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.

With Episodes Like This, Star Trek Should Have Lasted Forever

Our local Fox station has recently begun playing re-runs of Star Trek. Years ago, we got them once a day, at which time we managed to tape half of the series' episodes, though I often botched the job, and we ended up pitching the tapes, which were already suffering tracking problems after only a couple of viewings. Bummer. But now I can watch them again, and it was my good luck that one of the first ones I caught was the iconic The City on the Edge of Forever.

It's a bad day on the U. S. S. Enterprise. The ship, sent to explore some wacky time-space anomalies emanating from nearby, finds itself right in the middle of these tears in time, which shakes the ship, which causes Dr. McCoy (DeForrest Kelley) to accidentally inject himself with a large amount of a dangerous drug, which makes him go stark raving mad. Convinced everyone around him is out to get him, he beams down to the surface of the troublesome planet and finds the Guardian of Forever, an intelligence that keeps track of history and allows visitors to leap into the past, which McCoy does, with disastrous consequences.

Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the rest of the landing party, unable to halt his flight, are in for a shock when the Guardian informs them that he has changed something that has negated the existence of the Enterprise and the Earth as they know it. Their only hope lies in time travel, which means approximating the time of McCoy's jump, pin-pointing his calamitous interference and putting a stop to it.

So it is that Kirk and Spock find themselves in New York City during the Great Depression, hopelessly out of place, scarcely able to explain away Spock's ears ("They got caught in a mechanical rice picker"), little knowing how to go about their essential task in such a strange land with nothing in the way of tools but what Spock disdainfully calls "stone knives and bear skins." Yes, they're in a tricky spot, and the inevitable culture clash is rich with comedic possibilities, while a romantic angle develops when Kirk turns on the charm with visionary humanitarian Edith Keeler (Joan Collins in an atypically virtuous role).

But the trouble really begins when Spock discovers what it is that McCoy has changed, creating a painful moral and ethical crisis. We get more emotion from Shatner than usual in this episode, while Nimoy has some hilarious scenes. Though Kirk is the one experiencing the anguish in this episode, Spock has to deliver the bad news to his captain, which he does with characteristic detachment, though in the aftermath, he exhibits something that looks an awful lot like sympathy.

The City on the Edge of Forever is a sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, always thought-provoking tale from Star Trek's first year. Watching episodes like this, it's hard to believe the original series only lasted three seasons.

The Good of the Many...

After the floundering "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (couldn't they have come up with a better title than THAT?), "The Wrath of Khan" is a glorious triumph. Following up on an episode in the show's first season, the movie centers around Khan, a criminal exiled to Seti Alpha 5 by Captain Kirk. With his band of shipmates from Botany Bay, an Australian penal colony, Khan had been wandering through space cryogenically frozen for two centuries before he encountered the Enterprise. Unfortunately, after leaving Khan and crew on the ideal planet, no one ever checks back to see what has happened to them. An astronomical disaster on Seti Alpha 6 lays waste to Seti Alpha 5 shortly afterward, turning it into a desert.

Mr. Chekov and another officer are sent to the planet to scan it for life. If it is uninhabited, it will be the test site of the Genesis Project, which will attempt to create life from scratch. While surveying the planet, they discover a hideout and Chekov sees the words "Botany Bay" printed inside. He realizes too late the dangerous situation they have stepped into.

Khan inserts a parasite into one of each of the officer's ears, thereby rendering them under his control. Using them as the bait, he plans to trap Captain Kirk and get revenge for his abandonment which led to the death of his wife. Kirk's own conflicts with his aging self, his newfound son, and his dull position as admiral take the backseat as he fights for his life, and that of his entire crew.

The most moving of the Star Trek movies, "The Wrath of Khan" tackles such issues as creation, aging, and friendship. There are many great lines, especially among Bones, Kirk and Spock. The death of Scotty's nephew towards the beginning is the first tear-jerker in this movie. The lush beauty of Genesis coupled with the orchestral soundtrack are stunning, but it is the ultimate sacrifice at the end that makes the film so memorable.

A must-see for any Star Trek fan, it is guaranteed to leave you weeping. With its underlying themes of friendship and new life, it can be enjoyed by anyone, Trekkee or not. And it also made "The good of the many outweighs the good of the few or the one" a welcome well-known phrase...and philosophy.

Down to Earth Humor

"Star Trek IV" is the contender for best Star Trek movie. It is as hilarious as "The Wrath of Khan" is touching. And it provides us sophisticated 20th-century folks with a look at our society of fifteen years ago. Have we changed that much? Hmm...

And beyond being hilarious, it also has a wonderful message. The Earth is being destroyed by a probe which is searching for hump-backed whales. The whales became extinct in the 21st century, and Earth's only hope is to go to the 20th century and bring a couple of hump-backed whales to the future. It shows just how important the protection of endangered species is.

Each of the crew members has a special task when they reach Earth. Chekov and Uhura have to try to find the Alameda naval base. Sulu gets a crash course in flying a helicopter. Scotty and Bones have to find plexiglass for their makeshift aquarium. And Spock and Kirk take on the mean streets of San Francisco to convince a marine biologist to let them beam the whales in her care on board.

From the moment Kirk and company land their cloaked Klingon bird of prey in the park, this movie is nonstop laughs. Experience all the "colorful metaphors," "dark age" medical technology, and other 1980s phenomena as seen from the viewpoint of our favorite folks from the future as they race to save Earth. And watch as Spock becomes a bit more human in the process.