"Star Trek"
The Trouble with Tribbles (1967)

Director:

Joseph Pevney

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator) and
David Gerrold (writer)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

29 December 1967 (Season 2, Episode 15)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Adventure

Plot:

To protect a space station with a vital grain shipment, Kirk must deal with Federation bureaucrats, a Klingon battle cruiser and a peddler who sells furry, purring, hungry little creatures as pets.

Plot Keywords:

Classic | Photon Torpedoes | Starship | Federation | Cultural Diversity

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
William Schallert	...	Nilz Baris
William Campbell	...	Koloth
Stanley Adams	...	Cyrano Jones
Whit Bissell	...	Lurry
James Doohan	...	Scott
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Michael Pataki	...	Korax
Edwin Reimers	...	Admiral Fitzpatrick (as Ed Reimers)
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
Charlie Brill	...	Arne Darvin
Paul Baxley	...	Ensign Freeman
David L. Ross	...	Guard (as David Ross)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

The producers of the Remastered Edition insist all shots of the station and ships are brand-new and not reused from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Trials and Tribble-ations” as had been rumored.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: (DVD release) In the bar scene just before the fight with the Klingons, Chekov responds to Korax's needling by saying "That Cossack!" but the closed captions show him saying "That does it!"

Quotes:

Nilz Baris: Now I want you to keep that grain safe!
Capt. Kirk: Mr. Baris, I have guards around the grain, I have guards around the Klingons. The only reason those guards are there is because Starfleet wants them there. As for what you want... it has been noted and logged. Kirk out.
[he shuts off the comlink]
Spock: Captain, may I ask where you'll be?
Capt. Kirk: Sickbay... with a headache.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Star Trek: Of Gods and Men (2007) (V)

A fine example of

A bit of a comic relief episode, this is a fine example of the character interplay that makes TOS successful. It's also shows the rich Star Trek universe, with space stations, political characters, space traders, alien enemies, and unusual and desirable (to a point) space creatures. The tribbles themselves are an interesting alien life form, at first glance bewildering to Dr. McCoy, of little practical use to Mr. Spock, threatening to the Klingons, and with an inexplicable life cycle. The episode looks forward to the future of the subsequent series (TNG/DS9/Voyager) in emphasizing political influence and intrigue over the typical episodic phaser displays and bravado, the bar fight excepted. As such it became a great foil for DS9's time-traveling return to K7, and to a lesser degree the animated series' "More Trouble with Tribbles." Silly or no, it's classic trek, and a very enjoyable episode.