Prior to this rewatch, I did rewatches of the first two TV spinoffs of The Original Series: both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. When the latter show reached its fifth season, which was also the 30th anniversary of Star Trek, I reviewed, not only DS9‘s anniversary episode “Trials and Tribble-ations,” but also “The Trouble with Tribbles” and DS9‘s sister show Voyager‘s 30th anniversary episode, “Flashback.” I stand by the review of “The Trouble with Tribbles” that I wrote in 2014, so rather than repeat myself, we’re just gonna rerun that rewatch entry. I promise new material next week with “Bread and Circuses”…
“The Trouble with Tribbles”
Written by David Gerrold
Directed by Joseph Pevney
Season 2, Episode 13
Production episode 60342
Original air date: December 29, 1967
Stardate: 4523.3
Captain’s log: Kirk holds a briefing with Spock and Chekov. Since Chekov is all young and ensign-y, Kirk quizzes him on Deep Space Station K-7, to which they’re en route, and Sherman’s Planet, the closest Class-M world to the station. The planet is claimed by both the Klingon Empire and the Federation. Under the terms of the Organian Peace Treaty, whichever side can develop the planet most efficiently will be awarded the planet.
Uhura interrupts Chekov waxing rhapsodic about Russian history with a Code One Emergency—a disaster call—from K-7. However, they arrive at K-7 to find no Klingon ships, no evidence of a disaster. Kirk breaks radio silence to talk to Mr. Lurry, the manager of the station, who thumphers and says that maybe he should beam over. Kirk, livid, beams down with Spock. (Since neither Sulu nor Scotty are on the bridge, Kirk leaves no one in command in his and Spock’s absence, since we can’t have an ensign or a black woman in charge of a starship…)
Kirk points out to Lurry upon beaming over that misuse of the Code One Emergency frequency is a Federation offense, but it was actually Nilz Baris—the Federation Undersecretary for Agricultural Affairs—who issued the distress call. He needs Enterprise security to guard the tons of quadrotriticale they have on the station that is bound for Sherman’s Planet. It’s the only Earth grain that will grow on that world, so it’s key to the Federation winning the claim to it. Kirk therefore, very very very reluctantly, orders two security guards to report to Lurry, and also authorizes shore leave.
Uhura and Chekov go to the station bar, where a prospector named Cyrano Jones is trying to sell stuff to the bartender. While the latter is not at all interested in Spican flame gems or Antarean glow water, he is interested in tribbles. A small fuzzy creature that trills and purrs (and also eats the quadrotriticale that Kirk gave to Chekov), Uhura thinks it’s adorable, which is enough to convince the bartender to take them at six credits apiece (after considerable haggling). In gratitude, Jones lets Uhura have the sample tribble, which Jones insists will lead to tons of sales.
Back on the Enterprise, Admiral Fitzpatrick informs Kirk that the quadrotriticale is very important and he will render all aid necessary to Baris. Kirk isn’t exactly thrilled about that, and he’s even less thrilled when Uhura informs him that a Klingon ship has shown up. However, the ship’s captain and first officer, Koloth and Korax, are already in Lurry’s office, and it turns out that they just want shore leave also, which they’re entitled to by the treaty. Kirk agrees to allow Koloth to beam over only twelve of his people at a time, and he’ll assign one security guard for each Klingon.
Kirk and Spock hit the mess hall to find Uhura surrounded by people and tribbles. The one she got from Jones was apparently pregnant, as she now has a whole tableful of tribbles. McCoy takes one to check out and see what makes it tick, and various crew members take the others as well.
Baris then contacts Kirk, livid at all the Klingons. Talking to Baris gives Kirk a headache so he goes to sickbay, where McCoy’s single tribble has become eleven tribbles. Apparently 50% of their metabolism is given to reproduction. You feed a tribble, you get, not a fat tribble, as Kirk guesses, but a whole buncha hungry little tribbles.
Kirk sends Scotty, Chekov, Freeman, and some others to K-7—Scotty doesn’t particularly want to go, but Kirk insists—and they head to the bar. Korax and a couple of other Klingons are sitting nearby. Jones comes in and tries to see if Scotty, Chekov, or Freeman wants a tribble—they really really don’t—and when he tries to hit up the Klingons, the tribble reacts violently. Jones has never seen them act like that before.
He goes to the bartender, who, it turns out, is awash in tribbles. However, Korax decides to take pity on Jones and give him part of his own drink. Korax then interrupts Scotty and Chekov’s discussion of whose drink is more manly, the former’s Scotch or the latter’s vodka, to talk trash about the Federation in general and Kirk and the Enterprise in particular. Scotty is able to follow Kirk’s instructions regarding not causing trouble, right up to the part where Korax insults the Enterprise herself, at which point he starts a big-ass bar fight. The bartender runs to fetch security and Jones takes advantage of his absence to grab himself a few free drinks.
A half-dozen redshirts come in and break it up, leading to Kirk cancelling shore leave for both crews. He then lines up Scotty, Chekov, Freeman, and the rest to find out who threw the first punch. Nobody admits to it, but nobody admits who threw the first punch, showing very noble loyalty to Scotty. Kirk dismisses everyone except Scotty, who finally admits that he started the fight—but not after Kirk was insulted, but rather after the ship was insulted. Kirk is a little put out, but lets it go, confining Scotty to quarters—which makes him happy, as he can catch up on his technical journals.
The tribbles are overrunning the Enterprise. Sickbay is filled with them—prompting Spock to complain about how they serve no purpose—as is the bridge. Kirk actually sits on one. According to McCoy, they seem to be born pregnant, and they’ll be hip-deep in them soon. Kirk orders Uhura to have Lurry take Jones into custody, and also to clear the bridge of all the tribbles.
Jones, however, has done nothing wrong, and Kirk is forced to release him. Jones hands him a tribble on the way out. Baris then enters and complains that Kirk is taking this project lightly. Kirk insists that he takes the project very seriously—it’s Baris that he takes lightly. Baris also accuses Jones of being a Klingon spy, based in part on evidence compiled by his assistant, Arne Darvin. However, Spock has already checked into Jones, and there’s no proof that he’s a Klingon agent. Baris points out that he’s disrupted the station, and Kirk says you don’t need to be a Klingon agent in order to disrupt a station—all you need is a title.
Kirk and Spock head to the mess hall, which is now totally overrun by tribbles. Even the chicken sandwich and coffee he orders is all tribbles. Scotty confirms that they’ve gotten into the machinery, and Spock and Kirk realize that they may also get into the station’s machinery. They beam over and head to the storage compartments. Kirk orders the guard to open the compartment door, but it’s stuck. Eventually Kirk gets it open—
—and hundreds of tribbles cascade down upon him until he is shoulders-deep in gorged tribbles. They’ve eaten all the grain—and some of them are dead. McCoy confirms that, right after he announces that he’s figured out how to keep them from breeding: don’t feed them. McCoy takes a dead tribble for autopsy, while Kirk has Jones brought to Lurry’s office. Koloth and Korax are there also, insisting on an apology from Kirk to the Klingon High Command for the persecution of Klingon nationals. He also asks that the tribbles Jones is carrying be removed. The security guards do so, but as they pass Darvin, the tribbles go nuts in the same way they did around Korax in the bar.
Kirk takes two tribbles. He holds them in front of Koloth and Korax, and they spit and wail. They’re fine in front of Spock and Baris—but they also squeal in front of Darvin. McCoy, who entered in the midst of this, performs a medical exam that reveals that Darvin is a Klingon. McCoy also reports that the quadrotriticale was poisoned, which Darvin admits to rather than be subjected to the tribbles.
Kirk and Spock get Jones to agree to remove all the tribbles from K-7—starting with the ones in the bar that has buried the poor bartender, complete with one on his head—and then depart. Kirk is pleased to see that there are no tribbles on the bridge, either, and Scott explains that he beamed them to Koloth’s ship. “Where they’ll be no tribble at all.”
Fascinating: Spock claims to be immune to the trilling effects of the tribble, even as his speech slows down and he rhythmically pets the tribble. He also does his usual showing off, telling Baris that yeah, he does too know what quadrotriticale is, guessing the exact number of tribbles on the station (1,771,561), doing a full background check on Jones, and quoting the Bible at McCoy (“they toil not, neither do they spin”).
I’m a doctor, not an escalator: McCoy takes a potshot at Spock, telling him that he likes the tribbles more than him. Spock returns the favor by saying that the great thing about tribbles is that they don’t talk. Also McCoy pretty much saves the day by discovering that the quadrotriticale is poisoned and confirming Darvin’s Klingonicity.
It’s a Russian invention: Chekov insists that the region they’re in was charted by a Russian astronomer named Ivan Burkhoff. Kirk and Spock correct him in that it was John Burke (the English form of Ivan Burkhoff) of the Royal Academy. The ensign also credits Scotch and quadrotriticale to the Russians.
Hailing frequencies open: The entire episode is basically Uhura’s fault, since her finding the tribble to be cute is what leads to them proliferating.
I cannot change the laws of physics! Scotty has to be put into a headlock to go on shore leave, as he’d much rather stay on the ship and read technical journals to relax. He then goes and starts a bar fight, which will probably keep Kirk from ever suggesting he go on shore leave ever again. (Given what happened in “Wolf in the Fold,” it’s probably generally for the best that Scotty never ever, under any circumstance, leave the ship.)
Channel open: “I was making a little joke, sir.”
“Extremely little, Ensign.”
Chekov trying to show that he has a sense of humor, and Spock reminding him that he has none.
Welcome aboard: William Schallert plays Baris; he’ll be seen again in DS9’s “Sanctuary” as a Bajoran musician. Charlie Brill makes the first of two appearances as Darvin; he’ll reprise the role in “Trials and Tribble-ations.” William Campbell returns as Koloth, having played Trelane in “The Squire of Gothos”; he’ll reprise the role of Koloth in DS9’s “Blood Oath.” Ed Reimers, best known as a pitchman for Allstate Insurance, plays Fitzpatrick. Stanley Adams makes the first of two appearances as Jones; he’ll reprise the role in voice form in “More Tribbles, More Troubles.” Michael Pataki plays Korax; he’ll return in TNG’s “Too Short a Season” as Karnas. Whit Bissell plays Lurry and Guy Raymond plays the bartender, while David L. Ross and Paul Baxley appeared in the background in their usual roles as Galloway and Freeman (the latter actually named in the lineup interrogation scene in the briefing room).
Trivial matters: The behind the scenes of this episode was provided by scripter David Gerrold in his two 1973 reference books The Trouble with Tribbles: The Birth, Sale, and Final Production of One Episode and The World of Star Trek. (The latter volume was revised and reprinted in 1984.) Gerrold co-wrote two more episodes of the original series (cowriting the story for “The Cloud Minders” and doing an uncredited rewrite of the script for “I, Mudd”), and wrote two episodes of the animated (“More Tribbles, More Troubles” and “BEM”). He was also heavily involved in the development of The Next Generation (and novelized the pilot episode “Encounter at Farpoint”), though he, along with several of his cohorts left the show due to disagreements with Gene Roddenberry in the first season.
This episode has the first reference to the Organian Peace Treaty, which was obviously signed after the Organians forced the Federation and the Klingons to end their nascent war in “Errand of Mercy.”
The Battle of Donatu V that Spock references as an early conflict between the Federation and the Klingons was fought 23 years earlier. It’s dramatized in the novel The Killing Blow by Kevin Ryan, part of the Errand of Vengeance trilogy.
The tribbles will return in “More Tribbles, More Troubles” and “Trials and Tribble-ations.” The animated episode brings back the characters of Jones, Koloth, and Korax, though only Stanley Adams comes back to voice his character of Jones; Koloth and Korax were both voiced by James Doohan.
Adams would go on to co-write “The Mark of Gideon.”
Quadrotriticale is based on triticale, an actual hybrid grain. Quadrotriticale will be mentioned again in DS9’s “Business as Usual.”
Sherman’s Planet will be seen again—as a Federation planet—in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers eBook Oaths by Glenn Hauman, where they will suffer a horrible plague.
The infestation of tribbles in Koloth’s ship will lead to tribbles being declared an ecological menace in the Klingon Empire, as revealed by Worf to Odo in “Trials and Tribble-ations.” That episode also names Koloth’s ship as the I.K.S. Gr’oth. Koloth’s removal of the tribbles was shown in the short story “A Bad Day for Koloth” by David DeLee in Strange New Worlds 9, and he’ll look for vengeance on Jones in “More Tribbles, More Troubles.” Federation: The First 150 Years by David A. Goodman establishes that Koloth lead the armada that wiped the tribbles out.
Koloth and Kirk have obviously encountered each other before—one of those meetings was chronicled in the aforementioned Errand of Vengeance trilogy, and James Blish’s Spock Must Die! made reference to another conflict the pair had.
Koloth and Korax will go on to appear in a great deal of tie-in fiction, too numerous to list here, but a few of note besides those already listed include Dayton Ward’s In the Name of Honor; the backup story in DC’s Star Trek: The Next Generation Special #3, “Old Debts” by Kevin Ryan, Ken Save, & Shephard Hendrix (in which Koloth tries to get revenge against Scotty for beaming tribbles into his engine room); your humble rewatcher’s “The Unhappy Ones” in Seven Deadly Sins; and Margaret Wander Bonanno’s Dwellers in the Crucible.
Darvin’s backstory as to how he came to infiltrate the Federation government was chronicled in the second issue of the Blood Will Tell comic book miniseries written by Scott & David Tipton. That comic established that his real name was Gralmek.
Nilz Baris is the subject of a Citizen Kane-like story in the short novel Honor in the Night by Scott Pearson in the collection Myriad Universes: Shattered Light, which takes place in an alternate timeline where Darvin’s sabotage was never discovered, and the poisoned grain nearly killed everyone on Sherman’s Planet. Baris parlayed that defeat into an impressive career that included the Federation presidency.
Tribbles also show up again in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the Enterprise episode “The Breach,” the 2009 Star Trek, and Star Trek Into Darkness.
George Takei did not appear in this or several other second-season episodes due to his filming schedule for The Green Berets, in which he played Captain Nim opposite John Wayne.
To boldly go: “First, find Cyrano Jones, and second—close that door!” There’s almost no point in reviewing this episode, because it’s arguably Star Trek’s most popular hour, has many of its most quotable lines, has one of the franchise’s best visuals (Kirk being drowned in tribbles), and has never failed to be near the top of any best of Trek list.
But I do want to single out a couple of bits in this episode that get lost in the shuffle. For starters, while it’s generally considered a funny episode for the tribbles falling on Kirk and Kirk’s abuse of Baris (which really is a delight) and the tribbles being just bloody everywhere, there’s a lot of more subtle and brilliant comedy work here. The scenes between Stanley Adams and Guy Raymond are vaudeville gold. The business between Scotty and Chekov when the former hands the latter a Scotch without him realizing it, and Chekov gulps it before staring incredulously at the glass. Korax imitating Scotty’s drawl (“Yer right, I should”).
But perhaps the best performance here is William Shatner. We’re all aware of how good Shatner is at broad comedy, from his performances in “A Piece of the Action” and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, not to mention in places like Third Rock from the Sun, Free Enterprise, and his historic role as Denny Crane in The Practice and Boston Legal. This episode, however, reminds us of his incredible skill as a straight man. His exasperation, his deadpan, his reacting to Spock, to Jones, to Baris, to Scotty—it’s a masterpiece of comic timing, and he’s never once over the top.
Everything came together perfectly in this episode: the writing, the directing, the acting. It seems almost churlish to point out the flaws, but I must mention two issues. One is that William Campbell is the most un-Klingon-like Klingon ever. It’s not surprising that when he reprised the role in “Blood Oath,” he pretty much had an entire personality makeover.
Also the scene between McCoy and Spock in sickbay—which was written by Gene L. Coon to add running time to the episode—is just pointless. It’s got too much of the mean-spirited part of their relationship without any of the affection.
But these are minor complaints—like getting the best steak ever and bitching because the parsley is slightly wilted. This is Star Trek at its finest.
Warp factor rating: 10
Next week: “Bread and Circuses”
Keith R.A. DeCandido is the author of, among many other things, the Marvel’s Tales of Asgard trilogy, including Thor: Dueling with Giants (available as an eBook, with the print book coming in March), Sif: Even Dragons Have Their Endings (coming this spring), and The Warriors Three: Godhood’s End (coming this summer).
Then I might as well repost my comments from that earlier review…
Oh, I’d say Darvin is an even un-Klingonier Klingon than Koloth. (Yes, I said “un-Klingonier.” Deal with it.) Look at how easily he caves and confesses the minute Kirk shoves a tribble at him.
Actually I think this episode is overrated. A lot of the humor and dialogue are just too broad and not very sophisticated, and there’s kind of a sense of trying too hard to get a laugh. Kirk’s rather juvenile insults toward Baris are particularly unfunny and forced.
And if you think about it, it’s making light of some very serious issues, such as the ecological impact of invasive species and an attempt to poison an entire colony. Not to mention its cavalier attitude toward the death of vast numbers of these animals it was playing up as adorable pets not long before. And what do you think is going to happen to the ones Scotty beamed over to the Klingon ship? It would’ve been kinder to beam them into space. It’s all kind of superficial in the end. (Although it’s better than “More Tribbles, More Troubles,” where Gerrold contrives a lame coincidence to justify telling essentially the same story with a few tweaks.)
Gerrold says in his book that he was going to call them fuzzies until the legal department pointed out the similarity to H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy. Fortunately that also ruled out “furries,” which would’ve made the episode sound really weird to modern ears. He then typed up a list of dozens of nonsense words (including “shagbies,” “gollawogs,” “callahans,” “goonies,” “charlies,” “brazzies,” and “poofies”), and “tribbles” was the only one that was neither lame nor copyright-infringing. (Because of course nobody would ever use a name like “goonies”…) He wasn’t happy with the name until he realized the pun possibilities with “troubles” — although the title he wanted to use was “So You Think You’ve Got Tribbles–?” Gene Coon shot that down.
“Nobody Knows the Tribbles I’ve Seen…” – The punny possibilities were/are endless.
One thing I remember Gerrold saying (in his book about the episode, IIRC) he didn’t like about this episode was Spock quoting the Bible. Keith mentions it, too — not a critique, but as worthy of note. I have never been sure why this line attracts attention. First, it’s quite clever – “They toil not, neither do they spin, but they do consume a great deal.” It’s one of the subtler jokes in (I agree with Christopher) an overly broad episode (that was a lot funnier to me when I was a brand-new Trekkie in middle school than it is today). And, as Spock/Kollos asks McCoy next season, “Does it surprise you to learn I’ve read the classics?” Why shouldn’t quote Spock the Bible as he would any other significant piece of world literature? It’s not as though he’s preaching or evangelizing. Anyway, a little thing, but (at least in my memory) I’ve heard enough mentions of and objections to it, I thought I’d bring it up.
I think there was a very well-executed story about a Borg Tribble in one of the latter Strange New Worlds anthologies. Great idea, pulled off so well.
I will say, even though this episode doesn’t work for me as much as it used to, I probably will show it to my 8-year-old daughter sooner rather than later because she has expressed some fledgling interest in Trek, and has played some with Dad’s plush Tribble toy (that, sadly, only squeaks with its anti-Klingon reaction when squeezed… no purring setting available…)
@2/Christopher – Yes, it makes light of a serious ecological issue, but (a) sometimes you catch more flies with honey, etc. (although I don’t think Gerrold had a serious ecological agenda here – which isn’t to say the story couldn’t have and maybe should have been written that way), and (b) is its light-hearted/serious ratio re: things ecological any more out of balance than Star Trek IV‘s?
Keith, I have noticed through your rewatches that you never mention the often deep references and plot-developments Star Trek Online has done – Have you ever tried it?
The developers and writers for the game have, in many ways, been excellent stewards of the Prime Universe, expanding upon loose threads the runners of DS9, TNG, and the rest never picked up, and giving a chance to interact with some of these well-loved characters in ways you never could in pure consumption (watching/reading/listening vs. playing).
@2/Mike: The Bible quote came in a scene written by Gene Coon, which is no doubt why it’s a subtler joke than Gerrold’s.
As for Spock’s familiarity with Earth literature, in TAS: “Once Upon a Planet,” Spock explains his familiarity with Lewis Carroll’s work by saying that his mother was particularly fond of it. Amanda probably made sure he was acquainted with a lot of Earth literature and culture, which helps explain his knowledge here and in “Requiem.”
And my point is that the episode makes light of a lot of serious stuff — not just the hazards of invasive species, but the attempt to create a famine that would kill thousands, and the slaughter of a couple of million tribbles. It’s not just leavening a message with humor, it’s being cavalier and insubstantial about pretty much everything, including things that are really very dark if you think about them. I just feel it’s generally broad, shallow, and sophomoric, and that the Coon scenes are funnier than the Gerrold scenes. (The opening scene with Chekov — “Extremely little, Ensign” — was Coon as well.) Gerrold was very young and inexperienced at the time he wrote this, and it shows. I believe he was the youngest person to write a Trek episode until Howard Weinstein sold “The Pirates of Orion” to TAS at age 19.
Fair points, Christopher. I would have to agree. Thanks for making me rethink it.
Especially given what happened to those seven poor space marines and that demolition crew.
I think this episode’s wonderful barfight and the misadventures of all parties is the even that really paved the way for the song that must not be named.
I guess I’m in the minority but I’m not a big fan of this episode. It has some funny moment but overall it fell flat and seems dragged out. Even the bar sight scene that started great just drags on and on. And this rain of (partly) dead tribbles falling on Kirk is something out of horror story or X-Files episode.
I’d rate it 5 out of 10, on par with Wolf in the Fold and the likes, no less but no more.
There’s no accounting for tastes, indeed :)
I like this episode, its one of the 4 or 5 best of TOS. But the characterization of Scotty just felt off. Staying on the ship to read tech manuals is his preferred shore leave? This is a guy who keeps a 200 year old bottle of Scotch in his quarters just in case he needs to get an alien drunk.
No thank you, Scotty is a guy who lives life. Not a guy who watches it go by from his bunk.
@8/Ragnarredbeard: So… getting drunk in his quarters isn’t the same thing as watching life go by from his bunk? Not quite following your logic there… ;)
Yes, Scotty lives life, but his idea of fun is studying ships and engines. He wouldn’t see any contradiction between that and enjoying a pub crawl every now and then, because they both make him happy.
Reruns already?!
CLB @4- Subtler?
:)
So I’m a little vague on this, Christopher – how did you REALLY feel about the episode? ;)
For me, it’s too much of a classic to be anything more than a romp, and I’m okay with that. If I tried to take this one seriously, I’d lose my enjoyment of it. Discussing it as such is fine, of course, I love discussion. But this is one of the few episodes I can recite nearly verbatim (beyond one-liners), so I’m not going to mess with that in my head.
I agree that this ep is a very effective comic romp. More importantly, I think David Gerrold fully deserves the 10 for the *idea* of the tribble. Funny, funny-scary, and so “right” that it immediately seems as though it has always existed in the human imagination (or the universe). A small fuzzball which chirps/purrs endearingly and soothes humans, but freaks out at humans’ enemies: the perfect pet which is revealed as a perfect pest due to its hunger and reproductive rate. It’s like a Jungian archetype which Gerrold just invented, only to have everyone instantly recognize that it had a home in their own subconscious. (Happily in our subconscious we don’t have to feed it and can just listen to its chirp/purr.) The tribble is not just beloved because many of us first saw it when the more juvenile aspects of the episode’s humor worked for us. The tribble is beloved because it is an amazingly simple, vivid and convincing imaginary critter. No one who has seen it once has ever forgotten it.
Plus, the existence of the whole episode is more than justified by the scene where Spock simultaneously disclaims and demonstrates his susceptibility to The Purr.
I assume the internet has already figured out that Chris Columbus’s Gremlins are basically a horror-genre version of tribbles?
I’ve read a bunch of ST stories imagining tribbles in other situations–a testament to the way the critter has found a permanent home in our subconscious. But my favorite appearance of the tribble is in “The Truth about Tribbles,” the story in IDW’s Star Trek comic #s 11 & 12. The visual on the last page of Part 1 (#11), where the tribbles have overrun Starfleet HQ in San Francisco, is just sublime.
@12/Saavik: Well, the idea of the tribbles has antecedents in earlier fiction, like Robert Heinlein’s flat cats from The Rolling Stones and the guinea pigs in Ellis Parker Butler’s “Pigs is Pigs.” I believe that when the similarity between tribbles and flat cats was pointed out to Heinlein, he was unconcerned, saying that he himself was inspired by Butler’s story and by the rabbit infestation in Australia. Although it’s known that Heinlein was a major influence on Gerrold.
@13–Learn something new every day. So Gerrold & Heinlein (not so much Butler, from my hasty googled research) deserve joint credit for the idea. Wikipedia says that Gerrold acknowledged having read Heinlein’s The Rolling Stones years before but said he didn’t consciously remember the flat cats when creating the tribbles, which is to me quite believable. In any case, it was the tribble that established itself in our collective unconsious, thanks to the visuals, the audio (that chirp/purr–definitely more attractive than the flat cats’ purr “like a high-pitched buzzer”) and the humor of this episode.
If memory serves, the short story “The Last Tribble” by Keith L. Davis (from the inaugural Strange New Worlds volume) deals with Cyrano Jones’s efforts in cleaning up the station. It takes him quite a while, as I recall…
Also, all due respect to the great Heinlein, but the critter would never have made it into the collective unconscious with that terrible name. “Flat cat” evokes not cuddles, but roadkill.
God, the Zombie Tribble from ST:ID… One of many things I disliked about that movie. (Almost a really good Star Trek and SF movie. Almost.)
I thought Pirates of Orion was a Niven story? Wasn’t that the one with Kzinti?
@15/dwarzel – Your memory serves! That was a great story – a logical sequel to the episode, and a nice fleshing out of someone who is basically a one-note character in the episode itself. And gives him a redemptive arc, to boot!
@17/wiredog – I think you’re thinking of “Slaver Weapon.” “Pirates of Orion” was Weinstein’s first sale, right?
This is the only episode in all of TOS in which the Klingons without being a major threat.
One thing I never quite noticed on Trouble with Tribbles up until now is the ecological allegory. The episode is a lesson on the dangers of moving lifeforms from their original habitat and introducing them in uncharted territory (reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bart lets loose a frog in Australia). What Gerrold manages with this episode is to depict it by having the Tribbles be cute furry pets*, giving it the perfect blend of absurd comedy and socially relevant message. Speaking of which, I really enjoyed the animated sequel to this one.
*The furry comment has me wondering. I imagine if I look deep enough, I’ll find people who are into variations of Tribble fetish, if not outright porn fantasies.
One thing that really stands out in this episode though is Scotty’s characterization. Granted, he’d be protective of the Enterprise, being his first love and all (which leads to the hilarious bar brawl). What bugs me is that this episode set a dangerous precedent regarding chief engineers as being losers with no social life and rotten luck with women.
Wolf in the Fold had already done preliminary damage by making Scotty “hate” women as a plot device. TNG would follow through with this by having Geordi be a nerd incapable of maintaining a relationship. It would take DS9, Voyager and Enterprise to reverse this trend by giving us engineers without social hangups, and in stable relationships, to a certain degree.
In retrospect, I’d rather they avoided engineers and relationships in general. Why does every character need to be defined by his love life or sexual preference? I know LeVar complained about Geordi being assexual at one point, which led to the writers creating a romance with a hologram. Sometimes, a character only needs to be defined by his job.
Correction: In which the Klingons work without being a threa
This is a funny episode, but it never did anything for me beyond causing a couple of smiles.
@20/Eduardo: I wouldn’t say that Scotty has no social life and rotten luck with women. He likes going to a bar with his collegues, but he also likes reading technical manuals. A lot of people have a social life and still like to read. As for his luck with women, the relationship between him and Mira Romaine is the only third season romance that survives the end of the episode. If someone has bad luck with women, it’s Kirk – three of his girlfriends die.
@20/Eduardo: “Wolf in the Fold” portrayed Scotty’s resentment toward women as a passing anomaly, one he’d fully overcome by the end of Kara’s belly dance. It was just a plot device to make him seem like a possible suspect for the murders. More generally, Scotty showed plenty of interest toward women, notably Carolyn Palamas and Mira Romaine (and that ill-conceived hint of a Scotty-Uhura romance in the fifth movie). His love of tech manuals was never meant to establish him as an antisocial nerd, but simply as an engineer’s engineer. Remember the actual lines. “Scotty, I ordered you to relax.” “I am relaxing.” That’s not being socially inept, that’s just doing what he loves.
It’s also reflective of the actor who played him. It’s been said that Scotty was 99% James Doohan and 1% accent. Doohan himself loved studying science and engineering and read technical journals for fun, but he was also a happily married and very popular and outgoing man. So your assumption that Scotty liking to read about his own field of expertise is somehow a symptom of a crippling social disorder is completely bizarre.
19. MikePoteet
You’re right. I was confused. It’s been a loooong time since I’ve seen TAS, or even read the novelizations.
So your assumption that Scotty liking to read about his own field of expertise is somehow a symptom of a crippling social disorder is completely bizarre.
That’s not my assumption at all. My problem is that Kirk pretty much forces him out of his technical journals to go out and enjoy himself, establishing a precedent that Scotty somehow is in the wrong, and that you can’t be an introvert in the 23rd century. They repeat this in The Lights of Zetar when Kirk once again paints Scotty as a lonely man in an official ship’s log.
@26/Eduardo: And plenty of other episodes depict Kirk as a lonely man. You don’t have to be an introvert to be lonely. Spock and McCoy are portrayed as lonely too. I daresay most ’60s TV heroes were portrayed as lonely. After all, they were usually single men dedicated to their work, with no lasting female companionship. And when they did fall in love in the course of an episode, their love interests would inevitably die or betray them or have to leave them or be left behind by the end of the hour. So loneliness was par for the course. (Not to mention that that log entry in “Zetar” was badly written and nonsensical. Why in the hell would a starship captain use his official log to wax poetic about the private life of his chief engineer?)
And when Kirk orders Scott to go on leave in “Tribbles,” it’s to “make sure that everybody stays out of trouble” — which is exactly why it’s ironic that he’s the one who starts the fight. It’s not about shaming introversion or whatever. It’s about being a responsible senior officer chaperoning the crew, and incidentally getting a break from overworking himself. No different from how Spock pressured Kirk to take a break in “Shore Leave.” Neither Kirk nor Scott is an introvert; they’re both just workaholics.
Just a math-geeky observation: In the rewatch for “Trials and Tribble-ations” I commented that 1,771,561 was not an accidental number. It is 11 to the 6th power (1 tribble producing six generations of 11 each time), so the next line about “assuming they got here three days ago” fits — sort of. But the other possible factors stated that might affect the generations of tribbles (amount of grain consumed and the size of the storage compartments) apparently had no real bearing on the final number. Indeed, the actual number should have been far less because of the poisoned grain, but of course Spock didn’t know that yet. And another thing: wasn’t Spock assuming that the number he quoted was limited to the storage compartments and did not include the other tribbles on the space station or the Enterprise? But that would require that the first tribble that was in the storage compartments got in there exactly three days ago.
richf: In fact, Kirk does qualify Spock’s estimate by following it with, “That assumes they got here three days ago.”
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@3 Kris Browne, Krad has mentioned Star Trek Online in quite a few places, particularly the DS9 rewatch, and I totally agree the folks at STO have done a great job in staying true to great Prime Universe storytelling.
I still find this a very funny and charming episode, best watched with DS9’s “Trials and Tribble-attions”. Not quite as enthralled with it even when I rewatched this in 2014 during the DS9 rewatch, but still very entertaining.
I agree that it’s a funny episode even if it’s a bit superficial. And “tribble” is a nice word.
Though I wonder how Jones can live off selling tribbles when they breed like that. He sells one, and then all his potential customers get them for free from his first customer. (I’m not complaining – my favourite fun episode, A Piece of the Action, has worse plot holes than that.)
@31/Jana: Well, for one thing, Jones doesn’t live off selling tribbles. They’re just one of his many wares, including Antarean glow water, Spican flame gems, and the like. Also, he’s an interstellar trader. He sells his wares on one planet or station, then moves on to another.
@32/Christopher: Well, he did give one tribble to Uhura for free and then assured the barman (falsely) that all her friends would be back to buy others. But come to think of it, maybe he just wanted to spite the barman. After all, at that point he had already completed his sale.
And you’re right about the other wares.
( know I’m a bit late to the game here)
“William Campbell is the most un-Klingon-like Klingon ever”
I know what that means, but is there not a better way to phrase that? So what if Koloth didn’t swing a bat’leth and growl at everyone (which we would him do later in “Blood Oath”). Some of the major themes of Star Trek are to celebrate diversity (IDIC), avoid stereotyping, and assume that people should be and act a certain way because of their race. So Koloth was different than other Klingons we encounter later on–or was the the other way around? Either way, I think Campbell’s expression of a Klingon character is as legitimate as any other.
I was at a con once where David Gerrold was GoH and his reply to my question, “Do you realise what the Klingons will do to the tribbles?” was ,”I don’t want to think about it!”
I really think it was just written as a humorous throwaway last line as in so many other episodes, with no intention of giving fans something to dissect fifty years later. ;-)
This seems a god place to post the news that William Schallert has died.
34: the bat’leth wasn’t introduced until the TNG episode Reunion. Why is it that no-one thought to mention the episode’s best line, that Kirk is “a tin-plated, overbearing, swaggering dictator with delusions of godhood”? That was directed at Shatner, for sure. And do we ever hear humans being referred to as Earthers again?
@37/David Sim: The term “Earther” is used twice in the animated series, by the Vulcan children taunting young Spock in “Yesteryear” and by an Orion ensign in “The Pirates of Orion.” It’s also been used in several Trek novels, as well as general science fiction going back to the 1950s at the latest. The OED’s citation page for the term gives examples from the Trek novels Demons and The Lost Years by J.M. Dillard, Doctor’s Orders by Diane Duane, and From the Depths by Victor Milan, as well as non-Trek sources including the Man-Kzin Wars Known Space anthologies and David Brin’s Uplift series.
@37/David Sim: So I guess “Regulan blood worms” was directed at Doohan and Koenig?
@37/David Sim: “Why is it that no-one thought to mention the episode’s best line, that Kirk is “a tin-plated, overbearing, swaggering dictator with delusions of godhood”? That was directed at Shatner, for sure.”
I doubt David Gerrold knew enough about the inside politics of the show to direct that line at Shatner — or that he, a novice freelancer just starting out, would’ve dared to try insulting a big TV star onscreen. And yes, I’m pretty sure Gerrold wrote the line himself. The reprint of the script in Gerrold’s book about the making of the episode has footnotes pointing out which bits were rewritten by Gene Coon, and that wasn’t one of them.
@34 I will have to agree with krad about Campbell being un-Klingon-like. The sole false note hit in this episode, in my opinion, was Koloth subserviently bowing to Kirk when Kirk tells them he’s got 6 hours to get his ship out of the area. I realize this is early in the series, before the notion of what a Klingon is really like had been fully fleshed-out, but diversity or no diversity, no Klingon depicted before or after this episode would ever have bowed in that situation.
I never read that curt bow as subservient, more as ‘I want to kill this Earther but I have to be diplomatic.’
Best Episode Ever!
However, you feel about it…this is probably THE episode that defines “Star Trek” — that if anyone is watching it, perhaps in a “20th Century Sci Fi TV” course at college (on Mars) — would see as an example of the show.
If for no other reason, that makes it important. It’s a bit like Shakespeare — most people know who he is, but they have only seen maybe “Romeo & Juliet”. Even people who don’t read much or don’t like Shakespeare, know who “Romeo & Juliet” are and what the general plot is.
So that makes this, in many ways, more important an episode than others that are better written or directed, more serious or richer in meaning or acting.
I am rewatching the shows, as my local affiliate (antenna) TV station is rerunning EVERYTHING — all the Trek series, even the animated ones, IN ORDER, 6 nights a week. I’ve gotten to see a lot of episodes I have not viewed in decades, as well as stuff like “Enterprise” (which I hated on sight, and only watched occasionally).
I have to say, seeing “Tribbles” again — I laughed out loud, so anything that is still funny after 50 years….is a pretty terrific TV episode.
I disagree, I doubt more than 1 or 2 out of 10 non-Trek fans will cite this episode as what comes to mind when thinking of Star Trek. Thus, I doubt it’s the “the episode that defines Star Trek” for them.
Love those tribbles! I have a small collection of them at home; my favorite is a dark brown medium-sized tribble that sits on my computer when I’m not using it, and it’s quiet and keeps me company. I always get a big charge out of that episode when I watch it for what happens to be for the gazillionth time, and I love Spock’s comments about what happens when they are turned loose from their natural environment! Not to mention—you can’t get away with insulting the Enterprise! Great fun all around.
As an avid animal lover, I’m appalled at how the tribbles are abused in this episode. Scotty beaming them to the Klingon ship is unconscionable and I can imagine them all being brutally massacred in not very nice ways.
That being said, I do like this episode when I’m able to turn my brain off to the point of not taking it too too seriously. Overall it is an entertaining hour.
At first impression, I agree with krad about Koloth being very un-Klingon-like. But then I’m reminded of Dax’s line in DS9 Soldiers of the Empire about Klingons being as diverse as anyone. I think that ultimately it has to be true even if Star Trek doesn’t always show it.
My problem with Koloth is how forceful a personality William Campbell was in The Squire of Gothos. It’s really really hard to not see Trelane when I look at Koloth. Even the shorter hair, the addition of a goatee and a Klingon uniform doesn’t cure me of that.
Watching this as part of the Roddenberry Vaults. I have two audio questions. One, why on Earth or off did the restoration put so much engine roar in the subwoofers between scenes? It’s bizarre and sinister, let alone the no sound in space problem.
Though I do love to quote my friend the Emmy-winning space-show sound designer: “There is plenty of sound in space, it just depends on where you put the microphones.”
Two, what is the cool electronic sounding Tribble instrument? It sounds vaguely like an analog synth or even a Theremin played without the vibrato, but the portamento and pitches seem very exact to me. I’m surprised I’m not seeing answers on the ‘net about it.
I have seen this one too many times, but I did LOL when Kirk kept getting beaned by Tribbles throughout his triumphant speech, because it’s legit funny, but more so because I was imagining the crew above throwing tribbles at him and his trying to do it straight. Who got to throw them? It was at least 2 people, and I’d like to imagine they let his costars do it, if not the producers. Whoever did it gets to say they did it for the rest of their lives, and I am happy for them.
Last, I’m glad there is followup fiction because beaming them onto the Klingon ship without Kirk’s okay was actually very not okay. It’s the cutest act of war ever, but still.
@48/jofesh: “Two, what is the cool electronic sounding Tribble instrument? It sounds vaguely like an analog synth or even a Theremin played without the vibrato, but the portamento and pitches seem very exact to me. I’m surprised I’m not seeing answers on the ‘net about it.”
It’s actually a trombone played back at high speed.
Oh cool, that gave me the clue I needed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz1EW5x3fe8
Thanks!
I can’t say much here that’s already been said. A fantastic comedy episode!
@49, You seem certain, but to me it sounds like a pair of piccolo trombones at normal speed.
@52/BeeGee: It is documented. La-La Land Records’ ST:TOS Soundtrack Collection, Season Two liner notes booklet p. 29: “The composer devised an unusual effect for the tribbles by recording trombones playing pitch bends and then replaying the sound at a faster speed to create a high-pitched, mewling noise. Tracks 60-61 demonstrate a cue sans sweetener and the trombones at their natural speed, respectively.” (“Sweetener” meaning the trombone effect, which of course was recorded separately and added to “sweeten” the cue.) I just listened to the relevant cues again (it’s actually tracks 59-60), and the original recording is definitely regular trombones.
Kirk says “C’mon, Spocks” when he takes a message from the space station. I just caught that today.
IMO this is the best of the TOS intentional comedies. The regular cast members and the guest cast members do an excellent job of playing off each other.
Amid all the snappy dialogue in this episode is my all-time favorite Spock-McCoy exchange:
McCoy: Does everything have to have a practical use for you? They’re nice, soft, and furry, and they make a pleasant sound.
Spock: So would an ermine violin, but I see no advantage in having one.