Court Martial : TOS Episode 20 Production 15 Original Air Date 2/2/1967 Stardate 2947.3

Court Martial - Star Trek TV Episode [ Synopsis | Editorial Reviews ]
Production # 15 Episode # 20
Air Date: 2/2/1967
Stardate: 2947.3

When the U.S.S. Enterprise puts in at Starbase 11 for repairs caused in an ion storm, Kirk gives his report of the circumstances of Lieutenant Commander Ben Finney's death to Commodore Stone. All goes well until Spock arrives with the computer visual tape of the bridge during the crisis. Spock tries to warn Kirk about what is on the tape, but the Commodore takes it and plays it. Kirk's statement claims that Finney went into the U.S.S. Enterprise's ion pod to take vital readings. When the storm made it necessary to jettison the pod, Kirk warned Finney during a yellow alert; he eventually switched to red alert before jettisoning the ion pod. This event occurred with Finney, apparently, inside.

What the computer tapes show is Kirk pressing the pod-release switch while still in a yellow alert status. As a result of this, the Commodore informs Kirk that he will have to stand trial for possible court-martial for the death of Finney. Things are complicated even more when Finney's daughter, Jamie, blames Kirk for her father's death.

When Kirk meets an old girlfriend, Lt. Areel Shaw, that evening she tells him that she's arranged for a lawyer to come and see him. Unfortunately, she's been assigned to prosecute his case and will try her best to bring him down. Dejected, Kirk goes to his room to find that Samuel T. Cogley has moved in, books and baggage. Kirk decides that he likes the quirky lawyer and they begin to plan the captain's defense.

On the U.S.S. Enterprise, McCoy reprimands Spock for playing chess with the computer while Kirk is on trial for murder. Spock explains that he has won several games straight ... a feat he should not have been able to accomplish unless the computer is malfunctioning. McCoy's interest is piqued and the two men discuss what this development could mean to the captain's defense.

At the trial, just as the defense has rested, Spock appears with the information about the faulty computer. Cogley gives a stirring speech about the rights of men versus machines and the Commodore finally allows the jury to reconvene on board the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Spock explains that having programmed the computer for chess himself just months before, the best he should have been able to do is stalemate. Therefore, the officer explains, someone tampered with the computer, adjusting its memory. When asked who had the knowledge for such an action, the Vulcan admits that it could only have been himself, Kirk or Records Officer Ben Finney. Cogley then suggests that Finney is still alive and hiding somewhere on the U.S.S. Enterprise.

On the Bridge, the ship's sensors have been boosted to pick up any sound on the ship. Everyone but the bridge personnel and transporter attendant are beamed to the surface and the demonstration begins. Switching on the sensors, everyone's heartbeat on the ship is audible. One by one McCoy, using a white-light masking device, eliminates the sound of everyone's heartbeat ... except one ... Finney's.

Kirk goes after Finney and finds him hiding on the ship. Finney has harbored a grudge against Kirk since they were both ensigns, when Kirk had logged a careless and potentially dangerous mistake of Finney's, which the man claims has kept him from promotion over the years.

The two men fight, with Kirk finally winning. Finney had, however, damaged the ship's engines and the U.S.S. Enterprise is losing its orbit. Racing against time, Kirk manages to repair the damage and the U.S.S. Enterprise regains her previous position. Kirk is cleared of all charges and Samuel T. Cogley takes on a new client ... Ben Finney.

Volume 11 in the classic Star Trek series on DVD contains the delightful episode "Court Martial," a time-travel story with an infectious blend of suspense and humor. After dropping into a black hole, the Enterprise ends up orbiting the Earth in the late 1960s, and is spotted by U.S. Air Force Captain Christopher (Roger Perry), who happens to be flying by in his jet. Inadvertently giving poor Christopher an unwanted glimpse into the future, and wrecking his jet with an overpowering tractor beam, Capt. Kirk (William Shatner), not having a good day, beams him aboard the Federation starship. The collision of sensibilities and reference points between characters born several centuries apart has a fresh, urgent tone that subsequent Star Trek series have never captured (though Deep Space Nine came close with its dazzling episode "Trials and Tribble-ations"). The problem, of course, is what to do about Christopher now that he knows what he knows, and history demands that he stay put in his own world: the pilot's unborn son, it seems, will one day make a space flight of historic importance. Terrifically entertaining and something of a precedent-setter for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the theatrical feature set in contemporary San Francisco), "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" is Trek at its best.

Also on this disc is "Return of the Archons," a cautionary story about mind control written by Gene Roddenberry. The tale begins when Ensign Sulu (George Takei) is taken hostage on an Earth-like planet with a primitive culture. Zapped by a weapon that leaves him under the control of someone or something named Landru, Sulu is then pursued by Kirk and Spock (Leonard Nimoy), who discover that Landru has the same grip on everyone else. Once Landru becomes aware of efforts by the captain and first officer to interfere with its bidding, Kirk and Spock become the target of a massive hunt by locals. A minor episode with a somewhat obvious scenario, "Return of the Archons" does have novel appeal in its heightened role for the ever-charming Sulu, and in Roddenberry's characteristically humane interest in elements that make people (and intelligent aliens) everywhere free to fulfill their destinies. The solution to the who-is-Landru mystery won't surprise anyone, but it may strike you as a prototype of several future episodes, from all the Trek series, involving centralized caretaking on various planets. --Tom Keogh