Was Lt. Cmdr. Giotto being insubordinate?

[A.V.I.A.F.]

Something that always bothered me about Devil in the Dark is the manner in which Giotto questions Kirk after Kirk and Spock shoot at the Horta for the first time. Watch the episode again. Giotto seems to be talking down to Kirk repeatedly and Kirk seems mildly irked by this in his replies. He seems to be a little cheeky even before that scene if memory serves. I get that Giotto is in charge of the security department which means he heads up the ship's muscle; but do you think he was overstepping his bounds in how he spoke to the Shat?

Or, maybe that is just Barry Russo's style? I found it worked better when he played Commodore Wesley (a role in which he outranked Kirk) in The Ultimate Computer. Any thoughts?

 

[Gov Kodos]

Something that always bothered me about Devil in the Dark is the manner in which Giotto questions Kirk after Kirk and Spock shoot at the Horta for the first time. Watch the episode again. Giotto seems to be talking down to Kirk repeatedly and Kirk seems mildly irked by this in his replies. He seems to be a little cheeky even before that scene if memory serves. I get that Giotto is in charge of the security department which means he heads up the ship's muscle; but do you think he was overstepping his bounds in how he spoke to the Shat?

Or, maybe that is just Barry Russo's style? I found it worked better when he played Commodore Wesley (a role in which he outranked Kirk) in The Ultimate Computer. Any thoughts?

I'd have to rewatch the show, but it isn't necessarily insubordinate, though it would be out of line for him to be mouthy with the captain. As head of security it would be his responsibility to safeguard ship's personnel on the planet including the captain. If the captain is putting himself in excess danger which conflicts with his job he'd be within his job's responsibilities to speak up.

It has always bugged me in Trek when rank is allowed to overstep chains of command like when Deckerd takes command of Enterprise from Spock in Doomsday Machine, or Crusher ignores Worf's orders to leave the area in that terrorist episode where she gets kidnapped. The higher ranked officers were overstepping chains of command such that the junior ones could have told them to bugger off. In this episode the crewman might have been rude, but not necessarily insubordinate.

If, as head of security of the planet, Kirk is running around being the hero, he should let the captain know he's making security's job harder by muddling the chain of command. If Kirk or Spock are injured or killed, he, the one in charge of security, is the one Starfleet will grill on a barbecue since he was responsible for their security. TV, so Kirk's got to be the hero, but in real life he's making his crew's job a lot more difficult.

 

[Wingsley]

I just reviewed "Devil", as made available on the StarTrek.com web-site. Unless you're suggesting some scene has been cut, I have to say that there was no evidence of Giotto being snippy with Kirk or anyone else. In fact, the only outstanding scene where Giotto really stood out is when he called Kirk up on his communicator to tell the captain that the miners were gathering at the head of the tunnel "and are getting pretty ugly". While that could be a swipe at the miners, I would think that Giotto is entitled to report his opinion to Kirk. (Especially if the "ugly" behavior gave him reason to believe they were out of line.)

The miners called in the Enterprise with a distress call. This made the situation Kirk's responsibility. Kirk directed Scotty to work on saving the pergium reactor, and Giotto to hunt for the creature. That empowered Giotto to be the combination of soldier and "cop of the beat." I'd say he did his job until he let the miners overrun him. That "here they come!" scene was hilarious, BTW.

Hey, Giotto, your shoe is untied!

 

[Captain Robert April]

Giotto was probably the oldest living security guard, so I think that entitles him to a little attitude.

Hell, we wouldn't see a another redshirt with that much grey hair until David Gerrold's cameo in "Trials & Tribble-ations"...

 

[Vonstadt]

Giotto was probably the oldest living security guard, so I think that entitles him to a little attitude.

Hell, we wouldn't see a another redshirt with that much grey hair until David Gerrold's cameo in "Trials & Tribble-ations"...

I never thought about it that way until now!

Perfect!

Vons

 

[Wingsley]

Giotto's hair was not "grey". It was "salt n' peppa".

 

[Timewalker]

David Gerrold had to wait decades for his cameo (he originally wanted to be Ensign Freeman) - so I'm glad he was able to have it, no matter what color his hair was! Besides, it wasn't actually made clear what department he was in - could have been part of Engineering, or in the social sciences (they wear red, not blue).

 

[Captain Robert April]

The phaser II on his hip made it pretty clear he was in Security.

 

[Timewalker]

<shrug> I hadn't noticed that. But since the scene with Sisko was actually taken from Mirror, Mirror, I'd give David Gerrold's grey hair a pass.