we got 3 superb Star Trek TV movies in that final season.

That was the LAST time anyone made great TREK on TV

Accepting it in the vein it was offered is fine.

When I’m being an @$$hole, I will. And have.

His Odyssey 5 was an intriguing show about five astronauts on the space shuttle when Earth suddenly vaporizes. They get sent back in time five years to figure out why the Earth got destroyed and to prevent it. Unfortunately the show was cancelled after two seasons with the plot unresolved. Coto said that he wanted to finish it up somehow (a novel maybe?), but sadly that will now never happen.

Feel free to edit your own work, not mine. Thanks.

Probably just based on him having personal relationships with both Piller & Coto (Piller a longstanding professional one based on his Trek reporting days, Coto one of peers as both were contemporaries of TV showrunning)

Edit: He really got it. Rest in peace.

There’ll be plenty of other threads to take shots at current management.

But when I finally got back into Enterprise and made it to the much talked about fourth season, I finally understood why others loved it so much. He brought new life into that show. But I actually loved a lot of his stories in third season like Similitude (still one of the best Star Trek episodes, period IMO), Chosen Realm and Azati Prime. But he did such amazing work in season four and still one of my favorite seasons of Star Trek to this day. I always wished he would come back to helm one of the newer shows too but he left an indelible mark on Star Trek for me and many fans in the last twenty years.

RIP!