7 Days of Halloween: Star Trek ("Wolf in the Fold")

There's no starship but instead a room that can only be described as a brothel or a strip club featuring yet another scantily clad female, providing another example of how "Star Trek" in some ways was one of television's most sexist shows. Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) find themselves in a "completely hedonistic society," as Bones claims. But have no fear--it's a fine, foggy night, according to Mr. Scott, and that is an understatement. There actually isn't just fog but a Hammer-like excess of fog, then a scream. Kirk and Bones run to the scene outside the bar and find only Scotty, who had left earlier with the lady, in a terribly panicked state with a knife that has stabbed her a dozen times. Scott cannot remember what happened. The only thing we know for certain is what Bones, as expected, tells his captain, as he does often does in this show: "She's dead, Jim."

This is the introduction to one of the least appreciated episodes of the original "Star Trek" series from the 1960s. "Wolf in the Fold" was written by Robert Bloch, who is most famous for writing Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho"; he also wrote the teleplay for "Catspaw," another horror-inspired episode of the second season of "Star Trek" (and a far weaker episode than "Wolf in the Fold"). It might be considered odd that "Star Trek" took such a departure, but such departures would become somewhat precedent. Despite being a science fiction franchise, some episodes (most famously, perhaps, being "The Trouble With Trebbels") were quite funny, and the films could be compared to westerns ("The Wrath of Khan"), comedy ("The Voyage Home"), political allegories ("The Undiscovered Country"), action (2009's "Star Trek"), and horror ("First Contact").

Kirk, McCoy, and Scott find themselves on the planet Argelius II when the crime happens. John Fiedler (recognizable to today's audiences probably primarily as the voice of Piglet in the "Winnie the Pooh" series and as a juror in "12 Angry Men") appears as an administrator from a neighboring planet (the Argelians are so peaceful that they have never had a need for a police forces), and he serves (at times in harmony and at times in conflict) with Kirk as the principal detective in what soon becomes a great detective story. Soon, the situation deteriorates, as a lieutenant from the Enterprise beamed down to add to the investigation is also killed, and again Scotty is the suspect. The prefect decides to have his wife, a descendant of ancient priestesses, conduct a ritual to find the source of these murders. She grows louder and louder in her cries during the ritual, describing an over-powering, great, monstrous, terrible evil that possesses a potent hatred of women. The lights vanish, and there's another scream. The lights come back on; she's dead, and guess who's holding her dead body?

The episode becomes more and more thrilling and suspenseful, like a great murder mystery, one that these days might be called "old-fashioned." Kirk convinces the Argelians to take everyone back to the ship, where the ship's computers should be able to detect who the murderer really is. Now, our murder mystery horror has become a great courtroom scene, as Kirk questions Scotty and the other suspects. Scotty tells his version of the third murder, that something was in his way as he tried to make his way toward the priestess. Someone? Kirk asks. No. Something.    

Alright, now this is where the article will engage in some spoilers, so if you like "Star Trek," and if you like a good, old-fashioned murder mystery, I encourage you to stop reading and watch the episode. Here we go: Kirk, Spock, and the others believe that the evil spirit the priestess mentioned is none of than a favorite subject of Bloch's: Jack the Ripper. Now we're back in the horror genre, as the evil spirit jumps from being to being, taking over parts of the ship; the spirit feeds on fear, and it will do what it can to frighten the ship's members. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy quickly devise a plan to combat it; one part involves Spock feeding the haunted ship the full amount of Pi to essentially keep it busy, and the other part involves McCoy drugging everyone up. If the evil spirit enters a tranquilized body, McCoy assures his captain that the only danger to the rest of them is that it "might take up knitting" (another example of Bloch's humor).

A note on the sexism: this episode is notorious for it. Jeff Bond writes, "If you're planning on introducing your feminist girlfriend to 'Star Trek,' 'Wolf in the Fold' might not be the best starter episode." Spock makes a shocking remark that "women are more easily and more deeply terrified, generating more sheer horror than the male of the species." I agree with Bond completely, but would only add that if you're dating a feminist, it might not be a good idea to watch "Star Trek" at all with her. Not only do virtually none of the episodes or films pass the Bechdel Test, but James Kirk treats women no better than James Bond does. In another episode in season two, "By Any Other Name," the crew team up to trick superior humanoid conquerors into getting angry (the humanoids' Achilles' Heal). McCoy gives one of them "vitamin supplements" to make him irritable, Spock riles up another in a game of chess, Scotty gets another one terribly drunk, and Kirk, as expected, seduces the final one. Much has been written on Nichelle Nichols' groundbreaking role as Uhuru, but she often was not given much to do other than to inform Kirk of incoming transmissions. "Star Trek" has its flaws, and one of them is its portrayal of women. If you like "Star Trek," you'll have to accept that.

That major flaw aside, "Wolf in the Fold" is, as mentioned, a fun, funny, and surprisingly thrilling and cryptic episode, and a nice one to watch this Halloween season.