Star Trek 047: A Piece of the Action

47. A Piece of the Action

FORMULA: The Return of the Archons + A Taste of Armageddon + The Trouble with Tribbles

WHY WE LIKE IT: It's pretty darn funny.

WHY WE DON'T: Dumb away team tactics, and the gangster accents start to grate on your nerves after a while.

REVIEW: I admit to a certain fondness for this one. Yes, it's quite silly, but actually no sillier than "parallel development". At least there's a reason for this culture being pulled from old Earth: contamination and a race of mimics. And the situation is played for comedy, with Kirk throwing himself into it, and consequently having a lot of fun with the setting. His annoyance in the comedy of The Trouble with Tribbles annoyed *me*, but here, he's shows he's got a sense of humor, and I like him better for it.

This is a good episode for Kirk. He gets to drive a car (badly), call his first officer "Spocko", invent a new card game, and show the Enterprise's power. His solution at the end is one of the greatest examples of his ignoring the Prime Directive (despite his justifications), but it's an elegant solution given what he had to work with. I think Mr. Shatner laid the accent and lingo on a bit thick by the end, and I freely admit that it gets kinda grating after a while. Spock's dialogue is all over the map as well.

Despite the fun, it's not a perfect episode by any means, and I can see why a lot of people hate it. Though essentially a comedy, there's no excuse for the characters taking the situation so lightly. How else to explain the dumb way with which they get the "bag put on them" repeatedly, leave their phasers up for grabs (and possibly a communicator at the end), not use even one security guard, etc. It's a good thing the bad guys are stupid too. It all weakens the story. Bonus points, however, for presenting what is possibly the only well-played child in TOS, in the street urchin that helps Kirk and Spock.

LESSON: How to play fizzbin.

REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Amusing setting and events, but it goes a little too far, as if any kind of tension would have ruined its comedic aspects.