The Practical Joker

DVD, Star Trek: The Animated Series (The Practical Joker)

Very much an example of a children's cartoon, this is probably the type of episode Gene Roddenberry was thinking of when he decreed 'TAS' should not be considered canon. It's not that it's a bad episode, nor can it even be described as going far from the kind of stories its parent series would have done, but perhaps when Gene was trying to get a new series on its own two feet he'd developed a more serious mindset to what Trek should be, a bit more dignity for the characters, and this was the kind of thing that wasn't really portraying them in the best light. The story is one of the earliest examples of the starship computer itself developing some kind of personality issue - it had been done before in 'TOS' where the computer had become amorous towards the Captain, and would be explored again in future Trek series' (the 'TNG' episode 'Emergence' springs to mind as an example of a similar story done in a more thoughtful manner), even stories when the system goes haywire and turns on our crew are in the same template ('Civil Defence' might be an example, or 'Pup' from 'The Forsaken,' both 'DS9'). In this case it's the Enterprise computer turning into the practical joker of the title.

I was half expecting Trelane to make a return since they've been happy to bring back various characters from the old series, and it would have been a natural stepping stone from there to Q in 'TNG,' something Roddenberry had kept in mind, but no, it really is just the computer, the result of travelling through an energy field (that old chestnut), while escaping a trio of Romulan ships. Or… were they Klingon ships? I was put off for a moment when I saw these apparently Klingon vessels firing at our starship since what happened to the Organian Peace Treaty from 'Errand of Mercy,' that mysterious decree that the Federation and Klingon Empire should cease open hostility to each other and prevented them from using weapons against the other? I can't remember if that was observed in the latter episodes of 'TOS,' so maybe they weren't bound by that plot development, but it was a moot point anyway when it became apparent they were actually Romulans - not only were they observing canon, they were reiterating it, because as we found out in later 'TOS' the Romulans began using Klingon ships as part of their own treaty with the race! In reality it was a money-saving exercise so they could have the Romulans and still use their swanky Klingon model which had been built at great expense, but you wouldn't think that would be an issue for an animated series. But even animated ships need to be drawn, so perhaps this was a reuse of previous images?

Either way it doesn't matter as the Romulans don't play a significant part in the story, other than as an impetus for our crew to try and escape by going through this dangerous energy field. And then the jokes start and keep coming, whether it be the Food Synthesisers spitting out meals all over Scotty, or the Food Synthesisers sending out joke glasses that spill drinks down our dining crew when they tip them up (so are they saying the computer creates matter like a Replicator - I always assumed it was a sort of conveyor belt system of hand-prepared food, or at the most the food was 'synthesised,' but the tableware was already there), to the Holodeck turning on McCoy, Sulu and Uhura… It's all technology related, as would make sense for things operated by the computer, but wait up! A Holodeck? This is probably the biggest canon breach (not seen again as egregiously until the canon-smashing 'Discovery'), of the series, another reason why it's best to see 'TAS' as merely an alternate way to enjoy some Trek, like the novels or comics, and not something that really ties into the history we know: because in 'TNG' the Enterprise-D's Holodeck was brand new and unfamiliar to the crew, whereas if they had them back on the Constitution-class it rather takes the sheen off and doesn't really fit with the 23rd Century's tone of wagon train frontier mentality.

It wasn't actually called a Holodeck, they call it a 'Rec Room,' an idea that would be expanded to a 'Rec Deck' for 'The Motion Picture,' though without any sign of artificial environments when that film could easily have done something like that when Decker was showing the Ilia Probe around. The trio of McCoy, Sulu and Uhura go in and decide to have a walk in the forest - unlike the Holodeck they go in first and operate a central console inside, but it sounds like the same idea: for example, when they want to get out as the place malfunctions, Uhura suggests going in one direction until they hit a wall, but wouldn't the floor move in time with their movements so they never bump into a wall? That would be the Holodeck way. It's also unclear how they were able to fall down a pit of the computer's making since that would put them below the level of the room's floor! It's very much designed to appeal to a child's level, which the series was designed for, but where many 'TAS' episodes are more serious or mature for the audience they were aiming at, this one really plays up the jokes, so it may be a little tiresome to adult eyes. There are of course things that couldn't have been done, at least not without great time and expense, on 'TOS,' such as the loss of gravity - Scotty crawling along the ceiling (great to see Engineering), or the Bridge crew floating around.

We also get both Arex (who even sits in the Captain's Chair at one point), and M'Ress, both in speaking roles - James Doohan and Majel Barrett, as usual, though for a change there are guest voices for at least three other characters I counted (two Romulans and an Enterprise crewman), while Barrett also does her usual computer voice and manages to perform different laughs for the computer and M'Ress. Scotty is moved to swear, which was quite a surprise on a children's cartoon, but I think Mudd had said the same word already and American audiences perhaps didn't consider it a swearword, just an expression of the parent country. And that's about all there is to say about it, other than Kirk gets to trick another computer to save the day, hamming it up pretending to be terrified of going back into the energy field so the computer will deliberately take him there, and that somehow sorts out the problem, while in a 'The Trouble With Tribbles' kind of turnaround, the Romulans get the problem instead when they follow, leading to a traditional 'TOS' ending of everyone on the Bridge having a good laugh. That's the most you can say about the episode, really, it was a bit of a laugh - it is nice to see all the characters and it's essentially a bottle episode since it all takes place on the ship (even if they do have forests, blizzards and hedge mazes thanks to the Rec Room).

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