"Catspaw"
"Catspaw"
The Enterprise is in orbit of planet Pyris VII, where a landing party mission has gone horribly wrong. One of the landing party members beams aboard, clearly dead, turned into a mannequin of sorts, with a warning of death for Kirk and his crew. Sulu and Scotty, who were also part of the landing party, are missing. Kirk beams down with Spock and Bones, encountering three floating witch heads, which appear to be the witches from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” Undaunted, the trio continue looking for their crewmembers when they encounter a castle in the gothic tradition. They enter and find Scotty and Sulu, transformed into “zombies.” The whole operation is being run by two aliens, Korob and Sylvia, who hail from another dimension but who have assumed human form. Sylvia clearly wears the pants in the family and uses supernatural devices in an attempt to hopefully frighten the Enterprise crew. Spock is unaffected by the black cats and other magic, including a miniature version of the Enterprise that Sylvia uses in a Voodoo doll fashion. Kirk deduces the source of the aliens’ power, and eventually defeats them. They appear in their true forms as tiny little creatures no bigger than a foot high, and are then killed by the planet’s atmosphere. Sulu and Scotty are freed from the “spell,” and the crew’s “Halloween” adventure is over.
Story
Well, I gotta be honest here. In all Star Trek series, there remains one universal constant: some episodes are so bad, they can only be watched once. “Catspaw” is one of those episodes, at least to me. I watched “Catspaw” twice, once during the inaugural marathon of The Trektastic Voyage, and again when the remastered version of the episode was released the weekend before Halloween. That was one more time than I needed to watch this episode, so I didn’t re-watch it when it appeared on the schedule for TTV.
It’s not that this is a terrible episode, it’s just that it’s dwarfed by the giants that are other second season episodes. It’s not particularly important in Trek lore, nor is it really trying to say anything new or of particular interest. It was originally intended as Trek’s Halloween episode, and that’s all it is, with a few tricks but not many treats. It has some decent SFX and a few humorous moments, but that’s all. It seems there are a few similarities in setting and tone to “The Squire of Gothos,” but Trelane’s personality and charm bring depth and energy to that episode. There’s nothing in “Catspaw” to do the same.
Action
There’s action to be had in “Catspaw,” but not much. A giant black cat threatens to uh, well, look menacing and growl, there are some crumbling floors and the aliens’ have that power wand thing.
Performances
It’s hard to say without researching it, but I think the regulars are king of just phoning this one in. And with good reason, as they’re not given much to do here. Takei and Doohan spent most of the time playing silent roles as zombies, and Shatner gets the most time interacting with Nimoy and Kelley, as well as his romancing with the actress who plays Sylvia. I’m sure the cast had fun doing the episode, but it doesn’t show in the final product.
Trektastic Moments
Probably the only moment worthy of note here is the scene where Kirk and Spock are hanging from manacles in the “dungeon.” Kirk turns to look for McCoy and says “Bones,” only to turn and find exactly that: a skeleton in the manacles where McCoy had been earlier. The scene should be hilarious, and it is a laugh out loud moment, but for some reason, Kirk doesn’t make a joke about it to diffuse the situation, which would have led to some banter with Spock, i.e., humor. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. Overall
Overall
If this episode would have had the characters having a little more fun with the situation, it might be a better one, but they’re all as gloomy as the castle and other Halloween surroundings. A solid D for “Catspaw.”
The episode’s title card.
All those times the safety of the Enterprise was hanging by a thread. Here, the Enterprise itself is hanging by a chain, Star Trek's version of the Voodoo doll.
Kirk turns to look for “Bones,” but finds some other bones entirely. A moment that should’ve been played with much more comedy.
Sylvia and Korob in their true forms. Is it just me, or do they look like catnip chew toys for cats? Kina ironic, given the title of the episode.
The Enterprise is in orbit of planet Pyris VII, where a landing party mission has gone horribly wrong. One of the landing party members beams aboard, clearly dead, turned into a mannequin of sorts, with a warning of death for Kirk and his crew. Sulu and Scotty, who were also part of the landing party, are missing. Kirk beams down with Spock and Bones, encountering three floating witch heads, which appear to be the witches from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” Undaunted, the trio continue looking for their crewmembers when they encounter a castle in the gothic tradition. They enter and find Scotty and Sulu, transformed into “zombies.” The whole operation is being run by two aliens, Korob and Sylvia, who hail from another dimension but who have assumed human form. Sylvia clearly wears the pants in the family and uses supernatural devices in an attempt to hopefully frighten the Enterprise crew. Spock is unaffected by the black cats and other magic, including a miniature version of the Enterprise that Sylvia uses in a Voodoo doll fashion. Kirk deduces the source of the aliens’ power, and eventually defeats them. They appear in their true forms as tiny little creatures no bigger than a foot high, and are then killed by the planet’s atmosphere. Sulu and Scotty are freed from the “spell,” and the crew’s “Halloween” adventure is over.
Story
Well, I gotta be honest here. In all Star Trek series, there remains one universal constant: some episodes are so bad, they can only be watched once. “Catspaw” is one of those episodes, at least to me. I watched “Catspaw” twice, once during the inaugural marathon of The Trektastic Voyage, and again when the remastered version of the episode was released the weekend before Halloween. That was one more time than I needed to watch this episode, so I didn’t re-watch it when it appeared on the schedule for TTV.
It’s not that this is a terrible episode, it’s just that it’s dwarfed by the giants that are other second season episodes. It’s not particularly important in Trek lore, nor is it really trying to say anything new or of particular interest. It was originally intended as Trek’s Halloween episode, and that’s all it is, with a few tricks but not many treats. It has some decent SFX and a few humorous moments, but that’s all. It seems there are a few similarities in setting and tone to “The Squire of Gothos,” but Trelane’s personality and charm bring depth and energy to that episode. There’s nothing in “Catspaw” to do the same.
Action
There’s action to be had in “Catspaw,” but not much. A giant black cat threatens to uh, well, look menacing and growl, there are some crumbling floors and the aliens’ have that power wand thing.
Performances
It’s hard to say without researching it, but I think the regulars are king of just phoning this one in. And with good reason, as they’re not given much to do here. Takei and Doohan spent most of the time playing silent roles as zombies, and Shatner gets the most time interacting with Nimoy and Kelley, as well as his romancing with the actress who plays Sylvia. I’m sure the cast had fun doing the episode, but it doesn’t show in the final product.
Trektastic Moments
Probably the only moment worthy of note here is the scene where Kirk and Spock are hanging from manacles in the “dungeon.” Kirk turns to look for McCoy and says “Bones,” only to turn and find exactly that: a skeleton in the manacles where McCoy had been earlier. The scene should be hilarious, and it is a laugh out loud moment, but for some reason, Kirk doesn’t make a joke about it to diffuse the situation, which would have led to some banter with Spock, i.e., humor. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. Overall
Overall
If this episode would have had the characters having a little more fun with the situation, it might be a better one, but they’re all as gloomy as the castle and other Halloween surroundings. A solid D for “Catspaw.”
The episode’s title card.
All those times the safety of the Enterprise was hanging by a thread. Here, the Enterprise itself is hanging by a chain, Star Trek's version of the Voodoo doll.
Kirk turns to look for “Bones,” but finds some other bones entirely. A moment that should’ve been played with much more comedy.
Sylvia and Korob in their true forms. Is it just me, or do they look like catnip chew toys for cats? Kina ironic, given the title of the episode.
posted by Christopher at 7:20 AM
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