The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise facts for kids

Actor John Belushi made fun of the way William Shatner played character Captain Kirk (Shatner shown in the picture) from Star Trek: The Original Series.

"The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise" is a comedy routine. It was first shown during episode 22 of the first season of Saturday Night Live on May 29, 1976. The routine is twelve minutes long. It was written by Michael O'Donoghue consulting with actor John Belushi. They included a realistic model of the USS Enterprise bridge from the TV show Star Trek. Dress rehearsal was hard. The writer was not sure if Belushi would be able to do a good parody of William Shatner's performance as Captain Kirk. The routine was a success. O'Donoghue immediately congratulated Belushi after his performance.

The sketch became an instant classic hit among Star Trek fans and science fiction fans. The 1977 book Saturday Night Live included a copy of a note from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry where he called the comedic bit "delicious". The routine was released on a 1985 Saturday Night Live videotape that combined The Best of John Belushi. It was released again with the same title in DVD format in 2011.

Reviews

In his book Metapop, author Michael Dunne called the comedic bit one of the most famous scenes from Saturday Night Live. The Chicago Sun-Times called it a really intelligent parody of Star Trek. Huffpost TV called it one of "the most famous parodies" of Star Trek. The A.V. Club said the sketch was really well-done comedy.

The New Yorker movie critic Anthony Lane wrote that Belushi did a perfect acting job. The Hollywood Reporter interviewed Tom Hanks and Elliott Gould in 2015. Gould called the sketch a favorite. Hanks said it was one of the top five best of all time. Rolling Stone ranked every Saturday Night Live cast member by talent in 2015, and John Belushi was placed at number one. Rolling Stone said the Captain Kirk parody was one of Belushi's best.

Images for kids

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  A strange alien spacecraft following the USS Enterprise is identified as a 1968 Chrysler Imperial

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  Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry wrote a letter to Elliott Gould in which he called the sketch "delicious".

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  Founder of TrekMovie.com Anthony Pascale called the comedy bit: "one of the best Star Trek parody sketches of all time".

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  Actor Tom Hanks said of the sketch: "that's got to be one of the top five of all."