Star Trek
A Piece of the Action
TV Flash files “A Piece of the Action” as hour 46 of 79 in the TV Flash guide — Star Trek (1966–1969) on NBC, season 2, episode 17, aired 1968-01-12, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E17: listed hour 46 of 79 in the Star Trek guide, hour 17 of 26 in season 2. It aired 1968-01-12 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Gamesters of Triskelion” (S02E16). Next is “The Immunity Syndrome” (S02E18).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The Horizon visited the planet Iotia a hundred years ago, long before the Prime Directive forbid interference in pre-warp alien cultures. Beaming down to investigate the damage, Kirk, Spock and McCoy discover a culture run by mobsters! It seems that Horizon left behind a book, "Chicago Mobs of the Twenties", and the highly imitative people of Iotia patterned their society after the groups described in its pages. How can Enterprise undo the grievous harm Horizon did to this civilization?
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Piece of the Action sit in the Star Trek guide?
S02E17 is listed hour 46 of 79 — hour 17 of 26 in season 2, season 2 episode 17.
When did Star Trek S02E17 air?
A Piece of the Action aired 1968-01-12 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start if I have never seen original Star Trek?
The aired opener is “The Man Trap,” but many first-timers prefer “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the second pilot and a cleaner crew contract. Either is fair. Do not start at season three.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it for the fandom operating system still running: letter campaigns that saved a starship, ship wars before we had the word, and hours the timeline still litigates. Cancelled is not dead if the group chat refuses to log off.
So about last night's group chat: someone said "The Man Trap" is a fake start, someone else dropped a Kirk/Spock still captioned canon, your honor, and a third person announced that season three is optional like that is a personality. This is not new discourse. This is 1966 with better lighting and worse sleep. NBC tried to bury a space opera on a Friday, then a Tuesday, then wherever the schedule could hide a show it did not understand. The audience refused to log off. (I said spoiler-free. I lied a little: the…
Filed against
- William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk
William Shatner’s Capt. James T. Kirk commanded Star Trek into cancelled immortality — fandom’s founding text, letter campaigns, conventions, ship wars before we had the word, and the doctrine that dead shows can live forever. Staccato…
- Leonard Nimoy as Spock
Leonard Nimoy’s Spock is Star Trek’s coworker who will not do small talk — a cancelled space opera that invented the fandom operating system. Letter campaigns, conventions, ship wars, the doctrine that cancelled can still mean immortal.…
- DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard McCoy
DeForest Kelley’s Dr. Leonard McCoy was Star Trek’s group chat that said the quiet part — ship’s doctor as workplace heat on a cancelled space opera that refused to die. Letter campaigns, conventions, ship wars before we had the word. TV…
- Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
Nichelle Nichols’s Uhura is Star Trek’s communications officer as a fandom operating system — bridge presence that letter campaigns and convention culture refused to let NBC bury. Original Trek invented ship wars before we had the word;…
- James Doohan as Scotty
James Doohan’s Scotty is Star Trek as the miracle in the engine room — a cancelled space opera’s practical magic, beamed up from a three-season NBC run that fandom refused to let die. Conventions, letter campaigns, and the idea that…