- "One practical joke after another, and always on me."
- —James T. Kirk, 2267[src]
A practical joke or prank was a trick played on someone in order to derive humor from a victim's embarrassment or discomfort.
During his childhood on Vulcan, Spock was known to play jokes on a local healer in 2237. (TAS episode & Log One novelization: Yesteryear)
Starfleet Academy
In the 23rd century at Starfleet Academy, Cadet James T. Kirk was tormented by upperclassmen Sean Finnegan. Finnegan would torment Kirk with his pranks that included:
- filling Kirk and Gary Mitchell's dorm room with sheep.[1]
- taping a sign to Kirk's back that said "Call Me Captain Dunsel".[1]
- hand buzzing kirk's hand
- putting a bowl of cold soup in Kirk's bed.[2]
- propping a bucket of water on a half-open door[2]
Kirk eventually, with John Kyle's help, got even with Finnegan by beaming him into the simulator's captain's chair naked.
Finnegan resumed tormenting Kirk with his pranks in 2286. His first involved giving Kirk a fake handshake. Kirk tried to return the favor by opening a door for Finnegan and having him punched, but instead it punched Garth of Izar. Finnegan and Kirk eventually stopped their pranks until Finegan revealed that he let Kirk win several Arm wrestling bouts with him. (TOS comic: "Starfleet Academy!"; TOS - Who Killed Captain Kirk? comics: "Old Loyalties", "Finnegan's Wake!")
In the 24th century, Data fell to victim to several pranks during his time at the academy. Cadet Wesley Crusher, in his first week at the academy, had his sonic shower altered by Adam Martoni that covered him in mud. Crusher returned the prank by having Martoni's antimatter regulator to spray chili sauce on him. (TNG episode: "The Game")
In the 28th century, Nahla Ake and several other senior cadets beamed the entire first year class from their sonic showers to Alcatraz's rooftop. It took the campus' faculty half a day to get all the cadets back. (SA episode: "Vitus Reflux")
Appendices
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 TOS comic: "Starfleet Academy!"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 TOS episode & Star Trek 12 novelization: Shore Leave
External links
- Practical joke article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Practical joke article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.