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Crossover-Enthusiast
(Lucky 7)
MTA-P
Since: Aug, 2023

I noticed this maybe trope. The thing is, I can only think of the one example. I know there are others, but I am wracking my brain, and I just can't think of any others.
So, in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country, Captain Kirk and Dr. Mc Coy are imprisoned at a Klingon penal colony. The Enterprise crew are attempting to sneak into Klingon space to rescue them when they're confronted by a Klingon scout ship. We then see the crew flicking frantically through Klingon phrasebooks, before Uhura tries to bluff past them with a mixture of archaic and grammatically broken Klingonese.
The Klingons laugh, and she laughs back awkwardly, pretending to be in on whatever they're laughing about.
Originally the script had Uhura successfully bluffing past them by speaking Klingonese, but the director felt the film needed more comedy, so the whole scene is a joke.
It's funny, but it doesn't make any sense. Surely the Klingons would've guessed that something was up. But if they'd been captured, then the scene wouldn't have been so funny. We'd also have had to question Uhura's competence. Even though her language was bad enough to make the Klingons laugh, they let them pass, everyone just moves on.
So the trope is that if a scene is played for laughs, then there are no consequences. Comedies are practically made from this trope from beginning to end. So I can think of plenty of examples from comedies. But it really stands out in a movie like Star Trek VI, where serious scenes naturally have consequences, but the funny one doesn't.
Edit: I did post this to Trope Finder (thank you), and someone quickly pointed out that it's the Rule of Funny. I shoulda got that, but I missed the connection, because I'm focussed on non-comedies.
So here's a question for the Tropers... Can you think of any other examples, like Star Trek VI, where the Rule of Funny applies briefly for a comedic moment in a non-comedy, but where normal logical rules apply everywhere else?
Edited by MTA-P