Picturesque Descriptions Will Not Mend Broken Circuits, Mr. Scott (Star Trek: The Original Series Vol. 07: Galileo Seven / Court Martial (DVD))

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Star Trek: The Original Series Vol. 07: Galileo Seven / Court Martial (DVD)
Date:	12/01/08 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Mr. Spock's spot in the limelight.

Disadvantages: William Shatner is as arrogant as ever.

Volume 7 of the original Star Trek DVD releases presents two stories where commanders are placed under extreme pressure to prove their abilities, through basic survival and professional trial respectively. 'The Galileo Seven' is one of Leonard Nimoy's most significant chances to shine as Mr. Spock commands an ill-fated shuttlecraft expedition that places the survival of men and women under his coldly logical authority, and 'Court Martial' sees Captain Kirk accused of wilful negligence that led to an officer's death. Both are fine examples of the series having finally found its feet, with the long-overdue introduction of the shuttlecraft providing a more dramatic alternative to transporters, and the designation of "Starfleet" finally being settled upon after various alternatives were thrown around in the previous months ("United Earth Space Probe Agency" being the most outlandish).

'The Galileo Seven' is fundamentally a survival story, as the Galileo shuttle is forced to crash-land on a barren planet due to interference from the quasar it was investigating. Isolated from communication with the Enterprise in this veritable pocket of freaky space, Spock, Scotty and the other engineer-minded officers set about repairing the shuttle for take-off, while red-shirted extras fall prey to the local yeti creatures and the more philosophical, blue-shirted Dr. McCoy and Lt. Boma (Don Marshall) spend most of their time grumbling about Spock's lack of compassion and dedication to logic clouding his abilities as a commander. It's an effectively tense and claustrophobic story with some of the series' finest character development as Spock begins to take notice of the illogical, emotional humans' advice, but it's let down by the necessary jumps to and fro between the planet and the stationary Enterprise, paused in space awaiting the return of its crew while the stuffy Galactic High Commissioner Ferris (John Crawford) impatiently demands that Kirk leave his men (and woman) behind and proceed to deliver urgent medical supplies to the next star system.

'Court Martial' is a more cerebral affair and one to deter those casual viewers who were fonder of the spear-chucking yetis in the previous offering, but like most of Star Trek's acclaimed trial shows, it's handled well and mostly retains interest. It's nice to see Kirk being held responsible for an officer's death for once, something that should really occur on a far more regular basis due to the amount of "redshirts" he loses each week, and it's the strong guest cast that really makes this episode. Elisha Cook apparently had great difficulty remembering his lines as Samuel T. Cogley, which adds a fun scatter-brained element to his performance as Kirk's eccentric defence lawyer, working exclusively with dusty old books rather than computers, and Joan Marshall offers a rare glimpse of a professional, high-ranking woman in the sixties series, though she's still called upon to break down in tears on command. Particular note should be made of the strong presence of black actors in these two episodes, with Don Marshall's substantial contribution in the former and Percy Rodriguez playing the Starbase commander here, further demonstrating the progressive attitude of the original series at its very best.

It's refreshing to see Kirk surrounded by dull diplomacy in these episodes, especially as it means that Spock, McCoy and Scotty get to play on the Styrofoam alien terrain without him in the first episode, and the Captain's incarceration in the second once again places his senior officers in the prominent dynamic role as they ponder the ways to prove his innocence. Fans of the irascible Spock/McCoy dynamic will find a lot to love in both of these episodes, proving that their banter is just as entertaining (perhaps even more so) without the domineering presence of William Shatner in the centre, and the dialogue is all so enjoyable that it's even easy to overlook some of the ridiculous scientific errors of the plots.

For any geeks reading (geeks reading a Star Trek review? Get outta here!), Spock's ingenious method of singling out the heartbeats of the entire crew to prove the presence of a stowaway is hindered by the oversight that the microphone (which is clearly just a microphone, no matter what fancy term is applied) fails to pick up the voices and other assorted sounds being made on the ship, while Kirk's order that the sound be amplified "one to the fourth power" should theoretically see an increase of 1x1x1x1. Apparently, the original script called for the even more extreme amplification of one to the tenth (1x1x1x1x1x1x1x1x1x1). I'll let you do the maths to find out just how much louder that would be. Scientifically-minded people may also be entertained by the apparent mechanics of the Galileo shuttle in the previous episode, which seems to function much like a 1960s automobile judging by much of its equipment.

While 'Court Martial' is interesting and raises some relevant points for the series as a whole, as well as introducing another of my beloved fake-looking matte paintings for Starbase 11, it's 'The Galileo Seven' that's of the most interest on this set. Its most notable contribution to the Star Trek franchise is the introduction of the shuttlecraft Galileo, which looks fantastic and convincing both as a model and the full-scale prop on the planet set. The initial launching sequence of the shuttle from the miniature hangar bay is flawless and proves why the CGI remastering of this series is a complete waste of time, and has nothing of the 'Thunderbirds' shakiness that might be expected; so perfect are these model shots that they would be re-used endlessly in all future episodes featuring the Galileo II. It's also a nice change to see some truly alien aliens, rather than humans in slightly unusual costumes - the primitive natives of Taurus II are played by tall actors in furry suits and only appear on screen in limited doses, but the finest addition has to be the alternation between small and large versions of the spear prop to enhance their relative size to puny earthlings. The extent of this violence proved unpopular with NBC who evidently demanded some changes to the finished episode in post-production, leading to a highly distracting mist effect being placed over a scene where Latimer wanders around with a spear through his back.

This is a nice collection of episodes: a high-stakes survival story and an intelligent courtroom drama, and the reduced presence of Captain Kirk allows for the other major characters to come into their own, particularly Spock and McCoy. I'd probably be less fond of these instalments if they had come later in the series, as they score points for introducing concepts and styles that would be repeated a number of times hereafter, but they still make a fine pair, not entirely unsuited to grouping in this manner. Even if you despise courtroom drama in TV shows, there are big alien monsters killing people in the first story that should satisfy your more refined tastes.

Summary: 'The Galileo Seven' & 'Court Martial' (1967).