ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

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_ My favourite scene from trouble with tribbles star trek


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__________Tribbles Side-by-Side Comparison #3


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William Campbell played the Klingon Capt. Koloth here; Campbell also played The Squire of Gothos and reprised the role of Koloth in Deep Space Nine episodes. If Star Trek had continued into a 4th season, Koloth would have probably returned to plague Kirk somehow. He & Tribbles did return in the animated episode, More Tribbles, More Troubles, the sequel to this on the animated series, also written by Gerrold.




BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Pow]

"The Trouble With Tribbles" December 29, 1967 written by famed sf author David Gerrold.

This was Gerrold's first professional sale as a write.

While TTWT was in production Gene Roddenberry noticed that the story was similar to famed sf author Robert Heinlein's novel "The Rolling Stones." In the novel the Martian Flat Cats are similar to tribbles.

GR called RH to apologize and to prevent a possible lawsuit.

RH was very understanding and appreciated GR's apology.

George Takei missed out of a number of second season episodes for Star Trek due to the shooting of the John Wayne film "The Green Berets" running over schedule that George was co-starring in.

As a result, newcomer to the series Walter Koenig (Checkov) was given scenes and lines that normally would have gone to Takei.

When Takei returned to Star Trek there was an awkward tension between him and Koenig. Eventually George & Walter became good friends.

William Shatner and the cast enjoyed shooting TTWT because it was a comedic episode and a change of pace from the usually dramatic Star Trek.

James Doohan insisted on performing his own stunts during the barroom battle. Stuntman Jay Jones did double Doohan for a few brief scenes.

Guest star William Campell as Klingon Captain Koloth would reprise his role more than 25 years later on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's episode "Blood Oath."

Likewise, guest star Charlie Brill would reprise his role of Arne Darvin on ST:DSN's episode "Trials And Tribbleations."

Oddity: Campell & the actors playing Klingons do not wear the usual swarthy makeup that is standard for Klingons.

The talented Wah Chang created the Tribbles.

It took 8 takes for all the Tribbles falling out of the storage bin to land on Shatner just right.

The bar set for Space Station K~7 was recycled from the episode "Court Martial."

David Gerrold would write a sequel to his TTWT episode for Star Trek: The Animated Series entitled "More Tribbles More Troubles." Darn fine episode too.

TTWT was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1968 as Best Dramatic Presentation but lost out to Harlan Ellison's Star Trek episode "The City On The Edge Of Forever."

Director Joseph Pevney named TTWT as his most favorite episode of the ones he directed for ST: TOS.

On the other hand, Gene Roddenberry & Co-Producer Bob Justman did not care for TTWT.

They felt it was too over-the-top for the series and that the characters became parodies of themselves.

David Gerrold pitched a sequel for his TTWT to third season producer Fred Freiberger. Fred also disliked TTWT and felt that Star Trek was not a comedic series.

Years later Gene Roddenberry would pick TTWT as one of his top 10 episodes.

[Krel]

One of the "Star Trek" books (The Making of Star Trek?) mentioned that William Campell's Captain Koloth was intended to be a continuing adversary for Kirk. Unfortunately it never came to pass.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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Mike, I can't thank you enough for your frequent and friendly posts on All Sci-Fi. You embody the kind of intelligent and courteous member I first created this board for, back in 2007!

I sometimes get discouraged when a few of our members don't quite live up to my optimistic expectations. But your posts renew everyone's enthusiasm for All Sci-Fi.

On that note, here's a few comments about your post above.

[Pow]

Thank you for the kind words, Bud.

I've gotten a great deal of enjoyment from All Sci~Fi from both reading, debating and posting.

It certainly has brightened my days and I always learn something from everyone.

Bud, we all greatly appreciate the fact that because of you we still have All Sci~Fi to this day.

It was in danger of going under more than once but you, and others, did not give up, give out or give in.

And we members will never forget that fact.

Being home more than ever these days due to the pandemic makes All Sci~Fi something to truly look forward to reading and posting on each day.

Thanks again, Bud, for everything you have done to keep it going. I cannot say that enough.

I agree with you, I believe that in many dramatic television series there should be places for humor.

Life is neither wholly dramatic nor totally comedic for most people. It can be a mixture of both and there's no reason that TV shows cannot reflect that fact.

[Bud Brewster]

[Pow]

Geez Louise, Bud, All Sci~Fi had a far more precarious history than I was aware of.

I knew about some of its background but not all of it.

My admiration to you for keeping it alive in spite of some very harsh obstacles is even higher than it was if that's possible.

It is no bore to me to read about all of it as it makes me not take All Sci~Fi for granted...not that I ever did.

So it's a good thing to remind other members about those volatile events and what it took you to keep it all running & surviving.

Live long & prosper my friend.

[Bud Brewster]

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Thanks, kind sir!

Just for the record, that was a somewhat abbreviated version of the ASF saga. There are a few dramatic details involving my problems with the late Randy Everett's wife, daughter, and son during the months when they held the fate of All Sci-Fi in their hands.

For example, for about six months I had to send Mrs. Everett Facebook messages and phone messages, begging her to please pay Randy's monthly bill to Servage.net when it lapsed and the board was suddenly off line!

I frequently offered to assume responsibility for the payments, but she refused.

Each time the monthly payment came due, she had to convince Sean Everett to do it for her, because she didn't have Randy's Servage.net log-on data. Sean became more and more uncooperative, and he finally just deleted All Sci-Fi from the server!

Now that All Sci-Fi is FINALLY under my control — for the first time since it's 2006 creation — I no longer have to worry about things like that!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ To create the one tribble moving on its own, the prop supervisor bought a battery powered toy dog and stripped it down to the mechanical works. Once recovered with fur including the toy legs, the prop moved on camera along the railing on the Enterprise bridge without wires or external assistance.

The toy was so noisy all the dialogue in the scene had to be looped with ADR (re-recorded after shooting).

Note from me: Has any toy company ever offered motorized tribbles for sale?

~ The scene in which Kirk is buried in an avalanche of tribbles took eight takes to get right. The tribbles were thrown into the hatch by members of the production crew. The crew members were not sure when to stop because they were unable to see the scene.

This is why additional tribbles keep falling on Kirk one by one. William Shatner can be seen looking perplexed as to why more tribbles keep falling on him.

Note from me: Knowing the William Shatner was not always Mister Congeniality, I'm betting a few crew members up in the bin where having fun pelleting poor Bill with a tribble or two.

In fact, when you watch the click below, take note of how many tribbles trickle down and bounce off Shatner's head after the main barrage is over. I think the crew members up in the bin weren't just dropping the tribbles — they were taking careful aim!

__ Star Trek - A New Generation Every Three Hours


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~ The noises that the tribbles make were a combination of dove coos, screech owl cries and air escaping from balloons.

Note from me: Not sure I buy this statement. The clip above includes the sound the tribbles made, and it seems to just be the cooing sound of pigeons or doves — without the owl or the balloon.

Watch (and listen) to this clip and compare it to the tribble sound in the clip above.

________________________ Doves cooing


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~ William Shatner recalled the great enjoyment all the cast had filming this episode. He noted, "The trouble we had with 'Tribbles' was [to] keep your straight face. It was just a lot of fun."

Note from me: Shatner was allowed to exacerbate that problem with the humorous lines he had, like repeating certain phrases in several scenes. "Quadrotriticale? Quadrotriticale?"

~ Writer David Gerrold tried to pitch a sequel to this episode during the third season. But producer Fred Freiberger rejected it because he did not like the comedic tone of this episode. Gerrold's idea eventually became an animated spin-off, Star Trek: The Animated Series: More Tribbles, More Troubles (1973).

Note from me: I watched that episode of ST: TAS, and I have mixed feelings about the "giant tribble" concept it included. A monster-tribble just doesn't seem like the right way to go.

~ William Campbell (Koloth) recalled that, after this episode was aired, his neighbour's son consequently addressed his wife as "Mrs. Klingon".

Note from me: We never got to see female Klingon's in TOS, but TNG sure made up for that by presenting "ladies" of that race who certainly wouldn't win the Miss Universe pageant!

~ William Campbell (Koloth) recalled that, after this episode was aired, his neighbour's son consequently addressed his wife as "Mrs. Klingon".

Note from me: That would explain why the TOS bar fight had at least one distinct difference between it and classic Western barroom brawls. In those scenes, the chairs are frequently bashed over the heads of the combatants!

~ James Doohan insisted on doing his own stunts in the barroom brawl.

Note from me: By God, if you're gonna play a Scotsman, fight like a Scotsman!

~ Spock's estimate of the tribble population (1,771,561) is mathematically accurate, given the explanation: "That's assuming one tribble, multiplying with an average litter of 10, producing a new generation every 12 hours over a period of three days."

Note from me: Just before I read the item above, I was wondering how large a newborn tribble would be. However, the statement made by Spock claims that the tribbles have "litters of ten".

Good Lord, the baby tribbles must be the size English peas!

And yet, each "baby" is full grown in twelve hours, after which it gives birth to ten more tribbles. . . and repeats this cycle twice more in the next forty-eight hours!

On that note, lets consider this statement.

~ There is much discussion of tribbles consuming the ship's resources, but no one ever appears to feed them. In fact, only one is shown eating — in the bar. Nor is there any indication of tribbles producing any kind of waste products.

Note from me: The statement that "no one ever appears to feed them" aboard the Enterprise is not true. We see them appearing in the food replicators, which suggests that they're eating the ship's suppli.

But this is a flaw in the story, because the food replicators MAKE the food, so how could tribbles appear in the dispenser the moment the food is created?

As for the question of why the tribbles don't seem to produce waste products, it occurred to me that perhaps the tribbles have such an efficient digestive system that they use 95% of the food they eat — or that they actually recycle their own waste by . . . eating it.

Either way, what's left might be nothing but a fine white powder which is cleaned up as common dust.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Nitpicker's Guide Away

Captain Kirk allows the Klingons visitation rights on Federation Space Station K-7 but they may only have 12 Klingons on the station at a time.

Kirk then orders 12 Enterprise security guards to the station in order to keep an eye on the Klingons.

Why, then, are there no security guards seen when the fight breaks out in the bar between the Klingons and Enterprise crew members?

Cyrano Jones is one poor businessman. He doesn't recognize a bad product when he sees one. Every successful business person knows that repeat sales are a healthy and crucial part of the game. There's no such thing as a repeat sale for tribbles. Due to their astonishing proliferation they become a numerous commodity that ruins the market.

Two Nits of my own for this episode.

Firstly, Scotty reports to Captain Kirk that he has transported the entire colony of tribbles over to the Klingon star ship just prior to their warping away.

Wouldn't the Klingon's ship's shields be fully activated given they were in enemy territory? You cannot transport anything through fully erected shields. And the Klingons aren't the type to let their guard down, especially at a Federation space station.

The shields are also required for star ships to protect them from any objects in space they might encounter. If the Klingons have just left the space station at warp speed then they'd absolutely have to have their shields fully operating.

Secondly, Scotty had to have realized that he was condemning the tribbles to death. Just what did he think that the Klingon crew would do with the creatures?

They'll beam them all out into outer space to their deaths.

Yet, we see the bridge crew laughing away over the situation. So much for the Federation of Planets & Starfleet philosophy that all life is precious.

The bridge crew were lauging so hard that their sides hurt at the end of "The Galileo Seven." On that episode two crew members were killed by the inhabitants of the planet that the Galileo had crashed on.

So much for Kirk taking any loss of his crew personally.

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

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Ah-ha! I stand corrected on both counts. Thanks.

So, obviously the tribbles got into the stored food, and that's how they managed to multiply so prodigiously.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)