"Star Trek"
A Piece of the Action (1968)

Director:

James Komack

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator)
David P. Harmon (story)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

12 January 1968 (Season 2, Episode 17)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Adventure

Plot:

On a mission to where the space ship Horizon send a radio distress signal which took a century traveling...

Plot Keywords:

Exploration | Federation | Shipper | Sensors | Starship

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anthony Caruso	...	Bella Oxmyx
Vic Tayback	...	Jojo Krako (as Victor Tayback)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

This is the only episode in which the Enterprise phasers are used to stun.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening shot of the episode planet Sigma Iotia II looks different than in the rest of the episode.

Quotes:

Bella Oxmyx: You better come on back down. Krako's put your captain on ice.
Spock: Why would he put the captain on ice?
Bella Oxmyx: Kidnapped him, you dope! He'll scrag him too.
Spock: If I understand you correctly, that would seem to be a problem.

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.