Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 15: Court-Martial [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This episode concerns the courtmartial of Kirk for a crime that he did not commit, and ultimately the unraveling of the plot of a jealous enterprise officer to frame Kirk.

It also contains a classic scene between McCoy and Spock in which McCoy accuses Spock of being "the most cold-blooded man I've ever known." Spock's reply? "Why thank you, Doctor."

This episode is pure space drama and is the pattern episode for a host of similar episode ideas in the following series. The acting is some of the best that Trek has to offer and every member turns in a stellar performance. Samuel T. Cogley has one of the best quotes of the series when he has to remind the court martial board that our humanity is fading in the shadow of the machine.

Elisha Cook nearly steals the episode with his portrayal of Samuel T. Cogley, attorney at law. His impassioned speech on behalf of Kirk is a classic, not to be missed. His observations on books vs. computers is also highly noteworthy.

The episode starts with a fair degree of tension inolving Kirk and some old acquaintances and the tension builds to an exciting climax involving some Trek standards: a fist fight while the Enterprise is hopelessly(?) lost in a decaying orbit. It ends a little too abruptly, but this episode remains as one of my favorite.

Having already seen the need for a judicial system in previous episodes Trek fans get a real eyeful here. In "Mudd's Women" Kirk brings charges against Harry Mudd and assigns Spock to him as a sort of public defender; Spock faces his own court martial in the two-part "The Menagerie"; and in "Dagger Of The Mind" the Enterprise visits a penal colony. The court martial Spock faced was a makeshift effort that he actually manipulated himself, but in "Court Martial" Kirk faces a very real and compulsory hearing to determine his negligence in the death of a crewman, the Enterprise's records officer Lt. Commander Ben Finney.

During a vicious ion storm Lt. Finney is assigned to dispatch in a pod and take measurements, a normal procedure aboard the starship. He fails to exit the pod before Kirk is forced to jettison it, though the captain had given ample warning beforehand. Complicating things are the fact that Kirk was well acquainted with Finney having gone to the academy together; some years later Kirk placed his classmate on report for failure to perform a critical duty correctly. Finney grumbled frequently about the incident and also spoke aloud about holding a grudge against Kirk; and while Kirk is confident he did nothing to cause his classmate's death the computer seems to tell a different story, in fact it is making a liar out of the captain!

The events that lead to Kirk's court martial are well-plotted; having Finney cast as the former friend feeling betrayed puts a decent twist on the whole matter. Did Kirk absentmindedly jettison the pod before he should have? Did he subconsciously dislike Finney in return because he felt spurned by a former close friend and confidante? These questions become the prosecution's platform and the computer tapes made concurrently with the events during the ion storm seem to make this an open and shut case. Naturally the Trek creators have no intention of letting our steadfast and resolute captain of the Enterprise be that fallible so they wrote an excellent sequence to include in this episode.

After the condemning computer tapes are played at the court martial Spock, who has returned to the Enterprise, goes to the recreation room and engages the ship's computer in several games of chess. McCoy barges in, sees the Vulcan playing chess and calls him the most cold-blooded person he's ever met - to which Spock says "Why thank you doctor!" Of course Spock turns out to have ulterior motives for his unusual pastime while "the captain's neck is nearly in the noose", but this is one of the most classic McCoy - Spock confrontations from the original series run and a definite must see.

In "Court-Martial," Captain Kirk has to go to court after he's accused by a little girl of being responsible for her father's death. He is given the death penalty unless he can find a way to prove that he was not responsible. Kirk later finds out that the prosecutor that is against him on the case is a woman he was once involved with.

I recommend getting "Court-Martial" because it is one of the best episodes of the original series and it will keep you interested while you wonder if Captain Kirk can get out of this case alive. It has many memorable scenes such as Dr. McCoy using the heartbeat device onboard the Enterprise and when Spock figures out something that might help Captain Kirk with his case. The lawyer that defends Captain Kirk makes one of the best speeches ever in any TV show. If you're a fan of the original series, this is a good episode to watch or get.

This is a mildly interesting episode both for its strong points as well as its rather silly mistakes. As for the good: there is a Perry-Mason style mystery whose solution is not immediately obvious. At least one of the courtroom speeches given by Kirk's attorney, Mr. Cogley (Elish Cook Jr.) is genuinely moving. The point of the episode is that even after centuries have passed, some of the old values remain with us. Computers are a boon, but also introduce new possibilities for error and criminality, so we must be careful. For this reason, it is not that unreasonable that Cosley might still used old-fashioned law books.

Now for the bad. One of the worst blunders that ever aired in Star Trek is when Kirk talks about a device that increases heartbeat sounds 10,000 times and says the factor is "one to the fourth power." Ha ha ha! This is an obvious blooper that somehow didn't get fixed, and I suspect even Shatner himself knows enough math to realize that 1 times 1 times 1 times 1 equals 1. Of course he meant "TEN to the fourth power." Shatner got his line wrong, but no starship captain would ever make that mistake.

Another defect is that far too much action is described by means of voice-over narration in the resolution to the episode. I don't recall this clumsy writing device in any other show.

Finally, it's absurd to think that Starfleet command would ever use a prosecutor who openly admitted that she was an old girlfriend of the defendant (Kirk). This violates every conflict-of-interest code, since you couldn't count on her not to subtlely blow the case. Still, one can almost accept this on the grounds of poetic license. They wanted to throw in a love interest for Kirk, and this was the most economical way to do it.

Still, if you can get past all that, there is that great speech. Also watch for the final, humorous scene involving the old girlfriend, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

That's the question they asked Kirk in this Trail episode. It was a classic because we later found out what happened to the guy in the pod which I am not going to give away. For even those who were not Star Trek fans it's a keeper that can be watched over again. It show's how this poor Finney character wasn't treated fairly throughout his career. It shows the darker side of Starfleet and everyone isn't a happy camper.

This is one of the best Star Trek Original Series episodes ever. Kirk is put on trial for an action that could have caused a big mistake on the Enterprise. I haven't seen this show in a long time, so I don't remember what the accident was. However, the admiral that puts Kirk on trial doesn't believe it was accidental, and they go aboard the ship for the answer. Then it gets really frightening, and it's too much to say. But I can say that you shouldn't miss this one, because like every reviewer says, it's one of the best. Enjoy!!!

I recently saw this episode for the first time and man it's a camp classic. Like some of the other reviewers mention, the entire premise of the court martial is incomprehensible, the prosecutor's suggested motive is laughably vague and unsupported by anything in the episode prior to the court martial, the actress playing the prosecutor really puts on an amateurish performance, the twist ending that proves the prosecutor's theory really does come out of left field, the "climatic" fight scene has obvious stunt doubles (along with the classic ripping of Kirk's shirt) and the apparently dead crewman and his daughter are both guilty of gross overacting.

But there are enough other examples of ridiculous writing and performing to put this episode into the "Showgirls" camp of being so awful it's funny. Like McCoy's testimony as a "space pyschology" expert who supports the prosecutor's paper thin hypothesis that has nothing to do with either space or psychology. Or the previously mentioned daughter's sudden switch from absolute loathing towards her father's killer to a realy creepy intimacy (refering to the much older Kirk as "Jim" and being gently fondled in return!) And the inexplicable imptetus for her sudden change of heart: being presented with proof that Kirk really did kill her father without reason.

The retro sci-fi element is definitely in high gear in this episode. Kirk files reports by paper, the defense lawyer researches his case using 1960s law books, controls on the Captain's chair console are clearly fabricated just for this episode ("Yellow Alert" and "Red Alert" I can understand but is "Jettison Ion Pod" really something that needs to be at the Captain's fingertips at all times?) and an engineering room that is completely empty save for a few clunky buttons and, oh yeah, a giant adjustable wrench that comes in handy for the fight scene.

The most interesting parts of this episode, though, are the major deviations from the Star Trek universe. I'm amazed no on-line review mentions the fact that Sulu, Scotty and Chekov are no where to be found (who are those extras in their places?). And how about the fact that Spock repeatedly refers to himself as "Vulcanian." I thought for sure this had to be some missing pilot episode!

When the U.S.S. Enterprise puts in at Starbase 11 for repairs caused in an ion storm, Kirk gives his report of the circumstances of Lt. Comm. Ben Finney death to Commodore Stone. All goes well until Spock arrives with the computer visual tape of the bridge during the crisis. Spock tries to warn Kirk about what is on the tape, but the Commodore takes it and plays it. While Kirk's statement claims that Finney went into the U.S.S. Enterprise's ion pod to take vital readings. When the storm made it necessary to jettison the pod, Kirk warned Finney, during a yellow alert, and finally, switched to red alert before jettisoning the ion pod, with Finney, apparently, inside. What the computer tapes shows is Kirk pressing the pod-release switch while still in a yellow alert status. The Commodore informs Kirk that he will have to stand trial for possible court marshal for the death of Lt. Commander Finney. Things are complicated even more when Finney's daughter, Jamie, blames Kirk for her father's death. When Kirk meets an old girlfriend, Lt. Areel Shaw, that evening she tells him that she's arranged for a lawyer to come and see him. Unfortunately, she's been assigned to prosecute his case and will try her best to bring him down. Dejected, Kirk goes to his rooms to find that Samuel T. Cogley has moved in, books and baggage. Kirk decides that he likes the quirky lawyer and they begin the plan the captain's defense. On the U.S.S. Enterprise, McCoy reprimands Spock for playing chess with the computer while Kirk is on trial for murder. Spock explains that he has won several games straight... a feat he should not have been able to accomplish unless the computer is malfunctioning. McCoy's interest is piqued and the two men discuss what this development could mean to the captain's defense. At the trial, just as the defense has rested, Spock appears with the information about the faulty computer. Cogley gives a stirring speech about the rights of men versus machines and the Commodore finally allows the jury to reconvene on board the U.S.S. Enterprise. Spock explains that having programmed the computer for chess himself just months before, the best he should have been able to do is stalemate. Therefore, the officer explains, someone tampered with the computer, adjusting its memory. When asked who had the knowledge for such an action, the Vulcan admits that it could only have been himself, Kirk or Records Officer Ben Finney. Cogley then suggests that Finney is still alive and hiding somewhere on the U.S.S. Enterprise. On the bridge, the ship's sensors have been boosted to pick up any sound on the ship. Everyone but the bridge personnel and transporter attendant are beamed to the surface and the demonstration begins. Switching on the sensors, everyone's heartbeat on the ship is audible. One by one McCoy, using a white-light masking device, eliminates the sound of everyone's heartbeat... except one... Finney's. Kirk goes after Finney and finds him hiding on the ship. Finney has harbored a grudge against Kirk since they were both Ensigns, when Kirk had logged a careless and potentially dangerous mistake of Finney's, which the man claims has kept him from promotion over the years. The two men fight, with Kirk finally winning. Finney had, however, damaged the ship's engines and the U.S.S. Enterprise is losing its orbit. Racing against time, Kirk manages to repair the damage and the U.S.S. Enterprise regains her previous position. Kirk is cleared of all charges and Samuel T. Cogley takes on a new client... Ben Finney.