Puppet A puppet was a toy figure of an individual that could be operated and made to appear alive . One who used a puppet was called a puppeteer . ( ) History . In 2152 , Tarah called mediator Captain Jonathan Archer a puppet of the Vulcan s . ( ) In 2266 , a puppet was used by the commanding officer of the First Federation starship " Fesarius " , Balok , into fooling the crew of the that the puppet itself was Balok . The puppet was a cat - eyed alien in an eerily lit control center that wavered and rippled on the " Enterprise " s viewscreen . After Spock made several determined efforts to establish contact with the " Fesarius " captain , the Balok puppet made its first appearance to the " Enterprise " crew members . The puppet condemned the crew as warlike because they had been forced to destroy a marker buoy . In fact , he had forced their hand , goading and threatening them with the device . Then , he advised the crew that they and their vessel , " obviously the product of a primitive and savage civilization , " were to be destroyed . A tense standoff followed , during which Captain Kirk sought vainly for a solution . Eventually , he bluffed Balok with corbomite – a ploy that apparently worked , for Balok decided not to immediately destroy the " Enterprise " . Instead , it would be towed to a planet of the First Federation , where the crew would be imprisoned and the " Enterprise " destroyed . Kirk gambled again , as his ship was being dragged to its fate ; he attempted to shear away from Balok ' s pilot vessel ( a much smaller craft , launched from the " Fesarius " ) and succeeded , apparently damaging Balok ' s ship in the process . At this point , Kirk could have attacked – certainly , he ' d been provoked – or he could have fled . He chose instead to board the small vessel and offer aid . There , he learned the truth that what he thought had been Balok was merely a puppet . When he asked the real Balok about the puppet , the alien admitted , referring to the puppet as " Mr . Hyde to my Jekyll " , that he ' d used it to frighten Kirk and the rest of the crew of the " Enterprise " . ( ) In 2268 , Lieutenant Uhura compared being compelled to beam down to the surface of Platonius to becoming someone ' s puppet . ( ) In 2366 , Jean - Luc Picard used the analogy of cutting a puppet ' s strings to describe freeing the from the effects of an entity posing as Marla Aster . ( ) Later that year , Kira Nerys declined a massage from Malko , calling him a " puppet made out of holographic light and replicated matter . " ( ) In 2372 . when attempting to explain teddy bear s to Ekoria , Julian Bashir described them as a sort of soft puppet . ( ) In 2373 , after partaking in combat training with Jadzia Dax and winning , Quark was asked by the Trill how he felt , to which he responded , " " Like a puppet . " " Also that year , Chakotay compared Marayna ' s use of a holographic character to interact with crew members on the to a puppet . ( ) In 2376 , Naomi Wildman played with a hand puppet in her bedroom while waiting to say goodnight to Neelix . ( ) Negative connotations . Calling someone a puppet could also be an insult , implying that the individual was incapable of thinking or acting for themselves . In 2286 , the Klingon ambassador Kamarag said that Vulcan s were " well known as the intellectual puppets of the Federation . " ( ) In 2372 , Kor referred to as Gowron ' s puppet , a statement Worf disputed . ( ) In 2375 , a warhead that hijacked The Doctor ' s program called him a " holographic puppet . " ( ) Kai Winn , while being manipulated by Dukat posing as Anjohl Tennan , referred to vedek s who supported the Federation as vedek puppets . ( ) In 2377 , T ' Greth expressed his disdain for B ' Elanna Torres ' taking Kohlar at his word by asking if she was his puppet in the bedchamber as well . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The Balok puppet . The voice of the Balok puppet was supplied by Ted Cassidy . John Fifer functioned as Balok ' s puppeteer . In the final draft script of " The Corbomite Maneuver " ( dated ) , the Balok puppet ' s voice was described as " deep , firm and full of resolve " as well as " a firm , militant voice that leaves nothing to doubt . " In the second revised final draft of the script ( dated 20 May 1966 ) , the puppet ' s voice was characterized as " deep , a frighteningly strong voice . " In the final draft script , the Balok puppet was described thus ; " " He seems huge , apparently a giant of a man on a giant ship , but it is his face – a hideously twisted and grotesquely distorted face – that is frightening , for it is glaringly highlighted and formidably immobile . Its skin texture has an almost golden metallic lustre , its eyes are hidden under thick , drooping lids , and its mouth – if it is a mouth – does not move when it speaks . " " In the second revised final draft , this description was changed to say , " " He appears huge , a giant of a being on a giant ship ; his face is long and grotesquely grimacing , his eyes are hideous cat - like things . " " Also , the puppet ' s mouth was scripted to move when speaking . When this version of Balok was to be revealed as merely a puppet later in the episode , the script ( both the final draft and the second revised final draft ) described his " grotesque " head as looking " even larger than we thought . " The Balok puppet was created by noted sculptor Wah Chang . ( " " , p . 35 ) The prop gave Clint Howard a much clearer idea of what the puppet would be like in the final version of the episode . " " The puppet was written on the page . But until you saw the puppet , you didn ' t quite understand what that puppet was gonna represent , " " he related . " " That puppet was on the stage . They literally just turned the camera around and shot the puppet . " " ( " Inside the Roddenberry Vault , Part I " , " " special features ) Ted Cassidy was selected to voice the role because his deep vocalizations were deemed appropriate for the part . After the producers asked him to record the puppet ' s lines , Cassidy did so during post - production , during the filming of , in which Cassidy appeared as Ruk . ( " " , p . 34 ; " " ) The wavering and rippling of the Balok puppet ' s appearance on the " Enterprise " viewscreen was added by the Howard Anderson Company . The same effect was also used to represent a Thasian in . ( " The Star Trek Compendium " , 4th ed . , p . 33 ) The Balok puppet appears in the end credits of every second season episode as the last freeze frame shot , with the credit " Executive in Charge of Production : Herb Solow " superimposed over it . This was a joke by Robert Justman , who selected the still images for the credits , played on his friend , Solow . The puppet , like most other " monsters and creatures " of the show , ended up in various places in and around the Desilu offices . Gene Roddenberry even played a practical joke on Justman once , putting the puppet to the next seat to his on an airplane , when Justman went on a vacation . The pilot and crew asked them to remove it before flight commenced . ( " " ) Seeing the Balok puppet in " The Corbomite Maneuver " was one of " Star Trek " author David R . George III ' s earliest memories of watching " Star Trek " . In his adulthood , he remarked , " " The eerie , long - faced simulacrum of the alien who called himself Balok fascinated my young mind . " "