Star Trek: The Original Series/Recap/S2/E15 The Trouble With Tribbles

Series:Star Trek the Original Series Episode: Season 2, Episode 9 Title:"The Trouble With Tribbles" Previous: Wolf In The Fold Next: The Gamesters of Triskelion Recapper: Hyrin]

Captain Kirk and Spock are quizzing Chekov about Deep Space Station K7 and the race to settle Sherman's Planet, presumably because Kirk knows nothing about the situation and Spock is bored of losing at 3D chess all the time. Midway through the quiz, however, a Red Alert is sounded. Racing to the bridge, Kirk orders the Enterprise to rush to the station as fast as possible.

Upon arrival, Kirk demands to know what the emergency is, and is informed that the undersecretary of agriculture, Nils Baris, is on the station and is scared of sabotage. Since Baris has the authority to issue the emergency call, Kirk can do little except speak in double and ask questions that should have been part of his mission briefing, like what exactly he is there to protect. He authorizes two guards from the Enterprise to protect the grain, and begins shore leave for the rest of the crew. Shortly after, Captain Koloth arrives demanding shore leave for his crew. Kirk acquieses, in part because he has no legal reason to say no and in part to piss off Baris.

Elsewhere on the station, Chekov and Uhura have been shopping and are taking a break in the station's bar when Cyrano Jones walks in, trying to sell useless crap to the bartender. This being the 60's, Uhura is immediately captivated by a purring ball of fur and buys it despite never having heard of the species before and probably having a rule against pets on the ship. The tribble begins breeding like mad, and the crews' first instinct is to pet and coo at the creatures, pausing just long enough to poo-poo Dr. McCoy at the thought of actually figuring out why the tribble population is increasing like Scotty's waistline.

Back in the bar, Scotty, Chekov, and another guy are trying to have a quiet drink when a drunk Klingon starts mouthing off. Chekov immediately wants to assault the Proud Warrior Race Guy but Scotty, remembering their orders to avoid trouble, keeps Chekov in line. However, Scotty throws the first punch after the Klingon makes a remark about the Enterprise, which leads to a brawl. Security restores the peace and the involved crew are dragged back to the ship. Scotty, rather than manning up and admitting the truth, gets the entire group confined to quarters.

Kirk, upon recieving his order of tribble salad with a side order of tribble and a glass of tribble, deduces that the tribbles have likely gotten into the grain supply on the station. Upon arrival, he stands immediately under the door that is theoretically holding back several metric tonnes of Canadian wheat and opens the door. A flood of dead tribbles buries him armpit deep, prompting McCoy to make the startling discovery that reproduction is tied to metabolism. The dead tribbles also indicate that the grain was poisoned. Back in the station commander's office, Koloth confronts Kirk about the bar brawl before demanding that the tribbles be removed, since a tribble's purr sounds like a Paris Hilton karaoke to Klingon ears. As the guards go to leave, Baris's assistant, Arne Darvin, enters the office and has the same reaction to the tribbles that the Klingons have. Kirk arrests Darvin and tells Koloth to scamper off.

Back on the ship, Kirk is surprised to find that all the tribbles are gone. After some runaround, he is informed that Scotty beamed the tribbles about the Klingon ship "where they'll be no tribble at all." The crew joins in a hearty laugh as they most likely suppress the thought of what the Klingons are doing to the defenseless furballs at that moment.