Generally, Star Trek is good at drawing parallels between science-fiction and the real world. This time, however, the use of a very real situation such as a court martial to provide a little suspense doesn't really work out.
The court martial is set up by Starfleet (mentioned for the first time here) to find out if Kirk behaved improperly during a crisis. He claims he did everything by the book, but the Enterprise's computer records - unquestionable evidence by everyone's standards - seem to indicate the death of a crewman (an old friend of Kirk's, no less) was the result of the captain's negligence. Lucky for him, his lawyer doesn't trust computers, and sets out to prove something went wrong, while Spock does the same on the ship.
The outcome is pretty predictable, which is why Court Martial doesn't impress as much as previous episodes. Okay, so it's a given Kirk will never get in any serious trouble, but this time the story suffers from a clear lack of proper drama and a couple of unnecessary clichés (the prosecutor is one of Kirk's ex-girlfriends). Nevertheless, the story's examination of the man vs. Machine theme is still relevant, and despite the sub-par twists, Shatner and Nimoy are always a riot.
The court martial is set up by Starfleet (mentioned for the first time here) to find out if Kirk behaved improperly during a crisis. He claims he did everything by the book, but the Enterprise's computer records - unquestionable evidence by everyone's standards - seem to indicate the death of a crewman (an old friend of Kirk's, no less) was the result of the captain's negligence. Lucky for him, his lawyer doesn't trust computers, and sets out to prove something went wrong, while Spock does the same on the ship.
The outcome is pretty predictable, which is why Court Martial doesn't impress as much as previous episodes. Okay, so it's a given Kirk will never get in any serious trouble, but this time the story suffers from a clear lack of proper drama and a couple of unnecessary clichés (the prosecutor is one of Kirk's ex-girlfriends). Nevertheless, the story's examination of the man vs. Machine theme is still relevant, and despite the sub-par twists, Shatner and Nimoy are always a riot.