A Piece of the Action by: David P. Harmon and Gene L. Coon from a story by: David P. Harmon and directed by: James Komack

 

“A Piece of the Action” is written by David P. Harmon and Gene L. Coon, from a story by David P. Harmon and is directed by James Komack.  It was filmed under production code 49, was the 17^th episode of Star Trek Season 2, the 46^th episode of Star Trek, and was broadcast on January 12, 1968.

 

I wish there was something I could do to justify “A Piece of the Action” as an episode of Star Trek that just kind of works for me.  It’s an episode which has some intellectual basis in its premise, returning to a planet that an earlier ship interfered with so the crew of the Enterprise can show the essential need and limits of the Prime Directive of non-interference which has come up before.  This is a perfectly compelling premise for an episode of Star Trek and it integrates a reason to use older, historical sets for a planet that has been influenced by a previous culture despite the futuristic setting of Star Trek.  That culture is not actually a “real” culture, more an amalgamation of several gangster films and the works of Alfred Runyon, everyone speaking in that faux 1920s gangster dialogue and New York/Chicago accent.  David P. Harmon had the original storyline and contributed to the script of the episode with Gene L. Coon, and it’s perhaps Coon’s influence that assists in making this such a marked improvement from Harmon’s other episode, “The Deadly Years”, since “A Piece of the Action” is an episode that understands exactly what it is and how it’s going to work.  Over the course of the episode, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy have to integrate into the society of Sigma Iotia II, the episode immediately improving when Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley can get into period costumes and just embrace the insanity of the premise.

 

The actual plot involves three rival factions at each other’s throats, Oxmyx and Krako being our two major characters played by Anthony Caruso and Vic Tayback respectively.  The supporting cast are all veterans of gangster films, so there is this natural delivery to the dialogue which is purposely dated to the 1920s and exaggerated, something that could only be done by actors who understand what the material is going for.  Harmon and Coon make “A Piece of the Action” include attempts at a moral, but there is a point in the episode where the pacifism of Kirk and the Enterprise crew leads to a point where the Prime Directive must be broken in the name of ending the conflict in this society.  Kirk has to meet the Iotians on their own level, with Spock and Bones being put into the background as the episode goes on which becomes an interesting moment as Nimoy’s performance in particular becomes exasperated with his surroundings, Spock providing much of the exposition for the outdated dialogue with this general idea of the episode.  The way Nimoy plays it is subtly different from his usual portrayal of Spock, underplaying as James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols also make small appearances in the same vein when Iotians are taken to the Enterprise.  It’s these moments where the episode generally begins to slow down and doesn’t quite work as well, the jokes in the comedic bent of the episode become obvious and like “The Deadly Years” before it there are these moments of just winking too much to the camera.  While this is something Star Trek does often, especially for the end of episode closer, Harmon just does a few of them to spell out too much to the audience of what is happening.  William Shatner, however, is the one to steal the show as Captain Kirk, given extended monologues that Shatner just revels in.  The resolution has Kirk demand a literal piece of the action with one gangster in charge with two lieutenants, and the Federation sending a ship for the 40% profits of the planet.  Yes, it’s weird that gangster-like extortion is the happy conclusion and that certainly mars the episode, it doesn’t undo much of the fun and utter absurdity of the resolution.

 

Overall, “A Piece of the Action” only works as well as it does because the script knows that this is an absurd premise and the actors are the ones selling the episode as an absurd yet serious situation for the Enterprise crew.  It still suffers from some of David P. Harmon’s issues of his previous episode, though the rewrites by Gene L. Coon have smoothed many of them over while the direction just makes the episode fly by as a very fun time, if a less interesting overall episode than what Star Trek is used to.  It’s a fun time, but an almost mindless time holding itself back.  7/10.