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More Tribbles, More Troubles (episode)

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Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)
"More Tribbles, More Troubles"
TAS, Episode 1x05
Production number: 22001
First aired: 6 October 1973
  1st of 22 produced in TAS →
← 5th of 22 released in TAS →
  {{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 22 released in TAS Remastered  
← 84th of 727 released in all →
Written By
David Gerrold

Directed By
Hal Sutherland
5392.4 (2269)
← Arc: Cyrano Jones and Tribbles (2 of 2)  
  Arc: {{{wsArc1Desc}}} ({{{nArc1PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc1PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc2Desc}}} ({{{nArc2PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc2PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc3Desc}}} ({{{nArc3PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc3PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc4Desc}}} ({{{nArc4PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc4PartCount}}})  

While escorting a shipment of grain to Sherman's Planet, the Enterprise encounters three "old friends:" Koloth, Cyrano Jones--and tribbles!

Contents

[edit] Summary

"Captain's Log, Stardate 5392.4. The Enterprise has been assigned to escort two robot grain ships to Sherman's Planet, which has been struck by crop failures and famine. This shipment of grain, quintotriticale, is necessary to the survival of the colonists. We are breaking course to Sherman's Planet to investigate what appears to be a Klingon battle cruiser pursuing some kind of smaller ship. Observation may confirm a rumor that the Klingons have a new weapon – type so far, unknown."
Klingon warship

Sulu confirms that the vessel is a Klingon ship, rapidly closing in on its target, a one-man Federation scout ship of common design. Captain Kirk hails the Klingon battle cruiser after it begins firing on the scoutship, demanding that they identify themselves. After receiving no response, Kirk orders the Enterprise to pursue at warp 6.

While the Enterprise attempts to get within transporter range, the scoutship continues to dodge several volleys of Klingon weapons fire. Kirk again demands the Klingon battle cruiser to identify itself, stating that it is violating Federation space. The battle cruiser attacks the scout ship with another volley of weapons fire, and Kirk orders the Enterprise to raise deflector shields and to arm all phasers. The Enterprise increases to warp 8, still demanding that the Klingon vessel stand down. The cruiser continues to fire on the scout ship as Scotty transports the occupant just as the scout ship explodes. Meanwhile the Klingon cruiser turns its attention to the Enterprise.

The Enterprise automatically goes to red alert moments before the Klingons utilize their new weapon – identified as some sort of field effect that produces a most remarkable disruption. As a result of the first shot, the Enterprise's engines go dead – further analysis of the weapon determines it to be a projected stasis field, which paralyzed the Enterprise by disabling its matter/antimatter generators. Kirk attempts to return fire, but the ship's phasers, as well as its photon torpedoes are also disabled. Spock concludes that the weapon is capable of disabling all higher order field and warp functions. Spock surmises that this new Klingon weapon must be one of surprising power if it can immobilize a starship and that the energy drain on the Klingon ship must be enormous.

Scotty, meanwhile, is still attempting to materialize the scout ship pilot, who is still stuck in mid-transport, due to interference from the Klingon attack.

The Klingon ship, commanded by Captain Koloth hails the Enterprise. Kirk demands to Koloth to release his ship; Koloth, in turn, demands that Kirk hand over the scoutship pilot. However, because the craft was Federation-built, its pilot is under Kirk's protection. Koloth explains that the pilot has committed ecological sabotage(which crime he does not immediately explain), and that if he has to take him by force, he will.

Klingon ship using projected stasis field

Uhura breaks in and informs Spock and Kirk that she is losing contact with the robot-ships because they were moving out of range, having not been affected by the stasis field. Realizing that they still have control of the ships, Kirk breaks off communication with Koloth and orders Sulu to bring them back – have them ram the Klingon ship. Spock reminds Kirk that he cannot afford to lose that grain, but Kirk can afford less to lose the Enterprise. Kirk re-establishes contact with Koloth's ship and demands, once again, that he release the Enterprise. Koloth cuts Kirk off, as Kirk orders the two robot-ships to approach Koloth's ship at different angles. Koloth catches on to Kirk's plan and fires the stasis fields at both approaching ships; but his ship's power is now overextended, as it attempts to hold three ships at once in stasis. Suddenly the stasis field releases the Enterprise and Koloth's ship fires at one of the robot-ships, disabling the ship by destroying its nacelles. Koloth's ship veers off, as their power cells are almost exhausted.

With the Klingons gone, Scotty is finally able to re-integrate the scout ship pilot in the transporter. Dr. McCoy, Spock and Kirk arrive in the transporter room just as the pilot materialize, revealing Cyrano Jones, and a transporter pad full of tribbles.

"Captain's Log, supplemental. Our rescue effort has given us some knowledge of the new Klingon weapon – and the presence of Cyrano Jones, intergalactic trader and general nuisance."

Jones greets "friend Kirk," only to get a bitter reply reminding him about breaking the law by transporting animals proven harmful. Jones declares that these are safe tribbles, as they are incapable of reproducing. Jones had them genetically engineered for compatibility with humanoid ecology.

A glommer

Kirk inquires as to why he left Space Station K-7, knowing full well he could not have cleaned up all the tribbles there. Jones reveals that he found some help, a tribble predator, called a "glommer".

Kirk then inquires as to why the Klingons were chasing him, to which Jones replies "How should I know? Klingons have notoriously bad tempers." Kirk brought up Koloth's mention of "ecological sabotage," to which Jones stumbles around until he confesses that he sold tribbles on a Klingon planet, but claims not to have known that it was a Klingon planet. Kirk states to Jones that according to Federation computer files, he was in violation of three Federation mandates and forty-seven local ones. Kirk confines Jones until they complete their mission, after which, he will be turned over to the proper authorities.

The senior staff conducts a meeting where McCoy confirms Jones claim that they don't reproduce, stating, "They just get fat." Kirk's greatest concern, at the time, however, is the new Klingon weapon. Spock explains that it is an energy-sapping field of great strength. It immobilizes a starship and its weapons capability and can hold starships in relative immobility if they stray too close, but apparently it also immobilizes the attacking ship's abilities at the same time. Despite the practical disadvantage the weapon poses to the Klingons, it does have logical applications. The key question is "How long does it take to recharge?" Fearful that when the Klingons return they will attempt to destroy the other robot-ship, Kirk inquires to the status of the first damaged ship. Scotty notes that they have transported all the grain off the ship and onto the Enterprise, severely limiting them. Her shuttlebay, extra cargo holds and corridors were overfilled with barrels of grain.

Back on the bridge, the ships sensors detect the Klingon battle cruiser once again. Kirk orders the other robot-ship to change course and act as a decoy as the Enterprise begins evasive maneuvers. The Klingon cruiser veers off and attacks the robot-ship, disabling its nacelles as well. The cruiser changes course back to the Enterprise, and fires upon her.

As a result of the attack, the grain barrels in the corridors of the ship break open. The tribbles, roaming freely around the ship begin to eat the grain that has spilled into the corridors, growing immensely fatter in size. They grow too large, in fact, for the glommer, which is also roaming freely through the corridors, to effectively devour the tribbles.

The Enterprise tows a disabled robot grain ship

The Enterprise returns fire on Koloth's ship, which quickly withdraws. With the second robot grain-ship also disabled, Kirk is forced to use a tractor beam to tow the vessel. Spock fears this was Koloth's intention all along – as he forced the Enterprise to expend additional power to tow the robot-ship. Scott warns Kirk that that is not his only problem, as the tribbles were eating all the grain in the corridors from the broken containers. Alarmed, Kirk requests that Cyrano Jones is to report to the bridge immediately.

Jones arrives on the bridge and innocently offers Kirk some Spican flame gems. Kirk explains that his tribbles are all over the ship and that his security men cannot find them all – and worse, they are eating the quintotriticale.

Koloth's battle cruiser once again returns, forcing Kirk to release the robot-ship and prepare for battle.

"Captain's Log, supplemental. The Klingon ship under command of Captain Koloth is forcing us into a battle for custody for Cyrano Jones, for reasons still unknown."

The Enterprise fires a photon torpedo moments before Koloth fires his stasis field. The field and the torpedo cross paths, and the torpedo is destroyed and the Enterprise becomes caught in its path as well. Koloth once again hails Kirk stating that he will be taking control of his ship now, demanding for the release of Jones.

On board Koloth's ship, he orders Korax to implement "Boarding Plan C." Meanwhile Kirk orders Scotty to implement "Emergency Defense Plan B." Just as the Klingon troops approach their transporter room the door bursts open and the room fills with enormous tribbles that had been beamed over from the Enterprise.

Kirk hails Koloth one last time and asks if he wishes to surrender. Koloth, unaware of what action had been taken against his ship, once again rejects his request. Suddenly an enormous tribble rolls through the bridge.

Koloth breaks down and explains that the reason they want Cyrano Jones so badly is because he stole a Klingon genetic construct, an artificial creature from a Klingon planet, the first of its kind. Koloth demands they have the glommer back as it was designed to be a tribble predator, noting that they are even prepared to go to war if they have to. Koloth explains that they need it in order to grow more from it so that they may rid the Klingon planet that Jones sold tribbles on before they completely over-run it – and destroy its ecology, which Jones had unwittingly sabotaged.

This time, now that he knows what is really at stake, Kirk concurs with Koloth's request and orders Scott to transport it over to the Klingon ship as well. Jones objects to Kirks request, stating that under space salvage laws, the glommer is his; however, Scott notes that a planet's surface is not covered by these laws. Upon receiving the glommer, Koloth's ship releases the Enterprise.

Despite their encounter with the new Klingon weapon, Kirk establishes that the stasis field is not as effective of a weapon as they thought. The power drain is too high, and it takes too long for the Klingon ship to recover to make it practical.

McCoy, meanwhile, makes a further analysis of Jones's genetically engineered tribbles only to determine that it was a slipshod procedure at best. It seems that he was only able to keep them from reproducing, not slow down their metabolism. It was determined that these "giant" tribbles are in fact large colonies.

Onboard Koloth's ship, the crew attempt to use their recovered glommer on the tribbles infesting their engine room. The door opens, and an enormous tribble stands blocking the door. At the sight of that, the glommer quickly bolts down the corridor in the opposite direction. Koloth orders Korax to blast it with his disruptor, and it explodes into dozens of smaller tribbles.

Back in the Enterprise's corridor, McCoy uses a simple shot of neoethylene to force the tribble colonies to break down into their individual units with a slower metabolic rate, ensuring, once and for all, truly safe tribbles. Kirk looks up a Jefferies Tube, tells McCoy that he missed one. But McCoy tells Kirk he did not miss it, and before Kirk can say anything else, he is again buried in tribbles.

Kirk just stands there, up to his armpits again in tribbles and can only lament "Someday I'll learn." Scott then tells Kirk that if they must have tribbles around it's best if all their tribbles are little ones.

[edit] Memorable quotes

"You know the law about transporting animals proven harmful."
"Captain, these are safe tribbles."
"There's no such thing as a safe tribble."
"A safe tribble would be a contradiction in terms. Tribbles are well known for their proclivity in multiplication."
"And they breed fast too! That's why these tribbles are safe. They don't reproduce."

- Kirk, Jones, McCoy, Spock, and Jones (again)


"This is a tribble predator. It's called a glommer."

- Jones


"You... sold... tribbles... on a Klingon planet."
"Well I didn't know it was a Klingon planet."
"Tribbles don't like Klingons. That should have given you some clue."
"Klingons like tribbles even less."

- Kirk and Jones


"We could always throw tribbles at them, Captain."
"I thought Vulcans didn't have a sense of humor." "(Lifts his eyebrow, surprised) We don't; Captain."

- Spock and Kirk


"The first Klingon to step aboard this ship will be the last Klingon. Full security alert, Mr. Spock."

- Kirk

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Story and production

  • This episode was a sequel to David Gerrold's own TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles". In his commentary for this episode on The Animated Series DVD, Gerrold states that the story for this episode was originally submitted for the third season of The Original Series, but third season producer Fred Freiberger rejected it. Freiberger disliked the comic tone of "The Trouble with Tribbles," and did not want to go down that road a second time.
Pink tribbles
  • In a production inconsistency, the tribbles in this episode were all pink, unlike their varied color appearances in "The Trouble with Tribbles. The director, Hal Sutherland, was color-blind, so to him, pink was light gray. The Klingons in this episode also wear pink for the same reason, in this case, their tunics were that color.
  • In another production inconsistency, this time due to the use of recycled footage from "Beyond the Farthest Star", close-up shots of Kyle operating the transporter were used in an instance where Scotty was actually the transporter operator.
  • The Star Trek: The Animated Series DVD booklet and DVD menu list the stardate for this episode as 5329.4; the stardate that Kirk gives in his captain's log is "5392.4".

[edit] Continuity

[edit] Remastered information

  • Paramount announced the HD remastered version of this episode will be included on the TOS Season 2 Blu-ray collection.[1] No details as to the re-mastering process have been provided.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and references

[edit] Starring

And

[edit] Also starring

[edit] Guest stars

[edit] Background characters

[edit] References

Boarding Plan C; Emergency Defense Plan B; Federation scout ship; genetically engineered; glommer; Klingons; Klingon battle cruiser; Klingon Empire; neoethylene; projected stasis field; propulsion unit; quintotriticale; robot grain ship; Sherman's Planet; Spican flame gems; Deep Space Station K-7; tribbles


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