February 2, 2014

We hear there’s this big TV event this Sunday – you know – the Super Bowl? 
But if you’d prefer Spock and Kirk over the Broncos’  Manning
and the Seahawks’  Wilson, then check this out…

This Sunday, February 2nd, we’re celebrating the premiere broadcast anniversary of "Court Martial".  This episode originally aired during Season 1 on
Thursday,  February 2, 1967.

Picture
Photo courtesy Gerald Gurian

THE STORY:

Captain Kirk is
 charged with
 negligence and
 brought to trial 
following the
 disappearance and
 reported death of one
 of his officers.  Investigation into the presumed death of Officer Finney, who was lost during a hazardous assignment aboard the Enterprise, discloses evidence that Kirk may have perjured himself in his testimony regarding the incident. 
Interesting factoids about this episode:
•    This was the first time the nomenclature of “Starfleet” and “Starfleet Command” was 
used, courtesy of producer Gene Coon.

•   The Starfleet dress uniform made its first appearance here (based on the order in which the episodes were filmed).

•    The outline for “Court Martial at Starbase 811”, dated May 3, began a period of story and script development unlike any other on Star Trek TOS.  No story went through more changes than this.  Echoing the antagonist’s distrust of electronic media, there is more misinformation posted in cyberspace about the writing of “Court Martial” than any other episode.  For instance, did you know that this story -- from that first story outline and also the first versions of the teleplay -- had the Enterprise's computer plotting to frame Kirk, not because it had been programmed to do so, but because the computer itself had began to think, and feel, and hate?  Did you know that Finney was not hiding in engineering, but marooned on an asteroid? 
In honor of the broadcast anniversary, watch the original episode (try amazon.com, Netflix or hulu plus) in a whole new way by reading all of the great behind-the-scenes details in Marc Cushman’s These are the Voyages: TOS, Season One.  Get your copy today!