The transporter brought in Cap’n Crunch instead of Captain Kirk, by accident. That’s all there is to this.
Spock was carrying a bowl of cereal during transport, and it glitched into Kirk.
To bowl-dly go…
I’m mostly bothered by the fact that Spock is wearing gold instead of blue. It jars me so much every time that I can’t really contemplate the comic and its very awkward wording.
The joke is that Spock uses logic, and this comic doesn’t.
“I’m mostly bothered by the fact that Spock is wearing gold instead of blue. It jars me so much every time”
Remember the “Mirror, mirror” universe, where Spock had a weird little beard? This is ANOTHER universe, and in this one, Spock wears gold.
And, like that one time a transporter split Kirk into good Kirk and bad Kirk, this time a transporter has split Capn’n Crunch into live Cap’n Crunch and cereal Cap’n Crunch.
Finally, the joke’s on Spock. That cereal is full of dietary fiber, and there are no bathrooms on the Enterprise…
I blame Gary Larson. He was great, but some cartoonists who have followed him think it’s enough to just make no sense. They forget that there has to be a joke there somewhere, too.
@ DemetriosX – Presumably the artist (or the syndicate’s colorist) did not want to use the same color uniform on both characters. The difference between them is that with the ears and the hair, Spock remains recognizable even when dressed in the wrong color shirt, whereas Captain Crunch would have looked completely wrong in any other color that blue.
Perhaps the syndicate’s colorist recalled that, as of Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan, Spock was promoted to captain, and thus could have worn gold had he wanted to.
Gotta note: “occured”? Cartoonist must be a programmer. I’ve noted for 30 years that it’s spelled that way in computing for no discernible reason.
Phil Smith III, I submit the reason is discernible: spelling and grammar have not been taught properly since the days of Phil Smith I.
Here’s Kevin’s link (edited to avoid the redirection warning). Both the collars and Spock’s eyebrows indicate that this is a very old episode, and the title confirms that it was the second pilot (“Where No Man Has Gone Before”).
P.S. @ Chak – That would be “To bowlerly go…”
Oh, I didn’t notice the cereal bowl at first. Of course. It’s like when the fly got into Jeff Goldblum’s transporter.
“You see.. I think about weird things… like… what if E.T. and Mr. T had a child?… I think it’d go something like this…’I pity da Fool… who doesn’t phonnnnne hommmmme’!”
“Hey, me too! I think about weird things too! … like what if Captain Kirk and Captain Crunch got caught in a transporter accident!”
….
“Well..?”
“Well what?”
“What *if* Captain Kirk and Captain Crunch got caught in a transporter accident?”
“What? I have to come up with a punchline? It’s not enough to just do a setup?”
that first one doesn’t have a punchline, either.
I suggest you watch the episode of Futurama titled “T. The Terrestrial”. not because its actually relevant, or anything. I just think people should watch Futurama. It was a great show.
The punchline of the first is that the Mr T./E.T hybrid says “I pity da fool who doesn’t phone home”.
A Futurama fan ought to have gotten the Simpson’s reference.
That’s still not a punchline.
It’s a punchline. Just not a funny one or one that makes any sense. And one that ends a comedic bit that was pointless had no business existing in the first place. This Captain Kirk/Captain Crunch mix up is similar to the Mr. T/E.T. mix up in that in the are in their entirety, two concept that share one phoneme, in this case the word Captain or the letter T… and that’s it, there is nothing more.
“Gotta note: “occured”? Cartoonist must be a programmer. I’ve noted for 30 years that it’s spelled that way in computing for no discernible reason.”
Is it really? Perhaps it springs from the days of punch cards when a programming line contained no more than 80 characters? Just a guess.
By the way, in attempting to research this curious phenomenon, I came across an old article in PC Mag, a review of a spelling tutorial called “Spell,” which read: “Spell shows you the spelling as it occured in your document.”
It’s em-bare-assing to not be able to remember some of those double-letter words.
I’m just confused as to why the Science Officer isn’t wearing pants…
“I’m just confused as to why the Science Officer isn’t wearing pants…”
Comics I Don't Understand 
The transporter brought in Cap’n Crunch instead of Captain Kirk, by accident. That’s all there is to this.
Spock was carrying a bowl of cereal during transport, and it glitched into Kirk.
To bowl-dly go…
I’m mostly bothered by the fact that Spock is wearing gold instead of blue. It jars me so much every time that I can’t really contemplate the comic and its very awkward wording.
The joke is that Spock uses logic, and this comic doesn’t.
“I’m mostly bothered by the fact that Spock is wearing gold instead of blue. It jars me so much every time”
Remember the “Mirror, mirror” universe, where Spock had a weird little beard? This is ANOTHER universe, and in this one, Spock wears gold.
And, like that one time a transporter split Kirk into good Kirk and bad Kirk, this time a transporter has split Capn’n Crunch into live Cap’n Crunch and cereal Cap’n Crunch.
Finally, the joke’s on Spock. That cereal is full of dietary fiber, and there are no bathrooms on the Enterprise…
I blame Gary Larson. He was great, but some cartoonists who have followed him think it’s enough to just make no sense. They forget that there has to be a joke there somewhere, too.
@ DemetriosX – Presumably the artist (or the syndicate’s colorist) did not want to use the same color uniform on both characters. The difference between them is that with the ears and the hair, Spock remains recognizable even when dressed in the wrong color shirt, whereas Captain Crunch would have looked completely wrong in any other color that blue.
Perhaps the syndicate’s colorist recalled that, as of Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan, Spock was promoted to captain, and thus could have worn gold had he wanted to.
Gotta note: “occured”? Cartoonist must be a programmer. I’ve noted for 30 years that it’s spelled that way in computing for no discernible reason.
Phil Smith III, I submit the reason is discernible: spelling and grammar have not been taught properly since the days of Phil Smith I.
Spock has worn gold in at least one episode
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj4lo-umuzaAhUnmeAKHbtyC9wQjhx6BAgBEAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmemory-alpha.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FFile%3ASpock_and_Kirk_(2265).jpg&psig=AOvVaw3SpwXm6W8-nYPbulZSjZNK&ust=1525527607370314
Hat tip to Stan.
Here’s Kevin’s link (edited to avoid the redirection warning). Both the collars and Spock’s eyebrows indicate that this is a very old episode, and the title confirms that it was the second pilot (“Where No Man Has Gone Before”).
P.S. @ Chak – That would be “To bowlerly go…”
Oh, I didn’t notice the cereal bowl at first. Of course. It’s like when the fly got into Jeff Goldblum’s transporter.
“You see.. I think about weird things… like… what if E.T. and Mr. T had a child?… I think it’d go something like this…’I pity da Fool… who doesn’t phonnnnne hommmmme’!”
“Hey, me too! I think about weird things too! … like what if Captain Kirk and Captain Crunch got caught in a transporter accident!”
….
“Well..?”
“Well what?”
“What *if* Captain Kirk and Captain Crunch got caught in a transporter accident?”
“What? I have to come up with a punchline? It’s not enough to just do a setup?”
that first one doesn’t have a punchline, either.
I suggest you watch the episode of Futurama titled “T. The Terrestrial”. not because its actually relevant, or anything. I just think people should watch Futurama. It was a great show.
The punchline of the first is that the Mr T./E.T hybrid says “I pity da fool who doesn’t phone home”.
A Futurama fan ought to have gotten the Simpson’s reference.
That’s still not a punchline.
It’s a punchline. Just not a funny one or one that makes any sense. And one that ends a comedic bit that was pointless had no business existing in the first place. This Captain Kirk/Captain Crunch mix up is similar to the Mr. T/E.T. mix up in that in the are in their entirety, two concept that share one phoneme, in this case the word Captain or the letter T… and that’s it, there is nothing more.
“Gotta note: “occured”? Cartoonist must be a programmer. I’ve noted for 30 years that it’s spelled that way in computing for no discernible reason.”
Is it really? Perhaps it springs from the days of punch cards when a programming line contained no more than 80 characters? Just a guess.
By the way, in attempting to research this curious phenomenon, I came across an old article in PC Mag, a review of a spelling tutorial called “Spell,” which read: “Spell shows you the spelling as it occured in your document.”
It’s em-bare-assing to not be able to remember some of those double-letter words.
I’m just confused as to why the Science Officer isn’t wearing pants…
“I’m just confused as to why the Science Officer isn’t wearing pants…”
Because, present, he hasn’t any legs?