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Some of the greatest Star Trek In-Jokes
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00:00Do you get it? Do you get it? Yeah, you kind of had to be there. In-jokes are often fun if you're on
00:07the in of them, forgive the pun, whereas if you are not they can be about as much fun as dry rot.
00:14None of these actually count as that though. Dry rot I mean, they all count as in-jokes.
00:18With that in mind I'm Sean Ferrick for Trek Culture and here are the 10 greatest Star Trek
00:23in-jokes. Number 10, 47. 47 is 42, corrected for inflation. Executive producer Rick Berman
00:29once joked, the ultimate answer might cost you more in Star Trek, but what is the question?
00:34Well, have you ever wondered why Ronan in Sobrosa, Sex Ghost, said he was born in 1647, why shields
00:41were often down to 47%, or why Captain Janeway was really from Bloomington, Indiana? The reason
00:46is writer Joe Minoski, who began his Star Trek career in season 4 of The Next Generation and
00:52has worked on Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Discovery. Minoski graduated from California's
00:56Pomona College, which apart from excelling in the liberal arts, is known for having a
01:01thing for 47. The college even has a club dedicated to the number, the 47 Society, that Minoski
01:06was part of as a student. He then brought this university in-joke into Star Trek and it has
01:11stuck with the writers ever since. Bloomington, Indiana, zip codes 47401-47408, is more properly
01:19an homage to Voyager producer Jerry Taylor, who was born there, but there are pages of other
01:25examples of the 47 phenomenon. Here are just a small few. In Family, Picard is given the
01:3047 vintage, in Conundrum there are 47 Lysian Sentry Pods, in DS9 pads are often labelled 4747,
01:38and weapons lockers 47. In Voyager, the temporal variance of the Cranum Cranaton torpedo is 1.47
01:45microseconds, and I have just needed between 4-7 Aldebaran whiskies.
01:51Number 9. Some kinds of Star Trek. Rarely is anything more meta than the time Star Trek
01:55looked through a telescope and saw itself. Star Trek First Contact is one big self-reference,
02:00a trek to the past to ensure its own future. Zephram Cochran needs some kind of Star Trek
02:06as much as it needs him. In that film, First Contact gets a direct nod, although that was
02:10far from the first or last movie or episode title name drop in dialogue. They toasted the
02:15undiscovered country in The Undiscovered Country, and Captain Janeway provided a counterpoint, counterpoint,
02:20counterpoint, in Counterpoint, amongst many other examples. Star Trek is also more subtly
02:25self-referential at times. In The Next Generation's 80th episode, Legacy, the Enterprise D has to
02:31bypass an archaeological survey of Caymus II, which happens to be the last planet visited
02:36by another Enterprise in its 79th and final episode. Yes, we are counting them like that.
02:42According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, the Caymus II mention was a deliberate tip of the
02:46hat to turnabout intruder on the part of Rick Berman, Jonathan Frakes, and producer Eric
02:51Stilwell. Of course, the end of the beginning of this kind of Star Trek is a prophecy of
02:55itself. We've only postponed the invasion until, what, the 24th century?
03:00Number 8. Commerce Seals and Blaine's twin brother. Our lovely writer Jack has already
03:05discussed television's demise in Star Trek, but it deserves a second mention here. Beyond the
03:10canonical prediction, the medium didn't last much past 2040, for humanity at least, the writers
03:15clearly take great delight in having assigned television to the history books. It's the
03:19perfect in-joke. By relying on a lack of awareness of the characters, the writers can poke fun
03:24at their own industry without having to totally demolish that fourth wall. The gag is perhaps
03:28also a gentle reminder to appreciate Star Trek for what it ultimately is, a piece of television,
03:33for as long as we have it. After all, in Star Trek, nobody's watching Star Trek. After Data's
03:38revelation in the Neutral Zone, there have been a few direct references to TV, when Voyager
03:43went back to the 90s, Kess and Neelix were tasked with reviewing Earth broadcasts and became
03:47addicted to the soap opera. We still don't know if Blaine's twin brother was the father
03:51of Jessica's baby. More recently, spoiler alert, in Lower Decks, Boimler got hilariously
03:56hooked on Ferengi television, ironically unfamiliar with the commercials. Commerseals? And the serial
04:03drama Cop Landlords Needs It's Own spin-off. Moreover, the title of that Lower Decks episode
04:08was itself a TV reference. Number 7, Riker. I mean, how could we not? There are plenty
04:15of reasons to love Lower Decks, and top amongst them are the easter eggs, in-jokes, and altogether
04:20weirdly specific references. In a similar vein, Strange New Worlds has delighted fans by returning
04:25to the roots of Star Trek, all the while pushing the franchise forward. As I well know from
04:30Cetacean Observations, one episode alone of Lower Decks could have filled this list. But we're
04:35here for the Strange New Worlds crossover. Leg over.
04:39The episode's title is itself an in-joke, Those Old Scientists, a phrase first used by
04:43Commander Ransom to describe the 23rd century in no small parts. Then, when Boimler and Mariner
04:49are flung through a time portal to said century, they both basically become two excited fans
04:55at the greatest ever Star Trek convention. Actors Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome even took selfies
04:59on set during their own time. It's Ensign Boimler with the Riker maneuver in the ready room,
05:04however, that will surely go down, up and over, as the in-joke to end all in-jokes. In-universe,
05:10Boimler briefly served with the animated Riker on the Titan. On the set of Those Old Scientists,
05:15Jonathan Frakes was directing and Quaid improvised the Riker leg-swing, pike-saddle moment in front
05:21of him.
05:22Number 6. Smoothing Things Over. The Klingons have gone through many, many changes since their
05:27original appearance in Errand of Mercy. At first conceived by writer Jean L. Kuhn as the Soviet
05:32half of his Cold War allegory, core actor John Kalikos reportedly looked more to the likes
05:37of Genghis Khan for inspiration for the character, leading to some fairly problematic make-up choices.
05:43They certainly didn't have the budget in the original series that they did by the time
05:47the Klingons reared their ridges in the motion picture. The make-up and general look was further
05:51designed and redesigned in the films, with Klingons that followed, then again and again in
05:56the next generation of Deep Space Nine, with no explanation given. As Michael Dorn knowingly
06:01commented in an interview with Cinefantastique volume 32 numbers 4 and 5, I guess they never
06:07thought they'd have to deal with it on screen at some point. Therein lies the in-joke when
06:11DS9 decided to tackle the changes in Klingon appearance head-on, ish, in Trials and Tribulations.
06:16If you can't put ridges on it, hang a lantern on it instead.
06:19Dwarf's laconic, it is a long story, we do not discuss it with outsiders, was all about
06:24the answer we needed, and probably the only one we're going to get, until the Enterprise
06:28Exploration, which everybody loved and there's been no problems about since.
06:32Number 5, who writes for Morn?
06:34We all know Morn, the famously loose-lipped Lurian with a liking for Jumjah Sticks, a small
06:39fortune in one of his stomachs, and his own seat at Quark's Bar. His name alone is an in-joke.
06:44Morn is an anagram of Norm, the permanent patron of Cheers. The character's reputation as
06:49a chatty Cathy might well precede him, but of course Morn never actually had any lines.
06:53This was far from the plan for Morn from the beginning, however. According to the making
06:57of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, on the very first day of filming for Emissary, the man beneath
07:01the then-nameless Morn mask, Mark Alan Shepard, was asked by director David Carson to tell the
07:06funniest joke in the universe, and he did. We won't spoil it for you, but it involves
07:10a coconut concertina cosmological argument, and a honeysuckle garbage-polstery rimfire.
07:15Morn made it into the pilot, but evidently the joke did not. Later, lines that were planned
07:20for the character were written out before shooting. Eventually, it was far funnier for the great
07:24raconteur to say nothing at all, becoming what is certainly one of Star Trek's longest-running
07:29inside jokes, especially when you take into account the Saritas' Season 3 stop at Deep Space Nine.
07:35Number 4. Okudagrams. We owe graphic designers Michael and Denise Okuda a great deal for the look,
07:41lore, and feel of Star Trek from the voyage home onwards, not to forget the Star Trek encyclopedia
07:48through four editions, the next generation technical manual, and other reference books
07:51that have become veritable fan bibles. Creator of the computer screen and console graphics for
07:56Star Trek IV, and the L-Cars designs for the next generation and beyond, Michael Okuda's instantly
08:01recognisable work was lovingly nicknamed the Okudagram. An artistic marvel in their own right,
08:06Okudagrams have also provided plenty of opportunities to play the Doctor in Doctor Who, Miss Piggy,
08:12and Kermit T. Frog. The Okudagram of the Enterprise D's Engineering Master Display features, if you stare
08:32hard enough, a duck, a mouse, an airplane, a car, and nomad. Usually covered up for filming,
08:38these editions even made it into HD at around 38 minutes and 35 seconds of the remastered Galaxy's
08:45Child. Technically, that makes them canon. Number 3. Great Birds of the Galaxy. In the far future,
08:50Miles O'Brien was, and will be, rightly instatued as perhaps the most important person in Starfleet
08:56history. Right along there with him was the less glowingly remembered Brad Boimler. History has its own
09:01effect on Boimler's forever memorialised left arm was one of the Great Birds of the Galaxy, an in-joke
09:07which has a history in itself. You might well know by now that THE Great Bird of the Galaxy was Gene
09:12Roddenberry, or rather it was the nickname given to him by producer Robert Justman early in the run
09:17of the original series. In point of fact, in The Man Trap, Sulu says to Janice Rand, may the Great Bird of
09:23the Galaxy bless your planet. The epithet for Star Trek's creator certainly caught on. By the time of the next
09:29generation, the birthday gift in 1987, senior next generation illustrator Andrew Probert painted a
09:38full-color Roddenberry-headed bird of the galaxy with command uniform plumage, combage and NCC-1701.
09:4460th birthday gift in 1987, senior next generation illustrator Andrew Probert painted a full-color
09:50Roddenberry-headed bird of the galaxy with command uniform plumage, combage and NCC-1701 nacelles as tail
09:57feathers. A green okudogram sketch version of the painting was then used on screen as part of the
10:03rapid computer searches carried out by data in The Naked Now and Conspiracy. Number 2, Tubes of Jeffreys.
10:10Walter Matthew Matt Jeffreys, his full name is of importance later, is the man well known for
10:15designing the original Enterprise model, now so iconic it hangs in the Smithsonian. Jeffreys was also
10:21largely responsible for the majority of the Enterprise's interior design, as well as that of the shuttlecraft,
10:26the Klingon D-7 cruiser, the hand phaser and a plethora of other props, sets and landscapes.
10:32As shown in the Star Trek sketchbook, the original series, Jeffreys equally designed what he called
10:36the engineering power shaft in his sketch for the enemy within. As he recalled, we needed a space where
10:42Scotty could fix things without taking up too much room, so I made a tube with all kinds of complicated
10:47looking stuff in it. Somebody hung the name Jeffreys Tube on it and the name stuck. And Sticker did,
10:52but only behind the scenes on TOS. It wasn't until the Next Generation season 3 episode The Hunted,
10:57that the term Jeffreys Tube was said on screen. On TOS, designers also liked to add the label GNDN,
11:04for goes nowhere, does nothing, to the pipes on Jeffreys Tube sets. In canon, it is generally
11:09accepted that the famous crawlways were named after NX project designer of the 22nd century W.M.
11:16Jeffreys. Number 1, The Writer and the Principal. Far Beyond the Stars will forever be considered
11:21one of the best Star Trek episodes ever made. Powerhouse performances from the cast, from Avery
11:26Brooks in particular who also directed, and the episode's brilliant narrative conceit bring the
11:30theme of racial prejudice and its harrowing consequences into sharp focus in a manner never
11:35before managed so directly in Star Trek. The episode is also notable for its use of insider references.
11:40The 1950s style drawing of Deep Space Nine that inspires Benny Russell to write his story in the first
11:45place was a nice touch, and you perhaps noticed the original series matte painting of Starbase 11 on the cover
11:50of competitor magazine Galaxy. For Benny Russell's group of writers' own publication, Incredible
11:56Tales of Scientific Wonder, the front cover of the March 1953 edition sports an image of Delta Vega
12:02from Where No Man Has Gone Before. The issue then features the stories First of a New Series,
12:06The Cage by E.W. Roddenberry, The Corbamite Maneuver by Jerry Soule illustrated by Matt Jeffreys,
12:12Journey to Babel by DC Fontana, Metamorphosis by Jean L. Kuhn, and Where No Man Has Gone Before by Samuel
12:19Peoples. Finally, in a memo from editor Douglas Pabst to Herbert Rossoff being played by Armin
12:24Zimmerman, apparently used as set dressing but never visible on screen was written,
12:29no one would believe that a cheerleader can kill vampires. The snide principal
12:33Snyder might also have been but a writer's dream. Hello I'm Duncan Rillick, no relation,
12:39and my friend Sean Blass has been rushed to Starfleet Medical so he's asked me to tell you about
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13:09Sean Blass. Hope everything goes okay with the toenail. That's everything for our list. Do you
13:15reckon we missed any in here? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you so much to Jack Coyley
13:20for writing the original article that this is based on. You can check that out on whatculture.com.
13:23Make sure you're following us over on Twitter at TrekCulture, on Instagram at TrekCultureYT,
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13:39SeanFerrick on the various socials as well. Until I'm talking to you again, look after yourself, stay
13:43safe, stay calm and stay logical if you can. You are awesome and wonderful. Thanks very much. Bye.
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