Celebrate Tax Day With Hilarious IRS Star Trek Film

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For those who may live elsewhere (or need a last-minute reminder) April 15 is Tax Day in the United States. HBO comedy host John Oliver recently reminded everyone on his program of this with an extended segment about the IRS, one which featured an in-house produced Star Trek instructional/parody film.

Trek Movie posted the five-minute film two years ago on its YouTube channel, and it is definitely worth a watch (or rewatch).

There are many, many bizarre things about this whole video, but the indicator of your Star Trek fandom is how quickly you say, “Wait – they’re wearing TNG uniforms on the bridge of the NCC-1701.”

Enjoy! And pay your taxes. If you don’t, you’ll end up exiled like poor Garak.

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That skit was as “hilarious” as Taxes and Cancer

**sigh** (not even hoping things will get better)

We have this “gem” and yet no article on this site regarding New Voyage’s “Mind Sifter.”

Isn’t this the video that got them in trouble a few years ago?

GET YOUR BILLIONS BACK AMERICA!!!

@IDIC Lives, I agree. seems like other trek news sites have been outpacing trekmovie for some time now.

The really scary thing is that tax payers paid for this abomination.

That was godawful.

I liked it. Which one was Captain Pike?

Isn’t it time for a new poll for this page? What do you want more of… has been there for quite some time now?

The people responsible for the video were fired.

Not sure why this is posted….it was created with taxpayers’ money. Illegally, I might add.

Must be a slow news day indeed.

I loved it. By the way, the Department of Homeland Security has tracked down everyone who slammed or disapproves of the above video. You shall soon be audited and expect a visit to your local IRS office.

#3 and #6:

STNV’s “Mind-Sifter” is the best ST fan-film to date, IMHO.

Since when has Uhura been depicted as “white”?

@Snugglepuff and @IDIC lives

I totally agree….

This video is “funny” but old. Way old! The actually “news” are being overlooked or replaced by that other stuff (`nuff said!)
Certain other fanfilms are reported more, just because they reached a goal int a Kickstarter or something…

Episode releases of various shows are not being reported, although many fans would be interested in them :-)

“TREKMovie” it was… years ago…

Watch the John Oliver bit in it’s entirety….the guy does make some legitimate points.

Ahhh, yes, well the $3,100 of tax payers money that went to the Star Trek spoof was a bargain when you consider the fact that the IRS conference this was shown at had a price tag of $4.1 million which was footed by the taxpayers.

This includes the $135,000 they spent on speakers at the confernence, and the $50,000 the IRS spent on making multiple videos of this nature (including one featuring 15 executives and managers dancing and singing). I like the fact that they paid one of the speakers $17,000 to paint on stage to illustrate “his message of unlearning the rules, breaking the boundaries, and freeing the thought process to find creative solutions to challenges”.

Meanwhile, the IRS is collecting more money than ever, and – for some inexplicable reason – the country always run a deficit and yet more money is needed to fund this stuff and run the country.

How many times in the past several years have we heard “Congress needs to raise the debt ceiling so we can borrow more money to keep the government from shutting down”?

It’s interesting how the government never prioritizes spending like rational adults (and cut out needless spending like $4.1 million on a useless conference at a luxory hotel); instead they just demand that we raise the debt ceiling and borrow more money because we’re in a crisis and the ONLY option is to cut funding to something actually useful…like air traffic control, retaining their e-mails or responding to phone calls from tax payers!

We do live in interesting times but, when you’re in a hole, quit digging!

I think it’s funny. It’s nothing gut-busting, but it has its charm. To be honest, this is probably one of the better things that taxpayer dollars paid for. Digressing, I noticed that besides TNG uniforms on a TOS bridge (except for “Uhura,” who actually wears a TOS uniform), the helm/navigation console is backwards. The concave end should be toward the captain and the convex end toward the viewscreen. Furthermore, my favorite line is, “It’s better than McDonald’s and only twice the price.”

I didn’t actually enjoy the video, but I did love what a marker it is of how thoroughly Star Trek has permeated the culture. :-)

And I’m glad “Rand” apologized for the uniforms.

I see worldwide tweeting about the excitement over the new Star Wars trailer. Compelling. Exciting. Nostalgic.

Trek’s 50th is nearly upon us, and what do we have? A throwback reference to a crappy gag production, fleeting references to a movie that doesn’t even have a script yet, and arguments that tge franchise needs to be more like some *other* franchise.

Good.
Grief.

Paramount’s mishandling of Trek as a franchise borders on the criminal. What a pathetic joke.

Frustrated? Yeah, just a little. Just a little.

#20: Criminal? It’s a freakin’ movie and TV series.

Gheez Louise. Sine people here have no sense of perspective whatsoever.

@20 Just remember, we can’t pile on Paramount. CBS put its foot down and that causes a heck of a lot of problems for Trek. Star Wars doesn’t have to deal with being split between two parents. I am frustrated though. I supported Trek 2009 (even now I still LOVE that movie) but it would be nice if the big wigs at Paramount would’ve fought to get a worthy director onboard for this. It’s feeling like it’s being thrown together instead of given the special treatment it deserves. Meanwhile you see the fanfair (as you did throughout the entire production process) for the other big franchise and it really is frustrating. I’m a HUGE Star Wars fan but the conflict in me is real right now because I want my Trek handled with care. That doesn’t mean it needs to be and look more like TOS or that it needs to feel like Guardians either. It just needs to be compelling, exciting, and wondrous. That’s the biggest thing Trek always had going for it, it was wondrous. I understand the frustration buddy. I do.

@21

“Criminall?” It’s called a “figure of speech.”

Geeze lousie, some people have no sense of English figuratives.

The point was to illustrate the relative lack of competence shown by Paramount /Viacom over the 50 years of Trek compared to the current promotion ongoing by Disney in preparation for their kickoff of the SW franchise.

I fully realize it’s just a TV show. Do *you* not get the notion of comparisons and contrasts?

Justin Lin is a worthy director.

And Trek’s 50th is 17 months away. Can we please dial down the pessimism just because there’s not a news story about the movie here every week?

What kind of fans relish the demise of the franchise they purportedly love? This naysaying happens before every Trek movie and every major Trek anniversary.

They got a decent movie done in a few months for the 25th anniversary, an anniversary which was handled pretty bloody well.

A 3-season 60s TV show has spawned 25 additional seasons of television, a series of films that has made over a $2.2 billion domestically (adjusted) — and they’ve signed a well-respected hit director (Lin’s films have made $2 billion) and a hit, genre-savvy writer for the next film, set to premiere in the anniversary year. I’d hardly call that incompetent.

Yep, it ain’t Star Wars.

Star Trek and Star Wars aren’t comparable — and they never have been.

Star Trek is no Star Wars. When Star Wars content is released on digital and blu-ray, people actually buy it.

@ Jack.
I bet you’re glad that Sony don’t make Star Trek.

It would make your job a lot harder to smooth over the Star Trek 50th anniversary….car-crash that hasn’t even started shooting yet.

27

Only the old universe does not sell. Why is it so hard to admit the new universe is doing fine?

@27. Leon, 29. NuFan,

Yeah, I guess you guys heard from the same source that told me NuTrek alone has generated over $15 billion in revenue for Paramount & CBS! /S

#30. Ahmed – April 20, 2015

With nuTrek generating $2.5 billion per year since its release, why would that silly rabbit, Abrams, ever believe that Shat/Kirk dolls were dipping into his Pine/Kirk doll bottom line?

@31. Disinvited,

Rule of Acquisition #6: Never allow family to stand in the way of profit :)

There is nothing funny about the IRS. They wasted a lot of money on that stupidity.

“We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.” – Leona Helmsley.

Why does this headline call the video “hilarious?” It’s not even slightly funny.

Funny!