An Offer I Couldn't Refuse! Reacting to Star Trek TOS 2x17 "A Piece Of The Action" - The SciFi Dog

[@randybass8842]

The phrase of Scotty saying "concrete galoshes" has stuck with me for over 50 years!

[@tranya327]

This episode lives on, in part, through my two cats. When it came time to name the newly-adopted kittens in 2012, I named them Miss Jojo and Mister Kracko. They're a brother-sister pair, originally from a litter of six. They're domestic shorthair tabbies (and adorable!). Jojo is about ten pounds, with orange fur arranged in soft stripes. Kracko is seven pounds, with dark fur arranged in more pronounced stripes, with a white 'tuft' of fur on the extreme tip of his tail. (My dad and I used to role-play quick vignettes based on this episode, "Kracko, I'm comin' over with a couple o-my boys and we're makin a hit!..." so when he learned what I'd named the little furballs, he was delighted.)

[@mikecaetano]

The fuzzy fedora was part of the gangster look, but the fuzz often got lost in the grains of black and white film. The fuzzy look fed into the Zoot Suit fashion style, epitomized by Cab Calloway, that gave the name to a series of clashes in 1943 between the police and Latinos in Los Angeles. The fuzzy fedora eventually made its way into the wardrobes of high profile pimps and players in the seventies in New York and elsewhere.

[@TheSciFiDogLady]

Yeah, I do remember fedoras, but not fuzzy. I guess it was the grain thing. Remastered episodes make a lot of things visible.

[@therealhotdog]

one of the star trek books i was reading years ago did mention that they took the communicator apart found out how it works and ended up building star fleet looking space stations

[@timbuktu8069]

In Star Trek Deep Space 9 Quark and Odo were on a shuttle. Quark wanted to know if Odo wanted to play a little Thizbin.

[@seanbumstead1250]

This is my favorite tos episode

[@michaelf.7172]

Do what you need to do. Thank you for the watch. This was always one of my favorite episodes growing up, because it's fun. It doesn't take itself seriously at all. And, that can be a nice change of pace from heavy, sci-fi episodes. They pronounce Iotians i-Oceans. I hope that helps. Keep doing what you're doing, and I'll keep on watching. Thank you much! Have a wonderful spring.

[@TheSciFiDogLady]

Thank you so much for your support ❤

[@mcbeezee2120]

Not the most "science fiction-packed" episode, but I always thought, one of the most entertaining. That "fizbin" scene still makes me laugh today.

[@Bfdidc]

This episode is totally gangster!

[@53kenner]

It's much harder to drive a manual transmission in cars of that era ... they hadn't invented transmission sychronizers and you had to pop the clutch, pull out of gear, let the clutch out, give it a little gas, pop the clutch again, then shift into the next gear.

[@timbuktu8069]

The Universal Translator can translate anything but 1920s Gangster.

[@ooEVILGOAToo]

I thought you'd like Kirk and Spock in those sharp suits🤣

[@WVRSpenceWestVirginiaRebel]

Tepo was played by veteran character actor John Harmon. He later ran a used bookstore in L.A.

[@Trepanist]

Hats were made of wool felt back then, giving a fuzzy look.

[@charleshays5407]

It's supposed to be Chicago during the 1920s. I believe this episode was filmed on the same lot where The Untouchables was filmed.

[@jefmay3053]

AYE CHE WAWA! Dog Lady you look Fantastic today 😍

[@TheSciFiDogLady]

😊 thank you

[@MamoruChiba1]

Gene Roddenberry jotted down the idea for this episode - a one-sentence synopsis titled "President Capone" - on the very first page of his very first Star Trek series proposal in 1964. Early in the first season, George Clayton Johnson wrote an outline based on this premise, called "The Syndicate". Roddenberry liked it, and hired Johnson to develop it further. Johnson wrote a treatment entitled "Chicago II". However, as he got occupied with developing and writing "The Man Trap", this concept was forgotten. During the second season, then-producer Gene L. Coon discovered the treatment, and decided to use it, as he felt that, after the success of "The Trouble with Tribbles", the series needed more comedy-themed episodes.

[@charleshays5407]

And this was the reason why the Prime Directive was created. Starfleet didn't want anyone to interfere with the evolution of planets.

[@Trepanist]

Love your makeup/look!

[@TheSciFiDogLady]

Thank you so much 😀

[@ice-iu3vv]

really enjoyed your reaction. this is my favorite of the comedy episodes, ahead of the tribbles which is the most popular funny episode. in the video game "star trek online", we call federation characters "feds"sometimes. this is the only time i know of that the term feds is used in the tv franchise.

[@ToneHobart]

At one point Quinton Tarentino wanted to do a movie based on this episode. But it fell through... too bad, I would have loved to have seen that.

[@charleshays5407]

That's Vic Tayback, who played Mel on Alice.

[@RetroRobotRadio]

Funny you should say "lucky they didn't find me grocery list". If you watch the show Red Dwarf there is an episode where a civilization is based on a laundry list and a plan to open a restaurant a guy left behind. It was hilarious.

[@TheSciFiDogLady]

I'm gonna have to look for that episode

[@RetroRobotRadio]

@@TheSciFiDogLady I think it was the second episode.

[@gallendugall8913]

I have successfully played a game of Fizzbin. Minor space/time anomalies and two injuries resulted.

[@miguelbotelho2613]

I loovve this episode. One word Fun! Saw this back in the days when I was a kid , loved seeing Spock and Kirk in the suits.

[@robphillips1797]

Great review, as usual. Cute glasses!

[@fredklein3829]

Your grocery list is in a book titled "A Canticle for Leibowitz", a novel by Walter M. Miller Jr.

[@randybass8842]

I've read that book, but not her grocery list.

[@fredklein3829]

@@randybass8842 You mean you read the whole book and doesn't mention Sci-Fi Dog Lady?! Is the whole book based on a shopping list that survives a nuclear holocaust?

[@williamjones6031]

1. This may not be the best TOS story, but it's the most fun and easily in my top 10. 2. Love Scotty. Especially when he's drunk.🤣 3. GOOF: There's a letter opener on the table Kirk could have used. 4. I learned how to drive with a standard gear. I'm 63 so there's that.😏

[@TheSciFiDogLady]

My dad wouldn't let me learn to drive unless it was standard. I hated it. But now I can even ride motorcycles! My first was a 250cc Vento.

[@williamjones6031]

@@TheSciFiDogLady I learned by driving farm equipment.

[@oobrocks]

1920’s

[@rsacchi100]

This episode aged well. Getting the guy with the knife was to torture Kirk. Yes, the streets of Chicago were that dirty. The appearance is probably cleaner than present day Chicago. The premise was the people were immitative. It was unfortunate the Horizon left behind that book. A case of poor judgement. I'm glad you brought up it was economics that made them have so many earthlike planet episodes. I thought they were just out of ideas.

[@shallowgal462]

I call manual transmissions "substandard" and automatics "standard" since over 97% of new cars are automatic. Eye oceans.

[@TheSciFiDogLady]

Where I live, all manual are called standard, even tho automatic are way more popular. I actually know people who prefer manual over automatic, but that's mostly people outside big cities. I also saw the Word "Standardauto" in Germany in several car dealers and rentals. I guess I just thought it was like a universal term.

[@shallowgal462]

@@TheSciFiDogLady It is. I'm the only one I know who calls them otherwise.

[@TheSciFiDogLady]

@@shallowgal462 oh! Lol!🤣

[@athanatic]

Bones and Spock do beam back down into a stupid place to forward the plot...

[@charleshays5407]

Watch Patterns of Force, which takes place on a planet that is a duplicate of Nazi Germany.

[@jimspetdragons3737]

The enterprise is quite capable of beaming up the communicator as that is the primary way they locate persons to transport up. Leaving it behind is truly a violation of the Prime Directive when it is so easily retrievable. Proving that might get problematic for prosecutors unless there is some sort of confession or like evidence.

[@TheSciFiDogLady]

I had never seen it that way but it totally makes sense. Specially coming out of a situation caused by the same problem.

[@tranya327]

1) If this is true,... why didn't they simply make a U-turn, assume standard orbit, and beam back the communicator? I'll offer this theory: Beaming back the communicator, requires that the device be turned on (and have at least a partially charged battery). If it's off, or if the battery is depleted, it would be like someone today trying to locate their smartphone using the Apple 'Find my phone' function on a computer... except the phone is turned off - it won't work. It's not a problem in other episodes, because during those expeditions, the communicator is always on. 2) "Leaving the communicator behind, violates the Prime Directive..." Yeah, except that this situation is already so screwed up that no controlling authority (that Kirk answers to) could untangle it (or would want to). The planet of the Iotians was ALREADY contaminated (by the Horizon), so the only question is not "did you contaminate it,' but "did you try to fix it well or badly?' Also, the episode states that the Horizon's mission was before the Prime Directive was formulated or went into effect. The Horizon's crew decision to leave 'The Book' may have been unwise, but it didn't violate anything. 3) Trek, in its various episodes and various series, shows an overwhelming inconsistency in dealing with Prime Directive questions. (For instance, they're inconsistent with whether the Prime Directive applies to 'primitive' cultures, to cultures that aren't primitive, but who at the same time are pre-Warp ((the Iotians are pre-Warp, but know about extraterrestrial civilizations)), or cultures that are all levels of development, including advanced ones.) ...I finally gave up on trying to make sense of it, some years ago; The Prime Directive may sound good when you first hear it, but mostly it serves as an escape from moral responsibility (from requiring the Federation to take moral action). The way the issue is used in the various Trek series, the code is there in order to give Kirk, Picard, Janeway a psuedo-legal, bureaucratic obstacle to overcome: Is our protagonist willing to break the rules and face some (ill-defined, in-the-future) consequences, in order to get things done? And, if they are willing to break the rules, then by how much?

[@jimspetdragons3737]

@@tranya327 1) They likely didn't think much of it. and 3) STOS does have developmental issues regarding The Prime directive. The writing back then was not completely well thought out or established. 1) They could have gone back for it, but never considered what leaving advanced tech behind could do to such a society. 2) that's very plausible and could be used as part of the defense, but not to try is a bad move. I did misspeak at the outset. Accidentally leaving the devise behind isn't intentional, but not retrieving it is negligence after the fact, once they realized they left it behind. The technology is a separate problem w/ more tangible problems. Kirk ignores this w/ his parting joke. They didn't even attempt to retrieve the device, battery/on/off. They never gave it a chance. Also, the communicator does not need to be active as demonstrated in other episodes. Similar to how today's emergency phone tracking devices work. i do believe there must be power to the battery, but that is an assumption w/o evidence. The Warp drive capability is the dividing line between cultural interference designation. not sur when that was established , but I don't think that was concrete in TOS. All breaking the rules is subject to justification governed by Star Fleet. They need to convince the courts to justify their actions. Summary: They should have gone back for the device once they found it had been left behind. They didn't. The legal ramifications are not clear in TOS, but they do exist. It was likely the device could be recovered w/o returning to the surface in a timely manner. Anyway, good to have some feedback on this. It's fine to disagree w/ my take.

[@tranya327]

@@jimspetdragons3737 No problem. ...ST TOS episodes that are over-the-top comedies get a certain amount of leeway. If the world of Trek really existed, then it's likely that Kirk would have gone back to retrieve the communicator (or attempt to retrieve it). We 'allow' the episode to get away with the ambiguous ending because of the comedy. In a similar way, are we to believe that Kirk and his senior officers deliberately left a man (even a dangerous criminal) outside Federation territory, to be tortured with verbal abuse 24-7, from multiple sources that could never be shut off? (The ending for "I, Mudd"). Yes, we want Mudd to be punished, and we want him to suffer. But if we took those events seriously, not that way.

[@jimspetdragons3737]

@@tranya327 Yes, quite likely. I don't mind any series evolvement and the rules change from time to time. Many fans like to apply definitive rules for the entire show in great detail. I don't think that is necessary. I just pointed out an issue that conflicted w/ a serious fundamental construct in the series as something that was overlooked. It was just interesting to me at the time.