The Trouble With Tribbles (TOS episode)
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"The Trouble With Tribbles" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, 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 more famous Star Trek episodes among non-fans, simply for the bizarre and humorous nature of its plot.
Quick Overview: Cuddly, but extremely prolific, little creatures invade the Enterprise, and foil an enemy's plans.
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 revert to whichever side could 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, amidst a few fist fights that break out between Klingons and Enterprise crew members, 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 chirp a relaxing trill that the crew find soothing. Klingons, however, find tribbles very annoying. Tribbles emit an ear-piercing shriek of aggression whenever they are around Klingons, so the feeling is mutual.
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 the onboard supplies. The problem is aggravated when it is discovered that 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, in consuming the stores on the station there begins a massive die-off of tribbles that alerts 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. It is none other than 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 or be imprisoned for 20 years for transporting a dangerous lifeform off its native planet, a clean-up task estimated to take 17.9 years.
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 himselfTemplate:Ref. 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.
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 heard you; 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 Star Trek: The Animated Series under the Title of "More Tribbles, More Trouble" to which Gerrold also wrote the script.
This episode was later edited and spliced into the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 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 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock 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 episodeTemplate:Ref)
Gerrold is currently writing another sequel to this episode for the Star Trek: New Voyages fan film series.