“Court-Martial”

Stardate: 2947.3-2950.1
Episode: 15
Original US Airdate: 2 February 1967

Kirk on trial! Is Kirk a murderer? Do computers lie? What's Areel Shaw doing prosecuting her old boyfriend, anyway?

Summary

The Enterprise arrives at Starbase 11 for repairs after sustaining severe damage during an ion storm. The ship's records officer, Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin Finney, had been in the ion pod taking readings and was apparently killed when the pod had to be jettisoned to save the Enterprise. The starbase's portmaster, Commodore Stone, begins an investigation into Finney's death and institutes court-martial proceedings against Captain Kirk after the Enterprise's computer records appear to show that the pod was ejected before Finney had an adequate chance to escape. Although Kirk vehemently protests his innocence, he is further incriminated when it is learned that Finney had deeply hated Kirk and blamed his former friend for his lack of promotion. (Years ago, while both were serving on the USS Republic, Kirk had relieved Finney on watch and discovered a dangerous open circuit. Kirk reported Finney's oversight, causing Finney to be reprimanded and sent to the bottom of the promotion list.) The prosecutor at the court-martial is none other than an old girlfriend of Kirk's, Lt. Areel Shaw. On her recommendation, Kirk retains the eccentric defense lawyer Samuel T. Cogley.

Inspired by a chance remark form Kirk just as he is about to be found guilty ("You may be able to beat your next captain at chess"), Spock tests the computer's program bank by playing chess against it. He discovers that its programming has been altered after he is able to beat the computer five times (he should have been able to achieve no better than a draw). Spock and Dr. McCoy rush down to the starbase with this new evidence, and the court reconvenes aboard the Enterprise. There, the computer's auditory sensor detects one more person's heartbeat than can be accounted for. Finney had actually faked his own death and altered the computer records to discredit Kirk. Kirk finds Finney hiding in engineering and learns he has also sabotaged the ship by tapping out the primary energy circuits. When Kirk tells Finney his daughter Jame is aboard (surreptitiously fetched from the starbase by Cogley), Finney breaks down and tells Kirk where the circuits have been compromised. Kirk repairs the damage just before the Enterprise burns up due to a decaying orbit. The good captain is cleared of all charges, and Cogley's next case is Finney's defense.

Quotable Quotes

McCoy (to Areel): "All of my old friends look like doctors. All of his [Kirk's] look like you."

Kirk (to Areel): "Dr. McCoy said you were [Shatneresque pause] here; I should have felt it in the air like static electricity."

Cogley: "Don't you like books?"
Kirk: "Oh, I like them fine, but a computer takes less space."

Kirk (after Cogley's speech on books): "You have to be either an obsessive crackpot who's escaped from his keeper or Samuel T. Cogley, attorney-at-law."

Trial Computer: "Charge: culpable negligence. Specification: in that on stardate 2945.7, by such negligence, Captain Kirk, James T., did cause loss of life—to wit, the life of Records Officer Lieutenant Commander Finney, Benjamin."

Areel (to Spock on witness stand): "…You know a great deal about computers, don't you?"
Spock (matter-of-factly): "I know all about them."

Spock (on why the computer log must be wrong): "If I let go of a hammer on a planet that has a positive gravity, I need not see it fall to know that it has, in fact, fallen…Human beings have characteristics, just as inanimate objects do. It is impossible for Captain Kirk to act out of panic or malice. It is not his nature."

McCoy (on finding Spock playing chess): "Mr. Spock, you're the most cold-blooded man I've ever known."
Spock: "Why, thank you, Doctor."

Kirk (saying good-bye to Areel): "Better luck next time."
Areel: "I had pretty good luck this time. I lost, didn't I?"

Trivia

The starship whose repair work was put on hold when the Enterprise showed up was the USS Intrepid, the all-Vulcan ship that was later wiped out by the "space amoeba" in the episode "The Immunity Syndrome."

The bar chart in Stone's office is hardly futuristic looking (it's more like something I might have made when I was in junior high in the early 1970s).

The "white sound device" used to mask the bridge personnel's heartbeats from the ship computer's auditory sensor is obviously a 1960s microphone.

"…on the order of one to the fourth power." Kirk must have flunked pre-algebra at Starfleet Academy; 1⁴=1, of course. Hopefully, he meant to say something like "ten to the fourth power;" he was under a great deal of stress at the time.

Observations

Why would Areel Shaw agree to prosecute someone with whom she once had a romantic relationship? Wouldn't that present a conflict of interest?

Cogley's remarks on computers ("…a synthesis of all the great legal decisions…") are, as Mr. Spock might say, illogical. Transcribed legal documents that have been entered into a computer are not "homogenized, pasteurized, synthesized"; they contain the same words found in Cogley's dusty old books. (Check an online copy of the US Constitution—does it look "homogenized"?)

Awards Banquet

Lieutenant Commander Spock, serial no. S179-276SP

Commendations: Vulcanian Scientific Legion of Honor
Awards of Valor: Twice decorated by Starfleet Command

Lieutenant Commander Leonard McCoy, serial no. ?

Commendations: Legion of Honor
Awards of Valor: Decorated by Starfleet Surgeons

Captain James T. Kirk, serial no. SC937-0176CEC

Commendations: Palm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission; Grankite Order of Tactics, Class of Excellence; Prantares Ribbon of Commendation, Classes First and Second
Awards of Valor (among others): Medal of Honor, silver palm with cluster; Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry; Karragite Order of Heroism

Director's Cut(ting Remarks)

According to The Star Trek Interview Book, "Court-Martial" director Marc Daniels wasn't exactly crazy about this episode:

While we were making "Court-Martial," we all felt, "Oh, God, this is a dog. Let's get it over with as best we can."…Part of the problem was that it didn't have too much action in it. Also, Elisha Cook, Jr., who portrayed the main character, couldn't remember his lines. When you're on a six-day schedule, trying to make time, and you've got to keep stopping and going back, it drives everyone crazy. You've got a courtroom scene and you're photographing him one line at a time because he can't remember two. Of course, when you put it together in the editing room, you don't see that because you cut to somebody else and then come back to him. So maybe we all felt, "Thank God that's over with."

Conclusion

Admittedly not much action, but Kirk's unwavering proclamation of his innocence is most impressive, as is Spock's calmly-expressed belief in his commander's essential integrity.

Video Captures

(From the "Court-Martial" DVD; click thumbnail to see full-sized picture)

Kirk, Commodore Stone, and "sophisticated" bar chart	Kirk and Commodore Stone	Spock arrives with computer log	Jame Finney confronts Kirk	Spock escorts Jame out of the room
Title screen	Kirk and McCoy enter the Starbase 11 bar	Kirk almost bumps into his old flame, Areel Shaw	McCoy and Areel	Kirk and Stone during inquiry
Kirk extends a friendly greeting to Areel	Kirk meets his defense attorney, Samuel T. Cogley	Cogley vs. computer	"Books, young man! Books!"	Stone begins Kirk's court-martial
Kirk and Cogley	Areel (in dress uniform)	Jame pouting at the trial	Areel questions Spock	The trial board listens to Spock's testimony
Areel questions the Enterprise's unnamed personnel officer	McCoy's turn to be grilled by Lt. Shaw	Kirk on the stand	Scene from playback of the infamous computer log	Kirk hits the jettison button
"Mr. Cogley, we've got to stop this."	McCoy finds Spock playing chess	McCoy and Spock rush in just before the verdict is announced	Cogley questions Spock aboard the Enterprise	McCoy applies the "white sound device" to Kirk
Kirk looks for Finney in engineering	Finney finds Kirk	Kirk and Finney (actually their stunt doubles) duke it out	Kirk, up a Jeffries tube	Kirk and Areel must part...
...but not before one last kiss	"She's a very good lawyer."

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