Star Trek (TV Series) Court Martial (1967) User Reviews

Kirk finds out he needs a lawyer

[Bogmeister · 7/10 · 13 July 2006]

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 He jabbers on about thousands of books and tends to rattle off a list of old historical documents (including some we've yet to know about) like he's conducting some strange class for aspiring attorneys.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.

Kirk on trial

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 3 June 2015]

When a crew member is killed in an accident Captain Kirk claims that he had to jettison the pod containing Lt. Commander Finney to save the ship shortly after going to red alert during an ion storm… the problem is computer evidence suggests he jettisoned the pod prior to going to red alert. It doesn't help that it is known that Finney blames Kirk for his inability to get a ship of his own as Kirk reported one of his mistakes years before and it is speculated that this animosity is mutual and the prosecuting attorney is one of Kirk's former girlfriends. As the trial progresses all the witnesses say that there is no way Kirk would panic or let personal feelings affect his judgement yet computer evidence including video recordings suggest otherwise. If Kirk is to avoid a guilty verdict Spock will have to show that the 'infallible' computer was wrong.

There is little action in this episode; we don't even see the events that lead to Kirk's court martial until the computer evidence is played during the trial… while this might make it a 'cheap episode' it doesn't mean it isn't entertaining. The highlight of the episode is Elisha Cook Jr's performance as Samuel T. Cogley, Kirk's defence attorney; a delightfully old fashioned character who one would imagine would feel more at home in a western than on a spaceship! The ending featured a good if somewhat melodramatic twist that I hadn't seen coming. The episode isn't without flaws; it is hard to believe that Kirk's ex-girlfriend would be leading the prosecution and the possibility that somebody could have tampered with the computer isn't raised till surprisingly late in the story… these aren't enough to spoil the episode. Overall a decent enough episode but far from a classic.

Seeing is not Believing...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 16 February 2022]

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.

Well-written episode

[SusanJL · 9/10 · 26 February 2019]

I thought this episode was unusually well-written and I enjoyed the plot twists which I for one definitely did not see coming. The only reason I didn't give it a 10 is the scene at the end where Finney is practically foaming at the mouth and chewing the scenery like mad. Also the kiss at the end between Kirk and the prosecutor was ridiculous in light of her trying to get him found guilty at all costs!!!!

A underrated brillant episode

[argimlumani · 9/10 · 25 August 2020]

This episode is soo well written and acted i enjoyed every minute the story involves kirk being court martialed for the wrongful death of a crewman but theres one thing wrong the computer says he jettisoned the pod killing the crewman initially and the computer never makes a mistake this episode featured kirk being prosecuted by a woman he used to know and every actor involved did a terrific job if you want to see the best season 1 has to offer watch this theres never a dull moment

The acting saves this one

[mstomaso · 6/10 · 5 April 2007]

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.

Partially Re-told in Next Generation "The Measure of a Man"

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 23 April 2013]

One of the things I love the most is Courtroom Drama, and when mixed with Science Fiction, it becomes a feast.

What happens here, as Kirk is accused of negligence in the death of a crewman, a friend... is that he is prosecuted by one of his girlfriends. But she provides him a defender, in the shape of Samuel T. Cogley played by the great Elisha Cook of The Maltese Falcon.

A similar thing happens to Jean-Luc Picard in the Next Generation episode "The Measure of a Man" - He is prosecuted vehemently in front of one of his ex girlfriends, who had prosecuted HIM when he lost his original ship, the Stargazer.

In this Original Series Courtroom, Cogley defends Kirk much like Perry Mason would have, with that little smile on his face.

It is only when Spock discovers that the Three-Dimensional Chess he had programmed into the Enterprise Computer has been Futzed with, also explains why the ships computer would record an event incorrectly.

This brings up new cogitations in Cogley's Brain, so he creates a Theatrical Fishing Expedition and Court Venue move to the Enterprise Bridge - To Prove his Cogitations. And these pan out.

The only thing I find pretty funny in this episode, in the Kirk-Finney fight scene, is the use of fighting doubles who have no resemblance to Shatner and Richard Webb. On Low-Resolution CRT Televisions, this could not be seen - But it CAN, in the remastered Enhanced Edition at 1080p.

Court Drama can be intriguing, if done right. It is done right in this episode. "The Menagerie" does not count, as it is actually the "Fiction" of a court martial, but here, this is a real case and Kirks career is on the line. It's a De-Facto mystery. My only issue is with the denouement, where Kirk kicks poor Finney's Arse. I mean, the poor guy, it was not a malice issue, but a madness issue.

I just have to make a comment on Richard Webb, who played "Finney" who was also in another world famous courtroom drama, 'Perry Mason' season 6 episode 22 "the case of the velvet claws" as Patricia Barry's husband who had been shot. In that episode he was a simple criminal who got his just desserts. But here before we see him in engineering, he is a voice being played back by the enterprise computer, and he is also a voice over the enterprise intercom which is needling and provoking Kirk. The man had a magnificent voice, in fact we could say that it was a handsome voice. But apparently he did not do very much voiceover work, he was your standard television actor during the 60s and 70s. But he had some pretty impressive movie credits as well, he was in the original "a star is born", uncredited of course, and he was also 'Sir Galahad' in 1954's "prince valiant". And also "Carson City" with Randolph Scott, he had a much better part in that. He was also an evil crook in a movie called "the invisible monster", but he was also noticeable in several movies from the 40s and 50s particularly "out of the past". He did a lot of film noir. His voice in this Star Trek episode is absolutely magnificent. It is because of this that I wish the final confrontation between Finney and Kirk would not have simply been a fistfight, because we actually develop empathy for his character during the course of the episode. In fact we can continue to have empathy for the character even after that final confrontation: because this wasn't simply just your average crew man, this was a crew member who had a deep friendship with Kirk to the point where he named his daughter after James Kirk. Which almost makes us wish that they had come back to this character later in the show, but it never happened.

As far as the Enhanced Edition, which I have always had a problem with because they edited some of the original photographic special effects but did not try to capture the spirit of those original shots, in this case the CGI artists actually do Justice to the exterior shots, where they added objects in the sky in orbit and people walking around in the buildings, in what had originally been simple matte painting shots. I am finding out, not all of these TOS episodes in the Enhanced Edition have been as Hamhandedly "reimagined" in the same terrible way that "Where No Man has Gone Before" had been, where they did not do homage to the original scene of the Enterprise "At the Galactic rim". This episode is one of the better Enhanced versions.

In fact they also did a pretty good job transferring those old-fashioned Matt paintings during "the menagerie" as well. But this episode has always been one of my favorite original series episodes, and because it uses two film noir actors, Elisha Cooke and Richard Webb, there is a slight film noir edge to this episode, and those 1960s style Matte paintings cement the film noir aspects. In fact that same image was later used in a Deep Space Nine episode.

That most infallible of institutions

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 31 January 2015]

Every player worth their abilities always wants to do a courtroom drama because of the built in dramatics inherent in them. Veteran of the big screen Elisha Cook, Jr. Who usually died in all his films got to be a futuristic defense attorney when he defends William Shatner against a charge of dereliction of duty which led to a criminally negligent homicide charge.

Not only is Cook up against the lovely prosecutor Joan Marshall who once had a thing going with Shatner, but he's also up against that most infallible of institutions, the Star Trek computer. The way things are there's no way you can beat a computer at anything. But that depends on who's programming the machine and it is only a machine.

With a little help from Leonard Nimoy that most computer like of living beings, Cook proves you can rig things even the Star Trek computer logs. You know that because Captain Kirk does return to command the Enterprise in the next episode.

Captain Kirk is charged that in his negligence he causes the death of Lt. Commander Richard Webb while going through an ion storm. All I can say here is that Webb you might remember as I do from childhood as Captain Midnight is far different as this jealous and resentful officer under Kirk's command.

Nice job all around.

Kirk Gets Tried by Ex Girlfriend

[eti55 · 8/10 · 29 December 2012]

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.

What Happened To Finney?

[Rainey-Dawn · 7/10 · 5 January 2017]

Season 1, episode 20. The Enterprise encountered an ion storm that left the ship damaged and crew member Finney dead. They headed for Star Base 11 for some repairs and Kirk filed the report of Finney's death. Portmaster Stone wanted to see the ship's log and Spock brought it to him so Stone could verify what happened and why Kirk ordered the Enterprise to jettison out of there. The computer log showed that Kirk fled out of there too soon and that Kirk is responsible for the death of Finney. Kirk claims that is not what happened and explains it to Stone but Stone called for a court hearing to court-martial Kirk based on the ship's log. Spock is using his logic to figure out what happened to the computer while Kirk's lawyer is trying hard to prove Kirk's innocence to the court. The answer to what really happened lies in the question "what happened to Finney?".

An interesting episode that shows how video and even computers can be easily manipulated to make the guilty look innocent and the innocent look guilty. Logical but quick thinking is needed in cases like these.

7.5/10.

"Court Martial ",Unique Cast Makes for Interesting and Nostalgiac Viewing !

[cshep · 10/10 · 10 May 2010]

"Court Martial", What a blend of casting, from Elijah Cook,Jr., to Richard Webb. Take a top of the line character actor(Elijah Cook Jr,.)from the 30's,40's,and 50's, to Richard Webb(Captain Midnight/Jet Jackson), from the 1950's TV series. Capt. Kirk(William Shatner) is accused of malice in the death of missing,presumed dead,( due to a jettisoned space pod) Crewmate Finney(Richard Webb). Sam Cogley(Elijah Cook Jr.), is summoned to defend Kirk against District Attorney , and Kirk's old flame Areel Shaw(Joan Marshall), who in a real life trial, would have to recuse herself because of previous personal involvement. But this is TV, and Sci-Fi TV, so having her prosecute makes for a little more spice. Anyway, another new plot device is introduced, the all-knowing heart monitor, which can isolate any heartbeat on the ship, yep, Sci-Fi.

Anyway, the climatic ending , where Ben Finney(Richard Webb) battles Kirk is a CLASSIC. Vintage TV Sci-Fi. Capt. Midinte,Space Hero of the 1950's vs. Capt. Kirk,Space Hero of the 1960's.

That is one of the Great Testimonies to Star Trek, to honor those who helped shape 1960's Sci-Fi, without them, there would have been little history to build upon. So , whenever you see a Star Trek: TOS, remember to look for stars from the past , who were invaluable in adding to the collection of Sci-Fi memories. This is one of the Legacys of Star Trek, to honor those who did come before.

So remember kids, to take your Ovaltine, the sludge Webb hated to hawk to kids, or anyone else for that matter. The 1950's for whatever you think of it , was a time of renewal, not just a time of placid neutrality.

BTW, Richard Webb was the Author of books about psychic phenomena and the occult including "Great Ghosts of the West," "These Came Back" and "Flight Without Wings."

I haven't read any of them ,but this man was ahead of his time.Most people who wrote books of this nature, were often thought of as kooks. I hope someone does a review of these books. I would really like to know what he had to say.

A New take on old tale

[clmrshll-203-370035 · 7/10 · 7 June 2015]

I couldn't help noticing the similarities between this story and the Sherlock Holmes story "The Norwood Builder" in which a man attempts revenge on the son of the lady who spurned him as a youth (and starting a new debt free life). He fakes his own murder and secrets himself away in a small chamber he had built in his house until the heat had died down. In Conan-Doyle's tale however a charred body, that of a tramp (hobo) dressed in the builders old clothes is used to incriminate the victim.

In both case guilt by the victim is hard to refute but as ever total logical thought by the two hero's, Holmes and latterly Spock saved the day.

Using heartbeats to trace the hidden perpetrator was a bit contrived given the sensors on the Enterprise - Holmes burned wet straw to smoke the bad guy out.

Its always intriguing watching the technology in Star Trek. The switches and displays and computers so outmoded today. Even our computers sound human these days, mind you I'd guess a transporter is a long way off yet....

Borderline failed episode

[bgaiv · 4/10 · 18 November 2021]

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?

A GOOD COURTROOM DRAMA

[duncanbrown-76733 · 10/10 · 6 November 2021]

This is a another awesome episode of Star Trek.

The main highlight of this episode is the courtroom scenes, which is played out brilliantly by the cast.

It has got three gorgeous ladies, being Kirk's love interest Miss Shaw, the oriental records office and Ben Finney's daughter.

A tour de force episode with a neat twist at the end of it.

Surprisingly good !

[nicofreezer · 8/10 · 28 April 2021]

Second episode in a Row on earth and thats a fun fact.

At first the plot seems weak, no actions all talk from previous events that we dont even see. BUT the episode is very good, in the end Chess ! And Mr Spock save the day for Captain Kirk 8/10.

Kirk Goes to Court

[Samuel-Shovel · 6/10 · 4 April 2018]

In "Court Martial", Captain Kirk is charged with negligence after one of the Enterprise's officers dies under his command. Kirk pleads not guilty at his trial; his entire career and his command of the Enterprise is in jeopardy. Can Kirk prove that events didn't go as the computer claims they did?

I was never a big fan of Star Trek attempting to adapt itself into a courtroom drama. And while I enjoy the themes of this episode (technology's infallibility, trusting a computer's judgment over a human's, data manipulation to get what you want), I couldn't help but feel a bit bored during this one.

I enjoyed the small roles in this episode. Rodrigues, Cook Jr., and Marshall all give memorable performances in their respective roles. Some of this plot leaves me with some questions though.

So why does Finney suddenly decide to frame Kirk? Has this been being planned for a while or did some recent event trigger this? And I find it extremely odd that Shaw isn't required to recuse herself from the trial due to her romantic history with Kirk. That seems like an extreme conflict of interest. I also have problems that the jettison button is right next to the red alert button. From the video, it looks as if he could accidentally bump it with an elbow and accidentally kill someone. That's problematic.

The one with the set-up

[MaxBorg89 · 7/10 · 18 July 2009]

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.

Two Trials in One Season

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 28 April 2014]

Captain Kirk finds himself facing the end of his career or even imprisonment for hanging a fellow officer out to dry. It seems he has history with this guy having turned him in for a nearly allowing a catastrophic event. A sequence of events that where Kirk thought he had acted appropriately lie in dispute because the computer says otherwise. Kirk is suddenly shunned by his peers and seems judged before his trial. The daughter of the man killed blames Jim (she is named Jamie and is actually named after Kirk). During a trip to one of his watering holes, Kirk runs across a pretty young attorney. They obviously have had some romantic involvement in the past. To Kirk's surprise, he finds out that she will be prosecuting him. Elisha Cook is an unconventional but highly respected attorney who will be defending the Captain. The trial proceeds, Jamie in attendance. All the evidence, including a video of the bridge at the time, proves the Prosecution's case. Kirk is toast until Spock sits down to play a game of 3-Dimensional Chess (I never quite figured out that game). The sappy conclusion to this episode doesn't help much, but it is fun to watch Cook (whom I remember from "The Maltese Falcon") and the usual banter between Spock and McCoy.

Welp, didn't see that coming

[Mr-Fusion · 7/10 · 14 August 2017]

"Star Trek" and legal drama don't exactly go hand-in-hand, which is why I was apprehensive about 'Court Martial'. But it's solid, thanks to the performances and the show's star. In a prosecution of James T Kirk, Shatner doesn't have to do a lot of puffing up; Kirk's just that kind of stalwart character, especially when he's got Spick and McCoy testifying to his righteousness.

There's an ending twist that's sort of iffy, but it does culminate in a "battle-damaged" (torn shirt) captain engaging in an engine room brawl. That's classic Original Series right there. The only thing missing from the Captain Kirk checklist was an alien girl dalliance.

7/10

You won't see the climax coming but that's not a good thing.

[amusinghandle · 5/10 · 6 November 2023]

Wait a sec, Ben Finney's ultimate goal was to frame Captain Kirk with the hope that eventually a court proceeding would occur and that the court would be moved to the enterprise after Spock was inspired by a Kirk chess reference and discovered computer tampering? At this point, (and with the enterprise near a planet) the plan was to disable the enterprise and have it fall into the planet and break apart?

What I took away from my viewing of this episode was how it must have had some inspiration on the vastly superior episode 'Measure of a Man'. I can tell you this ---- I would never want to be a captain of a starfleet ship with the fanatical oversight placed upon them. "Chill out man, I am Captain Kirk..." would be my go to line after being coldly accused.

I was enjoying the court room drama and the slightly over exuberant lawyer pontificating about books but this was all undone by a laughable conclusion with a completely unhinged starfleet officer coming up with a super villain plot to destroy the enterprise despite maintaining a correspondence with captain Kirk for years.

Guilty of questionable late twist

[Fluke_Skywalker · 7/10 · 9 June 2017]

Plot; Kirk faces court martial when it's deemed his actions during a crisis lead to the death of a crewman.

Kirk's guilt is never really in doubt, 'cuz, Kirk. But "Court Martial" is nevertheless reasonably compelling for the bulk of its running time thanks to a nice turn from Shatner and solid guest appearances; particularly Elisha Cook Jr. as Kirk's quirky defense attorney. Where it comes apart a bit is in its fourth quarter twist, which undercuts the preceding drama.

Sub-par for Star Trek

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 6 December 2006]

This episode is rather dull and actually didn't make much sense. Even though Kirk has shown himself a very capable officer and has a long list of amazing exploits to his credit, he is framed and faces a court martial--gee, Federation, thanks for the vote of confidence!! About the only highlight in the show is the guest appearance of character actor, Elisha Cook. He was a fine actor and added a nice performance to the show. But apart from that, the show was way too static and uninvolving. Even the "surprise ending" was pretty dull and learning that Kirk had, some time back, "bagged" the female prosecuting attorney (is there ANY female Kirk hasn't put the moves on?!).

Decent episode, but outdated and some silly elements

[intp · 6/10 · 8 June 2014]

I thought this was a decent, if unexceptional episode. The legal drama was a little dragged out and the outcome is somewhat obvious; the only possible explanation is that the computer was tampered with. This was probably my major complaint with the episode; this seems so obvious today, but perhaps a less sophisticated audience in 1967 really did believe in the infallibility of computers (or at least was more susceptible to such a belief); but it just seems hopelessly naive, now.

The legalistic aspects were not handled badly for a TV series, although I thought Kirk's attorney's big dramatic speech was a bit silly. There was a much better logical argument: shouldn't there have been more time allotted to the defense, to thoroughly check the computer for tampering? And shouldn't examining the computers have been the focus of the trial from the outset? But I guess the 'big speech' played out better dramatically, so its use was understandable here.

Finney's scheme was kind of crazy-- it critically depended on never being discovered by Starfleet, thereby burning his bridges permanently-- but he was indeed portrayed toward the end as having totally lost it, so at least that part was internally consistent.

The other technological part that was probably good for its time, but seems quite silly now, was the use of the heartbeats of the crew to locate Finney. Surely they could have detected him more directly with the ship's sensors? There was also a minor contradiction with the Menagerie episode; in that episode, it was stated that detailed video records of all ship activity simply aren't routinely made; but that's a minor quibble.

Some minor trivia: This episode confirms that Spock's rank in the first season was lieutenant commander (this was also mentioned in several earlier episodes, but seems fairly definitely established here), as was Dr. McCoy's.

Star Trek: The Original Series - Court Martial

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 27 September 2016]

Stirring speech about the rights of the accused and man's fate as a Starfleet officer against a machine by a damn well cast Elisha Cook, Jr. in regards to Jim Kirk's innocence highlights this "Kirk on trial" court room episode of Star Trek. Scotty was also in a similar boat in Wolf in the Fold. Kirk is sure he ejected an officer he knew and respected from a pod when the Enterprise faced danger in an ion storm during a red alert. The computer on board the Enterprise says different, it seems. Recorded evidence says Kirk ejected the pod during yellow alert, with the trial looking grave for him. Percy Rodrigues is Commodore Stone, the authority at the starbase where the Enterprise is located during repairs. His willingness to not prosecute Kirk if he'll just accept exhaustion and panic as reasoning for the mistake produces a heated exchange indeed. Joan Marshall (Castle's Homicidal) is Kirk's former love and assigned to prosecute him! Why wouldn't she recuse herself? For dramatic purposes it serves its place in the plot. Spock and the computer's game of chess, the supposedly dead lieutenant's heartbeat, and Jame's change of heart when she reads from her father's journal could indicate Kirk has been the victim of revenge and machine tinkering. While there is no doubt Kirk will find his way out of yet another predicament, the pitiable Richard Webb totally gonzo, having rigged circuits so that the Enterprise would enter decaying orbit, leaves some excitement in the end, although it is clear there was post production snipping. Fun to see Cook as Kirk's defender, all books and more than a bit anti- computer. Spock and Bones are Kirk's tokens of defense while the computer, proved to be fallible and prone to mishandling by someone with the ability to speak guilt when there was none, are components of the trial.

She's a very good lawyer

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 18 April 2021]

Kirk goes on trial for causing the death of a crew member.

This is a moderately entertaining episode with a quite weak story but it does have an interesting theme and some memorable moments.

Legal thrillers can be compelling when done well, but this one feels like nothing other than actors playing courtroom drama. Nothing feels plausible and some of the cross examinations feel contrived. The less said about how the case ends the better, not just for spoilers, but for me it's an anticlimax.

There is a streak of technofear running through the story which has a big man versus machine theme. I did quite enjoy the concept of whether humanity should trust machines more than humans, but unfortunately the chess related turning point feels quite obvious. Knowledge of information technology was not the same in the 1960s and this does make it feel quite dated. However, I can empathise that audiences watching it early broadcasts might have been very intrigued.

Looking at it almost 60 years later I appreciate the central point it makes now more than ever, considering the technology is now programmed to spy on us, collect our personal information, gather market research based on our lifestyles so it can control us and turn computer programmers into multi-billionaires.

There are some scenes I did enjoy, particularly before the trial. I loved Kirk confronting by Starfleet personnel in Starbase 11 and his no-nonsense handling of their hostility. The scene where he meets his defence lawyer is also quite good. Spock and Bones, as ever, are a joy to watch throughout the episode. Even in situations that feel quite forced they manage to entertain. The climactic scene on board the bridge of the Enterprise is a classic Kirk, girl of the week, Spock and Bones moment.

The visuals are a mixed bag, with some quite silly costumes, one ridiculously obvious fight between two stuntmen and a fairly static sequence of the bridge of the Enterprise during a decaying orbit. Starbase 11 sets are good, particularly the lawyer's office and the scenes in the recreation area. I'm not sure what to make of the fixation on the red tapes, but I guess it goes well with the episode themes.

Most of the acting is good, especially William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Elisha Cook Junior. Joan Marshall does well with some fairly poor material. I find Richard Webb's performance quite irritating.

It's a 6.5/10 for me but I round upwards.