Thursday, January 19, 2012

Star Trek TOS: Episode 44 - THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES

Trouble with Tribbles may be the most recognizable Star Trek episode of all time, or at least most people have heard the term tribble before. It seems like a goofy episode, especially when you see that image of Kirk sitting in a pile of furballs.  To some degree this is indeed a goofy episode, but it’s also really good

The comedic element to Trouble with Tribbles is great. This is due to Kirk’s many tongue-in-cheek lines and his sarcasm when dealing with the Starfleet Minister of Agriculture (of whom he obviously can’t stand). But Chekov is the best part of this episode. His seemingly endless knowledge of inaccurate Russian history is just hilarious.

There are three things going on here. First we have the Starfleet Minister of Agriculture (played by the great William Schallert). He orders the Enterprise to guard grain on a Starbase. Secondly we have the Klingons. They are on the Starbase (for relaxation purposes) but are secretly poisoning the grain. Finally we have the Tribbles. Uhura purchased one from a slimy trader and now they are multiplying faster than a white trash teenager. All of these elements are merged together wonderfully to produce a funny, interesting and entertaining episode. This one was written by David Gerrold, he would go on to write more TOS episodes, as well as The Animated Series and TNG.

ST TOS COUNTDOWN: 45 down 35 to go

3 comments:

Capt naps said...

Since you're going chronologically shouldn't you review the DS9 episode where they go back in time to the tribbles?

Mugato said...

That would be so annoying

Donald said...

^ I agree.

This may be my favorite TOS episode.