"A Piece of the Action". A story I felt I had to rewatch... mostly because I've always hated it as a kid. A few hundred decades later, has it aged any better?
The premise is simple enough: Former ship contaminates society James T Kool and the Gang have to fix it. And despite what otherwise might feel contrived, this is one of the better episodes to use a plot formula better suited to shows like "Sliders", since there's an actual description and reason for things being are in order to make use of existing sets from other productions.
I'd have to sit down and do the math, but I like how real science is acknowledged regarding the Horizon's pre-sublight message being received only one hundred years late. It also helps in setting up the somewhat absurd premise with some tact.
McCoy's sardonic quip about going down to contaminate them is countered nicely by Spock's retort in repairing.
Spock also has a fascinating comment about the need of the society to unite, since it has been breaking down into what amounts to various factions of gangster groups. His banter with McCoy, noting that by this point in the show it was not much more than "The Big Three(tm)", but Kelley, Nimoy, and Shatner admittedly have an onscreen presence that makes it all work.
Indeed, one thing about this story that works beyond all belief is how all the guest cast, and the regulars, all slip into "1920s culture" so readily. The story itself has less weight than a loose meat sandwich and has a lot of plot holes like swiss cheese, but everyone doing this episode is putting out some amazing performances when any one of them could have easily started chewing all the scenery and going camp. Their all taking it seriously and sincerely cannot be emphasized or appreciated enough.
Especially as it's amazing how the culture would take a biographical book about 1920s gangsters and apply it to their whole society so completely literally, with no variances or cultural drifts beyond the most basic. When McCoy brings up the Bible, society didn't take it word for word or remain static to it. Societies evolve and splinter and to varying degrees. In one century's time, there is no way it would still look like "1920s land" - not even by any single faction of heater-packers there.
Fizzbin is... well it's an obvious ruse and because it's so iconic it ended up getting nods in later Trek books and other media. Wish they hadn't. Shatner almost starts chewing scenery, but fortunately the scene isn't overplayed and knows when to ditch the ruse, which is thankfully very quickly.
McCoy has a field day when Spock admits logic isn't working out. "You admit that!?" But Spock's being forced to trust Oxmyx prior to beaming back down felt like plot expedience and a cheat.
I liked how Kirk doesn't know how to drive. Modern day shows have everyone going into a new transport vehicle and can figure out the most dangerous maneuvers in seconds and it, forgive me, ticks me off over how insulting the writing is. Here's this old TV show, made in what some people equate as the dark ages, and there's more conscious thought and depth - and even realism - put into something that also happens to be oversimplified in other areas. If the old shows can put in this level of nuance and today's more "evolved" shows for "more sophisticated" audiences don't, just call me "grandpa" as I scream to the kids to go poop on someone else's lawn...
On the other hand, how Scotty and Uhura are able to so quickly get precise coordinates of the name of a street despite having no cartographic references of any sort, or the microphone Spock used...
Spock, in being a "grammar nazi" in complaining about the use of what is known as "double negative", is also a highlight of the episode. As much as McCoy's "you admit that!" was.
Kirk also outgangsters the gangsters to win the game and to set the culture back on a proper, unified path. It was easier to buy into outprovidering the providers in "The Gamesters of Triskeleon".
But he's picked up on a whole colloquial dialect despite not having heard enough of the language, so it's not surprising that poor old Scotty isn't always catching on.
Amazingly, almost every character who isn't one of the big three is a 2D cardboard cutout. Even Oxmyx and Krako seem a little on the lightweight side. Good choice of actors help a lot, but something rings superficial about the story that I can't explain.
All in all, some superb character archetype acting just about makes up for a story whose main goal was to cut costs by reusing standing backlot sets and shoehorn in a semi-vague prime directive story but with tommy guns and hookers that Kirk of all people, for once, seems immune to. A lot of plot contrivances and a cat'n'mouse capture-escape-recapture seem ahead of its time regarding the lackadaisically rabid pacing that modern shows can't seem to do enough of to prevent viewers from looking for the truckloads of plot holes.
5/10
The premise is simple enough: Former ship contaminates society James T Kool and the Gang have to fix it. And despite what otherwise might feel contrived, this is one of the better episodes to use a plot formula better suited to shows like "Sliders", since there's an actual description and reason for things being are in order to make use of existing sets from other productions.
I'd have to sit down and do the math, but I like how real science is acknowledged regarding the Horizon's pre-sublight message being received only one hundred years late. It also helps in setting up the somewhat absurd premise with some tact.
McCoy's sardonic quip about going down to contaminate them is countered nicely by Spock's retort in repairing.
Spock also has a fascinating comment about the need of the society to unite, since it has been breaking down into what amounts to various factions of gangster groups. His banter with McCoy, noting that by this point in the show it was not much more than "The Big Three(tm)", but Kelley, Nimoy, and Shatner admittedly have an onscreen presence that makes it all work.
Indeed, one thing about this story that works beyond all belief is how all the guest cast, and the regulars, all slip into "1920s culture" so readily. The story itself has less weight than a loose meat sandwich and has a lot of plot holes like swiss cheese, but everyone doing this episode is putting out some amazing performances when any one of them could have easily started chewing all the scenery and going camp. Their all taking it seriously and sincerely cannot be emphasized or appreciated enough.
Especially as it's amazing how the culture would take a biographical book about 1920s gangsters and apply it to their whole society so completely literally, with no variances or cultural drifts beyond the most basic. When McCoy brings up the Bible, society didn't take it word for word or remain static to it. Societies evolve and splinter and to varying degrees. In one century's time, there is no way it would still look like "1920s land" - not even by any single faction of heater-packers there.
Fizzbin is... well it's an obvious ruse and because it's so iconic it ended up getting nods in later Trek books and other media. Wish they hadn't. Shatner almost starts chewing scenery, but fortunately the scene isn't overplayed and knows when to ditch the ruse, which is thankfully very quickly.
McCoy has a field day when Spock admits logic isn't working out. "You admit that!?" But Spock's being forced to trust Oxmyx prior to beaming back down felt like plot expedience and a cheat.
I liked how Kirk doesn't know how to drive. Modern day shows have everyone going into a new transport vehicle and can figure out the most dangerous maneuvers in seconds and it, forgive me, ticks me off over how insulting the writing is. Here's this old TV show, made in what some people equate as the dark ages, and there's more conscious thought and depth - and even realism - put into something that also happens to be oversimplified in other areas. If the old shows can put in this level of nuance and today's more "evolved" shows for "more sophisticated" audiences don't, just call me "grandpa" as I scream to the kids to go poop on someone else's lawn...
On the other hand, how Scotty and Uhura are able to so quickly get precise coordinates of the name of a street despite having no cartographic references of any sort, or the microphone Spock used...
Spock, in being a "grammar nazi" in complaining about the use of what is known as "double negative", is also a highlight of the episode. As much as McCoy's "you admit that!" was.
Kirk also outgangsters the gangsters to win the game and to set the culture back on a proper, unified path. It was easier to buy into outprovidering the providers in "The Gamesters of Triskeleon".
But he's picked up on a whole colloquial dialect despite not having heard enough of the language, so it's not surprising that poor old Scotty isn't always catching on.
Amazingly, almost every character who isn't one of the big three is a 2D cardboard cutout. Even Oxmyx and Krako seem a little on the lightweight side. Good choice of actors help a lot, but something rings superficial about the story that I can't explain.
All in all, some superb character archetype acting just about makes up for a story whose main goal was to cut costs by reusing standing backlot sets and shoehorn in a semi-vague prime directive story but with tommy guns and hookers that Kirk of all people, for once, seems immune to. A lot of plot contrivances and a cat'n'mouse capture-escape-recapture seem ahead of its time regarding the lackadaisically rabid pacing that modern shows can't seem to do enough of to prevent viewers from looking for the truckloads of plot holes.
5/10
It is a presumption that everybody talking about TOS will have seen the episode dozens or hundreds of times already. I sometimes actually wonder if someone who liked Discovery has actually attempted to try out TOS and thinking it'd be a lot of the same only with people who are now their great-grandparents' age...
