Court Martial

There's a difference in accounts and the ship's log, digital does not confer with analogue, the captain must explain, the evidence is plain, just a heartbeat from metaphorical flog.

A man has lost his life at the hands of the captain but his recollection of events does not align with those recorded by the ship's computer and a court martial is convened to ascertain the truth.

The legal drama TV show format, so popular in the 60s (The Defenders, Perry Mason etc.), gets a sci-fi makeover with Court Martial, which sees Kirk charged with culpable negligence after the death of his old friend Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Finney (Richard Webb). The Enterprise's computer shows that Kirk jettisoned Finney's research pod during an ion storm while still only on yellow alert, whereas Kirk insists that he strictly adhered to Starfleet regulations and waited until red alert was sounded before pushing the button.

A courtroom drama, albeit one in space, could have been a real snooze-fest, but Court Martial is far from it thanks to an intriguing script that further explores the popular Trek theme of man vs. Machine, an excellent performance from William Shatner, terrific support from Elisha Cook Jr. As defense lawyer Cogley, and a fun final act that once again sees Kirk in a fist fight, his shirt reduced to rags. There's also romantic interest for Kirk in the form of sexy prosecution attorney Areel Shaw (Joan Marshall), an old flame of the captain's (obviously!). All in all, a well-rounded episode.

What should have been one of the worst first season episodes is salvaged by solid performances by William Shatner and guest stars Percy Rodriguez and Elisha Cook Jr, good editing and directing. Cook is especially charming as the defense attorney representing Kirk in a court martial concerning the death of a Lieutenant Commander who shares a rocky history with our captain, and Shatner's acting is spot-on for this difficult episode. Daniels' directing is also fairly good, but hampered by the limitations of the plot.

The initial premise is promising. Kirk is charged with negligence in the death of a Lt Comm Finney, whose career has been overshadowed consistently by Kirk's. Kirk repeatedly claims that he jettisoned Finney's pod after declaring a red alert and telling Finney to get to safety, but the ship's video record and computer logs tell a very different story. (Incidentally, one of the most ridiculous use of props I have ever seen in ST occurs in the crucial courtroom scene involving the video logs - take a close look at the control panel Kirk uses to jettison the pod. How many pods does the Enterprise jettison in a given day, and why does the Captain do this himself from a control panel on his arm rest???).

Unfortunately, just as the full story is revealed, the episode devolves into a poorly considered, rather cliché conclusion - which I will not discuss in order to avoid a spoiler.

This may be the ultimate emperor's new clothes episode.

It's interesting as the first Trek courtroom episode, but the lawyer vanishes entirely. Shatner has a lengthy voiceover in the last act to cover this up.

Kirk's foe is impossibly deranged to have been hiding all this time and his "plan" is ridiculous.

I can live with the Enterprise falling out of orbit so quickly because orbital mechanics were much less understood by those outside the space programs in the 60s. But risking the ship by beaming almost everybody off for a court proceeding?

The title of this episode is self-explanatory: based on computer evidence, Kirk appears to have either panicked or, worse, acted with malice during a critical point on the bridge while one of those ion storms was raging, causing the death of a crew member with a push of a button. It turns out, Kirk has a long personal history with this Lt.Finney, who lost out on a promotion or two. Kirk is under fire in this episode not by some cosmic menace, science gone mad or warlike aliens but - perhaps more frightening to him - by Starfleet itself, the one entity you'd think would always back him up. We get to see some of the inner workings of this organization here and the proceedings are not really different from current military trials and bureaucracy ('regulations, captain'). We're back at Starbase 11, last seen in "The Menagerie" part one, but with a different commodore. I really liked the scene in the bar or lounge, where Kirk runs into some of his peers - it's a nice glimpse into Starfleet outside the usual parameters of just the Enterprise.

The most memorable thing about this episode is the introduction of Kirk's lawyer, Cogley, played with some eccentricity by old-time actor Cook Jr. He jabbers on about thousands of books and tends to rattle off a list of old historical documents (including some we've yet to know about) like he's conducting some strange class for aspiring attorneys. He makes it clear his preferences do not include computers, which sets up the entire 'man vs. machine' theme during the court scenes (we'll revisit this theme in later episodes, such as "The Ultimate Computer"). Who is this seeming nutcase, we might ask, and just what is he blathering on about? Kirk seems to be in real trouble now - his lawyer's a couple of cans short of a six-pack. But, by the 4th act, we realize Cogley is one of the reasons we were able to set up a Federation. He represents not only humanity, but civilization - that striving for decency by half-savages, manifested by written laws passed down through the ages - laws which govern - laws which make possible such civilized trials to protect the innocent, resulting in a thorough quest for the truth.