Title: The Outrageous Okona
Airdate: 12/12/1988
Plot Summary
The Enterprise finds a ship in distress captained by Okona, a mischievous rogue, as Deanna dubs him, with a heart of gold. He needs some repairs and while waiting he decides to bang every lady on the ship. He has a charming, easy going attitude making friends with Geordi and Wesley, though Worf doesn’t like him very much. Things get serious when a couple of ships, who are desperately outclassed by the Enterprise, arrive to make demands to Picard to release Okona to them, though each wants him more than the other.
One is a father who believes Okona knocked up his daughter (a not unreasonable assumption) while the other believe Okona stole an heirloom from his son. What is the truth behind all this? Or will Picard just blow them all up in exasperation?
Make It So
Picard is really impatient with this whole mess. His reactions are great, from Okona’s unwillingness to give information to trying not to roll his eyes at the two petty fathers.
Number 1
Riker is mostly amused by the whole thing, as he usually is. He does point out to Picard that regulations call for yellow alert, even against ships who have the equivalent of squirt guns for weapons.
Fully Functional
Data is essentially the b-story of this episode as Okona tells him a joke and then sends him into a deep dive into figuring out humor. He does not do well.
Today Is A Good Day To Die
Worf finds the two ships to be just irritants, calling them “glob flies.” He also has a moment where it looks like he was going to throw down with Okona. Okona to his credit is not intimidated but he should be. Worf would’ve ended up flossing his teeth with his pony tail.
Phase Inducers
Geordi works on the part for Okona and enjoys his humor.
Counselor Cleavage
Here is probably where Troi really got a reputation for being really obvious with her powers. Everything she says about everyone is absolutely obvious to anyone watching and she adds nothing to the proceedings.
Doctor Not Bones
…is not in this episode. Probably for the best, didn’t need Okona banging her too.
Shut Up, Wesley
Wesley is both intrigued and mystified by Okona. He clearly likes him but wonders how anyone could live so detached from everyone else.
Guinan?!
Guinan does her best to help Data with his exploration into humor. She does finally convince him that there’s a lot more to being human than being able to laugh.
Canon Maker
Apparently Joe Piscopo’s character was considered the best comic of the 20th century, proving once and for all that Trek is clearly not our future, but an alternate timeline. This guy sucks balls.
Canon Breaker
When Data asks for audience, they are the dumbest audience I’ve ever seen. Just laughing randomly at whatever Data says. After Elemetary, Dear Data where the computer created a superintelligence because of Geordi’s slip of the tongue, I find it difficult to believe that the computer made this retarded audience. Maybe they dumbed down the computer to prevent creating any more life.
Data says he doesn’t understand humor, alluding to the fact he has no emotions. But boy he sure seems to feel disappointment well enough.
Seemed to take Geordi a while to fix the primitive part of Okona’s ship. Why he didn’t set the replicator to “ship part” and get it done in 30 seconds is a mystery.
Data says to Guinan that there’s nothing more uniquely human than a sense of humor. We see tons of races that have a helluva sense of humor throughout the show. The Vulcans alone are responsible for 40% of the laughs in the galaxy.
A Little Bloody Nose
No deaths!
Technobabble
The comic seems to understand that he’s not real. He works with Data as if he’s just a crewman needing advice, albeit with a 20th century understanding. He first tells Data “Thank you for bringing me here” which seems to indictate he understands what he is. Did Data create life again? I don’t think so, but it goes back to my canon breaker, why is the audience so stupid?
Picard puts both parties on a split screen to create a three-way call. I realized that once again Star Trek predicted technology as it looks a whole lot like the zoom calls I do now.
Please Repeat Your Communication
“Lasers can’t even penetrate our navigations shields, don’t they know that?”
“Regulations do call for yellow alert.”
“Mmm—very old regulation. Well, make it so, Number One. And reduce speed. Drop main shields, as well.”
“May I ask why, sir?”
“In case we decide to surrender to them, Number One.”
— Picard, for once, sharing in Riker’s amusement of the situation.
Library Computer
Jerry Lewis was supposed to be The Comic but scheduling issues meant he had to pass. Piscopo’s impression I believe is either an homage to that or something that was written as it was a part meant for Lewis in the first place.
I Know That Guy:
William O. Campbell, or Billy Campbell, plays Thadiun Okona. He had to be called William Campbell with an “O” so no one would confuse him for Trelane. Campbell may be most known for his work in my top 10 favorite movie The Rocketeer. Though he’s been in a ton of other stuff and is a solid B-lister.
Douglas Rowe plays Debin, the father of Yanar. I really couldn’t find anything he did that was bigger than this.
Albert Stratton plays Kushell the father of Benzan. His resume is less than Rowe’s.
Rosalind Ingledew played Yanar. She had a starring role in Sea Quest DSV a few years later, but was mostly out of acting by 2002.
Kieran Mulroney plays Benzan. He’ll return to Star Trek in Enterprise over a decade later. He hasn’t done too much else acting-wise, but is a writer and musician. He’s also Dermot Mulroney’s brother.
Joe Piscopo as The Comic. He was big in the 80s with Saturday Night Live and was great in the comedy Johnny Dangerously. But he fell off a cliff in the 90’s and has barely been heard from since.
And in our more and more frequent “before they were famous” moment, Teri Hatcher is Transporter Chief B.G. Robinson. She of course was in Tango And Cash the following year, went on to star in Lois And Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman, Desperate Housewives, and even became a Bond girl.
In my headcanon, the Rocketeer banged Lois Lane. Superman’s gonna be pissed.
What It Means To Be Human – Review
This is an episode I found charming and delightful with some real laughs… the first time I saw. Ever since, it’s become nails on a chalkboard irritating.
Campbell is a good actor but while he has the charm of Han Solo, he has none of the dangerous edge of Han Solo. He’s clearly more of a Luke Skywalker type, something he cemented in The Rocketeer a year or so later. When he looks like he’s going to throw down with Worf, there’s not one person would believe he’d last more than 35 seconds in that fight.
His charm with the ladies is perfectly believable though and there’s no way anyone believes he actually did anything he’s accused of by the two fathers. It’s silly as hell. The conflict itself is Temu Romeo and Juliet and you’re just as fed up as Picard is.
Meanwhile we got a b-story about humor which includes Whoopi Goldberg and Joe Piscopo both at their peaks and there’s barely a laugh to be had. And yeah, some of that is the point, but still. Data had no chance to learn how to be funny with that bargain basement comic.
One of the things Trek did well was keep a bit of timelessness to whatever it was doing, even when referencing things in the past. The comic would be considered probably modern day at the time. The audience certainly looked like it was from the 80s, but the jokes sounded almost like vaudville. Maybe that was a good thing, it doesn’t date it like jokes about airplanes would have. But those jokes suck and the whole thing just doesn’t work.
It’s not the worst episode by any means but it might be the most unnecessary one. Data really didn’t learn anything, no one gives a shit about the starcrossed couple, and Okona is a nothing burger. The entire episode is a glob fly, as Worf might say.
