Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap/S1/E20 Court Martial

• Main
• Analysis
• Characters
• Recap
  • S1
    • E00 The Cage
    • E01 The Man Trap
    • E02 Charlie X
    • E04 The Naked Time
    • E14 Balance of Terror
    • E18 Arena
    • E20 Court Martial
    • E21 The Return of the Archons
    • E22 Space Seed
    • E23 A Taste of Armageddon
    • E26 Errand of Mercy
    • E28 The City on the Edge of Forever
    • E29 Operation: Annihilate!
  • S2
    • E01 Amok Time
    • E02 Who Mourns for Adonais?
    • E03 The Changeling
    • E04 Mirror, Mirror
    • E05 The Apple
    • E06 The Doomsday Machine
    • E07 Catspaw
    • E09 Metamorphosis
    • E11 Friday's Child
    • E12 The Deadly Years
    • E14 Wolf in the Fold
    • E15 The Trouble With Tribbles
    • E16 The Gamesters of Triskelion
    • E21 Patterns of Force
  • S3
    • E01 Spock's Brain
    • E08 For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
    • E24 Turnabout Intruder
• Trivia
• YMMV
• Fridge
• Fanfic Recs
• Image Links
• Crowners
  • Awesome
  • Funny
  • Heartwarming
  • Tear Jerker
• Wikipedia
• All Subpages
• Create New

"Court Martial"

Doctor, I am aware of the fact that the Captain is on trial even as we speak, but I'm winning this game.
A story from Star Trek: The Original Series
Preceded by:	"Tomorrow Is Yesterday"
Followed by:	"The Return of the Archons"
Original release date:	February 2, 1967
Central Theme:
Synopsis:

After having gone through a severe ion storm, the never-before-mentioned Records Officer Lt. Comm. Ben Finney is dead. Now safely at Starbase 11, Kirk is filling out the necessary paperwork (does he have to do this for every Red Shirt?) and chatting amiably with Commodore Stone. Suddenly, Finney's teenage daughter Jame (pronounced "Jamie") bursts in and starts calling Kirk a murderer at the top of her lungs for no particular reason. It's after this that Stone notices the Enterprise computer's transcript suggests Kirk is guilty of culpable negligence in Finney's death. |Dun dun DUN.

Kirk soon finds himself facing (you guessed it) court martial and who does the prosecution turns out to be? Areel Shaw, one of Kirk's six million old girlfriends! For his own attorney, Kirk gets Samuel T. Cogley, a crazy old Luddite who doesn't use his computer, insisting that the law "really" exists in books. This is a bit like a modern-day lawyer insisting that the law really exists on papyrus scrolls, but never mind. Cogley decides to build his case on Kirk being a human and the computer being a soulless machine. It was mentioned prior to this that Finney had a huge grudge against Kirk, but this apparently isn't considered relevant.

Denny Crane arrives in court. Shaw starts off by questioning Spock, Bones and the ship's personnel officer. Jame is also present, constantly scowling and getting the odd cutaway shot. Cogley argues that Kirk is innocent because machines are inhuman and Shaw shows a video from the day which seemingly proves Kirk's guilt. Somehow, her case goes over better and Kirk finds himself in deep do-do. Meanwhile, Jame decides Kirk is innocent just about as arbitrarily as she decided he was a murderer and apologizes. It must be her time of the month. Back on the Enterprise, Spock notices that the computer isn't as good at 3D chess as it should be and realizes someone tampered with it. Before making use of this evidence, Cogley, of course, has to go into a rant about the wheels of progress being out of control. It's quickly deduced that Finney not only messed with the computer, but faked his death and is hiding on the ship. Kirk sets off to confront him alone since This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself, leading to an obligatory fight scene with the crazed Finney. Finney admits to sabotaging the Enterprise, causing the ship's orbit to decay. Kirk fixes this up with a stop by the Jeffries Tube.

All is resolved. Cogley plans to defend Finney, Shaw, obviously happy she lost, kisses Kirk and the Enterprise sets off on her next adventure.

Tropes used in Court Martial include:

• Courtroom Episode
  • Courtroom Antic: Moving the venue to the bridge of the Enterprise in the middle of the trial.

---

Back to Star Trek: The Original Series

Back to Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap