Star Trek: The Next Generation — 2x04 — The Outrageous Okona

Aired 1988-12-12

SpaceOpera.com rating:5

Average reader rating:2.65

Synopsis

The roguish Okona charms the crew.

Remarkable scenes

Guinan: "Because you're a droid, and I'm annoyed." Data: "Humanoid." Guinan: "Yes." Data: "You told a joke." Guinan: "Yes!" Data: "I am not laughing." Guinan: "Yes!" Data: "Perhaps the joke was not funny." Guinan: "No. The joke was funny, it's you, Data." Data: "Are you sure?" Guinan: "Yes!" Data: "I agree."
Data on the holodeck practicing humor.
Data trying to tell jokes.
The hostile but harmless ship.
Picard: "They're threatening to attack the Enterprise!" Okona: "They're crazy, they wouldn't stand a chance!" Picard: "Right!" Then walks away with a confused look on his face. Poor Picard, trying to maintain good diplomatic relations with everyone can be hard!

Review

This episode is entertaining, funny, and light hearted. This is both its greatest advantage and its greatest disadvantage. While this episode is quite accessible and easy to jump into, the degree to which it doesn't take itself seriously also makes it a bit hard to get into. Its biggest saving grace is that the actors selected for the guests all did a fine job, making the A plot at least reasonably compelling, especially when paired with a humorous Data side plot. However, once again we have an alien race that looks exactly like humans and a fairly predictable small scale plot. A fairly average, somewhat unremarkable episode.

12 reader comments

When Worf goes to retrieve Okona, he find's him on deck 7. We know this because the first two numbers on the woman's door are "07." Yet when Worf and Okona walk out of the room and onto a turbolift, they are now on deck 11 (the door says "11"). Wrong door markings or did they take a side trip we didn't see?
by DSOmo | 06/17/2007 at 4:12 am

Navigational shields are shields projected ahead of the ship by the deflector dish to protect the ship from damage by micro-particles, space dust and other small debris that could cause catastrophic damage to a ship traveling at high speeds, relatavistic or warp.
by Jon Laconia | 09/01/2008 at 3:11 am

I agree with jon. It would make sense that all warp vessels have them.
by Razorback | 06/22/2009 at 3:50 pm

You stated, and asked… "- Picard: "Lasers do not even penetrate our navigational shields." What the hell are navigation shields?"
Navigation shields are the shields the ship uses to move aside space particles, dust, micro meteorites, e.t.c. while traveling. I am not 100% certain, but I believe they are powered by the main deflector. The power output required to keep them up and running is so minimal in terms of what the ship can generate, they are actually tied into life support systems. They are always up and running as long as life support is functional.
This may however be the only time they are actually called "Navigational Shields." Silly Picard.. =]
by Daniel Blessing | 09/18/2009 at 3:35 pm

I think navigational shields are low powered shields that protect the ship's hull from various floating debris and radiation. They aren't shields powerful enough to stop phasers however.
by Matt Swivel Cow | 07/17/2010 at 10:33 pm

I can't exactly commend this episode, but it was amusing. It feels as though there wasn't really a script; the director just got up and said, "The premise of this episode is that Okona is a Loveable Scoundrel. Everyone act accordingly. Now improvise!"
by Christopher Alexander | 03/23/2011 at 9:27 pm

Perhaps it is because I have seen this episode half a dozen times before but the comic guy scenes are actually painful for me to watch. I would call this a so so episode. With a rating of meh.
by Omcn7 | 02/21/2012 at 6:27 am

I'm not sure if it's coz I'm a girl, but I loved this ep. I agree that it was meh, and somewhat unremarkable, but that scoundrel was just too fun, and too damn cute not to enjoy. I wouldn't have cared if he was knocking up half of the galaxy, I just wish they'd put him in the same amount of clothing that the women from TOS had to wear ;-)
by Chantarelle | 06/29/2014 at 9:16 am

Liked Okana and that TOS-ish storyline. Agree that the comic scenes are painful and that storyline feels like a worst night at the improv.
by Diane | 06/20/2015 at 4:24 pm

Excruciating. 0/10
by jeffenator98 | 10/25/2019 at 5:16 pm

"Well, the unexpected IS our normal routine."
Data's explorations around humor in this episode are interesting and often entertaining. The way he moves his hands while telling a joke gets me laughing every time. And I like how he can't be funny on purpose, but keeps being accidentally funny. "My timing is digital!"
I do feel like humor could be explained better. There's been a lot of theorizing about what makes people laugh, and it would have been interesting if they had dug into that a little more. Everyone is giving him examples, but nobody gives him theory that he could really dig into.
Some of it was odd, like Data's line "jump around like an idiot," which seems out of character. You can also spot visible disappointment when he realizes the crowd is programmed to laugh. I continue to wonder if Data's clear expression of hope and/or letdown around his understanding of humanity is intentional or not.
Data's habit of asking about a term he's not immediately familiar with, then looking it up in his own databanks and answering his own question, is getting pretty old. They did it in the pilot ("snoop"), they've done it a few times since, and they do it here ("rogue"). And then he runs at the mouth. Why, writers?? Why would Data ask a question when he has access to the answer?
If you freeze frame right when Picard says "terminate communications" with the two other ships, both the men on the screen raise their arms up at the same time. Nice touch.
by Azalea Jane | 07/14/2021 at 6:27 am

"A monk, a clone, and a Ferengi decided to go bowling together…"
My rating for this episode, and the entire TNG series, takes a slight hit because we never get the punchline for this joke. At the very least, they could've made this the joke that Data finally "gets" when Geordi installs his emotion chip in the movie "Generations."
Anyway, this is standard TNG Season 1-2. It's light and entertaining, a semi-interesting plot, but no real substance or intellectual delivery like we'll get in the later seasons. It doesn't suck, but it's not amazing. I think "5" is a very fair rating.
by Axel | 01/17/2023 at 7:03 am