The Soft Weapon

The story “The Slaver Weapon” was originally named “The Soft Weapon”. Larry Niven wanted to use the opportunity of animation and introduce non-human characters. The Kzinti were actually his third choice only, the first two stories were rejected because they weren’t suited for Kid’s television. (His first submission “The Borderland of Sol” later was expanded to a novella and won a Hugo Award.) The following is a comparison between the animated episode and the short story.

The basic changes are of course the introduction of characters from the Animated Series. The lead characters Jason Papandreou and his wife Anne-Marie were replaced by the lieutenants Sulu and Uhura. Jason and Anne own the Court Jester a passenger ship, which was chartered by Nessus, a puppeteer to transport him to the rim of Known Space and back to Jinx (Sirius). Nessus was replaced by Spock, since both are pacifists.

The book

“The Soft Weapon” was Niven’s 16th story. It was included in the following printed books:

• “Neutron Star”. Ballentine, April 1968. ISBN 0345336941
• “Playgrounds of the Mind”. Tor Books, October 1991. ISBN 0812516958

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