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File:Bird creature, The Squire of Gothos.jpg |
Described as a humanoid bird, this creature was encountered in 2254 by Captain Christopher Pike while in captivity on Talos IV. (TOS: "The Cage")
Another individual of this species was encountered thirteen years later, in 2267, by a landing party of the USS Enterprise, albeit dead, stuffed and on display in Trelane's castle. It was later destroyed by Trelane with a phaser. (TOS: "The Squire of Gothos")
Background
The humanoid bird was played by Janos Prohaska (who also played the anthropoid ape in the same episode). The costume was a creation by master sculptor Wah Chang for "The Cage" and tailor-made for Prohaska. The costume was shortly thereafter used as the Megasoid in the second season episode "The Duplicate Man" of the television series The Outer Limits, for which Prohaska and Chang also worked. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 9, p. 72) Incidentally, the head appliance resembled an earlier Chang creation, that of the Empyrian featured in the earlier episode "Second Chance". [1]
That the specimen encountered in "The Squire of Gothos" was indeed a re-use of the costume used in "The Cage", was confirmed in the reference book The Outer Limits Companion (1999), where it was described that it was composed of the original costume and make-up appliances. [2]