A Piece of the Action (12 Jan. 1968)

The crew of Enterprise struggles to cope with a planet of imitative people who have modeled their society on 1920's gangsters.

Director:

James Komack

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator), David P. Harmon (teleplay),

Stars:

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Anthony Caruso	...	Bela
Vic Tayback	...	Krako (as Victor Tayback)
Lee Delano	...	Kalo
James Doohan	...	Scott
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
John Harmon	...	Tepo
Sheldon Collins	...	Tough Kid
Dyanne Thorne	...	First Girl
Sharyn Hillyer	...	Second Girl
Buddy Garion	...	Hood
Steven Marlo	...	Zabo (as Steve Marlo)

Storyline

The Enterprise investigates a planet visited 100 years ago by the U.S.S. Horizon. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down and find themselves in a culture similar to Earth gangs of 1920 Chicago. They are quickly taken prisoner by men in the employ of a mob boss named Bela Oxmyx, who wishes them to give him phasers in exchange for "a piece of the action." When they refuse, Oxmyx puts them under guard. Kirk creates a diversion with a card game called "fizzbin," but without their equipment, the trio must find a way to unite the planet and escape to the Enterprise alive.

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Plot Keywords:

1920s | card game | gangster | phaser | knife | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 January 1968 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television, Norway Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Marvel Comics published a sequel story to this episode as part of their Star Trek: Unlimited series. The story, "A Piece of the Reaction" featured the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E (The Next Generation) returning to the planet to discover that its society had in fact gone on to model itself after 23rd Century Starfleet, thanks to the communicator McCoy left behind. The planet is now led by the tough kid Kirk and Spock met in the street, who wishes to hijack the Enterprise-E and finally gain command of a starship, just like his idol, James T. Kirk.

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Goofs

The balls on the billiard table change frequently, between shots, and also remain exactly the same when the camera is looking at Kirk, despite Oxmyx having made several shots.

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Quotes

Spock: Logic and practical information do not seem to apply here.
Dr. McCoy: You admit that?
Spock: To deny the facts would be illogical, Doctor.

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Connections

Referenced in Futurama: Where No Fan Has Gone Before (2002)

User Reviews

Da Federation gets a cut of Forty Percent

OK, here we go...a hundred years ago (funny how it's almost always a clean century back?), a Federation ship, The Horizon, visited this planet and left behind a book about the Chicago mobs of the 1920's. This book is the contamination, as Spock terms it, a bible on which an entire civilization has based its culture on. See, these people are imitative. The concept could be scary, an unsettling reminder of how an entire society of people can be deluded into following a certain doctrine, whether it makes sense or not. Well, whatever turns a profit makes sense to most people. But, the Trek-makers decided to go the comedy route on this one. Most of the humor stems from all the catchy phrases that Kirk and his boys get inundated with during the course of the adventure. They get 'bagged' by Bela, the big boss, almost immediately; they break free, but Kirk is soon put 'on ice' by Krako, the second most powerful goon. Then Tepo gets a ride to Bela's flop while on the other end of his blower. Check? Right!

The whole thing is ridiculous if you step back and look with a fairly objective eye but, by the 3rd act, we're so immersed in the escapades it doesn't matter. Here's Kirk's chance to play God once more, served up to him on a platter: the Federation itself is responsible for this culture getting out of whack years back, so Kirk, rubbing his hands together in anticipation, knows he has a great chance here, a duty really, to rectify matters. A rationalization? Maybe. But, so what? So soon we have 'Kirk-o' and 'Spock-o' dressed to the nines, toting their machine guns, re-organizing an entire culture - not in theory, but in practice; Kirk's a field commander, after all, not some deskbound pencil-pusher. He plays the game of the locals and, because he's Kirk, he plays it better. Speaking of playing games, his creation of the Fizz-bin card game is an instant classic, especially as I could swear that Shatner was ad-libbing the entire scene, changing the rules with each card played. My favorite scene, however, is with Scotty & Krako, their conversation about cement overshoes.