Wolf in the Fold: Summary

[YARN]

McCoy decides a trip to the strip club will cure Scotty's case of Sudden Onset Misogyny.

Scotty takes a liking to one of the featured dancers and, apparently aware that you only get away with so much in proposing a private dance in the VIP room, talks her into "taking a walk with him." Minutes later he is found standing over her dead body.

Kirk, not wanting to lose his chief engineer, insists on conducting his own "investigation" into the matter. More women die and everytime a woman's body is found Scotty is found over them with an "Oops I crapped my pants!" look on his face.

Ignoring the obvious evidence, Kirk and friends try to blame the stripper's ex boyfriend. When that doesn't work they hang the frame on Piglet from Winnie the Pooh. Spock argues that Piglet is really a "fear monster" and that since women are natural 'fraidy cats, he picks them as victims. To add insult to injury they also accuse him of being Jack the Ripper.

After the natives accept the magic show performed on the Enterprise, Kirk and McCoy decide to hit a cafe with hot chicks.

 

[Greg Cox]

And written by Robert Bloch no less. The legendary creator of PSYCHO.

"Wolf in the Fold" is basically a Star Trek update of one of his most famous short stories, "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" which had previously been adapted as an episode of Thriller, hosted by Boris Karloff.

FYI: The Thriller version is coming up on MeTV sometime in the next week or so. My DVR is already set to record it.

I gotta admit: this was always one of my favorite eps growing up. Star Trek and Jack the Ripper . . . how cool was that?

 

[Push The Button]

Contains one of my favorite lines of the series:

SPOCK: Computer, compute to the last digit, the value of Pi.

 

[Greg Cox]

Oops. Turns out that Thriller episode has already run. Just found it on my DVR.

Never mind.

 

[scotpens]

Normally I'm not one to get on my PC high horse and complain about "sexism" in TV shows from more than 40 years ago, but this episode does seem surprisingly . . . well, sexist.

MCCOY: My work, Jim. This is prescription stuff. Don't forget, the explosion that threw Scotty against a bulkhead was caused by a woman.
KIRK: Physically he's all right. Am I right in assuming that?
MCCOY: Oh, yes, yes. As a matter of fact, considerable psychological damage could have been caused. For example, his total resentment toward women.
KIRK: He seems he's overcoming his resentment.

Mr. Scott has a "total resentment toward women" because a woman was responsible for an accident he suffered? If a man had caused the explosion, would Scotty resent all men? Unless, of course, McCoy was referring ironically to Scotty's penchant for the ladies.

And then there's Spock's rather uncharacteristic comment: "I suspect [the creature] preys on women because women are more easily and more deeply terrified, generating more sheer horror than the male of the species." Really? Does Spock have hard scientific data to back up that statement?

Contains one of my favorite lines of the series:

SPOCK: Computer, compute to the last digit, the value of Pi.

And any computer with half an electronic brain would respond, "You know perfectly well that pi is an irrational number with no resolution. Now go and boil your bottom, you son of a silly person."

 

[Melakon]

It's easy to forget that John Fiedler had done a few episodes of one of the granddaddies of tv sci-fi, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, about 15 years before he did Star Trek.

 

[YARN]

It's easy to forget that John Fiedler had done a few episodes of one of the granddaddies of tv sci-fi, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, about 15 years before he did Star Trek.

Wasn't the ex-BF with the funny nose a player on Bonanza or something. He looks familiar.

 

[Melakon]

It's easy to forget that John Fiedler had done a few episodes of one of the granddaddies of tv sci-fi, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, about 15 years before he did Star Trek.

Wasn't the ex-BF with the funny nose a player on Bonanza or something. He looks familiar.

Charles Dierkop? I can't remember where I first saw him, he was doing a lot of tv then, including westerns. The first time I ever paid attention to him enough to learn his name was his role as Flat Nose Curry in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, when it first ran in theaters.

 

[Green Shirt]

Gotta love the Netflix description of the episode - Scotty is accused of murdering a belly dancer.

 

[scotpens]

Gotta love the Netflix description of the episode - Scotty is accused of murdering a belly dancer.

That reminds me of an old TV Guide synopsis of "The Naked Time":

"On a distant planet, Kirk finds the inhabitants frozen in weird positions."

 

[Greg Cox]

More trivia: the actor who plays the leader of the planet (and the husband of the psychic) also played Dracula in the prologue to Blacula, which also starred Dr. Richard Daystrom, of course!

 

[Ssosmcin]

Mr. Scott has a "total resentment toward women" because a woman was responsible for an accident he suffered? If a man had caused the explosion, would Scotty resent all men? Unless, of course, McCoy was referring ironically to Scotty's penchant for the ladies.

Yes, after the explosion, Scotty "switched sides."

And then there's Spock's rather uncharacteristic comment: "I suspect [the creature] preys on women because women are more easily and more deeply terrified, generating more sheer horror than the male of the species." Really? Does Spock have hard scientific data to back up that statement?

All he has to do is come to my house and let a mouse loose in my kitchen while my wife and I stand by. I can guarantee my wife will scream in abject terror while I will simply blanch and say "goddamn it!"

 

[telerites]

It's easy to forget that John Fiedler had done a few episodes of one of the granddaddies of tv sci-fi, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, about 15 years before he did Star Trek.

Really enjoyed this episode. Fiedler was excellent in the role. One of my favorite roles of his was in the Bob Newhart show.