"Court Martial" is the twentieth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek.
In the episode, Captain Kirk stands trial on charges of criminal negligence after jettisoning an occupied research pod during an emergency.
During the storm, Captain James T. Kirk was forced to eject a research pod containing Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Finney to prevent the destruction of the ship.
Spock arrives with his findings before the court-martial verdict can be handed down, and Cogley makes an impassioned speech on the rights of man versus the machine, demanding that the court reconvene aboard the Enterprise.
Kirk goes there to find Finney, who draws a phaser and informs him that he has sabotaged the ship so she will drop out of orbit, killing everyone aboard.
"[1] Star Trek commentator Keith DeCandido, writing for Tor.com, observed, "This episode was originally commissioned by producer Gene L. Coon as a cheap single-set episode, and Don M. Mankiewicz gave him a court martial story, intending it to take place entirely in the courtroom.
Many of his speeches in the script are not present in the aired version, and some of those that were filmed frequently cut away from him to court and spectator reactions.
Club gave the episode a "B−" rating, stating that the potential of holding Kirk to high standards in the story is lessened as his "fallibility is never really the issue".
[4] Michelle Erica Green wrote that the episode "won't win any Emmys for legal drama, but it holds up quite well.