Court Martial is really an odd episode

[Gotham Central]

Anyone that has watched much TV, has probably seen their share of legal procedurals.

That said, the Trek episode "Court Martial" is an odd episode story wise. Its actually pretty poorly plotted.

For instance, we are told that Samule Cogley is a brilliant if eccentric lawyer. We even have him celebrating that he wins the case. However, if you watch the episode...Cogley does not actually DO anything. Spock is the one that wins the case for them. Nothing that Cogley does has any effect.

Then there is the bit with Finney's daughter. Its never made clear how much she knows or WHY she stops blaming Kirk. Cogley gets all suspicious of her change in mindset...but this seems to go nowhere. Again, from there we move to Spock figuring out that the computer has been tampered with. Cogley apparently goes to bring Finney's daughter on board, but this ends up being irrelevant...and only results in giving Cogley even LESS to do.

The defense portion of the episode just seems really weak.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

The script called for Jaime to read her father's letters and realize he was the type who would frame Kirk. Doesn't seem too dramatic, so it was dropped.

Sir Rhosis

http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/court_martial.htm

 

[BillJ]

The script called for Jaime to read her father's letters and realize he was the type who would frame Kirk. Doesn't seem too dramatic, so it was dropped.

Sir Rhosis

http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/court_martial.htm

I think that would've been more dramatically appealing then Spock swooping in to save the day with his Mr. Microphone.

 

[Knight Templar]

Cogley does win the case by winning the MAJOR point of the case against Kirk.

Areel Shaw tells Kirk (probably inappropriately) that Starfleet will make the case be "Kirk against the computer"

And it is apparent that Starfleet considers the computer records to be completely unquestionable and the de facto truth.

But Cogley wins by arguing that Kirk has a right to confront his accuser, and since the accuser is the Enterprise computer, Kirk has a right to confront and challenge its "testimony". It is apparent until Cogley's argument that the board is unwilling to consider remotely the possibility of computer error or tampering.

And remember, Spock never establishes that the computer records of the ejection of the pod are false. He merely establishes that SOMETHING happened to the computer because he can beat it at chess. For all he can prove, one could argue that the computer was damaged by the Ion storm and not by Finney's sabotage.

Note, this episode probably goes a long way to justifying Kirk's legendary distrust of computers.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Cogley does win the case by winning the MAJOR point of the case against Kirk.

Areel Shaw tells Kirk (probably inappropriately) that Starfleet will make the case be "Kirk against the computer"

And it is apparent that Starfleet considers the computer records to be completely unquestionable and the de facto truth.

But Cogley wins by arguing that Kirk has a right to confront his accuser, and since the accuser is the Enterprise computer, Kirk has a right to confront and challenge its "testimony". It is apparent until Cogley's argument that the board is unwilling to consider remotely the possibility of computer error or tampering.

And remember, Spock never establishes that the computer records of the ejection of the pod are false. He merely establishes that SOMETHING happened to the computer because he can beat it at chess. For all he can prove, one could argue that the computer was damaged by the Ion storm and not by Finney's sabotage.

Note, this episode probably goes a long way to justifying Kirk's legendary distrust of computers.

After Mister Spock determines that someone, accidentally or deliberately, changed the computer records, it was Cogley who came up with the not intuitively obvious explanation that Ben Finney was faking his own death. While Spock provides important data and Jamie Finney provides a sudden, odd, change of heart, only Cogley is able to connect the dots.

And as Sir Rhosis indicates, it's not correct that it is never made clear why Jamie changes her mind-set. It is made clear in the script; it's just not made clear in the final cut of the episode.

 

[Knight Templar]

I could've sworn that in the final episode Jamie Finney references letters between Kirk and Finney and realizes that Kirk could never have deliberately killed her father.

 

[Knight Templar]

One thing I liked about Courtmartial was that it was clear that Starfleet wanted to "make the whole thing go away" for the "good of the service".

That is even though they thought Kirk got mad and murdered Finney, Starfleet was willing to let it slide if he resigned and everyone forgot the whole thing.

Finally, I've always had a feeling that Starfleet picked Areel Shaw to prosecute (despite obvious conflict of interest) because they figured she could get Kirk to "take one for the team".

 

[Sir Rhosis]

I could've sworn that in the final episode Jamie Finney references letters between Kirk and Finney and realizes that Kirk could never have deliberately killed her father.

No, only in the script (and maybe in Blish's novelization -- could that be what you're remembering?).

Sir Rhosis

 

[xortex]

No, I saw that too, that she says she was reading over letters between Kirk and Finney that convinced her he couldn't have killed him. She makes a point of having to have to tell him before she breaks down and cries. It made it to the screen somehow. Though so much was cut during syndication to cram in commercials it's a wonder there was any story left at all sometimes. It's wierd to see cut scenes you never saw before 40 years later like that weird scene in the Honymooners where Gleason addresses the audience directly live to say Merry Christmas.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

It's wierd to see cut scenes you never saw before 40 years later like that weird scene in the Honymooners where Gleason addresses the audience directly live to say Merry Christmas.

Oh, I thought that was Doctor Who.

 

[Shatinator]

One thing I liked about Courtmartial was that it was clear that Starfleet wanted to "make the whole thing go away" for the "good of the service".

That is even though they thought Kirk got mad and murdered Finney, Starfleet was willing to let it slide if he resigned and everyone forgot the whole thing.

Finally, I've always had a feeling that Starfleet picked Areel Shaw to prosecute (despite obvious conflict of interest) because they figured she could get Kirk to "take one for the team".

That's an indictment of the entire institution!

Cogley does win the case by winning the MAJOR point of the case against Kirk.

But Cogley wins by arguing that Kirk has a right to confront his accuser, and since the accuser is the Enterprise computer, Kirk has a right to confront and challenge its "testimony".

And Kirk has held a grudge with those confounded contraptions ever since, finding ever more convenient excuses to cast his vengeance on thee (M-5, Landru....)

 

[Sir Rhosis]

My memory must be going. I haven't seen the ep in ages...

Sir Rhosis

 

[Warped9]

No, I'm pretty sure just before they go back to court Jamie comes in and pleads with Cogley to make a deal for Kirk or something to that effect. She says she had been rereading her dad's letters and realized Kirk could never have deliberately killed him. It is in the episode.

 

[SchwEnt]

Of course, this is the eps where Kirk proclaims "and nothing is more important than my ship." Which, if the case was "Kirk against the computer", makes it bitter for Kirk. His most damning accuser is the very ship he loves more than anything.

But what I find REALLY odd is Cogley's attitude against computers and related technology, his preference for hardcopy books and so on.

I can understand his attitude if he was a 1960s man, preferring the real paper past of his youth over the modern-day dehumanizing computerized society.
But Cogley isn't a 1960s man. He is a well-educated lawyer of the 23rd century. Computers are commonplace and should have been ingrained in Cogley's life since he was born. In fact, for CENTURIES before he was born. He can't recall a time before computers, or even a time hundreds of years before he was born.

It'd be worse than some fellow of today distrusting modern day "electrical lights" and opting only for real fire torches.

Oh I know Cogley was just an example of a larger theme of "man vs. machine" and "what is humanity in a technological world". But his issues with computers still are quite odd to me. Cogley should be so far removed from any kind of non-computer society, he shouldn't know any other way.

 

[Timo]

Cogley might actually be from the deep middle of the mainstream in the 2260s. It's difficult to see why the interfaces of the TOS computers would have that awkward tinny voice if not for a deliberate attempt to "limit" them. There may well have been a "Butlerian Jihad" of some sort in the society not too long ago, one where computers demonstrated why they really can't be trusted, and why they have to be deliberately dumbed down in order to keep them from becoming a threat. Kirk would have grown up in an environment where computers were of that new, nonthreatening type. But Sam Cogley would remember...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Warped9]

There are people today who wax romantically about earlier times they could never have lived in. Or pine for living in a political system they've only read about and even ignoring/dismissing all contrary evidence about that system (I'm sure I'm not the only one who knows people like that).

Cogley also doesn't necessarily have to be from Earth. He could be from a colony where conditions were a lot more rudimentary than Earth.

But we're rationalizing because the 1960s idea of computers isn't the same as the reality we're familiar with. Then computers were large and very expensive. Today computers are getting smaller, cheaper and ever more pervasive in being applied to all manner of things we could never have envisioned before.

Cogley's appeal could have even more relevance today because of the pervasiveness of computers. I think, though, his views might resonate more with our generation or even more so our parent's generation who see a world they understand less and less developing around them. If you catch enough sci-fi of that era you get a sense that a lot of people felt somewhat threatened by machines that could "think" more efficiently than man and were becoming evermore sophisticated. Cogley also seemed to dislike what he felt was the soullessness of intelligent computers. To him (and it's somewhat understandable) printed books were a connection to a real person with a living mind and feelings just like him---someone real. Of course it's an illusion simply because books as a medium are so old. Modern books get to you with the aid of computers somewhere along the line. Most likely the original manuscript was written on a computer and the manuscript was processed by a computer so it could be printed and then there'd be numerous small computers to facilitate getting the book from the printers to the store and into your hands.

The funny thing about TOS is they dealt with ideas but didn't yet have the terminology we have today. For TOS's starships and 23rd century society to work as depicted they would have had to be familiar with varying levels of A.I.. Kirk finds himself compelled to destroy a number of A.I's. during their voyage only they called them super-computers, but some of them did appear to be super intelligent and at least somewhat self-aware. The two that most immediately come to mind are Landru ("The Return Of The Archons") and Nomad ("The Changeling"). There's also the computer running the Shoreleave planet in "Once Upon A Planet." Finally there's V'ger in TMP. In TMP, though, the terminology is starting to become more familiar. It's referenced that V'ger comes from a planet of living machines rather than super computers. Data was also an A.I. in TNG although I don't believe he was ever referred to as such.

I agree with Timo that something also could have happened pre TOS to foster Cogley's distrust ir strong dislike of computers.

 

[Knight Templar]

Not everyone has their preferences shaped by single experiences or traumas. Some people just have things they like and don't like. Some men love redheads. Some blonds. Some brunettes. And so forth.

Or perhaps it isn't a dislike for computers. Perhaps Cogley visited an old fashioned library in his youth and began a lifelong love affair with the written word.

And remember, despite what Cogley says, he still has a computer (though claiming he never uses it). I would bet that if things get pressed for time he still uses it on occasion.

 

[Warped9]

Not everyone has their preferences shaped by single experiences or traumas. Some people just have things they like and don't like. Some men love redheads. Some blonds. Some brunettes. And so forth.

Or perhaps it isn't a dislike for computers. Perhaps Cogley visited an old fashioned library in his youth and began a lifelong love affair with the written word.

And remember, despite what Cogley says, he still has a computer (though claiming he never uses it). I would bet that if things get pressed for time he still uses it on occasion.

Well put, and it's a simpler explanation that makes a lot of sense. Cogley is simply an eccentric.

 

[UnknownSample]

There's a sort of myopia amongst enthusiastic computer-users, where they can't concieve of anyone having a problem with them. It's dismissed as mindless nostalgia, or a refusal to "go along with the times", etc.. It's definitely a blind spot, that comes from when one grew up.
Someone who reads and values great literature often comes to value the look and feel and smell of the books themselves. It doesn't have to be nostalgia. I'm sure there will continue to be such people right up until the last traditional "book" falls apart from age. They feel more "human". I don't see how it matters if computers were used in writing and printing the book, as long as what you hold in your hands is a book. You can feel more of a connection to the time of an old book, if the book was printed close enough to the time it was published... the choice of now-disused typefaces is one of many things that can make the old book interesting.
Cogley was mostly against dehumanization from computers, and the valuing of machines over people. It wasn't some random, wacky prejudice against all computers everywhere. He had a personal computer and used it. He just liked to immerse in printed books when he could. That's not exactly a huge library he has in his office. Most of his research must happen online.
The dangers from computers that Cogley envisions are STILL in our future. There's nothing old-fashioned about his concerns. His office computer didn't scare Cogley, and neither would today's home computers. He wasn't talking about those. We don't yet turn justice over to machines, assuming them to be perfect and superior in judgment to people, but it could happen if computers advance enough.

 

[Wingsley]

Anyone that has watched much TV, has probably seen their share of legal procedurals.

That said, the Trek episode "Court Martial" is an odd episode story wise. Its actually pretty poorly plotted.

For instance, we are told that Samule Cogley is a brilliant if eccentric lawyer. We even have him celebrating that he wins the case. However, if you watch the episode...Cogley does not actually DO anything. Spock is the one that wins the case for them. Nothing that Cogley does has any effect.

Then there is the bit with Finney's daughter. Its never made clear how much she knows or WHY she stops blaming Kirk. Cogley gets all suspicious of her change in mindset...but this seems to go nowhere. Again, from there we move to Spock figuring out that the computer has been tampered with. Cogley apparently goes to bring Finney's daughter on board, but this ends up being irrelevant...and only results in giving Cogley even LESS to do.

The defense portion of the episode just seems really weak.

While "Court Martial" is very much a product of its time (and it does look corny, in some respects), I would have to disagree with much of what was asserted in the quote above.

Saying Cogley "doesn't DO anything" is completely misreading, if not outright spinning, what the episode was actually about. In the first part of Kirk's trial, Cogley is merely doing what any good trial lawyer would do: carefully listening to the prosecution present its case. Once Cogley gets Kirk on the stand and he insists on Kirk's service record being recited by the court computer, we know he's a good lawyer.

But Kirk's accuser isn't a living, flesh-and-blood witness. Kirk is being set up by doctored video records. And Cogley has no way of presenting this. It's a cyber-crime, with no clear evidence.

Looking back on it, this strikes me as a stroke of brilliance for TOS. The show's makers correctly envisioned an age where computers would dominate our lives (they already do), and court proceedings are a forum for the playing of official digital video records.

Back to Cogley: the idea that he "doesn't DO anything" is a little silly. Once Spock and McCoy rush into court and give Cogley the word, he instantly realizes he has just the evidence he needs to defend Captain Kirk. He immediately withdraws the resting of his defense, and calls for the court to reconvene aboard the Enterprise: "I demand it! I DEMAND it!" Saying "Nothing that Cogley does has any effect." is laughable. Cogley got the court to re-convene aboard the Enterprise, didn't he? And he spoke up in court "I submit to you that Lieutenant-Commander Ben Finney is not dead!"

Cogley's defense may seem meager for the first part of the trial, but after he gets the word from Spock that all changes.

Of course, this is the eps where Kirk proclaims "and nothing is more important than my ship." Which, if the case was "Kirk against the computer", makes it bitter for Kirk. His most damning accuser is the very ship he loves more than anything.

But what I find REALLY odd is Cogley's attitude against computers and related technology, his preference for hardcopy books and so on.

I can understand his attitude if he was a 1960s man, preferring the real paper past of his youth over the modern-day dehumanizing computerized society.
But Cogley isn't a 1960s man. He is a well-educated lawyer of the 23rd century. Computers are commonplace and should have been ingrained in Cogley's life since he was born. In fact, for CENTURIES before he was born. He can't recall a time before computers, or even a time hundreds of years before he was born.

It'd be worse than some fellow of today distrusting modern day "electrical lights" and opting only for real fire torches.

Oh I know Cogley was just an example of a larger theme of "man vs. machine" and "what is humanity in a technological world". But his issues with computers still are quite odd to me. Cogley should be so far removed from any kind of non-computer society, he shouldn't know any other way.

While this is a legitimate point-of-view, we have to consider that we do not know Cogley's origins. Was he born on computer-dominated 23rd century Earth? Or was he born on some distant colony where technology's impact is confined? It's entirely possible that Cogley grew up on a colonial farm on some Earth colony and spent much of his life not relying on technology. Maybe he went to school, trained to be a lawyer (or, like the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, he worked in a law office and became a lawyer without completing law school) and only went offworld to work on a temporary basis.

We have to remember that the TOS Universe, as presented, is filled with characters who may be human but who do not necessarily call Earth their home. The Tarsus IV Massacre should underscore that some humans live their lives on other worlds, largely if not completely isolated from Earth. It's entirely possible that Cogley is a proud citizen of the United Federation of Planets, but that his perception of the world around him was shaped by a relatively primitive colonial upbringing. This would not necessarily make him a throwback to a time before computers. Instead, it may show one of the strengths of the TOS Federation: its diversity of people, human or not.