History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E4TheOutrageousOkona

* HandsomeLech: Combined with ChivalrousPervert. Okona manages to work his way through a surprisingly large number of the ''Enterprise'''s female crew during his brief stay, starting with successfully hitting on the transporter operator seconds after arriving.

* ActorAllusion: Of everyone on board, Data seeks out Guinan for guidance on having a sense of humor, which makes more sense considering that Creator/WhoopiGoldberg, is a noted comedian.

'''Capt. Picard:''' Lasers wouldn't even penetrate our navigation shields. Don't they know that?\\

* NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]]. Data decides to use the holodeck to ask a 23rd century comedian for something funny, but the comedian immediately references Tip O'Neil, a 20th century politician who is already fairly obscure in the common zeitgeist by the 2020s. Apparently there has been no more recent political figures to lampoon.

* NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture: Data decides to use the holodeck to ask a 23rd century comedian for something funny, the comedian immediately references Tip O'Neil, a 20th century politician who is already fairly obscure in the common zeitgeist by the 2020s. Apparently there has been no more recent political figures to lampoon.

** "Say goodbye, Data--Goodbye, Data" is a shout-out to ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'', and a BeamMeUpScotty for ''Radio/TheBurnsAndAllenShow''.

* PapaWolf: Debin is outraged by Okona supposedly impregnating his daughter, Yanar, and leaving her and her unborn child behind. He’s chased after Okona in hopes of restoring his daughter’s honor by making him marry her.

* SmallNameBigEgo: The representatives from Altec and Straleb don't seem to realize what small fries they are in the galactic scheme of things. They make demands and threaten Picard with antiquated technology, little realizing that they're "gabflies," as Worf terms them.

The ''Enterprise'' heads to the Omega Sagitta system, where a pair of twin planets are living under a precarious peace treaty with each other. They unexpectedly encounter a broken down cargo ship with a single person on board. That person is the irreverent Captain Okona. Picard offers to beam Okona aboard while a maintenance crew repairs his ship.

Picard opts to finish repairing Okona’s ship and let him fend for himself, but Okona instead invites both ship captains to the ''Enterprise'' to sort things out. The whole incident turns out to be a silly misunderstanding – the son of the Straleb captain had impregnated the daughter of the Atlec captain and asked Okona to give her the jewel as a marriage offering. Everyone makes up and has a good laugh... even Data, who finally manages to accidentally tell a proper joke.

* ActorAllusion: Of everyone on board, Data seeks out Guinan for guidance on having a sense of humor, which makes more sense considering that her actress, Whoopi Goldberg, is a noted comedian.

* TheCameo: Joe Piscopo was a pretty hot comedian in the late 1980s, so his appearing in a small role was a big deal.

* {{Expy}}: Okona is a pretty clear attempt to insert a Han Solo-like character into the ''Star Trek'' universe.

** Data practices some Jerry Lewis slapstick in the holodeck.

** "Say goodbye, Data--Goodbye, Data" is a shout-out to ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'', and a BeamMeUpScotty for ''Series/TheBurnsAndAllenShow''.

* TheCameo: Joe Piscopo was a pretty hot comedian in the last 1980s, so his appearing in a small role was a big deal.

** Data does a Groucho Marx impression when trying to do comedy.

Meanwhile, the ''Enterprise'' then encounters a ship from planet Atlec, which prepares to fire on them with lasers. Picard finds their weapons so laughable he actually drops the main shields just to mock them, at which point the captain of the vessel demands he turn over Okona for knocking up his daughter. A second ship, this one from planet Straleb, appears, also demanding Okona be handed over for stealing a valuable jewel. Picard realizes that whichever captain he gets Okona, the other will start a war over it.

[[caption-width-right:350:''Next Gen'' gets its own [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Flynn Rider,]] and how appropriate that [[{{Badbutt}} he's just as PG-rated.]]]]

* SmallNameBigEgo: The representatives from Altec and Straleb don't seem to realize what small fries they are in the galactic scheme of things. They make demands and threaten Picard with antiquated technology, little realizing that they "gabflies," as Worf terms them.

** ''Everything'' about Okona. Troi's description of him used to top the InformedAttribute page, and Riker's can still be found on [[Quotes/InformedAttribute the quotes subpage]].

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The natives try to threaten the ''Enterprise'' with weapons so relatively primitive it isn't worth the effort of raising shields.

* HandsomeLech: Combined with ChivalrousPervert. Okona manages to work his way through a surprisingly large number of the ''Enterprise'''s female crew during his brief stay, starting with successfully hitting on the transporter operator seconds after arriving. He has zero charisma or charm that the audience gets to see (though Billy Campbell is a very good-looking man).
* InformedAttribute: The biggest and most consistent criticism of this episode, and it starts in the very ''title''.

* NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture: Data decides to use the holodeck to ask Joe Piscopo, a comedian from the 20th century, advice on how to be funny. This is the equivalent of someone in the 21st century asking UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson for comedy tips. Subverted in that, while this is who he ends up with, the computer's initial suggestions are more recent and include other races.

** The episode basically comes across as a really, really bad attempt to do ''Franchise/StarWars'' in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' (i.e., Okona = Han Solo).

* SmallNameBigEgo: After all the build-up about how Okona's a rogue who lives life on the edge, it turns out he's a completely legitimate delivery driver. He gets ''offended'' when accused of being a criminal. All the secrecy surrounding his activities is because he takes client confidentiality very seriously.

* CastingGag: Billy Campbell originally auditioned for the role of Riker.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Okona has a highly HoYay moment with Worf and later Captain Kushell accuses him of “using his son” to steal a treasure from him. The exact nature of how his son was being used is left ambiguous and not at all dispelled by his later behaviour at the negotiations.