Star Trek creators have proven they know how to turn on the funny since the beginning.
Whether it's entire episodes, hilarious scenes, or little more than a couple of lines of dialogue,
here's what we count as the funniest moments in the history of Star Trek.
One of the most fun conflicts to witness on Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine is the back and forth between Constable Odo and the scheming Ferengi Quark.
Perhaps their funniest exchange happens in Season 4's "The Way of the Warrior,"
just before the epic battle between the eponymous station and a fleet of Klingon ships.
Finding Quark outside his bar, Odo tells him it's time to head to the emergency shelter,
but Quark assures Odo he intends to defend his property. Quark isn't known for being able to
defend himself against so much as a tribble, much less battle-hardened Klingon warriors, so Odo is
understandably skeptical. The bartender produces a box that he thinks holds a disrupter pistol.
When he opens the box, boldly claiming he'll "be ready for" the Klingons, rather than a weapon,
there's a note inside. Without skipping a beat or asking permission, Odo grabs the note and reads
it — it's from Quark's brother Rom, informing him he gutted his disruptor to fix their replicator.
It's here that Odo hits Quark with a real zinger:
"I will kill him!"
"With what?"
Deanna Troi's intrusive and flirtatious mother Lwaxana, played by the late Majel Barrett,
provides a tremendous amount of comic relief whenever she shows up.
In her third appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation,
her predicament forces Captain Picard to deliver a speech so ridiculously over-the-top that even
if you've never watched TNG, you've likely seen the memes inspired by it.
After Will Riker, Deanna, and Lwaxana are kidnapped by the Ferengi DaiMon Tog,
Lwaxana succeeds in getting Riker and her daughter sent back to the Enterprise
by promising to be Tog's lover. When the Enterprise contacts Tog, Lwaxana pretends
she doesn't want to be rescued, telling Picard that "it's over" between them.
Deanna figures out what her mother is doing and tells Picard he will have to fight for her.
In a display so melodramatic it would even make William Shatner groan,
Picard professes his love for Lwaxana, threatens Tog with annihilation, and
recites famous lines from Shakespearean sonnets with as much grandiose flair as he can muster.
"My love, is a fever, longing still for that, which longer nurseth the disease."
Worf watches in disgust, looking like he's about to rage-puke.
It's Picard like you've never seen him — and probably wouldn't want to see him again.
In Star Trek: The Original Series, the season 2 episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" starts off
on a serious note. The Enterprise is already on its way to Deep Space Station K-7, but they
put the pedal to the metal when they receive an alert that their destination is under attack.
This alert proves to be a false alarm, though dangers do await at K-7:
a domineering Federation bureaucrat, a Klingon spy, and a space trader named Cyrano Jones who
sells members of the Enterprise crew some of the most troublesome pets in the galaxy — tribbles.
"The Trouble with Tribbles" is a classic, and one of the first examples of a whimsically goofy
original series episode that makes a point of not taking itself too seriously. From the
countless puffballs that multiply faster than a gremlin in a tropical storm to the ridiculous
barroom brawl between the Klingons and Enterprise crew, to the peddler Cyrano Jones willing to risk
life and limb in order to score a free drink, "The Trouble with Tribbles" is a great time.
To celebrate his upcoming marriage to Jadzia in the DS9 episode titled "You
Are Cordially Invited," Worf invites Chief O'Brien and Doctor Bashir, among others,
to the ritual of Kal'Hyah. Thinking they can expect the Klingon version of a bachelor party,
they happily accept. But rather than drinking or exotic dancers,
the path to Kal'Hyah involves fasting for four days and nights, being drained of blood,
hanging from a pole over intense heat, and other creative forms of torture.
When Worf abruptly cancels the wedding, Bashir and O'Brien are thrilled to cut their torment short.
They head straight to Quark's for a feast, but before they can sink their teeth in,
Sisko and Martok arrive to let them know the wedding's back on. When Quark takes
their untouched food away, you can practically hear them whining like disappointed puppies.
After several vows from both friends that they're going to "kill Worf,"
the wedding finally arrives. Part of the friends' duty — as per Klingon tradition — is
to attack Worf and Jadzia with blunted weapons called Ma'Stakas. While everyone else applauds
the newlyweds' kiss, Bashir looks like Obi-Wan Kenobi waiting for a force field to come down.
"Now?"
"Not yet."
When Martok finally gives the word, Bashir and O'Brien rush
Worf and Jadzia with cries of rage and the credits roll to sounds of the mock battle.
One of the best Star Trek films featuring the original cast is 1986's Star Trek 4:
The Voyage Home. In order to answer an alien probe's call,
which is blindly triggering power losses and apocalyptic storms on Earth, Kirk and his
crew must go back in time to recover a humpback whale — a species extinct by the 23rd century.
While original series sent the heroes back in time on multiple occasions, none of those stories feel
as natural or believable as in Star Trek 4. Rather than experiencing any particular physical threat,
the biggest challenge they face is culture shock. They don't have money,
when they try to use a bus they're foiled by the need for "exact change," and in particular
they're confused by what Spock calls, quote, "colorful metaphors" — i.e. all the swearing.
The best scene involves Kirk and Spock trying to earn the trust of the marine biologist Dr.
Gillian Taylor. Kirk is attempting, and failing, to seem like the "normal" one compared to Spock.
When Kirk suggests the three of them get dinner, one of the most natural,
adorably funny moments in the franchise unfolds:
"You guys like Italian?"
"No." "Yes."
"Yes." "No."
"No. "
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes. I love Italian."
Due to the meddling of the mischievous entity Q — one of Star Trek's greatest
villains — Captain Picard, his senior staff, and Picard's old flame
Vash find themselves transported to Sherwood Forest in Season 4's "Qpid."
There's little about "Qpid" that won't make you laugh. Picard and his senior officers are made
up as Robin Hood's merry men, including Data, who bears the famous bald dome of Friar Tuck. Worf is,
predictably, the most incensed by the situation, famously complaining to Picard,
"Sir, I protest. I am not a merry man!"
The most laugh-out-loud moment comes as Geordi rests and plucks at his mandolin. Without comment
or permission, Worf calmly walks over, grabs the instrument, and smashes it against a nearby tree.
The Prime Directive prohibits members of Starfleet from interfering with the natural progression
of any society outside the United Federation of Planets. Serving as a comically dangerous
example of why this code exists is the original series Season 2 episode, "A Piece of the Action."
One hundred years before the events of the episode, Sigma Iotia two is visited by the Earth
ship Horizon. To help teach the planet's natives, the Horizon crew leaves behind a number of books,
including a non-fiction book titled "Chicago Mobs of the Twenties." After the Horizon leaves,
the Iotians come to see this book as a holy text and base their entire culture on it. When Kirk,
Spock, and McCoy beam down to the planet, they find a world where just about
every grown male dresses and speaks like tough guys in mobster movies.
People openly carry Tommy Guns up and down the street as if there's nothing strange about it.
"A Piece of the Action" gets even funnier once Kirk and Spock are outfitted in their
own mobster get-ups and Kirk attempts a Chicago gangster impersonation.
Shatner wouldn't fool anyone on Earth, and it's tough to tell whether that's intentional,
which just makes the whole thing even funnier.
Early in Season 5 of DS9, the series made television history with "Trials
and Tribble-ations," where, the cast of the show is sent back in time to the 1967
original series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles."
This episode uses every opportunity to poke fun at the franchise. O'Brien, the tireless engineer,
is so lost on the Enterprise that when he tries to perform routine maintenance, he takes out all the
nearby lights. Bashir gets hit on by a woman he's convinced is his great-grandmother, and afterward
he considers the possibility that if he doesn't get involved with her, he might never be born.
Hands down, the best moment comes when a waitress points out a table full of Klingons.
Everyone but Worf is confused, because, of course, Klingons look a lot different
in the original series. It's the first time in the franchise anyone
acknowledges what appears to be a glaring inconsistency, and it comes off perfectly.
"They are Klingons. And it is a long story."
Imagine you're suddenly transported to the 23rd century and you need to use a computer
more advanced than anything you'd ever seen. Now consider the opposite scenario,
and that's what happens in Star Trek 4.
On their quest to bring 20th-century humpback whales back to the 23rd century, Scotty, McCoy,
and Sulu are tasked with figuring out a way to construct a makeshift aquarium aboard the Bounty.
While Sulu secures an aircraft, Scotty and McCoy find a plexiglass manufacturer and pretend to be
famous scientists with an appointment to tour the factory. At the end of the tour,
Scotty plans to offer the head of the plant, Dr. Nichols, the futuristic
formula for transparent aluminum, but he needs to use Nichols' computer to prove it can work.
Unfortunately, Scotty has a little trouble...
"Computer?"
"Computer!"
Thinking he's figured it out, McCoy hands Scotty the mouse.
Smiling widely, Scotty holds the mouse to his face like a walkie talkie and says,
"Hello, computer."
"Just use the keyboard."
1989's Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier
is considered one of the worst films in the series, though it is not without its merits.
While it's one of the funnier entries in the franchise, some of its detractors would
argue that the movie's over-reliance on humor weighs it down. But one easy,
uncharacteristically slapstick moment in Star Trek 5 remains as an incredibly uproarious gag.
After the forces loyal to Spock's fanatical brother Sybok seize control of the Enterprise,
Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy are imprisoned in the brig.
Scotty soon frees them with explosives, and the liberated trio makes a plan to
sneak their way to the emergency transmitter. When the subject of search parties comes up,
Scotty gives them directions he's confident will steer them clear of Sybok's people.
Before they rush off, Kirk emphatically thanks Scotty and calls him "amazing."
Turning and walking in the other direction, Scotty mutters,
"There's nothing amazing about it. I know this ship like the back of my hand."
If that were true though, he should have easily been able to avoid that bulkhead.
It's perfectly timed and classic.
If you understand the context,
the single-word response Worf delivers to Quark in the season 4 DS9 episode "Accession"
should make you laugh hard enough to knock you out of any recliner, couch, or captain's chair.
Dr. Bashir and O'Brien are sharing a drink in Quark's bar,
discussing the news that O'Brien's wife Keiko is pregnant with another baby.
It's just then that, behind Bashir and O'Brien, Quark runs into Worf and says,
"Did you hear? Keiko's going to have another baby."
To understand what happens next, you need to know that five years
earlier in the Season 5 TNG episode "Disaster," much of the Enterprise
is rendered inoperable and most of the crew is stranded in different parts of the ship.
This, of course, is when Keiko O'Brien — pregnant with her first baby — goes into
labor while stuck in Ten Forward. As the most qualified crew member — but still with precious
little medical knowledge — Worf is the one who's forced to assist with Keiko's pregnancy.
So this is why, five years later in "Accession," when Quark delivers the news,
Worf's immediate reaction is to respond with a panicked,
"Now?!?"
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