A Piece of the Action (Episode)
Series | Star Trek |
Season | 2 |
Episode | 20 |
Production Number | 49 |
Release Date | 12 Jan 1968 |
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Stardate 4598.0: Kirk investigates a planet with an Earth-like 1920s gangster culture.
One hundred years before the start of the Enterprise's five-year mission, the U.S.S. Horizon visited the isolated planet Iotia. The Iotians, a highly imitative people, modeled their planet's culture after a book left behind on their world by one of the crew of the Horizon. The book, Chicago Mobs of the Twenties, inspired the Iotians to duplicate the gangs of old Chicago. At first the Enterprise landing party, consisting of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, have difficulty. Bela Oxmyx, a key gang leader who first makes contact with the starship crew, wants to use the Enterprise's weapons to take over Iotia. Rival gangster Jojo Krako has the same idea. By playing according to Iotia's unique "rules," Kirk finally succeeds in uniting the planet's most influential gangsters, setting up a world government headed by Oxmyx. Kirk leaves behind the fiction that the Federation will expect an annual "piece of the action" from Iotia's new government. McCoy accidentally leaves behind his communicator, which Kirk worries may lead the Iotians to become a super-technical giant by the time of the Federation's next visit.
Story
David P. Harmon
Writer
David P. Harmon & Gene L. Coon
Director
James Komack
Starring
William Shatner … Captain Kirk
Leonard Nimoy … Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy
Also Starring
James Doohan … Scott
George Takei … Sulu
Nichelle Nichols … Uhura
Walter Koenig … Chekov
Guest Starring
William Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley
Anthony Caruso … Bela Oxmyx
Vic Tayback … Jojo Krako
Lee Delano … Kalo
Steve Marlo … Zabo
John Harmon … Tepo
Jay Jones … Mirt