Once again the crew of the Enterprise are in negotiations for an alien planet's mineral rights; McCoy has been there before and cautions the captain about the importance of not breaching local etiquette; infringements can mean a swift death from this warrior race. These aliens, the Capellans are intelligent but not advanced; fighting with swords and throwing weapons. The landing party, consisting of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a red-shirt are shocked to discover a Klingon is already there; leading to the red-shirt drawing his weapon and being killed. The leader of the Capellans is keen to negotiate but his underling thinks they should deal with the Klingons as they offer military items and fights for the leadership. With the old leader dead his pregnant wife is expected to die but McCoy attempts to save her and the away team flees to the hills with her. Here Kirk and Spock must prepare to fight without use of their phasers while McCoy helps deliver the baby. Meanwhile the Enterprise, commanded by Scotty, has been called away by a distress call, apparently from a freighter under attack from Klingons.
This is a fairly standard 'aliens with different cultures' episode although it is nice to see the dastardly Klingons again. The Capellans were entertaining enough although their dress sense is a little strange! Guest star is good as Eleen, the old leader's wife. The scenes between her and DeForest Kelley's McCoy were fun as a closeness developed between then although I'm not sure if the scene where he finally gets her to trust him by slapping her would have been acceptable if it was made now! Some unintentional humour is provided by the speed of the red shirt's demise and there are some enjoyable action scenes as Spock and Kirk use bows and arrows to defend themselves. James Doohan has a bit more to do than usual as Scotty and even though we can guess the distress call is a fake the scenes on the ship where they discuss whether to call off the search were well handled. Overall a decent enough episode but not a classic.
This is a fairly standard 'aliens with different cultures' episode although it is nice to see the dastardly Klingons again. The Capellans were entertaining enough although their dress sense is a little strange! Guest star is good as Eleen, the old leader's wife. The scenes between her and DeForest Kelley's McCoy were fun as a closeness developed between then although I'm not sure if the scene where he finally gets her to trust him by slapping her would have been acceptable if it was made now! Some unintentional humour is provided by the speed of the red shirt's demise and there are some enjoyable action scenes as Spock and Kirk use bows and arrows to defend themselves. James Doohan has a bit more to do than usual as Scotty and even though we can guess the distress call is a fake the scenes on the ship where they discuss whether to call off the search were well handled. Overall a decent enough episode but not a classic.