The Trouble With Tribbles Star Trek episode 42

While on a mission to protect the cargo of space station K-7 the crew of the enterprise is on a little R&R. The station also happens to be holding a special hybrid grain quadrotriticale that is ear marked for a planet in need. Also due to a mutual agreement visiting the station is a Klingon crew.

You think you see the pattern but just wait there is also a pitchman Cyrano Jones (Stanley Adams) that is trading in cute little fuzzy creatures known as Tribbles. As with stray cats all you have to do is feed them and love them. If you have ever started feeding stray cats then you can guess what is going to happen next.

The program is kept on a light and comic tone but has sinister implications. After you find the problem and guess who is the culprit(s) are your next task is to find a solution.

I have a few my self (oh those are cats)

Stanley Adams (Cerano) wrote an episode as well

The episode with those furry little creatures was the apex of humor on Star Trek. By this point in the show's run, characters were well enough developed for the actors and brain trust to feel comfortable stepping out a bit. And they certainly step out in this one. Thanks to writer Gerrold, the episode actually has a fairly solid dramatic foundation that includes Klingon intrigue, and threats to both the food supply and the Enterprise itself. One could be forgiven for not realizing this though, since the tribbles
completely steal the show. Actually the enterprise crew (and Adams as Cerano)for the most part prove quite adept in the comedic roles, and the officious Schallert is a perfect straight man under the circumstances. A Starfleet official is even correct in his desire to reign in Kirk, for once!

Tidbits: The fight scene was supposedly pinched en masse from a prior film. Recognize the Klingon? He was Trelane from The Squire of Gothos, played by William Campbell.

One Of The Finest Hours Of The Original Series

"The Trouble With Tribbles" is my personal favorite among the nearly 80 hours of the original "Star Trek" series. It is unquestionably the funniest, with David Gerrold's deft, wittty prose creating hilarious scenes and dialogue as precious as any I've seen on Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners". James Doohan's Scotty steals many of the scenes he's in, though highest honors for hilarity deservedly go to Stanley Adams as the trader Cyrano Jones responsible for the tribble infestation on the Federation space station. The fight between the Klingons and the Enterprise crew is certainly among the finest examples of "Star Trek" humor I've seen. Fans of slapstick comedy will not want to miss this terrific "Star Trek" episode.

This was David Gerrold's first professional sale as a writer and remains one of his finest episodes of science fiction television (However, his best probably is the Babylon 5 episode "Believers".).