"Star Trek" Court Martial (1967)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Marc Daniels

Writers:

Don Mankiewicz (teleplay) and
Steven W. Carabatsos (teleplay) ...

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

2 February 1967 (Season 1, Episode 20)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Kirk draws a court martial in the negligent death of a crewman.

Plot Keywords:

Federation | Space | Starship | Computer | Vulcan

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
Percy Rodrigues	...	Portmaster Stone (as Percy Rodriguez)
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Cogley (as Elisha Cook)
Joan Marshall	...	Areel Shaw
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Richard Webb	...	Finney
Hagan Beggs	...	Helmsman
Win De Lugo	...	Timothy (as Winston DeLugo)
Alice Rawlings	...	Jame Finney
Nancy Wong	...	Personnel Officer
Bart Conrad	...	Krasnovsky
William Meader	...	Board Officer
Reginald Lal Singh	...	Board Officer

Runtime:

50 min | Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Canada:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

First mention of Starfleet.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Dr. McCoy's "white sound device" is a 20th century microphone.

Quotes:

Mr. Spock: Lieutenant, I am half-Vulcanian. Vulcanians do not speculate. I speak from pure logic. 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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Alferd Packer: The Musical (1996)

The acting saves this one

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.