Wolf in the Fold - episode #36
Base of Galactic Science Fiction :: SCIENCE FICTION in TELEVISION :: Silver Age of TV Science Fiction
Page 1 of 1
Wolf in the Fold - episode #36
WOLF IN THE FOLD (2nd season; episode #36)
Directed by Joseph Pevney writer: Robert Bloch Air Date: 12/22/67
Redjac, Redjac, Redjac! It's Jack!...writer Robert Bloch is back, with more spooky doings (after Catspaw, which he also wrote) and he has Jack the Ripper on his mind. This must be murder! The episode begins with a belly dancer. What's this? Is this not Star Trek? Sure enough, then we see Kirk, McCoy and a lusty Scotty watching the show, to the tune of an old Orion slave girl dance. We're on a peaceful planet called Argelius II, patterned after movie-styled Arabia, and where the aim is to relax and enjoy oneself, where the primary law is... love. Gee whiz.
Next thing we know, Scotty has knifed the poor dancing girl to death in a mist-filled alley. Then, a bit later, he does it again, to a poor yeoman. Soon after that, yet again, to a local mystic. All his victims are women. And him with a recent knock on the head, caused by a female crewmember, before the episode began. Yes, it must be him. Murder mystery solved! Well, not quite. Just one thing I would like to mention before we go on, regarding the 2nd murder: just before this murder, Scotty is the main and only suspect at this point; so they send him downstairs to be alone with another female in a secluded chamber; sure enough, she's dead a minute later. But, what do I know? I've never conducted a murder investigation. I guess that's how it's done in the 23rd century? There's an entertaining guest performance by actor John Fiedler as Hengist; he excelled at playing meek or weaselly characters.
This is a fun if trivial episode, filled with some nice touches, but very few if any actual ideas, concentrating instead on some suspense or just to amuse the audience. The alien society here is one of the most peaceful we've ever seen on TOS but they still resort to ancient customs for dealing with murderers: death by slow torture. Cut to: Scotty 'gulp.' There's a central séance which manages to be a little on the eerie side as the doomed clairvoyant describes the menace - evil, a hatred of all that lives, and so on.
Then we learn about this entity which was known as Jack on Earth in the 19th century and which continued to kill every few decades as mankind spread to the stars. It's intriguing, copied by Stephen King for his magnum opus, 'It,' not to mention there was that Kolchak TV film "The Night Strangler" in 1973. We never learn, however, what this timeless creature did before its escapades as the Ripper. Then the crew all get space happy thanks to a special cocktail from McCoy and, as seems customary with many later Trek episodes, a grim tone is subverted to a playful one in the last act. The episode also generalizes the fear factor in females, making them the primary (and only) targets of this cosmic killer. Even the monstrous alien killer in Obsession was more diverse in its attacks - various red-shirts! BoG's Score: 7 out of 10
Extra Trek Trivia: actor Charles MaCaulay, who plays Prefect Jaris, also played Landru in Return of the Archons. Redjac also murdered in the Martian Colonies in year 2105 and on Alpha Eridani II in 2156 (around the time of the Enterprise TV series). It even popped up again in a later comic book story, during the TNG time frame.
More Extra Trek Trivia: it's no surprise that this was one of actor James Doohan's favorite episodes since he's given much more to do here than to just tend to the ship's engines. For awhile, Doohan actually dated Tanya Lemani, the actress playing the exotic dancing girl, so his attraction to her on screen didn't involve much acting. Doohan was also friends with actor John Fiedler. As Trek aficionados know, Doohan was missing a finger on his right hand (WW2 war injury); for the scene in which he takes the stand, inserts of someone else's hand were used.
remastered trailer for
Last edited by BoG on Sun May 03, 2015 1:26 am; edited 9 times in total
Wolf in the Fold full episode
CLASSIC TREK QUOTES:
Scotty: "Captain – you mean my neck's gonna have to depend on some spooky mumbo-jumbo?"
Redjac as Hengist: "You'll all suffer! You'll all...
...(starts laughing, out of it) "Die! Die! Die! Everybody die!"
Scotty (Thinking): 'Wipe that smirk off your face you bald little gremlin you!'
Similar topics
» episode #40 - The Wolf Boy
» episode #40 - Wolf 359
» Episode #03
» Episode #42: Q Who?
» Taken episode #01: Beyond the Sky
» episode #40 - Wolf 359
» Episode #03
» Episode #42: Q Who?
» Taken episode #01: Beyond the Sky
Base of Galactic Science Fiction :: SCIENCE FICTION in TELEVISION :: Silver Age of TV Science Fiction
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum