"Metamorphosis" Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr.McCoy (DeForest Kelley) accompany a Federation ambassador (Elinor Donahue of
Father Knows Best) aboard a shuttle bound for a rendezvous with the
Enterprise. The ambassador, Commissioner Nancy Hedford, needs to be treated for possible contact with an alien disease, and she haughtily insists her escorts get through this interruption in her work as quickly as possible. But a vaporous, translucent life form called "the Companion" has other ideas, traveling across space in search of humans who can ease the loneliness of a pilot (Glenn Corbett) marooned on a barren planet for more than a century. Kirk, however, offers the stranded man an alternative: a return to civilization. Whether he wants it or not is another matter--he and the Companion share an extraordinary intimacy of the mind and heart. A kind of chamber drama largely set in a single locale, "Metamorphosis" was written by series producer Gene L. Coon and directed by frequent
Trek helmsman Ralph Senensky. Guest stars Corbett and Donahue are a bit monotonous in their performances, a little under par for a guest shot on the series. But Coon's story compensates with another fascinating application of one of his pet themes: empathy shared between different species. Kirk and Spock's knowing looks, as they begin to understand the Companion's true feelings for her captive man, alone make this episode worth watching. (Trivia note: An earlier incarnation of Corbett's character, warp-drive inventor Zefram Cochrane, was played by James Cromwell in
Star Trek: First Contact.)
--Tom Keogh "Friday's Child" Our favorite Starfleet trio, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) beam down to Capella IV to convince the resident warrior race to sign up with the Federation. Unfortunately, a Klingon agent named Kras (Tige Andrews) has preceded them and set enough doubt into play that the take-no-prisoners Capellans decide to give Kirk and company a hostile reception. Written by story editor D.C. (Dorothy) Fontana, "Friday's Child" has the broad outlines of a Western, with the good guys getting rebuffed by hostile Indians and a final showdown with crude weapons set up in the barren hills. Julie Newmar's guest role as Eleen, wife of a former ruler and a pawn in the barbed politics between Kirk, Kras, and the Capellans, even has something of the frightened native princess about it. Viewers hoping to catch Newmar in a Capellan catsuit, however (an extension of her iconic, sleek presence as Catwoman in the old
Batman television series), will be sorely disappointed: Eleen is quite pregnant, fit to burst, and placed in McCoy's capable hands.
Trek stalwart Joseph Pevney directed this action-adventure piece, which contains one of the good doctor's most memorable utterances, spoken when Eleen expects McCoy to carry her up a steep hill: "I'm a doctor, not an escalator!"
--Tom Keogh
Reader Reviews
"Metamorphosis" is one of Star Trek's finest episodes, hands down. A superbly written story--which touches upon non-corporeal life, love, and immortality--coupled with strong performances from the regular cast and guest star Glenn Corbett (Zephram Cochrane, the inventor of Warp Drive), adds up to an episode with real emotional impact. Watching this second season installment for the first time in many years, I was stuck by the way the writers of Star Trek First Contact had trashed the character of Zephram Cochrane in that movie. Perhaps they were trying to inject a message by re-writing Zephram Cochrane as a selfish drunk who is only interested in cashing in on warp technology. But, in the end, it only reflects on themselves and the cynical times in which we live. No disrespect is intended for James Cromwell, but for this viewer, Mr. Corbett will forever be Cochrane. It has become a popular pastime these days to poke fun at William Shatner's "dramatic pause" acting style, but the pivotal moment of this story belongs to him, during Kirk's dialogue with the Companion, and he more then lives up to the moment. (And, by the way, without those pauses, the whole scene would have fallen flat.)
