About Catspaw

[deselby]

Robert Bloch has sole story/teleplay credit but I find it hard to believe he actually wrote it.

I'm wondering if anybody knows how the Trek teleplays actually got written and if it maybe included significant uncredited involvement of staff writers?

Optional reading about why I'm asking this: Bloch was a really accomplished sci-fi writer and was brought on for three Trek episodes. The idea for Catspaw, as well as one of its most iconic moments (where the voodoo-doll enterprise goes in the flame) came from Bloch's short story Broomstick Ride. However the episode gutted the heart of the story, which was about persecuted witches using Satan power to leave Earth on broomsticks and start a new human colony on another planet. They replaced it with a bunch of tropes and things from other episodes like the woman who could be any woman, imprisoned crewmen, mind-controlled crewmen, things appearing and disappearing, phasers not working, the magic wand, and aliens speaking English for no reason. Also the witches, who originally flew in on broomsticks killed a beast naked and drank its blood, were reduced to three floating masks. [9/14]

 

[mb22]

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Catspaw_(episode)#Background_information

No way of knowing who wrote what, but both Fontana and Rodenberry wrote the last two drafts.

 

[feek61]

In a Roddenberry memo to Coon, dated 4-17-67 after they reviewed the 2nd draft teleplay, it gives us a hint, he says "We have here a good action-adventure script but insofar as having the final level of quality we want in STAR TREK, it is only slightly improved from the first. I see little point in sending it back to Bloch for polish and suggest the time it would require with him could be better spent by you or Dorothy putting it into shooting shape." So it was apparently either Dorothy Fontana or Gene Coon that did the heavy lifting on the shooting script (even though Roddenberry did a revison between Fontana and Coons revisions).

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I like the funkier-than-usual battle music in CATSPAW. It's almost disco on a TREKky level.

 

[publiusr]

TAS Megas-Tu episode can be thought of as a sequel to Bloch's story

 

[CorporalCaptain]

TAS Megas-Tu episode can be thought of as a sequel to Bloch's story

From a certain point of view.

 

[Phaser Two]

These days Bloch would probably get a story credit with teleplay credits for the showrunners / usual writers, but it was important to TOS cred at the time to put out some episodes written "only" by accomplished sci-fi (or horror) writers. Frankly, I like all three of the Bloch Trilogy - "Wolf in the Fold" is my second-favorite episode overall, sue me - and I thought that Roddenberry, Coon and Fontana did one heck of a job adapting the Bloch material into the Star Trek milieu. "Catspaw" also gets a bad rap. I rewatched it over Christmas, and it has a lot of strong dialogue and excellent acting from Shatner and Nimoy as well as the two main guest stars. The zombified Scott, Sulu and McCoy are fun too, and Kirk solemnly remembers Jackson's death at the end, which is refreshing. I love Shatner's mannerisms (holding up the hand with the feigned "oh, no" facial expression at the martial arts stance, lol) before Kirk easily dispatches Sulu in the final act.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

TAS Megas-Tu episode can be thought of as a sequel to Bloch's story

If memory serves it's the oldest TOS stardate adventure from Bjo Trimble's Concordance...leaving out all the ''unknown'' ones.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I love Shatner's mannerisms (holding up the hand with the feigned "oh, no" facial expression at the martial arts stance, lol) before Kirk easily dispatches Sulu in the final act.

I always saw it as Shat's way of saying ''I don't wanna hurt you, Sulu.'' And then he does.

 

[Phaser Two]

I always saw it as Shat's way of saying ''I don't wanna hurt you, Sulu.'' And then he does.

True. Ah, Sulu seems to have made it out okay. I think it's more "oh, come on, now, don't overwhelm me with that advanced technique." Of which Kirk subsequently makes instant mincemeat. And I can almost guarantee that Shatner ad-libbed it.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

True. Ah, Sulu seems to have made it out okay. I think it's more "oh, come on, now, don't overwhelm me with that advanced technique." Of which Kirk subsequently makes instant mincemeat. And I can almost guarantee that Shatner ad-libbed it.

Like Trelane, Sylvia knew the forms of human artifacts but not the substance. So Sulu's Zombie Karate was just for show. He was a paper tiger.

 

[Poltargyst]

aliens speaking English for no reason.

Isn't that pretty much every episode? I always chalk that up to the Universal Translator.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Isn't that pretty much every episode? .

Yup. It's common in great majority of sci fi TV shows. It's only ever mentioned if there's a story reason for it. It's so common, there zero reason to single out Star Trek for it.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Like Trelane, Sylvia knew the forms of human artifacts but not the substance. So Sulu's Zombie Karate was just for show. He was a paper tiger.

Or an unsharpened sword. Or a limp biscuit. A soupy sandwich. A square tire. Numero 34. The little cheese. I'd better leave it at those. (Apologies to Robert Stack and Steven Stucker.)

 

[Phaser Two]

Like Trelane, Sylvia knew the forms of human artifacts but not the substance. So Sulu's Zombie Karate was just for show. He was a paper tiger.

Yeah, but Kirk easily overpowers him in "The Naked Time" and (alternate version) "Mirror, Mirror" too. Basically you don't want to take on JTK in hand-to-hand.

 

[Poltargyst]

Yeah, but Kirk easily overpowers him in "The Naked Time" and (alternate version) "Mirror, Mirror" too. Basically you don't want to take on JTK in hand-to-hand.

None can stand against Kirk Fu.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I for one hope this is the beginning of a new age of using the balderdash word again. Next word to bring back is fiddlesticks.

Codswallop?

Yeah, but Kirk easily overpowers him in "The Naked Time" and (alternate version) "Mirror, Mirror" too. Basically you don't want to take on JTK in hand-to-hand.

Mirror Spock held his own quite sufficiently against Kirk and his amazing friends, until Kirk cheated by using the vase Uhura was evidently not allowed to use herself. And then there's Thelev (may Billy O'Connell rest in peace*). No Andorian thwarts dorky never-before-used senseless battle tactics like him. A blooper-reel moment which made the final cut.




(*The real one, not the fake teenage streaker from PICKET FENCES.)

 

[feek61]

T"Catspaw" also gets a bad rap. I rewatched it over Christmas, and it has a lot of strong dialogue and excellent acting from Shatner and Nimoy as well as the two main guest stars. The zombified Scott, Sulu and McCoy are fun too, and Kirk solemnly remembers Jackson's death at the end, which is refreshing. I love Shatner's mannerisms (holding up the hand with the feigned "oh, no" facial expression at the martial arts stance, lol) before Kirk easily dispatches Sulu in the final act.

I re-watched it after this thread popped up and quite enjoyed it, better than I remembered for sure.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Mirror Spock held his own quite sufficiently against Kirk and his amazing friends, until Kirk cheated by using the vase Uhura was evidently not allowed to use herself.

Just a note: Uhura handed Kirk a skull specimen to smash over Spock's head.
https://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/al...n2/210-mirror-mirror/mirror-mirror-br-740.jpg
https://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/al...n2/210-mirror-mirror/mirror-mirror-br-742.jpg

In real life, shattering a skull on someone's skull would probably be fatal. The specimen must have been fragile, and Vulcans must have hard heads.

 

[Phaser Two]

Codswallop?



Mirror Spock held his own quite sufficiently against Kirk and his amazing friends, until Kirk cheated by using the vase Uhura was evidently not allowed to use herself. And then there's Thelev (may Billy O'Connell rest in peace*). No Andorian thwarts dorky never-before-used senseless battle tactics like him. A blooper-reel moment which made the final cut.




(*The real one, not the fake teenage streaker from PICKET FENCES.)

My takeaway from the main "Mirror, Mirror" fight scene in Sickbay is a little different (even though I was talking about Sulu v. Kirk, not Kirk v. a Vulcan with five times or so a human's strength). It's immediately clear that the only one who can even cope with Mirror Spock is Kirk. Scotty, McCoy and Uhura are tossed around like ragdolls. Kirk uses his peerless fighting tactics (and intelligence) to land a few blows, even, just as he did against Khan. As for Thelev, well, Kirk still won despite the inexplicable tactical choice. Good call on the blooper reel.