Wolf in the Fold (episode)

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This article is written
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This article is written
from the Real World
point of view
"Wolf in the Fold"
TOS, Episode 2x07
Production number: 60336
First aired: 22 December 1967
Remastered version aired: 10 March 2007
← 37th of 80 produced in TOS →
← 43rd of 80 released in TOS →
← 23rd of 80 released in TOS Remastered →
← 43rd of 726 released in all →
Written By
Robert Bloch

Directed By
Joseph Pevney
3614.9 (2267)
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Scotty is suspected of killing several women while on shore leave on Argelius II. However, a more sinister force may provide a connection between this murder and many previous around the galaxy, including a rampage on ancient Earth.

Contents

[edit] Summary

  • Captain’s log, stardate 3614.9. Planet Argelius II. While on therapeutic shore leave, Mr. Scott has fallen under suspicion of having brutally murdered an Argelian woman. The chief city administrator, a Mr. Hengist, has taken charge of the investigation, but has learned little of value.

While on medical shore leave on Argelius II, Scotty seemingly murders several women. Each time, he blacks out and regains awareness with a bloody knife in his hand, claiming no memory of what happened. The investigation is initially conducted by Mr. Hengist, assistant to Prefect Jaris. Hengist quickly claims that Scotty is obviously guilty. Kirk, unwilling to believe that Scotty is capable of murder, insists on a more thorough investigation over Mr. Hengist's strident protests.

  • Captain’s log, stardate 3615.4. With Mr. Scott in a technical state of arrest, we have beamed aboard the Enterprise to continue the investigation.

The true murderer is revealed to be a malicious incorporeal entity that feeds on fear. It once took the form of "Jack the Ripper" on 19th century Earth and then traveled from planet to planet, assuming humanoid bodies to murder women and to feed on their fear. None of those murders were ever solved. The reason for Mr. Hengist's opposition to this line of inquiry is soon revealed -- he is the current host of the murdering entity!

The entity is forced out of Mr. Hengist's body, but it moves into the Enterprise's computer systems and threatens to slowly murder the crew. Dr. McCoy gives everyone a tranquilizer to deprive the entity of the fear on which it feeds. Spock forces the entity out of the computer by ordering it to compute, at top priority, pi to the last digit - a task that can never complete. The entity repossesses Hengist's body, and Kirk orders it beamed into space "at maximum dispersion", spreading it into billions of harmless atoms.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Scotty – here, they use the lights."
"Now, no one has to tell an old Aberdeen pub crawler how to applaud, captain!"

- Kirk and Scott, after the dancer's performance


"Captain – you mean my neck's gonna have to depend on some spooky mumbo-jumbo?"

- Scott


"An entity which feeds on fear and terror would find a perfect hunting ground on Argelius, a planet without violence, where the inhabitants are as peaceful as sheep. The entity would be as a hungry wolf in that fold."

- Spock


"This is the first time I've heard a malfunction threaten us."

- Sulu


"Whoever he is... he sure talks gloomy... With an armful of this stuff, I wouldn't be afraid of a supernova!"

- a tranquilized Sulu


"Computer – this is a Class A Priority Directive: Compute, to the last digit, the value of pi."
"No - no - no - nooooooo!"

- Spock and the entity


"What would the life form do in a tranquilized body?"
"Well, it might take up knitting – nothing more violent than that."

- Kirk and McCoy


"You'll all suffer! You'll all... (laughing) Die! Die! Die! Everybody die!"

- The tranquilized Mr. Hengest/entity


"You didn't have to shove me, Mr. Spock– I'd have gotten 'round to it!"

- Mr. Kyle


"Well, Mr. Spock for the next five or six hours we're going to have the happiest crew in space... of course, we won't get much work done."

- Kirk


"Captain – since you came to Argelius to rest, I suggest you take advantage of the opportunity."
"That's a splendid idea, Mr. Spock. I know a cafe where the women are so–"
"I know the place, Jim!"
"Let's go see!"
"You gentlemen? In your condition? Don't be ridiculous. Mr. Spock – this cafe has women that are so... No, I guess not."

- Spock, Kirk, McCoy, and Scott


" Everyone feeds on death, even vegetarians."

- Spock

[edit] Background Information

  • Robert Bloch, the writer of this teleplay, originally envisioned the Enterprise crew sipping drinks which had several differently colored layers, much like a pousse-café. The imbiber's mood would change as he drank each layer. This was dropped as being too complicated and costly to realize just for a throwaway moment of humor. According to David Gerrold in his book about the making of "The Trouble with Tribbles", network censors were concerned that it would appear that the crew was engaged in drug use. Producer Gene Coon told the censors that they were "full of horseshit" but the drinks were excised anyway.
  • The seance scene which ends in darkness and a murder is very similar to a scene in writer Robert Bloch's classic short story Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper. Before serving as a basis for this Trek episode, Bloch's short story was adapted into an episode of Thriller in 1961, also called Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper.
  • Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) and Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov) do not appear in this episode.
  • The Rigel VII fortress music by Alexander Courage was used in the seance sequence. However, the original was not utilized. A new recording was made for use in the second and third seasons. The rerecording was used again in "A Private Little War" and "That Which Survives".
  • Vina's dance music from "The Cage" is reused as Kara's dance music.
  • The stuntman playing Hengist/Redjac (Paul Baxley), doing mayhem after being discovered, is blatantly larger and meaner than Hengist as played by John Fiedler. But it's not inconsistent with the powers that Redjac has, so it's not to be considered as a goof.
  • James Blish's adaptation of this episode in Star Trek 8 features a paragraph-length description of the grotesque images that are seen only fleetingly as swirling blobs of color on the viewscreen monitor in the briefing room after the entity takes over the Enterprise computer. In Blish's version, when Yeoman Tankris fearfully asks, "What could it be?" Kirk replies, "A vision of hell."
  • Some of the extras in the Argelius bar scene are wearing turtleneck uniforms from "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
  • In the late 1980s, the pop band Information Society sampled Scotty's line, "Let's go see," in their song, "Walking Away."
  • A sequel, of sorts, to this story was presented in the WildStorm comic book "Embrace the Wolf".

[edit] Production timeline

[edit] Remastered information

The original Aregelius II

Argelius II remastered

The remastered version of "Wolf in the Fold" aired in many North American markets during the weekend of 10 March 2007. Few adjustments were made to the episode except for all-new shots of the Enterprise in orbit of Argelius II, itself now bearing visible city lights of the surface. The visual of Redjac on the triscreen was left intact. [1].

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Starring

[edit] Guest Star

[edit] Also Starring

[edit] Featuring

And

[edit] With

[edit] References

Alpha Carinae V; Alpha Eridani II; Alpha Majoris I; Argelian; Argelius II; Argus River; Beratis; boridium; Canopus system; Cantaba Street; Class-A compulsory directive; Deneb II; Drella; Edinburgh; Great Awakening; Jack the Ripper; Kelsa; linguistics bank; Mars; Martian colonies; Mellitus; murinite; Pi; Prefect; prostitution; Proxima Centauri; psychotricorder; Redjac; Rigel IV; serial number; sheep; shore leave; wolf

[edit] External link


Previous episode produced:
"The Doomsday Machine" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 2 		Next episode produced:
"The Changeling"
Previous episode aired:
"Obsession" 		Next episode aired:
"The Trouble with Tribbles"
Previous remastered episode aired:
"The Paradise Syndrome" 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
"The Tholian Web"
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