TAS: Season One, Episode Five

Star Trek

The Animated Series
Season One, Episode Five More Tribbles, More Troubles
[original airdate: 10|06|1973]
[spoilers ahoy!]

I do love episodes about Tribbles, and I wish there were more! (Which reminds me, starting next week, we'll interim for the new Short Treks)

Starting out with some pretty cool looking grain ships (despite those nacelles, I'm pretty sure those things are not going to go too fast.) and some quintotriticale because quadrotriticale isn't enough.

 [Graaaaaaains. (Two blocky Starfleet ships with round nacelles on a starfield.)]

And of course since it's a Tribble episode, there must be Klingons, it is law. And yep, just like they'd heard, it was actually confirmed. Which means there's going to be trouble.

[Worf hates tribbles. (Odo holds up a tribble to Worf, who turns away.)]

OKay but I wanna know how the fuck they're missing these guys?? I know it's a tiny ship but come on. For plot's sake guys...

Mmmm and now we go to warp six and rescue someone we don't know just because the Klingons are firing on it. What does Spock have to say about all of this?

...

Nothing apparently. Still have no idea if they even managed to rescue the person, and the Klingons are not interested in opening a dialogue.

And not only that, apparently we're going to go warp eight while we do it... does anyone else remember how mad fans got when Scotty figured out a transport during warp algorithm in the alt-universe films? Because I do.

 [(Montgomery Scott, Kelvinverse, played by Simon Pegg.)]

And yet we're doing it just fine (with some effort) here. Of course, I suppose since this is sometimes considered non-canon, what do I know.

Fascinating. That new weapon kind of sounds like a train stopping, but I'm here for the fact that here's Spock all

"It produces a most remarkable--"

KASUJFDYHSLJFHS;DJKFGHSDF*screeching*

"disruption." LMFAO. I'm also here for Scotty being all "rassafrassaragh" while he's still struggling. And okay, it's an unsuccessful transwarp beaming so far. At least with the engines dead…

[How it feels telling Kirk the engines are dead. (A young black
comedian (Donald Glover) nervously tugs his collar)]

I love you Uhura. Everything's gone useless and she's like "Well, we could throw rocks." (How about the torpedos? Arm them manually and "throw" them at the Klingons?)

I swear to god this guy would be dead as a doornail if it wasn't plot convenient for him to survive all of this nonsense.

Finally the Klingons wanna talk. 

 [They still look like Puerto Ricans in gold lamé. (A Klingon in a purple uniform, who looks like a
tanned human with dark hair and beard. The reference is from a song by Voltaire.)]

Damn Kirk is not having any of this dude's shit. (Also ecological sabotage. Interesting). PSST MR SPOCK GUESS WHAT OUR ROBOT SHIPS THAT NO ONE KNEW ABOUT ARE STILL WORKING.

 [Psst Spock! (An extreme closeup of Spock and Uhura. Spock's face
is so close you can only see his nose, ear, and one eye.)]

LOL Kirk wtf. Those robot ships are under escort (the grain ships apparently) but are probably automated to go to Sherman's Planet. You don't need to waste all of that grain bc you wanna attack some Klingons.

Maybe he could try seeing what kind of person is there. Heck, maybe he'd want to dump them on the Klingons.

Also a) wtf is that thing he picked up and b) why does it look like a beauty blender?

 [Koloth and his beauty blender. (The Klingon holds up a blue egg-shaped device.
It resembles an egg-shaped beauty sponge from the accompanying picture.)]

I guess maybe it's a communicator?

HA! Oh man. They couldn't maintain the generated field once it hit three targets. NOICE. Ffff damn, they're still able to fire on the grain ship, but only damage it.

JFC how the hell is that guy even still alive??? *squint* That silhouette reminds me of someone.

YOU

[(David Sutherland points in horror. He wears a tan trenchcoat, 

and has curly 70s hair. From Invasion of the Body Snatchers.)]

That is a whole lot of pink tribbles. (Are they related to puffskeins? Discuss.) Although I don't remember him being labeled a nuisance it makes sense, after what happend in The Trouble With Tribbles.

Oh snap! The shade, the shade!

[Cyrano: *brings tribbles* Everyone: (a young black woman with a 

bob hairstyle on the phone says "hold on. I'm about to drag someone.")]

Also the look on McCoy's face when he just shoves a tribble in his face. Like "gurl you'd best be getting that out of my face before I eat it or make it into a hat."

Wait. A tribble predator??? Okay that's freaky. And creepy. It just squats on a tribble and then the tribble is gone. No thanks.

[Tracy Morgan in a car saying "no" aggressively

 in various ways, shaking his head.]

Ohhhhh boy. You know when they say it's nothing, and no one should be mad... well. JFC you sold tribbles to Klingons. What the hell. God I hate when people call someone "Friend" like that's how you know that person isn't your friend for friends' sake.

No sir we can't talk it over, you're in a big old bunch of trouble and you're lucky he's not just dumping you headfirst into the brig.

Cuz you sir, are a problem.

 [A woman wearing makeup and a frilly purple sleeveless
blouse spelling and saying the word trouble.]

I am here for McCoy just speaking in a series of "hmms". I've never seen it, but I like it. WEll, at least the tribbles aren't born pregnant.

I have to agree that this Klingon weapon is weird.

Omg. The halls are full of grain. (At least it's in barrels?) Could you imagine trying to get your work done and there's walls and walls of grain cannisters?"

 [Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story.
Buzz is saying "Cans, Cans everywhere."]

Welp, at least the tribble predator is still around, so maybe they'll stay under control. I just will always be suspicious of them.

OH DON'T ASK THAT QUESTION JIM THAT'S A CHALLENGE. How fat do these things get is like the "it can't get any worse" of tribbles.

Uh oh. The grain is everywhere, THAT'S NOT GOOD. Wait, the tribbles are growing?!

 [Panicked Kermit the Frog chewing on his fingers and shaking his head]

"We could always throw tribbles at them." MR SPOCK is that a joke I hear??? No of course not.

Also shut the heck up Cyrano. Your tribbles are getting bigger and bigger. They're your fault because you brought them. Also holy frick that tribble.

[Is this the same one as before?!?! (Captain Kirk frowning as he tries to shove a pink tribble half

his size from his command chair. It is clearly very heavy.)]

Hhahaha Uhura is savage. "With pleasure sir." Okayyyyyy that bit is a little contrived but the result with the massive tribble is hilarious.

LMFAO did they really just beam a whole pile of giant tribbles to the Klingon ship?? The tribble rolling past Koloth. ROFLMAO

[(Koloth in the foreground talking while a giant tribble
rolls past his command chair. The text reads "They see me rollin")]

Ohhhh now I get why Cyrano was a problem. If he snatched up that predator, it would ruin things for the Klingons. I'd go to war over that too, tbh. (At least in a fictional setting).

Omg Cyrano shut up space salvage laws cover s p a c e you ninny. He isn't yours you stole him. RUDE.

Also I'm not sure what Bones is implying, is each tribble a colony?? Okay apparently yes. At least once it's a tonne of small ones, it'll be easier for the glommer to do away with them?

[(A familiar image of Kirk buried to the chest in small pink tribbles, which is a callback to
the TOS episode where he's buried in multicolored neutral furred tribbles.]

As expected, that was a ridiculous episode. I like how Trek writers just want to go creatively silly with tribbles. When you see the new short Trek, you'll understand why I say that. I honestly hope there's more writing with them! I'll give this episode an 8/10.

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