This classic "Star Trek" episode is notable for several reasons: it introduced Walter Koenig as Ensign Chekhov; it featured William Campbell (who had already made a strong impression as the Squire of Gothos), who was the most popular Klingon until Stephen Dorn joined the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as Lieutenant Worf; and it is arguably the funniest entry in the original series, though "A Piece of the Action" is a close second. The fiendishly inventive script deals with issues ranging from bureaucratic mismanagement to environmental contamination to Cold War rivalries. The Tribbles are evidently the deep-space equivalents of rabbits, though in some ways they're more like rats; their rapid proliferation underscores the dangers of introducing nonnative wildlife to an ecosystem. Still, they're so cute and fuzzy we forgive them. "The Trouble With Tribbles" benefits from superb ensemble acting and a gifted guest cast: besides the aforementioned William Campbell there's Stanley Adams as galactic "entrepreneur" Cyrano Jones; Whit Bissell as hard-pressed station administrator Mr. Lurie; and William Shallert as Neils Barrett, the embodiment of the snotty, arrogant bureaucrat. Among the regulars, Nichelle Nicole as Uhura and James Doohan as Scotty give strong performances; this is one time the Enterprise crew functioned like a team instead of mere background players for the Big Three. Two questions, though: what's with Chekhov's Beatles haircut (clearly non-regulation) and why do the Klingons in this episode look more Caucasian than usual? It's hard to imagine how this bunch of loud but essentially harmless Galactic outlaw bikers could have evolved into the bulbous-foreheaded, alien-looking Klingons of "The Next Generation." One theory is that the later Klingons were full-blood Klingons; the ones on the original series were a Klingon-Vulcan hybrid.
Review of The Trouble with Tribbles
