Original air date: December 1, 1967
SYNOPSIS
The Federation clashes with the Klingon Empire over mining rights to Capella IV. A sudden coup between its warrior-minded inhabitants forces Kirk’s party to flee with the now dead leader’s pregnant wife.
CANON CONTEXT
The episode’s title is derived from a traditional English poem, known as “Monday’s Child”. The reference is to a line in the 1887 Harper’s Weekly version of the poem: “Friday’s child is full of woe.”
RECAP
The episode is named after the famous Monday’s Child poem, except I’m not sure if they meant to call it “Friday’s Child” as probably Wednesday’s Child would’ve been more appropriate.
Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace.
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go.
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for a living.
And the child born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, good and gay.
As Friday’s Child is loving and giving that hardly seems in line with the way Star Trek episodes typically end up. Full of woe seems much more like it.
I won’t go into the outfits that this group of people on the planet Capella IV, except to say it’s…odd? Yes, I think odd is the wording for it. But then again, I can’t fault TOS too much. I’m sure their budgetary constraints meant they could only do so much to have encounters with other cultures on other planets seem as different from our own as possible. They can’t all be alien but just “really different” from what we think of as normal when it comes to their customs and behaviors.
This planet is no different. Reminds me of the way the “alternate universe” is treated where the flip side of the coin is that everyone is cutthroat and you have to watch your back. In this instance it’s very much the same.
There is a mining community that the Federation is very interested in. Unbeknownst to them, the Klingons, their fiercest enemy, is also interested in the same mine and they are looking to make a deal.
As much as I’d love to hang about and tell you what happened between Kirk wanting to kill the Klingon and all that, I much rather zoom in on the other story. The B story but just as fascinating.
The leader of this group known as the Tier (not pronounced the way it’s read…) is assassinated and his wife who is with child is besides herself. I guess, in their culture, for the husband to die means that they must die as well. And it also means they want nothing whatever to do with the child they are carrying. Interesting on so many levels.
This Tier’s wife, however, seems to fancy McCoy (aka Bones) and in his adamant desire to be a doctor and do what doctors do best, heal their patients, decides he’s going to make this woman want to live and also want to care for their child whether she likes it or not.
There is even an amazing moment when she slaps him when he tries to touch her stomach to find out how close she is to having the baby and he slaps her back! Man, that was quite the moment. After that she is clearly in love and when he tries to get her to want her child by repeating the mantra, “The child is mine. The child is mine. It is MINE.” She confuses this by thinking the child is HIS, as in McCoy’s and she continues to refer to the child in that way, even in front of Spock and Kirk who are altogether confused.
A baby is born, huzzah!
I think in the end the planet decides to do business with the Federation and not with the Klingons. I honestly don’t remember how all that turns out cause I was way more interested in Bones’ story. It’s rare for someone other than Kirk to get their moment with the on screen femme fatale, in this case played by none other than Julie Newmar, of Catwoman fame! Oh, did I forget to mention that? I thought you would recognize her and didn’t need me to say it. Sheesh!
Anywho, the baby is named after Kirk and Bones but not after Spock who was also on the planet and rescued them from the Klingon’s doing them harm so you’d think he’d have been included. As usual Bones and Kirk thought they would tease Spock about this fact but instead he gets one up on them. Doesn’t he always…
DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?
McCoy: [speaking of Eleen] Representing the High Tier, Leonard James Akaar!
Spock: The child was named Leonard James Akaar?
McCoy: Has a kind of a ring to it, don’t you think, James?
Captain James T. 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 gonna be insufferably pleased with yourselves for at least a month… sir.
