From Furballs to Barroom Brawls, The Trouble With Tribbles Has it All!

I have a large collection of stuffed animals that always is threatening to take over the house. Some of my cuddly friends have now moved into the attic, while countless others have dejectedly made their way to garage sales and church nurseries. I still have dozens out in public view, however. One of the smallest, plainest yet downright strangest in my collection is a little ball of fur with no distinct features whatsoever. That is, until you squeeze it, and it makes an odd trilling noise that sounds something like a cross between the squeaking of a guinea pig and the purring of a cat. It is a tribble, given to me by my parents on my 18th birthday. It's not alive, and if it were, I wouldn't have any idea how to feed it, since it doesn't seem to have a mouth. So I don't have to worry about my house being over-run with furballs. A tribble is a nice sort of thing to have... when you can have just one.

For the less geeky among us, tribbles are the titular creatures in The Trouble With Tribbles, a second-season episode in the original Star Trek series. We're introduced to them when Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), out for a little shore leave shopping with Chekov (Walter Koenig) on a space station Captain Kirk (William Shatner) has been coerced into guarding, sees comically shifty inter-galactic trader Cyrano Jones (Stanley Adams) trying to sell one to a merchant. She's so charmed by its tranquilizing trilling that Cyrano offers her one, thinking her enthusiasm will lead to dozens of future sales. Except when she gets to the ship, it turns out that her precious little pet was in a family way, and before Dr. McCoy (DeForrest Kelley) has a chance to discover that tribbles are hard-wired for reproduction - "born pregnant," as he so delicately puts it - the ship is inundated with the furry creatures until there are enough that every crew member could have a dozen pet tribbles for free if they wanted. Except by this point, of course, they just want to get rid of the things, especially Spock (Leonard Nimoy), who observes with disdain that they don’t seem to serve any practical purpose.

This all comes about because the space station to which Kirk was summoned with a pseudo-emergency is holding a large quantity of quadro-triticale, and overzealous bureaucratic agriculture undersecretary Nilz Baris has the authority to hold the Enterprise in this sector until the highly prized grain is safely on nearby Sherman’s Planet. To add to Kirk’s frustration, Klingon commander Koloth (William Campbell) shows up with a ship full of Klingons in need of a vacation, meaning the Starfleet folks will be forced to interact with these historically antagonistic aliens while attempting to enjoy shore leave. Chekov certainly has no love for these fierce warriors, and if anyone’s going to start a scuffle, he seems the most likely candidate. Good thing Scotty (James Doohan) is accompanying him; the chief engineer is bound to keep him in line, right?

The Trouble With Tribbles is one of my favorite Star Trek episodes because it’s just so light-hearted. There’s the verbal sparring between Kirk and the endlessly irritating Baris, witnessed with understated amusement by a dead-pan Spock. There’s the physical sparring between the Klingons and the Starfleet contingent - initiated when Scotty, restraining Chekov against throwing a punch to defend the honor of Starfleet and Captain Kirk, is enraged into action when the Klingons call the Enterprise a “garbage scow”. And then there are the tribbles, who are such inherently silly creatures. All they do is eat, reproduce and lull anyone nearby into a idyllic state - except the Klingons, around whom they make loud, unpleasant screeching noises.

With some of the best one-liners in the Trek canon and shining moments involving most of the main characters - except Sulu - The Trouble With Tribbles is a highly satisfying episode. Trek fans’ laughs will multiply almost as quickly as those prolific little tribbles.