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Star Trek TOS - Season 2 - Episode 07

Star Trek TOS - 2x07 - Catspaw

Originally Aired: 1967-10-27

Synopsis:
Aliens on a mission of conquest hold the crew captive. [Blu-ray] [DVD]

My Rating - 1

Fan Rating Average - 2.69

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 100 72 18 22 34 17 21 14 2 18 8

Filler Quotient: 3, bad filler, totally skippable.
- Pretty lame episode with no significant long term continuity.

Problems
- The cat's meowing and shrieking was dubbed in such a way that it doesn't match the cat's mouth movements.
- The aliens in their real form were puppets and the strings were at times very easy to see.
- Spock said that mapping expeditions have charted the "solar system" featured in this episode before. This is a common error. The term they were looking for is planetary system. The planetary system we live in is called the Solar System because our star is named Sol. As such, the term "Solar System" is a proper noun, not a generic term.

Factoids
- This episode establishes that DeSalle is the ship's fourth officer and will take command when Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Sulu are all off the ship.
- This episode establishes that the Enterprise is capable of manufacturing precious gems.

Remarkable Scenes
- Kirk regarding the witches: "Spock, comment?" Spock: "Very bad poetry, captain."
- Kirk seducing Sylvia.
- Kirk, Spock, and Korob being chased by the giant cat.
- Kirk destroying the alien illusion device.

My Review
The Squire of Gothos + Return of the Archons = Catspaw. Like The Squire of Gothos this story features yet another super alien that captures the crew and demands something silly along with yet another alien technology plot device (the transmuter) that once trivially destroyed solves all the crew's problems. And like Return of the Archons the aliens yet again achieve their goals by transforming various members of the crew into zombies and trapping the crew inside of an ancient Earth stereotype. To be frank, Star Trek didn't need a Halloween special, much less a poorly executed one.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From kaser on 2010-05-13 at 5:58pm:
    This episode is sub-par to say the least. The language is stilted, the jokes lame. The fight scenes are badly directed. The cheap costumes and mis-en-scene furnishings seem to bear the dust of the studio B closet. The story is jumbled and poorly told. A felinephobiac might get a brief thrill from the screeching catwoman but there is otherwise little dramatic effect to this careless production. The deflating of the shabby bird-like marionettes are a fitting ending to this mess. How did Shatner keep from giggling through his final speech?
  • From Old Fat Trekkie on 2011-12-09 at 9:35pm:
    Oh just had to mention it. This was the first episode shot in the second season. Assignment Earth was the last. Did any one else notice that in both of these episodes a cat turns into a chick?

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