by Linda Kay

Original Air Date: October 10, 1965

Directed by: David Alexander

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this episode!

Synopsis: Uncle Martin (Ray Walston) is demonstrating his molecular assembler to Tim (Bill Bixby) when Mrs. Brown (Pamela Britton) pops in, leading to the inevitable switch of personalities between Martin and Mrs. Brown.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Martin has a very relaxed tabby and white cat closed in a glass container when Tim enters carrying a small box.

Inside the box is a species of mouse known to be quite animated (they refer to it as a waltzing mouse). Martin places the mouse in a separate section of the glass container which keeps the cat and mouse apart.

After explaining that his new machine will essentially exchange the personalities of the two animals, the cat is exposed to the strange light.

The cat immediately curls up in the corner (a trick which dates back to the silent era. The cat is placed in a laying down position with one paw over its head. Naturally the cat eventually gets up and the film is reversed to make it look as if the kitty were curling up and covering its head.)

After the mouse is exposed to the same light, it starts jumping around like crazy (another silent era practice of placing animals on wires and making them appear to hop around.)

This actually makes even less sense than one would imagine. If the mouse is known to be aggressive, why doesn’t the cat become aggressive when they change personalities? Why not just have the mouse be a normal mouse and the cat eager to eat the mouse instead of being passive?

Tim is looking at the animals before Martin explains how the procedure is easily reversed with just a few drops of Egolite. At this moment Mrs. Brown comes in looking for her cat, Mr. McPhee, who, of course, is the subject of the experiment. It is while she is looking for the cat that she accidentally turns on the machine and causes the personality switch which sets off all the kooky adventures to follow.

Final Mewsings: Cats don’t understand illogical sitcom plots.

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