The Outrageous Okona

[LitmusDragon]

Goofy episode. Okona comes off as obnoxious, yet everyone is impressed by him. It's odd.

[Melakon]

Not one of my favorites. Maybe they were trying to reward William O. Campbell for his runner-up audition as Riker. Okona never struck me as a Harry Mudd. But a Harry Mudd played by Rodney Dangerfield would have been glorious.

[Borjis]

MikeS wrote:

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You're a 'droid, and I'm a 'noid

That she is. I've always been annoyed by her for some reason.

When she just pops up in the Nexus in generations I laughed.
Of course she would be there...uh huh yep.

Speaking of Okana, wasn't that actor in the running to be Riker?
I thought I read somewhere he auditioned for the role.

EDIT: MELAKON beat me to it.

[SchwEnt]

"Your timing is off."
"My timing is digital."

[J. Allen]

SchwEnt wrote:

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"Your timing is off."
"My timing is digital."

Now THAT was a funny line. Plus, I love Data's response to Guinan, "Maybe it was not funny."

That one had me in stitches, because as much as I love Guinan, I wholly agree with Data.

Then there was the quick seduction of the transporter officer and the subsequent trip to her quarters. The first time I saw that episode as an adult, and understood what just happened, all I could think was "you magnificent bastard".

[jimbotron]

I'd rather watch Shades of Gray or about 15 rounds of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" from Voyager than watch The Outrageous Okona again.

I think I read that Whoopi wrote the "droid/noid" joke herself. She didn't like the joke as written, so came up with another one. And yes, Data was correct. Not funny in the slightest.

[Melakon]

The problem with the droid-noid joke is it's a 24th century joke that has to be explained to a 20th century audience to understand why it's funny.

[Carcazoid]

Melakon wrote:

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The problem with the droid-noid joke is it's a 24th century joke that has to be explained to a 20th century audience to understand why it's funny.

This guy got it.

[jimbotron]

I remember when Droid phones were coming out, the commercials indicated that "Droid" was a registered trademark of Lucasfilm.

I wonder if was their trademark in 1988, and if they made a stink to Paramount about the usage of "droid".

[Forbin]

I guess an episode about a charming rogue and a study of humor should be written by someone who knows how to BE a charming rogue, and people who have a sense of humor. I get the impression neither type was available for this.

[davejames]

I don't know. Maybe it's the new HD picture or something, but I actually found myself not really minding this episode so much anymore.

Yeah the "Okana charm" does get laid on a bit thick at the beginning, but eventually I found him pretty fun and likeable to watch. Plus, as someone said, it's the freakin Rocketeer!

As for the Data subplot, I thought Spiner actually managed to make that work, despite the iffy writing. And some of his lines (like the "jumping around like an idiot" one) actually cracked me up. I also liked Guinan's "Bring better jokes". And it was actually kind of heartbreaking at the end when he realizes the crowd's laughing isn't genuine.

In the end, it may just be a nothing fluff episode, but at least it's got a little bit of life to it. Which is more than you can say for many TNG episodes.

[Trekker4747]

I just wonder where Data got the idea to do the over exaggerated 1930s/Groucho Marx comedy routine when delivering his jokes.

[Melakon]

Given TNG's talk of the death of baseball and television, we can only suspect that comedy as we know it is also a lost art in the 24th century, relegated to old holodeck reruns. Jerry Lewis was pursued for the Piscopo role, but was committed to a film or something.

[Forbin]

Yeah. Joe Piscopo as the ultimate comedian role model.
That required more suspension of disbelief than I'm capable of.

[Jeyl]

*Watching it now*

Kill...KILL... KILL!!!! Manos has decreed it! KILL! KILLLL! KILLLLLLL!