Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live, or SNL for short, is an American late-night television comedy show featuring various comedy sketches, involving both a regular cast and celebrity guests.
SNL has parodied Star Trek many times over the years in addition to appearances by many Trek actors. Since its beginning in October 1975, SNL is produced for, and airs on NBC, the network that had been the original broadcaster of .
== Sketches ==
==="The Last Voyage of the Enterprise"===
 
SNL first featured a Star Trek parody in 1976 entitled "The Last Voyage of the Enterprise". It starred as Captain Kirk, as Spock, and as Dr. McCoy and the voice of Montgomery Scott, with actress Doris Powell as Uhura and SNL set designer in the first of several appearances on the show as Sulu. The premise of the skit finds the Enterprise being pursued through space by a 20th century automobile, "owned by a company that manufactured cookies" (a play on the fact that the full name of NBC – the network that airs SNL – is the National Broadcasting Company, whereas the "cookie company" in question is , whose name is short for National BISCUIT Company). A passenger from the vehicle, NBC executive Herb Goodman (played by host ), boards the Enterprise and informs the actors that Star Trek has been cancelled. Goodman has his assistant Curtis () and an NBC stage crew break down the set, while Spock (now out of character as Leonard Nimoy and hysterically bemoaning his lost job, as quoted below) frantically wandering the set looking for his ear tips that Goodman has pulled off. McCoy, Uhura, and Sulu (now also having broken character and speaking as DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, and George Takei) leave the set despondently. Kirk, sitting in his chair on the now-disassembled bridge, makes one final log entry (quoted below).
*"Most peculiar, captain. I can only assume that they possess some sort of weapons deactivator, in which case I shall merely render him unconscious with my famous Vulcan nerve pinch." - Chevy Chase (as Spock)
* "I don't believe it! God!!! Everybody I know loves the show when I see the show, huh? I have a contract! I have a contract! I want my... Where's my ears? I want my ears back! I want my ears back!" - Chevy Chase (as a breaking-character Leonard Nimoy)
* "I'm a doctor, not a tailor, dammit." - Dan Aykroyd (as Dr. McCoy) [a parody of McCoy's famous phase "I'm a doctor, not a..."]
* "Captain's Log, final entry. We have tried to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. And except for one television network, we have found intelligent life everywhere in the galaxy. Live long and prosper... Promise! Captain James T. Kirk, SC 937-0176 CEC." - John Belushi (as James T. Kirk) [NOTE: This is the above-mentioned final log entry depicted in the photo at right; it references Shatner's Promise margarine ads, which aired around the time the sketch was made.]
==="Star Trek V: The Restaurant Enterprise"===
Another parody was aired on , when William Shatner hosted. The sketch, which posited what the plot of the fifth movie might be, finds The Enterprise bought out by the Marriott corporation and turned into a seafood restaurant. The crew is threatened when Khan Noonien Singh brings a health inspector to the restaurant, though Kirk resolves the situation by slipping the inspector a bribe. Shatner, of course, played Kirk, played Spock, played McCoy, played Janice Rand (now a waitress instead of a yeoman), and played Khan and voiced Scott and Chekov. SNL cast members Nora Dunn and Jan Hooks played patrons, as did comedian Kevin Meaney, who played a choking victim who is saved by a "Vulcan Heimlich Pinch" delivered by Nealon's Spock.
File:SNL Rest Ent1.jpg|Phil Hartman and Kevin Nealon as McCoy and Spock (with Akira Yoshimura as Sulu on the far left and Kevin Meaney as the seated "choking patron")
File:SNL Rest Ent2.jpg|Shatner at the salad bar (again with Yoshimura)
File:SNL Rest Ent3.jpg|Khan Noonian Singh and the health inspector
Perhaps the most memorable exchange is this one, referring to Meaney's character:
:Kirk: "Dr. McCoy, this man needs medical attention."
:McCoy: "Damnit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a— oh, sure."
Another memorable quote is as follows:
:Spock: "I find it curious, captain, that Khan was betrayed by the very health inspector he employed."
:Kirk: "Never underestimate the power of Human greed, Mr. Spock."
:McCoy: "What he's saying is that perhaps there are limitations to your vaunted Vulcan logic."
:Spock: "Dr. McCoy, would you do me the very great honor of eating my shorts?"
:McCoy: "What?!"
:Kirk: "Why Spock, I believe you're becoming more Human every time!"
:(Spock smiles and McCoy laughs, while Kirk flips open his communicator)
:Kirk: "Mr. Scott, full revolve!"
==="Get a Life!" sketch===
The most infamous Star Trek sketch was also featured during Shatner's 1986 appearance on the show. Not so much a parody, it featured Shatner as the guest of honor at a Star Trek convention. After being asked a barrage of trivial questions by the audience, Shatner finally berates them to "get a life!", telling them it was only a TV show. After finishing his rant (and being reminded of his contractual obligations by the convention manager) Shatner quickly explains the rant was a reenactment of the "evil" Captain Kirk from .
File:William Shatner, SNL get a life.jpg|Shatner greets the crowd
File:William Shatner, SNL get a life 2.jpg|"Get a life, will you, people?!"
The scene apparently caused some fans to believe these were his true feeling for Star Trek fans, though he has assured them it was only a sketch. The sketch did, however, inspire the title for his book Get a Life!
In the intro to this edition of SNL, Shatner quipped that he hopes the Trekkies out there have a sense of humor or "I'm in deep trouble!"
* See 
===Star Trek Democrats===
The cold open of the episode did a combined parody of Trekkies and American Presidential campaigns, as the remaining Democratic candidates, former California governor (Dana Carvey), former Massachusetts Senator (), and William J. Clinton (Phil Hartman), visit a Star Tre convention, hoping to sway the audience (led by and ) to support them by telling them what great fans they are – but when told that Leonard Nimoy has endorsed Tsongas, Clinton breaks into a rage, screaming "He no better than Shatner!!!" and breaking the podium.
==="Love Boat: The Next Generation"===
Yet another was done in 1994, when Patrick Stewart hosted, in a skit called "Love Boat: The Next Generation" (parodying both TNG and ). Essentially, it involved the crew running the " Cruiseship Pacific Princess". (The sketch involved a model of the Enterprise-D with a model cruise ship as part of the saucer section.) 
Stewart, of course, played Captain Picard. Chris Farley played Riker, played Data, Phil Hartman played Worf, played Geordi La Forge (although he acts more like the character of Isaac from The Love Boat, with his catchphrase, "outta sight!" a double entendre towards La Forge's blindness), was Deanna Troi, Ellen Cleghorne was Guinan (acting more like Whoopi Goldberg than the character), Melanie Hutsell was regular "Love Boat" guest star , Al Franken was Tog the Ferengi (Charo's estranged boyfriend), was David Brenner, and was . Instead of Dr. Crusher, however, the sketch featured a cameo by actor , reprising his role as Dr. Adam Bricker from The Love Boat. 
The show had also begun with a Trek spoof: Stewart's opening monologue had been a laughably inaccurate "tribute" to TOS. 
===Rescue 911 spoof===
Another semi-parody, also aired in 1994 involved a spoof of which was hosted by William Shatner at the time. Michael McKean played Patrick Stewart, filling in for Shatner. Host played a 911 operator who keeps blowing off callers. The sketch also featured a brief appearance and the end of the sketch by Tim Meadows as Geordi La Forge.
===Nerd Chatline===
In a 2005 episode with guest host , SNL featured a sketch spoofing erotic chatlines with an offer of "nerd chatlines" for fans of various franchises including Star Wars, , , Doctor Who, and Star Trek. 
The Star Trek portion featured as Candy, with a "massage license from Rigel VII", wanting "to go where no man has gone before". Candy, dressed in a TOS operations division uniform, claimed that it was the time of the Vulcan mating season of pon farr and that she wanted to do something logical to the caller. She also stated that like the eel-bird of Regulus V she needed to find a mate or die. The caller, dressed in a TOS command division uniform, responded that he was "giving himself the Vulcan nerve pinch" and displayed the Vulcan salute.
===Quinto, Pine, and Nimoy on "Weekend Update"===
On the episode, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto appeared on the "Weekend Update" segment of SNL. They tried to explain that the new film fit flawlessly into Star Trek canon, though two Trekkies in the audience (one, played by Bobby Moynihan, wearing a red TOS-uniform shirt with commander's stripes, the other a t-shirt with McCoy and Uhura and fake Vulcan ears) are clearly skeptical. Quinto, for instance, mentioned that the movie took the time to explain the origins of the Kolinahr ceremony as it is connected to the fascinating pon farr marriage ritual. 
Finally, however, after Pine attempts to explain how the transporter uses the Heisenberg compensator, just as previous Trek transporters did, but is unable to pronounce "Heisenberg", they admitted they actually had no idea what they were talking about. They also mentioned having been harassed by angry fans and having received threats in a language they could not decipher – either Vulcan or Hebrew. Quinto mentioned having found decapitated action figures in his mailbox every morning, and Chris Pine complained about having received notes tied to rocks that were thrown at his windows, but only scratching them, not breaking them, since they didn't throw hard enough – all of which has resulted in death stares from the insulted Trekkies. Finally, they simply express hope that these fans will still come to see the movie.
File:SNL Weekend Update1.jpg|Quinto and Pine reach out to fans
File:SNL Weekend Update2.jpg| and Bobby Moynihan as disgruntled fans
File:SNL Weekend Update3.jpg|Nimoy arrives to plead their case
In the background, a rather familiar voice assures the two that "they will come", and Leonard Nimoy appears – at which point the two previously angered Trekkies are visibly overcome with joy (combining Vulcan salutes with a rather un-Vulcan like display of emotion) – and states that in time Chris Pine will be accepted as equal to the original Kirk, while Zachary Quinto will be viewed as "slightly less" than equal to the original Spock, but "ultimately OK". 
Nimoy attempts to assure Quinto that fans will like the movie because to not like it would not be "illogical" as host suggests (having interrupted Nimoy, beaming at the idea of beating Spock himself to the logic-based punchline), but rather "would make them dickheads" – a sentiment that, coming from their hero, the Trekkies in the audience heartily accept. The appearance ends with Nimoy, Pine, and Meyers doing the Vulcan salute.
===Worf, M.D.===
On the episode, there is a skit featuring cast member Kenan Thompson as a doctor attempting to get closer to his wife – a Trekkie – by attending Star Trek conventions. He later goes straight from the convention to go and operate on a man while still dressed up as Lt. Worf. After various other off-color gags, he ends up causing the patient to go into cardiac arrest and die due to being unable to have the other doctors look at him with a straight face or without laughing at his ridiculous costume. It ends with NBC announcing a new show called "Worf M.D."
File:SNL Worf MD 1.jpg|"Doctor Worf" arrives in costume
File:SNL Worf MD 2.jpg|Performing the Klingon death ritual over a dead patient
The skit was subsequently followed by a card paying tribute to Leonard Nimoy, who had died the preceding day.
===Star Trek: The Lost Episode===
Broadcast , this sketch features host Chris Pine as Kirk (from TOS instead of the Kelvin timeline), and is presented as a documentary by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Kenan Thompson) on a missing TOS episode titled "Spock's Secret". It depicts the introduction of Bobby Moynihan's Spocko, Spock's stereotypical Italian-American half-brother who was fathered by Sarek with a Human hostess. Tyson closes out the sketch by remarking that at least it was better than . (As with the sketches listed above, Akira Yoshimura once again plays Sulu in the sketch, although for the first time, he is not wearing glasses.)
===Starcharter Andromeda===
Broadcast , this sketch (introduced as a "Star Trek prequel" airing on Paramount+) depicted two entitled "rich white kids" (played by guest host and ) who are more focused on their own interpersonal drama than the actual crisis onboard the "USS Andromeda".
===Star Trek: Ego Quest===
Broadcast , this sketch mocked the recent billionaire space projects by depicting a trailer for a new Star Trek show called "Star Trek: Ego Quest" starring Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos (played by guest host ) exploring the galaxy on his penis-shaped starship, the SS New Shepard and battling rival billionaires Elon Musk and .
===Other mentions===
On the episode, SNL spoofed both the film and the . In the skit, two astronauts lost in space contact NASA to find that the only remaining employees are two janitors. One of the janitors claims her son can help rescue the astronauts because he is always watching .
In a November 2015 episode of SNL, the show presented fictional auditions for the upcoming Star Wars movie Episode VII: The Force Awakens, with an introduction by J.J. Abrams. One of those auditions featured cast member , in Klingon makeup, reporting that the ship had entered the Neutral zone, although the shields were down to 12%. Jones was then informed her performance was Star Trek, while the audition was for Star Wars.
== Star Trek and SNL connections ==
Actor 	Star Trek role 	Star Trekepisode(s)/film(s)	Date 	SNL role 	SNL episode(s) 	Date
Noël Wells 	D'Vana Tendi 	 	2020- 	Cast member 	 	2013-14
George Coe 	Chancellor Avel Durken 	 	1991 	Cast member 	 	1975
Charles Rocket 	Jippeq 	 	1999 	Cast member 	 	1980-81
Joe Piscopo 	"The Comic" 	 	1988 	Cast member 	Season 6-9 	1980-84
Sarah Silverman 	Rain Robinson 	 	1996 	WriterCast member 	 	1993-94
Chris Hemsworth 	George Kirk (alternate reality) 	 	2009 	Host 	 	Mar 7, 2015Dec 12, 2015
Michael McKean 	The Clown 	 	1996 	Musical guest (as part of )HostCast member	Season 19-20 	Nov 3, 19841994-95
Benedict Cumberbatch	Khan Noonien Singh (alternate reality) 	 	2013 	HostCameo 	 	Nov 5, 2016May 19, 2018
Bill Hader 	Computer Voice 	 	2013 	Cast member 	Season 31-38 	2005-2013
Chris Pine 	James T. Kirk (alternate reality) 	 	200920132016 	CameoHost 	 	May 9, 2009May 6, 2017
William Shatner 	James T. KirkGeorge Samuel KirkWriterDirector 	 	1966-19691973-19741979198219841986198919911994	Host 	 	Dec 20, 1986
Patrick Stewart 	Jean-Luc PicardLocutus of BorgMichael WilliamsDirector	 	1987-941996199820022020-2023 	Host 	 	Feb 5, 1994
Terri Garr 	Roberta Lincoln 	 	1968 	Host 	 	Jan 26, 1980
Malcolm McDowell 	Tolian Soran 	 	1994 	Host 	 	Nov 22, 1980
Sally Kellerman 	Elizabeth Dehner 	 	1966 	Host 	 	Feb 7, 1981
Brandon Tartikoff 	Chairman of Paramount Pictures 	planning 	1991-92 	NBC Network ExecutiveHostCameo 	 	Oct 8, 1983Jan 28, 1984
Ed Begley, Jr. 	Henry Starling 	 	1996 	Host 	 	Dec 1, 1984
Idris Elba 	Krall 	 	2016 	Host 	 	Mar 9, 2019
John Larroquette 	Maltz 	 	June 1, 1984 	Host 	 	Apr 18, 1987Oct 22, 1988
Corbin Bernsen 	Q2 	 	1990 	Host 	 	Apr 14, 1990
Kirstie Alley 	Saavik 	 	June 4, 1984 	Host 	 	Oct 12, 1991Apr 17, 1993
Christian Slater 	Night-duty officer 	 	Dec 6, 1991 	Host 	 	Oct 26, 1991
Jason Alexander 	KurrosNoum 	 	19992022 	Host 	 	Apr 10, 1993
Kelsey Grammer 	Morgan Bateson 	 	1992 	CameoHost 	 	Oct 12, 1991Apr 9, 1994Oct 3, 1998
Jane Wiedlin 	Trillya 	 	Nov 26, 1986 	Musical guest (as part of ) 	 	Nov 14, 1981
Vanessa Williams 	Arandis 	 	1996 	Musical guest 	 	Dec 12, 1998
Tom Morello 	Son'a officer 	 	Dec 11, 19982000 	Musical guest (as part of ) 	 	Apr 13, 1996
Tim Robinson 	Ensign 	 	2020 	Cast memberWriter 	(as cast member) (as writer)	2012-2014
Melissa Villaseñor 	DaiMon Nandi (old version) 	 	2022 	Cast member 	-present 	2016-present
Bobby Moynihan 	Carlton Dennis 	 	2022 	Cast member 	Season 34-42 	2008-2017
Rachel Dratch 	Dolorex 	 	2023 	Cast member 	Season 25-31 	1999-2006
 and the , whose music has been played by Trek characters, have also appeared on SNL.
Teri Hatcher, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (once as "The Rock", four times as "Dwayne Johnson"), Kirsten Dunst, Winona Ryder (Dunst and Ryder hosted consecutive episodes), and Seth MacFarlane have also hosted.
== External link ==
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Category:Star Trek parodies and pop culture references