I love cats. I love Star Trek. So when I heard about the new book from Chronicle Books titled Star Trek Cats by Jenny Parks combining these great loves, I immediately ordered myself a copy.
In spite of my excitement, upon its arrival, I initially had an irrational and undeserved hatred of this book. I was expecting it to be more like a children’s picture book with a traditional story, or perhaps simply photographs of actual cats suffering the indignity of wearing Star Trek themed costumes on all manner of fun sets. Whatever I was expecting, it was not what actually arrived.
So upon tackling this bad boy, the disparity between what it was and what I expected caused a wave of unhappiness to flavor my initial experience.
But as we’ve learned from watching most any episode of Star Trek, my initial assumptions about the situation were deeply wrong. After being irritated with this book and having it sit on my desk for a week, I revisited it to try and figure out what kind of maniacs like this kind of nonsense.
Turns out that *I* am the kind of maniac who likes this nonsense.
This book is just so damned charming. Cats wearing clothes is always a little bit fun, but inserted into some of the most classic scenes in The Original Series of Star Trek? I was dreadfully slow to realize how magical such a thing is, and is a great shame that I will have to carry with me for the rest of my days.
There is a lot of magic contained in this book, but most obvious is the inspired job Parks did at selecting the appropriate cat for each of the characters. Mister Spock as an oriental shorthair and James Montgomery Scott as a Scottish fold perfectly encapsulate the characteristics of their human counterparts.
And while it may not be a coincidence that one of the official Podcats of There Are Four Mics is also an orange tabby, I do wholeheartedly believe that the selection of a similar looking orange tabby to represent Captain Kirk was the perfect casting choice. Other cats are cool, but I think only a big old Morris cat is suave enough to give the iconic captain the feline portrayal he deserves. I know the internet is a place where opinions on cats are plentiful, but I think this Feline Captain Kirk from The Trouble With Tribbles makes it an open and shut case.
(Hello, new phone wallpaper!)
If you like that image, then this book is for you because it is filled with more adorable magic like it. Check out her website for even more cat mashups you had no idea you even knew you needed: http://www.jennyparks.com/.
She’s also currently working on a Star Trek: The Next Generation version hopefully due out in spring of next year, and if her t-shirt design is any indication, the cat playing the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard is on-point:
Due to its undeniable charm, impeccable translation from human actors to cat counterparts, and the fact that cats recreating some of the most iconic scenes of the classic Star Trek series is wonderfully bewitching, we’re giving Jenny Parks’ Star Trek Cats an impressive rating of Four Mics on our Five Mic scale.
You can order “Star Trek Cats” through our Amazon portal