"Catspaw" doubles as lousy title and episode, a collection of many bad parts that sum to an all around worse effort (though admittedly not intolerable, just bad). This attempt at Halloween spookiness yawns instead as by far the least of Robert Bloch's three episodes redeemed somewhat by a production schedule early in the second season (and a curious re-reference to "the Old Ones"). It's no secret that he recycled the concept from a prior short story suggesting a fizzled rewrite with respect to what must have been a struggling D.C. Fontana. About the scariest thing actually is Chekov's first appearance in that detestable fright wig.

The set dressings are appropriate even if they fail to enliven the story. Black cats, castles shrouded in fog, dungeons and skeletons, scepter-wielding wizards and even three witches that inspire one of Spock's truly most snarkiest retorts, "Very bad poetry Captain." The appearance of the skeletons also provide a running joke as Kirk, jarred away from his usual "ossified" sobriquet to his chief medical officer, opts to address him as "Doc" throughout the show. Sadly by attending the script the cast is supposed to be acting lifeless and dull but this is not good television, people! What a waste of Scotty and Sulu (and what a tremendous stroke of luck that the never before seen gold(red)shirt Jackson is the poor miserable person to perish in the first landing party).

The listless delivery from the cast however is upstaged easily by lackluster performances from the guest stars. Antoinette Bower as Sylvia successfully portrays a being that has no discernable emotional range. Similarly Theo Marcuse as Korob craftily captures an impression of confusion and impotence. That these are seemingly "adult" creatures adds to the disappointing explanation behind the wisps of their motivation. This was material handled far better in "Squire" (and/or in "By Any Other Name").

OK the tiny Enterprise hanging on a chain and encased in a crystal may be the coolest prop in all of TOS (resting today in the Smithsonian it seems). Opposing this are those awful puppets (it's not the puppets, it's the strings!), maybe the sorriest effect in the series. Beyond that is thin scratching for any material worth TOS at its prime and worse, material that veers sharply and unpleasantly into realms of "magic" stronger and undetectable by physics, a perverted travesty of Star Trek fortunately only visited once more (and then in a cartoon). If mankind has no need for gods then it certainly has no need for magic either.