This episode of Star Trek hits the mark on everything the show used as trademarks with more Comedy done tung in cheek than most of the shows. That is because sit-com Director James Komack is behind the camera.
The Enterprise visits a planet on a mission to check what has happened since the last Federation planet visit many years prior. What Kirk & company find to their chagrin is that the previous visitors left a book on Chicago Mob gangs of the 30's in the inhabitants hands. They have in turn have modeled an entire planet on 1930's gangs copying the book.
In a way this episode predicts the future of our modern society. While this planet uses a Chicago Mob book to model an entire society, today on Earth we are taking an entire generation of people and molding it into a society where everything is centered on Video Games and Computers. We even have a "boss" running the earth right now who very much resembles Bela Osnicks.
With NBC pushing the budget lower & lower on this series, the result here is fantastic. Desilu borrowed the old Untouchables sets and the script for this is very well done. Using these sets enhances the looks of this episode too.
While the true Sci-Fi fan might not think this is as imaginative as others, it ranks right up with the best episodes as downright entertaining.
Spock gets to do classic dead pan lines about Kirks attempts to drive a vintage 1930's car. Kirk gets pressed to try and stay within the Federations interference order but yet try to get this society out of the mob mode and back into a development mode. It's not easy with bosses like Kracko and others. One of those bosses is the owner of Mel's Diner (Vic Tayback) on the sit-com Alice later on in his career.
The closing line of this one is classic. "What happens when these folks want a piece of our action?"
The Enterprise visits a planet on a mission to check what has happened since the last Federation planet visit many years prior. What Kirk & company find to their chagrin is that the previous visitors left a book on Chicago Mob gangs of the 30's in the inhabitants hands. They have in turn have modeled an entire planet on 1930's gangs copying the book.
In a way this episode predicts the future of our modern society. While this planet uses a Chicago Mob book to model an entire society, today on Earth we are taking an entire generation of people and molding it into a society where everything is centered on Video Games and Computers. We even have a "boss" running the earth right now who very much resembles Bela Osnicks.
With NBC pushing the budget lower & lower on this series, the result here is fantastic. Desilu borrowed the old Untouchables sets and the script for this is very well done. Using these sets enhances the looks of this episode too.
While the true Sci-Fi fan might not think this is as imaginative as others, it ranks right up with the best episodes as downright entertaining.
Spock gets to do classic dead pan lines about Kirks attempts to drive a vintage 1930's car. Kirk gets pressed to try and stay within the Federations interference order but yet try to get this society out of the mob mode and back into a development mode. It's not easy with bosses like Kracko and others. One of those bosses is the owner of Mel's Diner (Vic Tayback) on the sit-com Alice later on in his career.
The closing line of this one is classic. "What happens when these folks want a piece of our action?"