Favorite Episodes of Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, and, as someone who has been a fan of Star Trek since I was old enough to talk, I feel an obligation to pay tribute the best way I know how. For the next few months (trying to avoid setting a direct deadline as I have a busy life outside this blog and this is a rather ambitious project) I will be posting articles counting down my Top 20 Favorite Episodes of what I beleive to be the best Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine. We'll discuss that series in detail later, but right now, let's answer the obvious question: Wes, if these articles are meant to be about Deep Space Nine, then why are we talking about an episode of the original series. The answer: While I believe Deep Space Nine is the best Star Trek has to offer, I don't want the other series to be left out, so, in addition to the Top 20 list, I'll also be sharing my favorite episodes of Star Trek's other shows, starting, naturally, with the original series.

In this episode, Kirk and the Enterprise are ordered to station K7 to assist with the development of Sherman's Planet, a planet disputed over by both the Federation and the Klingons. Whilst there, Uhura purchases an adorable little fluffball called a tribble from an annoying con-artist named Cyrano Jones and brings it aboard the Enterprise. Unfortunately, while the Tribbles are adorable, they have the problem of breeding out of control, and soon the Enterprise is overrun with the little critters. As if that weren't enough, Kirk has to deal with the condescending head of development on Sherman's planet along with his Surly Klingon competitor, and all of this because the Flagship of the federation was essentially brought in to guard a silo of grain.

The Tribbles are what this episode is most fondly remembered for, but they, along with the con artist, the station head, the Klingons and Scotty getting in a bar fight are all meant to accomplish one narrative goal, that being, to drive Kirk crazy. It's probably for this reason that I enjoy this episode so much. While ordinarily, the original series would typical have Captain Kirk triumph over an insurmountable foe, this time around we see Kirk constantly being outwitted by cute little fluffballs and a condescending weasel. Seeing Kirk constantly at his wits end throughout the entire episode is a delight to watch, and makes it all the more satisfying when he emerges triumphant in the end. It's not the most significant or even the best written episode of Star Trek, but it is the one that most people tend to remember, and with good reason. Next time, we'll start our DS9 countdown properly, and what better place to start than at the beginning.