There's a good reason why Foster didn't novelize this one. Because Larry Niven had done so years before the episode was made. The entire episode was essentially a tribute to the sci-fi novel classic The Man-Kzin Wars.

Who says Foster didn't write a novelization? I have a copy. It was a marvelous one. Foster put in a long explanation of how Spock, Uhura and Sulu acquired the Slaver box--one of the archeologists who found it decided to keep it, and threatened to destroy it if they wouldn't let him go. After dealing with the Kzin, they took the other, empty Slaver box the Kzin had had, and took it back to the Enterprise. They then went to a planet (I forget the name) to try and persuade the inhabitants to join the Federation, rather than the Klingons. (They hoped to impress them with their ownership of a Slaver box). On the way down, there was the usual transporter malfunction, which caused everyone's mind to end up in someone else's body. Uhura was in Kirk's body, Sulu was in Spock's, Kirk in Sulu's, and Spock...in Uhura's. They couldn't delay the negotiations, so they all had to go down as is. One of the well-known Klingons was there--I think it was Kor or Koloth, or it might have been one from an earlier novelization. The Klingons lost out, (naturally) but compensated by stealing the Slaver box. Once the Klingons had gone, and everyone was back in their own body (I won't try to explain how that was done) we discover that Scott had rigged the Slaver box to give the Klingons a little surprise. It was great!

He did? Really? I thought I had them all...

I too read the novelization of this episode many years ago and thought it was excellent. In fact it was my favorite of the novelized versions of the animated series. I was especially intrigued by Foster's description of the Slavers, their culture, and the weapon itself, with its many functions. I read the book before I saw the episode for the first time, and as usual, the book was MUCH better. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it for any Trek fan.

It was Star Trek--Log 10, by the way.

I have my copy right here. Published in 1978 by Ballantine, ISBN 0-345-27212-9. Murray, you may have missed it because it was left the "odd man out" in the recent omnibus reprints of the log series. Also, the original print run was apparently less than that of the other logs, making this one harder to find in used bookstores. There was a reprint done seven years ago to commemorate Trek's 25th anniversary, however. It is probably Foster's best Trek story.

To BWebber--I think you have your chronology a bit mixed up. "The Slaver Weapon" is based on Niven's Known Worlds story "The Soft Weapon." Years later, Niven got involved with the animated series (he also wrote the script for a syndicated Star Trek comic strip). He turned "Soft" into "Slaver" by replacing the Pierson's Puppeteer character with Spock. Niven commented that he "donated" the Kzinti to Star Trek, mostly as a favor to D.C. Fontanna. "The Man-Kzin Wars" collections came out sometime in the 80's, I believe, and were written by various writers.

So if Niven donated the Kzinti, how come we haven't seen any since... Bummer, it would be cool to see a Klingon/Kzin war. Not to mention the fact that the Kzinti would probably be useful against the Dominion. Of course, they've probably been assimilated...

A nit:

anyone besides me wonder where the doors on the back of this shuttlecraft go when they open up?

Niven's rather picky about who does what with his characters, that might be why Trek hasn't done anything with the Kzin. I assume Alan Dean Foster got his permission. I wrote to Niven by email with a few questions, including why he hasn't done any more with Trek, and his only answer to that was that he had done the one animated episode.
Alan Dean Foster's adaptations of the animateds were wonderful, far better than the episodes, better than much of TOS, even better than Blish's, and I wish he'd do some new novels and DS9 and Voyager scripts.

You can hear this entire episode in RealAudio on the featured episode page of my TAS website. Along with many pictures, a RealVideo, and several avi's. Thank you.

www.mainengineering.simplenet.com/tas_main.html

You can hear this entire episode in RealAudio on the featured episode page of my TAS website. Along with many pictures, a RealVideo, and several avi's. Thank you.

http://www.mainengineering.simplenet.com/tas_main.html

The whole time I was watching this I thought: "The Kzin? Weren't they in The Ringworld Engineers?" Thank you everyone for setting my mind at rest.
Wonder why they chose not to use Kirk in this one? I quite liked Spock's narration at the start.
Where else has it been stated that Vulcans are purely vegetarian?

Spock implies he's a vegetarian in "All Our Yesterdays" because he'd eaten animal flesh and was surprised he enjoyed it. In "City on the Edge of Forever" Kirk buys Spock vegetables while he buys bologna for himself.
(Okay so that doesn't really answer the question...)

Any other Vulcans? Tuvok? Sarek?

KZIN... KAZON... anyone?
Did Voyager possibly have some roots in this episode?

Apart from the letter K,Z, and N, the two species have nothing else in common.

Actually, the Tzenkethi (Federation enemies from "The Adversary") came more to my mind faster from the name "Kzin" than the Kazon did. Maybe there's some inspiration there...but probably not.

I liked this episode btw! I've seen a few of the TAS episodes now, and to be honest, I generally enjoy it more than Voyager.

So if Niven donated the Kzinti, how come we haven't seen any since... Slightly off-topic, but Niven reports that he used the Kzin again in a run of the Star Trek newspaper comic strip. He also said he got permission to leave Kirk out. I can see why, as there's really no character for Kirk to line up with in the original story.

Niven donated the Kzinti to the animated series only. He was not involved with the franchise after that point.

This may be one of the reasons TAS is not considered canon.

Mike, I don't know if your comment was addressed to me, but I get the story of Niven, the Kzinti, and the newspaper comic strip straight from the horse's mouth: Playgrounds of the Mind by Larry Niven (Tor, 1991) p.507-510.

KAIL, I read somewhere that PARAMOUNT considers
"Yesteryear" to be canonical. Take it for what it's worth.

Oh, yeah now I remember where I read "Yesteryear" is considered canonical: on the "Yesteryear" board.
("Annoyed grunt"!)

Now the Kzin would have been an excellant addition to Enterprise. One could have crash landed on Earth at the beginning of the Series, and they could have filled in for the Xindi in season 3. And it would have been an excellant chance to incorporate part of the Animated Series into Cannon material, which seems like something the writters should try to do, if they think the material is good, but cheesy, then cherry pick it. Instead we get some nonsense about a Klingon in the 22nd century, and some race we never heard of before.

This is the ONLY episode not to have the voice of William Shatner as Captain Kirk....in fact Kirk isn't even in this episode! A very rare episode indeed!

This is not the first time the Kzinti have been mentioned in TAS. The first time was by Keniclius V in “The Infinite Vulcan”.

This is, however, the first time in TAS that a shuttlecraft has a name. In this case, it’s the Copernicus.

Spock expresses surprise that the Beta Lyrae stasis box hasn’t been found prior to this. But as Uhura points out, it takes another stasis box to find one. And just how many ships are running around with stasis boxes aboard? And remember, stasis boxes are supposed to be rare.

Interesting that Sulu’s phaser is covered by the life support belt’s field, but Spock’s tricorder isn’t. At least it isn't after Spock says the first stasis box was found by accident.

The shots from Sulu’s point of view show Spock in the background, Uhura is nowhere to be seen. However, in a reverse shot, it’s clear that Uhura should be visible in the Sulu P.O.V. shots.

In "Beyond the Farthest Star", the life support belts provided some protection for Kirk and Spock against phaser blasts. In this ep, the shields from the belts are useless against the Kzinti's phasers. Wonder what's the difference between the two weapons?

The artists screwed up the changing of the Slaver weapon. The form the weapon had when it emitted the piercing sound was bulbous at one end and tapering at the other. Then the Kzin changes it. However, as he makes the change, it looks like a telescope that changes into the bulb with the tapering end. That should be reversed. It should go from the bulb to the telescope. When the weapon is aimed again, it is in the telescope shape.

The weapon is changed again. This time into a cylinder with fins. However, when it's aimed at Sulu, it is once again in the telescope shape.

If the Slaver Weapon fifth setting is an energy absorber, why were the life support belts still powered up?

God, Uhura runs funny. She runs the way Shaggy walks in Scooby Doo, Where Are You? No wonder she kept getting shot and captured.

As Spock talks about the null setting on the Slaver weapon, there's a hole in the center of the device. How do I know there's a hole? You can see Spock's uniform through it.

When the weapon is in its talking computer mode, Chuft Captain seems to be holding the device in two different positions, depending on the camera shot.

Four Kzinti were killed in this ep, bringing the death toll for TAS to 7. Considering this was a Saturday morning cartoon aimed at kids, that's a pretty high body count. The Kzinti represent the first deaths to involve intelligent life, however.

Wonder why Telepath didn't try to warn Chuft Captain about the Weapon? Or was he that slow-witted?

And did Telepath die in the explosion? If not, why wasn't he arrested by Spock as a prisoner of the Federation? If he did die, then that makes the death toll 8 instead of 7.

"Live long and prosper."

Why does the Copernicus look so radically different than the other Shuttlecraft? (Especially the ones seen in "Classic Trek")

I think John that since they were able to draw any designs that they could,they simply decided to offer us a new shuttlecraft configuration for fun.Perhaps they also wanted to indicate that not all of the Enterprise shuttles had to have one homogenous look to them. And as we saw in "The Ambergris Element" episode,there are indeed shuttles that have specific designs due to specific requirements such as exploration of a water world.I enjoyed the fact that shuttlecrafts did not all have to share the same exact design.

Why did the Slavers put a disrupter grenade with the pin pulled in a stasis box?
Accident & nowhere to dispose of it or intended booby trap for their enemies?

Why isn't the box glowing on the planet?

Uhura wasn't supposed to speak, but she does.

If this a spy device, why does it look so much like a weapon? Good spy devices look like something harmless.

If the Slavers were the dominant race, who would they be spying upon?

Why lock the weapon in a stasis box?

Why did the computer only turn on when it reached that setting? Shouldn't it have activated & studied what the people who had it were doing?

Spock says that only the matter-conversion setting was something the Federation didn't have.
I don't recall seeing energy absorbers in the series.

Is this the only episode without Kirk or the Enterprise in it? (Not counting the credits, of course. ;-)

So in all the vastness of the galaxy the Kzinti just happened to possess a Stasis Box that alerted them to the Stasis Box that Spock had who just happened to be traveling in the same area so they could set a trap? Astronomical coincidence is an understatement.Isn't the Stasis Box bland looking?Could not the artistic designers have come up with a niftier appearance for the box? Wouldn't the discovery of a Stasis Box be important enough for the Enterprise to investigate & not a shuttle with just 3 crew members? The clear globe helmets the Kzinti wear to breathe look awfully low tech,like something out of a 1950s sf film or comic book.I wonder just how successful the Kzinti were as a warrior race? They captured 3 aliens & immediately were ready to dismiss Spock & Uhura as significant.Seems like a dangerous precept to underestimate the enemy,no matter who or what they are.

Sulu says that the Kzinti fought, and lost, several wars with the Federation 200 years earlier.

Problem is, that places these wars in the 21st Century. Bearing in mind that the Federation didn't come into existence until the twenty-second century (2161), there is no way these wars could have happened.

For much of the 21st Century, humanity was still confined to the Solar System, without warp drive, it would take centuries to get anywhere.

Even after Zefram Cochrane's flight in 2063, there is no way that humanity could have fought several wars with the Kzinti. At that point, they were still recovering from WWIII and slowly advancing into space, under the watchful eyes of the Vulcans. They would not have the resources to fight a well established space race like the Kzinti.

That pesky time line problem rears its ugly head again, it seems. As I said in the Tomorrow Is Yesterday thread, it was not until the movies and the subsequent shows that the Trek time line firmly took shape.

If we are to now considered the animated Trek canon, some things will have to be retconned out, like these wars that never could have happened.

Before they escape from the deactivated police web, Spock tells the others "Don't forget to zig-zag."
They all proceed to run away in a perfectly straight single file.

By Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) a long time ago: If the Slavers were the dominant race, who would they be spying upon?

In the original short story, it turned out that this wasn't a Slaver stasis box, it was a Tnuctipun one, the rebel race that were fighting the Slavers. The weapon inside was one of their spy devices.

The Kzinti had fought many wars against the Humans. It stretches credulity that some of them would still not know human females are intelligent.