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[Bud Brewster]

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One thing you can say about Bogmeister, when he writes a review for a movie or a TV episode, he makes sure he covers the subject thoroughly!

Back when he was my co-site administrator for All Sci-Fi from 2008 to 2014 he would tell me that his posts weren't generating many replies.

I said that maybe it was because he didn't leave anything to say on the subject.

Here's three more examples of the thoroughness of the late Mr. Andrew Bogdan.

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TOS episode #13 - The Conscience of the King

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Star Trek TOS - 13 - The Conscience of the King - Preview


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THE CONSCIENCE OF THE KING (1st season; episode #13)
Directed by Gerd Oswald / writer: Barry Trivers Like a Star @ heaven Air Date: 12/08/66



This suspenseful drama in the future is an example of a Star Trek episode where Capt. Kirk temporarily and voluntarily abandons his usual mission and goes off on a personal vendetta.

This didn't happen too often; see also the same season's Dagger of the Mind and a later season's Obsession.

This episode is more similar to Obsession, because it's very personal in this one. On the surface it may seem trivial, because larger questions concerning the galaxy and the Federation are placed aside, but we become fairly involved in Kirk's private quest.



The episode is basically a mystery. Is a traveling Shakespearean actor (Arnold Moss) just what he seems to be, or is he really the ex-governor of a failed colony where, 20 years earlier, 4,000 people had been put to death on his orders?

Kirk, as a young boy, was one the survivors of the massacre and one of the very few people to have seen 'Kodos the Executioner' in person. We are left guessing for most of the episode. Will this turn out to be a false quest, a morality tale on the pitfalls of revenge? Or will the suspect truly be revealed as a mass murderer, causing Kirk to send him into oblivion with a shot from his phaser?



This episode also has an interesting set design for a futuristic house on another planet, and a nice rendition of a song 'Beyond Antares' by Uhura (Nichelle Nichols).

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I would think guest star Moss had a field day with his role in this one. His specialty in real life was Shakespearean plays. He acts out Macbeth, the story of which carries eerie parallels to the character he plays in this episode, and also Hamlet, which parallels scenes in the actual episode.

His voice is deep, rich, and almost hypnotic, and his confrontation scene with Kirk as they parry verbally remains one of the better dramatic scenes during this Trek season. The first season emphasized serious and somber drama, more so than in the later seasons. Barbara Anderson, as his daughter, also holds her own in an eerily beautiful role.

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__ The Conscience Of The King Star Trek Sci-Fi Channel Special Edition Extras


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The episode is filled with nice touches, such as the very brief one when Yeoman Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) passes Anderson's character in the turbolift, and they exchange glances.

Whitney quietly left the series at this point — so this brief scene was her silent farewell. It's also telling that Spock, for all his usual annoyance with McCoy, runs to him when he notices the captain behaving in an edgy, unpredictable manner. There's a key scene with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy which sums up this trinity's relationship. They gain strength & wisdom from each other — and in certain rare situations, Spock & McCoy need to team up — not against Kirk but to aid him.



Finally, we have crewman Riley (Bruce Hyde) back again in his second and last appearance (after The Naked Time). It's an ironic form of justice that Riley ends up demoted to the lower decks in the engine room, where he caused all that trouble in his previous appearance. A rather haunting conclusion caps this foray into space intrigue.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10. Some SPOILERS below:



Extra Trek Trivia: The title of this episode is from Hamlet, Act II, Scene II. The planet in the early scenes of this episode is simply named Q (no relation to the Q character on TNG). The background music during the cocktail party in an early scene is a lounge version of the Star Trek theme.

Star Trek-Trailer TOS-season 1 episode 12-the conscience of the king


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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus
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TOS episode #14 - The Galileo Seven

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__________ Classic Star Trek: The Galileo Seven


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THE GALILEO SEVEN (1st season; episode #14) Air Date:1/5/67
Directed by Robert Gist / writers: Oliver Crawford, S Bar-David




There were seven crewmen. Not a lucky number here, and not a very magnificent group.

One of the Enterprise's shuttlecrafts is showcased in this episode, which spotlights the downside of exploration. It's a case study of survival techniques and examining the group dynamics among several crew members stuck on a hostile planet. It focuses on Spock (rare for a 1st season episode), not Kirk, who remained on board the ship this time. Spock's in command of the 7-member party on the Galileo shuttlecraft, which makes an unplanned landing on a planet called Taurus II, which resembles Earth's prehistoric days, perhaps circa 10,000 B.C..




Spock has a lot on his hands. Besides needing to figure out a way to lift off without fuel, the landing party is besieged by the 10-foot- tall natives who like to throw large spears at Starfleet officers.

This episode couldn't help but be popular with young viewers. When I was a kid, I was pretty spooked by some of the scenes. All that mist and those lumbering beast-men, with their deep, throaty growling. This sort of made me re-think my plans to become an astronaut. As private Hudson said in Aliens, "You can count me out!"

meanwhile, Kirk is up against a deadline and has to fend off an annoying Federation bureaucrat (these types appeared in several TOS episodes; this one is played by John Crawford — very annoying). Other guest cast: Don Marshall as Lt. Boma, Peter Marko as Lt. Gaetano.



The fascinating aspect to this is Spock's approach.

He takes logic to faulty extremes, addressing all problems like an equation. This doesn't work very well against huge, angry savages. Spock's robotic attitude also doesn't sit well with most of the other officers. They're emotional people, of course, and need words of encouragement in times of great stress.

Nor do they appreciate Spock's seeming callousness when one of them falls in the line of duty. You'd think Spock would realize by this time that he should at least give the impression of giving a damn in certain scenarios. But mostly, he sends the message that he's the smartest, and half of them are expendable — not the most positive message to send on a mission gone wrong.



Kirk himself loses patience with a high-ranking 'galactic commisioner' here — he starts out as respectful of the high rank, but eventually orders him off the bridge as his mood darkens. This exemplified Kirk's borderline disrespect for certain officials.

But I believe Spock over-compensated during this episode. Despite his statements about only using logic, he obviously feels the pressures of this chaotic command. He goes out of his way to alienate the rest of the group.



McCoy and Scotty, who came along on this joyride, will back up Spock even as they disagree with his methods. But a couple of other officers are downright insubordinate here. The attitudes in some scenes border on mutiny and some deep-rooted prejudices. Perhaps part of the "attitude problem" could also be the top-heavy ranking among the group: the 3 male guest stars all play lieutenants, not just ensigns, along with a female yeoman.





Extra Trek Trivia: This was the first appearance of an Enterprise shuttlecraft. The first draft of the script featured Yeoman Rand, but she left the series at this point, so it was re-written as 'Yeoman Mears.

__ Original Star Trek Galileo Spacecraft - Where Is It Today?


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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus
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TOS episode #15 - Court Martial

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____________ Classic Star Trek: Court Martial


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COURT MARTIAL (1st season; episode #15) Like a Star @ heaven Air Date: 02/02/67
Directed by Marc Daniels / / writers: Don M. Mankiewicz, Stephen W. Carabatsos




In this episode, Captain Kirk is under fire not by some cosmic menace threatening the galaxy, science gone mad or warlike aliens (such as the Romulans).

Instead, his threated by Starfleet itself, the one entity you'd think would always back him up. We get to see some of the inner workings of this organization, and the proceedings are not really different from current military trials and bureaucracy.

The story takes place at Starbase 11, next seen in The Menagerie, part one, but here with a different commodore, played by Percy Rodriguez.




In the plot, an Enterprise officer (Lt. Ben Finney) has been lost in the line of duty just before the episode begins. Based on computer evidence, Kirk appears to have either panicked — or worse — acted with malice during a critical point on the bridge while an ion storms was raging, causing the death of the crew member.

It turns out, Kirk has a long personal history with Lt. Finney, who lost out on a promotion or two, in part thanks to Kirk. Starfleet, represented by commodore Stone, intends to drum Kirk out of the service in disgrace, based on computer evidence. What we get here is the 'courtroom' episode of the series.




I'd have to say the most memorable thing about this episode is the introduction of Kirk's lawyer, Cogley, played with some eccentricity and flamboyance by old-time actor Elisha Cook Jr.

Cogley jabbers on about having thousands of books and tends to rattle off a list of old historical documents (including some we've yet to create), like he's conducting some strange class for aspiring attorneys. He makes it clear that his preferences do not include computers, which sets up the entire 'man vs. machine' theme during the court scenes, (We'll revisit this theme in later episodes, such as The Ultimate Computer).

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Cogley even makes a statement during the trial about machines having no rights; this attitude may change by the time of TNG, when the android Data was placed on trial over this very issue in the episode The Measure of a Man.

Cogley is strictly 'old school' and probably would not like living in the 24th century of TNG. I wonder how he in his anti-machine attitude would react to someone like Data. On the other hand, Cogley would probably be yelling "I told you all so!" after the events of The Ultimate Computer.



I also liked the rare glimpses we get here of the social, political, and cultural atmosphere of the 23rd-century, including (of course) the legal system as seen briefly at this starbase.

I really liked, for example, the scene in the bar or lounge, where Kirk runs into some of his peers. It's a nice glimpse into Starfleet outside the usual parameters of the Enterprise. In most episodes, the Enterprise and its crew are off in the far reaches of space, far from the encompassing blanket of the Federation. In Court Martial, Kirk and crew are at the center of it.



The starbase is like an extension of prototypical 23rd-century civilization, a clear sampling of how we have expanded our society to other worlds. The episode, overall, is a little on the dull side, unless one is really enamored with courtroom drama. The revelation near the conclusion may surprise viewers who have not seen this before. It's a little on the hokey side, however, and maybe a bit too neat.



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The episode does make a point, one which was not lost on me even when I was younger.

Let's go back to the introduction of Cogley. Who is this seeming nutcase, we might ask, and just what is he blathering on about?

Kirk seems to be in real trouble, and his lawyer is a couple of cans short of a six-pack, besides being on the annoying side.

But, by the 4th act, we realize Cogley is one of the reasons we were able to set up a Federation. He represents not only humanity, but civilization — that striving for decency by half-savages, manifested by written laws passed down through the ages, laws which govern, laws which make possible such civilized trials to protect the innocent, resulting in a thorough quest for the truth.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10

The Sun Sets on Starfleet and Civilization Proceeds...



Extra Trek Trivia: this was the first episode where someone speaks out-loud of Starfleet and Starfleet Command — Roddenberry and his writers finally nailed down the terminology at this point, rather than using such generic phrases as 'Space Command' or 'United Space Probe Agency.'

~ Remastered FX scenes

____ Star Trek "Court Martial" Remastered FX Reel


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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)