Star Trek (TV Series)

Court Martial (1967)

Percy Rodrigues: Portmaster Stone

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Kirk has been accused of perjury] 

  Captain James T. Kirk : I'm telling you, I was there, on the bridge. I know what happened. I know what I did.

  Portmaster Stone : It's in the transcript! And computer transcripts don't lie! Now, I'm telling you, Captain, either you accept a permanent ground assignment, or... the whole disciplinary weight of Starfleet Command is going to light right on your neck.

  Captain James T. Kirk : So that's the way we do it now? Sweep it under the rug, and me along with it? Not on your life. I intend to fight!

  Portmaster Stone : Then you draw a general court!

  Captain James T. Kirk : [vehemently]  Draw it? I demand it, and right now, Commodore Stone, right now!

• [Prosecutor Shaw interrupts the court computer from reading off the full list of Captain Kirk's commendations, awards, citations and honors] 

  Areel Shaw : The prosecution concedes the inestimable record of Captain Kirk.

  Portmaster Stone : Mr. Cogley?

  Cogley : I wouldn't want to slow the wheels of progress. But then, on the other hand, I wouldn't want those wheels to run over my client in their unbridled haste.

  Portmaster Stone : Continue.

  [the computer continues reading off the accumulated merits of Captain Kirk] 

  Cogley : [after only a few more of those]  Stop! Now, I think that's enough. I wouldn't want to slow things up *too* much.

• Portmaster Stone : Now, look, Jim. Not one man in a million could do what you and I have done. Command a starship. A hundred decisions a day, hundreds of lives, staked on you making every one of them right. You're played out, Jim. Exhausted.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Is that the way you see it?

  Portmaster Stone : That's the way my report will read if you co-operate.

  Captain James T. Kirk : A physical breakdown, possibly even mental collapse.

  Portmaster Stone : Possibly.

  Captain James T. Kirk : I'd be admitting that a man died because...

  Portmaster Stone : Admit nothing. Say nothing. Let me bury the matter here and now. No starship captain has ever stood trial before, and I don't want you to be the first.

• [Kirk is giving an account of the events on the bridge that ultimately led to Finney's death] 

  Portmaster Stone : Then why, Captain, does the computer log from your ship, made automatically at the time, indicate that you were still on yellow alert when you jettisoned, and not on red?

  Captain James T. Kirk : I don't know. There's been a mistake.

  Portmaster Stone : It would seem so. Could the computer be wrong?

  Captain James T. Kirk : Mr. Spock is running a survey right now; but the odds are next to impossible.