Courtroom Episode: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Because lawyers get to have all the fun in court, you can expect a major character to be incongruously forced into playing one. They'll almost always succeed in arguing their case [[Hard Work Hardly Works|despite not actually having a law degree, or indeed starting the episode with any clue about what they're doing]].

 

{{examples}}

* [[Parodied]] in ''[[Ranma ½]]'', with the case of the... missing takoyaki. [[Serious Business]]. {{spoiler|Turns out everyone had one.}}

 

* The [[Con Sentiency]] series largely focuses on the exploits of a Secret Agent/Bureaucrat Jorj X. McKie. However:

** A good portion of the novel ''The Dosadi Experiment'' focuses on the courtroom drama of the Gowachin, which is much more interesting than its human equivalent.

* Most of the [[The Icelandic Sagas|Sagas of Icelanders]] contain at least one, with plenty of fancy speeches and occasional bouts of [[Off on a Technicality]].

 

* Both ''[[Adam-12]]'' and ''[[Dragnet]]'' have had courtroom-based episodes, featuring on the roles police officers play in the judicial process and problems that invariably arise. For instance, the ''Adam-12'' episode "Courtroom" centered around the importance of obtaining a search warrant when the defendant (standing trial on drug charges) claims that Reed had failed to obtain one.

* ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'': The 1972 episode "The Fender Benders," where a money-seeking man named Harry Duggan (Jackie Coogan) files a lawsuit against Carol by claiming their minor, non-injury fender-bender in a parking lot resulted in [[Obfuscating Disability|severe whiplash]]. Carol disputes the charges and – just when it appears that the judge will rule in favor of Mr. Duggan – Mike exposes Duggan as a fraud.

* An episode of ''[[24]]'' from late in the second season, [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming|4:00am to 5:00am]], has [[Reasonable Authority Figure|President Palmer]]'s cabinet vote on whether to remove him from office under the 25th Amendment. It takes place in a conference room, rather than a courtroom, but they call [[Surprise Witness|surprise witnesses]], debate the spirit versus the letter of the law, and have impassioned closing arguments. The President himself even declares it "the trial of David Palmer."

* [[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House On The Prairie]] had two. The first was "Barn Burner", where town bigot Mr. Larabee is accused of burning down the Garvey Barn. The second is "Blind Justice", where a man is put on trial after being accused of swindling the citizens of Walnut Grove in a land scandal.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Several [[BioWare]] games (''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', and ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'') have sidequests where you either act as an attorney for a quest-giver, or are accused of something and have to defend yourself. Usually they involve all of collecting evidence, interviewing people, and making the right statements at court.

 

* Parodied in ''[[Chasing the Sunset]]'': "[[All Bikers Are Hells Angels|The Hell's Pixies]]" invoked [https://web.archive.org/web/20180220052639/http://fantasycomic.com/index.php?p=c372 Pixie Law] when one of them "alledges to be the rightful owner of a necklace currently in the possession of Feiht". The first problem being that they all are [[The Fair Folk|pixies]] - and the first time we have seen two pixies together, they stole some shiny things from each other right during the greeting. Pixies themselves perfectly understand how ludicrous this is, of course. Even before the hearing started, it turned out that pixies' idea of law is fuzzier than a kitten. [[Hilarity Ensues|Comedy ensues]].

{{quote|

'''Dread''': Do you have contempt for the court?

'''Ayne''': Well... yes. }}

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Courtroom Index]]

[[Category:Older Than Print]]

[[Category:Unusual Location Episode]]