When Star Trek gets goofy it gets really, really goofy, usually when it feels the need to deflate after an extended period of high drama or haughtiness. There’s also an official comedy series now, so that quotient has amped up significantly. Here’s a list (with accompanying videos!) of some of my favorite moments where Trek gives up and gets weird.
(Note: I didn’t include the movies in this list because otherwise this list would be ten times longer and even after I’d finished it I’d still somehow be writing it.)
Star Trek: The Original Series
When it comes to TOS, people always cite “A Trouble With Tribbles,” but most of us have the episode memorized. So here are a couple other suggestions for silly moments.
“I, Mudd”
You can’t go wrong with Harry Mudd’s particular histrionics. You also can’t go wrong with trying to shut down androids by illogic-ing at them. Even Spock agrees.
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“A Piece of the Action”
The entire episode is pure gold… but nothing beats Captain Kirk making up a card game on the spot. Or having to hush his Spock.
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“Shore Leave”
When you’re watching a Star Trek episode and the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland just shows up, and you wonder what you did to deserve this perfect show.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation
The dynamic of the Next Gen crew always made for a laughs, but here are some of their best….
“Rascals”
It’s worth its weight in dilithium when the captain has to call his First Officer his “Number One Dad.” (Honorable Mention also goes to Riker cuddling a Picard doll on Captain Picard Day.)
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“QPid”
Immortals love to play games. Sometimes they love to turn your crew into legendary characters. Sometimes this means that your Chief of Security is going to break your Chief of Engineering’s lute.
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“Menage a Troi”
Majel Barrett was a treasure in every role she filled in Trek, but perhaps none so much as the great Lwaxana Troi. Especially when she gets Picard to endlessly quote Shakespeare for her.
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“Goodnight, Sweet B”
Wait what do you mean this isn’t a real Next Gen episode?!??
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Most of Deep Space Nine’s funny moments were character-based—strong personalities coming up against each other constantly on the station—which was precisely the point. It’s hard to capture that kind of humor outside of its context, but there are some sublime moments…
“The Quickening”
Come to Quark’s! Quark’s is fun! (But seriously, can I have that mug, though.)
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“Equilibrium”
Sorry, it’s just, I love cooking, and I love watching Sisko cook, and then I love watching Odo not understand how to use a whisk. You know what? I’m not sorry, I’m right. It’s adorable.
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“Take Me Out to the Holosuite”
When your captain and Worf get into a fight with the umpire, and then umpire ejects your captain from his own baseball game….
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Star Trek: Voyager
Deep in the Delta Quadrant, convinced it will take you a lifetime to get home… let’s just say the rules dissolve pretty quickly, and creative thinking is the skill of the year, every year.
“Timeless”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEguofz_Dy8
I’m a sucker for certain tropes and “first time being drunk” is definitely one of them. Particularly if you’re as adorable as Seven of Nine.
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“Critical Care”
See, Captain Janeway has a problem in this episode where someone assumes that she’s after their man, so she does the only thing that makes sense—she pretends that she and Tuvok are quite happy together.
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“Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy”
At 1:39 in this video, The Doctor gets to say what we’ve always wanted to hear on a Star Trek show. AND THEN THERE’S EXPOSITORY SINGING.
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Star Trek: Enterprise
They’re figuring it all out. It’s their first time in space and stuff.
“Singularity”
When people on the ship start getting loopy, Trip Tucker’s first response is “I’m gonna build you a THRONE.” Like ya do.
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“The Breach”
Thankfully, Dr. Phlox does know what Tribbles are, and precisely what to do with them. Hoshi is suitably shocked, on the other hand.
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“Breaking the Ice”
When you’re trying to re-enact Frozen and your captain calls you up to scold you. Oops.
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Star Trek: Discovery
When your ship is powered by a spore drive, everything can (and will) happen. Let’s be honest, most of this show is entirely off the rails, and that’s what makes it good.
“Such Sweet Sorrow, Part Two”
Do not suffer professionalism in supposed future-space utopias. Keep Commander Jett Reno on hand at all times.
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“Die Trying”
I mean, yes, by all means, have Mirror-universe former-Emperor Georgiou questioned in the far future by David flipping Cronenberg. Why not.
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“Scavengers”
A thoughtful science fiction show spends a hefty portion of an episode going SHOW CAT. As it should.
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Star Trek: Picard
It’s a show that’s doing some pretty heavy rumination on fear and age and purpose in life, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing weird going on here.
“Stardust City Rag”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku8b36ZXIJw
Picard is all “We’ll do this operation, and I’ll use my French accent and wear an eyepatch and a beret and pretend to be a seedy underworld type, what could possibly go wrong?” And the answer is… a lot, obviously. Pretty much everything will go wrong.
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“Broken Pieces”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uJDo3MGr3I
Santiago Cabrera is a treasure as Cristobal Rios. And all of Rios’ emergency holograms on La Sirena. Who are also Rios. But with different accents. And sweaters.
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Star Trek: Lower Decks
When you are not Main Character, but the plot doesn’t seem to agree with you.
“Envoys”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3524aZ65cg
Don’t we all assume that being pals with a Klingon would be more like this than having Worf as Security Chief?
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“No Small Parts”
I would also like to make friends with a robot that named itself Peanut Hamper. That is basically my #1 request in recruitment incentives for Starfleet.
Bonus Trek!
And just to cap it off, some perennial favorites, such as….
Q in his element!
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Riker sitting in chairs!
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Picard intent on his flute!
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Michael waking up!
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And Shatner of the Mount!
An earlier version of this article was published in May 2017.
Of course, the invented card game was as popular a trope as talking computers into a breakdown. It had been done a decade earlier on Burns and Allen, giving us the delightfully wacky Kleebob, a card game so ridiculous that only Gracie could actually understand it.
No mention of the time in TAS when the ship itself started pranking the crew, everyone turning into kids because of negative time, or the time they just shrank?
Apparently, Kirk’s improvisation during “A Piece of the Action” has become legendary by the 24th century: In the Deep Space Nine Season Four episode “The Ascent,” where Quark, under arrest by Odo and on his way to trial aboard a runabout, is shuffling a deck of cards and offering to pass the time with a friendly game of fizzbin.
I think my favourite aspect of the Menage a Troi scene is that Picard is… rather bad at Shakespeare. He’s hammy and unconvincing.
Despite the fact that he’s being played by an absolutely wonderful Shakespearean actor! It wouldn’t be as funny if he was doing it with the confidence and competence that Patrick Stewart could bring to bear on it.
Captain Picard drew a smiley face in the warp core breach during “Timescape” too. 😃
Someday, somehow, we really must have Mr Rainn Wilson run up against Mr Chris Pine’s Enterprise – it’s been too long since Captain Kirk got a little Mudd in his eye!
On a less serious note, one of the Best reasons to love STAR TREK is it’s infinite capacity to go from touchingly heartfelt Science Fiction optimism to Space Opera cartoonishness for the sake of giving it’s audiences a good time; it’s just so darned endearing.
Data’s Ode To Spot
Applause for not just handing the list over to Tribbles! Heh.
@5: Came here to say this – love that moment, plus the opening where the quartet of officers are returning from a conference on long-range space travel and Troi and Picard each do an imitation of a separate insufferable guy they had to put up with. Long a favourite TNG episode of mine.
I love ENT / S3 Carpenter St when Archer and T’Pol try to order fast food at a late 20th C drive-thru service – hilarious!
Perhaps do a separate piece about the film’s?
@2: Or gigantic pepto-pink tribbles?
“A Piece of the Action” has to be one of my favorite Trek episodes of all time. It’s just such great fun with all of the actors hamming it up.
My favorite line belongs to Spock who says, while threatening a ‘mobster’ with a Tommy Gun, “I’d advise youse ta start dialing!”
Kato
12) Extra points for Scotty’s “Concrete galoshes”