Trek Humour

[Twilight Phoenix]

Watching The Inner Light today...and there is an amazing French pun in it !
I don't know if it was intentional, but Picard/Kamin naming his son Batai is actually a pun ! Batai is pronounced like the word "Bataille", meaning fight...and we have a song entitled "Mon fils, ma bataille" (my son, my fight) by Daniel Balavoine

What are your favourite puns/jokes/humourous references in TNG ?

 

[φ of π]

Fight... as in "battle"?

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

Yes, as in "battle"
"Bataille" means both !

 

[Nakita Akita]

Generally I'm to literal or dense to see puns.
On the flip side, it may be possible to think of The Inner Light as having one redeeming point.

 

[Wulf]

I think it's funny that when Whoopi was teaching Data about humour she used a pun so terrible that it must have caused her physical pain to utter it, and then basically implied Data was broken for not finding it funny.

 

[φ of π]

She was annoyed at having to say that line.

 

[Wulf]

Did she ever say anything publicly about it?

It was the comedian equivalent of hiring Stephen Hawking and having him solve an addition problem scrawled on the wall with crayon.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'd be surprised if she said anything because she seems professional enough not to publicly attack screenwriters.

So much about Outrageous Okona is facepalmy. At the start when they first meet Okona they go out of their way to have Troi explain to the audience WHY Okona is cool. Then Okona picks up Terri Hatcher with the lamest pickup line in television history. Then Joe Piscopo teaches Data all the jokes that are like cultural parodies of jokes.

It's like the entire episode was written by an alien who spent a week on Earth, and when he didn't understand something like flirting or comedy, he did a quick search on his Earth cultural database.

 

[Xhiandra]

I've always thought of "Batai" as an unfortunate name that sounds like a word (in French), I don't think it's intentional. I hope it's not intentional!

 

[Jayson1]

I always liked Data calling Geordi, Lunkhead in "Data's Day."


Jason

 

[JesterFace]

I always liked Data calling Geordi, Lunkhead in "Data's Day."
Jason

Good thing Geordi adviced Data not to try his friendly jibes on the captain.

 

[Mojochi]

Worf's protesting being a "Merry man" was pretty punny,. I'm also fairly fond of them having an entire scene of Beverly teaching Data how to tap dance, only to find out he actually meant dancing in the context of a wedding

 

[Farscape One]

"Manhunt"... when Picard is trying to get the computer to have a less violent program, only to end with him against a wall freezing the program before a tommy gun is shot at him. Thirty years since I first saw it aired and seeing it many times since, and that makes me laugh hysterically every time.

 

[bigglesworth]

TNG had some very humorous scenes but some cringeworthy ones as well.

I just watched Contagion yesterday and at the end, Picard returns to Enterprise and starts ribbing Riker about all the excitement being on away missions. He then asks what's been happening on the ship, then says "Same old, same old I suppose?" Riker looks at O'Brien with "the captain must be smoking crack" look. I know it's supposed to be funny, but Picard came across as a socially awkward person attempting a lame ass joke. Maybe that was the joke...

 

[tomswift2002]

Lwaxana’s marriage announcement scene was extremely cringe-worthy.

 

[JesterFace]

Data creates many silly situations when he just doesn't get what someone else is saying.

Example:
In TBOBW Shelby says to Riker that "early bird catches the worm".
Data starts to scan the area for worms in the background.

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

Data creates many silly situations when he just doesn't get what someone else is saying.

Those are among my favourite moments in the show. Data's puzzled face and literal comprehension of things make him so funny and cute !
That's also so funny when he acts out of character by trying to imitate behaviours he doesn't fully comprehend. Like in In Theory, when he offered flowers to Jenna and then suddenly raised his arms for a hug in a very unnatural move ! Or threw a quarrel and screamed at her, and suddenly asked with a very gentle voice : "Don't you want to continue our lovers quarrel ? "
One of my fav moments is the end of Peak Performance, when Data formally explained why he didn't exactly win the stratagema game...then realized the audience's not satisfied with his words...and said out of the blue "I busted him up ! "

 

[JesterFace]

Like in In Theory, when he offered flowers to Jenna and then suddenly raised his arms for a hug in a very unnatural move ! Or threw a quarrel and screamed at her, and suddenly asked with a very gentle voice : "Don't you want to continue our lovers quarrel ? "

"Perhaps there's something wrong with YOU!"
I guess you know where that Data quote is from...

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

"Perhaps there's something wrong with YOU!"
I guess you know where that Data quote is from...

You are not my mother !!!
...That is the appropriate response for your statement that I am behaving foolishly.

 

[JesterFace]

You are not my mother !!!
...That is the appropriate response for your statement that I am behaving foolishly.

"Perhaps you should just leave."

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

"Perhaps you should just leave."

"Don't you want to continue our lovers quarrel ?"

I could go on forever
That has to be one of the funniest scenes in the whole season !

 

[JesterFace]

"Don't you want to continue our lovers quarrel ?"

I could go on forever
That has to be one of the funniest scenes in the whole season !

One of the funniest of the entire series.

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

One of the funniest of the entire series.

Data laughing out loud after Q offered him a short laughter session was hilarious too ! I couldn't stop laughing myself, especially when he stopped for some seconds, then laughed again, then stopped and didn't have a clue about what happened to him