Friday's Child

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.

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.

Found it hard to take this episode seriously looking at those ludicrous outfits!!! Warriors with lavender and neon orange fake-fur accessories??? What moron designed those costumes???? Almost ruined the whole episode for me!! More suitable for Laugh-In!!! Update: once I got over the costumes, I find this episode very entertaining and deserving of an 8 rating.

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.

The title refers to the original hard luck kid, a child of misery. In this case, it's the unborn child of a ruler who has just been killed in a coup; hence, the child's life is forfeit, before it even begins. This is the alien culture to which Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down as guests and end up as fugitives. Overall, this is a good example of Roddenberry's vision, that of meeting and dealing with other planetary cultures. Writer Fontana managed to create a warrior-race here with truly alien morals, customs and sensibilities (in our eyes), a culture which seems very cruel and so high on testosterone that even Kirk looks somewhat fragile in many scenes. There's even a cool new weapon invented for this episode, the kligat (oops, sounds like Klingon). Of course, except for their average height of 6 and a half feet, the natives here are probably just a throwback to ancient Earth cultures, such as the Vikings or those barbaric hordes which threatened Rome on occasion. Although, this culture of '10 Great Tribes' also reminds one of Earth's past royalty, where-in royal heirs were sometimes assassinated at early age - notably in Rome itself. This may make them obvious allies of the Klingons, one of whom shows up here to bedevil Kirk (following "Errand of Mercy"). But, as is usual for Trek episodes, the story doesn't follow the obvious path.

It turns out, these Capellans are much more honorable than the average Klingon of the original series and this all gets spelled out by the conclusion. Interestingly, McCoy is the resident expert on these people, due to spending time on the planet in the past. His retort to the Klingon during a key meeting scene is a near-classic Trek moment. The story is hampered by a limited, plodding plot line and a female queen/spoiled brat (Newmar) who is definitely an acquired taste - some viewers may find her amusing, a la the later "Elaan of Troyius" - and most will be annoyed. Most of the 2nd half consists of our heroes scrambling among rocks and hills to stay out of reach of the trailing alien posse. The story is also filled with silly moments and contrivances. Kirk fights one of the lethal male Capellans during the takeover coup as both McCoy & Spock stand a couple of feet away looking quite bored. The Klingon (actor Andrews of "Mod Squad" fame) has the new ruler in his pocket and then throws it all away near the end for no real reason except a bad temper and no patience. And why did the Klingons send only one agent, anyway? Seems like they were too sneaky for their own good. Then there's the whole 'kootchy-koo' scene I always try to forget. I did like Scotty's latest turn commanding the Enterprise; his 'fool me once, fool me twice' line is a good moment for the actor, Doohan.