Catspaw
- Episode aired Oct 27, 1967
- TV-PG
- 50m
Very alien visitors to our galaxy attempt to connect with human consciousness but miss, winding up tapping into the regions of human nightmares instead.Very alien visitors to our galaxy attempt to connect with human consciousness but miss, winding up tapping into the regions of human nightmares instead.Very alien visitors to our galaxy attempt to connect with human consciousness but miss, winding up tapping into the regions of human nightmares instead.
- Korob
- (as Theo Marcuse)
- DeSalle
- (as Mike Barrier)
- Crewman Jackson
- (as Jimmy Jones)
- Lieutenant Hadley
- (uncredited)
- Yeoman
- (uncredited)
- Lieutenant Leslie
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Gene Roddenberry
- Robert Bloch
- D.C. Fontana(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe voices of the little creatures in the final scene are the sounds made by newly-hatched alligators calling for their mother.
- GoofsThe initial landing party makes no sense. Kirk almost always leads the landing party himself. The planet is seemingly uninhabited and has sparse plant life. If he doesn't go himself, he would send Spock with a team of professional scientists with a heavy concentration in geology and meteorology. Instead, Kirk sends an engineer, an amateur botanist, and a command-track officer. Not a blueshirt in the bunch.
- Quotes
First Witch: Wind shall rise.
Second Witch: And fog descend.
Third Witch: So leave here, all, or meet your end.
[wailing witches cackle and vanish]
Captain James T. Kirk: Spock. Comment.
Mr. Spock: Very bad poetry, Captain.
Captain James T. Kirk: A more useful comment, Mr. Spock.
Mr. Spock: What we've just seen is not real.
Captain James T. Kirk: That's useful.
- Alternate versionsSpecial Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song. Highlights include a wider establishing shot showing the entire castle, not just the front door.
- ConnectionsEdited from Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966)
We're treated to some tongue in cheek spookiness in the opening. Was it done intentionally? I'm not sure. There may have been a sincere attempt to create an atmosphere of horror, but it doesn't come off very well. Which may call into question the sincerity of the effort, but then one realizes that the lack of horror and fright is intentional because of the episode's primary focus.
The astute classic Trek aficionado will recall the real chills delivered in the "Wolf in the Fold" episode, nor the scary tension of "Dagger of the Mind". The production team at Desilu was more than capable of presenting frights in the context of a Star Trek episode, so why wasn't it done here? One must keep in mind that the thrust of this episode is the unavailability of a physical reality to the antagonists. This is part of the puzzle. It is essentially both plot and theme.
And here in lies another layer, and, perhaps, one that pokes fun at the material woman who marries a man for the riches he can garnish via whatever ability he has, and not for love. We're shown the material-girl in all her essence. Captain James T. Kirk takes a page out of the Sean Connery's James Bond, and gives as good as he takes from a woman who seeks more of what she already has, but who has sacrificed true emotional satiation for material gain. Kirk shows Sylvia her own folly, and the true value of her own worth and what he thinks of her.
Sylvia invokes her wrath, but Kirk counters with Star Fleet training and his own patented Promethian approach to counter her attacks. Even at the moment of truth Sylvia cannot help but see an opening for gain. Even when Kirk tries to give her another chance, she is relentless in her pursuit of gain. A high tech grifter with supernatural appetites and abilities.
It is fitting that both Sylvia and Korob are exposed for the weak transparencies that they really are. Perhaps a comment on true fear, and what really frightens us; not any manifestation of danger, but what we imagine might be the danger. It is in this vein that the scare factor is kept to a minimum to drive home a larger theme.
The episode is not one of the more sterling in terms of production values, but it is worth a look. The closing SFX shot is somewhat fitting.
Give it a shot.
- Blueghost
- Jun 25, 2009
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