The Slaver Weapon

ST episode
name = The Slaver Weapon


The Kzinti Captain
series = The Animated Series
ep_num = 014
prod_num = 014
date = December 15, 1973
writer = Larry Niven
director = Hal Sutherland
guest = none
stardate = 4187.3
year = 2269
prev = The Ambergris Element
next = The Eye of the Beholder

The Slaver Weapon is an episode of .

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.

ee also

*

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 disruptor field

*This episode was adapted from Larry Niven's short story "The Soft Weapon". Niven's story included a human couple and a Pierson's Puppeteer, Nessus. The humans became Uhura and Sulu. The pacifist / herbivorous Nessus became Spock. The weapon in the Niven story had the same range of settings, but belonged to a Tnuctip, rather than their foes the Slavers (Thrint).

* The original idea Niven proposed for the episode became the basis for his award-winning short story "The Borderland of Sol."

*This is the only "Star Trek" episode or movie of the "Kirk era" not to feature the character of Captain Kirk (The first TOS episode "The Cage" is considered a "Pike era" story).

*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.

*The Kzinti would have made an appearance on "" in an episode tentatively named "Kilkenny Cats", but the show was cancelled before this could happen.

External links

*StarTrek.com link|ANI|22011
* [http://www.trekplace.com/article19.html Urban Myth: Legal Issues Behind "The Slaver Weapon"]