# Why did the chicken cross the road? - Star Trek (or other Sci-Fi) version **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293 "2005-02-16T01:56:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/101 "2015-02-27T02:53:43Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > It didn’t. Froze in the headlights. That’s the Wisconsin version! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/102 "2015-02-27T04:00:35Z")
Doctor #11: Chickens! On a spaceship! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/103 "2015-02-27T04:01:35Z")
It was a walker ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/104 "2015-02-27T16:13:43Z")
Capt. Kirk: To get. Tooooooooooooo… theotherside. Heinlein: Why did the chicken cross the road? Because _it was there!_ As long as there is a road to cross, there will be a chicken, doing his darndest to cross it. Because that’s what chickens are like. They’re ornery, stubborn SOBs who won’t take “No” for an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/105 "2015-02-27T16:36:29Z")
To get away from [Doctor Spectra!](http://youtu.be/MbFrGjNePJo?t=8m3s) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/106 "2015-02-27T16:40:40Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > It was a walker In honor of this being a ten year old thread, you see. I wish we had a like button for some of these replies, old and new. Some are funny, some are witty, some are downright weird. Keep it up! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/107 "2015-02-27T17:32:57Z")
The road crossed first. - _Chicken Wars_ geeks To demonstrate that its species was ripe for Uplift. - Practically any character in David Brin’s _Uplift_ books. You try to cross over there a duck, and you’ll find out why a chicken. It’s a wide road, that’s why a chicken. - Groucho, _The Cocoanuts_ (Yeah, I know it’s not SF, but I wasn’t gonna let that stop me in this instance.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/108 "2015-02-27T19:30:03Z")
Firesign Theatre: The chicken didn’t cross the road. It was no fun, it fell right over. It went to meet the cock-teaser at RoosterRama ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/109 "2015-02-27T20:23:18Z")
1970s era SNL: Dead chickens! Dead chickens. Dead chickens aren’t much fun. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/110 "2015-02-27T21:36:28Z")
Is it possible that chickens have some innate sense of what lies on the other side, perhaps imparted by extraterrestrial beings, as Ancient Astronaut theorists believe? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/111 "2015-02-27T21:47:15Z")
It was [In Search Of](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074007/?ref_=fn_al_tt_5) … ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/112 "2015-02-27T22:16:27Z")
**More ST Voyager:** [ul] [li]He wanted to test his mobile emitter.[/li][li]To avoid violating the Temporal Prime Directive.[/li][li]He was afraid of being assimilated by the Borg.[/li][li]To show Starfleet he was a sentient being worthy of the same rights humans have.[/li][li]It was part of his Holodeck routine.[/li][li]To get away from My People.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/113 "2015-02-28T00:06:01Z")
\*\*A small selection from a much larger [list](http://www.nku.edu/%7Ediesmanj/xfchick.html): Fox Mulder\*\*: No government agency has jurisdiction over the chicken. The chicken is out there, Scully, and we will find it. \*\* Dana Scully\*\*: There is a logical, scientific explanation for the chicken crossing the road. We need more evidence. \*\* … CSM\*\*: \ There was no chicken. \*\* … Alex Krycek\*\*: Because he can’t decide WHAT side he’s really on. \*\* … Byers\*\*: It was trying to escape the most heinous and evil force of the twentieth century. \*\* Langly\*\*: It was on its way to the grassy knoll, dude. \*\* Frohike\*\*: \ I don’t know, but she’s hot. … \*\* Queequeg\*\*: Woof! (translation: to avoid being eaten by Big Blue.) … \*\* Clyde Bruckman\*\*: Why did the chicken cross the road? Why do any of us do anything? Why did he choose that exact moment to cross the road, thus leaving a slight indentation in the surface… that, fifty years later, causes a man driving a blue sports car to hit it, and spin off the road, spiraling to his death… … \*\* Mr. Nutt\*\*: Just because you have a chicken, you automatically assume that it will cross the road? In an attempt to continue an age-old joke that never had any humor in the first place, you’ll only managed to further trample on the subject… and draw it out in all its mediocrity. When in fact - do you really know if the chicken had better things to do than simply cross the road? That perhaps it may have gone off to study, to gain a better life? But no, you just took the simple framework of common knowledge, and _assumed_ that the chicken would cross the road, thus, increasing an already clichéd stereotype. **The Conundrum** : \ ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/114 "2015-02-28T00:24:17Z")
Like every other creature in the galaxy: To pay his respects to the Federation’s greatest Science Officer ever. [Or at least to the guy who played that role.] –G! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/115 "2015-02-28T01:12:29Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > It didn’t. Froze in the headlights. See post #9. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/116 "2015-02-28T01:15:09Z")
The chicken didn’t cross the road; the road moved underneath the chicken. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293/117 "2015-02-28T02:18:16Z")
_Discworld:_ Because it saw the High Energy Magic Building start to glow. Very sensible of it, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-star-trek-or-other-sci-fi-version/290293.md?page=5)