Think about this

[Captain McBain]

Two questions:

Which Star Trek series has the best Season 3 episodes?

Which regular character from any series would you go to first to try and get a good laugh (if you needed a pickup, etc.)? (This assumes all are willing to try and help out.)

[BruntFCA]

I think TNG had the best season 3 and if your looking for a laugh you can't go wrong with Quark.

[CorporalClegg]

Overall, it's definitely TNG.

DS9 had a few better episodes (most the three two-parters), but it also had some real clunkers.

Riker is the only one who ever seemed to have any real aptitude for telling a joke.

[Bry_Sinclair]

It's been a while since I last saw TNG, but it was really in S3 that DS9 found its footing.

As for a laugh, if you wanted cheering up then go to Quark. But if you wanted to just point and laugh at someone it would have to be Neelix.

[Christopher]

I think there are two ways to address the first question. One is, which series' third season had the best episodes in terms of Star Trek as a whole? For that, I guess I'd agree it's TNG, though DS9 is a close second. The other is, which series had the strongest third season relative to the rest of that particular series? In that sense, I'd give it to Voyager. Season 3 was my favorite season of VGR, with a lot of strong, solid Star Trek stories. Season 4 was comparably good, but season 3 was the only one that really managed to be the show that Voyager's creators wanted it to be all along -- i.e. a show that was less about the obsession with getting home to the known and familiar and more about embracing the adventure of discovering the new and unknown.

As for who'd be the best person to cheer me up, make me laugh? Definitely not Quark. He's someone you can find funny watching him from a distance, but I think his insincerity, selfishness, and impatience would make him less comforting to someone who actually had to deal with him face to face. Neelix would be much better as a source of cheer and comfort. Yes, he has his idiosyncrasies that can try one's patience, but he's very sincere and genuinely good-natured, and it's a lot easier to believe he'd really have your back when you needed someone.

Dr. Phlox would also be good for a pick-me-up. He's irrepressibly good-natured and a lot of fun. In terms of being intentionally funny and able to make you laugh, though? I'm thinking either Kirk or Jadzia.

[skilzkid]

Been a while since I've seen all of the Season 3's, so i'll stay out of that part, but for someone funny, I'd probably say Trip on Enterprise. Good storyteller, has plenty of them, and has a pretty quick wit

...either that or go to T'Pol, treat her like the queen's guard at Buckingham Palace and entertain myself trying to get her to laugh/smile

[sonak]

DS9 had the best season 3

And Holodoc from VOY was the funniest, especially if you like dry wit.

[Christopher]

skilzkid wrote:

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...either that or go to T'Pol, treat her like the queen's guard at Buckingham Palace and entertain myself trying to get her to laugh/smile

T'Pol actually had a pretty wicked sense of deadpan humor. You'd go up against her at your peril, I think.

[CorporalCaptain]

1. TNG
2. Voyager's EMH.

[Count Zero]

Captain McBain wrote:

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Which Star Trek series has the best Season 3 episodes?

Enterprise. The third season was the best in my opinion.

Captain McBain wrote:

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Which regular character from any series would you go to first to try and get a good laugh (if you needed a pickup, etc.)? (This assumes all are willing to try and help out.)

This is harder to answer because it heavily depends on what kind of humour you like. I always thought Garak's and Bashir's interactions were pretty funny, but some of those episodes are pretty dark.

[skilzkid]

Christopher wrote:

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T'Pol actually had a pretty wicked sense of deadpan humor. You'd go up against her at your peril, I think.

Hmm...I'm in the middle of watching Enterprise the first time through (I'm 2 episodes in on season 4). Maybe I'm biased by the Enterprise Kool-Aid, and I do see how T'Pol can be seen as deadpan, but she comes across to me with the same snide attitude that all Vulcans portray in Enterprise. When she starts losing control of her emotions in the expanse, she still doesn't really get a sense of humor. Don't know yet if this changes in Season 4.

[Christopher]

^Well, yes, that's just it -- her snide, acerbic comments are often real zingers. I'm not talking about humor in the sense of laughing at knock-knock jokes, but in the sense of dry sarcasm and biting comebacks. A typical Vulcan would just react with incomprehension or excessive literalism when a human says something illogical or impertinent, but T'Pol will wither them with a sardonic reply. Maybe it's more "wit" than "humor," but it's definitely there.

[CorporalClegg]

Count Zero wrote:

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Enterprise. The third season was the best in my opinion.

You wound me.

[sbk1234]

I thought they all had a good season 3 (although TOS especially had some klinkers.)

If I was down, I'd probably turn to Jadzia, but not so much for the laughs, but I think she had a real wisdom and insight that would be helpful.

For funny, though, Scotty, if he was drunk.

[skilzkid]

Christopher wrote:

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^Well, yes, that's just it -- her snide, acerbic comments are often real zingers. I'm not talking about humor in the sense of laughing at knock-knock jokes, but in the sense of dry sarcasm and biting comebacks. A typical Vulcan would just react with incomprehension or excessive literalism when a human says something illogical or impertinent, but T'Pol will wither them with a sardonic reply. Maybe it's more "wit" than "humor," but it's definitely there.

I can agree with that. Back to the original question of getting a good laugh, you might get a giggle or two from talking to T'Pol but not a good laugh. Whether or not it would be entertaining to try to get her to laugh, it would probably get frustrating quickly since, unlike the Buckingham guards that would want/enjoy a good laugh, you would never succeed with T'Pol.