[Nate the Great]

January 12th, 1968, "A Piece of the Action"

No fiver
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The Episode

OXMYX [OC]: Toward the edge of what?
KIRK: I'll explain it in more detail when I see him.

Definite implications of a pre-warp culture. Even arguing that this planet falls under the category of "we have to clean up the contamination, the Prime Directive is suspended", shouldn't a specialist in such things have been sent along?

As an aside, it's a shame that Picard post-Dixon Hill couldn't be the first on the scene. He probably could've handled this whole thing better. Plus, sending Data into a bullet-intensive culture might've been useful...

MCCOY: What was the state of the Iotian culture before the Horizon came?
KIRK: The beginnings of industrialisation.

What happened to the Richter's Scale of Cultures? If an agrarian race like the Organians are D-, I'd think the Iotians would be a C or something. In addition, I'd put "beginnings of industrialization" as equivalent to "Industrial Revolution", which is about 1800, much earlier than the 1930s level of technology present here. What Kirk means is the "Second Industrial Revolution" or the "Technological Revolution."

SPOCK: Horizon reports indicate the Iotians are extremely intelligent and somewhat imitative.
MCCOY: So we're going down to recontaminate them.
SPOCK: The damage has been done, Doctor. We are here to repair it.

Repair, not contaminate. We're going to accomplish that by beaming down into the middle of a street in broad daylight wearing strange clothes and accompanied by an alien who looks nothing like the locals. Furthermore, we are going to conduct no research whatsoever via monitoring the local signals or sending disguised probes. Plus we're sending regular Starfleet officers instead of a team that's been trained specifically for this mission. Oh, and we're not even going to do even the most cursory scans of the current technological level of the planet so we can send down guys in body armor or flood the area with a gas that will inhibit the ignition of the bullets. For that matter--SLAP! Moving on, grrr....

SPOCK: Interesting, Captain. Passers-by are carrying, I believe, firearms.

It's not like Kirk is a collector of antique weapons. Come to think of it, it's a shame Sulu isn't around, he's the aficionado of these things, isn't he?

KALO: (in a brown suit) Okay, you three, let's see you petrify.
SPOCK: Sir, would you mind explaining that statement, please?
KALO: I want to see you turn to stone.

I don't mind this. Of course slang will evolve in a hundred years, and it's not like this one is hard to understand once explained.

OXMYX [OC]: Again you'll send me down a hundred of these fancy heaters you've got, and some troops to show me how to use them.

Only a hundred phasers? He has to have more men than that...

KIRK: If this society broke down as the result of the Horizon's influence, then the Federation's responsible, and we've got to do something to straighten this mess out.

This is a discussion for another time, and it'd be a doozy!

MCCOY: You do that very well. Now, how are you with primitive radio equipment?
SPOCK: Very simple. Amplitude modulation transmission. I simply adjust the frequency, throw this switch, and the Enterprise should answer.
VOICE [OC]: That was the Jailbreakers with their latest recording on Request Time, brought to you by Bang-Bang, the makers of the sweetest little automatic in the world
SPOCK: Fascinating.
MCCOY: And very simple.

Ha ha. Spock should be able to build a radio in his sleep, but it's still a good joke.

MCCOY: You mean you're going to trust him?
SPOCK: If we are to save the captain without blatant, forceful interference on this planet, Doctor, we must have the assistance of someone indigenous. We are therefore forced to trust Mister Oxmyx.

I don't follow this logic. Spock's talking like they'd have to send down a small army and take over the whole planet, when all they'd really need is a few security teams with phasers on wide-spread stun.

OXMYX: You know what to do.
KALO: Don't worry, Boss. They can't do nothing till they're through sparkling.

As Phil Farrand puts it: how do they know that? It's true (except when it isn't, I'm looking at you, Barclay!), but they've only seen a couple transports at this point!

SPOCK: Nothing useful. Logic and practical information do not seem to apply here.
MCCOY: You admit that?
SPOCK: To deny the facts would be illogical, Doctor.
KIRK: Then you don't mind if I play a hunch?
SPOCK: I'm not sanguine about hunches, Captain, but I have no practical alternative.

When Spock's logic breaks down, you know the locals are seriously messed up!

KIRK: Wheels, Mister Spock.
SPOCK: A fliwer, Captain.
KIRK: Key in the ignition.

On this planet, who'd leave the key in the ignition? I'd never heard of the word "flivver" before Star Trek, but it's a real word. As it turns out, it's not just a synonym for any car, it specifically means an out-of-date car, a jalopy.

SCOTT: You've got nothing. You mind your place, mister, or you'll be wearing concrete galoshes.
KRAKO: You mean cement overshoes?
SCOTT: Er. Aye.

Aye, Scotty. Incidentally, the idea of submerging your victims' feet in concrete and waiting for it to dry before tossing them in is ridiculous. It was more likely that bodies were chained to concrete blocks and tossed in, it's just easier.

(Kirk runs towards the car.)
SPOCK: Must we?
KIRK: It's faster than walking.
SPOCK: But not as safe.
KIRK: Are you afraid of cars?
SPOCK: Not at all, Captain. It's your driving that alarms me.

Logical, Spock. Hehe.

KIRK: Keep him until I send for him. We're going to make some old-style phone calls from this locale. So you locate the man on the other end of the blower and give him a ride to this flop.
SCOTT [OC]: What?
KIRK: Find the man at the other end of the phone...

Hehe. By the way, using "blower" as a synonym for "telephone" is British slang, not American.

SCOTT: Enterprise. Scott here, sir.
KIRK [OC]: Scotty, put the ship's phasers on stun. Fire a burst in a one-block radius around these co-ordinates.
SCOTT: Right away, sir. Scott out.

How many problems would be solved if this could be done in other episodes, right?

MCCOY: I left my communicator.
KIRK: In Bela's office?
SPOCK: Captain. If the Iotians, who are very bright and imitative people, should take that communicator apart
KIRK: They will, they will. And they'll find out how the transtator works.
SPOCK: The transtator is the basis for every important piece of equipment that we have.
KIRK: Everything.
MCCOY: You really think it's that serious?
KIRK: Serious? Serious, Bones? It upsets the whole percentage.
MCCOY: How do you mean?
KIRK: Well, in a few years, the Iotians may demand a piece of our action.

So...go back to the planet and beam it back? Surely communicators have their own transponders, that's how the transporter finds them, right?

Incidentally, what about the kid outside? What about his piece of the action?

Memory Alpha

There are various noncanon stories dealing with what happened to McCoy's communicator.

Nitpicker's Guide

* Krako says that he thought the Federation had laws against interfering. Phil correctly asks where he'd get this idea. The Horizon had no such law, and our crew is specifically here to clean up the possible mess, no doubt they have special dispensation to suspend the Prime Directive.

YouTube

Fizzbin
Kirk's adventures in motoring
The ending