Gimme That Star Trek Ep.42: Insubordination and Mutiny

Military expert Mike Lacroix is back on the show, this time to talk about insubordination and mutiny, what they mean in a real world context, and how they are translated to the screen in Star Trek, with plenty of examples that will make you wonder what kind of ship Starfleet is running! But can the problems be explained away? I guess that's Siskoid's job!

Listen to Episode 42 below!

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Credits:
"Star Trek Theme" by Alexander Courage, with the Irredeemable Shagg on vocals. End theme: "Deep Space Nine Theme" by Dennis McCarthy.

Bonus clips from: Star Trek Lower Decks' "Second Contact", starring Dawnn Lewis, Jack Quaid and Phil LaMarr; "Star Trek: First Contact" by Jonathan Frakes, starring Michael Dorn; Star Trek The Next Generation's "Gambit II", starring Brent Spiner and Michael Dorn; TNG's "Redemption II", starring Timothy Carhart and Brent Spiner; Star Trek's "Amok Time", starring Leonard Nimoy; "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" by Leonard Nimoy, starring William Shatner; and The Orville's "New Dimensions", starring Adrianne Palicki.

And thanks for leaving a comment!

7 responses to “Gimme That Star Trek Ep.42: Insubordination and Mutiny

  1. Thanks, Siskoid and Mike. I loved your previous episode on this topic and I’m glad to see there’s no dip in quality for the sequel. Hopefully your next podcast together will buck the trend set by Superman III, the Godfather Part 3 and so on.

    Sisko does mention consequences for Worf disobeying orders and abandoning the mission to save Jadzia in “A Change of Heart”. Sisko says he doesn’t think Worf will ever be offered a command of his own because of the note in his record. Sisko also says that Starfleet won’t do anything more serious because they can’t risk knowledge of their intelligence operations getting out and even a secret courtmartial would reveal too much information. (It’s unclear why the note in Worf’s file wouldn’t cause the same problem, but maybe it would be less on specifics than even a secret trial.)

    1. Yeah, but then Worf leaves to become an ambassador or something. And then is back on the Enterprise, right? I forget how it all goes.

      But I like that there were consequences. And sadly, Jadzia’s days were numbered anyway….

  2. Interesting discussion, and I appreciate Mike’s perspective. But, ya know, I’m glad he came from the position of remembering this IS entertainment, and fiction, and therefore doesn’t follow “regulations” for dramatic purposes. I would never want to see Trek bogged down with such narrative handcuffs, but I also don’t want them hand-waving everything away. I think Kirk and crew saving Earth at the end of IV is a perfectly acceptable “Hollywood” fix for what they did in III, and I guess most audiences feel the same way.

    Interestingly enough, I watched a Disney Zorro episode last night (#ZorroMonth) where Sgt. Garcia was falsely accused and convicted of treason for robbing the garrison’s payroll. He’s about to be shot by a firing squad oof his own men when Zorro arrives with a confession from the man who framed Garcia. The magistrate in charge reinstates Garcia and orders him to chase after Zorro on the spot. I can’t imagine such matters being dropped instantaneously like this… but it makes for fun television.

    Chris

  3. I have to think there’s some element of an executive pardon involved in the end of ST IV.

    Star Trek military law has to be a bit different just to account for the fact that it’s a very real possibility that someone in your chain of command has been possessed, parasitized, reprogrammed or replaced by a doppelganger.

    Voyager had a few on-topic episodes here: Worst Case Scenario, Conspiracy.

    And yeah,looking forward to the discussion of how determined Janeway was to destroy Kim’s career next time Mike comes on.

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