star trek friday's child cast

Friday's Child (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 Production timeline
• 4.2 Remastered information
• 4.3 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Guest star
• 5.4 Also starring
• 5.5 Featuring
• 5.6 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.7 Stunt doubles
• 5.8 References
• 5.9 External links

Summary [ ]

The USS Enterprise approaches Capella IV , the home of the Capellans and a rich source of the rare mineral topaline . Topaline is vital to the life support systems of certain planetoid colonies . Captain Kirk 's assignment from Starfleet is to obtain mining rights. Doctor McCoy , who had previously visited Capella, briefs the senior officers in the briefing room ; among other things, he reveals that Capellans have a complex structure of taboos, and that they can be angered easily.

Kirk leaves Scotty in command of the Enterprise while he, Spock , McCoy and security officer Lieutenant Grant beam down and are immediately accosted by a party of Capellans led by Maab . Also in the party is Kras , a Klingon . Grant reacts too quickly, drawing his phaser , which prompts immediate retaliation: one of the warriors with Maab throws his kleegat , which hits Grant, killing him instantly.

Act One [ ]

Maab demands the landing party surrender their weapons and instruments as a show of good faith. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy throw their phasers and communicators on the ground.

The landing party must wait for a period of time. Kirk expresses frustration at losing a crewman and Spock warns about getting emotional. A female Capellan enters offering a gesture of fruit, though McCoy warns not to touch it in fear of a taboo. In the meantime, on the Enterprise , Chekov thinks he detects another ship, likely the Klingons, though Scotty does not see the need to contact Kirk.

The landing party is then taken to see Akaar , who is High Teer , or leader, of the Ten Tribes of Capella. In this meeting, Kras attempts to gain the diplomatic upper hand, but McCoy's knowledge of Capellan culture trumps his efforts. Kras sneers at the Federation 's offer, claiming that Capellans believe only the strong should live, just as Klingons do. Kirk retorts that the highest of Federation laws states that Capella belongs to the Capellans, and it will never be taken from them, and that Klingon space is full of worlds that learned not to trust the Klingon Empire the hard way. Maab is enthusiastic, believing that competition for the mineral can only help Capella. Akaar notes thoughtfully that in all their dealings, Earthmen have never lied to Capellans. Maab warns him that there are those who will not bargain with Earthmen, which Akaar interprets as challenge.

On the Enterprise, Uhura detects a transmission that could be a distress call , but she can't be sure.

A fight breaks out between Capellans – an armed coup . Both Maab and Akaar are involved. During the fracas, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy race to the main tent to retrieve their gear, only to discover Kras engaged in the same search. Overpowering him, Kirk learns he was sent in a small scout ship to negotiate the mineral rights for the Klingon Empire. His people need the topaline, too. Before Kirk can learn more, the fight outside is ended, and Capellans burst into the tent, demanding Kirk free Kras. Then Maab enters, declaring himself the new Teer – Akaar died in the fighting. When Kras demands he kill Kirk, Kirk suggests he fight with Kras. Now that Maab has seen fear in Kras, he is not sure about him.

In orbit , Uhura confirms the distress call is from the SS Dierdre , a small freighter. She claims she's under attack by a Klingon vessel. Kirk doesn't respond to communicators.

On the planet, Eleen , Akaar's pregnant widow, enters the tent. Maab trips her with his sword and she burns her arm in the fire. Because she carries an heir, Maab must kill her to solidify his rule, but when he is about to do so, Kirk interferes, sparking another melee that ends with Eleen and the landing party imprisoned together. When Kirk snatched Eleen away from Maab's descending blade, he violated a taboo: no man may touch the wife of a Teer. She demands to see Kirk die before she herself is killed.

Uhura cannot reach any of the landing party, but Scotty decides to take the Enterprise out of orbit to investigate, therefore stranding the landing party on Capella.

Act Two [ ]

Eleen and the landing party have been imprisoned together to await Maab's decision. Eleen is in a great deal of pain, and McCoy intends to help her. Kirk understands this is a distraction, as no one is allowed to touch her. Kirk and Spock overcome their guards and escape to the hills with Eleen. They are able to recover their communicators but not their phasers.

In space, the Enterprise has been unable to locate the Deirdre , which is strange, since its top speed is limited to warp 2. Ensign Chekov can detect no debris from the science station , as well.

The landing party, with the reluctant Eleen, has taken refuge in a narrow canyon with a wide but defensible entrance and a narrow chute-like exit. McCoy demands to inspect Eleen. When he attempts a medical examination (involving touch) she slaps him. Out of frustration, McCoy slaps her back. This interrupts her previously pseudo-aristocratic behavior, and allows the medical examination, which (to her amazement) provides considerable information on the health of the baby, and he determines the child could be born soon.

Kirk and Spock see to their position. Kirk proposes to block the entrance with a sonic disruption ; two communicators linked together can produce a sympathetic vibration . This will cause a rock slide, sealing the entrance and buying time, as the Capellan search party will be forced to go around the hills to the other side. Several large rocks tumble down from the disruption, injuring many Capellans.

Act Three [ ]

" I'm a doctor, not an escalator. "

During the confusion, Kras manages to retrieve a phaser from one of the fallen warriors and quickly kills the Capellan with his own blade. The landing party climb a steep rocky slope, albeit with some difficulty, as Eleen stubbornly refuses to let Spock and Kirk give her a helping hand – saying to McCoy "I will allow only your touch." Having finally made it to the top, Kirk discovers a cave in which the landing party seeks refuge.

On the Enterprise , unable to discover the source of the distress call, Scotty has Chekov pull the microtape and realizes how he has been duped: the Deirdre specifically called for the Enterprise by name – and there's no way a freighter would have known the Enterprise was ordered into this sector. Clearly, the intent was to lure the Enterprise from Capella IV. To be sure, Scotty has Sulu complete the search pattern .

In the cave, Kirk uses one of McCoy's magnasite-nitron tablets to start a fire, lighting the inside of the cave. Kirk and Spock leave McCoy there to supervise the birth, while they search for the necessary materials to make weapons. Eleen expresses frustration that the child will belong to the husband, and she does not want it to be born. McCoy attempts to convince her she wants the child, and that it belongs to her. By the time Kirk and Spock have made bows and arrows , Eleen has given birth.

The Enterprise has finished its search pattern and heads back to Capella IV. Lieutenant Uhura receives another distress call, this time from the USS Carolina . Scotty ignores it, even though the Carolina is registered in the sector.

When Kirk and Spock leave to reconnoiter, Eleen hits McCoy with a rock and escapes without the child. Kirk and Spock have finished making their weapons and find out what happened to McCoy. He stays with the child as they prepare to meet the Capellans.

En route to Capella IV, the Enterprise detects a Klingon warship intercepts them – sitting in space, establishing a line and daring the Enterprise to cross it. Scotty initiates red alert as the Enterprise prepares for battle...

Act Four [ ]

The Capellans have found their way to the chasm's other entrance, and the landing party have placed themselves in the rocks overlooking the cut. Before they can attack, Eleen appears. She lies to Maab, telling him all the Earthmen, and her infant son, are dead. Maab accepts her at her word, believing her to follow the Capellan code of honor, but Kras is immediately suspicious. He questions Eleen's word, angering both Maab and Eleen. When Maab refuses to verify her claim, Kras draws a stolen Starfleet phaser and offers to demonstrate to them what killing really means. During the ensuing battle, the Capellans are introduced to the bow and arrow – such a simple weapon, and yet they never developed it. Kras manages a standoff; to break it, Eleen proposes to flee as a sacrifice and a distraction. Maab elects to return her life to her, which forfeits his own. He advances upon the Klingon and sacrifices himself to draw Kras's fire: his lieutenant Keel is ready and kills the Klingon in the chest with a kleegat .

As the confrontation is about to conclude badly, Scotty and a rescue party of security guards appear, pointing their phasers at them and demand the Capellans' surrender. McCoy appears from the hills with the new Teer, Leonard James Akaar . Eleen signs the mining agreement as regent for the new Teer, and the Starfleet team beams back to the Enterprise . On the bridge of the Enterprise , Kirk and McCoy remark with pride on how the new Teer of Capella IV is named after them both. Spock remarks that they will both be insufferably pleased with themselves for at least a month.well.

The Enterprise then departs Capella IV and flies off through space, heading for new adventures.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2267

Memorable quotes [ ]

" What the Klingon has said is unimportant, and we do not hear his words. " (To Kirk, in sotto voice) "I just called him a liar."

" Yes, you're quite right, Mr. Spock. Inefficient – and illogical."

" Perhaps to be a Teer is to see in new ways. I begin to like you, Earthman… and I saw fear in the Klingon's eye. "

" Look, I'm a doctor, not an escalator! "

" How did you arrange to touch her, Bones? Give her a happy pill? " " No, a right cross. "

" Say to yourself, the child is mine. The child is mine. It is mine! " " Yes, it's yours.'"

" Fortunately, this bark has suitable tensile cohesion. " " You mean it makes a good bowstring. " " I believe I said that. "

" McCoy. Bring our child. " " Our child? " " I'll explain later. "

" There's an old, old saying on Earth, Mr. Sulu. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. " " I know this saying. It was invented in Russia. "

" The cavalry doesn't come over the hill in the nick of time anymore. "

" Oochy-woochy coochy-coo, captain? " " An obscure Earth dialect, Mr. Spock. Oochy-coochy coochy-coo. If you're curious, consult linguistics. "

" The child was named Leonard James Akaar? " " Has a kind of a ring to it, don't you think, James? " " Yes. I think it's a name destined to go down in galactic history, Leonard. What do you think, Spock? " " I think you're both going to be insufferably pleased with yourselves for at least a month… sir. "

Background information [ ]

• Exterior planet scenes were filmed at the familiar Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park , located North of Los Angeles. ( Star Trek Encyclopedia  (2nd ed., p. 63))
• The episode was filmed in late May amid temperatures at Vasquez Rocks of up to 110 degrees, making it highly uncomfortable for actors, especially those in Capellan costumes. However, Tige Andrews enjoyed his Klingon costume very much, this being his first chance to wear a non-ordinary costume for a film role. His exotic demeanor helped him get into the character of Kras . [1]
• In Dorothy Fontana 's original script, Eleen sacrificed her child for her own life. Gene Roddenberry objected to this, and changed the ending to what appears in the finished episode. Fontana also envisioned Eleen as a strong woman, who rebels against a society which considers women only as mothers and homemakers. [2]
• The set panel to the left of the science station was removed for this episode. Chekov can be seen with his hand draped over the left edge of the station; an edge that shouldn't exist. In the next episode, " Who Mourns for Adonais? ", wider shots show that the workstation counter top continues unbroken when the set piece is in place. For the "Friday's Child" remastered edition, a close up of the science station replaces the old, incomplete, version.
• In the briefing room footage of Dr. McCoy's previous visit to Capella IV, he is wearing his present-day Starfleet uniform , rather than a uniform specific to Starfleet circa 2265 ( TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before "). This assumes McCoy was stationed on the planet prior to his assignment as the Enterprise 's chief medical officer . However, because McCoy does not appear in the TOS Season 1 episodes TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? " and TOS : " Errand of Mercy ", and because the duration of his assignment was "only a few months," it's possible he was temporarily transferred to Capella IV during one (or both) of those time periods, meaning his uniform is correct.
• Leonard James Akaar has appeared as an influential Starfleet admiral in several of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novels that take place after the end of the events depicted on screen, suggesting Kirk's half-joking prediction of the name going down in history did in fact come true, to some extent.
• This is the first episode which Chekov makes the dubious claim of something being invented in Russia . In this case he claims that the old Earth saying: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me," was invented in Russia. He does so with a smirk, suggesting he may only be teasing.
• The footage seen on the briefing room screen in the teaser is recycled from scenes of the warriors hunting down Kirk and company later on in the episode.
• Actors playing Capellan warriors were given elevated shoes to make them appear as "giants" compared to Humans and Klingons. Maab's high-top headwear served the same purpose. [3]
• A sequence in the blooper reel shows William Shatner entering the tent too quickly when Tige Andrews is looking for his weapon and exclaiming, " Oh, shit! "
• Lots of dialogue looping was used in this episode because of the outdoor setting. Some of the dubbing was crammed together, nearly on top of other lines.
• By preventing Maab from killing Eleen, thereby allowing her unborn son to become Teer of the tribes, Kirk and company would appear to be in flagrant violation of the Prime Directive . This is discussed in the TOS comic The Trial of James T. Kirk , where Akaar is called to testify. He states that he believes in the wisdom of the man who saved his life, namely Kirk. He then kneels before Kirk to demonstrate the depth of his gratitude.
• In the TOS comic The Peacekeeper Part Two: The Conclusion , the events of this episode are mentioned by Dr. McCoy in order to motivate Captain Kirk to make an exception in the Prime Directive, suggesting that it was violated in this episode.
• For his first four appearances in the series, including this episode, Walter Koenig wore a Monkees-style wig, which he absolutely detested. In one interview, he made joking and uncomplimentary references to that wig. By " The Apple ", he seems to have discarded it.
• This was Robert Bralver 's first appearance of many in the series, often as a stunt performer or uncredited extra.
• This episode marks the debut of Sulu's personal scanner at his helm position. In its first appearance, the device is seen slowly unfolding as it emerges from inside the helm console. In his written adaptations of the episodes, James Blish refers to the device as a "gooseneck viewer."
• Stephen Whitfield 's The Making of Star Trek and David Gerrold 's The World of Star Trek incorrectly lists this episode's first airdate as 22 March 1967 .
• Stephen Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek also features some excellent behind-the-scenes photos from this episode, filmed in late May 1967 .

The title page of the script

• The name of this episode derives from the 1887 Harper's Weekly version of the old children's rhyme, Monday's Child , which includes the line "Friday's child is full of woe."
• "Capellans" was also the name given to the aliens in Jerry Sohl 's 1953 novel The Transcendent Man , though the connection seems unintentional: the aliens in that book were closer in style to the Organians . Capella itself is the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga , the charioteer.
• There is an interesting sequence in the latter part of the episode. As Maab and his cohorts close in on Kirk's hideout, Tige Andrews takes a face-forward flop onto the ground. In the next close-up, he is seen in the background getting up, and after a cutaway, comes to the foreground and dusts off his pants. This would seem to indicate that for the close-up coverage, there was a second camera filming simultaneously to the wide shot, and that the camera was hidden behind the large rock seen near Michael Dante.
• This is the first episode where Spock is knocked out in a fight (the second and final being " Mirror, Mirror ", though in that case it is the mirror who is incapacitated) where a Capellan hits the Vulcan with a sword while he and Kirk prevent Eleen's death.
• This is the first episode where all seven "classic" crew members (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov) appear in the same scene, in the teaser, discussing the background for the Capellans, although Sulu is seen only on a view screen reporting from the bridge. The other six are all in the same briefing room together. The six also appear in the same scene together at the very end on the bridge, and George Takei is still absent, although the right arm of a helmsman that should be Sulu is seen at the right edge of the screen.

Production timeline [ ]

• Story outline by D.C. Fontana : 11 January 1967
• First draft teleplay: 17 March 1967
• Second draft teleplay: 19 April 1967
• Revised second draft: 20 April 1967
• Final draft teleplay by Gene L. Coon : early- May 1967
• Revised final draft by Gene Roddenberry : 11 May 1967
• Additional page revisions by Coon: 18 May 1967
• Day 1 – 19 May 1967 , Friday (Half Day) – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Briefing room , Bridge
• Day 2 – 22 May 1967 , Monday – Desilu Stage 9 : Ext. Outside cave , Int. Bridge
• Day 3 – 23 May 1967 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Bridge
• Day 4 – 24 May 1967 , Wednesday – Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park : Ext. Capella IV surface (canyon)
• Day 5 – 25 May 1967 , Thursday – Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park : Ext. Capella IV surface (canyon)
• Day 6 – 26 May 1967 , Friday – Desilu Stage 10 : Ext. Capellan camp , Ext. Tent , Int. Kirk's tent
• Day 7 – 29 May 1967 , Monday – Desilu Stage 10 : Int. Akaar's tent
• Score recording: 7 July 1967
• Premiere airdate: 1 December 1967
• First UK airdate: 14 October 1970
• Remastered airdate: 6 January 2007

Remastered information [ ]

• The remastered version of this episode premiered in syndication the weekend of 6 January 2007 . Among new shots of the Enterprise herself, several new, more realistic views of Capella IV from space were inserted into the episode. Other changes include cleaned up mattes of the viewscreen during the briefing room scene, a more realistic sensor readout on the bridge, a corrected insert shot while Chekov is working the controls at the science station, updated phaser effects, and the establishment of the Klingon ship on screen as a D7-class .

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original US Betamax release: 1986
• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 17 , catalog number VHR 2329, release date unknown
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.1, 3 February 1997
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 16, 19 September 2000
• As part of the TOS Season 2 DVD collection
• As part of the TOS-R Season 2 DVD collection: 5 August 2008 (Region 1), 27 April 2009 (Region 2)

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Guest star [ ]

• Julie Newmar as Eleen
• Tige Andrews as Kras
• Michael Dante as Maab

Featuring [ ]

• James Doohan as Scott
• George Takei as Sulu
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• Cal Bolder as Keel
• Ben Gage as Akaar
• Walter Koenig as Chekov
• Kirk Raymone as Duur
• Robert Bralver as Grant

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• William Blackburn as Hadley
• Vic Christy as Capellan tribesman
• Walker Edmiston as Officer (voice)
• Steve Hershon as operations officer
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Leonard James Akaar
• Akaar's tribesmen 2 and 3
• Maab's tribesmen 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , and 6
• Capellan women 1 and 2
• Sciences crew woman
• Operations crew woman
• Security guard 2
• Security lieutenant

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Chuck Clow as the stunt double for William Shatner
• Dick Dial as Warrior's stunt double
• Jay Jones as the stunt double for Tige Andrews

References [ ]

amusement ; analysis ; area ; arm ; back ; bargain ; bark ; battle stations ; belly ; belt ; " Bones "; booster ; bow and arrow ; bowstring ; Capella IV ; Capella IV sector ; Capella IV village ; Capellans ; Capellan language ; Capellan law ; Carolina , USS ; cavalry ; cave ; chance ; check-in signal ; " chewed you out "; childbirth ; children ; choice ; combat ; commander ; communication channel ; communicator ; conclusion ; contact ; convoy ship ; course ; custom ; death ; debris ; device ; dialect ; Dierdre , SS ; disappointment ; distance ; distress signal (aka distress call ); doctor ; document ; " drawing a line "; Earth ; Earth Federation ; emergency ; emotion ; encampment ; enemy ; entrance ; escalator ; estimating ; exit ; fear ; Federation law ; feet ; flight path ; " Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. "; freighter ; frequency ; friend ; friendship ; galactic history ; gesture ; goods ; guest ; gunpowder ; " ham-handed "; hand ; happy pill ; hate ; head ; heart ; high chief ; High Teer ( Teer ); hill ; hospital ; hour ; Human (aka Earthman or Earth people); humanoid ; idea ; " I'm a doctor, not a... "; instinct ; intention ; interception course ; " in the nick of time "; "" kind of a ring "; kleegat ; Klingon ; Klingon agent ( agent ); Klingon Empire ; Klingon scout ship/warship ; knife ; landing party ; laughter ; leader ; liar ; life support system ; line of flight ; linguistics ; liquid ; location ; logic ; love ; magnasite-nitron tablet ; maximum speed ; medical aid ; medical book ; medical kit ; medical oath ; microtape ; mineral ; mining ; mining right ; mining treaty (aka mining agreement ); minute ; mission ; mistake ; month ; name ; namesake ; negotiation ; " not move a muscle "; " on our toes "; " Oochy-woochy coochy-coo "; pain ; patient ; phaser ; phaser bank ; place ; planetoid colony ; " playing cat and mouse "; policy ; powder ; psychiatry ; reconnaissance party ; regent ; relative term ; report ; revenge ; right cross ; rock ; rockslide ; Russia ; saying ; scent ; Scots language ; scout ship ; search pattern ; sensor ; sensor range ; sensor report ; shale ; shame ; shelter ; sight ; ship's captain ; sky ; sonic disruption ; sound beam ; standard orbit ; starship ; state of war ; stomach ; story ; sublight ; surgery ; sword ; sympathetic vibration ; taboo ; tensile cohesion ; tent ; Ten Tribes ; thing ; throat ; topaline ; tradition ; trail ; trap ; tribe ; truth ; vegetation ; viewscreen ; village ; virtue ; wall ; warrior ; water ; weapons ; " wee "; widow ; word ; yard ; youth

External links [ ]

• "Friday's Child" at StarTrek.com
• " Friday's Child " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Friday's Child " at Wikipedia
• " Friday's Child " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• " Friday's Child " at the Internet Movie Database
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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One Star Trek: The Original Series Episode Had The Cast Swimming In Their Sweat

Vasquez Rocks is located in the northern part of Los Angeles County about 25 minutes away from Downtown L.A. via the 14 freeway. It's close enough to the city to be easily accessed by car, but far away enough to look like a remote wilderness. The park's celebrated rock formations look eerie, ancient, and alien from certain angles, making it a popular place for film and TV productions going back to the 1930s.

Trekkies likely recognize Vasquez Rocks as an oft-reused filming location, serving as a variety of alien worlds for various "Star Trek" projects . The park was featured in the "Original Series" episodes "Shore Leave" (December 29, 1966), "Arena" (January 19, 1967), "The Alternative Factor" (March 30, 1967), and "Friday's Child" (December 1, 1967). Later, Vasquez Rocks would serve as Vulcan "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" and "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," released in 1983 and 1984 respectively.

Fans of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" would recognize Vasquez Rocks from the episode "Who Watches the Watchers?" (October 16, 1989), and the park would later be seen playing alien worlds in the "Star Trek: Voyager" episodes "Initiations" (September 4, 1995) and "Gravity" (February 3, 1999). It was in the "Enterprise" episode "Unexpected" (October 12, 2001). "Star Trek" characters wouldn't visit Vasquez Rocks on Earth — that is, the park wouldn't play itself — until the "Star Trek: Picard" episodes "Maps and Legends" and "The End is the Beginning," both from 2020. No natural monument is more closely tied to the franchise.

And what was shooting at Vasquez Rocks like? Horrible. In a 2013 interview with StarTrek.com , actor Michael Dante recalled playing the part of Maab in "Friday's Child," and he only remembered that Vasquez Rocks reached 117 degrees the day of filming.

Michael Dante vs. Vasquez Rocks

"Friday's Child" sees Captain Kirk (William Shatner) traveling to the planet Capella IV to negotiate a mining contract with the violent, but honorable, locals. Kirk has to convince the Capellans to give their ore to the Federation and not to a visiting Klingon (Tige Andrews) who would use it for nefarious purposes. During the negotiations, a civil war breaks out, with Maab (Dante) killing the Capellan leader and usurping the throne. Maab also wants to kill the pregnant queen Eleen (Julie Newmar) , forcing Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) to protect her. The episode features a lot of outdoor fighting, silly regal costumes, and over-the-top acting. Eleen eventually names her child after Kirk and McCoy.

Dante had to wear an outsize blonde wig to play Maab, as well as an uncomfortable-looking headpiece that covered his neck and ears (see above). The regal costumes looked to be made of disused theatre curtains and wool. As itchy as they appear, however, Dante said they were also filled with sweat:

"The weather [stands out]. It was 117 degrees at Vasquez Rocks, where we were filming. The outfits we had, they couldn't breathe. There weren't any openings in the clothing. They were all tight, with boots. I was 180 pounds at that time — and I'm still 180 pounds, which I'm very proud of — but I lost seven pounds in one day. I literally lost muscle. I looked at myself in the mirror when I got home and I said, 'I can't believe what happened.'"

Sweating too much doesn't actually reduce muscle mass, but one can indeed lose several pounds of water a day if they don't rehydrate in a hot climate. Keep the canteen full, kids.

As one can see in the above picture, Dante also had to wear giant furry boots, which are not ideal for desert hiking. What's more, the boots he wore weren't porous or vented, allowing them to catch every drop of Dante's sweat. "It was just so hot. The water was oozing out of us. Every time I'd take a step in my boots, there'd be a swooshing sound, and that was perspiration that went down to my boots," he recalled.

"Friday's Child" was written by longtime "Star Trek" luminary D.C. Fontana, who said that she wanted to write a character like Eleen who didn't want to have children. Such a conceit would have been novel on 1960s TV, and Fontana's script was kept largely intact for filming. Other writers added the Klingon character, but Eleen remained the same. Weirdly, there is a dark moment in "Friday's Child" when Dr. McCoy realizes that he needs to be more forceful and angry with Eleen in order to gain her respect. Her species values aggression, and McCoy was too gentle. To show his strength, he smacks Eleen across the face. It might be the only instance in "Star Trek" of a main character punching a pregnant woman. Perhaps ickily, it worked.

Regardless, Datne said he has rewatched his episode since the 1960s and feels that, dramatically, it holds up pretty well. He was told "Star Trek" was just a Western in space , and he played Maab accordingly. Dante retired from acting in the late 1980s and hosted a syndicated interview radio show from 1995 until 2007. He is still alive and well at 92. 

Produced by

Star trek : friday's child (1967), directed by joseph pevney / gene roddenberry.

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Star Trek – Friday’s Child (Review)

The first Star Trek pilot, The Cage , was produced in 1964. To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, this December we are reviewing the second season of the original Star Trek show. You can check out our first season reviews here . Check back daily for the latest review.

Errand of Mercy was a highlight of the first season. A wry script from producer Gene L. Coon introduced the Klingons as an antagonist for the Federation. Made up to look like space! Mongols, the Klingon Empire was presented as an imperial force hell-bent on expanding its sphere of influence. In case the parallels were a little too subtle, they were locked in a Cold War with the Federation. As such, they were the perfect stand-ins for Communist aggressors trying to undermine American foreign policy.

Of course, Errand of Mercy was brutally cynical in its depiction of the Federation. The episode suggested quite heavily that the Federation was just as imperialist and adversarial as the Klingons. They might couch their foreign policy in friendly language and polite overtures, but their end goals are quite similar. Smaller political entities are nothing but pieces shuffled around a board in a deadly game of chess. Errand of Mercy was not flattering in its portrayal of Kirk, presenting him as little more than a warmonger.

“Damn dirty Klingon!”

Errand of Mercy was a massive success. It remains a fan favourite to this day. In some respects, that is due to the introduction of the Klingons, but it is also an exceptional hour of scripted science fiction. So it makes sense that the show would return to the Klingons when it was renewed for a second season. Friday’s Child was the third episode produced during the second season, and returns to quite a few themes hit on by Errand of Mercy . Those themes would recur.

Friday’s Child demonstrates the obvious risks of an episode like Errand of Mercy . It’s an episode that essentially takes the “Klingons as space!Communists” seriously.

We come in peace…

In an interview with The Archive of American Television , D.C. Fontana was quite frank about how the Klingons became the franchise’s first recurring antagonists:

They became our chief antagonist because they were easy to make up. Didn’t have ears as far as special prosthetics that have to be made up. They just did eyebrows and usually some make-up to darken their skin. They all tended to have dark hair. We had some really good ones like John Colicos, but they became our antagonist of choice because they were an easy make-up to do. The Romulans, who were more interesting, of course, were a lot harder because of the ears. We tried not to show too many Vulcans, because of the same problem – the ears! Especially when you had a group of people. If it was just one it was a little easier to deal with. The Klingons, Gene Coon invented them and they suddenly became really popular for us.

It is a bit of a shame, as the Klingons are much less interesting than the Romulans, at least as presented on the original Star Trek .

“One of us will almost certainly not make it back… I wonder which one…”

It is worth noting that there is some debate as to who came up with the idea of turning the Klingons into recurring foes for the Federation. On the audio commentary for The Trouble With Tribbles , Gerrold observes that the decision was made in the development of that episode:

In the planning of the episode, I realised that we needed a threat – we couldn’t just tell the Tribble story. So I said to Gene L. Coon, “I need an alien menace. Can I use the Klingons?” And Gene L. Coon – who is just one of the greatest producers I ever worked for – he said, “You know, we’ve been talking about having a continuing threat – a continuing nemesis – for Kirk and the Klingons are probably the best way to go.” So the Tribble episode was where we made the decision to have the Klingons be the recurring nemesis for the Enterprise.

While the second season episodes went into production relatively close together, the timing seems to suggest that the Klingons were likely baked into the premise of Friday’s Child before Gerrold appealed to use them in The Trouble With Tribbles , particularly since D.C. Fontana had originally developed Friday’s Child as a potential thirtieth episode of the first season.

No proof of in-tent…

Charting the development of the story, Marc Cushman notes in These Are The Voyages: Season Two that the Klingons were present from the earliest drafts of the story, but their role was expanded in later versions. Contrasting an early version of the story with the episode as aired, he observes:

There are no Klingons on the planet, therefore no Klingon named Kras (the clear antagonist in the final version). In fact, other than for the subplot where the Enterprise is lured away from the planet by a distress signal and then challenged by a Klingon ship — which Fontana added at Roddenberry’s request — the Klingons are discussed but not seen.

It seems like their roles was expanded as the story developed, perhaps reflecting audience response to Errand of Mercy and demonstrating Gene L. Coon’s clear desire to utilise the Klingons once again. Their appearance in Friday’s Child sets them up as a recurring adversary for the rest of the show’s original run.

Knife to see you…

Of course, in practice, the Klingons only appear in seven episodes over the course of three years – just over two episodes per year, and less than ten percent of the series. This is a rather small number of appearances, given the impact that the Klingons would have on the franchise. The Klingons would become inseparable from Star Trek , serving as the most iconic of aliens to appear in the franchise.

Klingons appear in the majority of the feature films and on every Star Trek show, with a Klingon regular appearing on three of the spin-offs. Appearing in the third episode produced for the second season makes it clear that Star Trek wants to keep them around. Of the nine episodes featuring Klingons, three are perceived to be genuine classics. Errand of Mercy , The Trouble With Tribbles and Day of the Dove are among the best-loved Star Trek shows ever produced. Even A Private Little War endures in popular memory.

Scotty might be letting that whole “Captain” thing go to his head…

The problem with Friday’s Child is that it takes the Klingons far too seriously. In Errand of Mercy , the Klingons were rather cleverly as a means of criticising the Federation – allowing Star Trek to make a fairly scathing critique of American foreign policy while hiding behind science-fiction allegory. However, Friday’s Child takes the idea of the Klingons as space! Communists far too seriously, with the story operating from the unquestionable assumption that Kirk is the good guy.

There’s none of the irony or cynicism that made Errand of Mercy seem like such a treat. There, the audience was invited to laugh at Kirk for condescending to a “primitive” culture that was actually infinitely more advanced than his own. There, his promise to help the Organian’s “rebuild” their society was a statement that was clearly as loaded and imperialist as the attitudes espoused by the Klingons.

“These missions really do bring out my inner Eagle Scout…”

Friday’s Child retains none of that sophistication or wit. There’s a clear sense that we are meant to take Kirk entirely at his word when he promises to respect local culture. “The Earth Federation offers one other thing, Akaar,” he promises the local chieften. “Our laws. And the highest of all our laws states that your world is yours and will always remain yours. This differs us from the Klingons. Their empire is made up of conquered worlds. They take what they want by arms and force.”

There’s no sense that Kirk is trying to turn Capella IV into a satellite state as he was with Organia. While the Klingons offer weapons, the Federation offers humanitarian supplies – “powders and liquids for the sick.” Despite the fact that the Capellans have no interest in such materials, it seems that the Federation would never consider anything as amoral as trading weapons or military technology for the precious minerals available on the planet.

Baby talk…

According to These Are the Voyages , Roddenberry really pushed this idea that Kirk and his crew be presented as altruists who want nothing but the best for the native people:

Roddenberry also asked that the Federation’s interest not be limited to ‘mining rights.’ In future drafts, Kirk offers to share knowledge, medicines, and other things to help the Capellans.

This results in a rather unpleasant subtext to Friday’s Child .

“The Adventures of Young Leonard McCoy” was surprisingly popular in reruns…

The episode is no longer about two competing imperialist powers meddling in a culture they do not understand. Instead, it’s a story about Kirk trying to protect some natives from exploitation by a rival power. There’s something very condescending and patronising about all this. Kirk essentially finds himself cast in the role of trying to protect the Capellans from themselves. The Klingons cannot be trusted, as Kras demonstrates over the course of the episode.

The fact that the Capellans speak in stereotype doesn’t help matters. “The Earth men have different customs, but never have they lied to our people,” Akaar states. The natives speak a broken English, as if modelled on the dialogue of Native American characters from various classic television shows. Unlike the Organians, Friday’s Child does little to respect the unique culture of the Capellans. They are simply portrayed as violent and foolhardy, tricked and exploited by the cynical Klingons.

The only good Klingon…

This turns Friday’s Child into an endorsement of the sort of politics that Errand of Mercy had railed against. As J.P. Telotte contends in The Essential Science Fiction Television Reader :

Friday’s Child never explains why the Capellans cannot trade with both the Fedeation and Klingons, especially as the two powers are not formally at war. But the simple assumption that the Capellans must cast their lot with either the Federation or the Klingons seems to indicate the extent to which Star Trek is shot through with the either-or mind-set of the Cold War. In light of this mentality, it becomes clear that the Federation is not prepared to take Capella IV by force largely because the Klingons would not stand for it – and vice versa, just as both the Soviets and Americans were extremely limited in their ability to take military action because of the fear of coming into conflict with the rival power. From this point of view, the Prime Directive sometimes looks suspiciously like propaganda, designed to help convince “third galaxy” planets that they would be better off to side with the Federation that with the Klingons – much in the way the United States and its allies vied with the Soviet Union and its allies in the 1960s to see which could make a more compelling case for itself as the legitimate foe of colonialism and friend of international liberation.

This isn’t a show that is critical of the Cold War as a concept, but instead wholeheartedly embraces the conflict between the world’s two major powers.

A bump in the road…

This contrast is a perfect example of how conflicted Star Trek was over these issues. Episodes like Errand of Mercy and A Taste of Armageddon decried the Vietnam War, while episodes like The City on the Edge of Forever and A Private Little War seemed to endorse it. In many respects, it is impossible to talk about how Star Trek felt about certain issues, because that position shifted from episode to episode. The shift between Errand of Mercy and Friday’s Child also meant a shift in the portrayal of the Klingons.

In Errand of Mercy , they were presented as an example of the most exaggerated ideological opponent. The make-up design was a little problematic, but there was a clear sense that the Klingons were not meant to be taken too seriously. They were the most primal of adversaries, the most shallow of ideological opponents, but the almost comical exaggeration seemed intentional. Everything about that situation was heightened, as if to emphasise the absurdity of it all.

“You just can’t get signal in this part of the galaxy…”

Here, we’re supposed to take it all seriously. The show is not at all critical of the hatred that the characters throw at the Klingons. “What’s a Klingon doing down here among your scrupulously honest friends anyway?” Kirk demands of Bones, suggesting that anybody who might make contact with a Klingon is guilty by association. Even McCoy is disgusted to find the Capellans dealing with the Klingons. “Does Maab know that the Klingons are our sworn enemies by their own words?”

However, the hatred runs even deeper than that. When Kirk and Spock face down the Capellans alone, Kirk is reconciled to his fate. He does have one thing for which to live, though. “There’s just one thing I want,” he admits. “The Klingon?” Spock guesses. “One of us must get him,” Kirk insists. “Revenge, Captain?” Spock inquires. “Why not?” Kirk asks. Friday’s Child never suggests that Kirk is being racist or wrong-headed here. Indeed, Kras ultimately goes off the rails, vindicating Kirk’s opinion of him completely.

When on tribe goes to war…

There’s no irony or self-awareness here. As Kirk makes a valiant last stand, he’s still trying to protect the Capellans from themselves, trying to warn them of the obvious danger of trusting one of those untrustworthy Klingons. Those fans who protest the portrayal of the  Star Trek cast in  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country need look no further than Friday’s Child to find support for that interpretation of these characters. That movie forces Kirk to face up to his attitude in episodes like this.

Of course, the Klingons in the original Star Trek are radically different from the versions who would appear much later in the franchise. While elements of John Collicos’ portrayal of Kor might fit the template as defined in those later spin-offs and shows, it is lot harder to reconcile Kras with the Klingon ideal. Friday’s Child appears to have toned down the make-up on Kras, which is a nice touch – however he just comes across as a middle-aged balding man rather than a serious threat to the cast or the Capellans.

A rocky road…

Indeed, Capellan culture seems much more like the version of Klingon culture that would develop over the course of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . A warrior culture built around the concept of strength and ritual combat, the Capellans seem more like the culture that Worf would come to venerate than anything embodied by Kras. It is interesting to note how these concepts evolve over the life-span of the franchise.

That said, Friday’s Child is rather problematic on a number of other levels. It continues the trend of gender essentialism that has been running through the last few episodes. The bulk of the plot features Kirk, Spock and McCoy stranded on a hostile planet with a pregnant woman in tow. In the final version of Friday’s Child , Eleen is still largely hostile to her would-be rescuers, providing dramatic tension. However, writer D.C. Fontana had envisaged a much more controversial conclusion.

A pregnant pause…

In her interview with The Archive of American Television , Fontana explained:

It was really about a woman who was willing to use her child to save herself. Now, Gene changed that ending on me, so I was not real happy with the ending of Friday’s Child. I don’t think that all women are “mommies” and I don’t think that all women love their children – just look at the news. And I wanted to tell a story about a woman who would even use a newborn child to save herself. It was wrapped up in an adventure with the Klingons and everything else. I had a good time creating that culture, that society, that didn’t especially care for women – except as brood mares. And she was trying to break out of that.

That’s a rather bleak story, but it feels a lot more interesting than what was ultimately produced.

I got you babe…

Eleen seems to resent the child in her belly, even if the fact is primarily conveyed through Kirk’s log entry. However, much of Friday’s Child is built around the idea that a woman cannot help but be maternal the moment that you put a child in her hands. There is a moment, after the child is born, where Eleen seems to abandon her offspring. “I really thought she’d learned to want it,” McCoy reflects, in what seems to be the moral of the story.

Ultimately, it turns out that Eleen did “learn to want it.” It is revealed that she snuck off to offer her own life in exchange for the life of her newborn son. It seems that even the most cynical and detached woman cannot resist those maternal instincts once a baby is born. It’s a rather uncomfortable piece of sexism, just like Sylvia’s gender-based irrationality in Catspaw or the assertion that the Companion is only capable of loving Cochrane if it is feminine in Metamorphosis .

Klingon to life!

(This is to say nothing of the small sequences in the story where she learns to respect McCoy once he slaps her across the face – you stay classy Leonard McCoy! – or where the male characters have to awkwardly put up with her refusal to allow Kirk or Spock to help her up the side of a rock face. Still, that cringe-worthy sequence gives us the line  “I’m a doctor, not an escalator.” So, you know, at least there’s that.)

It serves as a reminder of just how backwards Star Trek could be when it came to matters of gender and feminism. As with the treatment of Janice Rand on the show – and Grace Lee Whitney off-screen – it seems like Star Trek had a lot to learn about presenting an ideal or equal future. Eleen could have been an interested and multi-faceted character. Instead, re-writes reduced her to little more than a whining woman who melts when a baby is put in her hands.

“Okay! Okay! DeForest can carry a show!”

Friday’s Child is interesting because it is the show’s first real “McCoy” episode. It’s an example of how the show has been developing and expanding the role of McCoy as DeForest Kelley earned his place in the title credits at the start of the second season.  Catspaw featured an away team of the leading trio together, while  Metamorphosis stranded the trio together on an alien planet following a shuttle trip.  Friday’s Child is a rare episode that isn’t carried by Kirk, Spock or the ensemble as a whole.

Friday’s Child sees the Enterprise returning to a planet that McCoy visited years earlier. As the person most familiar with the customs of the local people, he gets to guide Kirk and Spock in their interactions with the natives. He forges the bond with Eleen and delivers her baby. Although the baby does take the middle name “James” in honour of Kirk, which seems strange, the baby’s first name is given as “Leonard” in honour of McCoy.

“But I still get to save the day, right?”

This isn’t the first time that a Star Trek episode has reached outside Kirk and Spock to generate stories. What Are Little Girls Made Of? was about the investigation into the disappearance of Christine Chapel’s fiancée. The Naked Time devoted considerable space to Sulu and other members of the cast. Chekov gets to play an important role in  The Apple . Wolf in the Fold will see Scotty accused of murder, and The Lights of Zetar will see him fall in love.

However, the focus on McCoy in Friday’s Child feels a little heavier than those examples, affording DeForest Kelley more to do than the featured players in those episodes. That said, it’s quite clear that DeForest Kelley is still the third of three stars. He doesn’t get to play a role in the dramatic climax. When he volunteers to assist, Kirk shrugs him off. “Bones, you took a medical oath long before you signed aboard my ship. That small patient needs you.” This is Shatner and Nimoy’s action sequence.

“This is your boom stick?”

It’s worth noting that Kelley had to fight very hard for acknowledgment, even after his promotion to the opening credits. As Mark Clark notes in Star Trek FAQ :

Even then, Kelley seldom garnered the kind of attention, in terms of interviews and public appearances, his costars enjoyed. For instance, Roddenberry tried to send all three of the show’s leads for a 1967 appearance on NBC’s Today Show, but was informed that Today only wanted Shatner and Nimoy. This was common; producers and event organisers didn’t consider Kelley a significant draw.

Still, Kelley was a consummate professional. His work was a massive boon to the show, and he does good work with Friday’s Child , despite the significant problems with the rest of the episode.

Hack and slash, Spock, hack and slash…

Friday’s Child is a mess of an episode, and an example of how Star Trek never seemed entirely sure of its position on a certain issue. In some respects, this willingness to approach an issue from both angles could be considered a strength. Unfortunately, Friday’s Child is just a reactive mess.

You might be interested in our other reviews from the second season of the classic Star Trek :

• Supplemental: (Gold Key) #1 – The Planet of No Return!
• Supplemental: (Marvel Comics, 1980) #4-5 – The Haunting of Thallus!/The Haunting of the Enterprise!
• Metamorphosis
• Friday’s Child
• Who Mourns for Adonais?
• Supplemental: Spock’s World by Diane Duane
• Supplemental: New Visions #3 – Cry Vengeance
• Wolf in the Fold
• The Changeling
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #43-45 – The Return of the Serpent!
• Supplemental: (IDW, 2009) #13 – The Red Shirt’s Tale
• Supplemental: Deep Space Nine – Crossover
• Supplemental: New Visions #1 – The Mirror, Cracked
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #9-16 – New Frontiers (The Mirror Universe Saga)
• Supplemental: Mirror Images
• Supplemental: Mirror Universe – The Sorrows of Empire by David Mack
• Supplemental: (IDW, 2009) #15-16 – Mirrored
• The Deadly Years
• Supplemental: (Gold Key) #61 – Operation Con Game
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #39-40 – The Return of Mudd
• Supplemental: The Galactic Whirlpool by David Gerrold
• Supplemental: Alien Spotlight – Tribbles
• Bread and Circuses
• Journey to Babel
• A Private Little War
• The Gamesters of Triskelion
• The Immunity Syndrome
• A Piece of the Action
• By Any Other Name
• Return to Tomorrow
• Patterns of Force
• The Ultimate Computer
• The Omega Glory
• Supplemental: Assignment: Eternity by Greg Cox
• Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1989) #49-50 – The Peacekeepers
• Supplemental: (IDW, 2008) Assignment: Earth

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Cold War , communists , dc fontana , DeForest Kelley , Errand of Mercy , Federation , feminism , foreign policy , friday's child , gender , Gene L. Coon , geopolitics , imperialism , kirk , Klingon Empire , klingons , maternal insticts , McCoy , metaphor , politics , pregnancy , spock , star trek: the original series |

15 Responses

“It is a bit of a shame, as the Klingons are much less interesting than the Romulans, at least as presented on the original Star Trek.”

An interesting reversal then, as the Next Generation era Romulans are the dullest and vaguest of the major Trek races – with the Klingons cornering the market on honour and the Cardassians on stylish, scheming imperialism the Romulans had little left except unearned arrogance and a hideous fashion sense.

I have absolutely no recollection of this episode, but suddenly I want to see it.

Yep. The poor Romulans. You could argue that Star Trek is the story of how other races culturally appropriate Romulan culture, leaving nothing but a husk in place of the Romulan Star Empire.

(Seriously, by TNG, the Klingons have cornered the market on honour; so the Romulans become “stylish, scheming imperialists.” Then the Cardassians claim that, so the Romulans become prideful plotters. Then the Federation (!) outmanoevres and outplots the Romulans, to the point where (by the end of Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges) the Romulan Star Empire is pretty much a Federation puppet state and eventually (by the time Nemesis roles around) the Romulan government is overthrown by a human clone of Jean-Luc Picard.)

Not sure I’d recommend Friday’s Child. DeForrest Kelley is great, but the episode itself is… unfortunate in a number of regards.

…And then of course Romulus is blown up altogether in the reboot film. 😉

As I’ve said before I think the Romulan problem is that they just don’t work terribly well in a post-Cold War mindset. They are the enigmatic, secretive, rival superpower and in an era when China is enthusiastically in bed with Western capitalism that doesn’t seem terribly relevant.

Yep. I think the Klingons covered the mark as Russian analogues, leaving the Romulans a bit high-and-dry. (Notably, their appearances in the second and third seasons of TNG seem very much like the show is trying to keep doing Cold War Russia, because… well, the Klingons are late-eighties and nineties Russia at this point.)

Part of me also wonders if the design of the Romulans also played a part. While making them identical to the Vulcans helps make Balance of Terror work, it does lend them a fairly generic character design more firmly associated with Spock; they are not as visually arresting as the Klingons or the Cardassians or the Borg or even (goodness help me) the Ferengi.

I had been shocked that Dorothy Fontana, who wrote some wonderful things, also wrote this. When I learned that she’d wanted Eleen to be very different, I was relieved. So she didn’t make this episode a mess by herself; she was more or less forced to make it a mess. Whew.

There IS one thing I like about this episode, though, and that’s how alien Eleen’s attitudes feel, not about the baby, but about Capellan law. When Maab goes to kill Eleen because she carries the previous teer’s child, she acknowledges that she must die. Kirk tries to save her and is defeated, and Eleen’s not grateful that he tried to help her. She states that she was proud to obey the law (and be killed!), but she wants to see Kirk killed for touching her before she dies.

When I was eleven years old and watching Star Trek for the very first time, that attitude of hers was one of my introductions to the idea that people from other cultures can think VERY differently from us, and that their attitude is valid within the context of their culture. Much of the rest of the episode has been watered down or had its teeth extracted, but that bit still shows us a truly alien way of thinking, and I love that about it, even if most of the rest of the episode is not terribly loveable.

That’s a fair point.

Although I’ll admit that I have a great deal of trouble seeing it as anything more than “Errand of Mercy with all the good stuff stripped out of it and delivered with a straight face.”

I’m glad I stumbled onto this web site. Your reviews are much more in depth and analytical than what I typically read. I happen to enjoy this episode but understand the view point of its detractors. There are “moments” I adore and sometimes I tend to view an episode as a collection of moments rather than as a coherent story as a whole.

My wife, who is not a huge Star Trek fan, seems to like this episode. Her view is that, while it is indeed mired in the sexism prevalent in the 60s, it at least espouses the viewpoint that the child belongs to the woman and its fate should be in her hands.

Keep up the good work on your site.

Thanks for the kind words! Hope you enjoy! (And keep reading!)

Many things are going on in Friday’s Child, obvious statements about mother-hood under a barbaric, patriarchal, tribal society, but there’s something else going on here that is far more subtle and slightly obscured by the conflicting and overly-patriotic politics of the alpha males (including Kirk) in the episode.

Part of Dorothy Fontana’s original idea for the ep was to show how some women are not meant to be, have no desire to be mothers – – okay, fine, and we saw some of that in this episode. The producers cooked Fontana’s narrative up into a more interesting meta-narrative, one that proposes resolution between opposing political agendas.

Curiously, the primary hero of the ep is not Kirk but McCoy (Mac-Coy, The Mack-daddy of Friday’s Child), though Kirk is not ineffective or unheroic here – – Kirk shows a distasteful hatred for the Klingon Kras almost at the onset, but he might sway toward peace if Kras peaceably comes to the table.

Dr. McCoy, more interested than Kirk in preserving lives, brings his own down-home sense of humanity and compassion to a very diverse, volatile situation – – a near-perfect mediator in a likely, potential disaster. McCoy herein shows himself to be a better representative of the Federation than Kirk does, a fine example of diplomacy and detente’ and one of McCoy’s brightest-shining moments in the series.

I give Friday’s Child a 4.5 of 5 consumer rating – – the episode entertains and still manages to clearly show the manifold complexity of its parts as a good, ole’ 60’s TV production.

It is also worth noting that Friday’s Child is perhaps the only McCoy-centric episode in the original run, if his featured roles in The Man Trap or The Empath can be overlooked.

Don’t forget “For the World Is Hollow, and I Have Touched the Sky,” in Season 3! That’s a McCoy-centric story, and every time I see it, I’m surprised at how bad Kelley is at pretending to be in love with Natira. Romancing the space babes must be harder than Shatner and Nimoy make it look, because McCoy acts as if he’s never seen a woman before and doesn’t quite know what to do with one — very different from his behavior with Tonia Barrows in “Shore Leave.” 🙂

I would be very interested to discover which actor played the part of baby Leonard James Akaar in this episode. Conjecture has come up in conversation that he/she would qualify as the youngest ever to appear in an episode of ST:TOS. Any clues??

I’m afraid I don’t have the information to hand. I;’ll see if I can dig something up.

TBH, I think Errand of Mercy’s analogy a bit more complicated. Kirk and Federation ARE presented as better than Klingons. The problem is they still weren’t good enough and their (pretty inarguable IMO) advantages over Klingons wouldn’t ultimately matter.

I don’t disagree with any of your criticisms. but the episode is a somewhat of a guilty pleasure to me, mostly for the character interactions, like Chekov’s russian joke followed by a smirk, showing he’s knowingly making these claims as a joke.

You mention how the Capellan society in “Friday’s Child” seems closer to Klingon society in future installments than previous portrayals of Klingons.

When I watched this episode, I read Kras’s descriptions of the Klingons as Kras trying to make his own people sound more “Capellan” than they really were, as an attempt at manipulating the Capellans that matched the Cold-War mentality of the script and Kras’s unprincipled character. I wonder if that were the case in the writers’ minds at some point in the writing process—it’s certainly the sort of subtlety Fontana could have mustered—and if Kras’s descriptions of the Klingons were later adopted as “real” traits of the Federation’s enemy for later episodes such as “Day of the Dove”, which would then influence further depictions.

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS2E11FridaysChild

Recap / Star Trek S2 E11 "Friday's Child"

Edit locked.

Original air date: December 1, 1967

After viewing some footage and receiving a briefing on the people of Capella IV from Dr. McCoy , who was on the First Contact team, Kirk, Spock, Bones and a Redshirt with the shortest career ever beam down to negotiate with the locals. It seems the Klingons have gotten there first and the Capellans seem to have more of a rapport with them than they could ever have with Starfleet. Bones has been well versed in Capellan etiquette, but things still manage to go to hell when High Teer Akaar is killed by his pro-Klingon rival Maab, and Kirk saves Akaar's extremely pregnant wife from being murdered. (There is a strict taboo against other men touching the wife of a Teer.) Kras the Klingon capitalizes on this, turning the rest of the Capellans against Kirk and the Federation. Meanwhile, a Klingon ship is playing a Cat-And-Mouse game with the Enterprise .

Kirk, Bones and Spock escape into the wilderness with Eleen, the High Teer's widow, who is about to give birth any minute. After the baby is delivered, Eleen knocks out Bones and returns to the Capellans, telling them the Enterprise landing party and the baby are all dead. Her people take her at her word, but Kras demands proof. Kirk and Spock are forced to attack him with handmade bows and arrows, having surrendered their weapons. Maab decides that this is all his own fault and demands that Kras kills him. Kras is all too eager to comply and is soon killed himself. The baby is named Leonard James Akaar and pronounced the new Teer. Kirk and party succeed in arranging diplomatic relations with the people of Capella IV.

Friday's Tropes:

• Afraid to Hold the Baby : Spock finds himself awkwardly holding Eleen's baby. Dr. McCoy tries showing him how to hold the infant properly; Spock responds by saying "I would rather not" and handing him off.
• All There in the Script : Kras's name only appears in the credits and is never spoken in the episode; he's always referred to as "the Klingon" and addressed as "Klingon".
• Babies Make Everything Better : Aw, nothing like a newborn baby to make everyone forget the three brutal murders that just happened!
• Baby Talk : Bones makes some "oochie-woochie-koochie-koo" noises for little Leonard James. Spock is completely mystified.
• Big Damn Heroes : The day is saved by Scotty and a team of Redshirts.
• Blatant Lies : Kras tells Kirk he just wants peace all the while trying to stab him.
• The Chains of Commanding : Ma'ab feels this the very moment his coup is successful. Kirk reasonably points out that if he's the leader, he needs to make certain he's making the right decisions because there are real consequences for his people if he doesn't. Ma'ab gets an extremely thoughtful look on his face, begins to transition into a Reasonable Authority Figure , shows respect for Kirk as Worthy Opponent , and is clearly disgusted with the Klingon's naked fear after Kirk suggests the two of them fight.
• Clean, Pretty Childbirth : Not only are McCoy 's hands, sleeves, and shirt not spattered with all kinds of bodily fluids and solids, Eleen's clothing doesn't even look any worse for the wear. She's climbing freaking mountains within hours of giving birth, which any mother will tell you is reality being very unrealistic . This was supposed to illustrate the Capellans' enormous strength and stamina.
• Deadly Disc : The Capellans utilize these.
• Death Seeker : Maab's demand to be killed by Kras has shades of Ritual Suicide .
• Expospeak Gag : this conversation between Kirk and Spock. Spock : It is fortunate indeed that this bark has good tensile qualities. Kirk : You mean it makes a good bowstring? Spock : I believe I said that, Captain.
• Dirty Coward : Kras is nothing without Ma'ab's men backing him up, is terrified of fighting Kirk (it shows on his face, which Ma'ab immediately notices), and is only a threat when he gets his hands on a phaser (which Ma'ab wisely tried to keep from him).
• This is the only episode in which Kirk refers to Bones as "Leonard", or in which Bones refers to Kirk as "James".
• This is also the only episode in which both Sulu and Uhura address Scotty by his nickname, indicating that he allows his subordinates to call him that as well as his peers (Bones) and superiors (Kirk).
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder : When McCoy is trying to help Eleen climb up the rocks and hampered by her refusal to let anyone but him touch her. "I'm a doctor, not an escalator!"
• Imperiled in Pregnancy : A usurper named Ma'ab kills Aka'ar , the Teer (tribal king), in a successful coup. (Kirk wisely takes this in stride, saying only "If you lead these people now, be sure you make the right decisions.") He then demands Aka'ar's pregnant wife Eleen and her unborn son be killed, as the unborn son is Aka'ar's heir of succession, and Kirk, Spock and McCoy have to go on the run with Eleen to keep her safe.
• Improvised Weapon : Kirk and Spock make primitive bows and arrows out of wood they find in the wild.
• I Never Told You My Name : The Enterprise picks up a Distress Call from a freighter and rushes to the rescue, but finds nothing. Scotty orders the call replayed, and gets suspicious that the freighter specifically called for the Enterprise , even though they shouldn't know that the Enterprise is nearby. He then realizes that they've been set up.
• In the Original Klingon : Chekov claims that the saying "Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you" was " inwented in Russia". On this occasion, at least, he's obviously kidding.
• Lampshade Hanging : At the end of the episode, Spock mentions the potential complications if the Capellans ever realize Eleen's son is technically Bones', not Akaar's, by their cultural rules. When Scotty asks how that could possibly be true, Kirk admits they have no idea.
• Last-Minute Baby Naming : At the end of the episode, Eleen decides to name her son in honor of McCoy and Kirk. The decision happens offscreen, so it's not clear whether she hadn't already picked a name (perhaps that would have been Akaar's privilege if he'd lived) or the events of the episode made her change her mind.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall : At the end, after the baby is named "Leonard James Akaar". Kirk : Yes. I think it’s a name destined to go down in galactic history, Leonard. What do you think, Spock?
• Madness Mantra : Eleen explains that "Here, child belongs to husband," a rule that McCoy dismisses as "poppycock!" He tells her to say "The child is mine." She insists on "The child is yours." When he thinks it's a language problem , she looks at him seriously and says "Yes, McCoy , it's yours." Uh oh.
• May–December Romance : Akaar praises Eleen for giving an old man such as him a child.
• Mission Briefing : Conducted by McCoy , since he was stationed on Capella for a few months.
• Not So Stoic : Spock's reaction to the baby's name is priceless : Spock: (shocked) The child was named Leonard James Akaar? Bones: Has a kind of a ring to it, don't you think, James? Kirk: Yes. I think it's a name destined to go down in galactic history, Leonard. What do you think, Spock? Spock: I think you're both going to be insufferably pleased with yourselves for at least a month… sir .
• Pregnant Badass : Eleen has her moments. She's able to go rock climbing while in labor, and Bones is more tired than she is after the delivery.
• The Capellans consider battle more enjoyable than love. They also have no use for medicine.
• Kras paints the Klingons this way, but utterly fails to live up to that description himself.
• The remastered version screws up Kras's crew in this regard. His ship backs down from a fight with the Enterprise , which might be understandable as it was originally shown to be a small scout, as Kras himself tells Kirk. The remastered version, however, changes it to a D-7 battlecruiser (making Kras a liar), which should be a match for the Enterprise .
• Reasonable Authority Figure : At first Maab seems to be just another Big Bad ; he leads a coup against Akaar and is ready to slay Akaar's pregnant widow. But he quickly finds that leading requires a different point of view - he even says as much at one point - and ultimately sacrifices himself so that his second-in-command can kill the Klingon. It's not a Heel–Face Turn ; everything Maab does is consistent with Capellan laws and customs.
• Redshirt : Grant doesn't even survive The Teaser .
• Revenge : Kirk admits to Spock that he wants to be the one to kill Kras for this reason.
• Sacred Hospitality : The Capellans take this seriously. Kras breaks it and dooms himself. It's also how the Redshirt gets killed, by pointing his weapon at the unarmed Kras while he's their guest.
• Schmuck Bait : Scotty thinks it a bit odd that a distress call from a freighter would specifically ask for the Enterprise .
• The Social Darwinist : Kras comments disdainfully on the Federation's offer of medical aid and says that Klingon values are better aligned with Capellan ones because both believe that only the strong should survive.
• Strange Salute : The typical Capella greeting is holding one's fist over one's heart, then showing an open hand. "We come with open hearts and hands."
• Three-Month-Old Newborn : Little Leonard James.
• Too Dumb to Live : The episode's redshirt draws on the unarmed Kras while the latter is under the Capellans' protection. When Kirk gets upset about it, Spock actually points this out, but Kirk continues to defend Grant as having been a young, inexperienced security officer and reacting instinctively to protect them upon seeing an enemy of the Federation, and blames himself instead.
• Translation Convention : One of the few episodes where it's plain the Capellans are speaking their own language, which McCoy understands. When the Klingons and Earthmen each state their case before Akaar, Kras speaks of Terrans as weaklings who are afraid of death and offer nothing of value; McCoy then says "What Maab has said is true; our ways are different. What the Klingon says is unimportant, and we do not hear his words." Amid general laughter, McCoy steps back, muttering to Kirk "I just called the Klingon a liar."
• They were there to negotiate topaline, a mineral rare in most places in the galaxy, but abundant on this planet. It's used in life support systems inside dome cities on colony planets with uninhabitable surfaces. They were considered a form of Worthless Yellow Rocks to the Capellans, since Maab talked about the Klingon and the Federation people offering trade items for their "rocks."
• What the Hell, Hero? : Kirk gets angry as he usually does when a Red Shirt dies, and takes it out on Spock and Bones. They enjoy drawing out his apology.
• Won't Get Fooled Again : After Scotty realizes that the first distress call is a ruse and orders the ship back to Capella IV, a second distress call comes in. Scotty ignores it and orders the incident entered on the log as "my order, my responsibility". Fortunately, he's right.
• Worthy Opponent : While pursuing Kirk and his party, Maab acknowledges their cleverness.
• Would Hit a Girl : After Eleen bitch-slaps him twice, Bones returns with a slap of his own. He later calls it a "right cross". While it wasn't that violent, it did garner some respect from his hitherto reluctant patient. Maybe that's why he did it in the first place.
• Star Trek S2 E10 "Journey to Babel"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S2 E12 "The Deadly Years"

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Star Trek – Season 2, Episode 11

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Star Trek: Friday's Child

6 comments:

This one's in my personal Top Ten (great reviews, by the way), despite the Python costumes and silly headgear. It's got the Enterprise exploring a culture that's really a '60s Third World Country (part medieval, part Larewnce's Arabs), planetside action/adventure with Kirk, Spock and McCoy and, in space, all the rest of the support cast in a cat-and-mouse space race, Klingon interference and chicanery, as well as smart dialog, great location photography, quick cutting, a great original musical score and memorable guest stars (Catwoman!) -- it's like a prototype Trek movie. I've always found it a lot of fun, very smart, and engaging action-science fiction drama.

I love how, unlike most 'newborn' television babies, they actually used a real newborn for little Leonard James; a very clean one, I'll admit, but he was very sweet. Excellent episode and one I have only seen once before, so a real treat.

The best part of the episode was imagining Spock later looking up the baby talk as Kirk suggested he do and his reaction to whatever search result came up. I always thought it must be kind of weird for Leonard Nimoy that Kelley's character was called Leonard McCoy (it even rhymes!) but McCoy was rarely called by his first name so it probably didn't come up often.

That was a terribly Amish Klingon. Was he trading unpainted wood furniture for the minerals?

I love Julie Newmar as Catwoman and here; no shade on Earth Kitt, but I prefer Newmar's version of Catwoman, I may also get the Batman series on DVD someday as I loved it as a kid, and my TOS Blu-ray collection arrived along with Premature Burial (the only Corman Poe movie to lack Vincent Price, but still want to see it even without the master himsefl), and the Sledge Hammer TV series and Marx Brothers collections! This is a great episode, even with the terrible costumes. It's funny how much worse these look to me now than they did 40ish years ago! I 100% agree that a warrior society should have more practical garb, but perhaps that's part of the challenge, proving you're a capable warrior while looking ridiculous!

Love this episode. One of my favorites. Fascinating to watch these as an adult, you realize all sorts of things you didn't necessarily notice as a child. Re that obscure dialect "Oochy woochy coochy coo". Kirk actually doesn't repeat it. He says, "Oochy, oochy, coochy coo." No spoilers, but, yes, just a little Kirk quirk to notice and keep in the back of your mind as you watch these. PS Kirk was and still is my absolute favorite. Though seeing him through adult eyes, he's not exactly warm and cuddly. Fascinating.

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Friday's Child

The Federation sends Kirk to negotiate for mining rights with Aka'ar, Te'er of the Ten Tribes of Capella IV. Capella IV has deposits of the rare mineral topaline, needed for life support systems. The Klingons need this mineral, too, and their presence creates tension further complicated by conflict among the members of the tribe. Ma'ab murders Aka'ar and becomes the new Te'er, and he has a decidedly different attitude that favors the Klingonm perspective. Worse, Kirk and McCoy will not stand by while he murders Ele'en, the pregnant wife of the old Te'er, despite this being Capellan tradition. Soon enough, the Federation party is running for the hills - literally - with Capellans and a Klingon in pursuit.

James Doohan

Nichelle Nichols

Walter Koenig

Julie Newmar

Tige Andrews

Kirk Raymone

Bob bralver, frank da vinci, cast appearances.

William Shatner

Leonard Nimoy

DeForest Kelley

Episode discussion.

That Spock's nod of approval to doc was priceless :D