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"The Slaver Weapon" Full Reaction! - Star Trek: The Animated Series Season 1 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-10 18:00:06
Imported:
2026-06
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Follow along with me using your own copy of the episode!

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"The Slaver Weapon" Full Reaction! - Star Trek: The Animated Series Season 1

Comments

Greg

I didn't enjoy this episode QUITE as much as Bunny did, but I agree it's a good one. It was really cool they got someone as famous as Larry Niven -- who was in his prime for sure when this was made -- to submit a story for the show. It just feels very cramped and rushed to me, a lot about the Kzinti seems unexplained, and there's some pretty big plot holes here (like how the did three Enterprise crew members survive the self destruct going off where as the Kzin in the ship did not?) The Wikipedia article for this episode is a good read, as it explains how the episode came to be and how little that Niven's story "The Soft Weapon" had to be tweaked to make it neatly work in the setting of Star Trek. We DO hear more about the Kzinti later in more Star Trek, but the fact that humans/the Federation had fought wars with them before never comes up again, nor do we ever hear anything about the Slavers. So once again this is a odd case, as seems to happen so much with TAS, where later writers cherry picked what they wanted to use and thus become 'canon' to Star Trek and what they did not. This is also the only episode where Kirk or the Enterprise is not seen, not counting the opening credits. I've read some of Niven's short stories, but it was a long time ago so I couldn't really tell you which ones or what they were about. I need to go back and read his stuff again, as he's STILL alive and active, his last published works coming out in 2020! However, I DO know Niven's Kzinti served as the basis for the Kirathi, a war like race of cats which is fighting a long and bloody war with the Terran Confederation in the Wing Commander franchise of games, a very ground breaking series of first person space dog fighting games created by Chris Roberts from the 1990's and 2000's. The third and forth games in the franchise were FMV games featuring the likes of Mark Hamill and Malcom McDowell in them. I spent a lot of time playing the franchise over the years and wish there was a modern one today. Your really going through the TAS at a fast pace, Bunny! Hope you enjoy the last episodes (the ones made in 1974) just as much.

Lee

In the mid-80s, CBS revived The Twilight Zone and "Shatterday" was the first segment of the premiere episode. Except for one sequence written by Ellison himself, it was adapted from Ellison's short story by Alan Brennert. (In addition to his career as a TV writer, Brennert wrote some excellent standalone Batman stories for DC that have since been collected in a trade paperback; I highly recommend it.) Oh, and it starred Bruce Willis. This episode is a major highlight of Star Trek (1973), right up there with "Yesteryear" for me. Sulu and Uhura rarely get this big a spotlight, and Spock has clearly leveled up his shuttlecraft command skills since "The Galileo Seven" (although his choice to seek the second stasis box nearly had dire consequences of a scope rarely seen in Star Trek). Except for Irv Kaplan going nuts with the pink color scheme again, I don't have a problem with anything here, and that's pretty unusual for me.

deskmerc

Niven is one of my favorite authors. "The Soft Weapon" is a short story, introducing some characters you will meet later in other stories, including the novel Ringworld. Niven wrote a whole series of stories and novels set in what is called Known Space, spanning tales from the Slaver era (a billion years ago) to 4000 years in the future. Its considered harder scifi than Star Trek itself, with reasonable restrictions on what technology can do (There is FTL travel through hyperspace, for example, but there are limitations, like you had better use the hyperdrive in flat space or you vanish, and there's generally only one speed in hyperdrive that anyone can use, with a couple of exceptions) Kzinti, Slavers, they all appear in these stories at different points. A Slaver is found on Earth in one novel, before humans encountered the Kzinti, and has to be dealt with, and the Kzin...well, there are like 20 books of short stories written by other authors in the shared universe of Known Space that detail what happened during the Man-Kzin Wars. The first one began when the Kzin found and occupied Wunderland (a well established human colony around Alpha Centauri) and then built up an invasion fleet to hit Earth...again, these are their own tales, most of it shows up as backstory in all the other stories (because Niven writes good scifi, not war novels) but when he opened up the shared universe, scifi authors with a military bent ran with it, now we know what happened exactly. (Example, in Ringworld Engineers, there's a planet called Canyon, annexed by humans from the kzin from the last war. Its called Canyon because that's where everyone lives, in a deep canyon that holds sufficient air pressure while the surface of the planet is quite inhospitable, all the air is down this deep canyon. The canyon itself was dug by a single human ship called the Wunderland Treatymaker, built by Wunderland to end that war all by itself, whether or not it was successful is left to the casual reader to determine. All of that is in one throwaway paragraph in the novel, but the events get fleshed out in a separate Man-Kzin novel about that conflict.)

Mark Chrisco

One of the many reasons Nimoy was revered by the supporting cast.

SuicuneSol

A very interesting episode! I like the lore drops, the lack of Kirk and the Enterprise, and frankly the focus on a plot point that's a little different but compelling. I was, however, once again laughing my ass off at the robotic voice of the weapon. It was just too much.

Matthew Graves (Graviton)

So, this was a BIG DEAL back in the day. The equivalent of what today would be a big “crossover event” in modern terms. Think Spider-Man meeting Superman. Niven was very much the “hot” writer in sci-fi circles at the time. Watching it as purely an episode of Star Trek, well, it’s actually pretty damn good. Bunny is right in pointing out that it does a great job focusing the spotlight on some non-Kirk characters. UEspecially Uhura, who I would say is the low key MVP of this season (And Bunny…. I laughed so hard at the quip “that could be a weapon. … or a Hair dryer” seriously, thank you for that) Unsolicited thought on books: hitchhikers is by far the better written piece of fun sci-fi. But ready player one is also good and probably more accessible.

Mark Gosine

Yeah, my introduction to Niven was Ringworld. It caught my eye at the bookstore while pursuing the novels in the 70s. Good and imaginative story. If I recall, it won a Hugo.

bunnytails

You’re welcome for the laugh! I agree about Uhura being mvp of season!

bunnytails

Did Soft Weapon come first or Ringworld?

bunnytails

I had no idea The Twilight Zone had a revival! Did it last long/do well? I’d love to see that episode, but I’m also tempted to do the whole series. But when will I find the time to do that!?

deskmerc

THe Soft Weapon appeared in "If" magazine, Febuary 1967, RIngworld was published in 1970. There is a collection of Known Space stories called "Neutron Star" that The Soft Weapon appears in as well. Niven had an earlier idea he pitched for the animated series that didn't work out, so he adapted The Soft Weapon which did get accepted. The idea later became the short story "Borderlands of Sol", published in Analog and later in "Tales of Known Space"

Lee

That was only the *first* revival. There have been three in total. This one (1985-89) ran for three seasons (two on CBS and the third in syndication). The next was on UPN (2002-03), but it only lasted one season. The final one (so far) ran from 2019-2020 for two seasons on what was originally known as CBS All Access and is now Paramount+ and was hosted by Jordan Peele. Good news: several people have posted the "Shatterday" segment on YouTube, so you won't have any trouble finding it.

Carlos Stevens

Ah yes... Here it is. The Star Trek episode written by Larry Niven; author of the Ring World series...and the Known Space books. One of my favorite authors. One of the few science fiction writers that really took the science seriously and didn't lean into Science Fantasy. This is definitely one of the best.

Carlos Stevens

OOOOO You're reading Ready Player One. For me as a Gen X'er Nerd... that book was nostalgia crack. But... (no spoiler)... Let's just say that if I had found the first puzzle, I wound have won the egg. I knew the dungeon, and I could play that video game until I got bored with it. You're quite a bit younger than me Bunny, So the book may not be as... fun... as it was for me. Nevertheless... you're into very esoteric things (yes I just called you a nerd)... so you will still very much enjoy this book. I think there's enough nostalgia for you that you will still love the spirit of the book.

Carlos Stevens

Bunny, maybe you should take a speed reading course. 2001... Ready Player One... Hitchhiker's Guide... Too many books to read... so little time. BTW, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series is something you have to read at least two times. There are many things in those books that you won't understand until you've read them all at least twice. (you better be readin' your self some classic sci fi... Andrea Norton... Issac Asimov... Phillip K. Dick... Frank Herbert... Anne McCaffrey (ok ok... y'all shut up... it's sci fi...not fantasy)... Robert Heinlein... Ray Bradbury... Theodore Sturgeon... Ursula K. Le Guin... Poul Anderson (it's pronounced "Paul"... not "Pool")... and last but not even close to being least... Alan Dean Foster. Bunny... you are really going to have to take a speed reading class.

PlopPlopPlop

Kzinti are represented in the game, Star Fleet Battles. The Kzinti Super Space Control ship was a favorite amongst us.

Timothy Bennett

Pretty sure I remember thr Kzinti's were explored in the Star Trek Enterprise prequel series that had about 3 seasons which explored Enterprise's and Earth's maiden voyage to the stars.