Star Trek: The Next Generation Cats: (Star Trek Book, Book about Cats) (Star Trek X Chronicle Books)

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I remember getting dragged to see this as a 5-year-old, and even though I was the film’s target audience, it left me cold. (Maybe I was just bitter because I didn’t get to see Star Wars.) 6. Jonesy, Alien stunt double: William Shatner (uncredited) / stunt double (uncredited) / stunt double: John Fiedler (uncredited) / stunt knight (uncredited) / stunts (uncredited) (11 episodes, 1966-1969) In 2268, the USS Enterprise, on a mission in the 20th century, encountered Gary Seven, an agent of a benevolent alien power that interfered to prevent civilizations from destroying themselves. He was accompanied by a cat named Isis, who was more than she initially appeared to be. Exactly what she was remained a mystery. She was evidently capable of understanding Gary Seven, and of communicating with him in at least a rudimentary fashion. She accompanied him wherever he went. ( TOS: " Assignment: Earth")

titles and opticals: Anderson / titles & opticals: Van der Veer Photo Effects (64 episodes, 1966-1969) The novel Survivors by Jean Lorrah includes a brief portrayal of Tasha's childhood, including her cat. Jonesy also gets credit for being one of the rare cats to make it to the end of a horror movie, and he even makes a cameo appearance in the sequel. (Warning: The above clip is a bit violent, though Jonesy doesn’t get hurt.) In 2257, after surviving falling debris aboard the USS Discovery, Jett Reno compared herself to a cat having nine lives, with " five more lives, at least." ( DIS: " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2")Some animal training manuals claimed that cats, by nature, could not be trained. ( TNG: " Force of Nature") Unlike canines, they did not respond to verbal commands. ( TNG: " Force of Nature", " Phantasms") Upon describing how Jahn was to steal a bunch of communicators, the final draft script of TOS: " Miri" likewise repeatedly likened him to a cat; the script's stage directions stated that he "slips catlike" into a room where those devices were being kept, and had "a cat-eating-the- canary look on his face" as he made his getaway.

stunt double: Richard Tatro (uncredited) / stunt double: William Shatner (uncredited) (2 episodes, 1966-1967) Indeed, there weren’t a whole lot of cats in science fiction until Star Trek came long; there’d been more of a fascination with monkeys, in movies such as Forbidden Planet and especially Robinson Crusoe on Mars, in which "Mona, the Woolly Monkey" got third billing in the trailer. Unlike Jake, Jonesy is a regular, nontelepathic domestic cat, which raises an important question: Just what is a regular, nontelepathic domestic cat doing on a mining ship in space? The answers: to provide plenty of opportunities for "Boo!" scenes, and to watch impassively as the humans get killed off. The animated series fell out of favor (and out of the Star Trek canon) in the 1980s, particularly by the time Star Trek: The Next Generation hit the airwaves, but M’Ress always been significant for me. When I was very young in the late 1970s, the live-action as well as the animated Star Treks were in reruns, and I didn’t differentiate between them. The animated Star Trek could do things that the not-animated Star Trek couldn’t, like have a crewmember who was a sentient, bipedal cat by the name of Lt. M’Ress. She was from the planet Cait, because ÔǪ well, of course she was, and she had a tendency to purr/ululate between sentences.Referring to the fact his initial impressions of Star Trek were formed by watching TOS, Archer actor Scott Bakula noted, " I'm an old cat." ( Star Trek Monthly issue 84, p. 23) In 2267, the alien Sylvia demonstrated the power to assume the form of a cat. She accomplished this feat with the aid of a device called the transmuter, which was the one element of her wardrobe that did not change shape. ( TOS: " Catspaw") The fearsomeness of the Kzinti in that episode is somewhat undone by their pink-and-purple uniforms, a result of director Hal Sutherland’s unfortunate color-blindness. stand-in: Leonard Nimoy (uncredited) / hand double: Michael Strong (uncredited) / photo double: Michael Strong (uncredited) (78 episodes, 1966-1969)

Not all felinoid races were as peaceful as the Caitians, such as this more warlike race of sentient, bipedal cats. Though they were originally introduced in Larry Niven’s non- Trek stories in the late 1960s, they’re best known outside of sci-fi book clubs from this single appearance in the animated Star Trek. stand-in: James Doohan and male guest star (uncredited) / stand-in: William Shatner (uncredited) (50 episodes, 1967-1969) stunt double: James Doohan (uncredited) / stunt double: Ned Romero (uncredited) / stunts (uncredited) (7 episodes, 1967-1968) In the anti-time future seen by Jean-Luc Picard, Data had amassed a diverse collection of cats while a professor at Cambridge University. ( TNG: " All Good Things...") What’s interesting is that this episode was intended to be the pilot episode for a new television series, about the adventures of Isis and her raised-by-aliens human companion Gary Seven on Earth, but it didn’t sell. More’s the pity. 3. Lt. M’Ress, Star Trek: The Animated Series

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I also still enjoy all those elements of pop culture, particularly Star Trek, partially because of all the various cats in the various Treks over the years. Not getting nearly as much screen time was the cat Chester, who appeared in only one episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but he’s worth mentioning because he was a rescue. It’s reassuring to know that even in the 24th century, people are still fighting the good fight. The Human fourth grade student Gaby drew a cat in an environmental suit on her drawing " Vulcan" which was sent to Enterprise NX-01 in 2151. ( ENT: " Breaking the Ice") stunt double: Bruce Mars (uncredited) / stunt double: DeForest Kelley (uncredited) / stunt double: William Windom (uncredited) (3 episodes, 1966-1967)