Entertainment

Meet Spocko, a "Vulcan From Queens" in SNL’s Star Trek Episode

'Now that's a Star Trek!"

After spending most of his opening monologue on SNL complaining about how nobody can tell him apart from Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, or Chris Evans (now that he’s pointed it out they actually do look weirdly similar), Chris Pine finally got a chance to spoof a role he has definitely played — kind of.

SNL took full advantage of their latest host, enlisting him as Captain Kirk in a token Star Trek sketch. Of course, it couldn’t be Pine’s Captain Kirk, it was instead William Shatner’s Kirk in this absolutely bizarre sketch about a lost Star Trek episode from the original series.

Introduced by a very excited Neil deGrasse Tyson (played by Kenan Thompson), we’re informed that the original Star Trek started to veer off course towards the end of its third season. “In its final season, the quality faded quicker than the solstice moon,” he says, before erupting into giggles at his own reference.

“Sorry, science makes me silly.”

What follows is supposedly an episode from Stark Trek’s final season that was shot but never aired. It’s pretty obvious why; the episode centers around a new character named Spocko (Bobby Moynihan), Spock’s half-brother from Queens.

Cut back to Tyson, we are informed that Spocko was played by actor and nightclub crooner Sal Delabate. “Producers were trying to appeal to a far out audience, so in a ratings grab, Spocko was created.”

Big ups to Pine in this sketch, who plays a Shatner-era Kirk with uncanny accuracy and doesn’t overdo it. It’s for the best, since the action is centered around Spocko as he tries to fix a plasma port, sexually harasses Uhura, and continually finds ways to yell his catchphrase, “Now that’s a Star Trek!”

It’s all really terrible, incredibly funny, and even ends with a Sal Delabate original song, “Pizza Beach.” Don’t overthink it.

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