OK, so in the future, a prosecutor doesn't have to recuse herself when she was romantically involved with the defendant? O-K. Maybe it added to the drama, but come on! Kirk stands accused of jettisoning his former friend and academy instructor, current Enterprise Records Officer Lt. Commander Ben Finney, during an ion storm, either out of panic or malicious intent (neither of which are in Kirk's character), before going to red alert instead of after, as is required. The problem is that the computer log says he's guilty, and as we're told over and over again in the episode, computer's DON'T lie (more on this later).
It's apparent in this episode and a couple of others that Kirk wasn't liked by all of his fellow officers; that a lot of people who Kirk knew on his way up the promotion ladder were happy to see our cocky young starship captain, who may well have helped his career at the expense of the aforementioned Finney, get his comeuppance, and were ready to believe the worst about him, even though it turned out to be false (you get the idea that Commodore Stone was one such person..ditto Commodore Wesley in the Ultimate Computer the following season). It would have been nice to explore that angle of the story a bit more, but there's only 50 minutes or so of TV time. That said, it's hard to sympathize with the ill-fated Finney getting passed over by Kirk to command a starship given his ultimate breakdown (would you want this guy commanding the SS Minnow, much less the Enterprise?).
This is a good episode in that you see Kirk's character come through. In spite of what the computer said (remember, computers DON'T lie), Kirk knew damn good and well what he did and was ready to go down fighting, regardless of the result. Of course, this is Star trek so obviously there has to be a loophole: Computers CAN lie..if someone with enough computer savvy to alter a computer log tells them to. Spock figures this out late in the episode (naturally) by playing chess with the computer. Props to the great character actor Elisha Cook for his portrayal of the idealistic and book-crazy (never uses his computer) defense lawyer Samuel T. Cogley. And Joan Marshall...what a hottie (just like all of Kirk's "old friends", as McCoy points out in this episode). One definite negative: One of the more lame props in the series, the "white sound" device used to mask people's heart beats, which is obviously a mid 20th century microphone. In fact, the scene where McCoy is using it takes way too long.
It's apparent in this episode and a couple of others that Kirk wasn't liked by all of his fellow officers; that a lot of people who Kirk knew on his way up the promotion ladder were happy to see our cocky young starship captain, who may well have helped his career at the expense of the aforementioned Finney, get his comeuppance, and were ready to believe the worst about him, even though it turned out to be false (you get the idea that Commodore Stone was one such person..ditto Commodore Wesley in the Ultimate Computer the following season). It would have been nice to explore that angle of the story a bit more, but there's only 50 minutes or so of TV time. That said, it's hard to sympathize with the ill-fated Finney getting passed over by Kirk to command a starship given his ultimate breakdown (would you want this guy commanding the SS Minnow, much less the Enterprise?).
This is a good episode in that you see Kirk's character come through. In spite of what the computer said (remember, computers DON'T lie), Kirk knew damn good and well what he did and was ready to go down fighting, regardless of the result. Of course, this is Star trek so obviously there has to be a loophole: Computers CAN lie..if someone with enough computer savvy to alter a computer log tells them to. Spock figures this out late in the episode (naturally) by playing chess with the computer. Props to the great character actor Elisha Cook for his portrayal of the idealistic and book-crazy (never uses his computer) defense lawyer Samuel T. Cogley. And Joan Marshall...what a hottie (just like all of Kirk's "old friends", as McCoy points out in this episode). One definite negative: One of the more lame props in the series, the "white sound" device used to mask people's heart beats, which is obviously a mid 20th century microphone. In fact, the scene where McCoy is using it takes way too long.