Star Trek Repeats A Naughty Captain Kirk Joke From 33 Years Ago & It's Still Hilarious

The naughtiest joke told in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is revisited by Star Trek: Lower Decks. In its final season on Paramount+, Star Trek: Lower Decks continues the zany voyages of the USS Cerritos. Star Trek: Lower Decks' lovable cast has already encountered their alternate universe doubles, avoided an Orion war, and solved a mystery involving nanites on an interstellar cruise ship in season 5.

In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy were framed for the assassination of Klingon High Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) by a conspiracy. Kirk and Bones were sentenced to the Klingon prison planet Rura Penthe, where they were to be murdered. The Starfleet heroes encountered a menagerie of aliens at Rura Penthe, including a shapeshifting Chameloid named Martia (Iman). Kirk also learned something about alien anatomy that turned into a risqué joke for Star Trek.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Tells The Same Naughty Joke As Star Trek VI

Not All Aliens Are Made The Same As Humans

In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 3, "The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel," Lt. Brad Boimler's hunt for AWOL Starfleet Admiral Milius (Toby Huss) involved skiing down a dangerous mountain. As Boimler plummeted, he grabbed onto the back of an alien skier, and Bradward found out he was holding on to the alien's genitals. On his X account, Jörg Hillebrand (@gaghyogi49), who was a researcher for Star Trek: Picard, pointed out Boimler's joke is similar to Captain Kirk's gag in Star Trek VI:

Captain Kirk got into a fight with a massive horned alien during his imprisonment on Rura Penthe in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Physically outmatched, Kirk kicked the alien in his knees, which immediately dropped the creature in agony. Martia explained to the confused Kirk that, "Not everybody keeps their genitals in the same place, Captain."Star Trek: Lower Decks' Boimler offers a hilarious revisiting of this unmistakable fact. Some Star Trek aliens' genitals are where their knees are, or on their backs.

Star Trek Is Finally Able To Create Different Kinds Of Aliens

Animation Has Freed Up Star Trek

Star Trek's vast coterie of aliens essentially being humanoids with different kinds of bumpy foreheads became a running joke over the decades. Star Trek: The Original Series was limited by the makeup, technology, and budgets of the 1960s, and the franchise has continued the tradition of most aliens being some variation of humanoid. However, Star Trek on Paramount+'s cinematic visual effects, increased budgets, and the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy have allowed for more exotic and non-human-looking aliens.

Star Trek: Lower Decks still features traditional aliens like Klingons, Cardassians, Ferengi, and Romulans, but they've also showcased more bizarre creatures like Clickets, Dooplers, Kromsapiods, and Drookmani, who aren't necessarily human-sized or shaped bipeds. One of Lower Decks most memorable alien creations is the Moopsy, an apparently adorable little critter that savagely and relentlessly eats the bones of other species. Who knows where any of those aliens keep their genitals? Thus far, Star Trek: Lower Decks isn't saying.