The Enterprise picks up a damaged ship, belonging to Captain Okana (William O. Campbell). Okana, a laid-back rogue, is happy to let the Enterprise repair his broken engine part. He is also happy to enjoy mingling with some of the pretty female Enterprise officers (including bedding a young Teri Hatcher, whose career was in full "dues-paying" mode at this point). Things take a less happy turn, when two ships from two nearby planets confront the Enterprise, despite having inferior technology. Both ships' captains want the same thing: Okana!
Meanwhile, an offhand comment by Okana leads Data to seek help from Guinan. He wants to understand humor, so that he can be more like the humans around him. With help from a holodeck simulation of a comic (Joe Piscopo), Data picks up some gags and a delivery method - both of which make him less funny, and more annoying, than he was before.
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Shows patience in dealing with both of the men calling for Okana's head. Basically, he has to act as the calm father mediating between squabbling siblings. Patrick Stewart brings a weary bemusement to these scenes which helps make the material a lot more watchable than it otherwise would be.
Data: Burdened with bad sitcom material, Brent Spiner goes over-the-top and is genuinely annoying during the "comedy routine" bits. He's much more entertaining when simply being Data. Episodes in which "Data becomes obsessively curious about Human Trait Y" were never the series' strong points, and that proves to be very much the case here.
Guinan: To start with an easy point: Data's right, the "Droid/'Noid" joke is not funny. Whoopi Goldberg can act. To anyone who has seen her in movies such as The Color Purple, The Long Walk Home, or even Ghost, this pretty much goes without saying. Unfortunately, as of this point, Guinan's characterization pretty much begins and ends with "excuse to stunt cast Whoopi Goldberg," and so has yet to yield any positive results.
SHUT UP, WESLEY!
"I'd find it hard to leave all the time," Wesley snivels to Okana just as Okana is about to cut the misery of this episode short. "I'd miss my friends." This is someone who's choosing a life in the military, where moving from one post to another is part of the routine? Once he's done being protected by Picard and his mother as an "acting ensign" indefinitely assigned to Enterprise, young Mr. Crusher is liable to be in for a very rude awakening about his chosen life. His whining also has the unfortunate effect of extending this episode by another ten minutes or so.
THOUGHTS
Ugh. This is more along the lines of what I picture when I think about Star Trek: The Next Generation. A dull "A" plot, intercut with a painfully stupid "B" plot that wouldn't be worthy of a "C"-grade sitcom.
Okana is the least annoying aspect of this episode, but he's far from actually working as a character. He's a Han Solo clone, right down to the outfit. I'll admit, there's some appeal to the idea of having a loose cannon in the nature of Han Solo/Mal from Firefly bungling into the rigid Trek universe. But Okana's characterization is too shallow and hamfisted for much fun to result. Directly upon his introduction, Troi helpfully uses her powers of exposition to deliver Okana's full character sketch to us. Though Campbell actually does a decent job with what he's given, the character itself never moves beyond the basic sketch level.
As to the puzzle of the two captains from the two planets, both of whom want Okana? Well, once the charges were revealed, was there any viewer over the age of twelve who didn't spot the solution pretty much instantly? The dreadful acting of both of the accusers doesn't exactly help much, though their performances are nothing next to the truly godawful line readings by Rosalind Ingledew as Yanar, the woman Okana is accused of "dishonoring."
The subplot is even worse. The scenes in which Data attempts to emulate comics ranging from Jerry Lewis to Jack Benny to George Burns are seemingly endless, and certainly mirthless. Brent Spiner, usually the saving grace in poorly-written episodes, actually makes this situation worse. He does have hammy tendencies, I've noticed, and this scenario allows him to indulge by going horribly over-the-top. Joe Piscopo doesn't exactly help matters, while Whoopi Goldberg seems to be doing as little as possible while closing her eyes and thinking of her paycheck.
Overall, The Outrageous Okana ends up being as bad as some of the stinkers from early Season One - and in some ways, I think it may even be worse.
Rating: 3/10.
Previous Episode: Elementary, Dear Data
Next Episode: Loud as a Whisper
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