Podcast Enterprise: S2E07 Catspaw

Space, the final frontier. These are the podcasts of the Podcast Enterprise. Its only mission: to explore story structures, to analyze our favorite characters and plotlines, to boldly talk what everyone has seen before

We will analyze all episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series or TOS for short using the following guiding structure:

1. Synopsis or summary of the episode
2. Story structure
3. Character analysis
4. Our likes and dislikes

The synopsis:

Captain Kirk is worried. The USS Enterprise is in orbit around the planet Pyris 7 and there’s something wrong because a landing party has gone missing on that planet.The landing party has Sulu, Scott, and Crewman Jackson. They’re not able to communicate with them, and there’s some sort of subspace interference, so Uhura has not been able to contact them.

They get a message from Jackson, who’s promptly beamed back onto the Enterprise.There’s a voice coming from his throat, but he’s dead. Kirk realizes that there’s a problem down there on that planet, and he must have himself, McCoy, and Spock transported down there and try and figure out what’s going on. He leaves de Salle in charge of the Enterprise. And these three, they decide to go down and investigate what has happened. So now while they’re down there, they find that this planet is totally wrong. First off, there is mist where there shouldn’t be mist.

And there’s a lot of fog where there shouldn’t be fog.There are echoes of voices, and then they find three heads floating and screaming at them and talking about curses. Jackson, even though he was dead, warned them about being cursed. And now, down there on the planet, they see these three floating heads of witches, who speak very melodramatically.They also warn the Enterprise of a curse of dying and they should keep away from that planet. But Kirk and the landing party decide to investigate They navigate the fog. They find a big, huge medieval type castle.

They enter the castle. They find a cat, a black cat. Very witchy looking cat. They follow the cat, the cat leads them here and there, and then ultimately, without them really realizing what is happening, they find themselves in a big huge hall, facing an individual called Korob.He’s dressed like a wizard, he has a wand in his hand, he’s able to talk to that cat. Korob is some sort of alien entity, who thinks that he has understood humanity or he wants to understand humanity.

He thinks that showing them castles, wizards and cats and some sort of witchery will entice them.He also calls them honorable for some reason. He talks about loyalty and being very forthright. He attempts to tempt the landing crew with some food, which they do not eat. Then he loses his cool a little bit and tries to tempt them with gemstones. Again, they’re not impressed with that. The cat goes out of the room.It comes back as a woman who calls herself Sylvia. She is apparently the collaborator of Korob. And she has some sort of an evil streak to her. She has these three men imprisoned. This is the second time they’re being in prison, they find that both McCoy and Sulu have been hypnotized and they’re no longer on their side.

They’re on the side of those two aliens. The aliens have some sort of telekinetic power and they also have the ability to override your free will and make you do what they want you to do.Kirk and the landing crew must find a way out of here. McCoy is also captured and brainwashed and turned against them. Korob is very disturbed by Sylvia’s evil nature. She tells Kirk that she is experiencing sensation for the first time. She’s also infatuated with Kirk.Then she realizes that Kirk is returning her affection by trying to get her wand for some reason, because that is a transmuter that changes the environment. And both of these aliens are dependent on those transmuters. They have to use those transmuters and create an environment that is suitable for them.

They also are here apparently to study humanity. Kirk manages to fool Sylvia by pretending to be affectionate with her.She realizes it a little too late, and Kirk and Spock are returned to the dungeons. They manage to get out of there with Korob’s help. And then the cat, Sylvia is apparently able to change form. She’s able to take on the form of that cat. She tries to threaten them. Kirk and the crew somehow through some sort of mind trickery, they manage to evade her.

He gets that transmuter wand that she’s been using. That is the device that has created the castle, and that is the device that allows Sylvia and Korob to change shape. It is the device that has created some sort of a hospitable area within that planet.

He destroys the transmuter, and then what happens is the castle disappears, the torture room disappears, the dungeon disappears, everything disappears, including the forms that Sylvia and Korob have taken. Now, because they have lost their forms and the transmuter has been destroyed, both of those aliens who resemble tiny puppets, they fall over and die, and Kirk and the crew are able to go back to the Enterprise.

That brings us to the end of this episode. Thank you for listening to the Podcast Enterprise. Please do share your reviews with us and please share this podcast with any of your writing friends or trekkies. Live long and prosper!

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Acknowledgements

1. Intro music: Music from anchor.fm
2. Shotcut for editing the podcast
3. References: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/