"Star Trek" Court Martial (1967)

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:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Kirk states that the computer can increase the sound by a degree of "one to the fourth power." Since that is equal to one, he should have said "ten to the fourth power."

Quotes:

Dr. McCoy: If you have any doubt, that was indeed Captain James Kirk of the Enterprise.
Areel Shaw: Yes, I know. Are you a friend of his?
Dr. McCoy: In these trying times, one of the few. Doctor Leonard McCoy, and you?
Areel Shaw: Areel Shaw and I'm a friend too, an old one.
Dr. McCoy: All of my old friends look like doctors, all of his look like you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Alferd Packer: The Musical (1996)

Kirk finds out he needs a lawyer

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.