I also still enjoy all those elements of pop culture, particularly Star Trek, partially because of all the various cats in the various Treks over the years. Individuals of this type were often kept as pets among Humans. Examples of cats kept as pets included Spot, owned by Data, ( TNG: " Data's Day", " In Theory", " Schisms") Neelix, owned by Reginald Barclay, ( VOY: " Pathfinder") and Chester, owned by Liam Bilby and, later, Miles O'Brien. ( DS9: " Honor Among Thieves", " Time's Orphan") William T. Riker and LaForge had bad experiences with cats, but Beverly Crusher and Deanna Troi loved them. ( TNG: " Force of Nature", " Timescape", " Phantasms")

stunt double: Barbara Baldavin (uncredited) / stunt double: Marianna Hill (uncredited) (2 episodes, 1966) The animated series fell out of favor (and out of the Star Trek canon) in the 1980s, particularly by the time Star Trek: The Next Generation hit the airwaves, but M’Ress always been significant for me. When I was very young in the late 1970s, the live-action as well as the animated Star Treks were in reruns, and I didn’t differentiate between them. artist: diagrams (uncredited) / designer: Melkotian (uncredited) / designer: Tholian (uncredited) / designer: entity (uncredited) / landscape paintings (uncredited) (5 episodes, 1968) Some animal training manuals claimed that cats, by nature, could not be trained. ( TNG: " Force of Nature") Unlike canines, they did not respond to verbal commands. ( TNG: " Force of Nature", " Phantasms") Indeed, there weren’t a whole lot of cats in science fiction until Star Trek came long; there’d been more of a fascination with monkeys, in movies such as Forbidden Planet and especially Robinson Crusoe on Mars, in which "Mona, the Woolly Monkey" got third billing in the trailer.

See also

stunt double: DeForest Kelley (uncredited) / stunt double: Tige Andrews (uncredited) (2 episodes, 1967) stunt double: Leonard Nimoy (uncredited) / stunt double: Robert Brown (uncredited) (3 episodes, 1967) A couple of non- Star Trek cats from the fallow period between The Animated Series and The Next Generation bear mentioning. 5. Jake, The Cat From Outer Space I remember getting dragged to see this as a 5-year-old, and even though I was the film’s target audience, it left me cold. (Maybe I was just bitter because I didn’t get to see Star Wars.) 6. Jonesy, Alien titles and opticals: Anderson / titles & opticals: Van der Veer Photo Effects (64 episodes, 1966-1969)

The novel Survivors by Jean Lorrah includes a brief portrayal of Tasha's childhood, including her cat. stunt double: Richard Tatro (uncredited) / stunt double: William Shatner (uncredited) (2 episodes, 1966-1967) Not getting nearly as much screen time was the cat Chester, who appeared in only one episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but he’s worth mentioning because he was a rescue. It’s reassuring to know that even in the 24th century, people are still fighting the good fight.

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Spot was Lt. Cmdr. Data’s pet cat on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and much like Jonesy in Alien, Spot managed to pull of the remarkable feat of surviving — not only making it from the television series to the movie Star Trek Generations, but surviving the destruction of the Enterprise itself. By his own account, actor Brent Spiner did not like working with the cat who played Spot, but you can’t tell from Spiner’s performance. Referring to the fact his initial impressions of Star Trek were formed by watching TOS, Archer actor Scott Bakula noted, " I'm an old cat." ( Star Trek Monthly issue 84, p. 23)