Potential Hot Take

[BillJ]

There is absolutely no saving graces to "A Piece Of The Action"
It's cringe central from start to finish
It's not fun in the slightest, it's just plain bad

I actually think it is quite a clever episode. Love the humorous tone. I like when Star Trek went a little bit ‘out there’.

 

[Picard1994]

I'm one of the rare ones who likes this episode.

I'm another.

 

[fireproof78]

That's just crazy talk.

With a capital K.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

My hot take is that A Piece of the Action is pretty entertaining and would've made my top five for season 2, if The Trouble with Tribbles, Mirror, Mirror, Amok Time, The Doomsday Machine and Journey to Babel weren't in a whole other tier.

Metamorphosis, on the other hand...

 

[Rockson]

Yes, "The Alternative Factor" was a bad episode. However, for me, the absolute worst episode was "The Mark of Gideon," because it made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Of course one should take the story lines too seriously and that's where we allow the writers some leeway to do their best to spin a story. I kind of liked The Mark of Gideon for it had Kirk in a place which created within him a great mystery.

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

But the fake ship was only half the problem. The other half was the absolutely convoluted plan for the Gideonites to infect Odona with Kirk’s virus. Not to mention that there were a multitude of other more logical ways that the Gideonites could have solved their population crisis.

"The Mark of Gideon" had some neat imagery and attempted to work with some good themes, but it's also practically self-parody. I hate to pull episodes apart with nit-picking, but nothing in this episode holds up to the slightest scrutiny.

The logic, per Spock, was "The Gideons have transported Captain Kirk onto this replica of the Enterprise to so confuse his mind as to make him susceptible to some extraordinary experiment." But what was the experiment? They needed him to pass on his virus so they could get it into the population. (He still carries the virus in his system, not just the antibodies?)

How was he to pass it on? Them sticking Odona on the ship alone with him makes it seem like they want him to transmit it through... contact. So they built an entire starship replica to trick Kirk into kissing a girl?

Except the bruising indicates they took the virus directly from his blood almost the moment he arrived, so none of that was even necessary. And he was already beaming down voluntarily. What was the point of all of this? If anything, they would've been far more successful just having a normal meeting and letting Kirk leave none the wiser that they'd done anything.

That said, regardless of intent, maybe if your planet is standing room only you shouldn’t build a massive starship replica on the surface and make everyone stand outside.

To quote @KRAD's review from https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-original-series-the-mark-of-gideon/ : “Only in the budget-razed third season of Star Trek could you have an episode about the dangers of overpopulation in which the primary visual is a bunch of empty corridors.”

If it had more than good intents to redeem it I could forgive a lot, but it's just a bad episode.

(Okay, the Hodin/Spock diplomacy stuff is kind of amusing, even if it doesn't fully work. And Prodigy was able to use one of Uhura's lines for "Kobayashi", so at least the episode has created some lasting value.)

 

[Henoch]

The Mark of Gideon is essentially The Truman Show for Kirk where he and Odona (or the next guest star of the week) is the subject of romance and death to inspire the Gideon people to die voluntarily. There's probably something in the Gideon psyche we don't understand as to how this will work, but hey, they're desperate aliens... Same with their long term plans with Kirk and the fake Enterprise filming set; maybe they can mind wipe him over and over again for the next episode of The Kirk Show. I hear it will be very popular with the women ages 18-49 demographic.

 

[Qonundrum]

"The Mark of Gideon" had some neat imagery and attempted to work with some good themes, but it's also practically self-parody. I hate to pull episodes apart with nit-picking, but nothing in this episode holds up to the slightest scrutiny.

The logic, per Spock, was "The Gideons have transported Captain Kirk onto this replica of the Enterprise to so confuse his mind as to make him susceptible to some extraordinary experiment." But what was the experiment? They needed him to pass on his virus so they could get it into the population. (He still carries the virus in his system, not just the antibodies?)

How was he to pass it on? Them sticking Odona on the ship alone with him makes it seem like they want him to transmit it through... contact.

Yup! Can't say certain words in 1968, which is why game shows like "Match Game 74" had people saying them incessantly...

So they built an entire starship replica to trick Kirk into kissing a girl?

Season 3's budget having been cut so dramatically that they had to resort to more bottle shows. To varying degrees of success. This episode isn't one of them in that regard as doing so goes against so many plot points, especially the questionable notion that everyone has bred so much that there's no room left so where's the room to build the mockup of the ship with, sound effects and vibrations and all and where'd they get the blueprints from -- don't tell me that chatted with Klingons fortuitously after the events of "Day of the Dove" where they got to see all the goodies on the briefing room viewscreen...

Except the bruising indicates they took the virus directly from his blood almost the moment he arrived, so none of that was even necessary. And he was already beaming down voluntarily. What was the point of all of this?

Drama.

If anything, they would've been far more successful just having a normal meeting and letting Kirk leave none the wiser that they'd done anything.

Pretty much. The story may have interesting ideas, but it's as warped as it gets. No pun intended.

That said, regardless of intent, maybe if your planet is standing room only you shouldn’t build a massive starship replica on the surface and make everyone stand outside.

Yup. Didn't read that until just now as I always go in order of sentence or paragraph.

To quote @KRAD's review from https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-original-series-the-mark-of-gideon/ : “Only in the budget-razed third season of Star Trek could you have an episode about the dangers of overpopulation in which the primary visual is a bunch of empty corridors.”

^^this

If it had more than good intents to redeem it I could forgive a lot, but it's just a bad episode.

^^this; ideas are important but the execution just flops

(Okay, the Hodin/Spock diplomacy stuff is kind of amusing, even if it doesn't fully work. And Prodigy was able to use one of Uhura's lines for "Kobayashi", so at least the episode has created some lasting value.)

The coordinate readout moments are a bit too easy and nobody notices the transposition, but roll with that and what follows more than makes up for it between Hodin and Spock's diplomatic arguing.

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

Season 3's budget having been cut so dramatically that they had to resort to more bottle shows. To varying degrees of success.

The funny thing is that if they wanted to justify it by putting Kirk on a recreation of the bridge or his quarters and keep him there for the full episode, it would have been far more believable and would have made the show even cheaper to shoot. (Even with existing sets, you lose time and have to pay the crew when you move your lighting, etc. between sets.)

I still don't think the story would have justified it, and there would still be loads of other problems, but it would at least mitigate some of the issues.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The funny thing is that if they wanted to justify it by putting Kirk on a recreation of the bridge or his quarters and keep him there for the full episode, it would have been far more believable and would have made the show even cheaper to shoot. (Even with existing sets, you lose time and have to pay the crew when you move your lighting, etc. between sets.)

I still don't think the story would have justified it, and there would still be loads of other problems, but it would at least mitigate some of the issues.

I would hate that. Too claustrophobic. The idea of having the whole Enterprise practically to yourself is this episode's best idea. "The Mark of Gideon" has that, Sharon Acker looking so hot in her costume, and the eerie "window full of faces" bit. And that's basically all.

You can't throw away the "empty ship" concept. It is archetypal. I have recurring dreams like that, only set in schools and office buildings. It's eerie and cool. [In the dreams, I find a cafeteria laid out with a huge banquet, somehow freshly abandoned, and I dig in because if I don't, who will?]

My idea to re-tool "Gideon": in the teaser, Kirk goes to beam down, but as he steps on the pad, Scotty is the one who vanishes. Kirk rushes over to the intercom and calls around the ship. His echoing voice is heard over shots of the empty sets. Roll main titles.

Then we learn that the rest of the crew has been abducted. Kirk was missed because our own transporter "had him" at the crucial moment and then let him go, untransported, when Scotty disappeared.

Scenes of our bridge crew on Gideon would cost no more than what we got in Hodin's office as it was. Having four or so guest actors as alien terrorists stealing the Enterprise would cost no more than the Kirk and Odona scenes we actually got. Sharon Acker in a sexy outfit is the main baddie. Kirk defeats the terrorists, re-takes the ship, and rescues the crew.

This would have been a more sense-making episode for the same money. Note that I am not plagiarizing from TNG "Starship Mine" because that hasn't been written yet. Damn, I'm good.

 

[Ssosmcin]

You can't throw away the "empty ship" concept. It is archetypal.

Irwin Allen agreed. He used it a few times on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to save some bucks and make up production time.

My idea to re-tool "Gideon": in the teaser, Kirk goes to beam down, but as he steps on the pad, Scotty is the one who vanishes. Kirk rushes over to the intercom and calls around the ship. His echoing voice is heard over shots of the empty sets. Roll main titles.

Then we learn that the rest of the crew has been abducted. Kirk was missed because our own transporter "had him" at the crucial moment and then let him go, untransported, when Scotty disappeared.

That would mean they'd have the technology to instantaneously beam 430 people down to their planet. Which, okay. But why? Without changing the point of the episode (addressing the population explosion and birth control), why would they want to take the Enterprise?

Sharon Acker in a sexy outfit is the main baddie.

Sharon Acker's outfit would have little bearing on the plot and it would actually make more sense if she were in more functional outfit if she's the lead terrorist, no?

Your idea works in having the "Kirk alone on the Enterprise" make sense but it doesn't fit with the point the writers were trying to make.

Having the episode make sense and not lose this quality would really take little rewriting: Kirk beams down, is immediately drugged and made to believe that he's on an empty ship using holograms and blah blah illusions. Odona is there in person, but integrated into the illusion. Plays out pretty much the same other than Spock find's Kirk and rescues him from the facility (which are all redressed standing sets).

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

I would hate that. Too claustrophobic

Totally respect the viewpoint, and your overall retooling is pretty good as a terrorist story rather than an overpopulation story. It reminds me of "Displaced" from Voyager.

That said, IMO "claustrophobic" would work strongly in favor of the overpopulation theming of "The Mark of Gideon" as it exists. Though I admit it would be pretty boring visually.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Irwin Allen agreed. He used it a few times on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to save some bucks and make up production time.

Don't forget Lost in Space. Will alone in "The Space Creature" was some of the best Jupiter 2 scenes of the series.

That would mean they'd have the technology to instantaneously beam 430 people down to their planet. Which, okay. But why? Without changing the point of the episode (addressing the population explosion and birth control), why would they want to take the Enterprise? .... Your idea works in having the "Kirk alone on the Enterprise" make sense but it doesn't fit with the point the writers were trying to make.

Forget Gideon. Forget overpopulation. That junk has nothing to do with it. The whole reason we're talking about this is that the "Gideon" writers made such a mess in the first place.

Sharon Acker's outfit would have little bearing on the plot and it would actually make more sense if she were in more functional outfit if she's the lead terrorist, no?

You just don't get it, do you Scott?

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Think about what you're saying!

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

Forget Gideon. Forget overpopulation. That junk has nothing to do with it

The trouble is that the best things about the episode are "overpopulation story" and "Kirk on an empty Enterprise", and both are promising and potentially haunting stories but absolutely do not belong in the same episode.

 

[Greg Cox]

There is absolutely no saving graces to "A Piece Of The Action"
It's cringe central from start to finish
It's not fun in the slightest, it's just plain bad

But . . but the fizzbin scene alone is classic! And there are many other funny bits as well.

It's a comedy, like "The Trouble with Tribbles. It's supposed to be funny and breezy and succeeds at that admirably. It's a fun change of pace from the more "serious" eps.

By contrast, "The Alteranative Factor" is just a mess. If it's not the worst ep, it's easily in the bottom five, IMO.

 

[publiusr]

The Mark of Gideon is essentially The Truman Show for Kirk where he and Odona (or the next guest star of the week) is the subject of romance and death to inspire the Gideon people to die voluntarily.

The faces in the window were disturbing. From empty to crowded.

Not unlike today’s poolrooms and backrooms.

Here is where CGI is really needed—maybe not for Bradbury’s “The Crowd” but for Blish’s work “A Torrent of Faces,” which I rather imagine as looking a bit like WORLD WAR Z.

Other works:

Science Fiction Novels/Short Stories about Overpopulation

Extrapolating the social ramifications of an overpopulated world is a theme in science fiction (especially from the 60s and 70s) which particularly interests me. Not only can an overpopulated worl…

sciencefictionruminations.com

What made me lament The Alternative Factor is how strong it started—as if something were knocking on the door of the universe—that wanted in bad!

What we got was a tiny saucer and a guy who falls a lot.

Nothing less than ID4 or Hux at Starkiller Base could have paid off that opening.

 

[Farscape One]

But . . but the fizzbin scene alone is classic! And there are many other funny bits as well.

It's a comedy, like "The Trouble with Tribbles. It's supposed to be funny and breezy and succeeds at that admirably. It's a fun change of pace from the more "serious" eps.

By contrast, "The Alteranative Factor" is just a mess. If it's not the worst ep, it's easily in the bottom five, IMO.

Agreed with all of this.

Except for "THE ALTERNATIVE FACTOR"... it's definitely the second worst episode of TOS.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Don't forget Lost in Space. Will alone in "The Space Creature" was some of the best Jupiter 2 scenes of the series.

Sure, but Irwin made it a Voyage staple.

Forget Gideon. Forget overpopulation. That junk has nothing to do with it. The whole reason we're talking about this is that the "Gideon" writers made such a mess in the first place.

But that is the point of Star Trek vs Voyage. It's not about "Kirk in an empty ship." You can get that anywhere. And did. The overpopulation angle was the point behind the mystery and it had a meaning behind it other than "taking the Enterprise." Done well, by better writers, the episode can keep its point and be compelling rather than a gimmick.

My hot take is Gideon can be salvaged and retain the thought behind it.

You just don't get it, do you Scott?


Think about what you're saying!

LOL I get it, but even Star Trek was practical in these matters (Vanna in The Cloud Minders didn't wear her mini dress when mining for Zenite).

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

There is absolutely no saving graces to "A Piece Of The Action"
It's cringe central from start to finish
It's not fun in the slightest, it's just plain bad

I've always loved APOTA, and my only disappointment is that we never got the sequels "Beneath the Piece of the Action", "Escape From a Piece of the Action", or "Conquest of a Piece of the Action".

 

[fireproof78]

But . . but the fizzbin scene alone is classic! And there are many other funny bits as well.

It's a comedy, like "The Trouble with Tribbles. It's supposed to be funny and breezy and succeeds at that admirably. It's a fun change of pace from the more "serious" eps.

By contrast, "The Alteranative Factor" is just a mess. If it's not the worst ep, it's easily in the bottom five, IMO.

I love A Piece of the Action and Alternative Factor. They are fun episodes with interesting sci-fi ideas.