Series: Star Trek The Next Generation
Episode: 2.04 The Outrageous Okona (12-12-88)
Rating: 3.5/5
Redshirt Status: 0/0/3
Notable Guest Stars:
William O. Campbell (Billy Campbell) – Thadiun Okona. Other roles include Luke Fuller on Dynasty and in the 1991 Disney film Rocketeer.
Douglas Rowe – Debin. He appeared on several TV shows, including E.R.
Rosalind Ingledew – Yanar. She played on seaQuest DSV as Dr. Wendy Smith.
Kieran Mulroney– Benzan. He is the younger brother of Dermot Mulroney. This will not be his last appearance on Star Trek.
Joe Piscoop – The Comic. He was a comedian often working with SNL.
Teri Hatcher – B.G. Robinson/Transporter Chief. Yes, Lois Lane was the Transporter chief.
Review:
Today, our favorite team of explorers are minding their own business when they come across a ship in distress. Its owned by Thadun Okana, a cargo Captain. He’s basically the playboy Captain that people think Kirk was in popular culture. He charms his way through the Enterprise. And Picard is of the mind that it doesn’t matter as long as everything is consensual.
Except then he runs into Debin. And Kushell. And suddenly Okana isn on Picard’s good list. However it turns out Okana honestly hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s just been helping his version of Romeo and Juliet skip the mutual suicide and get married.
This episode is not really one I can have a lot of comments on. The Okana story wasn’t particularly great, although the acting was. The other part of the story was Data exploring humor. I had a hard time finding many of the jokes funny. All I did was feel bad for Data. And this won’t be the last time he tries to explore humor.
I will comment on the fact that exploring what he thinks is a key point in being more human is something that Data continues to do for the rest of his appearances on screen.
Interesting Notes:
- Written by Brain Alan Lane
- Directed by Rob Bowman
- Apparently, Teri Hatcher had an extended role, but most of her scenes were cut, so she asked for no credit.
Pros:
- Data exploring his humanity
- This purple outfit is an excellent color for Marina Siritis, but still makes the regular uniform look more
Cons:
- Its almost painful to watch Data explore humor. Some humor is time-specific so perhaps I missed the humor.
Sokorra Lewis 