FULL DISCUSSION - Star Trek TNG S2E4 - The Outrageous Okona

I never saw this episode after the first time that it aired Wayback in the 19th century, and I thought I’d never see it again. However, your positive review is prompting me to throw it on the platter and give it another spin. I’ll be watching along with both of you and I will remember just about nothing so it’ll be like seeing it for the first time with you guys. That’s a novelty for me. I had no idea that was Billy Campbell. Of course back then he was an unknown. Joe Piscopo was known very well back then as a total misogynistic slimeball pig. No talent whatsoever. Just like Jerry Lewis.

I really hate this episode. Guinans joke I agree is super not funny, and I really dislike how they find a father being upset that his unmarried daughter is pregnant and to be an antiquated notion, but worst of all it’s the lasers thing that bothers me the most because whenever people discuss the whole Star Wars versus Star Trek thing, someone always brings up the stupid episode. The problem with the lasers thing is that it’s not because they’re lasers but because they’re from comparatively antiquated much smaller technologically less advanced ships. If the enterprise was facing a comparable ship, or even a superior ship armed with lasers the fight would go very differently. Plus we will see in 2 later episodes that the enterprise can be harmed with lasers, and there are many episodes, where they go close to a star and the shields and it said the shields will fail in a certain amount of time. Meaning, they are vulnerable to EM radiation, or in other words heat.

Piscapo- the comedian was also a karate villain who gets his ass kicked by chuck norris in the movie sidekicks. Goofy as hell, but fair play to him, he was ripped!

The Outrageous Okona is a great episode. People are silly.

The joke I was referring to: Guy walks into the doctor's office. The doctor tells him, "You need an operation." Guy says, "I want a second opinion." Doc tells him "Okay you're ugly, too."

So where did I go to when these guys didn't know who Jerry Lewis was? They have no idea that Professor Frink started out based on a Jerry Lewis character. Damn kids, get off my lawn!

The problem with Okona here is the dialogue is all written so obvious and literal. Instead of just having us take in the character, everyone including Okona himself is constantly defining him and discussing his character. Practically walks in yelling, "Hey everyone, aren't I such a rogue?"

I will at least give Brent Spiner credit for being willing to try anything. But what's the biggest issue here? Non-comedy writers trying to be funny! Plus Joe Piscopo maybe did some stand-up but he sure wasn't known for it. Whoopi Goldberg was a stand-up but she's more of the "tell a story" comedian than this old school comedy stuff here.

I have been trying to do some research on the Ryker Maneuver. While I do not remember the Ryker maneuver in Encounter at far point according to some websites it is the first appearance of the action. If you don’t know what the Ryker Maneuver is . It is where Ryker goes to sit in a chair(typically in 10-Forward) and throws his left leg over the chair and essentially mounts it, like ahorse. In an effort to avoid spoilers I have been waiting to bring this up It may have happened in the episode the Child but it wasn’t as obvious as it was in the outrageous Okana Which appears to be most commonly viewed as the first episode where it is pronounced visually. This eccentricity will continue throughout the rest of the series. Ostensibly accredited to pain relief from a back injury sustained years before TNG. The Ryker lean is attributed to the same back injury I have been looking for a list of episodes it is in but the list is spotty at best since some episodes I know it occurred in are not on any list I have found. Anyone out there who knows where to obtain a list I would like to know

I want to watch Star Trek V more than this episode ever again.

Piscapo was great in Johnny Dangerously.

Rocketeer was suggested last poll. Just skip the poll and go for it. If left to the tender mercies of a poll you'll never see it.

The comic was Joe Piscapo, who was an odd choice as he was never more than a second-tier minor celeb. His only real claim to fame was a couple of years on Saturday Night Live in the early 80s. As to Jerry Lewis, of course you wouldn't be aware of him. He was old news when I was young and I'm 62. He was more my parent's generation. He had a vaudeville background and it showed painfully.

BTW, Piscapo is pronounced Piss-ka-poe

The Rocketeer is definitely worth a watch. Put it on the list.

Joe Piscapo was more a sketch comic, not a stand-up comedian. The casting department missed the boat on that one. Loved him on SNL back in the day, though.

Back in the 1980s, there were a lot of jokes about how skinny comedian Piscopo all of a sudden was all roided up

I definitely think there are quite a few really, really good season two episodes. One of my all time faves is in this season even. I definitely don't think this episode was one of them though. It's also not one that I actively hate or anything. It's just kind of mediocre early TNG. Cutting back on the Joe Piscopo schtick would have elevated it for me. That part kind of drags on. I like the Data/Guinan interactions and character development. I don't mind the main plot either. They just both felt a little stretched thin.

Now I think they need to watch a Jerry Lewis movie. I vote for either The Nutty Professor or Cindefella

Adding my vote for the Rocketeer for an Audience Cut; In addition to Billy Campbell, it has at least four other Star Trek guest Stars (I won't say who)

Ultimately, humour is an emotion. So as long as Data has no emotions, he won't be able to properly understand humour.

HUGE thumbs up for Spock lock screen haha!

Sorry, folks... sorry I'm going negative. For me... there was zero intrigue in this episode. It was poorly written, with bad, trite dialogue... particularly between the arguing factions. It was predictable, even when I first saw it... that the boy was the father of the unborn child. Furthermore, how can anyone in the audience feel emotionally or intellectually invested in those arguing factions, their stakes, etc. Okona is not simply a portrait of a 2-dimensional person...... More egregiously, he's written as a 2-dimensional character. As for the Data sub-plot.... bleh. It provided some exploration into Data's character... but the gag was drawn out far too long, with some of the points repeated more than necessary. The editors of this episode could have cut out 20 minutes of dialogue.... and it would change nothing. Most of the dialogue was filler. And blather, at that. This episode was completely forgettable. In fact, until now, I haven't thought of this episode since it originally aired. Now, I will consign this episode once more to the Netherworld of Lost Memories. Sorry to go negative. PS.... The moment I realized that neither of our Target Audience hosts recognized Joe Piscopo.... is the moment I realized just how old I've gotten.

Jerry Lewis is one of the most famous famous actor comedians of all time. You should really know who he is. Joe Piscopo was moderately famous in the 80s and he was on Saturday Night Live.

The rocketeer is a must watch.

Re-watching this episode with you guys was fun. Not as bad as I remembered. This episode is much better than most TV that comes out today.

I'm down for a Rocketeer audience cut

So I’m gonna generally amend what I have said about this episode, I would now say it’s the fifth or sixth worst episode upon reflecting, and I really don’t think that there are a full 10 episodes that are horrible but in retrospect, I find the majority of my problem with this episode is Joe Piscopo He turns me off he isn’t funny, and it seemed to me to be a major disruption of the story at the time Especially since he was really trying to go for yet a another performers style from another unfunny comic Jerry Lewis, I’m sure you remember seeing the little collection buckets for Jerry’s kids over the years as in the Jerry Lewis muscular dystrophy telethon that used to be on Labor Day weekend for well almost all your early lives until 2010 when they finally stopped it due to “” diminishing audience (not long before the Telethon was ended. There was a video of Jerry entering a limo from someplace and I think Vegas and there is a muscular dystrophy kid in a wheelchair that he was the rudest human being to I’ve ever seen the video is on the Internet if you care to see it I don’t recommend it however, it’s not pretty.) The things that really redeemed this episode to me were the recognition of the subtle character development moments that I missed while I was busy ranting about Joe Piscopo, The story wasn’t flat. It was just steamrolled by Joe Piscopo

Okona is fine. He's a likable character. I think people are so harsh on him because cringe or the memory of cringe is just one of those things that gets amplified over time. Slight cringe in the 80s becomes the cringiest cringes to ever cringe by 2024. But again, he's fine. And I agree the twists at the finale are better than you might think at first guess. Good takes guys

Ngl I was a little worried someone would comment "This story is just a Romeo and Juliet ripoff" and J and A would go "I'm not sure what Romeo and Juliet is..."

You do surprise me. I thought you two would be blah on this episode. Now, I thought it was okay (mid), but other people just rip on it.

You know Professor Frink on the Simpsons? Well, Frink's voice, way of speaking, mannerisms.. that's all a Jerry Lewis impression by Hank Azaria who voices him

Rocketeer is an amazing movie and there are not many reactions for it online. Billy Campbell was fantastic in it and it was directed by Joe Johnston who directed Captain America First Avenger.

The laser thing...it's the equivalent of an old sailing ship with cannons threatening a modern aircraft carrier....and they wouldn't have commented on their low level of tech...if they had not locked their weapons on...which they knew would be useless against a starship

Joe Piscopo was a comedian who was on Saturday Night Live in the '80s. Jerry Lewis was a comedian and movie star for decades. He's probably best known by people today as the host of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy which was a 22 hour extravaganza which ran every year on Labor Day from 1966 until 2014. The program probably raised a couple billion dollars for research over the course of the years that the show was on. Here's a clip for one of the shows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x753zCxjbtY&t=142s

ABSOLUTELY watch The Rocketeer sometime, I often called it the first MCU movie because it feels like one of the better of the origin episodes, the same funloving but classic-style superhero story.

Joe Piscapo was a comedian on SNL. He was kinda chubby then he got absolutely jacked (Hence your comment that he looks like he could be a wrestler...feel free to google image search Joe Piscapo bodybuilding). At the time it wasn't as common for non action guys to get that jacked. The overall societal conclusion was that he was juiced to the gills. Pretty well known comedian at the time but Whoopi Goldberg was a even better known comedian. As far as Jerry Lewis goes (not to be confused with the singer of about the same name, but with Lee in the middle) he was the orginal Nutty Professor. Eddie Murphy played him as super fat...Jerry as more super nerdy...which is the impression Piscapo was doing. Jerry was a big comedian of the 50s though 60s, and continued to pop up in things until he died until a few years ago (in the 2000s he was probably in more things then Piscapo, whose career really died). But I do think Jerry Lewis was an acquired taste....my dad for example never found him funny and I recall him even saying he was annoying.

emphasis on the first syllable 😉

It's kind of amazing that you guys don't know who Joe Piscapo is/was. He was a cast member on SNL with Eddie Murphy.

This episode was a bit of a gift to Billy Campbell, who was up for the part of Riker but lost to Frakes. One of the reasons was because of his boyish looks and the fact that he is VERY tall and makes Patrick Stewart look even shorter. Campbell went on to be in big budget movies like The Rocketeer and Bram Stoker's Dracula. The episode also has a nice appearance by Teri Hatcher (future Bond Girl and Lois Lane).

22:20 I don't believe "You're a 'droid and I'm a 'noid" is the worst joke ever told. I didn't expect you guys to enjoy this episode much.

15:45 Maybe Data can learn comedy/humor from Lore! ROTFL!

I like this story, overall. The "A" story is pretty good and I like its ending twist as well. It was generous of the show's producers to give Campbell something to do on the show since he didn't get the role of Riker. The "B" story... not so good. Data and Guinan were entertaining; the Comic, not so much. It's a shame that Guinan didn't seem to have the wisdom to help Data really learn humor than to let him pursue what *he thought* humor should be.

I have to disagree with the patron takes on this one, I didn't really remember this episode well aside from the character of Okana but I thought it was pretty decent on the rewatch. Certainly not "one of the worst episodes ever".

5:20 Well, Star Trek can introduce you to comedians of contemporary past and past. (Jerry Lewis is a huge name, before your time, and Joe Piscopo is a comic now radio host...) (Piscopo is pronounced PISS-kuh-poe)

Just remember: Billy Campbell was ALMOST William T. Riker!

Campbell and Hatcher looked good together. :-)

So reading into things a bit, I think Okana DID sleep with that woman and was running off with the jewel and that's what Wesley changed his mind about.

I watched TNG from day one. These come to suck in retrospect. The truth is, these are all at least okay. There is really only one completely and unredeemably terrible episode. The rest are mediocre to excellent. As for this one, it felt to me like they were wanting to create this series' Harry Mudd. But it just didn't take.

“Sometimes a man’ll tell his bartender things he’ll never tell his doctor.” -Dr. Boyce, “The Cage”

Billy Campbell is 7 years younger than Jonathan Frakes. He would have been 28 when TNG started. That's too young to be credible as a first officer on the Enterprise (even if he had a beard). The order of episodes in S2 is a bit strange. Two of the best episodes are back to back, the most famous is several before the end and there isn't any part of S2 that is consistent.

"yeah, this is great..." I think so too, might want to do a panel with the Red Letter Media about season 1 or maybe just a guest spot. Maybe have one of the guys sit in an a re-re-view or something. You guys are crushing it!! Keep it raw and fun.

🤢🤮

That last scene between Guinean and data was worth the whole episode. Never has been one of my favorite eps. Yet, upon rewatching I have moved it up the scale some more.