Star Trek has a few sinister alien species that have become iconic across generations. The Borg inspired countless examples of cyborg invaders conquering enemies through assimilation. The Klingons were among the first to popularize the proud warrior race trope. The Romulans have been the go-to sci-fi villain template since the 60s. But, for every long-running icon, there are a thousand weekly threats. Redjac is one of the rare Star Trek antagonists that briefly gave the show a horror edge.
Star Trek regularly features supernatural elements, but usually with a strained sci-fi justification. When the writers want a vampire, they create an alien race with fangs. When they need ghosts, they invent invisible invaders. “Wolf in the Fold” is the seventh episode of the second season of The Original Series, and it features the Star Trek franchise’s take on demonic possession.
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What Is Redjac?
Redjac is a parasitic, gas-based organism that can possess living beings. It goes by many names, including Red Jack, Beratis, Kesla, and Jack the Ripper. Jack is a gaseous cloud who feeds on fear and pain. It’s never clarified whether it consumes the metaphysical emotions or the reaction’s resulting chemicals. Redjac is harmless in its native form, but it can invade the psyche of any living being and compel them to kill. It can also take command of inert objects. Most details of Redjac’s origin are left blank. The show never explains where it came from, but the novelization of the script implies it was born in Hell. On its endless quest to cause suffering, Redjac has killed:
- The five or more women attributed to Jack the Ripper
- Seven women in Shanghai
- Five women outside of Kiev
- Eight women in the Martian colonies
- Ten women in Heliopolis on Alpha Eridani II
- Some women on Deneb II
- More women on Rigel IV
- Even more women on Argelius II
The lowest possible death toll would be in the low forties, but Redjac is unquestionably beyond that. In a licensed comic by Christopher Golden & Tom Sniegoski, Redjac sparks a nuclear war on an unnamed planet. It could be responsible for the deaths of millions. Redjac only appeared in one episode of the original series, “Wolf in the Fold.”
What Happens in “Wolf in the Fold?”
|
Director |
Joseph Pevney |
|---|---|
|
Writer |
Robert Bloch |
|
Air Date |
22 December 1967 |
|
Airing Order |
Season 2, Episode 14 |
“Wolf in the Field” begins after an unnamed lady on the Enterprise injures Montgomery Scott. Scotty hates women, so Doctor McCoy prescribes him a vacation on Argelius II, a planet with a sexually permissive culture. Everything on Argelius II is unsubtly based on Middle-Eastern aesthetics. Scotty, McCoy, and Kirk watch a belly dancer who takes a liking to Scotty. They walk out together, but McCoy and Kirk hear a scream. They discover the woman brutally stabbed to death and Scotty unconscious, holding the knife. Hengist, the local city administrator, wants Scotty jailed. The Enterprise sends down a medical expert, and Scotty stabs her, too. Hengist’s wife conducts a séance and experiences a terrible evil. The candles go out, and Scotty strikes again.
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.
The Enterprise crew rigs a computer lie detector test and takes Scott’s testimony. He speaks of an evil presence, and the machine confirms his statements. Kirk asks questions about the many names Hengist’s wife said during the séance. Each is tied to a killing spree on a faraway planet. One alias, “Beratis,” committed murders on Hengist’s home planet, casting suspicion on him. When Hengist tries to run, Kirk knocks him out, and Redjac infects the computer. From there, the nightmarish being can control the Enterprise.
What Is Redjac’s Fate?
Kirk realizes Redjac feeds on fear, so he has McCoy administer a sedative to the rest of the crew. Spock slows down the computer by commanding it to calculate pi to its final decimal. Redjac tries to leap bodies, but it ends up in Hengist again. McCoy tranquilizes Hengist, and Kirk carries him to the Transporter Room. They beam him and the being possessing him into space at “maximum dispersion,” leaving them scattered across the void in countless pieces. Spock believes he’ll starve. The Enterprise Crew resumes their shore leave on Argelius II.
In the grand scheme of science fiction villainy, many threats blow up planets or reduce species to dust. From that perspective, a gas-based being stabbing a few dozen people to death seems unimpressive. However, a possibly demonic invader that feeds on fear and commits every murder with someone else’s hands remains terrifying. Redjac was an excellent one-off villain for the Star Trek universe, and the extra details only make it more horrific.
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