During the briefing room scene at the beginning of the episode, the view screen recording depicts Dr. McCoy on a certain planet wearing the post "Where No Man Has Gone Before" uniform. Since McCoy indicated he was on that planet for only a few months, when did McCoy take leave from the Enterprise to visit that planet?

He didn't. It was before he joined the Enterprise.

This seems as good an episode as any to bring out a point I've noticed on many episodes. It regards Spock's scanner at his station, the one Chekov takes over so often. Spock is tall and Chekov is short, but either way, that scanner requires that the person stand hunched over it. In "Friday's Child" Chekov had to man the scanner for quite some time, looking for a non-existant freighter. That has to be awful hard on the back. Spock may be stoic about it, but it seems illogical to have a piece of equipment that is going to cause discomfort. Suppose the person missed seeing something important because he or she had to pause and straighten an aching back? I have James Blish's short story versions of the episodes, and his version of this one is way different. I wonder if he was writing from an original script, before they had worked on it some more? In the Blish version, Eleen took her baby to Maab for him to kill, hoping to then get away. She was promptly executed for infidelity, while Kirk and Co. were watching, and doing nothing. Maab was then killed by Eleen's lover, who claimed that the child was his. Somehow, the child ended up as Teer anyway, with his father as Regent. I can see why they decided to change things a bit. By the way, in regards to that "famous poem" William Shatner quoted--I've never read that version, except in the prologue to Blish's story. The version I've seen in books goes as follows:
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
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
is blithe and bonny and good and gay.

"Gay" in the original sense of the word, of course.

And where was the Prime Directive in this episode, anyways? The Capellans seemed to be at about a medieval level. Or does the Federation say, "These guys have a valuable mineral, let's ignore the Prime Directive"?

Was the prime directive used in the original.

Of course.

When the Enterprise picks up the fake distress call from the SS Dierdre, Uhura refers to it as an "Earth vessel". Why "Earth vessel" and not "Federation vessel"? Do starships with an SS prefix not belong to the Federation? Later on, however, Scott calls the same ship a Federation vessel. Do they think that "Earth" and "Federation" are synonymous?

It's possible the vessel has Earth registry. This would make it a Federation vessel as well, since Earth is a member of the Federation. Sort of like saying a "Connecticut" or "American" registry vessel. Mentioning the homeworld might have additional necessity in the future so rescue vessels could know what species would most likely to be aboard.

GUEST STAR PATROL (I'm a nitpicker, not an escalator, Jim!)

Julie Newmar (Eleen) was, of course, Catwoman on "Batman" for the first two seasons.

Guest Star Patrol, part II:
Julie Newmar also played a robot in a short-lived comedy series called "My Living Doll".

On page 166 of the Classic Trekker Guide, Phil comments on the ability of the Capellan weapon to cut down a tree, despite not touching it. This is known as the Emma Peel effect. As demonstrated on many episodes of The Avengers, Emma Peel can karate chop or kick at a man and, without physically touching him, the built-up air pressure alone will send the man flying.

This episode is basically a western with the Capellans as the Indians.

If valuable gems can be created by the Federation, as Kirk claims in Catspaw, then why not valuable minerals, and if valuable minerals can be created, why do they need this mining agreement? (To keep them out of the hands of the Klingons, perhaps?)

Where did Kirk keep the device that was recording his Captain's logs?

McCoy says, "I guess I'll skip psychology.", but I thought he was a space psychologist?

The Enterprise nacelles had both sphere and grill ends.

Kirk and Spock use their communicators to produce a sonic vibration for the purpose of disturbing the rocks on the cliffs; i.e., to create an avalanche. However, a section of the cliff face explodes, as if there was a bomb in it! Perhaps this planet has the same exploding rocks as does the planet in "The Apple" (har).

When Kirk has Kras pinned with a sword at his throat and demands to know what sort of ship is in orbit, Kras calls it a small scout ship. But when the Enterprise encounters the Klingon ship, Chekov calls it a Klingon warship.

Well, Sulu mistakes A Klingon Bird of Prey for a scout class vessel in ST III. The sizes must be comparable - and I guess a Bird is a warship.

Kras was played by Tige Andrews! One question: where was the clock permanantly set to 12 o'clock?

solid , baby !

From the Moderator: This message and the one following has been deleted because of the foul language. As I said on the "Favorite Star Trek Songs and Rhymes" board, this will not be tolerated.

How about not saying either of them, because this is a CIVIL SITE!!!!!!!

MODERATOR!!! PLEASE DELETE THE EXISTENCE OF THESE MESSAGES!!!!

(I am no Phil but...) we here at nitcentral have no tolerance for the likes of you. We appreciate intelligent and responsible comments from the people that post here, not just the rambling utterances that come from and immature mind. If you have something to contribute then do so, if not then you should leave. One key stroke and your existence becomes extinction. The End. No more. If you can't handle the responsibility of acting in a civil manner then you don't belong here.

Good Day!

Raymond!

Relax, my friend. A moderator cannot be everywhere at once.

Nick *will* get this cleaned up but the main goal of these kind of postings is to garner emotion. On this, those who are socially deficit feed.

By writing your comments as you did, you do nothing more than encourage these to wallow more in their enterprises.

They are just letters. Understand the meaning. It is a legal acronym which delineates the phrase "for unlawful carnal knowledge". Those who use it otherwise are unskilled in intellect and vocabulary. They do not deserve your anger. Nor do they deserve your pity.

They simply do not deserve anything but apathy. They are *boring* because they have nothing relevant to say.

They will not exist here long. Ignore them. Write a note to Nick. And they *will* go away! ;)

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Who`s "chief"?

I hate to contradict the Chief, but that For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge bit is a bit of fictional faxlore. Read all about it at www.snopes.com (I'd post the URL, except that it itself contains profanity!)

Aha! You're the For Your information guy on the Phantom Returns!

Yeah, I wanted to expose this misconception there, but I decided "to heck with it" and post it here where it matters. Only used that handle twice though, Mr. Sailor(s).

Hey! I may be a Communist, an anarchist, posing as the Sailor Senshi… but I am not a porn star! Now what was the question again?

"Chief" is Phil, is he? Sorry for my ignorance (or even st*pidity), I thought he was away until August.

It is illogical to discuss our "Phantom Return" personae.

Yes, save that for the Phantom Returns: Behind The Scenes board. ;-)

This was a fun episode:

GREAT LINES:

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

Kirk: What did you give her,(Elaan) a happy pill?"
McCoy, "No, a right cross"

"...or is it your policy to kill Klingons on sight?" second half of Kras' question to Kirk
(OOOOOOHHHHH! That's a good one!)

CUTE MOMENT: Spock's face when he catches McCoy & Elaan holding hands.

This episode marks our "first look" at a Klingon ship...thank God they went to the D-7's later in the series....this one looks like they shined a flashlight through a keyhole!

When Kirk decends the cliffs, it looks like he's chewing gum!

NIT:(Missed one)
You can tell when they switch from a real baby to a doll.

I had to hear the audio twice to make sure of this one....

When Kirk & Spock rig their communicators
to set off a vibration to cause an avalanche
Spock says;"It'll create a SYMPATHETIC vibration"
(I am NOT making this up!)

So...they're going to set off a vibration that'll make the rocks feel better...so much better...they'll explode for joy.

Just kidding...I think Spock meant "SYNTHETIC vibration"

When the Enterprise is led away from the planet to answer the distress signal, Sulu remarks, "It's a trap."...No, Mr. Sulu..It was a diversion, a deception, a ruse.
It would have been a trap if you went to the designated area and was confronted by a dozen Klingon ships (Ala Kobayashi Maru)

Also after Scott calls for battle stations, Sulu's targeting viewer goes up...however, later on..it is down.(They never show it going down)

IIRC you set up several empty bottles, then blow over the mouth of one, the other bottles will begin vibrating. That is a sympathetic vibration. Spock was trying to get the rocks vibrating sympathetically so they would come loose and start an avalanche.

And it worked. ;-)

(Who says comics have no educational value?)

SYMPATHETIC is correct. It is also the actual dialog. KAM has the right example.

Who says Nitpick Central can't be educational?
Ignore that nit about "Synthetic vs. sympathetic"

As Kirk, McCoy & Spock leave the tent after knocking out the guards, there's another weird edit. Kirk begins to walk, then there's a "click" in the film, then they all exit.
I THINK Kirk (Shatner) tripped over the Capellan
guard and they re-shot it.
I remember seeing a blooper reel on this one.

CONTINUITY ERRORS:

When the Klingon wants his weapon back, the newly appointed Teer pulls it out of a pouch on his belt. When he first pulls it out, it looks like a normal sized disrupter...however when he holds the same disrupter in both hands, the disrupter shrinks to look like a toy!

When the Klingon gets "frisbeed" to death, he falls over...he morphs into a man with a lot more hair....Seriously, now...you can tell it's a stuntman.

KUDOS to the camera crew on this one again...more great shots of the Enterprise as it soars thru space.

Also I might want to note, the Klingon vessel in this episode must have a cloaking device seeing it disappears off the Enterprise's scanners.
(Like ST-V TFF)

However, it does have a "wiggle" when it does disappear off the scopes.

KUDOS to Gerald Fried on the music...the grand piano is one of my favorite instruments and is very effective in this episode.

Funny oddity: it's early in the episode, on the Enterprise, after Chekov makes his comment about the Klingon ship being at the edge of their sensors.

Sulu says, "You think it's a Klingon ship?" and he sounds like he's channeling Elvis. Very deep southern accent.

JBA

When the Klingon Ship's blip disappears from the sensor screen, Checkov is STANDING next to the SCIENCE STATION...he starts to press buttons....the close-up of the button pushing shows someone SEATED AT THE NAVIGATOR'S POSITION pushing buttons!

>use Freeze frame to see this lu-lu!<

Once again, Spock clubs a guy with his fist instead of using the Vulcan neck pinch.
(He punched someone in "Return of the Archons" too) I guess he's been hangin' around with humans too long.

When Scotty signs the PADD during the voyage to the Deidre's location, there's a quick view of James Doohan's right hand...the one with the missing finger. You can see the hand very clearly here.

After Kirk & Spock set off the sympathetic vibration, they leave their communcators on the rocks and I never see them going back and getting them...however, later in the episode, both Kirk & Spock are seen using their communicators to try & hail the Enterprise

Why does Scotty say, "There's an old Earth saying"
to Mr. Sulu? Isn't Sulu from the Earth too?
According to STIV he is.
Wouldn't it been better to have said, "There's an old saying...."
(see my nit on "The Man Trap")

Perhaps since it's was actually invented in Russia, the Russians decided to be really, really specific as to it's origin. :-)

Hope everyone's having a good Friday!

Funny thought:

The episode is called "Friday's Child"...

Does that mean when he grows up that his first words will be "Just the facts, ma'am"?

At the end of "Star Trek The Motion Picture," Dr. Mc Coy says "It's been a long time since I've delivered a baby." Could he have been referring to Leonard James Akaar?

KUDOS, Adam! Very good!

I must note that Elaan pronunced "Klingon" wrong...she said, "Kling-in"

JUICY NIT!!!!!!!!
(and an amusing one at that)

When the Capellans and the Klingon approach Kirk's & Spock's hiding place behind the cliffs, the Klingon falls down on his butt while descending the rocks. (I verified the nit by hitting "fast backward" then "play" on my DVD player and he does fall down (and go 'boom'))

I know it's late, but regarding the Earth registry vs. Federation registry:

I think the difference is the same difference between the registry of an aircraft carrier to F-16 fighter jet, and someone's Corvette. The Earth vehicle may simply be one owned by an Earth citizen, like the Raven, owned by Seven of Nine's parents. This, of course, is just a theory, and doesn't explain why it's referred to as both a vehicle of Earth and Federation registry in the episode. Perhaps Scotty made a mistake with the latter label.

The perfect gift for OJ
During the coup, after Akaar fells two attackers, the shot cuts to Maab, who slashes a charging attacker across his throat, but in subsequent shots of his weapon, there’s no blood on it.
They must’ve been REALLY comfortable
During the coup, Kirk and Kras fight in the hut, during which Kirk at one point flips Kras over his body onto a pile of cushions. Kras very generously stays there for a good two seconds, just laying there, not immediately rolling over or trying to get up, so that Kirk can get up, rush over to him, and pin him with a knife.
Well, Kras had the cushions; what’s this guy’s excuse?
As Kirk stops Maab from killing Eleen, a brief skirmish erupts, during which the Capellan who is to pair off with Spock (in keeping with the "make it easy for him" fight philosophy Kras exhibited in the nit above) decides not to lunge at Spock, but to simply stand still in front of the Vulcan, who, not surprisingly, takes him out (before being taken out himself by another Capellan).
So er, uh, is this supposed to be like, symbolic of something?
This episode was the 1967 Christmas episode, with an appropriate plot about a woman about to give birth, forced to do so in an uncomfortable environment, to a child who would one day be a leader.

Luigi, I enjoy your nitpick "headings". Very funny!

Whoa, THANKS, Scott! Up until now, the only comment on them has been derision. I'm glad you like them. I got the idea from GQ Magazine's annual Dubious Achievements of the Year feature. By the way, for those of you out there who feel they waste space--cough! cough! Rene! Cough! Cough!-- If I don't have any already written for them, or don't feel thinking of any, then I separate the nits with a empty line. Being that the headings are formatted two sizes smaller than the text of the nits, using the headings actually SAVES space. Just so you know!

The actor who played Kras, a pre-"Mod Squad" Tige Andrews, was a good griend of Bill Shatner's, who may have had a say in casting him. Another example of the good Captain throwing his weight around?

This is a nit in many episodes. The bridge is supposed to be a complete circle. Yet, you can see the edge of the science station, where the adjoining station was pulled out for filming. The cinematographer, Jerry Finnerman, made no effort to obscure the edge of the station (perhaps he could have done it by zooming in on the actors a bit closer.)

Where did Kirk keep the device that was recording his Captain's logs?

McCoy says, "I guess I'll skip psychology.", but I thought he was a space psychologist?

The Enterprise nacelles had both sphere and grill ends.

When we hear Captain's Logs or Ship's Logs as voiceovers, those log entries were done later, not at the same time as the events we're seeing on the screen.

McCoy was being sarcastic.

The nacelles are made of a special shapeshifting material--some kind of electrical or other force is applied to make them assume different shapes for different conditions.

Nit: "The Klingons believe as you do: the sick should die, only the strong should live!

Anti-nit: We shouldn't take him seriously. He's assuming sick people are always weak, and vice versa, which is silly, and I'm sure a Klingon commander wouldn't commit hari kari or whatever just because he catches a cold.

There are so many alien races out there, one of them might have contacted the Capellans already, they already know about aliens, so there wasn't much use trying to apply the Prime Directive to them any more.

Some minerals might be harder to replicate, or involve rare chemical elements.

When Kirk told Sylvia they could duplicate gems, he was just stubbornly refusing to be bribed, at least by her. What he says isn't necessarily totally accurate.

The "Frisbee" weapon is totally useless. Once you use it, you're defenseless against someone doing the same to you!

**LESLIE ALERT** Mr. Leslie can barely be seen at the Engineer's post on the Bridge.

About the Capellans' throwing weapons, It is no goofier than people carrying single-shot firearms when that was all they had. I imagine that it is meant as a one-shot-kill weapon. You throw it, nail the target, then draw the sword and fight. There are several explanations that are consistent with their warlike culture. Perhaps they only carry one most of the time as a badge of manhood, and bring multiple ones out onto the battlefield or when hunting. It could also be a dueling weapon; two Capellans settle a dispute by tossing them at each other, like two cowboys on the main street at high noon. Carrying one such weapon may be a sign of machismo, so they all carry one so as not to seem weak.

TRIVIA The ship in distress is called "Deirdre"...that is the name of one of Doohan's daughters!

Sort of a spoiler for the DS9 "Mission: Gamma" series:

Leonard James ("L.J.") Akaar features, at the age of 106, as a Starfleet Fleet Admiral - supposedly having been exiled from Capella after attempting to unite the Ten Tribes.

Oh, and also as Sulu's tactical officer on the Excelsior in "The Lost Era: The Sundered."

CG enhancing: Following up on an idea in the Space: 1999 threads, if Star Trek the Classic Series could be enhanced with CG, these are ideas I have for this episode.


During the teaser, a visual log of Dr. McCoy's previous visit to Capella IV is shown. During the master shot of the briefing room, the viewer shows clips from later in the episode of the Capellans tracking Eleen and Kirk's party. If this shot on the viewscreen shows Kras, that should be digitally altered to be a Capellan in their quite colourful attire.

Kras could remain a humanoid Klingon, with no apparent alteration, and no ridges on his forehead. He's a conscript from one of the more human-appearing races conquered by the Klingons.

When Chekov loses the weak sensor signal and tries to get it back, there is an insert shot of his usual navigation console next to Sulu. This should be changed to one of the library-computer/science station.

A close-up of Scott's face while Uhura is saying "all channels and frequencies are clear" shows the outer perimeter consoles some distance behind him, while in fact he was standing on Uhura's left. The background should be digitally altered to the communications station.

A Klingon D-6 or D-7 ship should definitely be overlaid on the "wedge" shape as the show ends its third quarter segment.

This episode is named "Fridays Child" and I watched it on a Friday, weird huh?

No, not particularly.

Well I thought it was, but whats even weirder is someone that would post as "Anonymous".

Heres something weird about this episode im surprised no one noticed. In the teaser, they are watching tape of McCoy from when he was briefly stationed on this planet, sometime before he joined the Enterprise. Yet, on the tape, his Starfleet uniform has the Enterprise insignia on it.

That's called a "nit", and good catch!

Was the "different insignia for each ship" established explicitly in an episode? Was it when we first saw officers from another Starfleet vessel? If so, which episode was it?

Bjo Trimble's original edition of the Star Trek Concordance shows detailed artwork of various insignia from different starships, which differ from the Enterprise. They were drawn by one Mr. Robert Wood. How Mr. Wood knew what the Intrepid insignia looked like is beyond me, since it was never shown on the series.

As I recall, the Constellation and the Exeter both had different insignia from the Enterprise ("The Doomsday Machine" and "The Omega Glory"). I don't think we ever saw the Defiant's insignia ("The Tholian Web") until the Enterprise series showed it, but that would count too.

The late Jimmy Doohan has a daughter named Dierdre; the freighter may have been named after her.

It was. See my posting from:
Monday, April 26, 2004 - 01:28 pm

Short: one of those extremely silly episodes (and with silly I really mean bad)

Long: again I have to comment that I think that the Federation is lead by a grand-grand-grandson of Bush. Federation sends a biased (not to coin the phrase racist) captain whose knowledge of the local laws and traditions is absolutely zilch and who thinks that he can barge in like an invasion army in the middle-east.

No wonder that the Klingon negotiator seems to be the good guy at first. McCoy tells the Teer that they come with 'empty hands', meaning carrying no weapons, the second thing they do is trying to kill an innocent Klingon bypasser. Instead of apologising, Kirk (a while later in the tent) even defines the attack as a defensive move. Defensive move? Against an unarmed visitor, probably with ambassadorial rights, and guest of the planet's highest authority?

Probably Maab's coup was triggered by the events, so for the rest of the episode Kirk can only try to pick up the pieces and minimalise the damage done...

On Earth, hundreds of years before, the first world war started with an assassination in about the same circumstances. ...and OK, I confess, it was not Kirk who tried to fire the shot, but who made the choice to take mister pigheaded triggerhappy nitwit Grant to the surface?

Although Bones is the field specialist here with the only knowledge of the local laws, he can't hide his Federation superiority by telling that delivering a baby will be hard without the proper medical equipment. 'Scuse Me Doc, all you need for a birth is a pregnant woman, not a field hospital. On thousands of planets, even on Earth, children are born without having a doctor nearby...

But he is a good doctor and an excellent cleaner as well, not only the baby has been given a bath before he shows it to Kirk, but the baby's skin isn't even wrinkled or reddish like with most newborn children. Also the mother seems to have had the proper medical and hygienic attention (getting rid of all the blood, fluids, afterbirth and all)... but I have to admit that all American series have had (and still have) a highly idyllic and unrealistic way of depicting a birth.

And last, but not least. When Scotty tells the Enterprise to leave the planet's orbit in order to help the attacked freighter Uhura feels obliged to remind Scotty that the captain is still on the surface. If she is half as effective as she thinks she is, she must know that helping a vessel under attack is a number 1 issue for the Enterprise. Must be a hormonal thing, I guess...

again I have to comment that I think that the Federation is lead by a grand-grand-grandson of Bush.

Unnecessary and gratutitous.

You're right, I apologise...

No problem, Felix. While I may (or may not) disapprove of the current Administrations policies, that's a matter for PM, not Classic Trek.

This episode is up for the new treatment this weekend.

Let's hope they fix that dorky-looking Klingon vessel special effect....and put a real Klingon D-7 Battle cruiser in there!

The guy(you can see his mouth water when he talks) wore the old style uniforms in What are Little Girls made of... Bones is still on the Enterprise with Pike? No bloody A ,B ,c or D.

Just a distant view of the Klingon ship, but it's there. All new space effects, and Chekov's scanner is redone. The hand phaser effects are redone as well. However, the really bad throwing star demo in the teaser that Phil mentioned is there.

I don't remember what the planet looked like before, but the continents look really nice.

The kligat demonstration was fake, anyway--it hit the tree way higher than where the tree fell over.

About the chakram-esque Capellan weapons... I haven't been able to find a copy of the Guide so I don't know if it was mentioned there but those things look about as dangerous as a common frisbee. I'm sure we're supposed to ignore the fact that the cutting edge doesn't look like it can and that when we see one tossed at a guy, it's obvious in the close up that he catches the weapon and holds it to his own chest (what an obliging victim).

The guy was a "Frisbeetarian"

When you die, and you're good, your soul gets thrown up on the roof.

If you're bad, your soul gets thrown into the gutter.

A nit for a nit;
Felix Atagong said that McCoy told Teer 'that they come with empty hands, meaning carrying no weapons'.
Actually, McCoy said 'open hands and hearts', which could mean no weapons, but it always seemed to me that he was offering honest friendship, not claiming they were unarmed.

When McCoy says 'Poppycock' in the cave, he caresses Eleen's face in both hands, but the next scene, when he asks her if she wants his help, he's holding her jaw with just his right hand.

Despite all the evidence that they were tricked (the direct distress signal, no sign of debris or radiation, the slow warp 2 top speed of the Deirdre), Uhura still suggests the s.o.s. could have been authentic, which somehow convinces Scotty to keep searching longer. Me personally, I'd have turned around right there and flown back to Capella, because it sure seemed like a waste of time to keep looking for a nonexistent ship.

Why is Chekov pulling the tape of the distress signal? That's a job for Superman, uh, sorry, for Uhura, since she's in communications and the request was to play a received transmission! It's like Kirk asking Scotty to plot a new course from his engineering station or Sulu to energize the transporter from his console.

I think Scotty was continuing the search because... well, it would be a prtty lousy thing if there were a real ship in distress, and just because the captain was unlucky enough to know too much and call the Enterprise by name, they died out in space. Or, to put it more simply... Firefighters have to respond to the 911 call regardless of apparent merit, right? I imagine the Enterprise is doing the same thing- if there's even the CHANCE that it's a genuine ditress call, they'll make SURE there isn't any ship before they consider turning around.

Maybe this has been said before, and maybe Capellans could be different. Baby Leonard James Akaar looked much too clean and smooth. Newborn babies are usually kind of wrinkly (my son sure was at his birth) and more than a bit messy.
I assume that Eleen had a normal birth; if she needed a C-section, I doubt that Bones could have accomodated her in that cave.

"McCoy tells the Teer that they come with 'empty hands'"

Actually, it's "We come with open hearts and hands".

Why is Chekov pulling the tape of the distress signal? That's a job for Superman, uh, sorry, for Uhura, since she's in communications...


Because Uhura's job is communications, not records retention. That would fall under the auspices of the library computer, which Chekov happens to be manning at the time.

I was about 7 and It was "Lights of Zetar" I remember the woman at Memory Alpha making weird noises and changing colors scared me a little.

(and it was 1970 and a rerun on WPIX in New York.)

I thought the cinemetagrapher was having a bad cinematgrapher (sp)day (or week).. thanks, Chris,I wonder how the Zetar episode would be enhanced..

By the way, since Bones was wearing his blue uniform, in the teaser,does that mean he's second or 3rd doc on the ship? I thought Dr. Piper was the first doc or Dr. Phloxx?

What do you mean, Laforge? McCoy never wore anything other than a blue uniform. Blue was for Sciences and Medical.

I don't know how they did it, but they did it....the enhanced version shows Chekov's hand pushing buttons at the Science Station...in the original version, his hands were at the Navigator's Position. (From "Mirror, Mirror")

Although Bones is the field specialist here with the only knowledge of the local laws, he can't hide his Federation superiority by telling that delivering a baby will be hard without the proper medical equipment. 'Scuse Me Doc, all you need for a birth is a pregnant woman, not a field hospital. On thousands of planets, even on Earth, children are born without having a doctor nearby... - Felix Atagong

The only thing I recall McCoy being concerned about (as far as equipment) was in the event of an emergency. That's different from saying a woman can't give birth at all without a doctor.

Why did Kras (known in the episode simply as "Klingon") go crazy and start shooting people at the end? He knew that Eleen was lying about killing the Enterprise people, but why not just leave and wait for another opportunity to defeat them? Instead, he only ends up being killed, which he should have expected.

Also, it appeared that the Capellans knew Kirk and Spock were hiding there. One of them scouted ahead and said they were behind the rocks. Maab must have only pretended to believe Eleen because she was the wife of a Teer. This makes it even more irrational (and contrived) for Kras to essentially call her a liar ("let's verify her story"), which was really suicidal on his part.

>>On thousands of planets, even on Earth, children are born without having a doctor nearby... >>>

Unfortunately, the mortality rate under such circumstances is disturbingly high.

Kirk knew the Klingon was lying because there was two of them on the planet.
- All the wide shots of the klingon doing anything stunt related shows a different klingon, this includes the shot of the Klingon being hit by Capellan Frisbee. It's easy to notice if one looks at the klingons' hairline.

- The Capellan Frisbee is too blunt (or rounded) to cut anything. It may be heavy enough to cause injury as in breaking a rib, or bruising, it's not likely to 'cut' anything.

----

By John A. Lang (Johnalang) on Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 6:12 pm:
The guy was a "Frisbeetarian"

When you die, and you're good, your soul gets thrown up on the roof.

If you're bad, your soul gets thrown into the gutter.



- And if you're really really good; before you die, you go to a place called golforia, where you play frisbee-golf in retirement.

NIT:

In the Briefing Room, it was noted that if Kirk beams down with a large contingency of armed men to the planet surface, "you can forget any mining agreement"

Yet at the end, Scotty beams down with a large contingency of armed men to the planet surface and the Federation still gets the mining agreement.

They got the mining agreement because MacCoy is the Father of the child. /clipart{wink}

The remastered "Friday's Child" airs next weekend; the following week is "A Taste of Armageddon".

The red-shirt being killed at the beginning was STUPID because he did this knee-jerk reaction with his phaser WITHOUT being provoked! It was so hard to swallow THAT scene; it was laughable, really.

The lack of a reflection from the viewer onto the briefing room table was not fixed by CBS Digital. I know they fixed that nit in at least one episode, (which one I've forgotten) but not here.

Me - "Why is Chekov pulling the tape of the distress signal? That's a job for Superman, uh, sorry, for Uhura, since she's in communications..."

Chris - "Because Uhura's job is communications, not records retention. That would fall under the auspices of the library computer, which Chekov happens to be manning at the time."

I'm not convinced. Records retention, fine, but this was a request for a previous communications message, not a previous sensor scan or a computer file on a person or planet, so I still think it should be Uhura's job to play it.

And I found another nit; When the Enterprise is blocked by the Klingon ship, ending part 3, Scott orders Sulu to sound battle stations. Again, this is a job for Uhura!

I thought this line from the Klingon foe of the week was interesting. First, the landing party beams down, and the redshirt, Grant, reacts impulsively to the sight of the Klingon and draws his phaser. The Capellan throws the "kligat" bladed weapon at his chest, which killed him, presumably by piercing his heart. Anyway, Kras says to Kirk:

"I am unaware of any state of war between our peoples, Captain. Or is it your policy to kill Klingons on sight?"

It might not have been at the time. But by the time The Search For Spock came out and David Marcus was killed, Kirk has a loathing for all Klingons as a result. He even called them "animals" in the Undiscovered Country, when the Federation learned of the Praxis disaster that would leave the Empire with only fifty years left to live. Spock says "Jim, they are dying." To which Kirk angrily responds "Let them die!"

Anyway, I don't really have a major point with this post. I just thought that the line about killing Klingons on sight would later prove to be significant in Trek, especially with how Kirk would later have species-wide prejudice against them.

Hey, in the world today, some fanatics kill others on sight over race and religion, so perhaps it isn't too far-fetched to see it happen in the (fictional) future.

BTW, this was a personnel card in the Star Trek CCG of the redshirt that was killed when he pulled his phaser without thinking. The lore read:

Lt. Grant
SECURITY

"Typical security officer aboard the starship Enterprise. Eager to join the landing party to Capella IV, which he hopes will be the first of many such assignments."

Heh heh. It's funny cause he died on that mission and never even got any more assignments!

I just thought that was funny.

Scotty explains the Klingon ship's retreat at the end of the episode by saying "he had no stomach for fighting."

Klingons with no stomach for fighting? Lamest bunch of Klingons ever!

Agreed.
And for proof of that you need look no further than the scene where the chase is nearly over, Keel is sent ahead to spot Kirk and Spock behiund the rocks, and Kras steps forward...dusting off dirt from his pants leg! Wouldn't a Klingon be oblivious to cleanliness like this? Bit prissy, in my opinion.

Also, when the crew states that the Klingon ship is directly in their flight path, the new effects show it to be a little off to the left-- several degrees in fact. Shouldn't the ship have been dead center of the view screen if it was 'directly in our path' as Chekov states?

Obviously McCoy expected Kirk, Spock, and himself to survive their execution. Why else would he waste time tending to Eleen's burn? On the other hand, it may have been McCoy, for once, devising a brilliant diversionary tactic instead of Kirk and Spock, so they could escape.

I just love Gerald Fried's Trek music, and the battle scene here is one of my favorites. It's right up there with the 'Amok Time' battle music, and 'The Doomsday Machine' soundtrack.
He's had a long career, which also included 39 episodes of 'Gilligan's Island' and 45 of 'The Man From UNCLE', and I'm happy to report that this past February he turned 85.

I'm not sure I'd ever seen this episode before.

Eleen's first slap of McCoy didn't bother me, but the second one she missed badly. Then McCoy misses her by a wide margin with his slap. I wonder if Julie Newmar really cracked D. Kelly a good one with the first blow and they took it easy after that.

When discussing the fake message on the bridge, I thought Uhura's "Or it could be a genuine distress call," was a ridiculous assetion. It was already established that the messages referring to "Enterprise" had to be bogus. I don't understand why Scotty wasted any more time.

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and stranger in the red shirt beamed down to a planet. Guess which one didn't make it hack to the Enterprise.

And he was quickly forgotten by the end of the episode (I sure did), as per usual for the Dead Red Shirt. Hopefully, once they went back to the camp they were allowed to recover his body.
God knows what the callous Capellans did with it.

He made a lovely carpet. ;-)

I guess they either buried the guy there, or took his body back to the ship, for arrangements to be sent back to Earth (or whatever Federation planet he called home).

I love this epuisode, but sooo many nits!
Kirk explains Grant's actions as that of a young and inexperienced crewman, but he's a lieutenant! He should know better.
Also, in the tent later, Kirk says that Grant looked up, made a defensive move.
Actually, no. It was offensive, because it looked like he was a second away from firing on the Klingon right there and then.
When the Enterpruise encounters the Klingon ship, and Scotty orders one-half impulse, Sulu says "Reversing to sublight". Reversing? Shouldn't that be "Decelerating to sublight." ?
By now, that baby in Eleen/Julie Newmar's arms is 52 years old!

As the Klingon said, he wasn't aware of any state of war between the Federation and the Empire. Grant should have had more restraint.

Of course, he was just an expendable Red Shirt.

As the Klingon said, he wasn't aware of any state of war between the Federation and the Empire. Grant should have had more restraint.

There could not have been a state of war between the federation and the Klingons anyway since the Organian peace treaty was in place at that time.

Once again, Grant should have known that. Where did they dredge up this guy!?