Mad #186

Jack Rickard's cover for this October 1976 issue of MAD delivers a delightful mashup of Star Trek and old-fashioned showbiz, depicting caricatures of Kirk and Spock in their Starfleet uniforms doing a full vaudeville soft-shoe routine — straw "Enterprise" hats aloft, canes in hand — flanking a gap-toothed Alfred E. Neuman dolled up in a red shirt reading "Keep On Trekin'." The promise of "The MAD 'Star Trek' Musical" splashed across the bottom sets the stage for Larry Siegel and Angelo Torres to boldly send up the beloved TV series in song-and-satire form. It's the kind of gleefully ridiculous premise that MAD pulled off with real wit, and this cover alone earns its fifty cents.