Friday's Child

An unfortunate outing for all concerned. The costumes are laugh-out-loud ridiculous. The plot is not much better. Though credited to Fontana, it's hard to believe that this mess came directly out of her typewriter. There are many attempts at humor to try and distract us, but they all fall horribly flat. Kirk makes fire. Kirk and Spock make bows and arrows. McCoy bitch-slaps Julie Newmar. Styrofoam rocks fly everywhere. There's a baby and a weak bit about baby talk. There's a fire inside a tent. Communicators turn to dynamite.

Scotty steals the show by being efficient and steely -- even though he gets duped and doesn't immediately turn around when he figures it out.

This is the third show in a row which alternates between planet scenes and bridge scenes with nothing else. They really were scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point. The only comfort is in knowing that relief is soon on the way...

Try as I might, I can't remember ever seeing this episode in syndication. Nothing about it is familiar, leading me to believe that maybe it was pulled from early runs because it is either too violent (with knives, phasers, razor sharp discs, bows and arrows, bitch-slapping, etc.) or just plain unwatchable. It may be that no one wanted this to surface during those heady early days. It may also be that I just blocked it from my memory due to the sheer horror of it all. I think this may be the absolute worst episode of TOS.

Rating: Very bottom (7)