Why Does Star Trek Try To Be Funny?

[milo bloom]

The Ferengi episodes were just a symptom of their TNG origins. They were supposed to be a new bad-ass race, but instead they just ended up being (as an early reviewer of TNG once put it) "angry gerbils".

Now, they could be funny on DS9, but mainly when they were playing off another character like Odo or Sisko, but pure Ferengi episodes are just skin-crawlingly awful. It was like when they tried to spin off the The Furleys from Three's Company, or even when Family Matters became The Urkel Show. As is pointed out in the Dennis Miller quote above, it's very hard to pin down exactly what makes something funny, but I'll wager a real nickel right here and now that one of the most important things is knowing when to pull back. The Ferengi-centric episodes are the exact opposite of that rule.

 

[Praetor]

I like most of the Ferengi episodes. 'Profit and Lace' sucked royally, though.

Is that the one where Quark does the sex change? Yeah, that one was not-so-good.

Big fan of "Marauder Mo," though.

'Marauder Mo' was awesome. I want one of those.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

Because sometimes it works. For every bad comedy ep. there is also a good one. At least to me. I think one lighthearted episode every season or two makes for a nice change of pace.

 

[Michael]

Star Trek and its various spin-offs are kind of unique in the way they can do both serious drama and comedy. Humor is very much a part of the human existence; so I'm very glad they incorporated it into the series from time to time. That's not to say that all comedy episodes are well done. But most of the time I laughed when I was supposed to.

Oh, and I liked the Ferengi episodes, too.

 

[Marie1]

Because things that have no humour can be dull, depressing, and terrible. And humour is probably the hardest thing to write. ST of all things needs humour.

 

[Jaespol]

Geez the people who didn't like the Ferengi episodes need to lighten up!

 

[Michael]

Geez the people who didn't like the Ferengi episodes need to lighten up!

Humor lies in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Jaespol]

Geez the people who didn't like the Ferengi episodes need to lighten up!

Humor lies in the eye of the beholder.

Some people are blind.

 

[miraclefan]

Seconded. It's not the concept that I hate (Though I feel it was out of place anyways). But the execution was dreadful. Simply terrible. Cross-dressing isn't inherently funny, you can't just slap some tits on Quark and expect everyone to lol. It is perhaps the worst Star Trek episode I've ever seen (Being tied of course with DS9: "Let He Who Is In A Crappy Risa Episode" and ENT: "A.N.I.S." (Apt acronym when spoken out loud.)

A.N.I.S.?

 

[Michael]

A.N.I.S.?

A Night in Sickbay. An episode not half as bad as people make it out to be.

 

[miraclefan]

A.N.I.S.?

A Night in Sickbay. An episode not half as bad as people make it out to be.

OH! okay, stupid me! It wasn't THAT bad, I gave it a 6/10.