Some "Court Martial" notes.

[Warped9]

Despite its flaws I still really like this episode.

[Josan]

I've always been amused by Kirk's voice-over near the end. "Beaten and sobbing, Finney told me where he had sabotaged the prime energy circuits."

It's not identified as a log entry but if it is I find it funny that beating the charges weren't enough for Kirk. He wanted a little extra humiliation on Finney's record for a final payback.

[Melakon]

Josan wrote:

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[Kirk] wanted a little extra humiliation on Finney's record for a final payback.

That's why James T. Kirk is the ultimate badass.

[Dale Sams]

Well what the hell did Scotty do to Kirk in "Lights of Zetar" for this log entry?

"When a man of Scotty's years falls in love,
the loneliness of his life is suddenly revealed to him.
His whole heart once throbbed only to the ship 's engines.
He could talk only to the ship.
Now he can see nothing but the woman."

[Melakon]

Dale Sams wrote:

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Well what the hell did Scotty do to Kirk in "Lights of Zetar" for this log entry?

Badmouthed him at conventions?

[ssosmcin]

Josan wrote:

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I've always been amused by Kirk's voice-over near the end. "Beaten and sobbing, Finney told me where he had sabotaged the prime energy circuits."

It's not identified as a log entry but if it is I find it funny that beating the charges weren't enough for Kirk. He wanted a little extra humiliation on Finney's record for a final payback.

"And as I rained blows upon him...."

[Warped9]

Dale Sams wrote:

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Well what the hell did Scotty do to Kirk in "Lights of Zetar" for this log entry?

"When a man of Scotty's years falls in love,
the loneliness of his life is suddenly revealed to him.
His whole heart once throbbed only to the ship 's engines.
He could talk only to the ship.
Now he can see nothing but the woman."

Kirk's revenge for Scotty not standing up for him to the Klingons in the K-7 Station bar.

[Wingsley]

"1 to the 4th power", and Jamie's cheesy-weird emotional rollercoaster, and Kirk being prosecuted by his ex, and Stone's inexplicable haste in accusing Kirk in the first place are all secondary and can be forgiven. Even the notion of an "ion pod" can be overlooked.

But the fulcrum that this episode rests on is not the computer. It's Ben Finney. How a clown like Finney could graduate from Starfleet Academy is beyond me. He concocts this whole scheme to discredit Kirk, and sabotages the ship as well?

If the courtroom drama seems cheesy, just remember, this is a depiction of a society where no captain of a starship-of-the-line had ever been put on trial before. (Also a society that, to date, had never had a mutiny occur aboard a starship, either) A society with that kind of record would be significantly different from ours.

Interesting how Kirk has to defend himself against the (altered) flight recorder record, but he has to sign a hardcopy report before his claims come under fire. (I don't remember ever seeing that in TOS again.) Usually, Kirk would simply sign one of those iPad/clipboard thingies.

Am I the only one who finds it improper that Kirk seems to repeatedly horse around with women he meets in professional situations where he should be expected to keep it, um, professional?

Despite all its flaws, "Court Martial" is a charming and entertaining "Kirk vs. Computer" tale, even if the real issue here is how infallible Starfleet ever managed to overlook a would-be mass-murdering terrorist like Finney in the first place.

[ssosmcin]

Christopher wrote:

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It's not because he (supposedly) died, it's because the evidence showed that Kirk pushed the jettison button prematurely, which was either incompetence or murder. So it was Kirk's own action that was directly responsible.

I hear ya, my tongue was wedged in my cheek, but I still get the feeling there should have been some kind of inquiry after beaming up from Gamma Trianguli 6 sans four of his security guys.

It's also pretty amusing the "Jettison Ion Pod" button is one of the small handful of controls on the arm of his chair.

[Melakon]

ssosmcin wrote:

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It's also pretty amusing the "Jettison Ion Pod" button is one of the small handful of controls on the arm of his chair.

Kirk bangs the arm of the chair in frustration, accidentally hitting a button. "Oh shit!"

[Dale Sams]

ssosmcin wrote:

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I hear ya, my tongue was wedged in my cheek, but I still get the feeling there should have been some kind of inquiry after beaming up from Gamma Trianguli 6 sans four of his security guys.

It's also pretty amusing the "Jettison Ion Pod" button is one of the small handful of controls on the arm of his chair.

I just figured Kirk's controls are 'mapped' for the occasion.

[ZapBrannigan]

Dale Sams wrote:

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I just figured Kirk's controls are 'mapped' for the occasion.

It's kind of ironic. The show makers didn't know that someday controls in real life would be that dynamic and adaptable, so they did a "real future" thing without knowing it, and hoped we'd never notice.

[ZapBrannigan]

Dale Sams wrote:

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So finally when they reconvene, after calling one witness, entering no evidence, cross-examining no one. Cogley literally throws his hands up in the air. If it wern't for Spock, Kirk would be working as a cargo handler on the edge of the galaxy.

When they were passing out the luck, Kirk got a massive helping and several other starship captains didn't get any.

[Captain Rob]

^^ Yeah; especially the Captain of the USS Excalibur. And his crew.

[ZapBrannigan]

Captain Rob wrote:

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^^ Yeah; especially the Captain of the USS Excalibur. And his crew.

And the Intrepid (We can't be dying, it's illogical!), and the Defiant (You're strangling me? You're the punk who gets my coffee!), and don't forget Christopher Pike is another guy fate crapped on. If Spock had just waited a few more weeks before kidnapping Pike, he could have been cured by the spores on Omicron Ceti III. Instead he got dropped off on Talos IV where in two days they'll realize they don't have a compatible battery recharger for the chair that keeps him alive. Buh-bye.