Discuss Star Trek
Discuss → TV Shows → Star Trek → General
Catspaw -- The subconscious
posted by sukhisooSTAFFMOD on November 1, 2018 at 10:27 AM
Catspaw, an occasional Halloween tradition of ours, is an imperfect episode. The "science" is kind of left behind in the "science fiction" but I kind of like it anyway.
The earliest recollection, from the primordial soup of my childhood memories, consists of images: The giant cat. Kirk going mano-a-mano with martial arts "expert" Sulu. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy chained to the dungeon walls. Images meant to evoke emotional responses rather than to further along a cohesive story.
In the early 90s, the story became a little clearer. I was hospitalized for a fractured vertebra, temporarily paralyzed, and hopped up on Demerol. When this episode came on the television, my cognitive functions were almost completely suppressed while many of my subconscious receptors were enhanced. Kirk is exposed to stimuli meant to evoke fear, lust, greed, and gluttony. When he finally destroy's the magic doohickey, it all goes away, leaving the barren reality of and empty alien landscape and two laughably ineffective life forms. Fin.
There's an interesting message here, but it gets lost in the cheese. This is one of the few episodes where a movie type budget would have enhanced the story considerably. I'll bet you credits to navy beans that high tech special effects, realistic Gothic sets, dissonant music assaulting the subconscious, a Hitchcock type director, and a month or two to get the blocking and reaction shots just right would have elevated this into prime television viewing. The basic story is just fine.
Reply by Jetfire59
on November 1, 2018 at 2:13 PM
Check these out. Irrelevant to your point, but fun.
https://trekkerscrapbook.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/catspawhd0573.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/4a/78/53/4a7853a28cdf8354ab8504efb3f16eff--all-seeing-eye-cinderella.jpg
Reply by sukhisoo
on November 1, 2018 at 3:14 PM
Haha. This does indeed belong in another thread. The Gilligan's Island and Trek thread, perhaps?
Reply by Jetfire59
on November 1, 2018 at 4:33 PM
That's where I got it.
What can I say? I like repetition. I'll delete it if you want.
Reply by sukhisoo
on November 1, 2018 at 5:28 PM
I was the one who gave it a thumbs-up. It would be silly of me to ask you to delete it.
Reply by Jetfire59
on November 1, 2018 at 5:33 PM
Oh, didn't see the thumbs up. Thanx.
Reply by Nexus71
on November 3, 2018 at 5:44 PM
It's a free mason symbol the "All Seeing Eye of God" just shows how evil Hollywood has always been .
Reply by jxh13
on November 5, 2018 at 6:09 AM
Yep.
Robert Bloch knows his way around the human psyche (witness Norman Bates) and was a veteran television writer; the episode certainly feels rushed, and the concept is not satisfactorily explored. My own interpretation is that the Production Team wasn't particularly excited to be doing a Halloween themed episode demanded by NBC. The episode would undoubtedly have benefited from a sympathetic creative team.
Reply by Nexus71
on November 6, 2018 at 6:59 PM
I was more of a fan of Robert Bloch's A Wolf In The Fold ,I thought the idea making Jack The Ripper into a murdering feeding of fear serial alien an interesting and intriguing concept.
Reply by jxh13
on November 7, 2018 at 6:04 AM
Agreed; "Wolf" is an interesting idea competently told. Although, of the three Bloch scripts, I prefer "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" The question of what makes us human is generally intriguing, and Ruk's moment of clarity ("That was the equation! Existence outweighs programming!") anticipates dangerously self aware AIs from Colossus: The Forbin Project to Skynet.
Reply by sukhisoo
on November 8, 2018 at 10:19 AM
I see the concept of Jack The Ripper in this story as being a metaphor for our own predatory nature. While it is necessary to our survival, we need to be able to control it to advance as humans. It will, of course, follow us into space.
The episode itself leaves me cold, though. Let me think about it and maybe I can figure why I disregard this one while warming to the objectively weaker Catspaw.
Reply by sukhisoo
on November 8, 2018 at 10:21 AM
Me too. It is, by far, the best of the three Robert Bloch scripts.
Reply by Knixon
on November 8, 2018 at 7:07 PM
Also the later TOS episodes "Return Of The Archons," "The Ultimate Computer"...
Reply by Nexus71
on November 10, 2018 at 9:15 PM
and The Changeling...
"Star Trek The Motion Picture : Where Nomad Has Gone Before .."
Reply by wonder2wonder
on December 29, 2019 at 4:54 PM
This was the first episode with Chekov (broadcast out of order to coincide with Halloween), so no mention of a Minsk cat.
Reply by znexyish
on December 29, 2019 at 8:19 PM
Chekov would say that Korob and Slyvia were the last of the Romanovs who escaped the revolution and made their way to the planet. Or maybe Korob was a future relative of Rasputin