I am a Star Trek fan, and have been for as long as I can remember. I am especially fond of The Original Series (TOS), The Next Generation (TNG), and Deep Space Nine (DS9). I find the other spin-offs and reboots to have been less impressive, on the whole, but I certainly understand their appeal.
Over the years, I have had a lot of fun making Trek memes. Here are some of my favorites.
A Hodgepodge of Trek Memes, to Get Started
First, a few trifles:
Things might be frustrating as hell in the future, too.
Should have made Lamb Chops instead.
Cook, DeForest, cook!
Aye.
This joke only works for six months of the year.
Oh, groan yourself. Wait until I do Meme Adventures: Dad Joke and Bad Pun Edition, then groan away.
Some Trek memes don’t involve Trek characters.
Sophisticated Humor is Usually Preferred. Usually.
There are, of course, several social media sites related to Trek memes. Unfortunately, most of those memes aren’t very good: they are too lowbrow or cheap or repetitive. I made this meme to encapsulate my scrolling experience through one such site.
Workplace Experience
Workplace experience was fuel for several memes. Sometimes, meme-making became necessary as a coping mechanism.
Five years ago, this meme might have produced a puzzled reaction.
Most people can laugh at this. Eventually.
He probably got it, but deleted it.
There comes a time when one must ask whether a touted technological “advance” is actually a step backwards.
Yeah, I could see this actually happening.
Occasionally, I take a cheap shot.
Trek Meme As Commentary
From time to time, a Trek meme can serve as the basis for a “zinger” or a commentary, especially a commentary on current events or social issues.
Turned out to be a puppet, used mainly to scare people, much like this Balok prop.
Uncle George has been known to toss this word around, usually with good cause.
Nonsense gets such better ratings.
A surprisingly useful meme, applicable to countless occasions.
One of my many anti-anti-vaxx memes. We are now in Stage Four of the pandemic.
When someone gets it right, this meme can be a good way to say so. Glad to see James made it out of the Time Tunnel. Getting out in the 24th Century beats NEVER getting out at all. Am I right, Pally?
Positronic Brain Blown
And sometimes, it is fun to mess with peoples’ heads. Data was made self-aware, but self-awareness can be endlessly recursive, and some computers don’t handle recursion all that well. The title for this meme was “Positronic Brain Blown,” and the comment that made me laugh the hardest was: “Do not read this while you’re high.”
Lowbrow Humor Will Survive Centuries from Now
And I am most certainly not above a lowbrow meme from time to time… provided that one has to think about it a bit:
I sometimes wonder how this got past the censors.
Um, yeah.
If you’ve ever been in the service….
You had to buy the damn blueprints to find out where the Enterprise toilets were.
A Modest Tribute to Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart, versatile acteur (with a nod to TA):
Spoiler: It depends upon the season.
Sir Patrick gives a lecture.
A Modest Tribute to William Shatner
William Shatner may have his faults, but lacking a sense of humor isn’t one of them. Here you go, Bill:
The One and Only.
He probably has great stories, though, about himself and Christopher Plummer at Stratford, Ontario.
A Reminder
Let me remind everyone that my memes are all original to me. I make them using meme-making software available as an app (e.g., Meme Generator) or website (e.g., Cheezburger) and sometimes I have even stooped to Microsoft Paint. Feel free to use and copy and do whatever, just give credit where credit is due.
And Finally, My Memes and George Takei
It still blows my positronic brain to say so, but one of the people who has liked my memes is actor and activist George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on the original TV series, and who was later promoted to Captain Sulu (to the surprise of precisely zero Trek fans, all of whom knew damn well that Sulu was sharp enough to get his own command).
George has long advocated for the rights of people whose sexual preferences--which are nobody’s business but their own--are under political fire from people who are perversely fond of sticking their noses into other peoples’ business. When the United States Supreme Court was about to rule on the question of marriage equality, I had a pretty good idea how the case would come out, and I made a meme. And when the decision DID get issued, and the Court found in favor of marriage equality for everybody, I posted my meme on Uncle George’s Facebook page right away.
Response to this meme was strong, but not cruel. Granted, memes have to be pithy, and so sometimes the details and the nuances have to be left out.
And when George was about to appear in “Allegiance” on Broadway, I made this meme for him.
I saw the play (movie version). Very much worth it. “Allegiance” deals with allegiance: to family, to country, to friends, to community, to culture, and to oneself.
In the mid-1990s, I read George Takei’s “To the Stars.” There were plenty of Trek stories in that book, but by far the most interesting part of the book pertained to his experience in an internment camp for Japanese-Americans. The musical “Allegiance” is based in part on his personal experiences. George recounts his experiences anew in his more recent book, “They Called Us Enemy.”
Let Uncle George tell you: It happened before, it can happen again.
No joke here. Most of what I know of the REALITIES of Japanese-American internment I learned from this man, for which I am grateful.
Addendum
Thanks to everyone for:
- Your thoughtful remarks;
- Identifying your favorites; and
- Posting some other Trek funnies.
Previously
The Next Person To Bad-Mouth Joe Biden By Quoting the Bible Gets This Response
Don't Remember Richard Nixon for "I'm NOT a crook"; Remember Him for What He Said Just Before That
Meme Adventures: Abraham Lincoln Edition
Meme Adventures: Haiku Edition
Meme Adventures: Introduction
A Speech That I Hope Joe Biden Never Has to Deliver
It's "Scheisskopf" From Now On
A speech for Donald Trump
