The Slaver Weapon written and adapted by: Larry Niven and directed by: Hal Sutherland

 

“The Slaver Weapon” is written by: Larry Niven, is adapted from his short story “The Soft Weapon”, and is directed by: Hal Sutherland.  It was produced under production code 22011, was the 14^th episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, and was broadcast on December 8, 1973.

 

Larry Niven as a writer actually seems to thrive in a shorter medium.  His Known Space universe is one of those pieces of modern science fiction that has found its way into the idea of a science fiction canon.  Ringworld is his most well-known novel, and before today the only work from his that I have actually read, my general outlook on Niven’s work being incredibly good at worldbuilding while being quite bland at character work and plot.  Ringworld was a novel, but “The Slaver Weapon” is a 25-minute episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series adapted from his short story, “The Soft Weapon”, and with it comes the ability to play to Niven’s strengths as a writer.  Niven is already working with established characters throughout the episode, the main cast is reduced to Spock, Uhura, and Sulu going against a group of kzinti on an ice planet making this the first episode of Star Trek to air to not feature Captain Kirk at all.  The conflict of the episode is one over a weapon that a group of kzinti wish to use to go at war with humanity, both groups discovering stasis boxes.  This is a 25-minute episode stuffed full of interesting ideas and pieces of worldbuilding that one should expect from Larry Niven: the stasis boxes are relics of ancient civilizations lost billions of years ago, the kzinti society feels fully fleshed out despite having to be presented completely new in a single episode of a television show, and the titular slaver weapon is a piece of technology that changes form on the fly.  The actual plot is perhaps the episode’s only real weakness: it’s essentially a game of hot potato with the weapon for 25-minutes so there really isn’t anything complex than getting the weapon away from the kzinti and learning about the Slavers.

 

Niven’s general weakness in character writing for individuals is actually towards this episode’s strengths.  Spock as a character is a character that’s fairly easy to fill in with Leonard Nimoy in the role being an actor who knows the character like the back of his hand so can fill in the gaps.  Spock is in the leadership role this episode heading the expedition as First Officer and is allowed to serve as an ambassador in a way to the kzinti.  Sure, diplomacy almost immediately breaks down, but Spock’s knowledge of kzinti culture helps guide Sulu and Uhura through their interactions and allows for Niven’s worldbuilding to come through in exposition dumps that make sense.  Sulu and Uhura aren’t particularly well characterized, if you strip things away this is an episode where Sulu’s role in particular could have been taken up by anyone else, less so for Uhura as one of two female established characters, but just by giving the characters the space and actions to take in the plot you can tell that George Takei and Nichelle Nichols are able to flex their acting ability.  Star Trek: The Animated Series has generally been better for Takei and Nichols, even if they’re being given smaller, extra parts with James Doohan, but “The Slaver Weapon” only has them playing Sulu and Uhura, Doohan being the one voicing the kzinti in the episode keeps the other two together.  Takei and Nichols are the ones in the spotlight with Nimoy for the entire episode, something that should have been done more before this point.

 

Overall, “The Slaver Weapon” is an episode that rises above because it actually decides to be something different.  Larry Niven brings his worldbuilding abilities to Star Trek and not having William Shatner as Captain Kirk is an added bonus allowing other characters to take the spotlight.  The kzinti sadly don’t reappear after this in Star Trek¸ though not without attempts being made and Niven being willing to work around the copyright issues that a future crossover might bring if he was not the one writing it, but this is just an episode that knows exactly what it’s doing.  It’s a reflection on looking into a past civilization without any of the ability to truly understand it making it just an excellent piece of speculative fiction.  9/10.