The Trouble With Tribbles (TOS episode)
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"The Trouble With Tribbles" is an episode of , first broadcast on December 29, 1967 and repeated June 21, 1968. It was written by David Gerrold, directed by Joseph Pevney. It is one of the most popular Star Trek episodes, and one of the most famous among non-fans, simply for the plot's bizarre and humorous nature.
Quick Overview: Cuddly, but extremely prolific, little creatures invade a starbase and the Enterprise, and foil an enemy's plans.
Plot
On stardate 4523.3, Captain James T. Kirk and his crew are called to Deep Space Station K7 by a priority-one distress call. The station is near Sherman's Planet, a world in a sector of space disputed between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The terms of the Organian Peace Treaty were that Sherman's Planet would be awarded to whichever side demonstrates that it can manage it most efficiently.
Kirk is furious when he later realizes the distress call was unwarranted, and the undersecretary in charge of agriculture in the sector, Nilz Baris, just wants someone to guard the shipments of quadrotriticale grain bound for Sherman's Planet. To annoy Baris, Kirk assigns a token two guards to the task after learning that Starfleet Command supported Baris's concerns enough to ignore his false alarm. A Klingon ship soon arrives at the space station and requests that its crew be granted shore leave. Kirk tells the Klingon leader Koloth that he can only bring members of his crew down 12 at a time, and that he will provide one security guard for each Klingon that beams down.
Meanwhile, an independent trader, Cyrano Jones, sneaks some little furry animals called Tribbles onto the station, and starting with a sale to Uhura, they quickly find their way onto the Enterprise as adorable pets. The animals purr a relaxing trill that the crew find soothing. Klingons, however, find tribbles very annoying, and the feeling is mutual - tribbles emit an ear-piercing shriek of aggression whenever they are around Klingons.
The "trouble" with the tribbles is that they reproduce far too quickly; in the words of Dr. McCoy, "they are born pregnant" and threaten to consume all the onboard supplies. The problem is aggravated when it is discovered that the creatures are physically entering essential ship systems, interfering with their functions and consuming any edible contents present. Kirk realizes that if the tribbles are getting into the Enterprise's stores, then they are a direct threat to the grain stores aboard the station. However, upon examining the holds, Kirk learns the hard way that it is already too late; the tribbles have indeed eaten the grain. It appears the mission has ended in a fiasco.
However, all the tribbles in the grain holds had died, alerting the Federation that the grain was poisoned. Furthermore, the tribbles also give away the identity of a Klingon agent who did the poisoning. The saboteur was the only humanoid the tribbles didn't like: Arne Darvin, Baris's own assistant. Upon a medical scan by Dr. McCoy, it is revealed that Darvin was indeed a Klingon in disguise. Thus the tribbles redeem themselves and enable the Federation to score a diplomatic victory against the Klingons. As for Cyrano Jones, who introduced the species to the station, he is ordered to remove the tribbles from the station (a clean-up task estimated to take 17.9 years) or be imprisoned for 20 years for transporting a dangerous lifeform off its native planet.
Just before departing, all tribbles that were on the Enterprise are beamed onto the Klingon ship by Scotty, where, in his words, they will be "no tribble at all".
Trivia
- Gerrold wrote the character of Ensign Freeman with the intention of playing the part himself[#endnote_BirthSale]. However, Gene Coon nixed the idea, saying Gerrold was too skinny. Paul Baxley, William Shatner's frequent stuntman, was cast in the role.
- James Doohan did most of his own stunts in this episode, including some of the punches in the bar fight scene. James Doohan's missing middle finger, lost as a result of a war injury, was evident in this scene, as well as when Scotty enters the Enterprise rec room with his arms full of tribbles. This was one of just two episodes of the series in which his missing finger was noticable, the other being "Catspaw".
- The episode also marks the only time that Scott and Chekov have a conversation during the original series. Mr. Sulu does not appear at all, as George Takei was away filming The Green Berets, and lines written for him were reassigned to Chekov.
- Spock's self-referential line "He simply could not believe his ears" was taken directly from MAD magazine's parody of the series, which had run a few months before.
- Desilu's research department found similarities between this episode and the Martian flatcat chapter in Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Rolling Stones. Heinlein declined to take any legal action to stop the show or get credit, citing that the idea was not original even to him.
- A sequel episode appeared in under the Title of "More Tribbles, More Troubles" to which Gerrold also wrote the script.
- This episode was later edited and spliced into the episode "Trials and Tribble-ations", in which it was revealed that the crew of Deep Space Nine were present to witness the events of this episode, via time travel. Gerrold was able to get his cameo appearance at last, this time as a gray-haired redshirt ensign in a corridor of the Enterprise.
- Tribbles also appear being handled by Starfleet personnel in the bar scene in while Dr. McCoy seeks illegal passage to the Genesis Planet. This has led to speculation among fans that the popularity of Tribbles has led to the breeding of a "sterile" batch that don't reproduce out of control, and are sold as pets.
- "Sherman's Planet" was named after Holly Sherman, who was David Gerrold's girlfriend at the time. (This is noted in Gerrold's book about the episode[#endnote_BirthSale])
- Gerrold is currently writing another sequel to this episode for the fan film series.
- Shatner was being purposefully hit on the head by the prop man - and/or Ben Sisko and Jadzia Dax - with tribbles during production of the "buried in tribbles" scene. It took an incredible number of takes to get the avalanche of tribbles to fall just right.
- The fansub group Dattebayo included a small humorous subititle of the 185th episode of the Naruto anime series. After the opening intro, The Trouble With Tribbles is seen in parenthesis under the episode title. This is a reference to the Onbu and Onbaa creatures in the episode who bear similarities to the Tribbles of Star Trek.
- This episode's title has become the most spoofed episode title in television history.
- In the Animaniacs episode "Star Truck", which featured Yakko, Wakko, and Dot meeting a parody of the Star Trek crew, Yakko sits down in the captain's chair and pulls out a Tribble.
- This episode will be featured on the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Klingon DVD set. It will be the fourth of 13 episodes featured on the four-disc set. The set will be released on August 1, 2006 in the United States and Canada.
Notes
- ↑
External links
- [The Trouble With Tribbles] at StarTrek.com
- #redirect
- [Five-Minute The Trouble With Tribbles] — Parody version
| Last produced: "I, Mudd" | | Next produced: "Bread and Circuses" |
| Last transmitted: "Wolf in the Fold" | Next transmitted: "The Gamesters of Triskelion" |
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