Line #27 Recap/StarTrekS2E7Catspaw


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/catspaw21.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Here's Sylvia rocking the divorced aunt in the clown pajamas look.]]
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4	'''Original air date:''' October 27, 1967
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6	Scotty, Sulu and [[{{Redshirt}} Ensign Jackson]] have been beamed down to explore Pyris VII. Only Jackson beams aboard to die and then (yes, in this order) give a prophesy of doom and destruction in an eerie, echoing voice. Kirk, Spock and [=McCoy=] beam down to investigate. The place has an eerie, spooky atmosphere and there's a creepy looking castle nearby. The crew goes there in search of their lost crewmates. The interior looks like something out of a HauntedHouse, complete with dust and cobwebs. And a hissing and spitting black cat. Kirk and company fall through a trap in the floor and land in a dungeon where they're chained to the walls. A zombified Scotty and Sulu release them and they are transported to the sumptuous throne room of Korob the Wizard, who seems very interested in humanity, but doesn't seem very educated on modern (as of Stardate 3018.2) human culture. And there's something about that black cat that keeps hanging around him...
7	----
8	!!Catstropes:
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10	* AerithAndBob: Or rather, Korob and Sylvia.
11	* AffablyEvil: Korob comes off as this.
12	* AlasPoorVillain: Korob turned out to be a pretty decent guy in the end. Too bad the Starfleet landing party stood there and watched him die helplessly along with Sylvia.
13	* AllWitchesHaveCats: An inversion! It seems that it's the cat who has the wizard.
14	* BaldOfEvil: Korob has this along with a BeardOfEvil
15	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Both Scotty and Sulu, with [=McCoy=] eventually joining them.
16	* BrutalHonesty: When confronted with an illusion that threatens the landing party with death using a weak imitation of Shakespearean dialogue:
17	-->'''Kirk''': Analysis, Spock.\
18	'''Spock''': Very bad poetry, Captain.
19	* CatsAreMagic: Justified. Sylvia is actually a shape shifting alien.
20	* CatsAreMean: Sylvia is the meanest of mean cats, no matter her form. Spock discusses the trope, reflecting on a cat's natural savageness dating back to the sabre-tooth tiger.
21	* CatScare: The first thing our heroes get when they enter the castle.
22	* ChainedToARock: Kirk, Spock and Bo...uh...[=McCoy=] all experience this.
23	* ClarkesThirdLaw: Korob and Sylvia are aliens that use a device called a "transmuter" that allows them to perform various effects such as telepathy, brainwashing, shapeshifting, matter transformation and even SympatheticMagic. It resembles a crystal sphere mounted on a wand and necklace respectively and they themselves dress like mystics. Unfortunately for the effect they were going for, the Enterprise crew are [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions advanced enough]] to examine everything as technology instead of magic.
24	* CobwebOfDisuse: It's not a HauntedCastle without a few.
25	* DodgyToupee: This was the first Season 2 episode filmed; since it wasn't to be the first one aired and Creator/WalterKoenig hadn't yet had time to grow his hair out into the "[[Music/TheMonkees Monkee]]" style planned for Chekov, he was given a wig. The result was... [[https://www.letswatchstartrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Picture-37.png well]]...
26	* EmpathicShapeshifter: Via the transmuter, Sylvia and Korob make themselves and the surrounding area look like something explicitly out of a human nightmare. Or the set of a Universal Horror film.
27	* EntertaininglyWrong: Korob and Sylvia are clearly a bit out of date as to what humans are like, leaving Kirk et al thoroughly nonplussed when they're offered valueless (with the invention of replicators) gems or presented with ghostly hovering faces (which just makes them wonder what tech is in play).
28	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Part of what makes Korob so AffablyEvil is that he's clearly not as malicious as Sylvia. As Kirk is being brought in for his second "interrogation", Korob complains to Sylvia about her being "cruel" and "torturing the specimens", implying he would much rather barter or persuade Kirk and co to go along with what he wants than brutalise them into compliance like she has.
29	* EverythingsSparklyWithJewelry: Sparkly, yes. Valuable, not when you can replicate jewels as easily as making a cup of coffee. And then there's that diamond collar that Sylvia wears in both cat and human forms.
30	* FaceMonsterTurn: Some of the crew are made into zombie-slaves by the witch-alien.
31	* {{Foreshadowing}} / LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Sylvia tells Korob "I'm not a puppet like you!" At the end of the episode their true forms are played by puppets...complete with strings in the original version.
32	* GallowsHumor: Kirk and Spock are shackled with their arms raised against a wall next to a skeleton in the same position. At one point while discussing the situation with Spock, Kirk pauses as he looks at the skeleton, momentarily cocks his head in the same position as the skeleton's, then turns back to continue talking to Spock. Earlier, when Dr. [=McCoy=] was also in the dungeon, Kirk turned his head to ask if 'Bones' was all right, saw the skeleton, and called [=McCoy=] 'Doc' for the rest of the episode.
33	* GhostButler: When the landing party enters the castle, the door closes itself behind them.
34	* HalloweenEpisode: Originally aired October 27, 1967. Nearly all HauntedCastle tropes are present and occasionally discussed. Spock is familiar with a few Terran superstitions, but not with the custom of "Trick or Treat". Interestingly enough, neither is Korob.
35	* HeelFaceTurn: Korob
36	* HoldYourHippogriffs: Lt. [=DeSalle=] says "I bet you credits to navy beans!" where most would say "I bet you dollars to donuts!" They don't have donuts in the future? What sort of Dystopia is this?!
37	* HumansAreSpecial: Korob and Sylvia admire the human ability to feel.
38	* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Sylvia tries to pull this on Kirk in a rare genderflip of this trope. Kirk, being [[TheCasanova Kirk]], quickly flips it into his favor.
39	* MagicWand: Korob has one with a crystal on the end. It is a transmuter that allows him to perform his illusions.
40	* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Someone explain, again, why it was a good idea for the captain, first officer, second officer, and chief medical officer all to be on a strange and possibly sinister planet at the same time. Which leads to...
41	* MauveShirt: Lt. [=LaSalle=], who made a few appearances in the first season, had to take command of the Enterprise due to all the Senior Staff being down on the planet. He does pretty well, particularly given that he was without the benefit of the Science Officer or the Chief Engineer.
42	* MindManipulation: How the aliens get Sulu and Scotty to do what they want. They claim it to be harmless. Kirk disagrees.
43	* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: Korob offers Kirk and company a banquet. When they seem unimpressed, he offers them plates of jewels.
44	* OhCrap: Scotty and Sulu AREN'T here to save them after all!
45	* OminousFog: It's all over the place. Spock comments that due to the low level of water vapor in the air, it shouldn't exist. It's there purely to look scary.
46	* PowerEchoes: The doom and gloom prophecy about terrible curses that Jackson gives posthumously is delivered in an ominous echo.
47	* PropheciesRhymeAllTheTime: The three witches when they prophesy doom for the landing party if they don't turn back. As with the other Halloween tropes, the landing party is not impressed, either by the warning or by the quality of the verse.
48	* {{Redshirt}}: In a surprise inversion, Ensign Jackson wears a gold shirt, while the most prominent Red Shirt character in the episode has command of the bridge while Kirk is offship and survives the whole episode.
49	* ResetButton: Destroying Korob's transmuter undoes everything except the death of Jackson.
50	* SenseFreak: A mild case, but Sylvia blatantly admits she's enjoying the ability to experience the world through human senses when Korob questions her as having forgotten their mission.
51	* ShoutOut: Korob mentions to Sylvia of their duty to the ''[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Old Ones]]''. Appropriate, considering the episode's writer was Creator/RobertBloch.
52	* ShoutOutToShakespeare: The three witches' appearance and manner of speech are reminiscent of (though not necessarily directly referential to) characters in ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''.
53	* StockFootage: A brief shot of crewmembers (wearing the turtleneck shirts from the pilots) passing a red alert signal on a corridor is recycled from "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E3WhereNoManHasGoneBefore Where No Man Has Gone Before]]".
54	* StrippedToTheBone: There is a whole, bleached human skeleton in an iron maiden in the dungeon for no purpose other than to be scary.
55	* SympatheticMagic: Korob and Sylvia are capable of this through their transmuters. The latter dangerously heats up the Enterprise by putting an effigy through a candle flame. The former traps it in SomeKindOfForceField by encasing the effigy in crystal, but they manage to work out a way to begin disrupting the field.
56	* ThisWasHisTrueForm: The true forms of Sylvia and Korob looked like something a kindergartner made out of blue pipe cleaners ([[OffTheShelfFX of which they actually were]]).
57	* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Sylvia can change into a black cat and back and change her size. (We don't actually see this happen. We must infer that it does.)
58	* VoodooDoll: Sylvia calls it "sympathetic magic." It's how she killed Jackson. She makes a model of the starship ''Enterprise'' that she uses as a voodoo doll. Incidentally, the prop used is now in the Smithsonian; and would represent the Enterprise itself in some ForcedPerspective shots in other episodes.
59	* WeHardlyKnewYe: While the writers sure seemed to treat Redshirts like cannon fodder, [[AFatherToHisMen Kirk]] makes it clear he doesn't feel that way about them.
60	* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Sylvia and Korob can't get enough of human sensation.

Context Recap / StarTrekS2E7Catspaw