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Star Trek has a rather conflicted and incompetent relationship with comedy, sometimes Trek writers are able to mix comedy into their stories rather well but more often their stories end up being unintentionally hilarious. What episodes from every Trek show (you can even list any of the films if you wish) made you laugh the most?

I'm not going to list mine in any particular order:

i. Voyager - Deadlock: This episode is just ridiculous, season 2 of Voyager had some of the worst episodes of the entire franchise but this one, as Chuck pointed out in his review, was at least entertaining. I'll admit the death of the 'original' Naomi made me shudder and cringe but much of what happened throughout the rest of the episode just made me snort and giggle. The sight of the crew running away from the invading Vidians like they had no idea what to do had me in stitches and having the ship be utterly ruined at the end yet fine in the next episode just made me facepalm.

ii. DS9 - In the cards: In my opinion, DS9 had some of the best comedy writing compared to the other Trek shows and this one came at a perfect time in terms of the shows myth arc. I love the absurdity of it, sure Jake's attempt at explaining the nature of 24th century economics to Nog is extremely flimsy but it works well as a parody of Trek philosophy and yes he did come across as a bit of a brat, but both Nog and Jake have done stupid and ridiculous things throughout the course of the show, they're young people, they make mistakes, so what? Chuck hated this episode and whilst I love Chuck and I usually love his critique and viewpoint, I can't deny that he can be a bit of a narrow-minded dick, judging by his occasional self-deprecation I think even he realises this. Before you go telling me off for my bad attitude, I'm calling him this for much of the review he did for the episode, yeah he makes some interesting points but he spent most of the review just completely bashing the episode and the actions of Jake and Nog which made me think that he had the wrong mindset watching it.

iii. TNG - Suddenly Human: This episode is terrible and cringey, but I found it to be a guilty pleasure. We have another stereotypical alien warrior race and we have another brat that Picard has to help and guide for the duration of the episode and both these TNG staples are poorly handled here. I know the writers probably intended this but when blue yoghurt splashed all over Wesley's face in that one scene I burst out laughing, it was just so stupid and it conjured up so many weird thoughts, plus the milking scene in Last Jedi adds another disgusting image to it.

iv. TOS - Spock's Brain: 'nuff said.

v. TOS - Turnabout Intruder: Janice Lester isn't just a character insulting to women everywhere, she's one of the most insane, psychotic villians that Trek has ever had, she makes Chuck's Janeway look subtle in comparison. TOS is a very dated show and it's treatment of women was often offensive and sometimes even rather disturbing but this episode just takes the idea that 'women make terrible leaders' so far that it becomes hysterical.

vi. Enterprise - In a mirror darkly: If you've seen it I don't think I have to explain this one either. I love it don't get me wrong but goddamn is it silly.

vii. Enterprise - Bound or whatever the Orion episode is called: I wish Chuck would hurry up and review this one, it's even better than the Ferengi episode in my opinion, it's the episode that reminded me the most of TOS and by god is it stupid.

viii. Star Trek Nemisis: This isn't just the stupidest Trek film (although that award may go to 5 or 7 for many of you), it's one of the stupidest films I've ever seen period, and I've seen a lot of films. The sad thing about it is that it had a lot of potential to be something great had it been more competently written and produced.

I liked "A Piece of the Action." The resolution (stun the mooks because you've got big guns in orbit) didn't strike me as particularly clever and the whole situation seemed forced, but I liked the performances by the guest stars and I think Shatner and Nimoy did fine. In general, think Shatner particularly shines when doing comedy.

I also liked "In the Cards." Jake's not at his finest here, but I was OK with that. He's a kid, and kids can be remarkably self-centered. And I think I may have been comparing the episode to TNG's attempts at comedy and, compared to "Up the Long Ladder" or "Rascals," "In the Cards" is comedy genius.

Well it is maybe a bit predictable but I would say "The Trouble with Tribbles" for TOS, "Trials and Tribble-atons." for Deep Space Nine and Voyage Home for the movies. It has been awhile since I really watched any Star Trek (other than Discovery), but these stand out to me, I am not sure whether they were really laugh out loud funny, but I remember them being good and light hearted.

For some reason I always remember and smile at a joke from the Voyager episode "Live fast and prosper", (Tuvok v. non Tuvok) "Logically we are evenly matched." (takes him out easily) "Your logic is flawed." Not really getting anything for Enterprise or Discovery (still have to watch the last four eps of Disco and most of Ent).

I have this strange view that I am forgetting some hilarious episodes of the shows that are slipping my mind, but I can't crystalize that into anything and I don't want to read several hundred episode synopsis to try and jog my memory... Also at this point I am starting to conflate stuff that happens in Chuck's review (which are often funny) with the actual episodes.

I'm a TOS fanboy so my judgment might be clouded, but I do feel that TOS easily had the most consistently funny comedy episodes (as opposed to the humor in serious episodes could be hit and miss).

The Trouble with Tribbles, A Piece of the Action, and I, Mudd are the three episodes that stick out for being primarily comedic. The Trouble with Tribbles is obviously an all-time classic, and I think A Piece of the Action is one of the more underrated episodes of the series and like it about as much as Tribbles. I, Mudd is silly, but it's a lot of fun. You could maybe throw an episode like Shore Leave in there as well. Season three of TOS was weak, but one of the notable things in that season was the loss of (intentional) humor- the most ridiculous and campy episodes were some of the most self-serious ones.

AllanO wrote: ↑Wed Apr 18, 2018 5:09 pm I have this strange view that I am forgetting some hilarious episodes of the shows that are slipping my mind, but I can't crystalize that into anything and I don't want to read several hundred episode synopsis to try and jog my memory... Also at this point I am starting to conflate stuff that happens in Chuck's review (which are often funny) with the actual episodes.

Yeah, I'm trying to think of TNG or Enterprise episodes that I would actually call comedies, and not much is coming to mind. At least, not much that isn't cringeworthy. There's Up the Long Ladder and Lwaxana episodes. There are really good episodes of all the shows that are also pretty funny (some of the Doctor episodes on Voyager, or a Barclay or Q episode on TNG), but I don't know if those episodes even have enough comedic moments to qualify as the "funniest episode."

Trials and Tribble-ations is the one later series stand out to me that equals the best TOS comedy episodes.

TOS did have some great intentionally comedic episodes, yes.

For some reason I always remember and smile at a joke from the Voyager episode "Live fast and prosper", (Tuvok v. non Tuvok) "Logically we are evenly matched." (takes him out easily) "Your logic is flawed." Not really getting anything for Enterprise or Discovery (still have to watch the last four eps of Disco and most of Ent).

I've only watched the two pilot episodes of Disco so far, and whilst I love the visuals and effects, I'm not digging it so far.

Live fast and prosper is another good comedy episode and one of Voyager's best in my opinion.

The funniest episode of Star Trek....

Well, for each series I can probably name one:

TOS: The Trouble with Tribbles
TAS: More Trouble, More Tribbles
TNG: A Fistful of Data's
DS9: Trials and Tribbleations (you may have noticed a pattern here)
VOY: The Bride of Chaotica
ENT: Didn't do humour well...no award.
DSC: Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad
Films: Probably Nemesis. I know it's an odd pick, but the offhand comments in the first 3rd of the film made the crew of the Enterprise E feel more like friends than in any other film outing. And there were some quips which made me smile.

Out of all the episodes I think I'd need to go with.... The Bride of Chaotica.

It's pretty rare for a Voyager episode to get top credit with something, but I think it's comedy episodes were among the best it ran. There were others I had thought of for this show which would have also been strong contenders, with Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy being the next one I'd have chosen. And frankly if I included it, that episode would likely get second place to the Bride of Chaotica.

The hardest thing about comedy is that it's entirely subjective. Because of my age, part of my sense of humour was formed by TNG, DS9 and VOY as they came out.

Paul Walker wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 10:35 pm The hardest thing about comedy is that it's entirely subjective. Because of my age, part of my sense of humour was formed by TNG, DS9 and VOY as they came out.

That's very true, I'm a big fan of farcical or unintentional comedy, which is why I love films like The Room and Battlefield Earth.

'In the Cards' and 'Trials and Tribble-ations', ditto.

One I've seen get some flak, but I really enjoy (maybe my favourite, in terms of funny? 'Trials' might be level, but I feel like that gets an unfair boost from the audacity of working themselves into TOS and poking fun at it from the inside), is 'Take Me Out to the Holosuite'. There's just so many great gags in it - "Scotch", replacing the master display on the Ops table with a baseball diamond while they're puzzling over the rules, Odo practicing in his office, "Did I forget to wear my spots?", Kasidy immediately telling everyone Sisko's backstory with Solok, everything Worf says, Odo's awesome grin when Solok pokes him... for me, it just lands every joke it does.

The only thing missing is when they played the Federation anthem, and it was the usual generic droning - I desperately wish it'd been the TOS theme.

Oh come on. Really? No love for "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy"?

I was young enough that I remember only bits and pieces of Voyager from the static-clouded rabbit ears UPN station, but the computer voice saying "This is your last chance, hero boy" has stuck with me ever since.