Star Trek’s Most Hilarious Scene Isn’t A Joke And Never Was
Despite occasional outliers like Lower Decks, Star Trek has never been considered a very funny franchise. However, the conversation in the two-part Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “The Way of the Warrior,” where Garak and Quark compare the Federation to root beer, is often considered the funniest scene in franchise history. Here’s the shocking thing, though: DS9 showrunner Ira Steven Behr later confirmed the scene was never meant to be a joke and was supposed to be a serious discussion between very different aliens about how ambivalent they are toward the Federation.
The Federation Is Root Beer
To bring you up to speed, let’s review how this whole Star Trek discussion about root beer got started. The scene begins with Garak ordering a Cardassian drink (kanar) from Quark, who grumpily offers it to him for free because he is worried that the Klingons’ decision to go to war with the Cardassians means he may never have anyone other than Garak to sell his stockpile to. Garak is sarcastic about Quark’s reaction to Cardassian lives being endangered, but they reach an unexpected point of agreement: they both hate the fact that, as Quark puts it, their “only hope for salvation is the Federation.”
Vile, Bubbly, Cloying, And Happy
After agreeing on that point, the Star Trek scene gets a little weirder when Quark asks Garak to taste “a human drink” called root beer. Sipping it, the Cardassian agrees with the bartender that the drink is “vile…bubbly and cloying and happy,” which they both agree is “like the Federation.” They discuss how it’s also like the Federation in that “If you drink enough of it, you begin to like it” before more soberly expressing hope that the hated Federation will save them.
Meant As A Serious Discussion
Thanks to the inherent charm of actors Armin Shimerman and Andrew Robinson, most Star Trek fans consider the root beer discussion as a very funny scene in the middle of an otherwise serious episode. Their line deliveries make everything seem that much more humorous, and the whole idea of comparing one of the most influential organizations in the galaxy to a soft drink is silly on the face of it. However, Ira Steven Behr is adamant that this was originally intended to be a scene just as sober as the rest of the episode.
He bluntly stated that the scene “was never meant as a joke,” saying it was about “two aliens giving their individual viewpoints about what it was like to live under the Federation.” Through their very different perspectives, we can see their “serious problems with the whole Federation philosophy, and the fact that it’s such a behemoth organization.” However, both of the characters are very practical, and “even though they question the giant, they want the giant on their side when they’re in trouble.
Deep Space Nine Was Always A Dark Series
From the beginning, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was intended to be a relatively dark spinoff, and Behr’s revelations about the root beer scene really underscore that. The scene was written as a way to allow two characters without any significant attachments to the Federation to give their opinion on it; notably, this is a franchise where we almost exclusively get opinions on the matter from Starfleet officers. As written, the conversation underscores some of the issues the rest of the galaxy might take with such a governing body, and it cynically even implies that many Federation members don’t care for its idealistic philosophies so much as its ability to keep them safe.
A Great Scene Between Two Fan Favorites
Again, though, the sheer charisma of these two fan-favorite Star Trek actors turned a serious root beer conversation into a hilarious exchange that fans love to quote. On a meta-level, this is only fitting: even as these cynical aliens remark how the cloying, happy Federation eventually wins people over, the cloying, happy idealism of the Star Trek franchise seeped into its darkest spinoff.
Now, if anyone needs me, I’m going to mix some kanar and root beer together and drink deep until I’m convinced that the Picard series never happened.
