The lack of any type of forensics (DNA) in regards to Kodos and Karidian.
Revisiting Star Trek TOS/TAS...
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The lack of any type of forensics (DNA) in regards to Kodos and Karidian.
Oops. You're absolutely right and I was thinking much the same while I was watching it. But sadly that concept just didn't exist back then for them to think about it. The only and slimmest rationalization was that for some unspecified reason Kodos' DNA couldn't be checked against Karidian's. Yeah, it's weak but what are you gonna do?
I think it's incredible. This series is forty plus years old and this is really the only one where the science actually pulls me out of the story.
Have to agree with you again on all your points
For all the later Roddenbery talk about the 'kumbaya' Starfleet, this was first TOS ep I remember seeing where SF crew really grated against each other, and think episode better for it...
I believe calling it "Spock's first command" is a trope intended to reassure the viewer that Kirk is still the main character, even though the episode largely centers around Spock. In other words, it's not the command that's the first, but being the center of attention.
The fuel jettison is the highlight for me.
I like this one a lot--more than you, certainly. It has a rather large plot error, in which nobody can recognize Karidian even though they have a perfectly good picture of the man, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I like the dialogue and I like seeing Kevin Riley again.
And here I think you're a little generous. The duplicate Earth twist is made out to be a big deal in the first act, and then is immediately dropped. There's no reason for it to be in the episode at all. Sure, they use Hollywood back lot sets for the planet in the episode, but the series would do this later without making such a big deal about it.
Besides that, I find the episode itself to be rather boring. Actually, looking at your rating scale, three stars isn't far off from my reaction to it. It's not offensive as an episode--just there. The series has far better to offer (and, later, far worse).
I agree with Harvey: Miri is a measurably poorer episode than The Conscience of the King.
The character scenes in TCOTK are fabulous. However, you correctly identified the major plot holes and how it is dated. But those flaws are actually easily reparable, and so, not fatal.
Thanks especially for the perspective on the historical context of TCOTK. Being too young, in my 40's, I would not have realized that on my own.
The character scenes in TCOTK are fabulous. However, you correctly identified the major plot holes and how it is dated. But those flaws are actually easily reparable, and so, not fatal.
Thanks especially for the perspective on the historical context of TCOTK. Being too young, in my 40's, I would not have realized that on my own.
Sometimes I do wrestle with a rating. I can like parts of an episode quite a lot and still feel the whole thing doesn't come off well enough in the end. And this is something I'm also finding with the TNG episodes. Over in that forum (and I'm running these threads concurrently on another board as well) some have also thought I might have been a bit generous or a bit stingy on given episodes. No matter how objective you try to be you do end up being influenced by your own preferences. And that isn't really a bad thing because it does reflect your own distinctive perspective.
And in reflection I may have been a tad generous with "The Galileo Seven." I quite like the episode and I'm quite exhilarated when watching it, but with some of my criticisms perhaps it was more worthy of a 4 rather than a 5. On reflection it could be that since I'm finding TOS' first season to be starting out so strongly I could tend to be less critical, more forgiving when they stumble. I noticed this in TNG as well when I felt the series was in a groove. But when things start slipping too often then one could tend to be less forgiving.
And in reflection I may have been a tad generous with "The Galileo Seven." I quite like the episode and I'm quite exhilarated when watching it, but with some of my criticisms perhaps it was more worthy of a 4 rather than a 5. On reflection it could be that since I'm finding TOS' first season to be starting out so strongly I could tend to be less critical, more forgiving when they stumble. I noticed this in TNG as well when I felt the series was in a groove. But when things start slipping too often then one could tend to be less forgiving.
"Court Martial" *****
Kirk is charged with the death of an officer under his command.
Let me be upfront about this: I have always really liked this episode and I still do. It's full of wonderful moments and dramatic energy. I love the beautiful mattes we see of Starbase 11. I think this is the episode where the Spock we all recognize has finally arrived. I believe this is the first mention of Starfleet Command as the Enterprise's operating authority. And I really like how right off they depict the fully interracial makeup of Starfleet. Stone is a black man who has commanded a starship and now commands a starbase. We see other starship commanders who are non white and non American centric. We see more evidence of the Enterprise's multi-ethnic crew. We also see how even a lowly Personnel Officer appears to hold her commanding officer in high regard. I like Areel Shaw and that she's an old flame of Kirk's who definitely has more going for her than being eye candy. I liked seeing Uhura at Navigation again.
Finally there's Elisha Cook as Samuel T. Cogley who just lights up the screen with his performance. Cogley also represents that element in many of us who aren't quite ready to throw away everything of our past and present in our headlong rush into the future.
I feel juiced and rewarded when I watch this episode. But that isn't to say it's technically perfect. There are flaws to it, some of them are in the depiction of technology (as seen from our current perspective) and some of them are flaws of omission in order to tell a taut story. And there is one creative flub as well.
The creative flub is Kirk's omniscient narrative near the end. It's really unnecessary and something we never had before or since. It's not even offered up as a supplement to the Captain's Log which might have excused it. But it's a minor criticism.
In terms of technology it's tough today to wrap your head around Spock's method of proving the ship's computer had been tampered with. We understand computers today being capable of running a multitude of different programs simultaneously. As I understand it even if one program is misbehaving it doesn't necessarily follow other programs will misbehave as well. The only slimmest rationalization is that the onboard ship's record system---or operational logs---should be tamper proof and the only way to mess with them would result in other systems being corrupted with as well. But this is never mentioned, directly that is. Of course in the real world we know the understanding of how computers work was much more rudimentary and less widely understood in the mid 1960s than it is today.
My other criticism is in terms of how Kirk's case was conducted. Maybe I've watched too much Law & Order as well as JAG. And JAG would be a close fit with this. The prosecution bases their entire case on the computer log extract which everyone is assuming to be infallible and tamper proof. But they offer up no additional corroborative eyewitness testimony or any other evidence. On Cogley's side we see no effort on his part to offer up other witnesses to testify that the ship was indeed on Yellow Alert at the time Kirk allegedly jettisoned the ion pod. And no other technical related evidence as well. Without information to the contrary my sense is that the writers likely didn't bother doing much if any homework on how an actual naval court martial would be conducted, unlike Law & Order and JAG who definitely had legal consultants for their stories. Never mind that I'm citing more contemporary style television because I could also use the '50s era film The Caine Mutiny as an example as well of how JAG cases are conducted.
I think these are legitimate flaws even with the intention to tell a tight and highly dramatic story. Nonetheless I'm able to overlook them even while acknowledging them because the overall story is told so well.
Kirk is charged with the death of an officer under his command.
Let me be upfront about this: I have always really liked this episode and I still do. It's full of wonderful moments and dramatic energy.
I love the beautiful mattes we see of Starbase 11. I think this is the episode where the Spock we all recognize has finally arrived. I believe this is the first mention of Starfleet Command as the Enterprise's operating authority. And I really like how right off they depict the fully interracial makeup of Starfleet. Stone is a black man who has commanded a starship and now commands a starbase. We see other starship commanders who are non white and non American centric. We see more evidence of the Enterprise's multi-ethnic crew. We also see how even a lowly Personnel Officer appears to hold her commanding officer in high regard. I like Areel Shaw and that she's an old flame of Kirk's who definitely has more going for her than being eye candy. I liked seeing Uhura at Navigation again.Finally there's Elisha Cook as Samuel T. Cogley who just lights up the screen with his performance. Cogley also represents that element in many of us who aren't quite ready to throw away everything of our past and present in our headlong rush into the future.
I feel juiced and rewarded when I watch this episode. But that isn't to say it's technically perfect. There are flaws to it, some of them are in the depiction of technology (as seen from our current perspective) and some of them are flaws of omission in order to tell a taut story. And there is one creative flub as well.
The creative flub is Kirk's omniscient narrative near the end. It's really unnecessary and something we never had before or since. It's not even offered up as a supplement to the Captain's Log which might have excused it. But it's a minor criticism.
In terms of technology it's tough today to wrap your head around Spock's method of proving the ship's computer had been tampered with. We understand computers today being capable of running a multitude of different programs simultaneously. As I understand it even if one program is misbehaving it doesn't necessarily follow other programs will misbehave as well. The only slimmest rationalization is that the onboard ship's record system---or operational logs---should be tamper proof and the only way to mess with them would result in other systems being corrupted with as well. But this is never mentioned, directly that is. Of course in the real world we know the understanding of how computers work was much more rudimentary and less widely understood in the mid 1960s than it is today.
My other criticism is in terms of how Kirk's case was conducted. Maybe I've watched too much Law & Order as well as JAG. And JAG would be a close fit with this. The prosecution bases their entire case on the computer log extract which everyone is assuming to be infallible and tamper proof. But they offer up no additional corroborative eyewitness testimony or any other evidence. On Cogley's side we see no effort on his part to offer up other witnesses to testify that the ship was indeed on Yellow Alert at the time Kirk allegedly jettisoned the ion pod. And no other technical related evidence as well. Without information to the contrary my sense is that the writers likely didn't bother doing much if any homework on how an actual naval court martial would be conducted, unlike Law & Order and JAG who definitely had legal consultants for their stories. Never mind that I'm citing more contemporary style television because I could also use the '50s era film The Caine Mutiny as an example as well of how JAG cases are conducted.
I think these are legitimate flaws even with the intention to tell a tight and highly dramatic story. Nonetheless I'm able to overlook them even while acknowledging them because the overall story is told so well.
I've always thought that was one of the strangest aspects of those new duotronic computer systems. It's such an odd way to design a system that it almost makes me wonder about the mental stability of the guy that invented it. I think he bears watching!*
I should probably have a complaint about the idea that the ex-lover of a defendant would be allowed to prosecute his case, but I give that a pass because I like the way it implies that Starbase 11 is out on the frontier, having to make do with what personnel they have.
*All said with tongue firmly in cheek, of course.
I agree with your rating 100%, as qualified by your scale, upthread.
As to the issue of the voice over, this is all around an unusual episode. There are many unusual episodes, each unusual in its own way, and this is one of them. This is the "Perry Mason episode" of the series, as it were. Being unusual, I'm willing to allow it to be unusual with respect to the "beaten and sobbing" voice over.
Cogley's speech is a highlight of the whole series [from a transcript]:
Despite its high marks, in fairness, this episode also deserves mention for providing an entry in the contest for Worst Treknobabble Ever [ibid.]:
This means to multiply its capacity by a factor of something on the order of one???
[Notes: 1^4=1. I suspect they meant ten to the fourth power, or by a factor of 10,000.]
Curious how so many focus on that one little tech issue as opposed to the other things going on. Yes, it's a tech goof because it could have been smoothed over with a line of dialogue. But I assumed it had already been tuned to focus on only the heartbeats of those aboard ship and not every other sound. But what gets me is wouldn't have been simpler to use ship's internal sensors to locate everyone aboard?
Simpler, yes, but possibly not as dramatic.
Simpler, yes, but possibly not as dramatic.
"Mudd's Women" has become one of my favorite of the early Star Treks, over the years. From the musical score through the wholesale appropriation of tropes from TV and movie westerns, it has the charm of a period piece.
The first three acts of "Court-Martial" are terrific. For me, things unravel a bit in the final act. The microphone/auditory sensor is a stretch. Couldn't ship's sensors have been used (I know, not as dramatic...a big deal is made of this). The fist-fight with Finney was unnecessary, I thought, as was Kirk having to pull out the extension cords in the Jeffries tube.
A more satisfying ending would have been for Kirk to confront Finney in Engineering...they argue, and we become aware that Finney is unbalanced and has somehow sabotaged the ship. Then Sam Cogley enters with Jame (as was originally filmed) and Finney breaks down completely. At that point perhaps he, and only he, can effect repairs to the ship.
The ending, as aired, seemed gratuitous. I know that somehow we needed to know that the ship was in trouble, but this just seemed like another excuse for Kirk to get into a fistfight and rip his shirt.
I liked Phil Ferrand's note in his "Nitpicker's Guide":
A more satisfying ending would have been for Kirk to confront Finney in Engineering...they argue, and we become aware that Finney is unbalanced and has somehow sabotaged the ship. Then Sam Cogley enters with Jame (as was originally filmed) and Finney breaks down completely. At that point perhaps he, and only he, can effect repairs to the ship.
The ending, as aired, seemed gratuitous. I know that somehow we needed to know that the ship was in trouble, but this just seemed like another excuse for Kirk to get into a fistfight and rip his shirt.
I liked Phil Ferrand's note in his "Nitpicker's Guide":
Are you kidding? The USS Enterprise has enormous frackin' nuts!
It faced Balok's Giant Ball of Lightbrites all by its lonesome.
The Enterprise has the biggest frackin' nuts in the Universe!
"Fucking nuts."
If you can't say it, you can't do it.
If you can't say it, you can't do it.
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