30 2x07 - Star trek - Tos - Catspaw - Scifi channel special edition

Captain's Log Star Date 3018.2 Crewman Jackson is dead. - Captain Kirk! There is a curse on your ship. Temperature, Sir. Keeps rising. We're burning up, Sir. Captain Kirk. As I was. Stop! William Shatner (1999): .. Star Trek's second season. A lot of buzz has been generated about the series. NBC seemed proud of it given the fact that it had been nominated for 5 Emmy awards. Dr. Isaac Azimov called it The First Good TV Science Fiction show. Large volumes of fan mail kept pouring in at NBC. The only other show to receive more fan mail was The Monkees. Now that brings me to a behind-the-scenes story. It was often cited that the reason for adding Ensign Pavel Chekov in the series' second season was this: The Russian newspaper Pravda took umbrage at the fact that Star Trek a show about space exploration did not have a Russian aboard. Afterall, wasn't Russia the first country to venture into outer space? But, it was in direct response to the Monkees' popularity that the Chekov character played by Walter Koenig was added to the crew. Chekov was meant to be a Davy Jones look-alike. And it was the networks hope that he would appeal to the teens and young adults who were watching the Monkees. It wouldn't be the last time that NBC Monkee'd around with Star Trek. Leonard Nimoy (1999): Witches, ghosts, demons, black cats- some of the darker elements of our mythology. Not coincidentally, some of the elements of the perfect Halloween scare. What is it about things that go bump in the night that we both love and fear? Let's face it, there's nothing like a good ghost story on a stormy night, nothing like a good scare. On 'The Enterprise ', 300 some-odd years in the future, there are few dark and stormy nights. And yet when we venture out into space, it's inevitable that we will still take with us the fears that we hold inside. They're a part of us, part of our culture. They are the things that make you look back over your shoulder when it is too quiet and when you have the feeling that you're not quite alone. Spock: Captain, a most curious development on scanner 5-7. Let's all take a look at it, Mr. Spock. "CATSPAW" Captain's log, stardate 3018.2. Crewman Jackson is dead, and there are no parent physical causes. Mr. Scott and Mr. Sulu are still out of touch on the planet below, leaving Assistant Chief Engineer deSalle command of the Enterprise, I'm beamg down to the planet's surface to find my two missing crewmen and discover what killed Jackson. Odd. Our probe data didn't indicate fog. No cloud formations, Spock: Captain, a most curious development on scanner 5-7. Let's all take a look at it, Mr. Spock. That is a bottle of very, very, very old scotch... whisky! I can't change the laws of physics! The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank! Engines are on full reverse! They're buckling! I'm James Doohan, and you're watching ' Star Trek ' on the Sci-Fi Channel. Blood sample, Chekov. Marrow sample, Chekov. Skin sample, Chekov. If... if I live long enough, I'm going to run out of samples. The Garden of Eden was just outside Moscow. Scotch? Aye. It was invented by a little old lady from Leningrad. Aah! Chekov! Aah! Chekov! Nimoy: You're watching ' Star Trek ' on the Sci-Fi Channel. How close will we come to the nearest Klingon outpost if we continue on our present course? Ah! One parsec, Sir. Close enough to smell them. Gene Roddenberry (1991): Chekov came on the show because I read something in a - someone sent me a copy of a Russian newspaper in which they said after our first year: "Ah, the ugly Americans are at it again" "We were the first people in space but the Americans don't even have a Russian aboard the crew" William Shatner (1998): "Catspaw" was written by Robert Bloch, author of the classic thriller "Psycho" and was created as the Halloween episode for 1967, complete with witches and warlocks and reference to the supernatural and even Sulu and Scotty turning into Zombies. The crew finds itself caught in the philosophical battle between science and superstition. In true Halloween spirit when Kirk's chained to the wall with his cohorts Spock and McCoy he almost calls McCoy "Bones." And at that very moment he notices a skeleton nearby So for the rest of the episode, Kirk refers to McCoy only as "Doc." Leonard Nimoy (1999): Although it was the fifth show of the second season, "Catspaw" was the first show produced when we returned from our summer hiatus. There were a number of changes from the first season. The most drastic change was the addition of Walter Koenig, as the young Ensign Pavel Chekov. The reason for Chekov's addition to the crew, at least according to Gene Roddenberry, is that Pravda, the newspaper of the then Soviet Union, had complained that there were no Russians among the Enterprise crew, even though the Soviets were first in space. Chekov was created to put things right. Now, that story may be part of the reason, but really, Chekov was added because of the Monkees. Walter Koenig: Well, I played Chekov on ' Star Trek '. The reason for the introduction of the character was very pragmatic. They introduced the character because they were trying to appeal to a particular segment of the audience. They were looking for people- they were looking for the 8- to 14-year-olds to tune in to ' Star Trek ', and they wanted somebody who presented- and I use the word "presented" advisedly- a young image... Mr. Chekov, recalibrate your sensors. If you need help- I can do it, sir. I'm not that green. ...most accurately represented by The Monkees, and particularly Davy Jones. So, they were looking for somebody who would draw the same kind of audience that The Monkees drew, uh... and I-I guess I fit the bill. Report, mister. I am only picking up physical impulses from the three of them. As far as instruments can make out, there is nothing else down there that's alive. Koenig: So, it's a hell of a reason to be cast in a role that eventually became part of my life for 30 years. A very almost capricious or superficial reason, but on such things does life revolve. It was that electrical field we set up, Mr. DeSalle, that dent you wanted. Ok, the story is Pravda, the Russian newspaper Pravda, complained that, [in Russian accent] "what, you have all these people on Star Trek, "and you don't have a Russian? We were the cosmonauts. Why weren't-" you know, all that kind of stuff. It's not true! It's Paramount publicity. It sounded like a good story, and it justified bringing a Russian aboard. Actually, the first idea Gene had was for an English fellow, a young Englishman, very similar to the character in The Monkees, Davy Jones. Wavelength analysis, Mr. Chekov. It will not analyze, Sir. As an addendum or as an afterthought, they decided to make him a Russian because the cosmonauts had been the first people in space, but certainly it was not prompting from Pravda. It's... some kind of a force field, sir, but not like any I've ever heard of before. It's not coming from anywhere. It's simply all around us. Think about it. This was at the height of the cold war. There was an Iron Curtain that was dividing the world. They weren't getting ' Star Trek ' behind the Iron Curtain. They didn't know from ' Star Trek ', and they certainly didn't know who the navigator would be. So, yeah, it was a publicity stunt. [alarm sounding] Kirk: Enterprise, from Captain Kirk. Come in. Uhura: Captain! Are you all right? Where are you? Are the others all right, sir? Never mind about us. What's happening up there? The temperature, sir. It keeps rising. Reading, mister? It's up 60 degrees in the past 30 seconds. We're burning up, sir. "Catspaw" suffers from a few flaws. The sequences where Kirk and Spock face the giant black cat were accomplished with camera tricks and shadows. Unfortunately, it never really worked, and the sequences came off looking rather cheap. Another special effect that could have used some more work was the puppets of Sylvia and Korob. You don't have to look closely to see that these aliens are made mostly of pipe cleaners and suspended by heavy black threads. On the other hand, one item created for this episode has actually found a place in history. The Enterprise pendant, encased in a block of plastic, is now part of a collection at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D. C. William Shatner (1998): Unfortunately, due to the usual budgetory restraints we couldn't afford the necessary optical effects that would have made the cat seem more realistic and scary. And the, uh, heavy black string used to guide the puppets of alien Sylvia and alien Korob are distinctly noticeable. But, these things aside, "Catspaw" remains one of the more light hearted if not for the faint hearted episodes.