Tribbles!

[meadowblythe]

Ventured to the cinema last night to watch the new(ish) Star Trek film.  Although it probably has little artistic merit I really enjoyed it. But one  thing is really puzzling me - how did the Tribble get onto the ship, and what was its state of health on arrival?  OK, more than one thing puzzled me, don't examine the plot too closely ..

 

Hoping someone else has seen it, but was paying closer attention ..

 

Meadowblythe

[alison]

Haven't seen it yet, but was there any quadrotriticale on board?  They have previous history with that - twice over, now I come to think of it

 

And what about its state of health ... it wasn't p........., was it?

[Anjuli_Bai]

The original Star Trek episode called "The Trouble with Tribbles" was, as I dimly recall, one of the only episodes that came "over the transom" - from someone in the public - not one of the show's writers.

 

I also read it is one of the most beloved of the episodes.

[meadowblythe]

To mix my metaphors, or 1970's programmes, the problem with the tribble, definitely at one point, is it was  in the same state as Monty Python's Norwegian Blue Parrot.  Don't think it had been imbibing first.

 

I really should have been paying attention!

[MAB]

The original Star Trek episode called "The Trouble with Tribbles" was, as I dimly recall, one of the only episodes that came "over the transom" - from someone in the public - not one of the show's writers.

 

I also read it is one of the most beloved of the episodes.

 

And in the UK one of the least repeated.

[alison]

Really?  I thought they were all run in syndication, so to speak, barring the omission of a few dodgy ones such as "Miri", "The Empath", "Plato's Stepchildren" and so on, so should have all had roughly the same number of showings?

 

Did you see the brilliant DS9 "reboot" of it?  Was it called "More Trouble, More Tribbles", or is that something else I was thinking about?

 

Both count among my favourite Star Trek episodes of any of the series.

[Anna C]

The tribble was an ex-tribble - but I missed why, and how it had died. Have to wait for the blu-ray and watch it a few times to see if we missed a crucial piece of info!

 

Blummin' brilliant film though!

[MAB]

Really?  I thought they were all run in syndication, so to speak, barring the omission of a few dodgy ones such as "Miri", "The Empath", "Plato's Stepchildren" and so on, so should have all had roughly the same number of showings?

 

Did you see the brilliant DS9 "reboot" of it?  Was it called "More Trouble, More Tribbles", or is that something else I was thinking about?

 

Both count among my favourite Star Trek episodes of any of the series.

 

I would have thought so too, but when young Star Trek fans ask me what my favourite episode was and I reply The Trouble with Tribbles, most seem not to have heard of it and I've only seen a repeat once since the first time around.

 

Have to fess up to a secret fondness for Sci Fi; how I used to love the old BBC disused quarry, the backdrop for so many earlier series such as Blake's 7.  Nostalgia on my part I suppose.

[taxi4ballet]

I don't have the foggiest clue what you are all on about!!!

[Anjuli_Bai]

I don't have the foggiest clue what you are all on about!!!

 

Taxi4ballet - go to Google and type in "The trouble with tribbles" -  and you'll see pictures, plot, etc.  A tribble is hard to resist.

 

There is a lot of stuff on Star Trek which has come true - we now have doors which open automatically, things called transponders, how close to a laser is a phaser set on 'stun?"

 

And then there's poor Scotty - convinced the engines are about to blow.

 

Leonard Nimoy, by the way, is a fine actor.  I saw him in the one man play "Man in a glass booth" and he was superb.

 

The divided finger sign Spock gives is the ancient priestly hand sign of blessing from the Hebrew Bible - it's not really Vulcan at all!

 

Some of the episodes took on some social issues in a new and interesting way like the one which showed two men chasing  one another across the galaxy each proclaiming the other was a monstrosity.  Their difference?  One was white on the left side and black on the right side and the other man was the reverse.  It was a thought provoking way to take on the issue.

 

And another - about war.  Two planets were constantly at war but instead of actually shooting at one another, a computer just figured out how many had been killed and that many people were expected to show up for execution.  Why bother with bullets when this was so much more efficent?

 

I think another favorite episode was the one about the mobs of the 1930's.  Spock was hillarious in that one.

 

Well, I do go on don't I?

[MAB]

I think another favorite episode was the one about the mobs of the 1930's.  Spock was hillarious in that one.

 

Well, I do go on don't I?

 

 

Was that the one where the people of the planet lived by a book that had been left behind?  If I remember rightly the crew replaced it with a bible before leaving.  A classic.

 

Scotty is now played by Simon Pegg, one of my favourite comic actors, amazing how the series has reinvented itself and still stays watchable.

[Anjuli_Bai]

Was that the one where the people of the planet lived by a book that had been left behind?  If I remember rightly the crew replaced it with a bible before leaving.  A classic.

 

Scotty is now played by Simon Pegg, one of my favourite comic actors, amazing how the series has reinvented itself and still stays watchable.

 

 

Yes, a book on the mobs had been left behind.

 

As regards subsequent television series, am much less familiar with any of the sequels, re-makes, and re-do's.  They just aren't the same for me.  Whoopie Goldberg as the font of all wisdom just didn't make it for me.  I am unfamiliar with the series with Simon Pegg.

 

I did, however, enjoy some of the full length feature films.

 

I think a number of the original cast had problems moving on to other roles.  We enjoyed them so much they got kind of trapped in the role. 

 

One of my favorite scenes is Spock playing three dimensional chess against the computer. 

 

 

And then there's this:

 

"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its 5-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

 

It's not the best grammar - a split infinitive I believe (whatever that is) but it is wonderfully effective isn't it?

[meadowblythe]

Split infinitives or not, still brings prickles to the back of my neck ..

[KathyG]

Just love a discussion about Star Trek on ballet.co. Would love to see this film but don't have the time at the moment. Also a fan of the tribbles.

[alison]

Have to fess up to a secret fondness for Sci Fi; how I used to love the old BBC disused quarry, the backdrop for so many earlier series such as Blake's 7.  Nostalgia on my part I suppose.

 

Used frequently for Doctor Who, too, I seem to remember - it stood in for umpteen alien planets.

 

 

Taxi4ballet - go to Google and type in "The trouble with tribbles" -  and you'll see pictures, plot, etc.  A tribble is hard to resist.

 

The divided finger sign Spock gives is the ancient priestly hand sign of blessing from the Hebrew Bible - it's not really Vulcan at all!

 

Some of the episodes took on some social issues in a new and interesting way like the one which showed two men chasing  one another across the galaxy each proclaiming the other was a monstrosity.  Their difference?  One was white on the left side and black on the right side and the other man was the reverse.  It was a thought provoking way to take on the issue.

 

And another - about war.  Two planets were constantly at war but instead of actually shooting at one another, a computer just figured out how many had been killed and that many people were expected to show up for execution.  Why bother with bullets when this was so much more efficent?

 

I love "A Taste of Armageddon" .

 

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Tribbles_(episode) - I was wrong about the DS9 title: it's "Trials and Tribble-ations".  How could I have forgotten?  I think the one I quoted may have been from the animated series (yes, there was an animated series in the 70s, too).

 

And Leonard Nimoy was peeking during the Jewish ceremony - he should have had his eyes closed at that point and not seen the sign!

 

Was that the one where the people of the planet lived by a book that had been left behind?  If I remember rightly the crew replaced it with a bible before leaving.  A classic.

 

The mobs one is "A Piece of the Action", but I don't think there would have been a bible involved - Gene Roddenberry was very much a humanist, I think. 

 

Yes, a book on the mobs had been left behind.

 

As regards subsequent television series, am much less familiar with any of the sequels, re-makes, and re-do's.  They just aren't the same for me.  Whoopie Goldberg as the font of all wisdom just didn't make it for me.  I am unfamiliar with the series with Simon Pegg.

 

One of my favorite scenes is Spock playing three dimensional chess against the computer. 

 

Is that the one where he finds that someone's tampered with the computer because he can suddenly beat it at chess? (having programmed the computer for chess himself, the best that should be achievable is a stalemate)

 

Split infinitives or not, still brings prickles to the back of my neck ..

 

Mine too.  Possibly even more so when voiced by Patrick Stewart.

 

Anjuli, a split infinitive is where you insert something (such as "boldly") between "to" and the other half of the infinitive.  I don't think Americans have them, actually

[Anjuli_Bai]

and if we had infinitives to split - we wouldn't care!

 

Yes, Spock realizes that someone was tampering with the computer because he had programmed it for chess and was winning more than half the time.

 

Some of the costumes for the women were a miracle of architecture - they must have been pasted on - no way on a planet with gravity would they have stayed up. 

 

As I recall Nimoy spent hours in the makeup chair getting those ears affixed.  It's not easy being Vulcan.

 

I wonder how the Horta is doing these days?

 

That universal language translator would be handy. 

[alison]

I think they used strategically-placed sticky tape in places, Anjuli.  But yes, I wondered how some of the costumes stayed up - think counterweighting had a lot to do with it.  Bill Theiss was a fantastic designer: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/William_Ware_Theiss

[KathyG]

I remember a programme where it was said that they cooked Spocks ears along with their roast chicken as part of the preparation!