Star Trek Best Trek

Judgment

In case you skip it...

This episode is basically a recycling of Kirk’s trial subplot in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Due to Enterprise saving some refugees from a colony the Klingons had annexed and then abandoned, and subsequently defending themselves against attack from a Klingon ship, Archer is put through a show trial and sentenced to life imprisonment in the dilithium mines on Rura Penthe. (I wasn’t kidding about the recycling.)

Archer on trial in a Klingon court

The crew busts him out, but now Archer is wanted by the Klingons in spite of the significant ways he’s previously helped them. It’s a good thing we now have an excuse for this given that established history suggests war with the Klingons should be coming soon, but unfortunately watching it unfold isn’t particularly interesting or satisfying.