Pardon me for not writing in a while, but we have been busy getting ready for our new family member: Buddy!
As you may recall, I tragically lost my brother John to Covid at the end of August. As I slowly manage my grief for my poor brother, my heart is soothed by his beloved cat, Buddy, whom we have now adopted.
Yes, last Saturday was our Caturday, and honestly, Buddy is the most affectionate cat I have ever known in my life. He loves to snuggle, and I suspect part of that is because he misses John, but I know that John trained him well to be a sweet, caring cat. He is very fastidious, and doesn’t claw the furniture. He knows the meaning of ‘No, Buddy!’ but rarely needs to be scolded.
He is just a love bug, and I feel John’s spirit in him. If there is any silver lining from losing my brother, it is this little fluffy gift of love! Buddy may not know it, but he’s my therapy cat, and I think we’re all his therapy humans!
May you all find the joy of a good furry friend <3 . Thanks for your support.
My dear brother John with Buddy in 2020. Since Buddy is an indoor cat, this was a rare outing, and boy was he excited! John kept him in tow.
He hid straight under the desk when he first came to us last Saturday, but before long…
I’ve never known a cat that willingly likes to be held like a baby!
Spock and Cats seem to go together so well, so today I present a new series; Caturday with Spock. Every Saturday we’ll go into the secret world of Mister Spock and his cats…who knows what silliness lurks in the heart of our favorite Vulcan? Enjoy this series until I can’t think of any more! Happy Caturday, love Therese 🙂
Imagine at TV series where there’s a mysterious alien traveling through time and space with a often silly companion and a little magic wand that helps him get through tough situations. No, not Doctor Who, although…
I’m thinking of Assignment: Earth, the would-be TV series born of the Star Trek episode of the same name. I think it might have had a chance in the spy-crazy era of the late 60’s. And with the cold war still raging at the time, Gary Seven and his cat Isis would have made a fun entry into TV land. Unfortunately, it wasn’t picked up, and we are only left with the one hour where Spock and Kirk are made to look really silly as Gary Seven embodies a cool only equaled by Spock.
That hat Spock? Seriously? But nice suits.
The more I looked into the brief world of Gary Seven, the more I see homage to (or copyright of?) Dr. Who. Consider after all, he can travel anywhere through time and he has his own little version of a ‘sonic screwdriver’. And if he and Miss Lincoln are to have “…interesting experiences” together, Hmm, I think I’m beginning to see where the inspiration came from…
Seven with his own ‘sonic screwdriver’.
From what we’ve seen, Gary is a lot like The Doctor. He seems to be awfully intelligent about well, everything, he is often sent on missions to fix events in time (boy could we use him now), and using the convenient ‘screwdriver’ that is often the determinant between escape or capture. We never see the ship he travels in, but it is assumed that his ‘assignments’ take him all over the galaxy through different eras. He’s a Time Lord.
Miss Lincoln (Teri Garr) had promise and deserved better!
Miss Roberta Lincoln would make a good companion. She’s young, quirky, a bit daft, but determined to make a statement (“We want to know if we’ll be alive when we’re 30!”) I think of the series were picked up at the time, I hope she would evolve into a stronger female character, yet in reality, if it was picked up the 60’s she’s probably remain more comic relief, at least until the advent of the Women’s Movement. Now if it was made today, I’m pretty sure she’d be more like a combination The Doctor’s companions; I’m thinking Donna Noble, Clara Oswald and a little Martha Jones, and she’d be much more interesting. Unfortunately we have little insight into Roberta left. Teri Garr, who played Roberta, noted in her memoir: *
“I played Roberta Lincoln, a dippy secretary in a pink and orange costume in a very short skirt. Had the spin-off succeeded, I would have continued on as an earthling agent, working to preserve humanity. In a very short skirt.”
Then there’s Gary Seven’s cat, Isis. Of course we found out at the very end that Isis was actually a shape-shifter; she briefly appeared as a human sex-kitten lounging on Seven’s couch, much to a flummoxed Roberta Lincoln’s instant jealousy. Isis wears cat ears and purrs in her human form! Yet Gary depends on her greatly, and acknowledges her advice. Maybe she’s Gary’s River Song (The 11th Doctor’s wife).
April Tatro as the real Isis
No doubt Isis’ little trick was meant as a teaser to entice the would-be buyer of this pilot-within-a-Star Trek-episode to want more. So is Isis a woman in a cat’s body or a cat in a woman’s body? The world may never know…
As a bonus, I’ve always loved how Spock was instantly ‘strangely attracted’ to Isis. It’s fun to see the real chemistry between Nimoy and the cat in the Briefing Room. The cat sits and purrs contentedly in his arms, eyes slowly opening and closing. Cats know a good person. Although speaking from a character’s point of view, I wonder if Isis was subtly mind-melding with Spock, or giving off pheromones, or at least good vibes? How else to explain Spock’s urge to cuddle? But then, he had the same, if embarrassed reaction to Tribbles! It was a cute touch.
Hello Kitty. Spock and Isis.
So I wonder, why wasn’t Assignment: Earth picked up as a series? Was it too expensive, too far fetched? Would it have continued to connect with the original Star Trek series? Well…
Turns out Assignment Earth did find a way to continue after it’s ill-fated pilot. Comic book writer and artist John Byrne did write a 5 volume sequel to Assignment Earth – in glorious graphic novel style! The issues cover 5 years, starting 3 months from the date Enterprise left Gary and Roberta to figure their fate. Each issue presents a year later. These came out a while back, but you can find all 5 in digital versions on Comixology.
Of course, since Gary Seven is part of the Star Trek universe, maybe he could turn up on Picard? Or sequel-mad CBS All Access could reconsider that little pilot, updated for the times. I could see Mahershala Ali or Adam Driver or as Seven.
How did you feel about Assignment: Earth and Gary Seven? Please let me know in the comments!
*Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood. by Teri Garr.
Here’s this week’s Fan Art —  “Blame it on the Transporter” by aritst lamamama. See if you can guess which cat is Kirk, Spock, or McCoy…(It’s pretty and delightfully obvious!) These are some cuddly crewman!
I just wanted to share with you, the story of our legendary stray cat Gink, who was my favorite cat of all the cats we had as a children.
One Saturday afternoon in 1971, when I was 10, my father, mother and I went grocery shopping in the old Grand Union Supermarket in Endicott. As we came out of the store, a storm had come about and it was raining very heavily.
I noticed a small black kitten zipping about in the parking lot, looking for a place to stay dry.
“Dad, there’s a poor kitten out there!” I said, and my heart immediately went out to this helpless, shelterless feline.
We looked around the parking lot for it as we rolled the cart out to our olive green Country Squire station wagon but to no avail. As Mom and Dad loaded up the groceries, I kept watch from the back seat, but no kitten anywhere.
Then as we pulled out of the lot, and turned up toward Main Street, we kept hearing a small “Meow! Meow!” Mom couldn’t hear it, but Dad and I did. So much so that when we stopped at the first red light, Dad got out of the car and looked under the hood, but saw nothing there. We kept hearing it all the way up Main Street, heading west toward home, about a half mile total distance. When we pulled into the driveway, and out from UNDER the car scoots that soggy little homeless kitten — straight under the back porch!
As far as we could tell, the little guy must have ridden on the axle all the way home! I named him “Gink” after the black cat from one of my favorite stories, “Dory’s Magic”
It always amazed me that of all the cars he could have taken shelter under he chose OURS!
Although Gink was a ‘black’ cat, you can see that when he was outside, his fluffy fur was more of reddish brown. He wasn’t always friendly at first, but he really mellowed with age in the love he received all around. When he was in the mood, would let you rub his tummy (he liked flopping on his back to sleep in on the living room rug). I loved the magnificent ruff of fur on his chest. and he used to sit tall on the banister at the top of the stairs, awaiting all who would scratch him under his chin, which he reveled in. As you scratched, he’d point his chin high and close his eyes in pure delight.
From that first day on, Gink lived a charmed life in our family home until his passing in 1986. One reason we think he lived so long was that at one time,while he was still young, Gink had followed Mom into the pantry as she went to get something out of the big freezer we used to have. Well, several HOURS later, someone said “Has anybody seen Gink?” And Mom remembered that the last time she had seen him was…. Uh Oh! She rushed to the freezer, and there several shelves down was Gink, cold, but not frozen, curled up on a shelf, probably wondering what the heck happened! (I like to think he was in suspended animation) The shelf was empty, except for a box of baking soda that he had knocked over, white soda all over his black fur! It must have been enough of an air pocket, for he recovered well, and never held it against us!
I’ll never forget Gink. As I left home for a six month trip in late ’86, I held Gink for a long time before I left. I felt it might be the last time I saw him, and sadly, I was right. A month later, Mom called me to let me know he was gone. He was buried in the back yard under the lilac bush. So appropriate, since he loved being outside, soaking up the sun.
