2.15 — “The Trouble with Tribbles”
Plot: Tribbles. Tribbles. Tribbles. Tribbles. Tribbles. Tribbles. Tribbles. Tribbles. Tribbles. They get everywhere, much to the irritation of Klingons and Nilz Baris, the Federation Under-secretary for Agricultural Affairs, who wants the Enterprise to guard a shipment of grain destined for Sherman’s Planet, a whimsically-named planet of strategic importance. Who put the tribbles in the quadrotriticale?
Thoughts: Actors in a comedy should not know they are in a comedy. The teaser scene with Chekhov in the briefing room violates this principle, since Chekhov seems to know he is in a comedy. William Shatner, and the other main cast members, never know they are in a comedy.
This episode just works, and keeps working. That it works so well is a tribute to acting talents of the main cast, teleplay writer David Gerrold (“Tribbles” was his first script sale, while he was still in college), director Joseph Pevney, and the especially fine supporting cast assembled to play Cyrano Jones, the bartender, the Klingons, Nilz Barris, Arne Darvin, and the station manager.
You may recognize the actor who plays Koloth as William Campbell, who played Trelane in “The Squire of Gothos.” Did you catch the reference to the Organian Peace Treaty? Although produced and aired after “Friday’s Child,” Gerrold claims it was during the writing of this episode that it was determined that Klingons would return to the series as recurring characters.
Gerrold notes in an audio commentary included in the season two Blu-ray set that Kirk does an extended slow burn throughout the whole episode. Shatner is genius. Gerrold didn’t think the star would be keen on the “buried in tribbbles” scene, but Shatner wisely went along with it. This turns out to be one of the most perfect scenes in the history of television. Kirk in the full fulmination of his bruised dignity and irritation, being pelted on the back of the head with tribbles, in the presence of his adversary Nilz Barris, while Barris gets his comeuppance, which Kirk cannot fully savor.
That scene may be perfect, but I’ve rarely seen a scene staged better than the scene in the bar, starting with Scotty and Chekhov arguing with the Klingon, and ending with Cyrano Jones having a stolen drink by the door. To find a better staged sequence of business, I think I’d have to go look at a Marx Brothers film or a Buster Keaton feature.
But wait–is it possible that William Shatner and James Doohan’s best scene is their superb dialogue duet in the briefing room, when Kirk asks Scott which officer threw the first punch? What an embarrassment of riches.
Memory Alpha claims that a number of important Star Trek people (Robert Justman, Samuel Peeples, Fred Freiberger) had heartburn over how silly this episode is, when Trek, after all, is supposed to be a serious show. They even scuttled a sequel episode intended for Season 3, later produced for The Animated Series as “More Trouble, More Tribbles.” I believe history has rendered its verdict on this claim. Star Trek proved its seriousness by being able to laugh at itself, in the process establishing the characters of Scott, Uhura, and Chekhov more firmly than had ever been done before.
I love the way the plot is put together. It’s just perfect, somehow, that the Klingons would have gotten away scot free with their scheme to poison the population of Sherman’s Planet but for the wild card of the tribbles and Cyrano Jones. The tribbles save the day, while the heroes are clueless. I don’t know how Scotty transported all the tribbles over to the Klingon ship, however–even if the Klingons obliged by lowering the shields, it would seem quite a challenge to get all the tribbles into the transporter room.
I’m going to change my mind and say my favorite piece of acting is Spock, examining and covertly petting a tribble, saying “Fortunately, I am immune to its effect.”
500,000 out of 500,000 tribbles.
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