Series: Star Trek (The Original Series)
Episode: 2.15 The Trouble With Tribbles (12-29-67)
Rating: 5/5
Redshirt Status: 0/20/43
Notable Guest Stars:
William Schallert – Undersecetary Nilz Baris. He is Patty Duke’s television Dad.
William Campbell – Koloth. You might remember him as Trelane. Well, he’s back as his more rememberable character which he will reprise on DS9
Stanley Adams – Cyrano Jones. He appeared in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Charlie Brill – Arne Darvin. Brill will also reappear as this character on DS9. DS9 likes its Klingons and its Tribbles.
Michael Pataki – Korax. He would later appear as another character in TNG
Review:
Okay, I couldn’t force myself to watch the last episode, but this one is one of my favorites. It’s a cult favorite too. They probably needed something lighthearted after the last episode (I really don’t want to watch Scotty get accused of murder or see Kirk hire him a date).
Reading the production notations in Wiki was another adventure, so I’m just going to let it be linked here and you can all read it yourselves.
This is one of my favorite episodes, and my father’s (which as I said before not usual. We have very different tastes). It has got humor, a bit of a mystery, and a adventure with the Klingons. It has plenty of quotable lines, and no redshirts got hurt in the making of this episode. Its arguably one of the best-known episodes of Star Trek and has several sequel episodes. One episode is in the animated series, and one episode is on DS9 (which, as I said, love their Klingons and their tribbles)
I also like the idea that Kirk (and/or Spock) might be taking Chekov under their wing and being a mentor to the young officer. Although perhaps Chekov should leave his Russia jokes for outside the boardroom.
Interesting Notes:
- Directed by Joseph Pevney
- Written by David Gerrold (His first sold script!)
- This connects with Enterprise, Deep Space Nine and the Animated Series.
Pros:
- This episode is a feel-good episode.
- Scotty’s famous “Laddie, don’t you think you should rephrase that?” line. Actually, half of his lines in this episode are extremely quotable
- Characterization points for several characters. Someone needs to get Uhura a cat. Chekov clearly doesn’t care for wine (or brandy), and Spock probably has to tell the Captain its not a good idea to tell someone with connections that one doesn’t give a f*** about their complaint
- Tribbles.
Cons:
- Not much.
Sokorra Lewis 