The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise  "The Last Voyage of the Starship "Enterprise"" is a comedy sketch that first aired on May 29, 1976, during episode 22 of the first season of the NBC variety show, "Saturday Night Live". The twelve-minute sketch was written by Michael O'Donoghue during a month-long process consulting with actor John Belushi. The sketch is a satire of the 1969 cancellation of "". The set design featured an effective replica of the bridge of the USS "Enterprise". Dress rehearsal was difficult, with the writer doubting whether Belushi was able to pull off an effective parody of William Shatner's performance as Captain James Kirk. However, the result was a success, and O'Donoghue immediately congratulated Belushi after his performance and reflected that he had perfectly parodied Shatner as Kirk. The sketch became a cult classic hit among "Star Trek" and science fiction fans. The 1977 book "Saturday Night Live" edited by Anne Beatts and John Head included a copy of a note from "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry praising the comedic bit. The sketch was released on a 1985 "Saturday Night Live" compilation VHS that featured "The Best of John Belushi", and re-released with the same title in DVD format in 2011. In his book "Metapop" author Michael Dunne called the comedic bit among the most well-known of all "Saturday Night Live" routines. The "Chicago Sun-Times" referred to it as an intelligent satire of "Star Trek". The "Los Angeles Times" placed the parody among the program's top ten sketches of all-time. On the series' 40th anniversary, "Tulsa World" listed the sketch as one of the television show's most iconic. "The New Yorker" film critic Anthony Lane wrote that Belushi was flawless and captured Shatner's essence while adding simultaneously his own layer of weariness to the character. "The Hollywood Reporter" interviewed Tom Hanks and Elliott Gould in 2015; Gould called the sketch a favorite, while Hanks placed it among the best five of all time. In ranking every single "Saturday Night Live" cast member by talent in 2015, "Rolling Stone" called the Captain Kirk parody one of Belushi's most memorable and wrote that it was evidence of the actor's youthful innocence. The sensors of the starship USS "Enterprise" pick up a strange alien spacecraft following it in hot pursuit. Spock, played by Chevy Chase, identifies it as a 1968 Chrysler Imperial with a tinted windshield and retractable headlights.