Star Trek (TV Series) A Piece of the Action (1968) User Reviews

More Realistic than you'd Think!

[stxyn922 · 9/10 · 9 May 2009]

A few months after I moved to Japan to teach English in the late 90's, I was starting to get a bizarre Star Trek Deja Vu. Rather than wearing Kimono and wooden clogs and all the traditional stuff they show in the guidebooks, everyone, EVERYONE, wore Western clothing that was all slightly offkilter. Western boots with high spiked heels, 10-inch platform shoes, died blonde or orange hair, T-shirts with English messages that made no sense, a predilection for uniforms, black business suits that belonged to morticians, ubiquitous high skirts and stockingless legs for women between 6 and 40, to name just a few examples. I was especially taken aback by the commonplace adoption of English words into Japanese that were used, pronounced and spelled wrong dozens of different ways. A friend of mine held out his hand in a light drizzle and said to me, "Look, Penny Rain, like in the Beatle song."

Finally I said to myself, "Now, this is a highly imitative Alien culture." Then I thought, "just like the Iotians in 'A Piece of the Action.'" For the next ten years, I kept my sanity only by imagining myself in the Reality TV version of "A Piece of the Action II." I've often wondered if the author of this script-- was it D.C. Fontana?-- had visited Japan. But really, when Old Commodore Perry first landed in Japan in 1853, crew members reported finding blueprints of devices and weapons pilfered from the ships for sale in the local markets. It could easily have been blueprints of Federation-issued phasers. Talk about your highly imitative Alien cultures.

I think the creators of this episode were right to make it a comedy-- it IS a comedy!-- and if the clowning around in pinstripe suits and tommy guns --I remember Fizzbin well!-- eclipses the core anthropological idea, so be it. Its still one of Star Trek's Classics, and it still makes me chuckle whenever I think of it.

And remember, all Japan wants is a piece of OUR action.

Hilarious, Tongue-In-Cheek Episode

[chrstphrtully · 7/10 · 7 July 2006]

In what must be one of the funniest episodes of the series (and a great indicator of the series' intentional comedic possibilities -- brought to fruition in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home), the Enterprise crew visits a planet that has taken a historical text on 1920s Chicago gangs as its bible. As the residents of the planet are remarkably imitative in nature, the planet's residents have divided themselves into a series of criminal gangs, two of which are headed by Bela Oxmyx (Anthony Caruso) and Jojo Kracko (Vic Tayback), and Kirk and Spock find themselves in the middle.

What makes this otherwise frivolous episode work is the fun Shatner and Nimoy have with the historical disconnect -- most notably in Kirk's efforts to drive a car (and Spock's reactions thereto) and his subsequent efforts to pick up the lingo of the planet. Needless to say, Shatner plays this for all it's worth, and Nimoy's gift for understatement complements it beautifully.

Truly a joy to watch -- just don't spend too much time analyzing it.

great comedy

[fabian5 · 9/10 · 18 September 2007]

This was a good comedy in season 2. While not fully on par with 'The Trouble with Tribbles', it is a close second. It was hilarious to see Kirk talking like a gangster, then setting up a mob syndicate--to stop a spate of out of control gangland shootings--and negotiating the Federation's 40% 'cut' or share from the syndicate. Kirk later unconvincingly justifies to Spock that the money will be directed towards an ethical fund to guide the Iotians to a more normal existence...that is until he learns that Dr McCoy lost his tricked back on Sigma Iotia II which means the Iotians might demand a piece of the Federation's action in the future!

Great comedy and hilarious acting throughout. Of course, Kirk is only sorting out the mess that the last Federation starship, the USS Horizon, created 100 years ago before the prime directive came into effect. The Horizon's crew left behind several publications including a book on Chicago Mobs in the 1920's which the intelligent Iotians quickly imitated. This was really Star Trek's last comedy episode since season three started with Fred Freiberger who was a 'serious' science fiction producer. Virtually all season 3 Trek episodes are devoid of comedy.

Some are Mafia Camp

[BrandtSponseller · 10/10 · 7 August 2006]

Star Trek is often very cheesy and/or campy. That's part of what I and many other fans love about it. But it's difficult to say how aware Gene Roddenberry and crew were of just how cheesy/campy it often was, because occasionally, they did a show, like A Piece of the Action, where they're clearly trying to be cheesy/campy, and on top of the strong dose that's ordinarily there, these shows become very over the top--and very fun. A Piece of the Action may not win the award for the campiest show of the lot, but it at least ties--no other episode could trump this one. Well, not unless it's holding three Queens on a Wednesday night in October when the moon is full.

The Enterprise responds to a call from another ship 100 years after the fact, because the call was made from "old fashioned" radio. One hundred years ago, there was no Prime Directive (the Starfleet philosophy of putative non-interference with explored cultures), and the previous ship left a large tome behind--a study of the Mafia in Chicago in the 1920s. Unfortunately, the culture they left to deal with this alien text was highly adaptive and imitative. When the Enterprise crew happens upon them, they're in a near-anarchic state, ruled only by warring gang bosses.

The idea of such a highly imitative culture is an extremely interesting one with a lot of clout philosophically and scientifically, which makes it surprising that it's not been explored more in science fiction. Here, in addition to weightier ideas, it also provides a perfect staging ground for a wacky episode of Star Trek where Kirk and Spock get to don flashy pin-stripe suits, tote around machine guns, and for the coup de grace--speak in ridiculous, affected gangster accents. It's particularly funny to see Spock try to fit the act, although not surprisingly, Leonard Nimoy doesn't ham it up as much as William Shatner does.

The amusement doesn't end there. There's a running-down-the-hallway-in-and-out-of-closed-doors-styled cat and mouse game as Kirk, Spock and McCoy bounce back and forth from the Enterprise to the planet surface, and in and out of custody of two different gang bosses. Kirk, who is always amusing for off-the-cuff scheming, comes up with some doozies here, including a very funny card game. The make-it-up-as-you-go-along aesthetic permeates the episode, all the way to what's probably the most ridiculous jokey closing banter of the series.

Although it has influences and precedents, including Star Trek itself--in the Season 1 episode, City on the Edge of Forever--and it has maybe influenced other, later works--I couldn't stop thinking of the computer game, Mafia, which I just finished playing a couple weeks ago, A Piece of the Action has a very enjoyable, unusual, tongue-in-cheek and slightly crazy approach to this material. Even if you don't watch every episode of the original series, make sure you see this one for a taste of comic relief.

Da Federation gets a cut of Forty Percent

[Bogmeister · 8/10 · 17 November 2006]

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.

"All right Spocko, cover him".

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 9 December 2010]

Well I always thought it was the Prime Directive, and I guess it always will be, but the idea is offered up here as the Noninterference Directive. It was established a hundred years prior to this star-dated episode in response to a meddlesome state of affairs left behind by the Federation starship Horizon. I'm glad Star Trek had the ability not to take itself too seriously at times, this one is just a hoot. From Kirk's attempt to drive a 1920's taxi to his antics in describing a royal fizzbin, 'A Piece of the Action' will either leave you groaning or rolling on the floor. Even Bela, Krako and Kalo sounded suspiciously close enough to Harpo, Chico and Zeppo to make this outing feel like a day at the circus.

Yet I defy you to make any sense of the way the whole thing ended. Kirk and Spock are back aboard the Enterprise, and their roll of the dice back on Sigma Iotia II had rival gangs neatly in tow for the march toward a more rational and peaceful civilization. With a shot at taking back a forty percent deal from the Federation in the future! Even now it doesn't make sense to me after I've had enough time to think about it. Best thing to do - don't think about it. As far as movie gangsters go, Captain Kirk may not be another Cagney or Bogart, but he sure does give new meaning to the Roaring Twenties.

I Can't Help But Like It

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 1 May 2014]

The Enterprise crew arrives at a planet a hundred years after another ship arrived there. The Iotians are an imitative race and have patterned their culture after the 1920's gangster culture of the U. S. This happened because someone left a book on he planet outlining the gangland characters. This has become their Bible. There is a battle going on for territory as the factions put hits on each other. The joy of the episode is watching Kirk and Spock try to adapt to the society without encroaching on he prime directive. There are great scenes as Kirk, and even more ridiculously, Spock try to mimic the dialect and nomenclature of the time. There is the priceless scene the two attempting to drive a flivver. Kirk jerks along, not quite getting the hang of the clutch, and Spock tells him he is a great captain but a horrible, dangerous driver. The guys need to meet the gang bosses on their own level, but what is this. Anyway, it is great fun and one of the most memorable in the series. One other thing, Kirk and Spock look great in those zoot suits.

A very clever story.

[rudge49 · 31 July 2019]

Those of us who grew up in the 50s when the "Roaring Twenties" were not so distant, who remember the gangster movies of the 1950s, "The Untouchables", the TV series "The Roaring Twenties" can appreciate this episode a little more. It is a good example of how good writers can take a situation that could be rather grim-think of "Patterns of Force", where there has been a major violation of The Prime Directive -OK, it wasn't in force at the time, but it was situations like this that led to its adoption-and make it funny and effective. Gangsters wearing fancy clothing but can't shake their "dese and dem and doze" accents, people behaving in a certain way, exaggerated mannerisms because they think that's what they're supposed to. And how many people reading this today could drive a manual transmission ?

Reminds me of a ham sandwich!

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 7/10 · 14 November 2018]

This second season episode of "Star Trek," lays on the goofy qualities a bit thick at times! William Shatner hams it up shamelessly in his attempts to imitate a gangster after he and his party land on a planet that resembles 1920s Chicago. I can't recall seeing Kirk and Spock dressed in 1920s suits very often. This is harmless fun, to be fair. The cast look as though they are having a good time and that's one way of encouraging the viewers to do the same. It's best to switch off the brain when seeing this.

Mobsters, Heaters and an Odd Solution

[Rainey-Dawn · 9/10 · 10 January 2017]

Season 2, episode 17. The Enterprise has orders to investigate what is going on on Sigma Iotia II. 100 years earlier, the U.S.S. Horizon disappeared shortly after leaving the planet's area - reported missing. Bela Oxmyx, an Iotian mob boss, has contacted the Enterprise and promise to give them information about the Horizon. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to quickly learn the inhabitants have patterned themselves after the 1920s Earth era. They are met by Bela's mob and they bring him to Bela. What Bela wants is "heaters" or phaser weapons so he can completely take over the everything. There are other mob bosses and gangs that want to take over as well. Kirk and crew must bring peace and a solution to the problem and Kirk comes up with an odd plan that works for all of them but leaves Spock questioning the future outcome.

Neat, odd and fun episode... one of my favorites due to it's quirkiness. It's quite different, quite illogical but quite a joy to watch.

9/10

Federation vs. Mafia

[Samuel-Shovel · 7/10 · 14 June 2018]

In "A Piece of the Action", the Enterprise heads to a planet that had previously been visited by the U.S.S. Horizon 100 years prior, before the issuance of the Prime Directive. The Enterprise had received an old-style radio message from the Horizon from many years ago before the starship was lost. The ship reported an intelligent, developing alien species prone to imitation. The Horizon left behind a tome about 1920's Chicago and the Mafia which became the Iotians sacred text. When the Enterprise arrives, it finds a planet ruled by mob bosses with machine guns and an old-timey gangster dialectic.

After beaming down, Kirk, Spock, and Bones find themselves in the middle of a turf battle. Both sides take turns holding the three hostage and demanding the Federation's firepower in order to take control of the planet. Kirk must do his best to fix the wrongs of the Horizon without interfering too much with the development of the planet's evolution.

Kirk's solution is to transport all the crime lords into one room and threaten them with the power of the Federation by stunning a city block's worth of cronies. That really whips everyone into shape. Kirk informs the bosses that the Federation is taking over and will be back on a yearly basis to take their cut. He creates a syndicate to make the planet a more peaceful place. As the Enterprise leaves orbit, Bones remembers that he left a communicator behind, jeopardizing the Prime Directive.

This episode is so silly... but I kind of like it. The fact that they are able to figure out and recreate 1930's mafia culture by having just a book with some pictures is ridiculous but if you want to enjoy this episode, you have to play along.

Seeing Spock in an old gangster suit and hearing Kirk's impressions and lingo are both great comedic moments. I think a lot of TOS's comedy tends to fall flat with a modern eye but this episode is probably the most genuinely funny I've seen thus far.

The crew getting mixed up in a planet's gang wars is such a weird idea for an episode. The Federation is concerned primarily with the galaxy at large, but in this episode we really get micro with it. I enjoy that.

All the performances hold up. Yes, they are hammy but that's exactly what this episode needs. It all goes by at a very fast clip; this episode has excellent pacing. While not important in the grand scheme of things, this episode's a lot of fun.

The one with the Gangster Planet

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 10 July 2015]

The Federation has just received a distress call from the Horizon, a ship that disappeared near the planet Sigma Iotia II a hundred years earlier and the Enterprise has been sent to investigate. Records show that the people of Sigma Iotia II are an intelligent but highly imitative race but nothing indicates the sort of society they discover when they beam down. Rather than finding a peaceful society they discover a world that could be prohibition era Chicago with tommy-gun wielding thugs carrying out hits for rival bosses. Kirk, Spock and McCoy find themselves captives of the most powerful boss who demands that they supply him with a hundred fancy Federation heaters (phasers)! Here they learn what happened to the Iotian society; when the Horizon crashed a number of books were found; many were just technical manuals but one was a history of Chicago in the Twenties and the Iotians used it as a template to build a new society!

This is one of those episodes which could quite easily have turned out to be an embarrassing disaster but instead it is an amusing triumph. Seeing Kirk talking like a cliché gangster was priceless as was the reaction of a rather confused Scotty as he tried to understand him… William Shatner was clearly enjoying himself in these scenes! Guest stars Anthony Caruso and Vic Tayback do fine jobs as the rival bosses, the delightfully named Bela Oxmyx and Jojo Krako, taking the roles just seriously enough to make this episode as good as it is. There are plenty of hilarious moments such as Kirk inventing the convoluted card game 'fizzbin' and later demonstrating that the ability to captain a starship doesn't qualify him to drive a car. Overall this is a great comedy episode; definitely a lot of fun to watch.

Ratatatat...

[Xstal · 6/10 · 16 February 2022]

A planet that's run by mob gangs, like their tommy guns exploding with bangs, love their spats, trilby hats, not quite diplomats, it's a mystery how this all began.

A rather bizarre culture develops on Sigma Iotia II where mobsters rule the streets and the only laws are mob laws.

kind of funny

[HelloTexas11 · 5/10 · 13 February 2009]

I sometimes wonder whether William Shatner ever really 'got' Star Trek. As partial evidence, I submit his stated preference for 'A Piece of the Action'. He has said it's one of his favorite episodes, and generally prefers the work of Gene L. Coon over that of Gene Roddenberry. This suggests to me a basic misunderstanding of what 'Star Trek' was all about. 'A Piece of the Action' reminds me more of countless other '60s action/adventure/spoof/comedy TV shows, like 'The Wild Wild West.' In this episode, the science-fiction element is only the flimsiest of excuses for the Enterprise crew to clown around in a 1930's Chicago-like mob setting, wear gangster-style clothes and engage in a lot of stereotypical 'youse guys' dialogue and machine-gun shoot-em-ups. It could have been worse, I guess. There are some amusing moments. And to be fair, Roddenberry himself had a thing for setting ST stories in places that resembled the Roman Empire and Nazi Germany. In 'A Piece of the Action,' the Enterprise investigates a planet where the society is based on a book about Chicago's gang wars and mobsters that was left there by a previous Star Fleet vessel years ago. Kirk and company discover the only way to interact with the inhabitants is to act like gangsters themselves; they end up taking over the planet in order to bring a kind of peace to it. Some of the dialogue is funny, some is painful. The so-called 'prime directive' is ignored yet again; it wasn't a very good idea in the first place, as Kirk circumvents it almost any time they visit a new planet. After a while, you ask, what's the point? So back to Shatner saying he thought this was one of the best episodes. It's really not, and it's not one you would pick to show someone who knew nothing about 'Star Trek' as representative of what the series was all about.

This is tied for my favorite episode

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 8 December 2006]

Two episodes stand out in my mind as the very best--THE BALANCE OF TERROR is best for dramatic reasons and this one because it's so very, very funny--even funnier by the wonderful I, MUDD. However, I am warning you that if you think too much, you might think this episode is a bit dumb--since it is definitely a case of self-parody.

The landing party visits a planet that had previously been visited by an Earth ship before the Prime Directive was enforced (the Prime Directive is a rule of non-interference in planetary affairs). Unfortunately, the planet has been drastically changed due to this contact. The previous ship left a lot of books, but inexplicably, instead of using the books on crop production, etc., the inhabitants looked on a book of the history of gangsters as their new Bible!! So, men, women AND kids all look and act like characters from an old Warner Brothers gangster flick!!! At first, Kirk, McCoy and Spock are at a loss at what to do when they are taken prisoner and threatened with death unless they provide one of the "bosses" with weapons so he can conquer the planet!!! However, in a very funny twist, after Kirk is ready to give up using reason and logic, he hits on the idea of "if you can't beam 'em, join 'em" and proceeds to act like a gangland boss himself and tells the bosses that the Federation is "takin' over" and they want a big "piece of the action". Seeing Kirk and Spock parading about as gangsters is quite a hoot--something not to be missed unless you have no sense of humor!!!

gangsters in space

[tsf-1962 · 10/10 · 20 November 2006]

If you're a fan of "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas," then you'll love this amusing episode from the second season of "Star Trek," which plays like an eerily prescient parody of the original "Godfather." Kirk, Spock, and McCoy find themselves on an earthlike planet whose inhabitants have modeled their entire culture on Chicago in the roaring twenties. Guns are everywhere, and incessant warfare between rival gang bosses has brought their civilization to the brink of ruin. Kirk's solution is to take over the planet in the name of the Federation and force the rival gangs to work together. Anthony Caruso and Vic Tayback (Mel in "Alice") are quite convincing as mob capos, Caruso in particular resembling Don Vito Corleone in his manner and bearing. The set design and costumes are dead on for the period. Add William Shatner doing a bad Marlon Brando impression, and you find yourself wondering, "How did they do that?" After all, "The Godfather" wouldn't be made for another four years. Once again, Gene Roddenberry was ahead of his time (if only slightly).

Star Trek: The Original Series - A Piece of the Action.

[Scarecrow-88 · 10/10 · 26 September 2016]

So the Iotians, intelligent beings on a planet influenced by a book left behind (about Chicago Mobs in the 20s) by a ship 100 years prior to the Enterprise to the point that they modeled their lives after it (!) request members of the Enterprise to beam down to their planet. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy do so, hoping to "correct" the "pollution" that "corrupted" the Iotians, but such lofty goals will be difficult. The plan is to get two rival factions (Vic Tayback and Anthony Caruso) who operate separate gangs on the planet to unite and be as one, ending non-stop violence between them. But both Tayback and Caruso want "heaters" (phasers) as superior weapons to gain control, with Kirk and Spock seemingly always duped into capture over and over. Can Kirk and company right the wrongs of an Earth ship who left them "worse for wear". The lingo, set design, tommy guns, cars, and costumes imitate those "old Earth gangster movies" exceptionally well. Kirk and Spock adapting accordingly makes this all the more entertaining. The dialogue is especially worthwhile, as Kirk really gets into the part, with Spock, bless his heart, also trying. Spock in his own language within such an environment is too much fun. I couldn't stop laughing every time poor Scotty tries to decipher the gangster speak, with Kirk having to go from the mob language to Federation speech across the communicator to help him out. The made up Kirk card game "fizz bin" to outsmart a gangster cracked me up to no end. How Spock and Bones beam down into a trap, while Kirk has to get out of a jam when it appears he's about to be "put on ice" continue to underlie just how complicated it can be untying the knots of past "interference influence". Kirk and company must somehow speak in the language now firmly engrained in the Iotians, adapt to the surroundings in order to strategize how to coordinate a coup that would bring all of the planet's inhabitants into one fold, and avoid being "dusted". You can clearly see that Shatner is having a grand ole time. A real hoot.

Bones leaving behind a communicator, the Enterprise used to "blanket stun" gangsters, the transporter moving gangsters from one place to another, Kirk getting help from a youngster in return of what the kid believes will be a "piece of the action", and plenty of Vulcan neck pinches and Kirk punches to the kisser are just some of the funny bits.

Predicts The Future By Accident

[DKosty123 · 10/10 · 21 October 2008]

This episode of Star Trek hits the mark on everything the show used as trademarks with more Comedy done tung in cheek than most of the shows. That is because sit-com Director James Komack is behind the camera.

The Enterprise visits a planet on a mission to check what has happened since the last Federation planet visit many years prior. What Kirk & company find to their chagrin is that the previous visitors left a book on Chicago Mob gangs of the 30's in the inhabitants hands. They have in turn have modeled an entire planet on 1930's gangs copying the book.

In a way this episode predicts the future of our modern society. While this planet uses a Chicago Mob book to model an entire society, today on Earth we are taking an entire generation of people and molding it into a society where everything is centered on Video Games and Computers. We even have a "boss" running the earth right now who very much resembles Bela Osnicks.

With NBC pushing the budget lower & lower on this series, the result here is fantastic. Desilu borrowed the old Untouchables sets and the script for this is very well done. Using these sets enhances the looks of this episode too.

While the true Sci-Fi fan might not think this is as imaginative as others, it ranks right up with the best episodes as downright entertaining.

Spock gets to do classic dead pan lines about Kirks attempts to drive a vintage 1930's car. Kirk gets pressed to try and stay within the Federations interference order but yet try to get this society out of the mob mode and back into a development mode. It's not easy with bosses like Kracko and others. One of those bosses is the owner of Mel's Diner (Vic Tayback) on the sit-com Alice later on in his career.

The closing line of this one is classic. "What happens when these folks want a piece of our action?"

Cute episode!

[mm-39 · 6/10 · 9 November 2017]

A cute episode! A peace of the action has a planet which is run in a 1930's Chicago gangster style. Kirk, Spock and the gang must investigate. Shanter does a improv comic style of aka Captain/gangster. Kirk can not drive a stick shift, and Spock is a fish out of water in the gangster world are great comic devices!A Piece of the Action is not a deep Sci fiction episodes but full of comic relief. So funny A Piece of the Action is a memorable episode! Kirk has a witty solution for the episode, after finding out some left a book behind on 30's Chicago gangsters. A great episode? No! Funny episode? Yes... Six out of 10 stars

Gawdy threads from a bygone era

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 25 January 2014]

Accent is on comedy in this Star Trek classic where the USS Enterprise finds itself visiting a planet a hundred years after the first contact was made by Star Fleet. What they find is not quite what they were expecting. William Shatner and the rest seem to be under the impression these were a peaceful, but highly intelligent people just getting into industrialization.

Someone however left a book from earth history about the gang wars in Chicago presumably between Al Capone and Bugs Moran and all the other players back in those wild days. Being intelligent the people of Iotia adapt their entire culture around those days.

So Shatner and Leonard Nimoy and the rest have to deal as best they can and in the end have to start talking their language. It's a great sight gag to see the Enterprise away team have to adapt those gaudy threads from a bygone era to make themselves understood.

A very funny episode with a very funny coda at the end among Shatner, Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley.

"I would advise youse to keep dialing, Oxmyx."

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 4 February 2024]

Kirk, Spock, and Bones beam down to a planet that had last been visited by a starship a century ago. They find that the locals, the Iotians, are an intelligent and yet imitative people with seemingly no culture of their own. So, when the crew from this other starship, the Horizon, gifted the Iotians with a book on 1920s gangsters, the Iotians treated it like their Bible and began talking, acting & dressing like vintage wise guys!

I wasn't sure I wanted another comic episode so soon after 'The Trouble with Tribbles', but this was downright HILARIOUS at times. It's just too much of a treat to watch Shatner as he embraces the lingo and dominates the proceedings, trying to convince the gangsters that he's got a "solution". It's also priceless to see him and Nimoy in gangster apparel and carrying machine guns. Spock struggles to adopt the lingo, and also admonishes Kirk for his mishandling of a classic 20s automobile. "Walking would be safer", he opines.

The guest stars are lots of fun: Anthony Caruso ("The Asphalt Jungle") and Vic Tayback ('Alice') as competing mob bosses, Lee Delano ("High Anxiety"), John Harmon ("The Monster of Piedras Blancas"), and Steven Marlo ("The Young Captives"). Dyanne Thorne of later fame as the exploitation cinema character "Ilsa" can be seen as one of the ladies on the street.

In the end, Kirks' supposed solution may well blow up in everybody's faces, especially considering a last-second revelation from Bones. And the Iotians may very well ultimately demand that "piece of the action" from the Federation! As Spock would put it, it's an *interesting* finish that flies in the face of more "cut and dried" resolutions.

Seven out of 10.

ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!!!

[zitacarno · 10/10 · 27 December 2018]

I'm still laughing fit to split after having watched "A Piece of the Action" for the umpteenth time. Star Trek has once again outdone itself in this glorious parody of all the "Chicago Mobs" movies over the years---imagine, a planet whose culture and civilization were based on a book left behind by another starship! And imagine the usually unflappable Spock being scared out of his wits by the ineptness of Captain Kirk's efforts to drive an old jalopy with a stick shift. Most of all---there's "fizzbin", and thereby hangs a tale. I remember an innovative psychiatrist of the last century, Dr.Milton H. Erickson, who pioneered some highly unusual and effective approaches to working with hypnosis---including what he called the "confusion" technique---and as I watched Captain Kirk's improvisation of the game of fizzbin I suddenly realized that he was using a version of this technique, which made the whole sequence even funnier! And so I give this entire episode a 4-plus rating; together with the story about the tribbles it's one of my favorites.

Good casting enables this episode to work.

[fedor8 · 17 May 2022]

One of the most expensive episodes, and one which breaks all records as far as how many times the protagonists get captured by the antagonists. It's like a running theme. But the entire episode is played for laughs anyway, plays out like a slowed-down, less animated version of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The premise is clever and lends itself to many easily exploitable comedic situations which the writer didn't fail to include.

The key thing is that the mobsters were well-cast. Unconvincing bosses could have sunk the episode easily. For example, baby-faced actors playing the heavies. The obvious example: Leonardo Di Caprio playing a tough guy, in a variety of really bad, overrated turkeys made by has-been directors mooching off their old fame... Now, I know that most people had been convinced by media hype to believe that this guy is a great actor and that all his hits are great movies, but the inescapable fact is that casting such a person is the equivalent of admitting to cinematic guilt i.e. The equivalent of an "admittance to intentionally create cinematic garbage for profit"...

The only thing I'd change is the overly goofy card-playing scene, otherwise the episode is almost without major flaws.

Taking over.

[thevacinstaller-03350 · 6/10 · 25 December 2022]

I enjoyed the over the top performance of Shatner talking like a Chicago gangster from the 1930's. I have watched this a few times over the years and the humor works for me sometimes and other times it doesn't. It didn't work for me this time.

On strictly a creative scale --- this episode is a success. It has one of those 'how do they come up with this stuff?" stories and all the performances are well done from the guest stars.

I believe I figured out what my major requirement is to truly enjoy a trek show ----- a message of some sort. This is a fun episode but light on the actual message ---- we can have both! I suppose the entire episode is a warning about the unintended fallout of cultural contamination but it's mostly used as a device to move the plot forward.

We are taking the long game approach to re-educating the society.

I've Got A Grudge Against These Guys!

[Dan1863Sickles · 3/10 · 1 October 2019]

I can't say this is the worst Star Trek episode, not when there's stuff around like "The Squire of Gothos," "Shore Leave," and "I Mudd." But it's really bad. And I have a grudge against it that's hard to define.

STAR TREK was a show that dared to dream about the future . . . that dared to imagine an era when man overcame evil, greed, and corruption and set out to discover the galaxy in peace. Well, that's a wonderful vision, a wonderful achievement. But the drawback is that "evil" in these original episodes is either seen as a relic, or a joke. And that sometimes makes Star Trek itself seem shallow. Not often, but certainly this time around. And the irony is that the "evil" of the mob, of organized crime, proved to be a lot more resilient (at least in popular culture) than Star Trek ever suggested!

When this movie aired, mob movies had become a joke, and quality mob shows had disappeared from television. Yet less than five years later, THE GODFATHER began an extraordinary Renaissance for mob drama, a Renaissance that has lasted right down to the present day. In retrospect, playing the mob "for laughs" was tone deaf because there was still a lot more to say about what crime has meant, can mean, and will mean, in America and the world.

"Do I think that organized crime will pack it's bags and go the way of the Dodo?" No, I don't. I think this episode plays for cheap laughs, where a show like THE SOPRANOS provides plenty of laughs and still asks universal and uncomfortable questions about the nature of evil. What I'd really like is to see a piece of full-length fan fiction where James T. Kirk goes head to head with Tony Soprano, not in some campy goof but in deadly seriousness.

Because that's what fan fiction is for!