

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

The Enterprise crew finds witches, black cats, and haunted castles on a distant planet.

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Summary

Teaser

A landing party of Sulu, Scott, and Crewman Jackson on Pyris VII is overdue for a routine check-in, when Jackson finally answers the USS Enterprise's urgent hails. His disconcerting message: one to beam up. And, when Jackson is beamed aboard by Kyle, he materializes on the transporter pad and he immediately falls down to the floor, dead. But from his dead lips a sonorous voice tells Captain Kirk that his ship is cursed; he must leave or all will die.

Act One

"Captain's log, stardate 3018.2. Crewman Jackson is dead… and there are no apparent physical causes. Mr. Scott and Mr. Sulu are still out of touch on the planet below. Leaving Assistant Chief Engineer DeSalle in command of the Enterprise, I'm beaming down to the planet's surface to find my two missing crewmen… and discover what killed Jackson."

With two crewmen missing and a mysterious death, Kirk doesn't plan to leave just yet. He organizes a second landing party: himself, Spock, and Doctor McCoy. They beam to the point from which Jackson was beamed up. There, Kirk intends to discover what happened to his missing men, and what killed Jackson.

The planet is fogbound, something extremely unlikely given the environmental conditions, as there are no cloud formations or bodies of water on the planet. Proceeding towards a reading of nearby lifeforms, the landing party encounters three witches; the spectral hags again warn Kirk to leave. Winds and fog try to thwart the landing party, but they eventually discover a large castle – the source of the lifeform readings. Entering the castle, they find a black cat and identify all the iconography of old Earth tales.

On the bridge of the Enterprise, Ensign Chekov reports to assistant chief engineer DeSalle that the landing party's lifeform readings are the only ones on the planet. As the landing party entered the castle, he then says they have simply stopped registering. DeSalle asks Chekov to check the scanning equipment for malfunctions but Chekov already has – the equipment is functioning perfectly. DeSalle then orders Chekov to recalibrate the scanners.

The landing party explores the castle further and falls through the floor, plunging them down to a dungeon chamber, and unconsciousness.

Act Two

Awakening, the landing party discovers they are chained. Scott and Sulu appear, and Kirk is at first relieved to see his missing men. Then he realizes they're marching to someone else's drum: alive, but unresponsive and no longer allies. The two enthralled men free Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, and herd them towards the door at phaser point; a brief scuffle is halted when all the men are suddenly – elsewhere, in the presence of a strange robed man.

This is Korob, decked out in wizard's finery, with robe, wand, and black cat. Spock's comment that mapping expeditions have not discovered lifeforms on Pyris VII wrings a small truth from Korob – that he is not native to this world. Korob first plies the crew with food and drink, then with fortunes in gemstones. All to get them to leave, without asking more questions. But Kirk tells Korob he could manufacture such stones by the ton on his ship; they're valueless, a fact that conflicts with whatever research Korob has done. Korob then reveals that the events were staged to test the landing party. He has learned they are loyal, brave, and incorruptible.

Sylvia enters. She tells Kirk that she can read and control the minds of men. Spock states that it must be Telepathy and Sylvia says "not entirely," and explains that telepathy is only a part of what she does. Kirk briefly overpowers Scott, seizing his phaser, and when he refuses to return it, Sylvia reveals another skill: she can perform sympathetic magic. She admits that she thought of Jackson in her mind, and when she killed the image and knew it was dead, so was the real Jackson. A small model of the Enterprise, held in the flame of a candle – and the real ship, orbiting above, begins to grow hot. Chekov reports to DeSalle that the temperature has jumped sixty degrees in just thirty seconds. "We're burning up, sir," he states.

Act Three

Seizing Sylvia's arm, Kirk removes the model from the flame, and the Enterprise from danger. Kirk tries to surmise how they are able to do all of this and says "You seem to do with your mind, what we do with tools. You alter matter and move it about by Telekinesis." Korob begins to answer saying "Yes we can change…" when Sylvia cuts him off, stating that he talks too much. When Kirk suggests that landing parties will soon appear, Korob seals the model in a block – and above, the ship is suddenly surrounded by a force field unlike anything ever encountered, a field that doesn't come from anywhere, but just… is.

On the Enterprise, Chekov cannot analyze it. DeSalle orders Chekov to attempt to puncture the force field.

Kirk and Spock are returned to the dungeon, while McCoy remains with Sylvia, who intends to question him. Kirk and Spock spend some time speculating about Sylvia and Korob, and Kirk decides they must be stopped. Their questions and interest seems to him a little too sinister. McCoy eventually returns, though he has been taken control of by Sylvia. He, Sulu, and Scott take Kirk to Sylvia.

Meanwhile, Sylvia and Korob argue. Sylvia likes her new sensations, and it's obvious that the interest goes further than their original plan. Wherever these aliens call home, they have nothing like them – and she intends to remain here. Korob reminds her they have a duty to the Old Ones, a fact she considers unimportant in light of her new infatuation.

Kirk is returned to Sylvia's presence, where he learns she is infatuated with him, as well. She reveals her plan: to dispose of Korob and join with Kirk. But Kirk is using her, gaining answers through manipulation. Among other things, he learns that the transmuter is the key to her power, a mechanism that facilitates the actualization of thought. But she discovers the deception, and has McCoy, Scott, and Sulu haul Kirk back to his cell.

On the Enterprise, Chekov reports that they had an effect on the force field, identifying a small electrical field as a start.

Korob finds Kirk and Spock; he reveals he has released the Enterprise, and he releases them. He also reveals that he can no longer control Sylvia or her pawns, and that he considers her dangerously irrational. He is regretful, offering his opinion that their visit could have been a peaceful one. Time presses, and he cannot explain in detail; instead, he urges the men out of their cell, where they again encounter the black cat – now grown to enormous size.

Act Four

The men are forced to retreat back into their cell, where they attempt to escape through the ceiling. The cat forces the door of the cell, however, crushing Korob. Kirk now has an opportunity to retrieve the wand.

Escaping through the ceiling, Kirk and Spock are confronted by their own enthralled crew, and a brief scuffle ends with Sylvia's pawns out of action, and the reappearance of the cat, as well as Sylvia. The wand Kirk has retrieved is the transmuter, and Sylvia wants it very badly. She transports Kirk away from Spock into the main hall and tells him to give her the transmuter. She informs him that she has a less powerful, and simpler mechanism; that it's Korob's wand which holds the key to their power. Sylvia is reluctant to simply seize the device from Kirk, despite her contention that he does not know how to use it.

Finally, she threatens Kirk with a phaser, demanding the wand. Kirk responds by shattering the wand, an act that undoes everything… almost everything. At the landing party's feet, two small aliens wither and fall. Deprived of their transmuter, Sylvia and Korob have resumed their real forms, and are as Sylvia described them: feathers in the wind, a life form that is totally alien to their universe. They quickly perish, and both landing parties return to the Enterprise.

Memorable quotes

"Captain Kirk! Can you hear me? There is a curse on your ship. Leave this place, or you will all… die!"

- Jackson's mouth speaking in Korob's voice warning Kirk



"Captain Kirk! … Captain Kirk! … Captain Kirk!"

"Go back! … Go back! … Go back!"

"Remember the curse!"

"Wind shall rise!"

"And fog descend!"

"So leave here, all, or meet your end!"

- Three illusory witches, warning away Kirk, Spock and McCoy



"Spock. Comment?"

"Very bad poetry, Captain."

"A more useful comment, Mister Spock."



- Kirk and Spock, on the curse



"If we weren't missing two officers and a third one dead I'd say someone was playing an elaborate trick or treat on us."

"Trick or treat, captain?"

"Yes, Mister Spock. You'd be a natural."

- Kirk and Spock, on the Halloween references



"Mister Chekov, recalibrate your sensors. If you need help –"

"I can do it, sir. I'm not that green."

- DeSalle, patronizing Chekov after he loses readings of the landing party





"Bones? Doc?"

- Kirk, after seeing a skeleton in chains next to McCoy



"Where did your race get this ridiculous predilection for resistance, hmm? You examine any object. You… you question everything! Is it not enough to accept what is?"



- Korob



"You can't think a man to death."

- Kirk, on sympathetic magic



"Maybe we can't break it, but I'll bet you credits to navy beans we can put a dent in it!"

- DeSalle, determined to free the Enterprise from Korob's force field



"You are using me! You hold me in your arms and there is no fire in your mind! You're trying to deceive me! It's here like words on a page! You are using me!"

"And why not?!! You've been using me and my crew!!"

"You will be swept away. You! Your men! Your ship!! Your worlds!!!"

- Sylvia and Kirk



"Captain, a little more alacrity, if you please."

- Spock, as he and Kirk escape the dungeon



"Everything's vanished."

- Scott, after awakening from the mind control



"All of this, just an illusion."

"No illusion. Jackson is dead."

- McCoy and Kirk, after seeing Sylvia and Korob die

Background information

Production timeline

Story and production

The title of this episode, "Catspaw", is a term that describes a person used by another as a dupe; as McCoy points out, Scott and Sulu are used as catspaws to lure more crewmen down.

Robert Bloch based this episode very loosely on his own short story "Broomstick Ride." Bloch also wrote " What Are Little Girls Made Of? " In both episodes, the "Old Ones" figure into the guest characters' backstories. [2]

" In both episodes, the "Old Ones" figure into the guest characters' backstories. Although this was the first episode of TOS Season 2 in production (filmed in early May 1967), it did not premiere until the week of Halloween, 1967. It was, in fact, written in a Halloween-type theme for just that reason. This episode also remains to date the only Star Trek production produced as a "holiday special" type episode.

production produced as a "holiday special" type episode. This episode marks several changes to the episode credits. From this point on, the episode titles and end credits are in the same font as the main title of the series. Directors and writers are credited at the beginning of Act One instead of the end of the last act. DeForest Kelley's name is added to the opening credits. Also, Gene Roddenberry is credited as series creator in the opening credits.

Several bloopers from this episode can be found in the second season blooper reel. [3]

This episode introduces two plot elements that were revisited in stories later in season 2. First, the theme of extragalactic aliens taking Human form and then becoming inundated with Human sensations was revisited in " By Any Other Name ". Second, the subject of an eccentric man with uncommon powers and accompanied by an apparently intelligent black cat, who later turns into a black haired woman, is revisited in " Assignment: Earth ".

". Second, the subject of an eccentric man with uncommon powers and accompanied by an apparently intelligent black cat, who later turns into a black haired woman, is revisited in " ". The three witches' appearance and manner of speech are reminiscent of (though not necessarily directly referential to) characters in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Cast

Props and effects

Continuity

Remastered information

"Catspaw" was the eighth episode of the remastered version of The Original Series to air, premiering in syndication on the weekend of 28 October 2006. Aside from the standard remastering of the effects used for the USS Enterprise, the most notable revised features include new effects shots of Pyris VII, as well as the castle on the surface, with the original shot of the castle entry completely retained as part of the full building. The transmuter effect was also touched up and most of the visible wires controlling the Ornithoid life forms were removed.

The next remastered episode to air was " The Trouble with Tribbles ".

Video and DVD releases

Starring

Guest star

Co-starring

Featuring

With

Uncredited co-stars

Stunt doubles

References

"all right"; ability; ambition; amplifier; analysis; animal; answer; arm; assistant chief engineer; attitude; azimuth; bear; beef; "bet you credits to navy beans"; billion; boar; body of water; "Bones"; black; blinking; bravery; bribery; bypass power; castle; cat; catspaw; cell; chance; choice; cloud formation; cobweb; colleague; color; compassion; comrade; consciousness; contact; coordinates; creature; credit; crystal; curse; damage; danger; data; day; death; degree (angle); degree (temperature); demon; demonstration; desire; diamond; doctor; door; dream; drug; dungeon; dust; Earth; effect; electrical field; emerald; environment; experience; eye; failure; familiar; feather; fire; fog; fool; force field; "for the moment"; friend; ghost; ghost story; green; Halloween; heat; heat-dissipation unit; host; hull; Human (aka Earthman); hypnosis; idea; illusion; image; impulse engine; "in error"; information; "in order"; inquiry; iron maiden; key; knowledge; landing party; landing party procedure; legend; lifeform; location; logic; love; loyalty; luxury; mace; magic; magic wand; magnetic field; malfunction; mapping expedition; mark; martial arts; matter; meter; Milky Way Galaxy; mind; mind probing; minute; mistake; model; molecular structure; mumbo jumbo; myth; mythology; name; navy bean; nightmare; object; ogre; Old Ones; onion; "on the double"; orbit; page; pain; parallel development; pattern; peace; peacock; phaser; place; poetry; power; power system; puppet; Pyris VII; Pyris VII system; prisoner; race; racial subconscious (aka racial memories); range; reactor; relay station; reality; ruby; saber-toothed tiger; sapphire; Satan; science; scientific method; search party; second; sensation; sensor; sensor scan; "Singing a different tune"; skeleton; specimen; "stand by"; standby alert; static interference; stranger; subconscious; superstition; surface; surface temperature; symbol; sympathetic magic; telekinesis; telepathy; temperature; thing; thought; threat; tool; traitor; transmuter (aka power pack); trick; trick or treat; tricorder; twilight world; Vulcan neck pinch; water; wavelength analysis; weapon; white; will; wind; wine; witch; wizard; word

Unused references

solar day; Starbase 9



