In the twentieth episode of the first season of Star Trek, Captain Kirk’s career is called into question after a death on the Enterprise. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
This was just an okay episode until the halfway mark, and then it becomes RIDICULOUS. I liked the format of “Court Martial” because I’m kind of a sucker for court procedurals. THEY WERE MY FAVORITE SCENES ON LAW AND ORDER: SVU OKAY. Here, though, Star Trek gives us a better glimpse at the organization that governs the Enterprise. Set in a Starbase, the story here does worldbuiling on top of its dramatic storytelling.
Admittedly, though, I wasn’t necessarily drawn into the premise because of one issue: Kirk couldn’t possibly be guilty. The charges against him – that he was guilty of perjury and negligence – didn’t make sense to the crew, and it’s meant not to make sense to the audience. I did love that there were no flashbacks here until Shaw reveals her key offense because it kept my attention on the acting and the storytelling. It’s actually a clever way to shock us. We’re forced to accept the details from the events that led to Lt. Commander Finney’s death during an ion storm. As far as we know, Captain Kirk made a tough decision to jettison the research pod Finney was in so that the Enterprise could be saved.
Now, I have no problem saying that I didn’t understand the logistics of the ion storm, but I found that I didn’t need to get all that in order to comprehend the story. The point here is that Captain Kirk had to do what he’s always done as the captain of a starship. The ultimate goal of any mission is to keep the Enterprise safe. When Spock’s tape reveals that Kirk jettisoned the pod earlier than he should have, I wasn’t worried about Kirk’s fate. Clearly, it was a mistake! Right? Right?
And that’s why I wasn’t initially drawn into the story of “Court Martial.” Kirk would be fine, he didn’t mess up, the computer had to be wrong. That’s why the big twist halfway through this episode is such a brilliant moment. When Lt. Shaw shares the video recording of events on the bridge, we are forced to accept a horrible reality: CAPTAIN KIRK REALLY DID JETTISON THE RESEARCH POD BEFORE HE SHOULD HAVE. But how could he be so convinced he did the right thing? William Shatner’s acting upon that reveal is so good because we can see how unsettled his character is. Now, I didn’t believe for a second that Kirk maliciously jettisoned that pod in some weird plan to murder Finney. There’s an emotional background to these two characters, since Kirk’s report years earlier about a mistake Finney made haunted Finney for a long time. At the core of this conflict is jealousy. Finney hated that his mistake caused him to be passed over for promotion, despite that he was actually Kirk’s instructor at one point.
But Kirk’s mistake that was captured on video looked like a mistake, didn’t it? He didn’t villainously look about to see if anyone was watching him. And it was genuinely Finney’s turn on the roster to enter the research pod, so how on earth could this have been a real murder plot????
COMPUTERS. I now understand the scene where Cogley celebrates the beauty of books. It was a hint that the problem here was the way in which technology could be manipulated to hurt other people. Even then? I still didn’t figure out the ending of this episode. It became clear that someone –possibly Lt. Commander Finney – had altered the programming on the Enterprise’s computer in order to alter reality. Granted, it’s not entirely explained well. (How do you make a camera change the reality it records???) But “Court Martial” commits to this idea, and JETTISONS ME INTO ABSURDITY. And damn, it’s so fun to watch. Cogley’s speech about the rights of man was awesome, and then everything onboard the Enterprise was just one thrilling and eerie scene after another. It’s a court room narrative that GOES TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME, where Kirk demonstrates his and Spock’s theory through SCIENCE. The heartbeat sequence was eerie as hell, y’all. And it confirmed that Lt. Commander Finney was not dead. HOLY SHIT, WHAT A TWIST. WHAT A TWIST.
The big fight scene between Finney and Kirk made me laugh more than it was thrilling or anything else. I like how the people of the court just… didn’t go help out??? Like, you’re responsible for arbitrating Federation law, and you’re listening to a live feed of someone about to commit murder of a starship captain. OH, AND YOURSELF. You’re going to die! If you don’t stop Finney, the Enterprise is going to burn up! The fight itself featured what I think is the third example of Kirk’s uniform being dramatically torn off his body. Was this a requirement in Shatner’s contract? I’m fine with, let’s have it happen more often.
Anyway, the ending to “Court Martial” is kind of abrupt. What happened to Jaime? Did Cogley seriously bring Jaime back to a ship that could have burned up just so she could be bait for her father? And while I understand that Cogley’s job as a defense attorney means that he’s supposed to defend anyone, but isn’t there a conflict of interest in him working for Finney? Regardless, I had a great time watching this episode. The second half was SO GOOD! Plus, we got another scene with Bones trying to insult Spock and Spock taking it as a compliment. Bless these two, I swear.
The video for “Court Martial” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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