During the filming of this episode, they got word that Star Trek was going to be cancelled after season two. NBC later changed their mind but during the filming of this show, they did not know they would get a season three. So, at the end, Angelique Pettyjohn, when she says, “goodbye, Captain Kirk”, said she cried because she felt like she was saying goodbye to the series and she was a fan.

400 quatloos says Bunnytails finds herself a version of Shahna's costume!

Lady Gaga was Kirk and Shahna's love child. We can see where she gets her style sense from.

"YOUR OUTFIT IS FOOLISH!" best quote so far

"I'm digging Silver Outfit Girl". Yes, Bunny. Exactly, yes...

The Caption's "love interest" is the USS Enterprise and her crew. The best part of this, for me, was watching Bunny's reaction to Kirk first kissing and then knocking out Shauna!

New cosplay character: Shahna

The actress who played Shahna was Angelique Pettyjohn. She leveraged her role here by producing posters of herself in this costume, including a more "mature version" where a critical piece was omitted. She was a regular at the early Star Trek conventions signing and selling them. She also appeared opposite Elvis Presley in the movie "Clambake." She died of cancer way too young at 48 in 1992. My favorite comment ever on this episode was "whenever I watch this one, I always find myself hungry for baked potatoes."

"Look at her boobs" Way ahead of you on this!

I was willing to bet all my quatloos that Bunny would be moved by this. Her liking Shahna's outfit was a plus -- and yes, they should have taken Shahna aboard.

I always openly bet quatloons at work when a new employee shows up.

My brothers and I watched Star Trek when we were in high school. We decided William Shatner negotiated a clause in his contract that he got to make out with the alien babe whenever there was one in an episode

Bunnytail, for all this time I remembered this episode a certain way. I think I was in denial. Your reaction at how it ended, is now how I will remember this episode. Angelique Pettyjohn, I have never forgotten her name when this episode first aired. I was heartbroken when she passed away. RIP.

Passionate kiss, Punch, "JESUS!!"

I had forgotten how painful it was seeing Shahna's tears at the end :( thanks for your strong reaction!

Agree with all your points especially the Shana factor. Her simplistic eloquence really works in what is essentially a sci-fi fairy tale.

I can't overstate how wonderful it's been revisiting these episodes with you Bunnytails. You always seem to find some level of context to appreciate them that maybe I hadn't considered before. Your humor, intelligence and empathy are very much appreciated!

bunnytails - the Beautiful "thrall" is Angilique Pettyjohn, she was a Actress, Model , Adult Entertainer. she was from LA. she was one of the Go-Go dancers in the odd couple film. she screen tested for NOVA in Planet of Apes movie. Pettyjohn was a Burlesque queen.

As others have said Anjelica was a frequant guest at sci-fi cons. She would have been very happy at your response to Shahna. I'd also thought she'd have made a great addition to the crew.

The providers were totally en"thrall"ed by the trio. Nice reaction Bunny! Spock handling the disrespect from McCoy and Scotty was always interesting.

Kirk: "Every time I see baked potatoes, I'll think of you."

Chekov was lucky that he did not get death by Snu Snu 🤣🤣🤣I really enjoyed your reactions to this episode.

I love the humour in this episode, starting with the teaser where Spock makes a rare and extremely subtle allusion to Scotty's prolific alcohol habit when he chooses to review the "vanished" part of the transporter room activity.

This is the only STAR TREK episode my grandmother ever saw. She liked it.

Everyone's a gamester until Quatloos are on the line

_"How are we supposed to focus on the episode with this beauty right here?"_ I think the same thing every time I watch one of your videos.....

This is a top ten episode for me. I loved Shanna; yes, she's gorgeous but she was also so well portrayed, both vulnerable and very tough. Like you, I always wished she could have left with them. Some timely thoughts about freedom and self determination too. And some absolutely wonderful action scenes, along with a very high risk plot with palpable menace. I'm glad you liked it!

I often declare "500 quatloos on ..." when making trivial bets in conversation.

"How are supposed to focus on this episode with this beauty right here?" That's what WE think every reaction!

This episode plays a role in my regular life. I have a strong dislike for gambling, so when people demand that I put money on something I always reply, "Twelve quatloos!"

Galt was played by Joseph Ruskin. I saw him in a production of The Crucible shortly before he passed in 2013. In his 90s and still acting, bless him.

"Your outfit is foolish!" Well put, Bunny. Gort's outfit looks like he got it at Dracula's closeout sale.

One reason I enjoy your reactions is because it’s interesting to get a new perspective on something I know well. Never had I thought how amazing it would have been to have her join the crew! You’re right! It would have been such a unique addition to the ensemble! Thanks BunnyTails!

Another species with godlike powers. How many have we seen so far? Talosians, Metrons, Trelane, Apollo, Organians, the Providers.... Much more of this is yet to come. Superior intellect does not necessarily bring with it superior morality. Joseph Ruskin played the Thrall leader. He was an excellent character actor of that period and I like pointing them out. He was in two Twilight Zones: As the voice of the Kanamit in "To Serve Man" (Richard Kiel was the actual body actor for the Kanamit.) and as the genie in "The Man in the Bottle". Ruskin had a very distinct voice that made him instantly recognizable.

Galt was played by Joseph Ruskin, who usually plays a lot of bad guys on TV shows, such as on the original Mission Impossible. Great actor!

As for Kirk trusting the Gamesters to keep their word, your answer was good: he challenged their pride by asking if they could match the Federation's ability to support needy cultures. That was a typically clever tactic by Kirk. He spotted their fascination with challenges, and he used it to his advantage. There is one more point. If the Gamesters reneged on their wager, it would ruin their game. After all, part of the thrill for gamblers is the risk of losing. If there is no real risk (due to reneging), then there is no real thrill. The game would be meaningless.

"Your outfit is foolish!" LOL, that's our Bunny. Okay that reaction to Kirk chin tapping boob lady has gotten my day off to a fantastic start. 💙

2:52 I always chuckle when I hear this music. It was first the combat music used in "Amok Time", but my friends and I would joke that it was that Star Trek "love" music LOL

Awesome reaction!!! Concerning Kirk and his torn-up shirt. Got to quote the great Alan Rickman from the movie, "Galaxy Quest", concerning Tim Allan's character: "I see that you managed to get your shirt off again", or words similar. I cannot watch "Star Trek" and see Kirk running around with a torn shirt/missing shirt anymore without thinking about that scene/quote from that movie.

I love your reaction to this, it is shocking from kiss to punch, but a captain got to do what has to do, for his crew and for freedom. 15:29

I see that stainless steel cafeteria hardware hasn't changed much in the intervening centuries.

Star Trek revisits the idea that the powerful in society often exploit and abuse those disadvantaged and weaker than them.

I hadn't seen this episode in four decades - thank you, bunnytails.

Again, I agree with you. There was no reason not to take Shanna with him just as she asked, just as there was no good reason not to take Edith with him, if only she had been offered the choice. Why would that have been so tough to educate Shanna themselves? They were ready and willing to do it for Charlie X weren't they, until they realized his powers were to dangerous. Well, Shanna was nowhere near as dangerous, and she wanted to go.

Whenever an alien being hands you something to eat, and refers to it as "the nourishment," you can bet it's not going to be very tasty.

She is Angelique Pettyjohn. She had quite an interesting career. She posed for posters in this costume, and had a version where it was altered to be more revealing, both on top and bottom. You should look it up. My friend had that poster on the back of his door.

You should see the guy who plays Chekov in the tv series Babylon 5 (Which another great sci fi tv series that was made in the 90s) when he turns from the funny guy here to a great villain

‘Your outfit is foolish’. That was pretty funny.

You finally got to my all-time favorite original Star Trek episode! Thanks!! I had such a crush on Shahna back in the day as a wee lad. 🤓

Angelique Pettyjohn had two different versions of 8x10 photos of herself in the Triskelion thrall costume that she'd bring to conventions etc. to autograph. She mostly did the regular photo but for a few more bucks you could get the topless version.

"how are we supposed to focus on the episode with this beauty right here?" i'm guessing every teenage boy (and plenty adults i'm sure) watching at home was wondering the same thing!

'thrall' is Old English for 'slave'. The word 'enthralled ' derives from this.

Dug the Bunnytail freakout when Kirk belted Shahna! 🤣😱

Ha, I thought you'd really dig silver outfit girl, we all did. Great reaction to the right cross and the ending, thanks bunny.

This is now my favourite reaction to one of my favourite episodes of TOS. The way the hit surprised you was hilarious 🤣 Also, yep that was an Andorian. Look at you, picking up the lore! 😎🖖

What I believe the brains will experience... is what many (hopefully most) men experience. They go from drinking and gambling and sports and hanging with their friends... To building a family. To watching and guiding their children developing into human beings. Far more difficult. Far more challenging. Far more _rewarding_ . And definitely entertaining. Building a civilization is almost always more rewarding than mere hedonistic pursuits.

15:35 Ah, the magic Hollywood punch - instant unconsciousness with zero lasting damage to the face, head or hand.

I was waiting for the strike from Kirk on Shahna. Your reaction was priceless.

Her silver outfit was lovely ❤

Shahna provided material for two memes. In reference to her costume, "I'm thinking baked potatoes for dinner..." and the second one, put to the image of Kirk pointing to the stars, "And that is Earth, where we will raise our daughter Lady GaGa." Yes, Shahna made a big impression on me too. I think Kirk sensed that the gamesters would honor their wager, since they had spent so long keeping track of their wins and losses. It would be very hard to cheat one another over imaginary currency when they are disembodied; how would they go about welshing on a bet? So I think it would be outside their nature at this point to go back on the deal. Furthermore, as Kirk had pointed out that the Federation had built civilizations, I always thought they would see this as a challenge to be met. Another highlight of this episode is that we see Spock in command again, with all the banter that goes with it. More great moments with the good doctor and a couple with Scotty.

Speaking for all teenage boys (which I was one when I first saw this episode) Bill Theiss outdid himself in the costume design for this episode.

Wow, Shatner's really swinging for the fences in this episode

Definitely an enjoyable episode, and another great example of Kirk talking his way into (or out fo) things.

I completely agree! This one is all about Shanna! She's so beautiful! Loved her since I was just a little kid.

The glass dome (with the star on top) that the Providers are in was the same prop from Lazarus' ship in "The Alternative Factor".

Usually you don't get to see the brains behind the operation.

Another Star Trek episode featuring an Andorian. I always liked seeing the Andorians in the original series. The ruins always made me wonder about the Providers past Triskelion civilization and the ending always made me wonder what kind of civilization the Thralls would build. Great reaction Bunnytails!!!

A rare episode that ends on a guest, and not on the crew.

I know you always do whatever you wear but you would look amazing in that outfit.

I remember this episode, Oh I mean I remember the actress and the outfit. I agree, I originally thought Kirk should have taken her with him. But I also agree with what you said. I enjoy your reaction. So you know your subscribers probably suggest you do a Cosplay of her? 🤔😏

The woman who played hauna is in two other things I've seen. A Get Smart episode and a movie called Hi Mom.

I like to acknowledge the work of good character actors. Galt was played by Joseph Ruskin, who was an actor for 58 years, from 1955 to 2013. He was on the Screen Actors Guild board of directors for 23 years, receiving at least three awards for his service to the actors' community. He was suitably menacing in "Gamesters".

the soundtrack music was so beautiful.

Bunny, I would be honored to be your thrall...

Great reaction! As soon as I saw the title of the episode I said to myself, "Bunny is going to want Shahna's outfit." I also have to say that in addition to "making the episode" for Bunny, Shahna (Angelique Pettyjohn) "made the episode" for many teenage boys, myself included! ;-) This is a fun episode, lots of action and an anti-slavery message. The advanced beings in the Star Trek universe are often depicted as petty, and this episode is no exception. Imagine these 'brains' constantly wagering for millennia--what a waste of existence. And wouldn't it get old after a few hundred years? I've often thought that a whole Star Trek series could be made of follow ups to TOS episodes. Wouldn't it be interesting to see how the thralls were doing in a hundred years? Did the Providers honor their bet? (I think they had to because welching is the one true dishonorable act for dedicated gamblers.) Did they find that building a culture was more fun than gambling? It's possible that many episodes were revisited in the Star Trek novels, but I never read any of them. Apparently there are over 850 Star Trek novels, so some follow ups had to happen...

i wonder if they even had a black stuntwoman capable of doing a fight scene to let Uhura be in that final fight back in 68

You are right Bunny @11:03 when you say that we need to see you in that outfit. Oops, I mean, you do need that outfit.

I used to say "2000 quatloos" for no reason, at any time at the drop of a hat. 😁

That is an interesting detail about the phaser. It lit up. In exactly the same way as mine does. (The one hanging on the wall. Safety Bonded.) I wonder why there would even be a reason to go the extra mile for a stage prop? Maybe they needed an indicator as to when to add the SFX? Or maybe someone just had to have those details working in place. I've heard of dedicated Hollywood types that would insist on something like that. Could you imagine if these _Gamesters_ decided to not play fair to their high end wagers? Their matter relocation technology is obviously superior. And swatting the systems of one ship was like flipping a light switch. Why, I can imagine that if the Federation even tried anything against them, they could just 'vanish' every Federated member to a distant rural planet or take away vital parts of every ship in seconds, regardless the distance. Simply put, the Federation and all its allies would lose... and quickly. There are other technical aspects to ponder over, here. But this is hardly the place to start talking about technical details. I think Kirk had to tell his trainer what he did as he knew that he could hardly start to debate the winning rules of the contest, less he come off as the lesser player and introduce deceit to the bargain... one he very well knew that he would lose. Don't rock that boat at all.

16:52 When Kirk meets the Gamester, do you see the background of a city or factory in as a matte painting? The portion you can see is the same background painting used for the Season 1 episode "The Devil in the Dark". The one with the silicon based Horta...

I'm sampling that "*punch JESUS!" sound byte

Back in the '60s, the term for video games was "Pinball". There was also pool/billiards, mostly in bars.

Shatner was infamous during the production of the series for making sure Kirk was always the center of the story. Kirk always got the girl. Kirk always beat the adversary in combat. Kirk always had his shirt ripped/removed. In Shatner's mind, HE was THE star of Star Trek! That's one of the primary reasons Uhura and Chekov were side-lined for most of this episode. Shatner was known to request script changes to give other character lines to Kirk. It got so bad that Nimoy had to have a line added to his contract that the characters of Spock and Kirk would have an equal number of lines each episode just to make sure Shatner wasn't going to steal Spock's lines and have the writer move them to Kirk. This is among the primary reasons the lesser co-stars had issues with Shatner lasting into the filming of the movies. Shatner and Nimoy eventually worked it out between themselves and by the 1980's they were the best of friends. Several managed to get over the hurt feelings over time. But a couple of the original series cast never got over the treatment they received from Shatner and disparage him either to the day they died or even to this day.

Your reaction to Kirk punching out Shahna was PRICELESS..."JEEEZIZ!!"😂😂😂

A “Guilty Pleasure” episode for me. When I first saw it in 1980, I’d just fallen in love with a lovely American girl ( she didn’t know it ) and I was amazed to see her lookalike on the screen! Yes, she resembled Shahna, but without the green hair! I saw the episode again a month later on my return to the UK.

Excited for another Star Trek reaction! I'm so glad you were able to fix the mic issue. Now you only need to re-record your Patreon segue😄

Would love to see Bunny in Shahna's outfit 👍🏼

I've thought the ending of the episode is surprisingly haunting.

Joseph Ruskin played an evil mobster in an "Untouchables" episode, I remember.

It's funny you mention video games being perhaps imagined in this era, but not yet existing. One of the very earliest, "commercially-ish" available (sorta) was a text-based strat PC game of Star Trek and VERY shortly after the series in 1971. It was one of my very earliest experiences with a video game, having played it as a kid with my brothers & dad who was a systems engineer at IBM. We'd often be at his office after hours and occasionally we'd have the chance to play it together and it was an unforgettable, formative experience. It called for a lot of imagination, but was HIGHLY effective at the time to feel like we were commanding the Enterprise across open space warring the Klingons, managing resources and damage, etc. Anyway, this series was clearly inspiring early programmers to develop computer games before it was a widespread thing.

Yes please get the Shauna costume lol! That is pretty sexy for 60’s network tv and stil in 2024. liked your take on it. I think Kirk really wanted to bring her up but knew he couldn’t.

Another great thought provoking episode! And you were beautiful as always and I appreciated seeing your legs here lol. I had forgotten that there is an Andorian here. They are members of the Federation iirc. If he wasn't born on that planet, he probably needs to get back to Andoria 😲 🙂

One of my favorite episodes, and Shannah is one of my fave characters. Basically the Triskelion brains were addicted to Sports and Reality TV. It's what's happening to us now.

I haven't heard a low frequency noise but the audio filter you're looking for is a "band pass" of "high pass". You can safely remove all frequencies below 120hz, higher frequencies are in human voice range but you can go higher if you need to. I hadn't noticed before, Shana looks like Lady GaGa.

What an wild and bizarre adventure this was. It could have been titled "Force Majeure" Kirk and his party are whisked away and turned into slaves to participate in some kind mixture of Mad Max and cage fighting for a trio of brains that like to gamble on the outcome of those poor creatures they've enslaved. I'm so glad you can absorb all of this Bunny and understand that in the Trek universe anything that seems to be all powerful and omnipotent is possible but not unsolvable or unstoppable if you have the courage the wit and most importantly the believe in yourself will to overcome such obstacles that threaten both you and others that you really care about. That's what happens when a commanding leader like Kirk does when he is facing so much impossible odds on an uphill struggle to help his own crew as well as others in such peril. It was hilarious to see your reaction when Kirk punched out Shahna. As much as he likes her and truly wants to free her he has to resort to strategic seduction at times to achieve his goals.Thanks so much for another fun and enjoyable review.

I binged TOS several months back and this script jumped out as one of the most imaginative in the series. It is poignant, amusing, thought-provoking and suspenseful. I'm always surprised it doesn't receive more attention as a top of the line TOS episode.

Lol kirk loving his way through the galaxy 😛😂😂

Hi Bunny, Thanks for another great watch! You are right she is pretty. The actress did a very good job, I felt very sympathetic towards her. Also, I think you are so sweet and kind! I always love seeing your real emotional reactions to things. It shows what a sensitive person you are! I am very much enjoying rewatching these episodes through your eyes. Thank you, Sweet Bunny!

Now THAT’S a reaction 😂...

The ending to this one is one of my favorites of any TOS episodes. Too bad for the Providers that Kirk and company just didn't want to be.... enTHRALLED! Perhaps my favorite moment though from this one, outside the ending, is the look on Chekov's face when Tamun say's she has been selected for him! That still makes me chuckle! And yeah Shawna was pretty adorable!