A Piece of the Action
A Piece of the Action (Memory Alpha; SD Video) is incredibly silly. No, no, more than that. Incredibly silly.
The Enterprise arrives at a planet that was visited by a Federation ship a hundred years ago, “before the non-interferance directive went into effect.” In that time, the inhabitants have completely transformed their culture into an exact replica of 1920s mob controlled Chicago.
The crime bosses are the closest the world has to a government, so the Enterprise tries to negotiate with them… by going native. Kirk and Spock dress up in zoot suits, carry around tommy guns, and speak in fantastically bad accents.
Now, this is all very, very ridiculous. But it’s also hilarious. This episode is completely, over-the-top silly, and it just revels in it. We get the traditional figuring-out-how-to-drive scene, the transporting-unsuspecting-people scenes, the behold-our-awesome-magic scenes, but the best parts is the crazy mob talk:
Okmyx: The most cooperative man in this world is a dead man. And if you don’t keep your mouth shut you’re gonna be cooperating.
That’s gold.
Grade
A- for being hilarious
D for being as totally non-canonical as you could possibly hope to be.
