The Slaver Weapon (TAS episode)
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| Star Trek: The Animated Series episode | |
| "The Slaver Weapon" | |
 The Kzinti Captain |
|
| Episode no. | 014 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 014 |
| Airdate | December 15, 1973 |
| Writer(s) | Larry Niven |
| Director | Hal Sutherland |
| Guest star(s) | none |
| Year | 2269 |
| Stardate | 4187.3 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "The Ambergris Element" |
| Next | "The Eye of the Beholder" |
The Slaver Weapon is an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series.
Contents |
[edit] Plot outline
In the shuttlecraft Copernicus, Mr. Spock, Uhura, and Sulu are en-route to Starbase 25 to deliver a stasis box -- a rare artifact of the Slaver culture. The now-extinct Slavers used these objects to carry weapons, valuables, and other scientific instruments and data. The boxes can detect each other and evidence shows that another device is located nearby. The shuttle lands on an ice planet where hostile Kzinti lie in ambush, hoping to steal the stasis box in which they expect to find a super weapon.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- The following items were found inside the stasis box:
- A picture of an unknown reptilian species with one eye. It is believed the picture is of a Slaver.
- Some raw meat which is later found to have turned poisonous.
- A mysterious pistol-like device which is believed to be a weapon.
- The Slaver weapon was found to have these settings:
- Sonic communications device or sonic weapon ineffectual towards humans
- Small telescope
- laser weapon
- Personal jet transportation device
- Energy absorber
- Total Matter to Energy conversion beam, a weapon superior to Federation technology
- Spy/War thinking computer
- Self-destruct desruptor field
- With the release of the Animated Series DVD release, Paramount studio appears to have changed its stance on the series, and is now calling the animated series as part of established canon, including within the pack-in booklet, and dvd extras, and Startrek.com.[1][2][3]
- This episode was adapted from Larry Niven's short story "The Soft Weapon". Niven's story included a human couple and a Puppeteer. The humans became Uhura and Sulu. The pacifist / herbivorous Puppeteer became Spock.
- This is the only episode or Star Trek movie of the "Kirk era" not to feature the character of Captain Kirk.
- The fearsome Kzinti were depicted wearing not-so-fearsome pink jumpsuits because director Hal Sutherland is colorblind and did not realize the Kzinti were wearing pink. ("Draw to the Final Frontier: The making of Star Trek the Animated series" part of DVD set)
- This is the only episode of the animated series where anyone dies or is killed onscreen.
- Contrary to rumor, Larry Niven never threatened legal action for the use of the Kzinti or his short story. In fact, Niven adapted "The Soft Weapon" himself, after Gene Roddenberry suggested it might make a good Star Trek story. Niven admitted that he found it "annoying" that his story competed with Alan Dean Foster's novelization of the episode, but he never threatened or took any legal action resulting from it.
[edit] External links
- The Slaver Weapon article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Urban Myth: Legal Issues Behind "The Slaver Weapon"
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