Chris Pine spoofs William Shatner in SNL Star Trek parody

Chris Pine is best known for playing the new Captain Kirk in the Star Trek movies, and a new SNL parody has him spoofing the William Shatner version.

I was expecting some kind of Star Trek spoof on last night’s Saturday Night Live. But this… this went above and beyond, defying all my expectations. Truly, this is an awesome thing.

Star Trek actor Chris Pine, who has taken on the role originally made famous by William Shatner, guest hosted SNL yesterday. One of the segments was of a faux “lost episode” of Star Trek: The Original Series airing on TV Land. In one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen as a nerd, Pine plays the original Captain Kirk in the hilarious skit.

Introducing this “lost episode” is Neil DeGrasse Tyson (hilariously portrayed by Kenan Thompson). Tyson provides some of the back story behind the episode, playing various clips from it. In this “lost episode”, Spock brings him brother Spocko on board to help the crew on the bridge. However, the annoying Spocko doesn’t quite have the tact of his brother. He gets on everyone’s nerves and even winds up hitting on Uhura!

You can watch the entire skit in the YouTube video below.

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Not all of the impressions of other characters on the show are perfect. But Pine’s impression of William Shatner as Captain Kirk is spot on. And that’s really what makes this so very enjoyable. It’s unfortunate that it’s only a sketch, because I want to watch an entire episode of Pine as original Kirk!