Thursday, May 1, 2014

Favorites - Top 15 Funny Moments from Star Trek Movies

Drunk Deanna didn’t make the list. Sorry.

Humor is often hard to pull off in most sci-fi movies unless they’re made for it. The Star Trek movies have some of the most glaring examples. At times, the humor comes off beautifully. Other times, the humor is either forced or comes off flatter than a dead bug. You even have some unintentionally funny moments in the movies. So, here are my 15 funniest moments from the Trek movies. I chose 15 because it seems like a nice number that you could spend the rest of your life with. Also, it’s possible that a certain movie will show up on the list at least a couple of times. I’ll also try to provide links to these moments. With all of that said, Engage!

15. Run, Run, Run!!! – One thing that’s noticeable about the new movies is the constant running Kirk and the crew do. There is actually one time where I just had to chuckle at it. In Star Trek: Into Darkness, Scotty sneaks aboard Section 31’s ship in order to help the Enterprise out. In this big space, we see him run, and run, and run, and run… you get picture. When the next movie comes, hopefully, there won’t be so much running going on. Since I can't find that clip, I'll just link one that has a lot of running in it.

14. Picard has hair (sort of)! – While Star Trek: Insurrection wasn’t a really good movie, it had a couple of funny moments. This was one of them. During a meeting with aliens in the Goren system, their leader makes Picard wear some weird headpiece. Let’s just say it doesn’t really suit him.  Even the rest of the crew thought so. Yes, I thought this was funny. I mean, it’s basically the “bald guy sporting a bad toupee” gag.

13. Scotty’s trip in Engineering – In Star Trek (2009), this moment occurs when Kirk and Scotty transport to the Enterprise while it’s in Warp… Eh? Anyway, Kirk lands fine on the Enterprise while Scotty is transported into the workings of engineering. It may be a dumb moment, but it’s a little funny. I think this is the first time a transporter malfunction being used to somewhat hilarious effect. At least wasn’t like it was in the first movie where those two Vulcans get turned into something that came out of a Clive Barker movie.

12. “I am preparing a marsh-melon.” – Man, it’s hard to find something genuinely funny in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The humor’s so forced in it. The only good thing about the movie in general is the rapport between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Their first camp scene is a nice example of that and provides a few chuckles. McCoy’s secret ingredient, the marshmelon (?), and the singing are some examples.

11. A British Tar? – This is another funny moment from Insurrection. Data’s circuits get fried and he goes rogue on the planet of the Bak’u. Picard and Worf take a shuttle down to the planet to find Data. Data, in another ship, attacks their shuttle. Picard thinks he can get through to Data by singing “A British Tar” to him. It’s ludicrous, but it is funny at the same time. Even Worf chimes in with that baritone voice of his. Then, Data starts to sing. As I said, it’s ludicrous and funny.
  
10. Lifeforms, a song by Data – Yes, this got a chuckle out of me. While most of Data’s antics on Star Trek: Generations weren’t that great, this (as well as his “Oh $********” moment) was pretty funny. All he has to do is scan for lifeforms and this happens. It’s definitely the WTH moment of the movie and for the character. Even the crew is wondering what the heck happened.

9. “Let’s Go Where?” – There really aren’t that many funny scenes in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. Still, there are a couple of things that make me chuckle about it.  Most of the dialogue is pretty witty at times. Here is one example where Kirk, Savvik, and McCoy are on Regula One.

McCoy: Where are we going?
Kirk: Where they went.
McCoy: Suppose they went *nowhere*?
Kirk: Then this will be your big chance to get away from it all.

8. “I don’t want to be a Statue!”- This was a funny sequence from Star Trek: First Contact. Basically, Zefram Cochrane (creator of warp drive) tries to leave the base. Earlier, LaForge pretty much told him what he would accomplish in the future and he told him about a statue made in his honor. Riker, LaForge and others chase him down and we find out that he doesn’t want to be a hero nor a statue. Riker just decides to stun Cochrane and sasses out Geordi for telling him about the statue.

7. “That wasn’t his Kneecap.” – You know, it’s also kind of hard to find funny moments in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. There are some there, but there either not really funny or they’re pretty dumb (Uhura’s translation scene was kind of dumb). The fight between Kirk and the big alien in the Klingon prison gets my vote. It’s Kirk (who’s in his 50’s) fighting a big alien. Yes, that’s funny. What’s even funnier is at the end of the fight. Kirk kicks the alien in the leg and the alien is out in hilarious fashion. It isn’t until later where Kirk finds out that that spot was the alien’s genitals. Ouch.

6. McCoy/Spock’s katra getting a ship to Genesis – This moment comes from the third Trek movie. When it’s revealed that McCoy has Spock’s katra (or soul), we find out that he is trying to get back to Genesis. McCoy, who’s really not himself, meets up with this shady alien who has speech issues. The alien loses it when McCoy mentions Genesis, which at this time is a touchy subject. Suddenly, a security guard shows up and arrests McCoy for causing a ruckus. McCoy even tries to do the Vulcan Neck Pinch on the guy. It’s hilarious.

5. Jammin’ in the Phoenix – This moment  from the eighth movie occurs when Cochrane finally gets his stuff together. He is about to fly the Phoenix along with Riker and LaForge. As Deanna counts them down, Cochrane takes out what amounts to a CD and Stepphenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride” starts to blast as the ship rockets off. Their seats are even on beat! While it is a funny moment, it turns into an awesome moment as we get to see the Phoenix without its shuttle casing.

4. The Crew Goes Rogue – In Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock, the Enterprise crew has to go renegade in trying to get back to the planet Genesis. The whole sequence is pretty funny. They have to break McCoy (or SpockCoy… never mind) out of jail and they have to steal the Enterprise from Space Dock. Sulu, Uhura, McCoy, and Kirk get moments that make me laugh. My favorite one though is Scotty’s moment. What he does to the Excelsior is pretty hilarious. One thing that I definitely missed was Chekov's clothes. Seriously, what the heck?

3. "We're dealing with Medievalism here!" – The whole sequence at the hospital is hilarious from beginning to end. This was truly McCoy’s moment to shine. He’s probably at his most overbearing here. It’s hilarious. He heals an old sick woman with a pill and he sasses out the doctors who were going to operate on Chekov. We even get a funny chase scene in the hospital.

2. Leonard McCoy: Disco King – As SfDebris once said, “It’s Grizzly Adams and it looks like he has the headpiece to the Staff of Ra around his neck!” I don’t know if this was supposed to be intentional or not, but it’s definitely the funniest moment in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. While the suit dates the film a bit, ALL of the uniforms in that film date this film. That scene is just all around funny even if McCoy looks like he’s going to get into a dance contest with John Travolta. The banter between him and Kirk is also pretty funny.

1. The Bus Incident – In Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home, we find Kirk and Spock on a bus. They’re sitting by this punk rocker who is blasting music on his radio. They try to tell the guy to turn it down, but the guy flips them off. Spock then does a hand motion of his own: The Vulcan Neck Pinch. The man is down and the radio is off. What’s even funnier is that everyone else on the bus claps in joy about this. The guy might be dead but they don’t care. At least that horrible punk music is off! It’s a hilarious scene and definitely my favorite moment.

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And that is all I got. Now, there are definitely other funny moments in these movies. I can’t list them all. If you have a good one, let me know. Well, it’s time for me to sign off and work on another list for that other franchise. Peace and God Bless.


And this is for those who missed Chekov's "rad" style.
Oh man... must refrain myself!

1 comment:

  1. Simon Pegg as Scotty's line about sandwiches in the future makes me laugh every time! He and Karl Urban as Bones really have some of the best humorous moments in the new Star Trek films.The Cochran statue line and the bus incident are definitely great moments in the older films!

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