{"id":4062,"date":"2013-08-29T05:48:34","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T05:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/120-Court-Martial"},"modified":"2013-08-29T05:48:34","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T05:48:34","slug":"120-court-martial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2013\/08\/29\/120-court-martial\/","title":{"rendered":"1.20 — \u201cCourt Martial\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

1.20 — \u201cCourt Martial\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remastered version starts with a striking opening graphic of all the ships orbiting Starbase 11. \u00a0The people who worked on the new effects for the series did a good job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jame Finney\u2019s dress looks like one of those hipster mustache t-shirts. Bad costuming! Speaking of the same, I have no comment about\u00a0the dress Lt. Areel Shaw wears to the bar. The cocktail she is drinking, however, is the girliest cocktail I have ever seen. Multicolored straw, red and white umbrella, mint leaves, and red and green gumdrops on a spear topped by a raspberry? I want one. Kirk seems to be drinking bourbon out of a plain shot glass, which is probably making his chest hairs grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I like the graphics of the starbase, but the view outside Commodore Stone\u2019s office is reused from \u201cThe Menagerie, Part I.\u201d \u00a0Why not–the original series reused graphics all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’m not sure about future courtroom procedure. Ethical rules must have considerably relaxed in 250 years if Lt. Shaw isn\u2019t operating under a conflict of interest. I’m not impressed by discovery rules that would allow Kirk and his lawyer to be confronted with the incriminating video for the first time while the trial is in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For that matter, I am not impressed by Samuel T. Cogley. He is a crackpot if he thinks having physical books is what’s most important–maybe he is referring to the importance of reading original texts instead of summaries or analysis by computer? He didn’t seem very prepared, and I don’t think the theatrics serve his client. It makes it far too easy for the court to dismiss him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I like the recitation of legal foundations, including the \u201cFundamental Declarations of the Martian colonies, [and] Statutes of Alpha Three.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The green button on the console labelled \u201cEject Pod\u201d should have been labelled \u201cKill Finney\u201d instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s neat they decided to cast an African-American actor to play Commodore Stone. Even today, to my eyes the racial subtext adds tension and further dimension to the otherwise overblown scene with Stone and Kirk shouting at each other nose to nose. It was not only progressive to cast him as Kirk’s successful, professional, and respected commanding officer, but also to have a female chief prosecutor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I like the use of the ship\u2019s bell during the court martial. Tradition! What is that guy doing sitting at the bottom of the dais? Just loading the memory cards into the computer? Interesting how the producers could imagine interstellar space travel and all manner of things, but could not begin to foresee the form of modern computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finally, the resolution on board the Enterprise<\/em>. The ship can\u2019t scan itself? They need to use the heartbeat trick? Whatever. I have to wonder what is Finney\u2019s exit strategy? Oh right, he doesn’t need one, he’s insane. Off to Dr. Adams’ penal colony, where he can share a cell with Kodos\u2019 daughter and have sessions with Lethe.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fun courtroom drama episode. Not terribly profound, perhaps, but world-building in its depiction of Starfleet, once again showing off the series’ versatility by always telling a different kind of story week to week. Tense, taut, good storytelling, good acting, and I didn’t know what was going to happen. I thought I didn’t remember the episode at all until I remembered Spock figuring out that the computer had been tampered with by beating it at chess.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I don\u2019t think I’ve said this before: I really like Uhura\u2019s lime green hoop earrings.<\/p>\n\n\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Court_Martial_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)<\/a>