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

When Captain James T. Kirk got this assignment to negotiate a treaty with a planet that is a primitive hunter and gatherer culture he's got every right to think this one a slam dunk. As a junior officer William Shatner spent some time on the planet and got to know the leader real well.

So Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley are a diplomatic delegation and there's a Klingon played by Tige Andrews there and they are negotiating for mining rights. But when the leader that Kirk knew is murdered then the Star Trek diplomats are forced to flee without their weapons. They also flee with statuesque Julie Newmar, widow of the late leader and very pregnant. Good thing Dr. McCoy is along in case they need an obstetrician.

Newmar is great as the Zena the warrior princess character who sometimes is more trouble than she's worth. But as she's carrying the heir to the leadership everyone wants their hands on her.

Must also praise Tige Andrews who unlike Michael Dorn in The Next Generation is one Klingon with damn little honor. Andrews, the future Captain Greer of Mod Squad is hardly recognizable under that makeup.

Give this one a look.

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.

Interesting primarily for its guest appearances, Friday's Child is one of Joe Pevney and D. C. Fontana's more mediocre efforts. Among the guests is great musical and stage actress Julie Newmar, who is mainly known to TV audiences for having played Catwoman in the classic Batman TV show. Casting called for a number of very tall and beefy people, so many of the guest stars are over 6' and recognizable by sight if not by name.

The trinity (Kirk, Spock, McCoy + a soon-to-die redshirt) have beamed down to a planet inhabited by a very hierarchal, male-dominated culture whose rank system revolves around violence. Upon arrival, they find that a Klingon (only one?) has arrived before them. The Klingon has been propagandizing against the federation since his arrival, and has jeopardized the Enterprise's mission to obtain mineral rights. The redshirt makes matters worse by threatening the Klingon at first sight.

Although McCoy once lived on this planet and briefs the crew on some ethnographic details ahead of time, these preparations were not nearly enough, as the away team creates one blunder after another. Fontana did a nice job of thinking out the alien culture's intricacies, but unfortunately, the episode devolves into a somewhat unoriginal action adventure about mid-way through.

Cinematography and effects are very average for TOS, writing is OK, directing is well below Pevney's usual mark, and acting is fairly good. Look for a lot of amusing but hokey banter with Spock in this one, and a solid and interesting performance by Ms. Newmar.

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.