WARNING: This thread WILL contain unhidden spoilers for this entry. Because this re-watch is in a slightly-subjective chronological order and not in production order, please refrain from talking about the content of other episodes or movies in this thread. If you do, please put that content inside spoiler tags. Some people here may be watching Star Trek for the first time.
#39: Star Trek: The Original Series, season 2, episode 14 "Wolf in the Fold"
Written by Robert Bloch, directed by Marc Daniels.
Stardate 3614.9 through 3615.4 (January 2268)
"An entire race which feeds on fear and terror would find a perfect hunting ground on Argelius." - Commander Spock
The Enterprise is docked at Argelius II to allow Commander Scott to recover from a severe accident. The psychological damage he suffered, and the fact that accident was the result of a female crewmember's error, caused Scotty to possess a temporary resentment towards all women. Doctor McCoy and Captain Kirk believes that the pleasures of Argelius will help speed Scotty's recovery and they send him off with one the female dancers that was entertaining the group. Shortly after, while outside the venue, Kirk and McCoy hear screaming and rush down an alley to find the dancer stabbed to death with Scotty standing over her holding a bloody dagger.
Originally released: 22 December 1967
"Wolf in the Fold" on Memory Alpha
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What did you think?
A very good ep unsurprisingly written by a very good writer, Robert Bloch, who wrote Psycho and many other notable works. And of course, a very good adaptation by the actors and production crew.
Fun things for me: that they managed to somehow work Jack the Ripper in to deep space, that "Landru" from Return of the Archons appeared again as "Jaris" (or did this one precede the other?), that the voice of Piglet (John Fiedler) played the Ripper's host for most of the film, that he managed to take over the ship's computer for a time, and finally, the silly, upbeat, laughing-gas ending, in which a string of tragic murders were somehow instantly forgotten(!)
EDIT: Last time I read and checked up, there was a very good case for someone being strongly associated with the original Whitechapel, London murders. IIRC, someone with an amount of surgical training, who was mentally unstable. When he was released from an institution for some months, that precisely fitted the timeframe of the ~five murders, evidently.
Ah, that’s what you meant by spoilers regarding Landru. Makes sense, actually. But it’s also too recursive. Making everything related to everything else even somewhat like it is like saying Trelane is a Q. Neat idea, but the universe just gets smaller.
The idea that Jack the Ripper is a spectral being that took possession of someone on Earth to cause painful deaths to women, and Humans stupidly let it out to roam the galaxy just fuels the idea that Humans are harmful to everyone else. :P
And John Fiedler was great, they set up the extras in a way that actually keeps you guessing until Kirk and Spock start piecing the evidence together. His frozen expression as they nail him to the wall is perfect.
I wish we could have seen a grin creep across his face before hilariously trying to escape the room like he had just stolen razor blades from a Wal-Mart.
Oh, humans are harmful to everyone else, for sure!
I think you might misunderstand my meaning in paragraph one. I was simply noting that I found it personally amusing that the same actor Charles Macauley played two different roles in TOS. I say that because for many decades I had no idea, and only realised it relatively recently. Otherwise I don't really care too much about actors playing multiple roles across the various ST franchises.
Thanks again for the ongoing rewatch party.
If you weren't comparing Landru to Jaris as characters on purpose, that's one hell of an accident.
I confused you for someone else in another post, apparently Landru is revisited in Lower Decks (haven't seen it yet).
No, I was doing so as explained just above. Cheers.