Walter Koenig puts out a Star Trek trope that is “repeated again and again,” especially by Star Trek: The Original Series. Koenig played Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek, a role he reprised in 7 Star Trek movies. Although Chekov wasn’t in Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 3, “The Changeling”, he reviewed the episode on The 7th Rule podcast with hosts Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk. None of them had seen “The Changeling” before reviewing it for their Star Trek podcast.

In Star Trek: The Original Series‘ “The Changeling,” the crew of the USS Enterprise encounters Nomad, an Earth space probe that was reprogrammed and has returned to find its “creator” and wipe out “biological infestations”, i.e. organic life forms. Walter Koenig is no fan of the episode, and he points out the plot is one that Star Trek has done multiple times. Read his quote and watch The 7th Rule video below:

It’s almost prototypically science fiction. The driving force is a premise that has been used again and again. And I can even name you Star Trek episodes, including even V’Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. There was always that sense of some force behind the scenes that is organizing the world, and structuring it, in charge. One of the things that occurs is that if you want to get rid of it, you confuse it. We did that in “I, Mudd” when we all started dancing. We did it here, and [Nomad] goes a little nuts. So it’s an exercise that is repeated again and again in science fiction.

Star Trek’s Repeated Trope Against A.I. Explained

The recycled plot still appears but differently in new Star Trek shows

As Walter Koenig pointed out, the plot of Star Trek: The Original Series‘ “The Changeling” is similar to the story of V’Ger returning to find its creator in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Both Star Trek tales centered on an Earth space probe that is rebuilt by aliens and travels back to Earth to find answers. Given the limited TV production budgets of the 1960s Star Trek, and the desire for a more profound science fiction story to build the first Star Trek movie around, recycling the plot of the USS Enterprise crew overcoming a superior technological threat by confusing it with their own humanity made sense for that era.

Modern Star Trek TV shows still depict dangerous A.I. threats, but the way to overcome them tends to lean more toward action. Star Trek: Discovery season 2’s villain was a malevolent A.I. called Control that was defeated by an eye-popping outer space battle and the USS Discovery jumping 930 years into the future. Star Trek: Picard season 1 also introduced an inorganic species from another galaxy that was foiled by closing up a portal. Of course, Starfleet has always needed to be creative to defeat the overwhelming threat of the Borg. As Walter Keonig asserts, Star Trek does tend to repeat the same basic story again and again.