Catspaw (Star Trek: The Original Series)

"Catspaw (Star Trek: The Original Series)"

"Catspaw" is an episode of the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #36, production #30, and was first broadcast October 27, 1967. It was repeated on May 24, 1968. It was written by Robert Bloch, and directed by Joseph Pevney. Its gothic horror elements are perhaps best explained by the proximity of the episode's release to Halloween.

Writer Robert Bloch based his teleplay very loosely on his short story "Broomstick Ride".[1]

Overview: Two powerful aliens threaten the well-being of the Enterprise and her crew.

Plot

On stardate 3018.2, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, explores the apparently lifeless planet Pyris VII. A landing team consisting of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, Lt. Hikaru Sulu, and crewmember Jackson, has been sent down to explore the surface. The ship soon loses contact with Scott and Sulu; however, Jackson transports back to the ship and falls dead. From his open mouth, his lifeless body emits an eerie voice telling Captain Kirk that the Enterprise is cursed, and must leave the planet immediately, or everyone will die.

Not willing to leave his men behind, Kirk beams down to the planet with Mr. Spock, and Dr. Leonard McCoy to search for the missing crewmen, leaving Lt. DeSalle and Chekov in charge of the ship. Exploring the mist-shrouded planet, they scan for life readings, picking up signals nearby. Walking in that direction, the landing party comes upon three apparitions that appear as witches, who warn the landing team not to proceed any further. The team ignores the warnings and comes upon what looks like a medieval castle.

Upon entering the castle, the landing party comes across a black cat which wears a sparkling diamond pendant, and then proceeds down a cobweb-draped hallway. Following the cat, the floor collapses below their feet, and the fall knocks them unconscious. They later come to, finding themselves held in irons, and locked in a dungeon. Scotty and Sulu soon arrive, but they appear as mindless zombies, controlled by some unseen force. The two take the landing party down from their shackles and begin to lead them away; however, Kirk puts up a fight and Spock and McCoy join him in trying to wrestle away Scotty's and Sulu's phasers.

The team finds themselves teleported to another part of the castle where they encounter the robed Korob, and his mysterious black cat whom he appears to consult for advice. Korob invites them to sit at his grand dining table. Spock questions Korob about why previous surveys of Pyris VII indicated no life on the planet. Korob replies that he is not a native of the planet. He waves his ornate sceptre and a large banquet seems to magically appear on the dining table, right before the seated crew, however the team indicates they are not hungry.

Korob then makes the food change into beautiful gemstones. He offers the stones to Kirk as payment, if he agrees to leave Pyris VII immediately and never return. Kirk declares that the gemstones are worthless to him, since he has the technological means to manufacture his own on the Enterprise if needed. He demands his crewmen be released first and then an explanation of what is going on.

Korob's cat leaves the room and Korob's beautiful colleague Sylvia soon appears. She wears an identical diamond pendant to the cat's around her neck. Kirk then wrests the phaser out of zombified Mr. Scott's hand, and points it at Korob demanding that Scott and Sulu be released. Sylvia then produces a silver chain, and dangling from it a miniature model of the Enterprise. She holds the ship over a lit candle, and like a voodoo doll, the crew of the real Enterprise begins to suffer from a rapid rise in hull temperature. Kirk reluctantly surrenders and offers to cooperate.

Not wishing any interference from the Enterprise, Korob places the "voodoo model" of the ship in a crystal cube, where the sensors aboard the real Enterprise show the ship to now be encased in an impenetrable force field. Kirk and Spock are led back to the dungeon, and McCoy is zombified like Scotty and Sulu. Meanwhile Sylvia mocks Korob for being afraid to use his powers in "playing" with the human specimens. Korob upbraids Sylvia for abusing her powers.

Sylvia takes an interest in Kirk and decides to learn more about human feelings and experiences. Kirk feigns romantic interest, promising to fulfill her desires and be her loyal servant. She responds by changing into three different but attractive forms to test his emotions. Kirk tries to subtly extract information from her while he has her charmed, and learns that Sylvia and her partner Korob are explorers, but not from this galaxy. They wield their incredible power through a device called a transmuter, which gives them control over matter. Sylvia soon figures out Kirk is just using her and becomes angry, sending him back to the dungeon.

Later, Korob comes to free Kirk and Spock, saying: “I’ve released the model of your ship from the crystal, although they would have freed themselves soon.” He urges Kirk and Spock to leave immediately, for he can no longer keep Sylvia under control. Sylvia discovers Korob's realignment, changes herself into a giant cat, and attacks him. Korob releases his scepter and Kirk picks it up, guessing it to be the transmuter. Kirk and Spock then fend off attacks from the zombified crewmen. As the giant cat threatens Kirk and Spock, Kirk calls out: “Sylvia, I have the transmuter; it’s mine now.” Sylvia changes back into a woman, and attempts to beguile Kirk. Spock tells Kirk not to let Sylvia touch the wand. Frustrated, Sylvia transports herself and Kirk away from the meddling Mr. Spock. She then tries to finagle the device away from Kirk. When that fails, she threatens him with a phaser, but Kirk smashes the transmuter right before her eyes.

Instantly, everything disappears, including the whole castle, and Sulu, Scotty and McCoy return to normal. Looking down at a nearby rock, Kirk spots two tiny creatures that appear to resemble blue and yellow stick bugs, Korob's and Sylvia's true form. Unable to survive without their transmuter, the two creatures soon die and disintegrate.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was remastered in 2006 and first aired October 26, 2006 as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded a week earlier by "Arena" and followed a week later by "The Trouble With Tribbles". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:

• The planet has been updated to look more realistic.
• When the landing party finds the castle, a more realistic castle matte backdrop has been added including realistic enhancements to the planet's sky. The original effect, showing the opening of a castle door and fog-shrouded moat below, is actually retained as part of the full castle.
• All original jump-cut transmuter effects have been smoothed and enhanced with an energy burst effect.
• The alien puppets have their strings removed.

External links

• Catspaw side-by-side comparisons
• Catspaw at StarTrek.com
• Catspaw at Memory Alpha