The Slaver Weapon

I can't say much about this. When a group of cats in pink suits show up, I didn't really get all that enthralled. Apparently, William Shatner didn't care much for this series and his character doesn't appear. There is a box that's important and some weapons that need to be found and protected. Some of the characters go flying through the air or do somersaults when hit by the wind or other factors. Sulu spends a lot of time on the ground as does Spock. And then there is an explosion.

Larry Niven's "The Slaver Weapon" -- adapted from his original story "The Soft Weapon" and re-configured into the basis of an episode from the 1973/1974 "Star Trek: The Animated Series" -- is one of my all time favorite installments of Star Trek, period.

Of the now 45 years we have had the mythology of Star Trek as an entertainment form, regardless of what shape it took (TV show, movie, book), this is one of the most unique and rewarding, packing enough Trek and sci-fi interest into its 23 minutes to enthrall any geek. I'd actually call it a cyberpunk work, utilizing advanced fictional technologies as a plot focus and projecting a vision of the future that is cynical, unromantic, and indifferent to humans if not outright hostile. Gene Roddenberry took a chance on green-lighting this one and it paid off big time, in my opinion at any rate. Way out of proportion to what was expected of it, at any rate.

The episode is also unique in that it is the only official example of "Star Trek" in any form before the debut of The Next Generation series in 1987 to *not* feature the presence of William Shatner's Captain James Tiberius Kirk. Which is ironic, not just because of how cool it turned out to be, but due to Shatner's well known disregard for the Animated Series, which he found to be debasing & embarrassing to participate in. So they made this one while he was off doing Shakespeare In The Park for $200 a night. Hey, gotta make a living.

They picked a winner of a script for his absence too, with Niven adapting "The Soft Weapon" to feature Spock, Sulu, and Uhura piloting a starfleet shuttlecraft to rendezvous with the Enterprise when the Slaver Stasis Box in their possession indicates the presence of another stasis box nearby. What pray tell is a Stasis Box? Let's just say that inside of one there is no passage of time, sort of like the ultimate refrigerator except no leftover 3/4 empty bottles of salad dressing on the doors. Archaeologists had found it on a remote planet and Spock had been dispatched to collect it. Following so far?

Their Box leads them to finding a 2nd one on a small ice bound planetoid ... which turns out to be a trap laid by Niven's alien species creation, the Kzinti, completely hostile eight foot tall creatures with feline characteristics who consider human meat to be a delicacy. And they want that Stasis Box & whatever might be inside, knowing very well that the Slavers -- another species created by Niven and long died out -- had weapons which could potentially devastate a whole galaxy.

Wouldn't you know it but Spock's Box does indeed contain an intriguing device that shifts its appearance and function with the twist of a toggle switch. And one of the settings does prove to be for quite the formidable little Weapon of Mass Destruction, leading to a startlingly violent little climax that infamously resulted in the only loss of life during the Animated Series' run. They kill people in this one ... Far out.

This was supposedly a Saturday morning cartoon show for kids, remember, airing at about 10am during its initial run on CBS when we were sitting there in our pajamas with the feets on the bottom & chowing down on the King Vitamin. I don't particularly recall seeing this episode as a kid where others did leave an impression, but it is exactly the kind of stuff I would have been fascinated by: Space ships, space suits, laser guns, hand held rocket launchers. You betcha.

I will still concede that "Yesteryear" is the best episode from the Animated Series, and that "Beyond The Farthest Star" remains my single favorite episode, necessitated by the absence of Kirk from this installment. Love him or hate him, James T. Kirk was the essence of Star Trek, as nobody else really had any cosmic lessons to learn. So the absence of Kirk sort of requires this episode to be set aside when considering singling out *the* best of what the Animated Series had to offer.

But by golly this one rocks! When I talk to some of my associates about watching Star Trek cartoons I'm sure the imagine me sitting here in my slippers with a bowl of Mult-Grain Cheerios and a bong, pretending that I'm 9 all over again with some stupid dumb cartoon show that you have to be stoned to appreciate as a grownup. Screw that! This is first rate Star Trek any way you slice it. That the Animated Series offered Niven the opportunity to work with Roddenberry & his talents to produce this episode was an opportunity to create something new, and this is one of the best examples of the creative team actually managing to do that. It is great science fiction, great Star Trek, and one of Saturday morning programming's finest half hours, with commercials.

9/10; Alan Dead Foster expanded the story to book length form for his "Star Trek Log Ten" novelization, which is still in print, and Niven's short story which formed the basis can also be found with relative ease in a collection with other works. Good art leads to more art once again.

Spock, Sulu and Uhura are on a shuttle craft containing a precious cargo. It is a box from the long-dead race known as the slavers. Several other boxes have been discovered and they have contained many things, from being empty to incredible technology that the Federation has adapted. In the opening, it is mentioned that one of the boxes contained a device that was modified to provide the artificial gravity tools used in spaceships. When the box starts glowing, it is a signal that there is another slaver box nearby. Unable to pass up a chance to acquire another slaver box, Spock orders the shuttle craft landed near the source of the signal. Once there, they are captured by the Kzinti, a catlike species that is a sworn enemy of the Federation. They also have a slaver box, but it is empty, so they used it as a lure to attract any ship that would be carrying a slaver box. The Kzinti open the box and there are some artifacts, including some kind of device with several settings that changes shape when the setting is changed. One setting is a basic laser, but another fires a beam that creates a nuclear explosion. At that point, the three Enterprise officers understand that they cannot allow the Kzinti to keep the weapon, for they could use the knowledge to defeat the Federation. The battle is one of wits as well as the exploitation of the prejudices of the Kzinti. It is a challenge, for the Kzinti are physically superior to humans and Vulcans. At one point, Spock says that the odds of him winning a one-on-one battle between the Kzinti captain and himself are 16 to 1 against. It is a fight cleverly carried out and one where the outcome is the complete defeat of the Kzinti. It is interesting to note that the voices of all the Kzinti were done by James Doohan.

There's an ancient multi-function kind of tool, makes a cat-like alien look like a fool, pressing buttons willy-nilly, unintelligibly silly, bet he wished he'd paid more attention when at school.

A box of secrets contains a chameleon weapon.

I have gone through over half of the old "Star Trek" cartoons and am completely convinced that the average 8th grader could easily produce a better cartoon. The frame rates are pathetic--sort of like watching a slide show because there is so little movement in the characters. And, as for the characters, again, a talented 8th grader could do just as well. However, he'd also have to be a color-blind 8th grader, as the 'enemy', the Kzinti, are ridiculous looking cat-like humanoids in pink and purple jumpsuits! Yick!

The entire show consists of a landing party (NO KIRK!) trying to get weapons from a dead slaver ship. This is because they don't want this high tech stuff getting into the hands of jerks--like the Kzinti. When they meet these catty creatures, there isn't much action...but I did like it when Uhura ran away and one Kzinti told the other to capture her because Human females are so smart!

Overall, this is a pathetically drawn mess with barely any real plot and totally stupid characters. Really, this is an embarrassment to offer to the Trek fans...though the die-hard ones will love it, as they love anything with the Trek name on it. Others avoid at all costs.