Friday's Child

Season 2, episode 11. The Enterprise heads to Capella IV.The Capellans are a warrior tribe and McCoy has spent a few months with them at one time. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a crew member beam down and the crew member ends up dead. The trio are met not only by the Capellans but also Klingons. Both the Federation and Klingons are wanting mining rights on Capella IV. The Capellans have taken the trio's weapons and communicators so they cannot contact the ship. The Capellans are split are who should get the mining rights: Federation or Klingons? A battle happens and the trio ends up running off with a dead leader's pregnant wife, that does not want her child. The Enterprise is under the command of Scotty and they end up with a Federation ship distress call - they are under attack by a Klingon ship.

Suspense is built between Capellans, Klingons and The Federation pretty well here. We all know that Kirk and crew will smooth things over and get out safely but there is still plenty of suspense.

7/10

Kirk, Spock and McCoy visit a planet that both the Federation and Klingon Empire want to mine for important minerals.

This is an enjoyable episode for the character moments, world building, and interplanetary politics.

The story is quite strong as it shows the regular characters in contact with an alien society and the sensitive nature of interactions between different cultures. I appreciate the exploitative nature of this type of situation being reflective of real life Earth history. Although the Federation is not depicted as conquering like the Klingons, they are looking to exploit the resources of the planet for a strategic advantage. This is a far cry from what the Star Trek ideals became during 'The Next Generation'. All of this I found to be very interesting.

From a character perspective it really shines, with Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and especially Bones having some very memorable moments.

Kirk is written well as an explorer, diplomat, and soldier in this episode. William Shatner gives both a physical and verbal performance of strength, intelligence and sensitivity.

Spock is as cold and logical as ever, delivering a number of excellent lines. Leonard Nimoy provides great dry humour in another depiction of his classic outsider looking in on humanity.

While the two senior officers are away we are treated to more great scenes of Scotty in command of Enterprise. James Doohan brings a great balance of excitement and confidence to the commander's chair.

Dr 'Bones' McCoy has one of his quintessential episodes as a humanitarian caught in the middle of a conflict situation, who has the responsibility of caring for a pregnant female. In several excellently written scenes we see him contend with an aggressively reluctant mother and these for me are the highlights. DeForest Kelley is on top form and has solid chemistry with Julie Newmar as Eleen.

The visuals are mostly great. I love the fight scenes, particularly some of the early fist fights that are entertaining and quite well done. One part where Shatner throws a pillow at another performer cracks me up every time. This episode uses Vasquez Rocks park to great effect much like other episodes. The downside is the costuming which is relatively funny, but some of those outfits have zero aesthetic quality.

Once again this episode have the misfortune to be a season 2 episode and people love to hate later Season in TV show's.

" Friday's child" is one of the best Star trek, a very Solid plot fuel with suspence , ennemy emotion good interactions between the 3 heros.

Great to see Scotty on command.

Put this episode in Season 1 and people would rate it 8/10 my vote 8 5/10.

Those naughty Klingons are at it again: when Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to Capella IV to negotiate a mining agreement with the inhabitants they discover that Kras (Tige Andrews), a Klingon emissary, is attempting to beat them to the punch. The Capellan leader, Akaar (Ben Gage), is impressed by the Federation's offer, but rival Maab (Michael Dante) sides with the Klingon. When Maab seizes control and kills Akaar, Kirk, Spock and McCoy escape into the hills, taking Akaar's pregnant wife Eleen (Julie Newmar) with them.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise, commanded by Scotty, is lured out of orbit by a decoy distress signal and challenged by a Klingon warship.

I can't say that I was overly impressed by Friday's Child: it's a passable time-waster but doesn't do anything new or interesting. We've seen Kirk and his pals negotiating with primitive races before, we've seen them running around the Vasquez rocks before, and we've seen cat and mouse antics in space with enemy craft before. Admittedly, we've never seen McCoy say 'Oochy woochy coochy coo' to a newborn Capellan before, but that's probably a good thing: once is more than enough.

5.5/10, rounded down to 5 for the Capellan warriors' appearance, their blonde ponytails, open-faced hoods and coloured, faux-fur sashes more likely to have the enemy creased up in fits of laughter than trembling in fear.

The barbarians on the planet Capella IV, have a penchant for fighting that they adore, throwing pointed razor stars, leaving more than just plain scars, for them killing's what they live for and applaud.

Kirk and the crew end up facing up to a belligerent tribe while encountering a Klingon who makes their life difficult, as does a pregnant local who's due any day soon.