"The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise" is a comedy sketch that first aired on May 29, 1976, during episode 22 of the first season of the NBC variety show, Saturday Night Live. The twelve-minute sketch was written by Michael O'Donoghue during a month-long process consulting with actor John Belushi. The sketch is a satire of the 1969 cancellation of Star Trek. The set design featured an effective replica of the bridge of the USS Enterprise. Dress rehearsal was difficult, with the writer doubting whether Belushi was able to pull off an effective parody of William Shatner's performance as Captain James Kirk. However, the result was a success, and O'Donoghue immediately congratulated Belushi after his performance and reflected that he had perfectly parodied Shatner as Kirk.
The sketch became a cult classic hit among Star Trek and science fiction fans. The 1977 book Saturday Night Live, edited by Anne Beatts and John Head, included a copy of a note from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry praising the comedic bit. The sketch was released on a 1985 Saturday Night Live compilation VHS that featured The Best of John Belushi and re-released with the same title in DVD format in 2011. In his book Metapop, author Michael Dunne called the comedic bit among the most well-known of all Saturday Night Live routines. The Chicago Sun-Times referred to it as an intelligent satire of Star Trek. The Los Angeles Times placed the parody among the program's top ten sketches of all-time. On the series' 40th anniversary, Tulsa World listed the sketch as one of the television show's most iconic.
The New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane wrote that Belushi was flawless and captured Shatner's essence while adding simultaneously his own layer of weariness to the character. The Hollywood Reporter interviewed Tom Hanks and Elliott Gould in 2015; Gould called the sketch a favorite, while Hanks placed it among the best five of all time. In ranking every single Saturday Night Live cast member by talent in 2015, Rolling Stone called the Captain Kirk parody one of Belushi's most memorable and wrote that it was evidence of the actor's youthful innocence.
Plot synopsis
The sensors of the starship USS Enterprise pick up a strange alien spacecraft following it in hot pursuit. Spock, played by Chevy Chase, identifies it as a 1968 Chrysler Imperial with a tinted windshield and retractable headlights. The automobile is registered to NBC, a company that, according to the ship computer, may have previously made cookies.
Captain Kirk, played by John Belushi, orders evasive maneuvers to outrun the strange craft. Unable to do so, he declares "Red Alert" and orders the firing of phasers and photon torpedoes to destroy the craft. Unfortunately, all of the ship's equipment fails for no reason and the Enterprises systems rapidly break down. Suddenly, Dr. Leonard McCoy, played by Dan Aykroyd, runs onto the bridge saying that the aliens are on the ship. He says they did not beam aboard but merely "walked out from behind the curtains".
It turns out that the aliens are NBC executive Herb Goodman, played by Elliott Gould, and his associate Curtis, played by Garrett Morris. They announce that the Star Trek series has been cancelled. Kirk and his officers discharge their phasers at Goodman, but nothing happens. Spock declares that the "alien" must have a "weapons de-activator" and tries to employ his famous Vulcan nerve pinch on him, but that does not work either. The executive, unfazed by the actors refusing to break character, pulls Spock's ears off and throws them away. Spock then mind-melds with Goodman only to discover that, as he describes it, "It was all dark and empty in there, and there were little mice in the corners. I kept bumping my head on the ceiling...!" Whereupon Kirk slaps him back to his senses.
Other NBC executives and staff show up and dismantle the Enterprise set. The other crew members accept the cancellation and leave, but Shatner and Nimoy try to hang on to their Star Trek personae as Kirk and Spock. However, Nimoy is eventually reduced to a sobbing, nervous wreck, and is carried off the set by Curtis. Shatner remains defiantly in the Captain's chair, as Goodman mentions to Shatner that he got a phone call from a margarine company.
Finally, the set is completely dismantled, and still in his chair, Shatner, as Captain Kirk, makes a final entry into his log recalling his previous three years of space exploration, concluding: "And except for one television network, we have found intelligence everywhere in the galaxy." Raising his hand in the Vulcan salute, he goes on, "Live long and prosper". Then he brings his fingers together, his hand still raised, and adds, "Promise".
Production Writing The twelve-minute sketch was written by Michael O'Donoghue who wanted to create a scene to showcase the acting talents of John Belushi.Woodward 1985, p. 97. O'Donoghue had been the one who had initially persuaded producer Lorne Michaels to hire Belushi for the new Saturday Night Live program.Young 1983, p. 48. O'Donoghue and Belushi recognized that the original Star Trek series itself was not a ratings success during its initial run, but had become much more successful during syndication. Belushi enjoyed the Star Trek series and wanted the part of Captain Kirk. He demonstrated his intense desire to get the role by trimming his distinctive sideburns to closely resemble Kirk's facial appearance in the original series. They worked together on the sketch for thirty days and scheduled it for the final episode of the 1976 season of the show, hosted by Elliott Gould.
Cast
John Belushi as Captain Kirk/William ShatnerGetty 2015 Chevy Chase as Mr. Spock/Leonard Nimoy Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Leonard McCoy/DeForest Kelley and the voice of Scotty on intercomPascale 2014 Elliott Gould as Herb Goodman, NBC Executive Garrett Morris as Curtis, Head NBC stage crew Leo "Akira" Yoshimura as Mr. Sulu/George TakeiSacks 2014, p. 258. Doris Powell as Lt. Uhura/Nichelle NicholsNBCUniversal 2015Navaroli 2015
Set design The production staff had reproduced an effective-looking replica of the bridge of the USS Enterprise. As the scene began, the viewscreen of the ship depicted the USS Enterprise being pursued by a type of automobile commonly manufactured in the United States and from the time period when Star Trek was cancelled.
Dress rehearsal Dress rehearsal for the sketch went poorly. Belushi in particular struggled to memorize his lines while delivering a believable yet humorous imitation of William Shatner's original performance, especially after having to sit still for several hours while being made up to look the part. Sketch writer O'Donoghue was worried that the sketch was too long and might not go over well with the audience. He knew that Belushi was a fan of Star Trek, and had previously rescued sketches that others thought would flop, but O'Donoghue was nervous that the actor was not able to pull off a comedic performance on this occasion.
O'Donoghue complained directly to Belushi that he thought his parody of Shatner during the dress rehearsals was inadequate and needed much improvement. Further, actor Chevy Chase was annoyed that he was satirizing Leonard Nimoy as Spock; he did not like the idea of playing second-fiddle to Belushi. During all of the rehearsals, Chase attempted to attract more attention to his character's role and dominate the scene. Just prior to the on-air performance of the sketch, O'Donoghue admonished Belushi and implored him to perform an effective parody. Belushi's dress rehearsal performance had worried executives so much that they had discussed canceling the entire sketch altogether.Schochet 2010, p. 25.
Release
"The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise" first aired during episode 22 of the first season of Saturday Night Live on May 29, 1976.Sepinwall 2006
Immediately upon the conclusion of the sketch, writer Michael O'Donoghue knew it was a success.Woodward 1985, p. 98. He had been watching the Saturday Night Live performance from beside the set, off-camera. He felt that Belushi had performed his role as Captain Kirk perfectly. As soon as Belushi left the set, O'Donoghue went over to him and gave the actor a congratulatory hug. On reflection, after the live performance, O'Donoghue stated that Belushi had performed a perfect parody of Shatner as Kirk. Belushi felt it was one of his most satisfying performances.
In their book Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, authors Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad wrote that the sketch was writer Michael O'Donoghue's signature success on the television program.Hill 2011 In addition, they noted that the staff of Saturday Night Live felt the sketch was among the best routines on the program.
After Belushi's sudden death by drug overdose in 1982, Judith Jacklin Belushi, the actor's widow, began to think about putting together a video to commemorate him. The sketch was included on the 1985 Saturday Night Live release of 16 sketches featuring Belushi called The Best of John Belushi, produced by Lorne Michaels and Judith Jacklin Belushi, sold by Warner Home Video in VHS format.Burditt 1985, p. 4.Ferretti 1985, p. 12C.
Together, Lorne Michaels, Belushi's brother Jim Belushi, and Judith Jacklin Belushi, reviewed the actor's comedic sketches from Saturday Night Live to select what were generally considered his best works. In an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News on the 1985 VHS release, Belushi's widow commented she was not sure if her husband had a particular sketch he liked the most, but that he considered the Star Trek parody among his favorites. The Best of John Belushi edition in VHS format sold approximately 200,000 copies.Billboard 1986, p. V-86. It reached number three on Billboards Top Videocassettes Sales Chart in February 1986.McCullaugh 1986, p. V-68.
The DVD edition of the collected shorts video release by Saturday Night Live was released in 2011, again under the title The Best of John Belushi.Corey 2011Hartel 2011
Themes Writing for American Humor, academic Robert G. Pielke observed that the sketch was a very well-done, and moving, reflection on NBC management's fealty to Nielsen ratings and profit.Pielke 1980, p. 6. Pielke went on to analyze the sketch and characterized it as an example of Saturday Night Live resisting conformist authority.Pielke 1980, p. 7. He commented that an injustice had been wrought by NBC the company, whereas the NBC executives who came to shut down Star Trek were simply pawns in the process. He posited that the USS Enterprise crew members were against cancelling the television program because their self-worth had become tied to it. Pielke noted that within the confines of the sketch's plot itself, as each crew member realized there was no option other than cancellation, they each showed their identity and humanity.
Pielke praised the final scene of the sketch as evocative of the original series and an indictment of capitalism. He wrote that Belushi finished off the sketch with a moving rendition of the introduction to the original Star Trek series, while modifying it slightly to emphasize that NBC's greed had ended the Enterprise mission.
Mother Jones magazine additionally commented upon the key theme of satire over conflict between the critical success of Star Trek and the decision to cancel the program by the studio executives. The magazine noted that writer Michael O'Donoghue's work for the sketch was among the highest caliber scripts he had written for Saturday Night Live. Mother Jones found it ironic that in the sketch the Enterprise was defeated not by its traditional enemies such as the Klingons, but by a stupid NBC executive in charge of the network's programming schedule.