The cast of “Star Trek: The Original Series” had an endearing ability to laugh at themselves. It wasn’t just about the sense of levity that often existed on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise; it was the actors’ willingness to be goofy and play broadly for laughs. Even a performer as seemingly stiff as William Shatner could loosen up and act the fool when a scene called for it. This capacity to clown was on full display when the crew traveled back in time to 1986 San Francisco to kidnap a couple of humpback whales in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”; watching Spock learn to curse, Bones react in horror to the state of 20th century medicine, and Kirk put the moves on Catherine Hicks’ cetologist made us howl because it was so clear the cast was having a wonderful time.
The “Star Trek” cast were also game for comedy outside of Gene Roddenberry’s universe. Shatner pulled a Leslie Nielsen and did a mostly deadpan spoof of Kirk in “Airplane II: The Sequel.” Walter Koenig played a Russian general named, um, Demitri Sukitov in the Howard Stern-produced “Baywatch” send-up “Son of the Beach.” And Nichelle Nichols portrayed Sagan, the High Priestess of Pangea in the silly sci-fi romp “The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space.”
Of all the actors from the original “Star Trek,” no one worked harder for a laugh than James Doohan. As Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, the Enterprise’s perpetually exasperated chief engineer, Doohan blustered with impunity. But he didn’t get to parody his Scotty persona until he landed a rather incongruous cameo in a 1993 buddy cop spoof.
James Doohan tried and failed to bring laughs to the mirthless Loaded Weapon 1
When David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker perfected the joke-a-second parody form with “Airplane!,” less talented filmmakers looked at that movie’s impressive hit-to-miss gag ratio and figured audiences would put up with a copycat spoof that delivered half as many laughs. Unfortunately, they lacked the ability to generate even a handful of belly laughs, which resulted in some incredibly dire comedies.
One of the worst of these knockoffs was 1993’s “National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1,” which took shaky aim at the already self-aware “Lethal Weapon.” Starring Emilio Estevez and a pre-“Pulp Fiction” Samuel L. Jackson in the Riggs and Murtaugh roles, the film also included witless nods to “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Basic Instinct,” none of which were remotely funny.
One almost funny scene finds Frank McCrae goofing on his hard-case police captain from “48 Hrs.” by shouting every single one of his lines as he attempts to pour himself a coffee at a malfunctioning espresso machine. As the contraption shoots off sparks, he barks for assistance from Scotty. Suddenly, Doohan himself pops from behind the machine to say, “I’m giving it all she’s got, Captain. If I push it any harder, the whole thing’ll blow!”
While it’s nice to see Doohan having fun, the random cameo falls flat. Coincidentally, Shatner turns up at one point as a corrupt Army officer, and his material is equally uninspired. As for McCrae, he would spoof his “48 Hrs.” role again four months later in John McTiernan’s “The Last Action Hero,” which is at least sporadically hilarious.
