Amazon.com Volume 7 in this excellent DVD series of original Star Trek programs includes "The Galileo Seven," which teleplay writer Oliver Crawford says was inspired by his viewing of a 1939 film called Five Came Back. (A catty footnote: David Gerrold, scribe of the famous "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode, called "The Galileo Seven" a rip-off of the Jimmy Stewart film The Flight of the Phoenix. Meow.) Five Came Back concerned a plane crash in the Andes and the survivors who faced the constant threat of surrounding headhunters. Crawford toyed with the idea and came up with a story line in which Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and a couple of other crew members crash on the surface of a hostile planet during a shuttle mission. With communication between the small craft and the Enterprise disrupted by quasar activity, Spock and the others must defend themselves against a formidable threat with only primitive, handmade weapons. That's the scenario, but the real drama is in the rising conflict between the half-Vulcan Spock's coldly logical approach to survival and the passions of his human crew, who soon come to regard him as a hateful, unfeeling monster. This is an interesting episode, both as a taut action piece and, somewhat indirectly, as a portrait of intolerance (specifically, an intolerance of individual differences) developing under stress.
Also on this disc is "Court Martial," a courtroom drama in which Captain Kirk (William Shatner) stands trial for negligence in the death of an Enterprise crewman. As the proceedings rumble on, Spock investigates some hidden truths about the dead man and the apparent computer malfunction that led to the tragedy. While "Court Martial" is a lesser episode from the Star Trek canon (the action is a bit mired in trial proceedings), it's still a lot of fun and features a supporting role from veteran Hollywood character actor Elisha Cook Jr. --Tom Keogh
Description "The Galileo Seven," Ep. 14 - Spock learns the trials of command when Kirk sends him, along with Scotty, McCoy and a shuttlecraft crew, to investigate a quasar-like phenomenon. "Court Martial," Ep. 15 - Kirk's reputation and career are at stake when he faces a court-martial for negligence that resulted in the death of a crew member.
A Distress Signal?December 1, 2008 Golden Lion(North Ogden, Ut United States) 1. The enterprise is enroute to Makus III with medical supplies and the supplies must be on time. 2. Galatic High Commissioner Ferris is overseeing the delivery of the medicines. 3. Spock is leading an Galileo exploration team too explore Murasaki 312, a quaser-like formation. High radiation and gravity is pulling the Galileo into the Murasaki formation. Sulu says "Scanners are blind. Nothing makes sense." The computer reads power levels at 10 power 12. 4. The Galileo is forced to make an emergency landing on Tarus II, type M. Magnetic potential of the affect, as Galileo gather speed they were shot into the center of the affect, a widespread ionization. 5. Spock orders an attachment too search out the parameter. Team is composed of Lt. Commander Scott, Dr. McCoy, Lt Latimer, Gaetano, Boma, and Yeoman Mears. McCoy tells Spock, "at least you get your chance too command." Mr. Scott determines a large amount of fuel and at least 500 pounds must be shed to achieve escape velocity. 6. A giant ape like creature called a Taurean has killed Latimer. "Nothing there" and Spock replies, "I don't doubt your word." Boma defies Spock saying, "there is a man dead and you talk about stone spears." Spocks indifference is creating disloyalty among the crew. The crew believes Spock is emotionally cruel and reset his comments. McCoy believes it is illogical to ignore the emotional stability of the crew and the sacrifices that will be ask of them. Spock argues with McCoy, "It is more rational to sacrifice one life than six". Boma wants Spock to say a few words, "We are racing against time" and request McCoy to offer the consoling words. The Taurean are tribal. Gaetano was to aggressively strike the Taurean, first. Spock says, "I'm appalled for you low regard for life." Spock orders Gaetano and Boma to fire only on command to frighten and not to kill. 7. The Galileo will use phaser power to achieve orbit within 24 hours. Gaetano is incapacitated by the Tauren. 8. The Tauren are not acting rationally. Spock is confused by the Tauren have not fled to superior phraser weapon power; "I have acted correctly, ever step of the way, yet two men are dead and my crew resents me." Spock plans to have Mr. Scott electrify the exterior of the ship using the batteries. 9. Boma insists on a burial for Gaetano declaring "I'm sick of this machine". Spock concedes to permit a burial. 10. Kirk orders abandon search and resume course to Makus III. 23 minutes before the Columbus comes on board. Spock must attempt the launch immediately, communicate with enterprise, be rescued, or face death by burning up during reentry. 11. Spock says, "In coming after me, you may have given up your chance for survival." McCoy says, "Spock remind me to tell you, I'm sick and tried of your logic." Spock says, "The enterprise is surely on course for Makus III and I don't believe in angels." Spock ignited the fuel, giving six minutes of orbit, but visible to the enterprise. Mr. Scott says "A distress signal, that was a good gamble, perhaps it was worth it" Spock says "illogical, there was no chance, no one was watching." 12. Kirk beams the team aboard prior to the Galileo burning up during reentry. 13. True science is a produce of faith. Spock finally comprehends the essence of dealing with the unknown, a step of Faith. Galileo experiment was an act of faith in the laws of mass and gravity. It took courage to act, explore, and take a risk that changed the understanding of gravity, astronomy, planets, and telescope optics.
The burdens of commandOctober 8, 2006 David Bonesteel(Fresno, CA United States) These two episodes deal with the responsibilities of being in command.
In "The Galileo Seven," Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is in command of a shuttlecraft that crash lands on a planet inhabited by hostile, primitive giants. His logical approach clashes with the emotional reactions of McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and other crewmembers and handicaps his ability to predict the actions of beings that possess no logic. The emotion vs. logic dynamic may be a bit heavy-handed here (I felt that the humans were pretty hard on poor Spock, not that he would care), but it cetainly sets up some powerful character conflicts. Spock must trust his command decisions in the face of nearly unanimous disapproval. Interestingly, Scotty seems to have no problem with Spock's "cold" methods, maybe because he's too busy trying to repair the shuttlecraft.
In "Court-Martial," Kirk (William Shatner) is accused of murdering a crewmember with whom he had a strained relationship. Veteran character actor Elisha Cook, Jr. gives a strong performance as defending attorney Samuel Cogley. Presented with damning evidence, Kirk, too, must preserve confidence in his command abilities. By the way, this episode features one of my favorite technobabble glitches, when Spock says that the Enterprise computer is capable of amplifying sound to the magnitude of "one to the fourth power." Since 1x1x1x1=1, wouldn't that mean that the sound was not amplified at all?
Two fun episodes.
Two of the Better Episodes From Season One!July 3, 2006 Frederick Baptist(Singapore) These are two of the better and my favourite episodes from the first season. In the first episode, we get to see Spock in his first command of the doomed shuttlecraft which lands on a planet populated by giant cavemen! Having lost 2 crewman to these creatures, the rest of the crew grow impatient at Spock's lack of sympathy and emotion and rebel at his incessant logic. Still, the good finale shows Spock surprising us with his actions and still winning the day in what eventually becomes a very successful first stint in charge.
In the second episode, Kirk gets courtmartialed in what can be described as Perry Mason in space! I won't spoil the ending for you but I can tell you that this story is a great piece of detective storytelling and is a must-see episode.
If you are picking and choosing the volumes to keep, this is a keeper as they rank among the best episodes of the first season. Recommended.
Galileo 7-Does Man Need his Emotions?June 7, 2005 givbatam3(REHOVOT Israel) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The original Star Trek series came out in the 1960's at a time when the worst horrors of the 20th century were still fresh in everyone's minds-two world wars, the Holocaust, the millions who perished in the Gulag's of the USSR, China and other Communist countries culminating in the omnipresent threat of the total annihilation of humanity by nuclear weapons. The writers of the series decided to make a statement of how possibly to cope with these things by creating the character of Mr Spock who comes from a race which decided to eliminate all emotion and to live only by "logic" and "reason". However, the question is always hovering over Spock as to whether this is really possible, i.e. can man really change his nature. Spock's friendly adversary, Dr McCoy does not believe this is possible and in the "Galileo 7" both men are put in a crisis situation where Spock is finally given command and he can now put his theories on human perfection to use. This show has all the elements of Star Trek at its finest: life or death drama, fear of the unknown, military command decisions, loyalty of friends to each other, interference from superior authorities and others. The script and acting are splendid and the first-time viewer will be riveted to his TV screen. This proves that a good story and fine actors can make a great production even with low-budget sets (something the later versions of ST forget). I would also recomment "Journer to Babel" an another excellent epidsode that deals with the Vulcun/Human encounter.
Below average, by season one's standardsSeptember 9, 2003 ruben lopere(Brooklyn, NY United States) The Galileo Seven-This episode, in which a shuttlecraft is forced to land on a planet with giant bear/ape-like creatures, was an average offering by first season standards. The episode has sufficient action, and explores the circumstances under which even otherwise well-behaved crews may be led to (?) mutiny. As others have noted, this episode, one of the few in which Kirk has a secondary role, was seminal to Spock's development. Unfortunately, the logic vs. emotion arguments are overdone, to the extent that they-and the participants-become somewhat tedious. The creatures also looked pretty silly, but as I've said before I try not to hold Star Trek to a high standard when it comes to such things; the effects weren't bad enough to totally compromise the `primal fear' element so central to this (and few other) episodes. (3 stars)
Court Martial-This courtroom whodunit, featuring Kirk in the hot seat, is a slightly below average episode. As in virtually every courtroom drama ever put to screen, the trial scenes drag. But this whole episode, quite frankly, is dull. Shatner definitely gets up for his "request it?..I demand it!" line, but somehow this episode just feels flat, despite the strong performance by Elisha Cook Jr. as an eccentric lawyer. It doesn't help that the finale's bombshell, pulled somewhat out of left field, just isn't explosive. Themes explored here, including the importance of 1) presumption of innocence, and 2) recognizing the fallibility of machines, would be better explored in other episodes. (2.5 stars)
