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| Kirk is buried in tribbles. And troubles, for that matter. |
THE PLOT
The Enterprise receives an emergency signal sending them to Space Station K-7, a station in close proximity to a planet claimed by both the Federation and the Klingon Empire. With the Organians having made a military dispute impossible, the planet will go to whichever of the two sides can better develop it. Baris (William Schallert), a high-ranking Federation official, is storing a grain that he believes will clinch it for the Federation - and he's called Kirk to the station to act as guard for the grain.
Kirk is outraged at what he sees as a trivial use of the emergency signal, but he does see one silver lining: the station provides an ideal site for some much-needed R & R. Matters are complicated when a Klingon ship arrives at the station, ostensibly also to use its facilities for rest. Now Kirk must protect the grain while keeping his crew from getting involved in any "incidents" with the Klingons.
And then there's the small matter of the tribbles...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Kirk: Takes an instant dislike to Baris, antagonizing the (admittedly annoying) official to a genuinely unproductive extent. Baris and Kirk seem to bring out the worst in each other throughout the episode, which might make for interesting character interplay if Baris were a more interesting character. William Shatner seems to enjoy the lighter touch called for in this episode, giving some wonderfully bemused vocal and facial reactions to some of the turns in the script. I also enjoyed seeing Kirk's ego bruised when he finds out the reason for the barroom brawl was not the insults directed at him, but rather those directed at the Enterprise.
Spock: Kirk's irritation at Baris nearly causes the captain to ignore the genuine security concern that does exist. Spock has to step in to remind the captain that the grain actually is important. Nimoy is terrific in the deadpan comedy moments of the script, his stone-faced delivery of several lines a perfect counterpoint to the flustered Baris or the eternally weary Kirk.
Chekov: David Gerrold's script makes good use of Chekov's status as a young ensign. The teaser delivers an expositional infodump in a way that works, by having Chekov's knowledge of the situation tested by Kirk and Spock. Chekov's enthusiasm and love of Starfleet is made into a potential negative when he is provoked by the Klingons on the space station - which gives a wonderful moment to Scotty. On the minus side, Gerrold seriously overdoes the already-overdone running joke of Chekov crediting everything to Russians. By 15 minutes in, we'd had variations on this joke at least three times, which is at least two too many.
Dr. McCoy: Gets the line fluff of the episode when he refers to the Tribbles as "bisexual." I don't think that word means what you think it means, Bones.
Annoying Space Beauracrat of the Week: It's hard to see how Baris (William Schallert) achieved his position, given that he doesn't appear to play well with others. He could likely have made a direct request to Kirk for help in protecting the grain, or even a request to Starfleet to send a ship to protect it. Instead, he throws around his authority at every turn, alienating people whom he would be better-served making his allies. Schallert, a very good actor, manages to ground this cartoon in some reality. He finds moments in which Baris attempts to take a more human tact with Kirk. In his first scene, there's a wonderful bit when Baris drops his officiousness and actually starts to reason with Kirk - only to have Kirk steamroll over him, giving Baris motivation to return to his previous bearing.
Villain of the Week: William Campbell is Koloth, captain of the Klingon ship that visits Station K-7. Campbell's Koloth lacks the strong presence of John Colicos' complex Kor, and seems like a relative lightweight - hardly a worthy adversary for Kirk. Still, he is an improvement over the Klingon in Friday's Child. He at least seems to have a sharp mind, and an ability to use the specifics of the peace treaty in his favor. In this respect, I suppose Koloth ends up being the series' first-ever Klingon beauracrat.
THOUGHTS
The second comedy Trek in a row, in terms of production order. A potential cause for concern, if the series had continued on this track. An occasional comedy episode is a nice relief, but they are best left as the exception and not the rule. It is good that they pulled back on such episodes after this point.
Given that it did remain the exception, I am delighted to enjoy The Trouble with Tribbles for what it is - the best comedy episode Star Trek ever made. It's one of the best "pure comedy" episodes of any science fiction series I've seen,thanks to writer David Gerrold's keen grasp not only of humor, but of structure. Gerrold hasn't just written a series of amusing bits and strung them together. He's created a solidly conceived, expertly structured story.
Take the Tribbles themselves. Title aside, they seem to be a minor subplot in the first half of the episode. They are introduced, we see that they start to breed... but the situation with the Klingons and Baris takes up far more of Kirk's (and our) attention than the Tribbles do. Then, after an amusing gag in which the long-suffering K-7 bartender shows trader Cyrano Jones exactly why he's not interested in any more Tribbles thank you, they start to be more and more central to the story. By the end, the spread of the Tribbles is both a complication to the plot, creating a third act crisis, and ultimately the plot's solution. It's wonderful structure, as the Tribbles move from a background element to the foreground, their story merging effortlessly with the other threads.
The use of music is key to the episode's effectiveness. Look at the barroom brawl sequence. There's a nice touch by David Gerrold, as a fairly standard barroom brawl is enhanced by Cyrano using the chaos to help himself to free drinks. But the score tips the scene over into greatness. The incidentals start in such a way as to support the action of the brawl. Then they move into a jauntier beat as Cyrano starts helping himself. As Cyrano weaves about the combatants with two drinks in hand, dodging them while keeping his balance, the jaunty beat takes over completely. The gag is capped by a wonderful visual double punchline, fading even as the screen itself fades to black for commercial. Wonderful directing, good writing... and given just the right tone by a perfectly-judged incidental score.
My own tastes my leave me preferring the more dramatic episodes, such as Amok Time, Balance of Terror, and The City on the Edge of Forever. But in terms of story, structure, and execution, this is every bit as good an episode as those were. The best Trek of its type by far, and entirely deserving of full marks.
Rating: 10/10.
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