An outrageous TNG character will return

[Qonundrum]

He managed much with that level of dialogue, even if he felt inexperienced. He almost nailed Riker's role... his saying Stewart was a mentor was as cool as Stewart helping out... He was the lead in "The Rocketeer" and did decently with it... I think he's being too hard on himself...

Now imagine if Campbell got Riker and Frakes got Okona... Not really.

Worse, Okona was a little too forced a persona on paper, which I don't think any actor could have elevated. Least of all Patrick Stewart - so get a a bottle of red bull, add a thimble full of jaegermeister to it, gulp it down, then sit back and ponder for eighty seven hours on that followed by another 16 as to why you've not been able to sleep fort almost five days by then... or, rather, don't, that liquid combination is not healthy...

Yes, the "Okona" story is still quite the cringe-laden misfire and, arguably with a different tone other than what season 2 largely adopted the story could have been better. I don't know the making-of facts, but "Okona" really feels like a leftover from early season 1 that they had to revive due to the strike and other issues - which might not be the case, they could have felt that a lighter story was needed. Either way, the script is such a mishmash...

Now I want to see this Nickelodeon cartoon. Just to see if the scripts redeem one of the larger oddball stories of season 2. If Prodigy really does redeem him, that'd be a surprise.

An example of forced characterization:

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(Several in fact, since the room number Okana claims to look for doesn't match what's on the wall. The number shown is a pretty lame joke, or one more worthy of a cartoon. The name of the person on the door placard reads "D.C. Robinson", which comprises not one but many in-jokes (one to TOS, the other from a certain movie from 1967...) Still, the first half of the scene, despite the muzak, isn't too terrible...


edit: replacement of word omitted by accident in original post ("many") :blush:

 

[Qonundrum]

Nooooooooooo! I was hoping for Roga Danar.

Seriously though, Okona? I saw the episode the other day. It doesn't improve with age.

The last time I saw it, I struggled to find something positive about it... Piscopo should have stolen the show, not Goldberg and Spiner as a double-act. Genre hopping is also risky, but mixing in the feel of Three's Company with scenes ripped out of a cheap copy of Romeo&Juliet just did not work... at least the actors all did the best with what they could with that material, though one never really knows how much filmed material will gel (or not) until actually editing it together... like the original Star Wars...)

I mean, to be fair, he bedded Teri Hatcher...so props to a playa.

"Playa" - Spanish for "beach". Teri is a large plot of sand adjacent to a large body of water such as a lake or ocean? Okay, I know that young Anakin griped about sand getting everywhere (since saying how it gets into body crevasses was a bit much in a trilogy that also had said Anakin slicing and dicing a room full of little children and then later became the guest of honor at a BBQ on magical surf board fire lava planet (with breathable atmosphere and all, oddly), with Obi Wan watching in plain view but then would later act toward Luke as if that never happened, but I jumped into a different franchise, oops.. if nothing else, Teri Hatcher certainly preferred Okona. Unlike Superman he wasn't faster than a speeding locomotive... /irony )

 

[Spectre Of The Fun]

This is outrageous. I don't want to see Okona back.

I want to wake up and find out that one of Starfleet's greatest ever officers really didn't die senselessly in "Starship Mine" and that HE is coming back.

Yes I am talking about Commander Calvin "Hutch" Hutchinson. The Star Service needs able beuracrats and Hutch was among the greatest of them. He could break the ice and own a room.

Don't believe me? Here's a refresher:

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[JoseNoodles]

This is outrageous. I don't want to see Okona back.

I want to wake up and find out that one of Starfleet's greatest ever officers really didn't die senselessly in "Starship Mine" and that HE is coming back.

Yes I am talking about Commander Calvin "Hutch" Hutchinson. The Star Service needs able beuracrats and Hutch was among the greatest of them. He could break the ice and own a room.

Don't believe me? Here's a refresher:

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You haven't lived until you've seen the Star Trek INtakes version.

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[Herbert]

One of the few TNG episodes I can recall watching on TV. And I don't recall it fondly. Did anyone like it?

I did, and still do. In fact I just watched it again. Great fun.

 

[Orphalesion]

Aside from Billy Campbell being easy on the eyes, I can't find anything redeemable about the episode.
Okona's characterization is told to us, instead of shown, and he basically does nothing all episode, the Romeo and Juliet plot-line is underdeveloped and nonsensical. Okona isn't even outrageous, he's a bargain bin Han Solo.
The actor does try his best with the material, but there's no salvaging it.

And the B-Plot about Data trying to understand humour is even worse. It's a comedy subplot without any comedy. There was not a single joke that landed, in the whole thing. Whoever that 80s comedian was, he wasn't funny in this. And I can't believe that the "You are a droid an I am a 'noid hur hur hur" joke was the improved version from an even worse joke in the script.

 

[gakelly]

Okona was the absolute worst episode of TNG. Okona did nothing that showed he was cool. All the other characters just oogled over him for no reason. The guy, to me, was just some dirtbag who scraped up a pathetic living flying back and forth between two planets. I wish he would have been killed in the episode.

 

[Spectre Of The Fun]

You haven't lived until you've seen the Star Trek INtakes version.

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That was great. Thanks I hadn't seen it before or in some time.

The truth is Okona doesn't really bother me all that much. I always assumed the script was because of the writer's strike.

 

[NCC-73515]

Aside from Billy Campbell being easy on the eyes, I can't find anything redeemable about the episode.
Okona's characterization is told to us, instead of shown, and he basically does nothing all episode, the Romeo and Juliet plot-line is underdeveloped and nonsensical. Okona isn't even outrageous, he's a bargain bin Han Solo.
The actor does try his best with the material, but there's no salvaging it.

And the B-Plot about Data trying to understand humour is even worse. It's a comedy subplot without any comedy. There was not a single joke that landed, in the whole thing. Whoever that 80s comedian was, he wasn't funny in this. And I can't believe that the "You are a droid an I am a 'noid hur hur hur" joke was the improved version from an even worse joke in the script.

What was the joke in the script?

 

[Orphalesion]

What was the joke in the script?

According to SFDebris:
"My job here puts me under certain obligations, like a vow of silence; I can't repeat anything I see or hear. The obligation of my patron is to tell the truth, otherwise I'm placed under the commitment to keep a secret about nothing. That's not fair that's called wastin' honour, you understand?"

Usually I'd assume there's something I'm not getting since English isn't my native language, but SFDebris is American and couldn't see the joke either.

And you know... that was the same season that made fun of bad writing in the Royale.

 

[publiusr]

Maybe he can bring his friends Mal and Capt. Jack

 

[Herbert]

Okona was the absolute worst episode of TNG. Okona did nothing that showed he was cool. All the other characters just oogled over him for no reason. The guy, to me, was just some dirtbag who scraped up a pathetic living flying back and forth between two planets. I wish he would have been killed in the episode.

Worse then Sub Rosa? I think not

 

[gakelly]

Worse then Sub Rosa? I think not

maybe but does it really matter once the episodes are really that atrocious?

 

[Orphalesion]

They are both terrible episodes. Why does it matter which one was worse?
But at least Sub Rosa didn't try and fail to be a comedy and, strangely enough, was so ridiculous it was at least kinda entertaining to watch, unlike the Outrageous Okona.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Okona? Seriously?

I'm just going to hazard a guess that Prodigy takes place decades, if not centuries, later than TNG (because it is set on a derelict Starfleet vessel with a hologram Janeway)...so unless Okona is some kind of alien, I don't see how he could possibly have lived that long.

Spoiler: novelverse

In the novelverse, Okona IS an alien. I really don't know why they went that route.

Oh well, what the hell. Billy Campbell clearly enjoyed playing Okona, so we'll see how this plays out. Okona is, after all, basically a child at heart, and Prodigy is a kid's show, so I guess it works.

 

[publiusr]

It was TNG’s Princess Bride.

 

[Orphalesion]

It was TNG’s Princess Bride.

Don't insult the Princess Bride like that

 

[fireproof78]

It was TNG’s Princess Bride.

In what way?

 

[Orphalesion]

In what way?

The only connection I can find:

There's a physically attractive but rather unintelligent person without much characterization or agency (who's also the titular character) and a guy named Wes(t)ley falls in love with them?

Though Buttercup is a lot more badass and active than Okona is...

 

[fireproof78]

The only connection I can find:

There's a physically attractive but rather unintelligent person without much characterization or agency (who's also the titular character) and a guy named Wes(t)ley falls in love with them?

Though Buttercup is a lot more badass and active than Okona is...

I think that's a stretch.