star trek tribbles parody

Trek vs Trek

I watch 2 episodes of Star Trek from 2 different series, and write about them.

“He was an idiot”: More Tribbles, More Troubles (Animated Series) vs. The Trouble with Edward (Short Treks)

*This post contains spoilers for the 2nd-season  Short Trek,  “The Trouble with Edward.” 

Star Trek: The Animated Series – “More Tribbles, More Troubles” (season 1, episode 5)

( IMDb | Memory Alpha )

We open with a log entry from Captain Kirk, explaining that the Enterprise is escorting robot ships full of a grain called “quintotriticale” – one better than “quadrotriticale,” I guess – to Sherman’s Planet. That grain, and that planet, are references to the Original Series episode “The Trouble with Tribbles,” and they aren’t the last, as the Enterprise intervenes to stop a Klingon ship from attacking a smaller vessel filled with tribbles, piloted by Cyrano Jones, the original source of the Enterprise’s tribble troubles. After barely surviving the Klingons’ new weapon – a stasis field capable of immobilizing starships – and beaming Jones and the tribbles aboard, Kirk fears a repeat of their last disastrous run-in with tribbles. But Jones assures him that these tribbles have been genetically engineered not to reproduce, and that his new pet, a “glommer,” is the perfect predator to keep their numbers down at any rate. The Klingon captain, Koloth – another call-back to “The Trouble with Tribbles” – demands that Jones be turned over, and when Kirk refuses, they continue their attack, during which the tribbles find their way into damaged grain containers and grow too big for the glommer to eat. Kirk implements “Emergency Defense Plan B” – beaming giant tribbles on board the Klingon ship – and a desperate Koloth admits that he just needs the glommer, to save a Klingon planet from being overrun by the tribbles Jones sold there. Kirk has the glommer beamed over, and Dr. McCoy figures out how to break the enormous tribbles down into “colonies” of small, “safe” tribbles, which Kirk finds himself buried under once again.

Star Trek: Short Treks – “The Trouble with Edward” (season 2, episode 2)

We open on the Enterprise under Captain Pike’s command, a decade or so before Captain Kirk’s trouble with tribbles. Pike bids farewell to a member of his crew, Lynne Lucero, who has herself just been made Captain of the Cabot, a science ship on a mission to help the starving inhabitants of Pragine 63, near Klingon space. Pike gently warns the brilliant Lucero that not everyone under her command will be “on” her “level,” and this turns out to be true when she meets Lt. Edward Larkin, the Cabot’s “protein specialist,” who is weirdly obsessed with a newly discovered species: “Tribleustes ventricosus.” His crewmates are taken with the cute little tribbles, but Larkin mostly values them for the meat under their adorable fur, and thinks that with some genetic tinkering to make them reproduce faster, they might make a good source of food for the local population. Put off by the moral implications – and by Larkin himself – Captain Lucero orders him off his work with the tribbles. He genetically engineers them anyway, adding some of his own DNA (ew), and they begin reproducing so quickly that they soon overrun the Cabot, forcing Lucero to give the order to abandon ship. But Larkin refuses to get on board the escape shuttle, repeatedly insisting that he’s “not dumb” until a flood of tribbles crushes him. When Lucero finds herself questioned on the loss of her ship and a member of her crew by Starfleet Command, she explains that Larkin “was an idiot.” The credits roll, and are followed by a parody of a 1980s Saturday morning-style TV commercial (complete with the wavering picture quality of a VCR recording), advertising Tribbles Breakfast Cereal, the cereal that’s “pregnant … with flavor!”       

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Published by Peter Aidan Byrne

Peter Aidan Byrne (he/him) is an educator and a writer of various things. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on Treaty 7 land, in Region 3 of the Metis Nation of Alberta, and he's keeping his fingers crossed for that luxury space communist future while living through the cyberpunk present. View all posts by Peter Aidan Byrne

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STAR TREK REVIEWED

Links to hundreds of star trek fan films. founded by barb reader., you are on the new str website, which is still under construction. the original str website will remain online until this new site is complete..

These projects are intended as spoofs of Star Trek , rather than as continuations of it.

These parodies have a certain degree of sophistication and professionalism; for the many, many other less-developed parodies, see Minor Parodies .

GoldenTicketComics

Golden Age Animation; Series (Parody)

Golden Ticket Comics Television hopes to raise money on Kickstarter for artists and voice actors to complete entire episodes, in a style of that looks and sounds like the original animated series. GTTV also aims for it's episodes to be told with flair and theme, in a style that feels like the original series.

Klaupao & Vio

Golden Age Animation; Series (Parody) — USA

Machinima videos, made by two creators of Sims 4 'Creative Content', which is a mashup of Star Trek and 1960's TV shows, such as I Love Lucy.

Star Flek: Redshirts

A parody put together by technomikelyons using the animation program Muvizu:Pro, having some fun with the old trope about the poor doomed red-shirted crewman

The Roddenberries

Era Not Applicable Audio; Series (Parody) — Philadelphia, PA

The Roddenberries are Philadelphia’s own premiere Star Trek tribute band/multi-media-performance experience, forged in 2012 to explore sensible new parodies, seek out new allies and unite the Nerd-O-Sphere, and BOLDLY go where NO Star-Band has gone before! Their shows present a unique melding of rock-n-roll cabaret and parody, spanning the realms of science fiction, fantasy, gaming, comics and beyond.

-F2B-Favor 2 Betty Productions

Golden Age Film; Series (Parody)

Youtube channel of Skits 

23rd century elevators

Golden Age Animation; Short Film (Parody) — USA

Animated by Ureshiiiiiii (on her YouTube channel Chaotic Kitty) using the anime style MikuMikuDance (MMD) program , this is a Star Trek parody made using audio from a skit on the Burnsitown Comedy Show about a problem that Scotty might have faced (or Chekov for that matter). 

A Band of Starships

Era Not Applicable Film; Short Film (Parody)

Happy little starships playing games in the stars, created by Serin Jameson.

Allen Chalmers, Star Trek

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody)

Wait for it... it was only a matter of time...

Amazing Star Trek Spoof!

Well produced Star Trek spoof starring actor Frank Logan as Captain Keller of the U.S.S. Hunter "...it ain't the Enterprise but it's pretty cool!"

Golden Age GoAnimate; Series (Parody)

One of the original driving forces behind Star Trek animation on the old GoAnimate platform.

Arnie is Star Trek

Golden Age Animation; Short Film (Parody) — UK

Captains Log…..uhhh…. two? Arnie takes the helm of the Starship Enterprise in this parody animation by Arnie Nation. Follow him and his crew as they travel at warp 15 to take on the toughest opponents space has to offer... BEAM ME UP SCOTLAND!!!

As Aventuras Atrapalhadas de Elow Cub! Star Trek Tupi

Era Not Applicable Animation; Series (Parody) — Brazil

Esta animação de Lula Velloso é um "Fan Film" de Jornadas nas Estrelas criado por Gene Roddenberry.  O cubo amarelo e sua turma no Espaço: A fronteira final! Reeditado pelo autor em 09/09/2020.

Era Not Applicable Film; Series (Parody) — Croatia

Međumrežje, posljednje podatkovno odredište. Ovo su putovanja internetskog broda Browser. Naš kontinuirani zadatak jest istraživanje novih brzina i novih tehnologija umrežavanja, i hrabro downloadanje tamo gdje još nitko nije uploadao. Hrvatska proizvodnja by NewsBar.

Bird Trek - The Wrath of Falcon

Era Not Applicable Animation; Short Film (Parody)

A professionally animated episode from the Planet Bonehead TV show. In this parody of STAR TREK, Cpt Bonehead and his crew on board the VERTIBRISE get an anonymous hail telling them that JP Rothbone and his Sniveling Cronies have captured all the birds of prey in the area. With no birds of prey around, rats and other rodents will run rampant, and farmers everywhere will need to buy JP's questionable rat traps to protect their crops.

To make matters worse, JP's ship is cloaked - or invisible - and the birds of prey are in an invisible cage somewhere in the land below the ships. The Boneheads beam down and search for the missing birds. But JP's ship attacks the VERTIBRISE, disabling their transporters, and stranding Bonehead and his landing party in the field below. Can the Boneheads repair their ship, find the birds of prey, and free them from their invisible cages in time?

Golden Age Film; Series (Parody) — USA

A Star Trek Parody by Biz Kid$, an educational TV Series which teaches young people responsible money management. 

Bobble Pops - Episode 1 : Star Trek - Best Of Both Worlds

Silver Age Animation; Short Film (Parody) — Canada

"Part 1 of the new upcoming motion animation Bobble Pop episodes, reenacting a mashed scene from Star Trek's The Next Generation's Best of Both Worlds episode using Toys and Bobbleheads."

Boldly Going Nowhere

Era Not Applicable Film; Series (Parody)

Boldly Going Nowhere was a proposed American science fiction single-camera comedy television series created by Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton and Adam Stein to be aired in 2009 on the Fox network. The series was planned as a parody of the Star Trek franchise in the format of a workplace sitcom; the title was a reference to the famous phrase "To boldly go where no man has gone before" from the opening speech in the first two Star Trek series. A pilot was shot in October 2008, but the project was shelved indefinitely.

Brandon Sachs

Silver Age Film; Series (Parody)

BrazenSnatch

Late Golden Age Animation; Short Film (Parody)

BrazenSnatch is a multimedia parody channel on Youtube. "Scotty hits his head" is little animation made in Adobe Animate and Premiere Pro, based on Scotty's legendary scene in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Watch out, Scotty!

Canadian Star Trek

Era Not Applicable Film; Short Film (Parody) — Canada

From the Youtube channel of Jorxdefier who admits, "It was really just an excuse to make a Star Trek video because I’ve been watching it."

Captain Kirk vs USS Enterprise Computer

Golden Age Animation; Short Film (Parody) — Australia

So THIS was how Kirk picked up his mannerisms! An original animation by visual artist, BlobVanDam on his YouTube channel

Cartoon Man Animations

Era Not Applicable Animation; Series (Parody)

Short animated skits or parodies of Star Trek, some with Spanish dialog and English subtitles

Chip Trekked

Cockney star trek.

Being Cockney isn't just whether you are born within earshot of Bow Bells or an arcane accent...

Comedians in Space w/ Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Tiffany Haddish, Ken Jeong

#deepfake video clips of various celebrity's faces superimposed over the actors in TOS scenes. These are very controversial: could you tell that they are all not acted by real people? 

Commander & Lieutenant Rolf

Silver Age Film; Series (Parody) — Germany

Der Produzent von Rolfs Filmkritik-Kanal hat eine Reihe von kurzen Parodie-Sketchen erstellt.

Commander Rob

Silver Age Toys / Puppets / Stop-Motion; Series (Parody)

Stop Action Animation.

Constar Clips - Hailing Frequencies...Open?

Silver Age Film; Short Film (Parody)

Onboard the Constar B, Sanders faces his greatest challenge yet: being a therapist...

Late Golden Age Film; Series (Parody)

Cool Age is a science fiction satire that pays homage to many famous films. The project "Cool Age" exists since 1996 and was founded by Rainer Grüning and Dennis Rada. The Cool Age universe now comprises several films, two series and three radio plays. As the number of film enthusiasts and fans increased, an association was founded: Double R Productions.

Within the framework of our association it is easier to communicate with like-minded people. In addition, it is possible to work with a small budget, which gets us more chance of increasing (film) knowledge.

Cool Age is an association of several planets in the 24th century, the so-called "Shooting Stars". More specifically, we follow the adventures of the flagship "U. F. S. Survival", where Captain Ted Erikson and Commander Karta are performing their duties. On their interstellar missions they get to know new planets and mysterious species. The Cool Age universe now includes more characters than just the Captain and his first officer, so we're happy to see you plunge into the Cool Age universe and experience new adventures with us.

Corruptdream sans

Bande dessinée vidéo avec l'audio de François Pérusse sur des graphismes d'anime simples. François Pérusse est un célèbre humoriste radiophonique québécois

Couillon Quest TASSO

Cajun Star Trek. The Original Acadianimated Series Spectaculaire Original! A spin-off, extension of Couillon Quest, an earlier series by the same producer in conjunction with Chris Marshall.

Critter Kingsford

An amateur film maker with a surprisingly large backlog of material, some live action, some improv and a number of stop action action figure movies.

Crossing The Threshold

Silver Age Animation; Short Film (Parody)

This parody of the Star Trek Voyager episode “Threshold” follows a young pilot who dares to fly faster than everyone else. And, of course, the slimy shenanigans that follow his fateful trip. Footage recorded in the game Star Trek Online. Made for the 25th anniversary of Threshold! Happy Threshold Day!

Cruz y Raya Star Trek

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Spain

Desde el Canal oficial de Juan Muñoz Cómic donde podrás revivir sketches de Cruz y Raya, nuevos sketches, canciones... ¡y sus últimas novedades! ¡También podrás encontrar material directo y totalmente inédito!

Entre 2000 y 2004 trabajó en Televisión como parte del número cómico Cruz y raya

Dafter Things

Golden Age Toys / Puppets / Stop-Motion; Series (Parody) — UK

Short stop motion videos using Mega Bloks (Construx), C920 webcam, Stop Motion Pro Eclipse, Hitfilm 4 Pro, Audacity and Stagelight.

Deep Fry Eight

Bronze Age Film; Series (Parody)

A Minecraft parody made in Blender by Beneral Grevious

Destination Helios

Era Not Applicable Film; Short Film (Parody) — Gwinnett County, Atlanta, Ga

Different Donut: Star Trek - :30 Spot

Golden Age Animation; Sketch / Commercial (Parody) — USA

At college in 1990 four friends pulled an all-nighter on a group project to record a 30 second radio spot for a fictitious company called “A Different Donut” using a Star Trek parody approach. Thirty four years later one of them, Eric Horst, decided to animate it in the style of The Animated Series!

Distress Call

Written and Performed by Natasha Purdum as "Lt. Saavik" for the GeekLifeRules: NY Cosplay Cabaret @VIRTUAL TREK CON 2

Egotastic Trek

Pranakasha Productions is a creative collaboration between Matt Weiss and James H. Pierce - mostly quirky stuff and Matt's original music - featuring Cpt Matthew A. Hardinger (Weiss) in temporary command of the U.S.S. Enterprise and Captain Jason Theodore "Teddy" Powell (Justin "JP" Pool) on the Orvillian Union Starship Egotastica.

Ender-Written Motion Comic

Golden Age Animation; Short Film (Parody)

A  gacha style motion comic by  /*Ender-Written*\ titled " Star trek: He's dead Jim!

Every Episode of Popular Space Show™

Silver Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — England

Alasdair Beckett-King, an English comedian, gives his take on the tropes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Stone Age Film; Long Film (Parody) — Milwaukee

Filmed in 1988, this Milwaukee Public Access (Viacom) parody of Star Trek, complete with Saturday Night Live-style fake ads, is a gem and a tribute to the lost art created during the era of cable access television!

Fuera de Órbita

Era Not Applicable Animation; Short Film (Parody) — Spain

En un lugar del espacio de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, la comandante Natalya y su tripulación VR Clan surcan los cielos...  ¿cuál será su destino final? ;) Webserie cómica inspirada en Star Trek y grabada en Altspace con unas gafas OculusQuest 2. Producido por Lashistorias dinma

Fur Trek: Tribble Troubles

When Capt. Purrk of the furship Kittyprise and his crew respond to a distress signal from Ambassador Barker of the planet Tribbiani, they come face to face with a fleet of Klingoffs! Purrk is urged to protect the Tribbilonians' life-saving grain known as quadrokittycale from the Klingoffs, who want to steal it and sell it to the highest bidder. Will the adorable (but pesky) indigenous creatures known as tribbles be caught in the middle of a war between the Furderation and the Klingoff empire? From Adventures in Purradise.

Gilbert & Sullivan: The Next Generation

Silver Age Live Stage Performance; Series (Parody) — Cambridge MA

Not content with her earthly empire, Great Britain has turned her gaze outward, and Her Majesty's Navy now patrols the vast expanse of the final frontier. But where England goes, so goes her notorious class system, and Chief Security Officer Josephine Corcoran and lowly ensign Ralph Rackstraw find themselves all at sea when they fall madly in love. With Romulans in the neutral zone, restless Klingons itching for a fight, and Josephine's social-climbing father, and captain, determined to marry her off to a pompous admiral, the stakes have never been higher for Gilbert and Sullivan's most famous lass and the sailor she loves.

GoMultiverseLegacy394

The explosion of creativity that was the free version of Go!Animate ended in 2019 when Adobe Flash reached ' End Of Life '. GoMultiverseLegacy394, originally known as FunEditor4, was a GoAnimator from May 5, 2012 to the close of the free channel with over 3,000 videos to his name. His Star Trek related animations are listed here with the earliest date that they are listed on Youtube, which will not be their original date of creation.

Grease Trek

Join the crew of the UFF Frank & Frys -- Manager Cook, Spork, Mopboy and the other loyal members, as they serve beyond the call of duty and save their fast-food universe -- one hungry customer at a time. Intense drama, action-packed fight scenes, and high-cholesterol fun meals make Grease Trek the most unusual Trek adventure of them all! 45 minutes total.

Greek Star Trek

Kirk and Spock share their adventures in the Aegean! A fun satire!

Happy Star Trek Day

Animated parody / music video by Kong Studio

Hi Fidelity Star Trek Quartet

Golden Age Audio; Series (Parody)

Founded in 2002, Hi-Fidelity was a successful 'Barber's Shop Quartet' made up of Tom Moore, Gregg Bernhard, Martin Fredstrom, Craig Ewing and were the 2006 National Harmony Sweepstakes Champions.

Holodeck Follies

Era Not Applicable Live Stage Performance; Series (Parody) — Toronto, Canada

Canada’s longest running improvised Star Trek parody follows the hapless crew of the USS Albatross each month with a new episode complete with audience interaction, plot elements and character developments carrying over from one ‘episode’ to the next for their regular fans!

How 'Bones' Got His Nickname

Great drawn animation from Totally Kewl Toons (TKToons) who has a massive back catalogue of work on other popular media franchises.

I Knew You Were Tribbles

A Star Trek musical parody (filk) of the classic TOS episode, The Trouble With Tribbles to the tune of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" by Josh Millard on his Youtube channel

If guitar player was a Star Trek / Orville character

Everyone's a critic! A short holodeck parody by Space Expire Audio

It's beginning to look a lot like Starfleet

Silver Age Mashup / Recut; Short Film (Parody)

A mashup of TNG clips with original lyrics put to a very well known tune by Brad Smith!

Jesse Mercury

Short TNG parody skits by Youtube producer, Jesse Mercury, who describes himself as a " SciFi synthpop artist from the year 3000 passing the time until holodecks are invented. " Clever green screen insertions into canon clips.

Jimbo No. 5

Golden Age Audio; Short Film (Parody)

A Mambo No. 5 parody from Captain Jerk. No secret Kirk was a player, what better song sums it up better? Lol.

Jist?, kapitáne! - Yes, Captain

Silver Age Film; Series (Parody) — Czech Republic

Jistě, kapitáne!  je fanouškovský seriál, který míchá vesmírné prostředí s politickou satirou. Námět vzdává hold sitcomu „Jistě, pane ministře“ a dává této britské klasice kabát science-fiction.

Příběh se odehrává v roce 427 NSL (nového solárního letopočtu), tedy ve více než tisíc let vzdálené budoucnosti. Solární Říše, která byla v posledních staletích zárukou míru a porozumění rozmanitých druhů v mléčné dráze, je ve válce s Federací Floranidů z galaxie M36. Pro odražení nájezdníků je třeba udržet křehké spojenectví i s letitými sousedy včetně bojových Aresanů a intrikánských Centuronů. Ale i vnitřní členové Říše, stejně jako dosud neutrální planety se dožadují pozornosti.

Do této nelehké situace vyplouvá hvězdolet Vesmírné Legie H.V.L. Masaryk, diplomatická loď pod velením kapitána Pargimea.

Seriál je příběhově přímým pokračováním projektu Star Trek: Diplomacy. Ten byl produkován v letech 2015 - 2017 a po čtvrté epizodě ukončen v souladu s novými pravidly pro fanprodukci, vydanými majitelem autorských práv.

John C. Worsley

Witty, original Star Trek music videos, filk, made from mash-ups of clips from canon shows by John C. Worsley.

Golden Age Film; Sketch / Commercial (Parody)

Commercial.

KPF In Space

Selling Credit cards from one galaxy to the next one! Animated parody of Star Trek made by James D. Patalon made using Plotagon . 

La-Mo Productions

Golden Age Film; Series (Parody) — RI, USA

La-Mo Productions is a father / daughter collaboration, featuring the dry sense of comic-con humor of Michael Skeldon and the musical performance and production talents of his daughter, Maddie. Michael has released his work with WOPA: The Worst of Public Access TV and Federation Forum, two of Rhode Island's most successful public access shows which aired between 1995-1997.

Land of Rum & Raisins

Golden Age Toys / Puppets / Stop-Motion; Short Film (Parody)

A planet made of great Aunt Martha's fruit cake? Christmas themed, stop motion animation of action figures by Hippohead Films

The boundaries of AI generated film are expanding all the time. These short parodies are from the YouTube channel of Adrian Lazarus, done on Midjourney.

Lego Star Trek: The Next Generation

Silver Age Toys / Puppets / Stop-Motion; Long Film (Parody)

The Crew of the Enterprise is reluctantly forced into a rescue mission to save one of their crew. Elsewhere Ensign Dave tries to muster enough courage to ask out Counselor Troi.

Lifeteen Star Trek Skit '99

Era Not Applicable Film; Short Film (Parody) — Nashua, NH

Religious message in a Star Trek parody

Live at the Improv: "Spock's Brain"

Golden Age Live Stage Performance; Short Film (Parody) — Irvine, CA, USA

Make It So, Media-Go-Go

From the YouTube Channel Media-Go-Go. "This song is a dorky escape hatch for every father who's been subjected to countless screenings of Disney's "Frozen," and countless replays of "Let It Go" in particular. That's right small girl people, I see your "Frozen" and raise you "Star Trek!"

Mark Lenard In a University Mall Star Trek Skit

Golden Age Live Stage Performance; Short Film (Parody)

Youtube user VTActor007 put this video-tape memory online on June 1, 2020, of a skit done with Mark Lenard, saying, "He thought I did a great Shatner :) this was 1991 I think so long ago I can't remember"

Me Every Time I Go To The Bathroom: Star Trek Edition

A parody about... exactly what it says on the label!

Media Messengers Star Trek The Next Generation

Silver Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Michigan, USA

Pandemic family fan film created by Adrian, Brennan, Luke and their dad. "Made in May of 2021. 2020 was a rough year, the Coronavirus lockdowns were long and restrictive. There was also a very contentious and controversial election in the States. I found myself watching old Star Trek The Next Generation episodes while stuck indoors for so long. My kids started watching too! They loved it! The science fiction classic served as a great escape from all the noise from social media and TV news. We had fun making this and I hope you like it too. I know it is NOT perfect nor 100% accurate to the show...give me a break we filmed in my garage with my kids! ENJOY!"

Michael Hübner Star Trek-Fan-Film

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Germany

In diesem Star Trek-Fanfilm von Michael Hübner ist nicht alles so, wie es scheint.

Mountain Dew: Supernova (Finland Exclusive)

Era Not Applicable Film; Short Film (Parody) — USA

A small crew of explorers answer a distress beacon across the emptiness of space. I think this is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek review of a new flavour of Mountain Dew.

My version of Star Trek!

Can Transporters send smells? A parody TikTok by Crazy Chris Comedy

NathanSaturnBO?

This is the new work of the animator formerly known as NathanWin7587 & NathanTDA. Using GoAnimate media, his themes are aimed at an adult audience.

NathanSaturnBOi

Nickel family tng parody.

Released in 2020 by Joel Nickel, "In the 90s my family loved to shoot random footage we'd intended to edit into videos but the technology just wasn't there yet (aside from having a double VCR where you'd sync one tape up and record onto the 2nd one ... :| ... but I we can now! So here's my family's Star Trek: TNG parody."

No Time for Klingons

After a rough mission, the crew of the USS Yeager encounters yet another obstacle separating them from a weekend off. Minimal animation but good script and voice acting makes for a diverting parody

Not Levar Burton

Youtube channel with experimental AI skits by Bob Hawkey

Obligatory Star Trek Parody

A satire of colonialism and the Prime Directive.

One More Bite: An Audio Drama

As a chef struggles to finish his final taco, his good and bad conscience weigh in on the pros and cons of how to proceed.

Golden Age Toys / Puppets / Stop-Motion; Series (Parody) — Switzerland

German / Austrian / Swiss filmmaker Martino Sulmoni's new series about the voyages the Playship Enterprise from the planet Playmobil, searching the toy galaxy for new lines of toys in different scales to try to prevent a war. "Filmmaker, Uberfan, Toy Collector and Bon Vivant @MartinoSulmoni's ... Age: 41 ... Origins: 25% German, 25% Austrian, 50% Swiss, 100% goofy. Languages: italian, german, french, protughese, english. little spanish ... Occupation: Production designer, architect, engineer, teach road and railways construction at grad school, teach film aesthetic at architecture faculty and production design history at film faculty."

Silver Age Animation; Series (Parody) — Russia

An animated parody series re-imagining Star Trek with anthropomorphic ponies - in the style of My Little Pony?

Pop Culture Puppets

Era Not Applicable Toys / Puppets / Stop-Motion; Series (Parody) — USA

Pop Culture Puppets (earlier episodes were called 'Off Trek') present short comedy skits using 'muppet' style puppets

Golden Age Film; Series (Parody) — Saarbrücken, Germany

Anlässlich des 20-jährigen Jubiläums des Klingonischkurs Saarbrücken ("qepHom") wollten wir einen Kurzfilm drehen, der letztendlich dann doch über 40 Minuten dauert. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Klingon course Saarbrücken ("qepHom") we wanted to make a short film, which ended up being over 40 minutes.

Queer New Worlds

Golden Age Film; Series (Parody) — UK

A one-man production by NJ Stephenson-Dickinson, who describe themselves as "The UK's #1 chronically ill, non-binary, bisexual, musically inclined, and slightly Norwegian writer"

Rafantastic Films

Kids having fun making Star Trek fan films

Red Shirts, The Series

Pre-Stone Age Film; Series (Parody)

Silver Age Animation; Long Film (Parody) — UK

Subtitled "Red Dwarf meets Star Trek TNG", Red Trek is a comedy animation by Pete Telfer, released by Gary Matrix, who blogs reviews on films, etc.

Rigel Thurston Music

Era Not Applicable Audio; Short Film (Parody) — USA

"Let's Hang Out on the Holodeck for the Holidays", an original Trekmas carol with a jazzy piano & vocal production, with lyrics that feature characters and scenes from old and new episodes.

RLM Animated: Star Trek the Next Desecration

An animated parody by WeeZacharyP of a parody review by Youtube stars Red Letter Media of a Star Trek: The Next Generaton episode.

Robed Horse

Excellent animation.

Sailor Marj

Era Not Applicable Audio; Series (Parody)

Sailor Marj, Marjorie Muñoz, is a cosplayer with a quite amazing vocal range who sings Star Trek musical parodies (filk) along with other fandom's cabaret.

Salty-Trekker

Occassional vignettes shown on the Salty-Trekker Youtube Channel

Sarai Trek Animono

Animation based on Star Trek dolls and action figures. An offshoot of Sarai Trek

Sarek "Loves" Amanda

A sitcom produced for the upcoming podcast "The Prime-Time Directive", produced by Jessie Reyes. Billed as part 1 so hopefully the start of a new series.

Shatner and I

This was originally a radio play created by Body in the boot productions and although there were no plans at the time to add visuals, it was decided to add them for video sharing platforms. The edits were created using various segments from videos found on Youtube and uploaded for entertainment/educational/parody purposes only.

Short parody videos on the YouTube channel of BirdOPrey5. Monologues performed by the creator over slideshows of stills.

Sketch Worcester

Golden Age Film; Series (Parody) — Worcester, MA

A parody of life in Worcester (obviously not the one in England) by the Sketch Worcester YouTube channel.

SMTV 2099 was a regular parody sketch based on Star Trek on SMTV Live, British Saturday morning children's television programme, which ran for over 270 episodes between 1998 - 2003.

Era Not Applicable Animation; Series (Parody) — Japan

An animation in Japanese with English subtitles created by 'Jollyboy' where Soka senbei, a traditional Japanese snack of rice crackers, and various sweets come alive. Made for adults and children from 2013, it has been re-released twice a week, Monday and Wednesday night on YouTube at 6:00 from February 5, 2020 (^ ^)

Soulz Studios

Flash animations using GoAnimate resources.

Parody by the HumourMe comedy Youtube channel

Space Tracks

Era Not Applicable Toys / Puppets / Stop-Motion; Series (Parody)

Stop motion Action figure animation by Mr Goo TV

Silver Age Animation; Series (Parody)

Hand animated parody of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Golden Age Animation; Series (Parody) — Canada

Spockboy, Canadian Paul Sibbald, has created a number of Star Trek parodies over the years ranging from redubs to animations.

Golden Age Animation; Series (Parody) — Vancouver, BC

Spoof Troupe

This parody channel has done a couple of Star Trek parodies amongst a large body of work.

Staa Trekk - The Wrath of Tron- The movie!

Golden Age Film; Long Film (Parody) — Atlanta

Frank and Gina, along with fellow videographer/content creator, Wayne Sales, worked on this project for 3 months.

Stalled Trek

Golden Age Animation; Series (Parody) — Little Elm, Texas, USA

Impressive Star Trek CGI parody by Kyle Dunnigan an Emmy, Peabody and Writer’s Guild Award winning comedy writer.

Star Burst - Last Contact

Silver Age Film; Long Film (Parody)

A 'lock-down' fan film by Matt Hausmann

A professionally (not) created film from 1975. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll probably vomit. Either way, you'll see the emotional story of the first voyage of the starship Win-a-prize. Led by Captain Woodrow N Cork, the crew of the Win-a-prize ventures into dangerous space. With an anibriated engineer, Mr. Scotch, miraculously, they survive this adventure. Starring Mark Schneider, Doug Max, Jay Brachman, Bob Kaynes, Peter Zaret, Carole Schneider and Amy Horowitz.

Era Not Applicable Film; Series (Parody) — Woodland, Ca USA

Parodies by Woodland TV, channel 21, a YouTube channel that started life as a public access television station based in Woodland Ca providing coverage of government and community events which has now moved it's content online.

Produced for a film camp

A Star Trek machinima parody starring Captain Kurt, Spork, Dr McBoy and Checkon made in Minecraft by Christopher Z and Valor Films.

Era Not Applicable Film; Series (Parody) — USA

A new Star Trek centric channel billed to bring us a lot of fun Star Trek related content, including song parodies, comedy skits, video essays, and more!

Star Spoof Voyager

Also called "Star Trek Voyager Cartoon"

Golden Age Animation; Series (Parody) — Italy

Billed as Star Stret: The Photonovel Adventures, this is best described as a video comic, created by The Dynamic Ten - A Burìì Production from Italy.

From the YouTube channel of Seymore Thighbrain. Star Trechs aka The Fix Team! “If you have a problem, kick it to Fix”

Star Terk II

Golden Age Audio; Series (Parody) — UK

A BBC comedy radio show, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, each episode began with a parody of Star Trek's original series, which would then go on to be interrupted by a series of sketches.

Star Track: The Metric System

Star Trek - PTHS 2017

Silver Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Pemberton, NJ

The faculty and staff of Pemberton Township High School go where no one, no school, has gone before!

Star Trek 11111111111111111111111111111111111111

Parody video? Avant garde film? Made by  Maximus Thor

Parody video? Avant garde film? Made by Maximus Thor

Star Trek 1977

Star trek 2 - the wrath of kahn a puppy parody video.

Late Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody)

K9 Theater present  a dog's eye view retelling of a classic scene

Star Trek 2021

Kirk and the crew get bored and debate the pros and cons of putting their brains into robot bodies. A mashup using video from Star Trek: The Animated Series. The producer, Dusty Rob commented, "I'm just a fan of both who decided to do this little parody on account of the fact that I was bored."

Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan 'Sweded'

Labelled as from 2010 by Brendan Joyce, "Sweded" means that this is a remake of a famous movie that has been reshot by amateurs, unedited, with only a single take per scene in the style of the flim, " Be Kind Rewind " from 2008.

Star Trek 57 Year Mission Las Vegas Convention Promo

This short parody was created by Justin Bonner and released on the SciFiction Youtube channel

Star Trek : When The Bowel Breaks

I've never been sure how to classify this video produced by Darksuperboy! In a way it is the opposite of a 'redub' in that it uses some of the audio from Jim Carrey's comedy skit, 'Star Trek VII: The Really Last Voyage' from 'In Living Color' against video clips from the Star Trek movies with a twist to the ending.

Star Trek Best Practice

Golden Age Animation; Short Film (Parody) — Germany

Hier gibt es kleine und auch größere Cartoons mit Stars aus vergangenen Tagen aber auch von heute. Die Crew des Raumschiff Enterprise macht mit beim Energie-Sparen und gibt ein paar Tipps :)

Star Trek Blackout Sketch: Subspace

Ever wondered why they call it "subspace"? Short bluescreen comedy by Will Haza at Green Robot Studios.

Star Trek Christmas Special - Stop Motion Film

A Star Trek stop-motion film for Christmas from Daniel's Stop Motions

Star Trek Comedy Fan Short Film: The Beam Issue

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Idaho, USA

Two redshirts are about to finish their mission but the transporter seems to be having some complications. A comedy short film saluting to our childhood of watching Star Trek. Filmed in City of Rocks, Idaho by Jake Kuwana

Star Trek Enterprise-D Crash in Minecraft

Silver Age Animation; Short Film (Parody) — Singapore

What would the crash of the Enterprise-D look like in Minecraft with a different captain and a sassy ship's computer? Look no further!

Star Trek Fleet Command

Interesting idea! Game developer  Scopely, Inc. have sponsored CarbotAnimations to do a very good animated parody of the gameplay to promote their game.

Star Trek III - Gimme Your Hand!

An original animation using the audio from the climactic scene in Star Trek III.

Star Trek IT Guy

Silver Age Film; Series (Parody) — USA

Writer/actor/editor, Adam Bergeron gives us his take on tech support onboard Picard's Enterprise.

Star Trek Lost Episode - Should remain Lost

Musician Brian Nicholson has created a small fan film to introduce a new song of his. The starship is party bound and Bones will have none of it.

Star Trek MSU

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Montclair, NJ

The Underprize with Captain Jerk, Dr Decoy and Science Officer Spark beam down to a planet made of alcohol in this fuzzy black & white 'frat house' style parody made at Montclair State University between 1977-1982

Star Trek Musical Number

Golden Age Film; Long Film (Parody) — USA

Video of a musical number from a church parody of Star Trek in 2008 from The Church of the Rock

Star Trek no longer on Netflix

Era Not Applicable Audio; Short Film (Parody) — Germany

Satire filk highlighting the frustration of fans regarding the changes in streaming Star Trek by Performed by Daniel & Vanessa on ScifinewsDE

Star Trek OMC!

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Scotland

A parody skit in Scottish Gaelic with English subtitles on BBC Alba, a free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba.

Star Trek OOC

Star Trek OOC (meaning Out Of Context) is a parody skit series using the awesomely kooky situations in Start Trek, and making them even more kooky. Star Trek is an amazing series, and this hopefully adds to the fun of enjoying such an amazing show. It is meant to comment on how often ridiculous situations come up in the series without us usually thinking about it, and how those situations can be even more crazy! WEEEEEE!

Star Trek Pi Trailer (2009)

Produced by Douglas & Shannon Atwill, this video from 2009 is on the YouTube channel of Michael Barnett, who played Cpt Kirk.

Star Trek Radio Theatre

Era Not Applicable Audio; Series (Parody) — Canada

Live Long and Podcast have fun reenacting their favorite shows as a live stream event on Youtube on a weekly basis. With occassional artistic reinterpretations of the original, some may not sound exactly as you remember them but everything is done with the utmost fan appreciation. 

Star Trek SFeraKon - Gagh

Silver Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Croatia

Food fight! A promo video made for sferakonzagreb, a science fiction convention that takes place in Zagreb, Croatia every year at the end of April.

Star Trek Skit_2

Part parody, part Christian message of hope in a short Star Trek fan film from "Joe"

Star Trek Spoof

When toys attack!

Star Trek Stunt Doubles

A long-running series of parodies of The Original Series done with some quite excellent greenscreen by filmmaker, MrBonk85. The music is credited to the original composers, some of the sounds are from TrekCore and the 3D model mesh of the ship was created by Vektor.

Star Trek Technical Difficulties

Golden Age Live Stage Performance; Sketch / Commercial (Parody) — Los Angeles CA.

Ever noticed how there are so few of the annoying technical glitches we have today on Star Trek? The Enterprise must have a truly amazing IT department!

Star Trek The Next Generation Animation

Jean Luc Picard is the hero and don't you forget it.

Star Trek The Next Generation Tesch Brother Skit

Silver Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — USA

A fan film acted out by three brothers in 1995.

Star Trek The Skipped Generation

Heavily mashed up parodies on the 'Farce Clips' Youtube channel.

Star Trek to Bethlehem

Golden Age Film; Long Film (Parody) — Santa Cruz, CA

A Star Trek nativity play at West Side Chapel.

Star Trek VII: The Really Last Voyage

Golden Age Film; Long Film (Parody)

Parody on StarTrek TOS on In Living Color from the 90's. With Jim Carrey as Captain Kirk

Star Trek: Adventure

The tales of the USS Adventure were largely 'log entry' style narrations over CGI with some highly creative non-canon aliens by Bob Fischer between Oct 2020 to Jan 2022. He is now creating live action videos  

Star Trek: Alpha Strike

Golden Age Film; Series (Parody) — Lexington, KY

Goatboy Films have produced Star Trek fan films based upon the idea that Gene Roddenberry's 1964 pilot for Star Trek, 'The Cage' is still the apex of Star Trek.

Filmed in glorious black and white (the majority of tv sets in America were in black and white in 1964) and using cost effective special effects, these strange and weird adventures are bare knuckles sci fi excitement!"

Star Trek: Attack of Bradosaur

This is one of those entries where it is a real challenge to classify the creative media but I think "baked goods puppetry" might fit the bill for this whimsical short by Edi-Oh: Child of Dysfunction

Star Trek: Calypso

Star trek: clyde.

The Klingons are back and Kirk has to send for his elite force! A comedy parody by TD Riggs as part of his 'Big City of Imagination' series of videos.

Star Trek: Even LOWER Decks!

A fan's answer to Lower Decks, an original animation by WHYFU. Join Ensigns Newport, D'jarum, Winston, and Chesterfield as they learn just how low these decks can go! An animated homage to TNG era Star Trek.

Star Trek: Gorn Fight

Live action pastiche on the classic TOS episode. 'The quality of mercy is not strained...'

Star Trek: Modulator

A Borg Drone, recently liberated from The Collective, joins the ranks of Starfleet! Medical personnel have done their best to restore his body, however some compromises had to be made, and he voices every concern through the dry, mechanical tones of a text-to-speech synthesizer.

Star Trek: Ronnie Redshirt

A Redshirt gets stuck in our time.

Star Trek: The Farm Generation

Parody of Star Trek: The Next Generatiion by FarmBBC.

Star Trek: The Last Generation

An excellent animation by Robed Horse of Kirk inspiring one of the crew!

Star Trek: The Next Education

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — USA

An amusing video made for a school science project by ZetaPrime 77

Star Trek: The Next Generation as vines but I animated them

Amusing, short animated clips using audio from an American social networking short-form video hosting service called 'Vine' which appeared and disappeared in 2012.

Star Trek: The Real McCoy

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Franklin Square, New York, NY

A Star Trek Comedy starring brothers George & William Kayaian and Harold McLaughlin. While the crew vacations on Earth, Captain Kirk remains on his ship to enjoy a little alone time. But when Spock shows up along with a drunken McCoy, Kirk's problems are just beginning! This is the definitive Director's Cut featuring never before seen moments. From the George Kayaian archives. This short was entered into America's Funniest People show back in 1992 for a contest featuring Trek-related videos!

Star Trek: The Tub Generation

A Flash animation remixing clips from Star Trek the Next Generation. Animation by Shmorky, or Picky Picardo as he called himself on this one.

Star Trek: The Wrath of Neener

Subtitled, "An 11-year-old's Star Trek Fan Film Opus", this is a collaboration of Keith Varney and his younger brother from roughly 1992 just having some fun with Star Trek!

Golden Age Film; Series (Parody) — Germany

Die YouTube-Butze von Zukunftia, dem ernsthaften Medien-Magazin zu Film und Serie.

Star Trek fan film of indeterminate age uploaded by Eric Keller. "We always hear about the best. This is about the worst." An adventure of the USS Derelict NCC 170

Stop action clay animation

Golden Age Toys / Puppets / Stop-Motion; Series (Parody) — France

Les Minikeums était une émission de télévision française pour les jeunes diffusée sur France 3 du 31 mars 1993 au 31 mars 2002. Pendant cette période, nombre de leurs sketches étaient des parodies de Star Trek intitulées «Starkeum».

Youtube channels: Minikeums-TV (2015-2018) Cinékeum des Minikeums (12 Jun 2020-2021).  Wikipedia française . Articles en anglais: The Lost Media Wiki , TV Tropes

Starship Chimera

Thirteen years in the making, this ambitious fan film is a love letter to trekkies everywhere and to the era of Next Gen to DS9 and Voyager. Cards and Kat outdid themselves with this go motion space opera parody set in the Star Trek universe, albeit not the official one. Uses action figures, the creator has done his own voice acting, props and music.

Starship Edsel

Silver Age Live Stage Performance; Series (Parody) — Chicago

Starship Edsel is a Star Trek inspired farce set aboard the Federation Starship Edsel towards in the early 25th century. It is based upon a LARP written and developed by Brandon Brylawski, who is also a producer and head writer on this show.

​The Edsel is a cruiser, Edsel class (the only one), largely regarded as a failure in ship design. Somehow, serious flaws in architecture and engineering were not caught until the prototype ship was completed. From its launch, it has been plagued with mechanical and operational problems that have played havoc with its fitness and combat-readiness, to the point where it became the butt of jokes throughout Starfleet.

 Soon it had become a dumping ground for personnel who were considered too disruptive or incompetent for front-line service, but who had not done anything sufficiently egregious to warrant being discharged. Eventually, Starfleet Command sent down an order to retire the embarrassing vessel, to the relief of all involved. But it was not to be. At the last moment, the Federation Council countermanded the directive: a political use had been found for the vessel. The Edsel's new continuing mission:

To stay in permanent parking orbit around the vacation planet of Atlantis

To deal with vapid and overbearing VIPs

To boldly give tours of an "Authentic Federation Starship"!

Starship Pudnutter

Parody animations by the animator behind the animated web cartoons that were started in 2006 on a Godzilla and Toho Studios fansite called Toho Kingdom and through a complex history has ended up as the Youtube channel, "Totally Kewl Toons (TKToons)".

Stormtrooper vs. Redshirt

A stop motion comedy sketch by Struts Studios

Teleconferência

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Brazil

There's nothing worse than when you have an important conference call and you can't get a good signal! What if that happened during an important videoconference between Kirk and his Klingon counterpart? This is a Portuguese language film with English subtitles.

The Adventures of the USS Parkview

The crew of the U.S.S. Parkview are on a daring mission to rescue a well-known character who is critical to the well-being of the Federation.

The Bridge Crüe

Youtube videos, ranging from skits and standup comedy to filk by "The Bridge Crüe", a live performance, Star Trek themed group.

The Captain & Commander Take on an Unknown Enemy

It's good to see Star Trek fans starting out young!

The Covid Conundrum

The crew of the USS Lollipop is about to beam down to enjoy the holiday when Starfleet bans all transport to earth for... the covid lockdown... what to do? Have Christmas on board of course! This was obviously shot during Covid, probably October 2021, by RB's Toy Box a YouTube channeller who does videos of, you guessed it, toys! " I wanted one last hoorah with my kids so I rented The Neutral Zone for the day and had the first EVER Christmas party and a starship"

The Doomsday Machine Demastered

Golden Age Toys / Puppets / Stop-Motion; Long Film (Parody) — East Glacier Park, MT, USA

The result of a "Lazy summer in East Glacier. In an RV. But great wi-fi connection. Add too much time on hands, an old ST book and handheld Vivitar... a demonstration of how to save on production costs for an already-low budget". Paper cutout puppetry in real time.

The Engineering Chronicles

Silver Age Audio; Series (Parody) — Cerritos, CA

The Engineering Chronicles are the silly ongoing adventures of various Engineering Departments of ships within the Star Trek: The Fleet fan club. Short Star Trek-themed audio adventures, just a few minutes in length each from HoloNetAudio, the audio work of Joe Mignano. Fun, funny, and full of fandom.

The Hobbynator

Bronze Age Animation; Series (Parody) — Germany

Ein privater Visual-Effects-Künstler und absoluter Star-Trek-Fanatiker, der hier aus Liebe zu Gene Roddenberrys Universum Star-Trek-FAN-Filme veröffentlicht. Seine Uploads über Star Trek, Star Wars und Doctor Who kommen zwar in unregelmäßigen Abständen, aber sie kommen direkt aus dem Herzen.

The Improvised Generation

Golden Age Film; Series (Parody) — Los Angeles CA.

Venture with the USS McGinley and its crew as they explore strange new worlds and boldly go where no one has gone before... through improv! The Improvised Generation is a completely improvised full length show based on the popular series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Live performances are at the Impro Studio, home of the Impro Theatre Company

On Oct 9, 2020 they made an announcement on their Youtube channel that they would be continuing as "The Improvised Generation: Onscreen". As of Saturday October 10th they would live stream at Twitch.tv/Outpost13 at 2pm Pacific time. "The show runs weekly on Saturdays through early December. Go to Twitch.tv/Outpost13 to follow (free, access to live show) and subscribe ($5 a month, access to VODs and live show, plus other shows). LLAP!"

The Intergalactic Time Squadron

Era Not Applicable Film; Short Film (Parody) — UK

Breaking the fourth wall ...literally!

The Laughing Academy Star Trek Sketch

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Novato, CA

From The Laughing Academy Youtube channel, originally uploaded in low-res but now reuploaded in higher resolution.

"A sketch made for my high school film class in Marin School of the Arts, October 2003, as part of a variety show special we put together (titled Or-Durves), where the class broke into groups that each make a different segment. This was originally planned as a particularly ambitious Laughing Academy sketch in early 2001. Finally in fall 2003, we managed to pull it off. Teacher: Laurel Ladevich. Student Filmmakers: Alex Brouillet, Beth Diesch with David Albert (camera), Chad Janusch (sfx), Alex Scioli (prod.) starring Alex Brouillet as Kirk and Scotty, Sean Conwell as Spock, Corey Powers as 'Bones' McCoy, Dennis Brouillet as Scul, Joe Brown as Ensign Expendable, Beth Diesch as Christine Chappell."

The Lost Episode of Star Trek

Golden Age Mashup / Recut; Long Film (Parody)

"In anticipation of the upcoming show, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, CBS has decided to release a never-before-seen, unaired episode of Star Trek: The Original Series." Well, actually, no they haven't. However someone who styles themselves as @capybaramaster1876 has gone to great pains to create a surreal mashup of original footage that might have been such an episode ...if David Lynch had directed a Star Trek satire.

The Most Incompetent Star Trek Crew Ever

A Star Trek parody made with Ebsynth a new AI program that turns live video into animation

The Prime Directive

Warp 11 was initially spawned as an idea for a weekly Internet TV show we were doing back in 99 called the Prime Directive. The show was a half an hour long and the band was created to fill about 4 minutes of said show each week. We also did things like Trek news, Trek haiku, Trek commercials and the intros to fake Trek TV shows

The Two Ronnies Star Trek Sketch

The uss new york: lost in space.

Golden Age Animation; Series (Parody) — New York, NY, USA

The USS New York (NCC 1709) has been flung to the far side of the universe, and it will take at least 8 weeks for the crew to get back to Earth. A Star Trek fanfiction cartoon telling new stories with new actors in the Trek-verse! A mashup of Star Trek, The Animated Series and other video.

The Wavelength

Originally a parody series titled, "Star Trek Off Duty" - Even the off duty time of officers on the NCC-1701-D is pretty exciting! This occassional series merging original green screen shots onto TNG footage by 'The Wavelength' Youtube channel is branching out into some seriously exciting action comedy drama.

The Wrath of Farrakhan

Parody on StarTrek TOS from In Living Color from the 90's. With Jim Carrey as Captain Kirk

Thirty Minutes Worth, Star Trek Sketch

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — UK

A Star Trek sketch featuring British comedian Harry Worth from 1972 on his TV Series, "Thirty Minutes Worth".

TMI Ginger Beer Fueling Star Trek Success

Our future fan film makers at work! I particularly like the look on the kid's face when he finally mastered the Vulcan salute!

Bronze Age Audio; Short Film (Parody) — Canada

A filk or parody song which is a reaction to Season one of Star Trek Picard by Canadian musician artist and sketch comedian, Steve Mah on his Youtube Channel 'NegatingSilence'

To Boldly go where no Jerk has gone before!

Tost the original space thang.

Like Star Trek Sort of - for kids. Script-Free Entertainment presents.... For my kids when they were young... 5 years ago (therefore created in 2015) I was really really tired, and someone had given me these dolls...so naturally... I made TOST

Trek Or Treat

Written, edited, and directed by Jason Salazar.

Trek Sketches

Comedy from Andy Bray who, according to his bio, "was propelled into fan film stardom through his role as Chekov, first in the Paramount Pictures stage production of “Spock’s Brain” and, secondly, as a co-star to Walter Koenig, George Takei, and Denise Crosby in three episodes of Star Trek: New Voyages"

Trek Yourself! A Star Trek prequel cartoon

Teen / college humour animation - Star Trek Into Darkness crossed with Animal House - by Dan Meth

Trekkie Bricks

Short stop-motion Brick films animated with juvenile themes.

Trekking among the stars

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Sweden

Timothy Krik and his crew bravely explores the galaxy in the Starship Enterprise, a Swedish Star Trek parody from Nordberg Entertainment.

Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda

Golden Age Film; Short Film (Parody) — Turkey

Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda, literally translated as "Tourist Ömer is on Space Road" (ie Star Trek), sometimes called simply 'Turkish Star Trek', is one of a number of comedy films about a character, 'Tourist Omer', who is a Turkish hobo. In this one he is picked up by the Enterprise!

"The spaceship Enterprise under the command of Captain Kirk is on its new mission. They must receive the reports from Professor Crater, who lives alone with his wife on the planet Orin 7. Mister Spak lands on the planet with a crew. However, one of the crew dies unexpectedly. The doctor had difficulty determining the cause of death. The killer is the professor's wife, Nancy. To save him, the Professor decides to lure an ancient creature to the planet with a time machine. Tourist Ömer is about to be married to a woman he did not know at that time. During the wedding ceremony, the machine pulls Ömer to Orin 7. Tourist Ömer thinks he is saved. However, the adventure has just begun."

USS Falcon Crest

Era Not Applicable Film; Series (Parody) — Cerritos, CA

The USS Falcon Crest is a fan club within the Star Trek: The Fleet . Following on from their audio dramas,  The Engineering Chronicles  and  Star Trek Fanfiction, these are video sketches made by their members.

USS Improvise

Silver Age Live Stage Performance; Series (Parody) — Portland, Or

Improv theatre from The Funhouse Lounge, Portland, Oregon.

Star Trek themed parodies, a spin-off from his Star Trek Stunt Doubles series, based around the concept of "Men Going Their Own Way". (MGTOW) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_Going_Their_Own_Way .

VRE Entertainment

Single voice, slideshow audiobooks, mostly parodies, described as fan-made episodes on the VRE Entertainment Youtube channel

Witness To The Darkness

Golden Age Toys / Puppets / Stop-Motion; Short Film (Parody) — Canada

A christian Star Trek parody by Highland Impact Puppets. The starship Eternal Life has been given a mission to witness and bring salvation to planet darkness.

Woffle Studio

Stone Age Animation; Series (Parody) — USA

High quality animation of skits played out on the NX-01 Enterprise

Admin Tools

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Table of Contents

• Index of Films & Productions

Major Fan Films

• Standalone Films
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Other Productions

• Short Films
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Minor & Developing

• GoAnimate Films
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• Adult Content (18+)
• Meta Fan Films (Blog 217) (in progress)
• Pro Commercials & Sketches (Blog 218)
• Really, Really Bad Stuff
• Non-Story Animations
• Film School / Church Projects
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• In Pilot Production
• Uncompleted (but Viewable) Pilots
• Lost Films and Audios
• Non-Star Trek Films
• Ark Import - Unsorted

I Knew You Were Tribbles (When You Dropped In), ‘Star Trek’ Parody of a Taylor Swift Song

• March 12, 2013

Portland-based musician Josh Millard recorded and edited “ I Knew You Were Tribbles (When You Dropped In) ,” a musical Star Trek inspired parody based off of the hit Taylor Swift pop song “ I Knew You Were Trouble .”

Taylor Swift needs to write more songs about classic Star Trek episodes, but until she gets around to it herself I’m doing what I can to rectify the situation.

via MetaFilter , Neatorama

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Justin Page

I'm a geeky artist/blogger who loves his life, wife, two identical twin girls, family, friends, and job.

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This cartoon is the best Star Trek has been since Deep Space Nine

The critical success of this animated spin-off proves that you shouldn’t judge a holonovel by its isolinear rod.

Lower Decks isn’t a ‘traditional’ Star Trek show. That sentence makes perfect sense, right? Of course it’s not a ‘traditional’ Star Trek show. It’s a cartoon. The characters all speak really quickly like they’re in a cartoon. It’s animated, and it’s written and produced like a cartoon, because it’s a cartoon.

In reality, the concept of a ‘traditional’ Star Trek show is a faulty one. This is a series/franchise/media brand/shared universe (pick the least nauseating term) that thrives on reinvention, producing a bewildering number of spin-offs that all, for better or worse, come with their own unique proposition for what a Star Trek show can be about.

The only thing untraditional about Lower Decks is its premise: that it follows the lives of a core ensemble of bottom-rung characters, on one of the least important ships in the fleet, where the usual command level heroics and big picture stories are merely a backdrop. It understands and respects Star Trek Tradition perfectly well enough. It has to, in order to turn it on its head so deftly, with the love and affection for Trek’s past that exudes from every aspect of the production: the 90s throwback art direction, the sound design, the deep cut in-jokes that you won’t get unless you spent your teens reading The Deep Space Nine Technical Manual instead of smoking tabs and having loads of awkward sex.

Indeed, the very fact that it takes its name from a landmark TNG episode, one sequelised in this latest season (all now bingable on Paramount Plus) to outstanding effect. A painstakingly earned connection to a classic episode, poignant, thrilling, and deliberately silly. It's incredible television, and does things with the Star Trek formula that just couldn't happen anywhere else. Which is why a lot of Trekkies simply won't watch it.

When a Beloved Thing becomes a Cultural Institution, it’s usually a death sentence. If not for its status as a going concern, then for whatever spark of creativity or inventiveness that made it beloved in the first place. Hit TV shows either bow out while they’re still good, leaving the people wanting more, or they limp along for what seems like forever, locked in a downward spiral of diminishing returns, terrified of changing the formula lest it alienate the devotees.

Star Trek wasn’t a hit TV show, and it didn’t bow out while it was still good either. Cancelled after a dismal third season, it was an expensive headache of a show that never quite found its audience. Not until it was syndicated some years later, in fact, which led to its revival as a saturday morning cartoon, then a series of films that ranged in quality from “Peerless Science-Fiction Masterpiece” to “Directed by William Shatner”, then the aforementioned spin-offs, beginning in 1987 with Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Infamously, Star Trek fans hated it, because it changed things. This bald academic is no substitute for Kirk, etc etc. Nowadays it’s probably more highly regarded than the original show, of course, because generations of people have grown up loving it. People who now find themselves presented with a revived Star Trek franchise that keeps Getting Things Wrong.

It’s traditional at this point to draw a parallel between Trek fans in 1987, those idiotic fools who failed to appreciate TNG’s genius from the off, and modern Trek fans, these idiotic fools who don’t understand that Discovery will be regarded with the same reverence as TNG in twenty years, and anyone who thinks it’s a load of incoherent Targ’s kidneys in which every conflict is solved by Michael Burnham sobbing about her mother, or whatever, is destined to look foolish by that point. Assuming there’s anyone left to pass judgement by then who hasn’t boiled to death in the climate apocalypse.

The thing about those foolish Trek fans in 1987, though, is that they weren’t entirely wrong. TNG’s first couple of seasons did suck, due to numerous factors that entire books and dozens of hours of documentaries have been produced about. But it got better as it matured, and found its own feet, stepping out from under the shadow of its predecessor and inspiring a load of spin-offs of its own. One of which was Deep Space Nine, which is still the best Star Trek show ever produced. And, yes, trekkies hated it when it started. And, yes, they kinda had a point: that pilot was rough going, and it took about thirty episodes for the show to start picking up. Which seems mental now, but this was a time when TV seasons were usually between 22 and 27 episodes long.

In a very Star Trek fashion, Deep Space Nine wasn’t really appreciated in its day either. It was generally regarded as the ugly stepchild of the franchise. For years, the prevailing view was that it sucked because it was slow, it wasn’t even set on a ship, and the crew rarely went anywhere except Bajor which was a boring planet full of boring arseholes. The consensus shifted dramatically, though, with the advent of box sets and streaming. DS9 could never have been made in a different time: it is a 90s production through and through. And yet, the best way to enjoy it is to binge watch. It seems designed for that, despite predating the concept by over a decade.

When marathoned, or at least watched at a higher frequency than 26 episodes per year, DS9’s grand vision comes together much more quickly, and the various arcs can truly be appreciated for their long-game boldness: the Dominion War, for example, which dominates the latter three seasons, is very clearly seeded from the get go. But if you were watching once per week, you’d never keep it all in your head. Imagine the usual tangent about Babylon 5 here if you want.

Lower Decks and DS9 are tonally about as opposite as you can get. Even DS9’s big war action scenes with massive battle fleets smashing into each other are positively sedate compared to LD’s 200mph line delivery of four ensigns having their morning cuppa. But the two shows have a lot in common beyond the shared universe: LD’s reverence for 90s Star Trek, and the glee with which it has fun playing in that world, is not unlike DS9’s eagerness to pick up threads dropped by the Original Series and run with them. And much of the show’s characteristic humour shines through in these episodes. The intrinsic daftness of Klingons. The regular city-breaks to the Mirror Universe, where the actors are let loose on theatrically twisted, comically weasley versions of their usual characters. An entire Tribbles callback episode full of TV production jokes, that even ends on a massive punchline.

Not to mention the genuinely hilarious Ferengi episodes, which a lot of philistines skip. The borderline sitcom relationships between Quark and Rom, Bashir and O’Brien etc. The point is, far from being a stuffy, serious show about doing a space war, DS9 does a lot of jokes. It has a sense of humour that is genuinely laugh-out-loud once you’ve dialled into it. Which is a bit of a Trek staple actually: every series has its own comedy frequency, including the original.

Lower Decks is more or less an entirely complete Berman era Trek show. All the elements are present and correct: strong character arcs, situation-of-the-week drama, quality performances that elevate silly sci-fi plots which are often, y’know, a bit crap when you think too hard about them. Humour, of course. It’s all the same stuff. But the sliders have been fiddled with. The gag rate dialled up 1000%. The pacing set to warp factor 9.9. And, perhaps most riskily, its self-indulgence channelled through the deflector dish and shot through a Borg cube. It absolutely revels in being Star Trek, in messing around with the goodies in that vast interstellar toybox, but it isn’t afraid to remix those things in ways that would scarcely occur to the writers that originally came up with them.

It’s a Star Trek show that loves being a Star Trek show, which I realise is an iffy proposition in an era of cultural stagnation where it’s impossible to get anything commissioned unless it’s tied to some existing Media Brand and has a pre-packaged audience. And that’s why there are still a lot of Trekkies who just can’t get past first appearances when it comes to Lower Decks. We know this because they all kicked up a right stink when Lower Decks characters made their live action debut in this year’s Strange New Worlds crossover (which was excellent, by the way).

I get it. I understand. The prospect of Trek being set upon by ex Rick & Morty staffers and turned into some horrid bastardised Funko Pop generator is a galling one. Or “the back corner of HMV”, as a friend of mine once lamented. And let’s face it, the rest of New Trek didn’t exactly inspire confidence in this bold experiment. Discovery is unfettered crap. Picard was abysmal until it just threw its hands up and did a TNG epilogue season, which was Mostly Fine, but by that point Mostly Fine represented a significant improvement.

VG247’s associate editor Alex Donaldson and I have a shorthand when it comes to watching the bad Star Trek: one of us will text the other and say “Just about the put the bins out”. It means “I’m about to put Discovery or Picard on and wince for 50 minutes”. If you’ll permit me to explain a joke (sorry), the point is that we’re old Trek fans who have decades invested in this thing. Thousands of space miles logged on the good ship USS Franchise. At this juncture, they could do an entire season of Discovery about Saru sitting in the bathtub and we’d watch every single second. Because it’s Star Trek. We need to know what happens. There might be a quiz. We have to take the bins out, not because we want to, but because we need to. Otherwise the kitchen will smell of garbage. Look, the metaphor disintegrates if you try and extend it.

It’s a testament to Lower Decks’ quality that the Bins Out gag never occurs. Only elation. Only joy. Joy and a mild sense of relief about this being one of two Star Trek imprints since literally the late nineties that is just a genuinely good Star Trek show that you don’t have to consciously ignore the crap bits of as you watch: the reflexive self-editing mode that Trek fans have had to program themselves to do after decades of half-baked movies, prequels, reboots, and poorly considered revivals that don’t understand Star Trek’s appeal on any level beyond Kirk Good, Klingons Bad.

Lower Decks is the most perfect form for Star Trek in the modern age. It respects and enriches its own past, reminding us why we love this thing in the first place rather than leveraging empty nostalgia for its own sake. It will, I’m confident, go down in history as one of the best Star Treks – a Surprise Favourite that started off on shaky ground but that eventually won everyone over. Just like DS9. Just like TNG. Just like TOS.

Badgey is rubbish though, stop doing that one.

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Star Trek : Inside “The Trouble with Tribbles,” 50 Years Later

By Thomas Vinciguerra

When America tuned in to Star Trek on December 29, 1967, it got its first glimpse of tribbles. These small, plush alien beings, which swamped the U.S.S. Enterprise and its brave crew, were merely sewn-up pouches of synthetic fur stuffed with foam rubber. But in the fictional Trek universe, tribbles were cute, purring, alive and—because they bred so rapidly—hilarious.

Fifty years after its small-screen debut, “The Trouble with Tribbles” may be the most famous episode of any iteration of Star Trek . It was an unintentional comedy that has delighted generations of fans. Surprisingly, it irritated some of those who helped put it on screen—including Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Mr. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, once dismissed it as “frivolous.”

“The Trouble with Tribbles” was the first professional sale for David Gerrold , a 23-year-old California college student. An unknown budding writer in September 1966 when he saw Star Trek ’s first episode, he almost immediately began thinking of story premises. One of them drew on his teenage experiences of raising frogs, mice, rats, and fish. “I loved animals,” recalled Gerrold, now an award-winning author of many science-fiction novels and stories, in a recent interview. “But all of those critters died on me.”

So in February 1967, he drew up a proposal for an episode he called “The Fuzzies.”

“My original conception was, ‘Aliens are always scary. What if they’re cute but we don’t realize they’re dangerous? What if you had white mice or gerbils that got onto the Enterprise and got out of control?’ ”

Gerrold envisioned a real ecological disaster. “My attitude was that it would be whimsical but that we would have a serious threat,” he said. Nowhere in his work was there to be found now-classic slapstick moments, like William Shatner’s Captain Kirk getting buried in a mountain of tribbles. Gerrold also imagined the buffoonish and chortling Cyrano Jones, the interstellar trader who introduces the beasties to the Enterprise , as a Boris Karloff type. (“You can just see him stroking it and saying, ‘Can I interest you in a harmless little tribble? . . .’ ”)

Gerrold was trying to stay true to what he called the “gravitas” of Star Trek ’s first season. One person who would probably have rather seen that gravitas stay intact was Gene Roddenberry. For all his celebrated humanism and we’re-all-alike-under-the-skin tolerance, he wanted Star Trek to be a straightforward, square-jawed action-adventure. “Gene Roddenberry had no sense of humor,” Gerrold said, “and working with him was a joyless exercise.”

Roddenberry was balanced, and sometimes thwarted, by producer Gene L. Coon, who joined Star Trek on August 8, 1966—exactly one month before the show premiered, and at a time when Roddenberry was already burning out from innumerable rewrites and production headaches. Described by associate producer Robert H. Justman as “a romantic with an obvious sense of humor,” Coon brought a welcome wink and nod to the production.

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“He knew you had to balance gravitas with lightheartedness—that you can’t save the galaxy every week,” said Gerrold. “Roddenberry never understood that.”

With Coon’s encouragement, Gerrold fleshed out “The Fuzzies” into a full story outline called “A Fuzzy Thing Happened to Me.” (He eventually dubbed his title creatures “tribbles” to avoid legal conflicts with H. Beam Piper’s science-fiction novel Little Fuzzy .) Star Trek story consultant Dorothy Fontana compared the outline favorably to a recent episode with distinctly bright overtones. “This story is one we should purchase,” she wrote. “[It has] the elements of fun grounded in serious problems for our principals that made ‘Shore Leave’ so well received.”

“Roddenberry did allow us to take off in lighter directions sometimes,” Fontana told Vanity Fair recently. “He just didn’t want to do an outright comedy.”

It was on the set of the otherwise grim episode “The Apple” that Gerrold realized the potential for more laughs. At one point, he saw Leonard Nimoy casually toss aside an unstable mineral sample that explodes upon hitting the ground. Gerrold picked up on Shatner’s reply: “Would you mind being careful where you throw your rocks, Mr. Spock?”

Gerrold never lost sight of his episode’s underlying drama. From the first, he had his tribbles devouring a highly important experimental grain. And he hit upon using the villainous Klingons (introduced in “Errand of Mercy,” a first-season episode written by Coon) as a central menace.

But with Coon’s encouragement, the jokes ballooned. “I never intended the episode to get that funny until we got into the development,” Gerrold said. “I realized there was the possibility of a lot more humor.”

Many jests were scripted, e.g., Kirk suggesting to Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) that he “open up a maternity ward” as the tribbles began to multiply. But many bits were improvised. When Kirk sees the Russian navigator, Mr. Chekov ( Walter Koenig ), absentmindedly stroking a tribble at his console, he peevishly snatches it away. In that same scene, the communications officer, Lieutenant Uhura ( Nichelle Nichols ), appears with a tribble peeking out of her uniform’s décolletage. At episode’s end, Kirk makes peace with the problematic pests by billing and cooing at them . . . and they respond in kind.

None of this is in Gerrold’s final-draft shooting script. Other shticks, only casually mentioned in print, were played up. In the third act, Gerrold writes that Kirk must “scoop three or four tribbles” from his command chair before he can sit down. On film, the good captain accidentally sits on one of them (it emits an indignant squeak). Gerrold also wrote that even after the tribbles in the storage compartment inundate Kirk, “more and more keep tumbling out.” In the end, the unseen property master Irving Feinberg deliberately and playfully bopped Shatner with a stray tribble or two every few seconds following the initial tumult.

Some of this nonsense, Gerrold said, was because “Tribbles” was shot immediately before a two-week Labor Day break. “I think it was just a case of ‘Let’s just party out on this one.’ ” He also credits the director, Joseph Pevney: “Dorothy Fontana said, ‘Let’s hope Joe directs, because he knows comedy.' ” (Ironically, Star Trek ’s other main director at the time was Marc Daniels, who had steered many episodes of I Love Lucy .)

Eddie Paskey , who was William Shatner’s stand-in, said that it was the star’s antic spirit that carried the day. “Bill was the one. He got into it. He realized, ‘You know what? This is fun and we’re having fun.’ ”

“Tribbles” was developed and shot during the summer of 1967, when Roddenberry was out of town on vacation (or writing a pilot for an aborted Robin Hood series, depending on whom you speak to). As Gerrold put it, “You could say that when Roddenberry was away, the cast could play.”

But when the so-called “Great Bird of the Galaxy” returned to the Desilu soundstages, he was appalled. “Roddenberry entered Stage 10,” said Marc Cushman , author of These Are the Voyages , a three-volume set about the making of the series, “and saw them filming the scene in which Kirk is buried in tribbles. Shatner was having a ball, and people were laughing to the point of tears. But Roddenberry wasn't laughing.” Shortly afterward, Coon—credited as the godfather of this turn toward comedy—left the show. (Coon became a producer of It Takes a Thief and, under the pseudonym Lee Cronin, wrote several third-season Star Trek episodes. He died of cancer in 1973 at the age of 49.)

Robert Justman, the associate producer, took Roddenberry’s side on “Tribbles.” “Although the concept was amusing, the story was just too cute,” he wrote in 1996. “Kirk, Spock, and the others were real people, and real people just did not behave that way; [I felt] our finely drawn characters should never parody themselves.”

And so Justman tried to shunt the show off into what he thought was a dead zone. “Tribbles” ran at 8:30 P.M. on the Friday between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, 1967.

“Justman told me how he was responsible for selecting the order in which the episodes would air on NBC,” said Cushman. “Since he wasn't fond of 'Tribbles' when it was first made, he scheduled it to air when most of the networks were showing repeats.”

On the other hand, “Tribbles” may have been the Star Trek equivalent of “a Christmas show,” as director of photography Gerald Finnerman suggested in a 2002 interview. If that was the idea, Dorothy Fontana believes it worked. “I don’t think it was dead zone time at all,” she said. “A lot of viewers were home on vacation and watching television.”

Gerrold never had any doubts. He hosted around 30 friends to watch the episode on his first color television set; one guest was his college buddy Robert Englund , later Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. “He said, ‘I had no idea you were such a good writer,’ ” Gerrold recalled. “And I said, ‘No one will remember this in 20 years.’ ”

He was wrong, of course. “The ratings were good, the fan letters poured in, and [Justman] and Roddenberry had to reconsider their stance on whether Star Trek should make all-out comedies,” Cushman said. “As a result, 'Tribbles' was given a network repeat.”

Five decades later, Gerrold has only a few complaints—mostly about the “whiny” tribble theme composed by Jerry Fielding, and the dappled white-and-brown fur from which most of the 500 tribbles were built. “It was godawful,” Gerrold said. “It was ugly as hell.”

“But,” he added, “it photographed well.”

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Futurama Got A Confused Call From A Star Trek Writer Over Their Tribbles Homage

In the "Futurama" episode "The Problem with Popplers" (May 7, 2000), the Planet Express crew lands on a distant, uncharted planet hoping to find a fast food joint; the ship had run out of supplies and Bender (John DiMaggio) was only able to make a meal with baking soda and capers. They land on a Class-M planet which, as Leela (Katey Sagal) explains, should at least provide roddenberry bushes. What they find instead are craters stuffed with brown, crunchy, edible meat nuggets ... that are utterly delicious. Snarfing ensues.

No one has set foot on this planet before so the Planet Express crew packs up the morsels and takes them back to Earth to sell on street corners. It's not long before they attract the attention of fast food proprietor Fishy Joe (Maurice LaMarche), and turn the nuggets — nicknamed Popplers — into a global phenomenon. 

Naturally, there is something unusual about the Popplers. While Leela eats, one of the Popplers folds open, and a giggling baby face appears. It seems the Popplers are the developing larval young of the Omicronians, a species of vicious conquerors. The Omicronians aren't too pleased that their babies are being eaten like snacks and offer to eat Leela to even the ledger sheet, as it were.

Trekkies will likely have giggled at the Roddenberry joke above — Gene Roddenberry created "Star Trek" — and they perhaps even felt a twitch of recognition when reading the episode's title. It is, of course, a reference to "The Trouble with Tribbles" (December 29, 1967), a comedic episode of the original "Star Trek" series wherein little fuzzy critters infiltrate a grain shipment.

According to the "Problem with Popplers" DVD commentary, the writer of "Tribbles," David Gerrold, called the "Futurama" offices to say he recognized the reference. 

Read more: The 20 Best Seasons Of The Simpsons Ranked

The Trouble With Tribbles

"The Problem with Popplers," of course, doesn't share any story similarities to "The Trouble with Tribbles." The Tribbles are not food and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) does not eat one. They are, instead, vermin. A valuable store of synthetic grain is being kept at the space station Deep Space K7 on its way to provide food for a distant colony. Kirk is assured the grain is important, even if he doesn't think guarding food is a very exciting assignment for the U.S.S. Enterprise. Also on board Deep Space K7, however, is a merchant named Cyrano Jones (Stanley Adams) who has a Tribble in his possession. Tribbles are featureless balls of fur that coo and snuggle and lull humans into a weird state of complacency. They also reproduce by eating, meaning a hungry Tribble soon turns into two Tribbles. It's not long before the Enterprise and Deep Space K7 are both overrun with the creatures. 

"Popplers" co-writer Patric Verrone recalls that voice actor Billy West got a call from "Tribbles" scribe — and "Futurama" fan — David Gerrold, "The title is an homage to 'The Trouble With Tribbles," Verrone confirmed. "And Billy, you told me you had heard from the writer. Who was it, David Gerrold? [...] And you said he had seen this episode in particular and made a comment." 

West said that yes, it was. And that Gerrold "couldn't figure out why we named them Popplers." West didn't have much of an explanation for Gerrold other than the obvious. "Because they're popular," West explained, "and you pop 'em in the mouth." Indeed, the word "Popplers" isn't too far from real-life snack products like Poppables or Snacklins.

Tribbles didn't become food until an episode of "Short Treks" in 2019 . 

Read the original article on SlashFilm

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10 best star trek parodies all fans should watch.

Star Trek has been a cultural institution for 57 years, spawning Muppet spoofs, bad impressions, cartoon caricatures, and pitch-perfect parodies.

• Star Trek: Lower Decks is the greatest and most affectionate parody of the franchise, but its official canon status sets it apart from other spoofs.
• Various TV shows and sketches, like Chewin' The Fat, The Muppet Show, and The Adam & Joe Show, have successfully parodied Star Trek with humor and deep-cut references.
• Other parodies, such as Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek and Black Mirror's USS Callister, offer unique and sometimes dark takes on Star Trek, pushing the boundaries of the franchise.

Star Trek has been a cultural institution for nearly 60 years, and its place in the popular imagination has spawned all manner of spoofs and parodies. Arguably Star Trek: Lower Decks is the greatest parody of all time, given how it perfectly, and affectionately, sends up the entire franchise. However, its official placing within the Star Trek canon means that it wouldn't be fair to place it alongside the countless comedy sketches, movies and sitcoms that have sent up the show over the past 57 years.

There's a long history of William Shatner impressions of varying quality, with the most notable being Jim Carrey's from In Living Color . While the jokes in those sketches, such as "The Wrath of Farrakhan" haven't aged brilliantly, Carrey's impression is certainly worth checking out. Some Star Trek parodies have gone on to spawn a life of their own, with full series orders, merchandise, and a fiercely dedicated fanbase all of their own. Meanwhile, other parodies have said all they have to say about Star Trek in 5 gag-filled minutes, and move on to their next target.

9 Chewin' The Fat - Taysiders In Space

The casting of Martin Quinn means that Star Trek : Strange New Worlds' Scotty is now Scottish , after decades of being played by a Canadian and an Englishman. BBC Scotland comedy sketch show Chewin' The Fat depicted a whole crew of Scottish Starfleet officers in the memorable sketch, "Taysiders in Space". Based on the premise that Starfleet Academy opened up a new campus in Carnoustie in Scotland, the sketch depicts the first batch of recruits setting out across the universe, with their phasers set to " malky " - that's kill in Scottish. It's a bracingly Earthy take on Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek vision with some big laughs.

8 The Muppet Show - Pigs In Space

Pigs in Space has been a stalwart of The Muppet Show since season 2, and while it has sent up all manner of sci-fi movies and TV shows, Miss Piggy's starship is called the Swinetrek, directly linking it to Star Trek . Not only that, but the character of Captain Link Hogthrob is very clearly based on William Shatner's Captain Kirk and just like Star Trek , it spawned numerous spinoffs. In the 1990s, ABC revived The Muppet Show as Muppets Tonight , which ran between 1996 and 1998. Pigs in Space was also updated in the revival, with the subtitle Deep Dish Nine and the character of Captain Pighead to better reflect 90s Star Trek .

7 The Adam & Joe Show - Stuffed Trek: The Toy Generation

The Adam & Joe Show was a cult TV comedy magazine show that was famous for spoofing popular movies and TV shows with toys long before Robot Chicken . In their sketch "Stuffed Trek: The Toy Generation", Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish sent up Star Trek: The Next Generation with some fairly deep-cut references. The mention of " more terrible movies " and irritation at Lt. Commander Da-Toy's newfound sense of humor say it all about Adam and Joe's opinions on Star Trek Generations . Interestingly, decades later and with successful feature films under his belt, Joe Cornish was approached to direct Star Trek Beyond , but he turned it down.

6 Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek

Turkish cinema is notorious for its copyright-skirting parodies of Western IPs, and not even Star Trek could escape this treatment. Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek is, like the title suggests, a film that places the titular Turkish comedy character into an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series . More specifically, "The Man Trap", complete with Salt Vampire and seductive apparitions. Watching it does feel like experiencing a feverish mashup of TOS season 1, but it's never boring. The Turkish Star Trek parody is also a charming buddy comedy between Ömer and Mr. Spack, and there's been nothing quite like it before or since.

5 Black Mirror - USS Callister

"USS Callister", Charlie Brooker's pitch-perfect parody of Star Trek: The Original Series had a predictably dark edge. As a Star Trek parody it worked on multiple levels, from the recognizable tropes to the much deeper critiques of its sexual politics. It's also a smart and thought-provoking take on Star Trek 's holodeck technology and the rights of those whose images are stored inside. The characters that Robert Daly (Jesse Plemmons) interacts with inside his simulation are avatars for his co-workers, who retain the memories of the cruelty he metes out to them. Star Trek has yet to fully interrogate the ethics of its holodeck technology in such a complex and engaging way, making this a must-watch episode for fans.

4 Animaniacs - Star Truck

Animaniacs' parody of Star Trek is an absolute riot as the Warner Brothers (and sister) cause chaos aboard the starship from their favorite TV show. It's full of copyright skirting names like Mr. Squat and Captain Kork, alongside typically meta-references such as a nod to " Ricardo Montalban and his plastic chest ." There's also a hilariously blunt joke about the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode "City on the Edge of Forever". The parody featured some incredible impressions of William Shatner, DeForest Kelley and Leonard Nimoy by Maurice LaMarche that perfectly capture each of their iconic Star Trek roles.

3 Seth McFarlane's The Orville

The Orville 's reputation as a Star Trek parody initially hampered its ability to be taken seriously as a sci-fi show in its own right. There are strong Star Trek links to The Orville from guest appearances by notable stars, and creative input from 90s Trek legends Brannon Braga, Jonathan Frakes, and Robert Duncan McNeill behind the scenes. Seth McFarlane has a deep love of Star Trek and that really shines through in some of the affectionate jibes at tired old Trek tropes. However, The Orville is more rewarding than a mere parody because it recaptured the feel of the episodic, planet-of-the-week style Star Trek long before the debut of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in 2022.

2 Futurama - Where No Fan Has Gone Before

Both Matt Groening's beloved animated series The Simpsons and Futurama have featured various nods to Star Trek over the years, but "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" is the peak. In the episode, the Planet Express crew discovers the original Star Trek actors alive and well on the planet Omega 3, where they've been resurrected by alien superfan Mellvar. Reuniting the majority of the living Star Trek: The Original Series Cast - minus James Doohan - it was an episode packed full of references and big laughs. From Philip J Fry (Billy West) in Captain Pike's bleep-bleep chair to the killer final line delivered by William Shatner, it's an absolute hoot.

1 Galaxy Quest

While Futurama may have had the benefit of the involvement of the original cast, Galaxy Quest is the best Star Trek parody . The beloved sci-fi movie, which has spawned its own dedicated fanbase, was released in 1999. Effectively putting a Star Trek spin on the Steve Martin movie The Three Amigos, it sent the cast of a popular sci-fi show into space to defend a planet from an alien warlord. It's full of acutely observed jokes about conventions and fans, and it's steeped in various well-worn Star Trek tropes. Tim Allen is perfectly cast as the William Shatneresque character while Alan Rickman's snobbish actor is archly funny. It's the funniest Star Trek parody of all time, but Galaxy Quest is also a joyous homage to the show and its hugely positive impact on fans.

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The Trouble with Tribbles

• Episode aired Dec 29, 1967

To protect a space station with a vital grain shipment, Kirk must deal with Federation bureaucrats, a Klingon battle cruiser and a peddler who sells furry, purring, hungry little creatures a... Read all To protect a space station with a vital grain shipment, Kirk must deal with Federation bureaucrats, a Klingon battle cruiser and a peddler who sells furry, purring, hungry little creatures as pets. To protect a space station with a vital grain shipment, Kirk must deal with Federation bureaucrats, a Klingon battle cruiser and a peddler who sells furry, purring, hungry little creatures as pets.

• Joseph Pevney
• Gene Roddenberry
• David Gerrold
• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• DeForest Kelley
• 35 User reviews
• 12 Critic reviews

• Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk

• Mister Spock

• Cyrano Jones

• Admiral Fitzpatrick
• (as Ed Reimers)

• Arne Darvin
• Ensign Freeman

• (as David Ross)

• Klingon Brawler
• (uncredited)

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia The scene in which Kirk is buried in an avalanche of tribbles took eight takes to get right. The tribbles were thrown into the hatch by members of the production crew. The crew members were not sure when to stop because they were unable to see the scene. This is why additional tribbles keep falling on Kirk one by one. William Shatner can be seen looking perplexed as to why more tribbles keep falling on him.
• Goofs Bones describes the Tribbles as bisexual when he means parthenogenic. However, he could have meant the Tribbles possess both male and female sex organs, as "bisexual" was once another term for hermaphroditism.

Spock : [while holding a tribble] Most curious creature, Captain. Its trilling seems to have a tranquilizing effect on the human nervous system.

Spock : [beginning to pet it gently] Fortunately, of course, I am... immune to it's effect...

[realizing what he is doing, he quickly puts the tribble down and excuses himself]

• Alternate versions Special Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song
• Connections Edited from TrekCulture: 10 Greatest Final Lines In Star Trek Episodes (2022)
• Soundtracks Theme Music credited to Alexander Courage Sung by Loulie Jean Norman

User reviews 35

• Oct 13, 2006
• December 29, 1967 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
• Desilu Productions
• Norway Corporation
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 50 minutes

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles

Trivia / Star Trek S2 E15 "The Trouble with Tribbles"

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• However, some works (including the "These Are the Voyages" book) have said that Roddenberry did not like having comedy episodes like this and " I, Mudd " made, and that this was a factor in the later departure of Producer Gene Coon.
• Initially Leonard Nimoy was not a fan of the episode as he felt it to be frivolous. Its deepening reputation as one of the classics of The Original Series as the years went on helped him change his mind.
• Nichelle Nichols really liked the episode, as it allowed Uhura to be a woman and took her off the bridge. It was one of her largest roles in any single episode in the series.
• Enforced Method Acting : During the big finale, the people throwing the Tribbles at William Shatner couldn't actually see what they were doing and kept pelting him with them long after they should have stopped. Kirk's annoyance is completely genuine. (The DS9 tribute episode " Trials and Tribble-ations " uses this bit of trivia to amazing effect thirty years later.)
• Executive Meddling : David Gerrold suggested a subplot which would have involved two companies engaging in mutual corporate espionage, even each sabotaging the other's efforts to colonize Sherman's Planet (the tribbles would have been an element of this sabotage). This was rejected with a scrawl of "Big Business angle out" in the margin; in 1967 it was, at least in the eyes of the show's sponsors, utterly unacceptable to suggest that any corporation — even centuries in the future — might ever engage in behavior less than completely and shiningly ethical.
• I Am Not Spock : William Campbell (Koloth) recalled that, after this episode was aired, his neighbour's son consequently addressed his wife as "Mrs. Klingon".
• Inspiration for the Work : The idea was based on the introduction of rabbits in Australia in 1859, who reproduced at a vastly increased rate owing to the lack of predators.
• Life Imitates Art : The cast and crew continued to find tribbles all over the set for weeks after shooting the episode.
• Magnum Opus Dissonance : Despite this episode's popularity, producer Robert H. Justman wrote in his book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story that he never liked this episode. He felt that the humor was too over-the-top and the show became a parody of itself.
• No Stunt Double : James Doohan insisted on doing his own stunts in the barroom brawl.
• Prop Recycling : A large number of recycled costumes can be seen in the space station bar scenes. A few bar patrons are wearing colonist jumpsuits from " The Devil in the Dark ", two extras are wearing the cadet costumes made for Finnegan and his stunt double in " Shore Leave ", and some are wearing turtleneck uniforms from the two pilots (one man is actually wearing a turtleneck shirt with the Antares insignia from " Charlie X "). A female extra is wearing Areel Shaw's costume from " Court Martial ".
• Recycled Set : The bar set, including the bartender's costume, is recycled from " Court Martial ", with slight modifications, mostly in decoration.
• The Red Stapler : With a little Pet Fad Starter thrown in. David Gerrold said they received a lot of fan mail asking where you could buy a tribble ( though the episode makes it clear why you don't want one ) and one very angry letter accusing them of blatant animal cruelty!
• Science Marches On : Bones uses the word "bisexual" for the concept which is now referred to as "hermaphroditic" or "intersex". David Gerrold has stated the wording used is what was allowed by the network, even though it was inaccurate and potentially misleading.
• Supposedly, it was Chris Doohan (son of James Doohan) and one of his brothers throwing the tribbles at him.
• Michael Pataki improvised his character Korax's Brief Accent Imitation of Scotty.
• DeForest Kelley contributed the "We quit feeding them, they stop breeding" line, which David Gerrold tried to find a good place to insert into the script. He only found it, ironically enough, when he was making cuts after the first draft ran too long.
• Uncredited Role : This script was Gerrold's first professional sale ever , so it should come as no surprise that a lot of work was done on it by other hands to make it "ready for prime-time". All sources agree that producer/showrunner Gene L. Coon made major contributions to the script. Gerrold, in his book, acknowledges that two scenes were written entirely by Coon from whole cloth (the teaser with Kirk testing Chekov and the "ermine violin" snarkfest between Spock and Bones) and claims that as far as he is concerned, Coon deserved to be credited as co-writer. Herb Solow and Bob Justman, in their book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , don't go into as much detail but concur that the script was "heavily re-written" by Coon's hand.
• Scenes which were cut from the script included the Enterprise chasing after Jones in his vessel, and resulted in the scene where Kirk has tribbles tumbling onto him while in the grain locker. Gerrold felt that this enforced editing process "tightened up the story and made for a better series of gags".
• The original intent for Koloth was to make him a recurring Arch-Enemy / Worthy Opponent of Kirk's — as you can see, that never went anywhere.
• Koloth himself was created by necessity. The original plan was for John Colicos to return as Kor, but Colicos was unavailable.
• Alas, Roger Carmel (Harry Mudd) was unavailable...
• Working Title : "The Fuzzies", "A Fuzzy Thing Happened to Me...", "You Think You've Got Tribbles...?" note  That last one lasted for about as long as it took Gerrold to propose it to Gene Coon, who flatly rejected it.
• You Look Familiar : Trelane is perhaps the smarmiest Klingon ever.
• Star Trek S2 E14 "Wolf in the Fold"
• « Trivia »
• Star Trek S2 E16 "The Gamesters of Triskelion"

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A collection of tribbles

Edward Larkin's analysis of a tribble. (c. 2250s)

Tribble was the colloquial name for a rodent -like species with the scientific names Tribleustes ventricosus and Polygeminus grex . Tribbles were small, non-intelligent lifeforms originating from Iota Geminorum IV . Known for their prodigious reproductive rate, these round, furry creatures emitted cooing sounds while touched, which had a tranquilizing effect on the Human nervous system . ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles "; ST : " The Trouble with Edward ")

• 3 Alternate reality
• 5.1 Appearances
• 5.2 Background information
• 5.3 Apocrypha
• 5.4 External links

Biology [ ]

On their own, tribbles were quite incapable of directly harming sentient beings – they did not even possess " teeth " as such. They were also fairly slow, although able to scale and cling to vertical surfaces. Nonetheless, left unchecked, they could rapidly multiply and devastate entire ecosystems on a planetary scale.

An entire half of a tribble's metabolism was solely devoted to reproduction . Born pregnant , a single tribble with sufficient food could quickly increase its number exponentially through asexual reproduction , bearing an average litter of ten and producing a new generation every twelve hours . Over a period of three days, that single tribble could account for 1,771,561 progeny . ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles "; DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ") While not actively malicious or even intelligent, their tranquilizing effect in humans can cause those who encounter them to be too enamored by their perceived cuteness to be able to properly respond to their hyper-reproduction in a timely manner.

Tribbles were therefore outlawed on worlds by the mid- 22nd century . On their own homeworld , tribble populations were kept in check by a large number of reptilian predators . ( DS9 : " The Nagus "; TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles "; ENT : " The Breach ")

History [ ]

Doctor Phlox shows Hoshi Sato a tribble in 2153

Tribbles were first encountered by Humans in the early 2150s when Denobulan doctor Phlox brought a small number aboard Enterprise NX-01 as an easily sustainable food source for his pets . ( ENT : " The Breach ")

In 2256 aboard the USS Discovery , Captain Gabriel Lorca had a pet tribble that he kept in his ready room . Lorca's laboratory had a dissected tribble as well. ( DIS : " Context Is for Kings ")

Aboard the same starship in 2257 , Ensign Tilly told Michael Burnham that she would begin to cry like " a baby tribble in the kill zone ", if Burnham asked any more questions regarding news that Paul Stamets was transferring off the ship. ( DIS : " Brother ")

During the mid- 23rd century , Edward Larkin of the USS Cabot was working with sample specimens of the species, intending to use them as a food source. Larkin, who at the resulting board of inquiry was described as an idiot, believed that tribbles would make an excellent food source if not for the fact that they bred very slowly. Against orders, he modified the tribbles with Human DNA (his own) in order to increase their reproductive rate. This caused the tribbles to multiply beyond containment, and before long, resulted in the destruction of the ship. The hybrid tribbles made it to nearby Pragine 63 , forcing its entire civilization to be evacuated, and were later reported to have made their way into Klingon space . ( ST : " The Trouble with Edward ")

In 2268 , Cyrano Jones brought a small number of tribbles to Deep Space Station K-7 to trade. He gifted a single tribble to Federation officer Nyota Uhura , hoping that an attractive woman's possession of the creature would enhance its popularity. Uhura brought the tribble aboard the Starship USS Enterprise , where it quickly multiplied. The tribbles also proliferated on the station, where they were instrumental in foiling a Klingon plan to poison a shipment of quadrotriticale intended for Sherman's Planet , when those that had fed on the grain were found dead. Despite tribbles being known to Starfleet personnel for at least a century, including being kept on at least three of its vessels, the mechanics of tribble anatomy and reproduction were still not widely known at this time, with Dr. Leonard McCoy rediscovering this information in his investigation of the animals' proliferation aboard K-7 and the Enterprise ; several other Enterprise crewmembers, such as Uhura, also indicated having never heard of them before. ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles ")

Kirk buried in tribbles

At the same time, the crew of USS Defiant , transported through time by Arne Darvin , prevented him from using a tricobalt device hidden inside a tribble to kill James T. Kirk . ( DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ")

The Tardigrade " Ephraim " encountered tribbles in a Jefferies tube in the USS Enterprise , when it was being pursued by the DOT-7 robot " Dot " ( ST : " Ephraim and Dot ")

Tribbles were an ecological menace for the Klingons, to whom a tribble would react violently. The Klingons first attempted to breed a predator to eliminate the threat. The glommer was used only once, in 2269 , aboard the USS Enterprise, and proved unable to deal with the large number of tribbles aboard. ( TAS : " More Tribbles, More Troubles ")

Kirk's captain's chair overtaken by a tribble colony

During this time, Cyrano Jones attempted to genetically engineer the tribbles so that they would not reproduce. As a result of his dabbling, he deemed them to be "safe" so as to be compatible with humanoid ecologies , making them "great pets and profitable, too." Unknown to Jones, at the time, and as was later discovered by Doctor Leonard McCoy, Jones' genetic engineering was described as being "very slipshod," as the resulting tribbles appeared to grow in immense size, instead of rapid breeding. McCoy later discovered that the so-called "giant tribbles" really were not as they appeared, but rather colonies of tribbles. McCoy was able to remedy the situation by giving them "a simple shot" of neoethylene , which caused the tribble colonies to break down into their individual units with a slower metabolic rate , and finally becoming "safe tribbles." ( TAS : " More Tribbles, More Troubles ")

The Café des Artistes included tribbles as an ingredient in one of their dishes. ( TNG : " We'll Always Have Paris ")

Tribbles on Earth ( 2285 )

The Klingons' solution to the tribble menace was to wipe the species out entirely. Klingon warriors were sent to hunt them down throughout the galaxy , and the tribble homeworld was obliterated in the late 23rd century . When told of this, Odo dryly remarked, " Another glorious chapter in Klingon history . Tell me, do they still sing songs of the Great Tribble Hunt ? " ( DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ")

A graphic of tribbles

In spite of the destruction of the tribble homeworld, many Humans continued to have the small creatures as pets from the late 23rd century , well into the late 24th century , as one child aboard the USS Enterprise -D appeared to have one as a pet in 2371 . ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ; TNG : " When The Bough Breaks "; Star Trek Generations )

Information about tribbles was displayed by the computer in Keiko O'Brien 's schoolroom on Deep Space 9 in 2369 . ( DS9 : " A Man Alone ", " The Nagus ") Tribbles were displayed in an LCARS graphic in one of the USS Enterprise -D's science laboratories when the ship crash-landed on Veridian III in 2371 . ( Star Trek Generations )

Quark is surrounded by tribbles.

Tribbles were reintroduced into the 24th century when Captain Benjamin Sisko and his crew brought at least one of the creatures back to 2373 , following a time-traveling visit to the tribble-infested space station K-7 of 2268. The Promenade and Quark's on Deep Space 9 were subsequently overrun with the creatures. According to Captain Sisko, the Federation's Department of Temporal Investigations was not told about the reintroduction of the tribbles because "they didn't ask." ( DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ")

Deep Space 9's Promenade overrun with tribbles in 2373

Miles O'Brien later recalled seeing the tribbles on the Enterprise with Julian Bashir when he was leaving Deep Space 9 at the end of the Dominion War . ( DS9 : " What You Leave Behind ")

A tribble was among the contraband Ensign Beckett Mariner had secreted aboard the USS Cerritos in 2380 . She claimed that it was for "personal use." ( LD : " No Small Parts ")

The key to the Cerritos captain's yacht was attached to a key chain with a stuffed tribble attached to it. ( LD : " Terminal Provocations ")

Tribbles were also for sale at Malvus' Goods on Starbase 25 in 2381 . ( LD : " An Embarrassment Of Dooplers ")

A genetically modified tribble on Daystrom Station

In 2401 , a tribble genetically modified into a vicious predator with multiple mouths and limbs was kept on Daystrom Station . It pounced at Worf when he looked into its enclosure, prompting William T. Riker to jokingly refer to it as an "attack tribble". ( PIC : " The Bounty ")

Alternate reality [ ]

Tribble on Delta Vega

In the alternate reality , Montgomery Scott had a tribble at his station on the Delta Vega outpost in 2258 . ( Star Trek )

A revived tribble in 2259

A year later , Dr. Leonard McCoy injected the blood of Khan into the necrotic tissue of a dead tribble in order to test the regenerative properties of the blood. A little while later, shortly after the death of James T. Kirk , Khan's blood resurrected the tribble in front of a stunned McCoy. McCoy then ordered Khan captured alive so that his blood could be used to the same effect on Kirk. ( Star Trek Into Darkness )

See also [ ]

• Tribble Cereal
• Tribble Cereal Super Salon
• Tribble neuterator
• Tribble razor

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles "
• TAS : " More Tribbles, More Troubles "
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek Generations (display graphic)
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• " The Nagus " (display graphic)
• " Trials and Tribble-ations "
• ENT : " The Breach "
• " Context Is for Kings "
• " The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry "
• " Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum "
• " Despite Yourself "
• " Red Directive "
• " The Trouble with Edward "
• " Ephraim and Dot "
• PIC : " The Bounty "
• " No Small Parts "
• " An Embarrassment Of Dooplers "

Background information [ ]

The homeworld and original scientific name ( polygeminus grex ) for the tribbles appeared on the chart in Keiko O'Brien 's classroom on Deep Space 9 . The chart artwork, contributed by DS9 art department illustrator Doug Drexler , are the same component illustrations he had originally prepared for the fan-published Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual in 1976, then reprinted in 1978 as a licensed book by Ballantine. A different scientific name, Tribleustes ventricosus , was given in " The Trouble with Edward ". Since that episode also saw the creation of a new Tribble variant incorporating Human DNA, the later polygeminus grex name might reflect this change.

The story "The Trouble with Tribbles" was intended to tell was writer David Gerrold 's re-interpretation of the rabbit population explosion in Australia . The now-apocryphal Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual refers to this event too, connecting it with the k'nurt blight on Vulcan and the destruction caused by tribbles on Sherman's Planet, in the text "quoting" the data on "Parasites" from Volume 17 of the Star Fleet Guide To Alien Life.

In the audio commentary for "More Tribbles, More Troubles," David Gerrold explains that the idea for tribbles came from a fuzz-ball keychain owned by a college girlfriend of his, named Holly Sherman (for whom Sherman's Planet is named). He also mentions that Wah Chang hired a woman named Jacqueline Cumere to make five hundred tribbles for "The Trouble with Tribbles," and explains the procedure for making them. He had previously so explained in his autobiographical book The Trouble with Tribbles: The Birth, Sale, And Final Production Of One Episode . This book also described his fears of having plagiarized the Martian Flat Cat from The Rolling Stones , written by Robert Heinlein, and noted that Ande Richardson, operational producer Gene L. Coon's secretary, had both eased that worry and relayed Heinlein's request (which was granted) for a copy of the script.

Tribbles are made from a piece of "figure-eight shaped" fake fur, sewn up to make a ball about five inches in diameter. The ball is filled with foam rubber; some tribbles were made by sewing a decapitated walking toy dog inside the fur skin, and the toy activated to make the tribble crawl, as revealed in a DVD text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda for "The Trouble with Tribbles." Gerrold's aforementioned book, in the chapter "Tribble-Making," had previously described the procedure.

Sound Editor Douglas Grindstaff was involved in creating the noises made by the tribbles. Producer Gene Roddenberry first showed Grindstaff a tribble prop and they discussed how they should tackle the creation of the different sounds made by the creatures. There had to be sounds for their various moods, such as for a very comfortable tribble as well as a fearful or disapproving tribble, rearing up and away from someone it didn't like. There also had be sounds for different quantities of tribbles. " I found a dove 'coo,' I flipped the track over, and shaved off part of it with a razor blade, " Grindstaff recollected. " I then made a loop out of it, put it on a variable speed machine, and changed the pitch of it to different frequencies. Then I chose those frequencies I liked the best and decided which ones I would use in each spot. I then went to a screech owl for the sound of the tribble rearing up, took the screech owl and played with it and got variations of it. Then I took a bunch of little balloon sounds, where you'd get a balloon and rub it, and we mixed that with other little squeaky sounds that we had in the library, playing with all these at variable speeds, mixing them and making new sounds out of them, and putting them all together until we came up with the various composite sounds used throughout the whole show. " ( The Star Trek Interview Book , p. 236)

During filming of "The Trouble with Tribbles", one of the better-known Star Trek "bloopers" occurred when guest star Ed Reimers , at the time best known for his commercials for Allstate Insurance, which ended with him cupping his hands and saying the catchphrase " You're in good hands with Allstate, " was tossed a tribble prop during a take of his scene, prompting him to make the same gesture with his hands while holding the tribble and proclaiming, " You're in good hands with tribbles. "

Following the making of "The Trouble with Tribbles," tribble props were repeatedly found around the set of Star Trek 's original series . Commented DeForest Kelley : " We'd had these tribbles everywhere. They had them in the prop room and they kept showing up here and there for weeks after we filmed the episode. A tribble might show up as an extra breast on Nichelle [Nichols] or something like that. I guess everybody was still kind of tribble happy and every time we got to work a tribble in somewhere, we were working them in. Instead of pulling out a communicator , somebody would pull out a tribble. They'd continually pop up somewhere. Pull out a drawer and somebody would reach for something and there'd be a tribble there […] It took weeks to get all the tribbles off the set. " Kelley also remembered that – in a scene of an episode that he reckoned was "probably" " Journey to Babel ", where his character of Dr. McCoy was meant to be making a surgical incision in another character – he (as Dr. McCoy) apparently removed a tribble from the patient after making the incision, an action that provoked much laughter on the set. ( The World of Star Trek , 3rd ed., p. 86)

Having appeared as Klingon captain Koloth in "The Trouble with Tribbles," actor William Campbell was made aware of how extremely popular the tribbles were with fans. " The actors weren't really the stars of the show, those little animals were, " Campbell opined. " They really intrigued whoever watched it. One little girl even made a tribble and sent it to me. " ( The World of Star Trek , 3rd ed., p. 121)

Another homemade tribble was created for Terry Farrell by her grandmother, during her childhood, long before she portrayed Jadzia Dax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ; a frequent viewer of TOS, Farrell kept her tribble toy in her bedroom, by a television set. ( The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine  issue 2 , p. 56)

Director Joseph Pevney once speculated that, if tribbles had been proposed to make their debut appearance during the third season of the original series rather than the second , the idea would have been rejected, due to the regular cast becoming increasingly concerned about being seen as the heroes of the series. Pevney argued, " The hero of the show was a little fuzzy animal, and they don't want that. They want to constantly be the heroes. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 48)

In "More Tribbles, More Troubles," the tribbles appear pink in color. Unknown to the rest of the production staff, the director, Hal Sutherland , was color-blind, so to him, pink was light gray. Given that the plot of the episode involved the creatures being genetically reengineered, this had little impact on continuity.

According to the audio commentary for " How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth ", David Wise mentions that for Kukulkan's zoo , " If you were to read the original script, we had animals, various life forms from earlier episodes of the live action Star Trek . There was a tribble, a couple of tribbles in one cage, there was a Horta from "Devil in the Dark" [sic] in another cage, they were supposed to be reference, the various menagerie of characters who had appeared in earlier Star Trek s. "

Harve Bennett once characterized the tribbles in Star Trek III as "Christmas stocking presents to the fans " and went on to say, " That's, 'Hey, kids, you came to see the movie, here's a treat, it's our joke.' " ( The Star Trek Interview Book , p. 271)

In the first draft script of TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint ", " Oh, tribbles " was an exclamation uttered by Wesley Crusher . ( Creating the Next Generation , p. 69)

An edible tribble was designed to be ripped open as a snack by one of the Klingon guards on Rura Penthe in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , filled with gummy worms and tapioca "guts," but it was not seen in the movie, as it was thought to be too disgusting. A scepter that Rura Penthe's commandant carries has fur that was scripted to be from a tribble. ( The Making of the Trek Films , 3rd ed., p. 129)

Some of the most memorable ways in which tribbles are featured in " Trials and Tribble-ations " were devised by DS9 writing staffer Ronald D. Moore . These ideas included tribbles being tossed out of the storage compartment bin from "The Trouble with Tribbles" by one of the DS9 crew – hitting Kirk on the head with them – and another tribble actually being what is more-or-less a disguised bomb. ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion  (p. 384))

In the first draft script of "Trials and Tribble-ations", a hypothetical evolutionary link was made between tribbles and Trill symbionts , as some xenobiologists had apparently theorized that tribbles were "distant evolutionary cousins to Trill symbionts. "

Gary Monak with some motorized tribbles from "Trials and Tribble-ations"

The tribble props for "Trials and Tribble-ations" were obtained from Lincoln Enterprises before it became the "Store" section of Roddenberry.com. Prop master Joe Longo later recalled, " We bought 1,400. … [They] only had about 600 there and had to make up some more – it took two weeks. And then we had to make up some in Drapery; we didn't have enough of the large ones. " ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 110 , p. 55)

DS9 special effects supervisor Gary Monak and his team of live effects artists at Paramount were tasked with matching the actions of operable tribble props in "Trials and Tribble-ations" with the equivalent props of thirty years beforehand. This was despite the fact that the DS9 episode features more moving tribbles than there are in "The Trouble with Tribbles". Reported Monak, " We're having about 50 different moving ones made up; they're all pretty much like crawlers or wigglers, the one that's supposed to jump when it sees Klingons is a remote control one we've made. " The workings inside the latter prop consisted of a variable-speed wheel with an off-center gearing. ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 110 , p. 58)

Worf actor Michael Dorn hated tribbles, much like how his own Klingon character felt about the species. " It's just this whole cute thing, " Dorn expressed in disgust. " It just drives me up a wall. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 32, Nos. 4/5, p. 93)

Tribbles were mentioned in a 2004 treatment in which J. Michael Straczynski and Bryce Zabel outlined their plans for a reboot Star Trek TV series that ultimately went undeveloped. In the document, the tribbles were once again depicted as encountering the Enterprise , Captain Kirk, and the rest of the ship's crew, though in a new story. The treatment also pondered about the creatures, " What if they came equipped with an agenda, an attitude…and teeth? " [1]

Writer/producer Roberto Orci once claimed that, at least to Humans, tribbles are "potentially poisonous, like blow fish (a common reference to the fishes properly called "puffers," some species of which are toxic)." [2]

The tribble in the film Star Trek was operated by remote control, used by a production staffer standing just out of the camera's line of sight. ( Star Trek  Special Edition / Three disc Blu-ray documentary featurette "To Boldly Go") Similarly, the tribble in Star Trek Into Darkness was a puppet operated by Director J.J. Abrams , from under a table which the tribble sat on. ( enhanced commentary , Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek: The Compendium DVD special features)

A tribble was included in Star Trek: Discovery at the request of Akiva Goldsman . [3]

A prop book called The Trouble with Tribbles , part of a set named after iconic Star Trek: The Original Series episodes, was also created for Captain Philippa Georgiou 's ready room . While some of these books appear to have made it on screen, it is unclear if this one did.

Two tribble fur balls were sold together in the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction for US$4,800. The lot had been estimated to bring in only between US$800 and US$1,200. These tribbles were made for the DS9 outing "Trials and Tribble-ations" and were also used in the bazaar scene in ENT : " Rajiin ".

The condition of being born pregnant occurs in some existing Earth species through the phenomenon of telescoping generations .

During the scene in "The Trouble with Tribbles" in which McCoy describes how tribbles reproduce, he describes them as "bisexual". Although the meaning was different than that usually ascribed to the word today, it was one of the first times the word was uttered in a US network TV series. From context, it seems he is actually suggesting the tribbles are hermaphroditic , with each individual carrying aspects of both biological sexes.

"The Trouble with Edward" establishes that there are at least two varieties of tribbles, and that only the genetically-engineered variety reproduces rapidly. While it can be expected that this version dominated the population between the destruction of the Cabot and the completion of the Klingon extermination campaign, any on-screen instances of tribbles which are not seen to be overrunning their environment may be the non-engineered, safer version.

Apocrypha [ ]

According to the Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual , the mutual dislike between Klingons and tribbles has to do with the fact that both species have keen senses of smell, and apparently, each found the "stench" of the other extremely unpleasant. Tribbles also found food using their sense of smell.

A promotion for the photonovel The Trouble with Tribbles in the back of the previous book, Where No Man Has Gone Before , describes tribbles as being between three and seven inches long.

According to FASA 's The Federation sourcebook, tribbles are native to the planet Jorindas, which is the fourth planet in the Beta Vertis system.

In the novelization of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan , when McCoy gives Kirk a birthday present, Kirk (under the influence of Romulan ale) asks, " ...is it a tribble?! "

In the TOS short story "The Trouble with Borg Tribbles" from the anthology book Strange New Worlds V , the crew of the Gr'oth tried many methods to rid themselves of the Tribbles, but none fully successful. They then attempt to pack hundreds into life pods and eject from the ship. One of the pods goes through a micro-wormhole and ends up in the Delta Quadrant , where it was discovered by a Borg cube . This was the Borg 's first contact with life from another part of the galaxy. The Borg assimilated the surviving Tribbles, only to find that their instinctive drive to eat and procreate was starting to overwhelm the hive mind, causing a widespread series of malfunctions.

In the Pocket TNG novel Q-in-Law , Q taunts Worf by offering him a tribble as a present. Worf shares most Klingons' instinctive loathing of the creatures, a fact later confirmed in " Trials and Tribble-ations ".

In the Pocket DS9 novel The Big Game , Odo does not allow a tribble to be brought onto Deep Space 9 until it is confirmed to be sterile. The novel takes place well before the events of "Trials and Tribble-ations" in which DS9's Promenade is briefly overrun by them.

In the DS9 comic Nobody Knows the Tribbles I've Seen set after the events of "Trials and Tribble-ations", the senior staff sat around a table at Quark's during the cleanup effort on DS9 and discussed their various theories and supposed experiences regarding the origin of Tribbles, how the Klingons got their head ridges, and why the Klingons and Tribbles hate each other so much. Their speculations included the Tribbles being the cause of the ridged-forehead Klingons, among others.

In Star Trek Online , the tribbles' tranquilizing effect on the nervous system is used as a healing factor during gameplay. They can also be bred by introducing them to various foodstuffs, giving the player access to different subspecies of tribbles that bestow different benefits. They also seem to spontaneously breed if there is at least one in the player's inventory and a food source is available. Special tribbles have become a common reward for either testing major updates (called seasons) or, more recently, logging onto the game near the beginning of a season. These tribbles typically give buffs against a major enemy of the season. The game's test server is named Tribble.

The virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals has a tribble from Iota Geminorum IV as card #1.

In the 2013 video game Star Trek , tribbles are found in various places that Kirk and Spock travel. Scott also recounts a story in his commentary about an outbreak of tribbles at Starfleet Academy .

External links [ ]

• Tribble at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Tribble at Wikipedia
• 3 Ancient humanoid

The Trouble with Tribbles

15th episode of the 2nd season of star trek: the original series / from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, dear wikiwand ai, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:.

Can you list the top facts and stats about The Trouble with Tribbles?

Summarize this article for a 10 year old

" The Trouble with Tribbles " is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek . Written by David Gerrold and directed by Joseph Pevney , it was first broadcast on December 29, 1967. In this comic episode, the starship Enterprise visits a space station that soon becomes overwhelmed by rapidly reproducing small furry creatures called " tribbles ."

It is claimed the short story " Pigs Is Pigs " by Ellis Parker Butler inspired the episode, [2] but strong similarities to sections of the novel The Rolling Stones led the producers to seek a waiver from author Robert A. Heinlein .

The original episode has had several produced follow-ups. The first, " More Tribbles, More Troubles ", was originally pitched for the show's third season but not accepted; [3] [4] it was ultimately produced for Star Trek: The Animated Series . To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Trek in 1996, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " Trials and Tribble-ations " used digital techniques to insert the Deep Space Nine actors into the events of "The Trouble with Tribbles".

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Published Jul 15, 2019

Great 'Trek' Books To Read To Your Kid Before Bed

The brand-new 'Too Many Tribbles!' is one of several fun 'Trek' books out there for kids -- and the young at heart.

StarTrek.com

Start ‘em young, we say. And so do Little Golden Books and Cider Mill Press, which publish Star Trek -themed illustrated children’s books. The newest book, just out now, is Too Many Tribbles , which is from Little Golden Books and follows on the heels of the wildly popular I Am Captain Kirk and I Am Mr. Spock . StarTrek.com is here with a first look at Too Many Tribbles , and recaps of other great books to read to your kid before bed.

Too Many Tribbles ($4.49 at Amazon )

Golden Books

Captain Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise are ready for almost anything -- except Tribbles! When these small, furry creatures invade the ship, Captain Kirk and the crew must act quickly, before they are buried in fur balls! Star Trek fans of all ages will love this action-packed Little Golden Book featuring Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the rest of the crew from the classic TV series in a unique retro art style!

Ethan Peck Reads Too Many Tribbles

I Am Captain Kirk ($4.69 at Amazon )

Whether making strange new discoveries at the farthest reaches of the galaxy or facing off against Klingons and other alien races, find out what makes Captain James T. Kirk the most famous starship captain ever. Star Trek fans of all ages will love this action-packed Little Golden Book featuring Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise from the classic TV series in a unique retro art style!

I Am Mr. Spock ($3.94 at Amazon ):

A logical, brave, and brainy science officer, Spock is the pointy-eared Vulcan who completes the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise on its five-year mission. Star Trek fans of all ages will love this action-packed Little Golden Book based on the classic TV series. This book will tell them everything they need to know about one of the most famous aliens of all time -- with its fun, lighthearted text and unique retro art style!

Fun with Kirk and Spock ($14.95 at Amazon )

Cider Mill Press

See the Enterprise . See the Enterprise go boldly. Go Go Go, Enterprise ! Go Boldly! Join Kirk and Spock as they go boldly where no parody has gone before! This Prime Directive primer, written by Robb Pearlman, steps through The Guardian of Forever to a simpler time of reading, writing, and red shirts. Fun with Kirk and Spock will help cadets of all ages master the art of reading as their favorite Starfleet officers, Klingons, Romulans, Andorians, and Gorn beam down into exciting adventures.

Search for Spock: A Star Trek Book of Exploration — A Highly Illogical Parody ($8.51 at Amazon ):

Explore the settings of the ever-popular Star Trek show and movie franchises in hopes of finding the evasive Mr. Spock in this hugely entertaining version of Where’s Waldo? for Trekkies! Written by a massive Trekkie, the one and only Robb Pearlman, Search for Spock is literally that. You’ll travel through space and time to find Mr. Spock among over 100 other characters, aliens, villains, and crew members in this hidden intergalactic adventure! Search all floors, planetary settings, and plots explored by the brave Enterprise fleet members for a certain evasive-yet-adored Vulcan. The colorful artwork mirrors the famously popular Where’s Waldo? activity book series’ charm and simplicity. It’s a challenging and fun time for all fans of all ages!

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A Star Trek origin story movie is officially on the way from Andor and Black Mirror director

It's set to take place decades before 2009's Star Trek

Paramount has officially announced a new Star Trek movie – but it's not Star Trek 4.

The Untitled Star Trek Origin Story was unveiled at CinemaCon, with J.J. Abrams set to produce (H/T The Wrap ). The film will take place decades before 2009's Star Trek, with Andor's Toby Haynes set to direct and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter author Seth Grahame-Smith set to pen the script. Plot details have yet to be released. Deadline first announced the film earlier this year.

Haynes directed the popular Black Mirror episode U.S.S Callister, which acts as a Star Trek parody. Black Mirror season 7 will feature a sequel to U.S.S Callister , though it has not yet been announced who will direct.

Paramount also stated that the origin pic would begin production later this year to make it in time for a 2025 theatrical release. Star Trek 4, the sequel to Abrams' 2009 flick, is still in development. WandaVision's Matt Shakman was previously attached to direct, but  left the project  in August 2022  around the same time he was announced as the new Fantastic Four director. Last month, Variety reported that Sucker Punch and Supernatural writer Steve Yockey would pen the fourth Star Trek film, which intends to bring back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and the rest of the cast.

The Untitled Star Trek Origin Story does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond, or, skip right to the good stuff with our list of movie release dates .

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Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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• April 12, 2024 | Interview: Wilson Cruz On How “Jinaal” Sets Up The Rest Of The Season For Culber On ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
• April 12, 2024 | ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Renewed For Season 4; ‘Lower Decks’ To End With Season 5
• April 12, 2024 | Podcast: All Access Goes To Trill With ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ For “Jinaal”
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• April 11, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Tries Too Many Connections In “Jinaal”

Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Tries Too Many Connections In “Jinaal”

| April 11, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 54 comments so far

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 3 – Debuted Thursday, April 11, 2024 Written by Kyle Jarrow & Lauren Wilkinson Directed by Andi Armaganian

Strong performances and fun moments of lightness and lore make up for a mixed bag of stories jumbled into a single episode.

Yes, you can come on the mission… to the friend zone.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

“Connection isn’t a skill, it’s a choice.”

As Discovery preps to head to Trill for the next quest clue, the crew settles into their season positions. Culber and Book brief the captain on the adversaries, with new details on Moll thanks to Book recognizing a personal connection in the previous episode. Michael’s felonious ex is trying hard to get his life back, so he really wants in on the Trill landing party even though he isn’t Starfleet—as if that has ever stopped them before. Adira and Tilly have identified a Trill spots pattern on the map puzzle piece found last week, leading them to a 24 th- century Trill named Jinaal (episode title alert), and maybe his Bix symbiont is still around. Former Captain—now Commander—Rayner comes aboard, and Burnham orders her new first officer to get to know the crew whether he likes it or not. As for Stamets, he continues to be a bit lost, so he’s focused on trying to unlock the secrets in Dr. Vellek’s old tricorder, ignoring Adira’s clear discombobulation over seeing Gray again. It takes Reno going full “woo-woo a-hole” to snap spacedad out of it. So things are more or less running smoothly until they arrive on Trill, when Guardian Xi goes full Monty Python bridge-keeper . Thankfully, Michael answers the riddle quickly (it’s Betazed!) and she pops down to the Caves of Mak’ala with Adira, Culber, and (of course) Book… where they meet what may be the oldest Trill ever.

Kalzara Bix tells the gang she has been waiting nearly her whole life for a “worthy seeker.” For more questions, they can ask Jinaal directly via that Trill ritual we all remember from DS9. Culber steps up as a temporary vessel since “Emotionally overwhelming is what I do best.” Et voilà, Hugh is a whole new man, who immediately comments about how he really works out (someone has been tracking his Gram ). This very jaunty Culber-Jinaal says the next clue is nearby, and today is a great day for a walk, so he takes Burnham and Book with him. Upon their arrival at the canyon, Jinaalber opens up with some exposition about himself, Dr. Vellek, and four other scientists who found the Progenitor tech but decided it was way too dangerous to hand over to the Federation in the middle of the Dominion War. So they created a fun quest, planting a “path” of clues to be followed. He’s skeptical the 32 nd century is ready for the awesome power (despite Starfleet’s snazzy new uniforms), but Michael makes the case that the good outweighs the bad. BTW, they are being hunted by giant “Intronok” predators, so the quasi Trill recommends phasers ready. Once they arrive at the clue’s location, a plasma-spewing monster gets in their way… and Hughbix peaces out. Dude!

You two go ahead… I’ll just strategically hide behind you.

“We literally used to be connected.”

Back at Starfleet HQ the newly minted Ambassador Saru is settling into his new office with a little help from his Vulcan fiancé. They plan their wedding announcement before heading into a resource meeting, where he successfully argues for more allocations to the small worlds he represents, forging a compromise with others who are worried about the Breen (hmm). T’Rina’s aide Duvin takes Saru aside to say he is concerned about how the wedding announcement will impact delicate Ni’Var politics, but when the Kelpien brings this up with his beloved, she doesn’t take it well. “What would have given you the impression that I am in need of a caretaker?” she asks. Ouch. Navigating Federation diplomacy (and a starship) was a lot easier than understanding a Vulcan heart.

On the Disco, Saru’s replacement isn’t having it any easier. For some reason, temporary science consultant Tilly is organizing Rayner’s one-on-ones. He really doesn’t want to do them, but agrees for the sake of “crew cohesion” and gives everyone “20 words” to reveal something interesting about themselves. Cue the montage as we learn fun new tidbits for the folks at Memory Alpha to add to the pages for Rhys, Christopher, Linus, Pollard, et al. When Stamets shows up and actually shows some enthusiasm for the first time this season (he was able to crack Vellek’s PADD), Rayner practically ignores him and Tilly has finally had enough. She lets the new XO know he is being a giant… well she ran out of her 20 words so we will have to fill in the blank.

One person who misses out on this (not) quality time with Rayner is Adira. They are busy reconnecting with Gray on Trill, who is loving life as a trainee Guardian. Now that each of them has their own body, they realize they both have been growing apart and following separate paths. So season 5 gets its second breakup following Mike and Book… could T’Rina and Saru be next? Noooooo.

What do you mean, no diving?

“Analyzing is not the same as connecting.”

Back to the important stuff, Book tries his glowing forehead empathy connection but all he gets from the monster is that it’s “really pissed off.” Duh. In a replay of the action from last week, Book does some distracting under fire while Michael heads to the rock with the clue symbol on it to get the big prize. Things do not go as planned, and he gets hit. They are pinned down as a second monster shows up. But the creatures aren’t looking at the Starfleet duo as food, just protecting their nest of monster eggs. Aww. Time for Plan B. Michael again remembers her xenoanthropology and holsters her phaser, showing respect to the now calming Intronoks. Book does the same and communicates they just want to leave as they slowly back off… and soon enough they find Dr. Hugh Jinaal casually lounging on a rock, quipping, “I see you survived.” Michael sorts it out: He drew them to that nest after suggesting they arm phasers. By connecting instead of shooting, they passed another test. He was willing to let them die just to see if there was “goodness” in them, but they survived, so they win the prize: the clue and the second map piece, hidden under a totally different rock. Sneaky Trill.

After Culber gets swapped back he heads back to the ship to decompress from a big day of being possessed. Michael catches up to him in the lounge, where they contemplate the spiritual implications of the journey they are on, seeking the technology of the gods. Tilly is also there, and Rayner arrives to let her know he gets it—there is some value in showing respect to the people under his command. Oh and back at HQ, Saru apologizes to T’Rina for Kelpiensplaining Vulcan politics, and she’s totally cool about it, so they’re fine. Things wrap up in the Trill caves with Bix returning to the symbiont pool and Adira and Gray saying goodbye as well. But wait, what’s that? It’s Moll! Disguised as a Trill, she surreptitiously puts something onto Adira’s sleeve before the ensign beams back to the Disco. Dun dun duuun !

What about a four-shift rotation?

After two strong episodes, things are more mixed for episode 3. The blend of plot, character, and action was not as finely balanced, mostly due to carrying the load of four separate storylines. This kind of multi-POV storytelling has always been a challenge for Discovery , but there were some big highlights that kept the episode a winner overall. The MVP is Wilson Cruz, who finally got the opportunity to step out of his Hugh Culber and play a different character, a time-honored Trek tradition. His Jinaal was believably a unique individual, down to his speech pattern and gait, with a clear motivation. This storyline tied into all of the others with the not-very-subtle theme of connection; however, there was a more nuanced exploration for Culber and Burnham about the season’s bigger questions about science and faith that was more interesting. And the riddle for passage bit was a nice classic quest beat, evoking ancient adventures. The action sequences felt a bit repetitive after last week, but they made up for it with some fun as Sonequa Martin-Green and David Ajala again demonstrated their playful chemistry.

The Rayner storyline was also a high point.  He continues to be a great addition to the show, bringing all sorts of Jellico, Lorca, and even some Shaw vibes, but still being his own man (sorry, Kellerun ). Callum Keith Rennie and Mary Wiseman showed they have their own delightful dynamic. It may not have made sense for Tilly to act as HR for the ship (especially as she’s only on loan as a science advisor from the Academy), but all of these scenes were still refreshing as we got to add little bits of dimension to members of the crew from Linus’ pride over three clutches of eggs to Rhys lusting over the fine curves of old Constitution classes… and the gruff-off between Rayner and Reno was all too brief. But there was a point to all of this, showing welcome growth for both Rayner and Tilly and the rest of the gang too, although it is not clear why the new characters of Gallo and Asha had to sub in for Owo and Detmer.

Contemplating the meaning of life?… Or if he can skip leg day?

Things started going off the rails with the Saru and T’Rina storyline, which started to feel like an unnecessary distraction. Giving him this new post as ambassador is a good way to shake things up as well as to do some world-building for the show, something that may prove useful for the upcoming Academy series as well. But instead of Federation West Wing, things got more alien I Love Lucy with Ambassador Saru having some ‘splaining to do. Doug Jones and Tara Rosling did their best with the material but the rigmarole about their marriage announcement was low stakes at best, even if this bit about Vulcan purists is setting something up for later. As for the Gray and Adira storyline, it felt like this was mostly just going through the motions, but at least it established that Adira is now fully independent, confirming their new agency. Blu del Barrio’s performance was grounded, making all of this more relatable. But trying to balance these two extra storylines definitely did not help the episode when it came to pacing.

Even with all these character stories, there was some season plot development. We learned key bits about Moll, while L’ak remains a mystery, but that’s okay for now. The origins of the quest are also coming into focus with the story of the six scientists and a reasonable explanation for why they can’t just jump to the end. It feels like we will learn more about the other four scientists as we pick up more pieces of the map. And there was also a bit more worldbuilding as another hint of a coming Breen threat was mentioned. And dare we hope the mention of the Tzenkethi means we will finally see them in canon? Fans were rewarded with plenty of nods to lore, with the main plot structured around the Zhian’tara ritual from DS9’s “Facets,” and the addition of new Trill canon. Nods to Tongo and Bynars along with deeper cuts to Selay , Vavinit plants , cabrodine , Slug-o-Cola , bore worms , and more should have resulted in plenty of Rick Dalton meme moments , especially for Deep Space Nine fans. While it all seems like a lot, these were mostly Easter eggs to reward fans without turning into the dreaded “fan service.”

Now on the runway, Ambassador Saru sporting the new Diplomacy in Blue line.

Final thoughts

Even with all the juggling, episode 3 still was self-contained while carrying on the serialized story. While not as strong as the first two episodes, season 5 still remains entirely entertaining. The show has nicely pivoted with clearer themes, a fun tone, and better connections to lore while still servicing the characters and their emotional stories.

You can really taste the algae.

• A USS Locherer could be seen at Starfleet HQ, named in honor of camera operator J.P Locherer , who passed away in 2022.
• The previously unnamed bar lounge is called “Red’s,” possibly named for the Ferengi bartender, who got their first line in this episode.
• The Osnullus bridge officer’s name is Lt. Arev.
• Lt. Christopher confirmed that Lt. Commander Nilsson has been reassigned to the USS Voyager-J .
• Christopher also reassured Rayner his pet tribble (a gift from Nilsson) was neutered.
• The Trill canyon was shot at Lafarge Quarry , which Discovery (and Strange New Worlds ) have used before on a few occasions.
• Trill spots are as unique as human fingerprints, as are Saurian dorsal ridges.
• In addition to the Selay, the ambassador meeting also included a Facian .

The Selay ambassador is upset this committee doesn’t warrant those cool floating chairs.

More to come

Every Friday, the TrekMovie.com All Access Star Trek Podcast  covers the latest news in the Star Trek Universe and discusses the latest episode. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify ,  Pocket Casts ,  Stitcher and is part of the TrekMovie Podcast Network.

The fifth and final season of  Discovery debuted with two episodes on Thursday, April 4 exclusively on Paramount+  in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria.  Discovery  will also premiere on April 4 on Paramount+ in Canada and will be broadcast on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada. The rest of the 10-episode final season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays. Season 5 debuts on SkyShowtime in select European countries on April 5.

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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I really enjoyed this episode it had alot of character moments/growth and it was great to see the Trill again espicially gray as i miss his charcter.

Wilson Cruz was on fire this episode as he really pulled off the charcter of Jinaal.

Raynar is still a bit of a jerk but hopefully what Tilly said to him get through to him.

Looking forward to the next episode and i hope we get to see the Tzenkethi.

“ it was great to see the Trill again espicially gray as i miss his charcter. ”

Wow, you don’t read that very often .

This made me smile some. Thanks.

I enjoyed this one, but anyone else thinking animals that can cloak themselves are becoming a bit too common?

I think in this era, current showrunners meet and share an idea and are tempted to grab it for another show. Synths, Picard and Discovery. Copy and Paste Starships, Picard and Prodigy. From previous shows is more natural, but for current productions is amusing.

It was more of a “cut and paste” Trek story idea. They watched the Devil In The Dark..Oh yeah! they’re protecting the eggs! That’ll satisfy the dumb Trekkies.

And even there the Horta was not just some animal. Spock even commented that it was not behaving like one at all.

The thing is, these are animals. In fact, they came across as borderline insects. They should not be reacting like a sentient being would. They would only be operating on instinct. There is no reason whatsoever they would let Book and Burnham go. They simply wouldn’t comprehend anything beyond ‘these creatures are near our eggs’.

Now if they were a sentient being who share the planet with the Trill, that would be another matter. But that’s not how they were presented to us.

See, using Dax here would have been perfect. Imagine it; Jadzia Dax finding the Progenitor tech with Vellek.

I feel this season they want to avoid all kind of risks. I would also would love to see Dax. But for sure, critics will complain about it.

Hitchcock said, “What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out” – I think this was a wasted opportunity to not reintroduce the Dax symbiont and give Discovery an intimate connection to the greater Star Trek universe. For those who say it’d just be fan service: how does the ISS Enterprise get a pass , but a Dax at the Trill pools is jumping the shark? Just saying, it wouldn’t have been dull. And yes, if a quahog can live for hundreds of years in the ocean, I think Dax can survive 1,000 years in Hugh Hefner’s former grotto.

An unnamed Romulan played by an unknown extra being given more importance than Jadzia Dax is weird…

I don’t think that’s weird. It speaks to a greater universe than just the named characters in the opening credits of those shows we know. Those on the periphery, they’re people too.

After the way Jadzia was unceremoniously killed off, though, she deserved better. This was a chance to increase her importance.

Add to that that by having her in Discovery in one form or another it would have really tied up several Trek series since she was also present during TOS twice; once as the host of the Dax symbiont at the time and again during Trials and Tribble-lations.

With the potential era of the initial investigation being the Dominion War it would’ve been awesome for Dax to be revealed as one of the scientists. It’s give her a stronger legacy than being killed by possessed Dukat.

Exactly. Having her literally take the secret to the grave would have been perfect.

I’d love to see Dax too, but I think it would have just been to unbelievable for Jadzia to have taken a sabbatical from DS9 during the Dominion War (and right after her wedding) to go on a secret mission with a bunch of scientists to set up an elaborate quest.

What about after the Dominion took over DS9? That is a large-enough window of time for her to have been off on such a mission.

I can’t see her leaving the Defiant at such a critical time.

Great episode. I really enjoy the new tone/vibe/pace of the show. The script as well. Big improvement from previous seasons.

We used to watch these relationship dynamics in almost every episode of Star Trek, but what I watched in this episode, reminds me STNG and DS9, with Discovery fast pace.

Really like these relationship/character growth balance between scenes. Great lines for Tilly, the writers nailed it giving all characters exactly what they needed.

Three great episodes. Can’t wait for episode 4.

Totally missed to add…great GREAT ending. They are wrapping up each episode nicely!

Didn’t we see Lt. Commander Nilson in a Twitter post?

After the exciting first 2 episodes, this one was a letdown.

I have to agree that this episode turned out to be a “mixed bag of stories jumbled into a single episode”.

Also, I’m still not liking the very unprofessional vibe of Discovery’s crew. That ship literally has no command structure as evidenced by Tilly’s example. It really destroys any feeling that they are even a Starfleet crew. But this is Discovery so whatever, I guess.

I hope the next episode is more coherent.

but they connect and feel and live their own truth so – like, that’s just your opinion man….

I can only speak from my experience, but when I was an Air Force officer, our unit’s general vibe was pretty similar to what we see on Discovery . I wouldn’t go so far as to say we had “no command structure” but things were pretty loose. As a matter of fact, we tended to get a bit annoyed when someone acted “too military”. I can give you an example: myself and another second lieutenant were walking into our wing HQ building when we passed a guy who had just “pinned on” first lieutenant. He demanded we salute him and we just kind of told him “c’mon, man” and went our way, because there’s just no real distinction between a second lieutenant and a first lieutenant. Broadly, lieutenants and captains (at least the ones a few years out from making major) tend to view each other as peers.

I guess I am too used to what has previously been shown on TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT as the standard of professional behavior on Starfleet ships, that the loose and casual office behavior on DSC seems out of place.

I Get it can be relaxed, as Will is relating.. but it’s not always one or the other. I woul like to see more nuance in all characters. Tilly doesn’t always need to be always funny and freewheeling. I’d like to see her be more professional. Most people in any walk of life aren’t one way all the time. But most of these are written as charactures and not actual people.

It’s a fair point about Tilly. She’s a lieutenant with limited experience and she’s telling off a superior officer in a way that would make even Will Riker blush. Imagine her meeting Captain Jellico…

I get it, although it could ebb and flow. One of the things Roddenberry supposedly didn’t like about the Gene Coon era of TOS was the characters’ loose, familiar attitude. During the brief period of time he actively worked on the third season, he insisted on changing all that. The characters are much more formal in season 3.

See I disagree with the review- I thought the episode balanced its four plot strands really well and it was a wonderful character focused episode. Each to their own, I guess.

This was a connector episode, and not a lot happens. I go back to.. when you only have 10 episodes, you better make best use of your time. This was a relationship stuff… it would help if it covered relationships I cared about, but it’s just overly emotive junk that isn’t interesting to me at all. Which is funny when you consider one of those relationships features a Vulcan. While I like Sara and T’rina as a couple, they are boring. Gray and Adira, it’s just a lot of awkward teen stuff. I get it.. they’re having trouble.. just way too much time spent on that. At least Stulber has chemistry.. Book and Burnham have chemistry. But this was a waste of an episode.

Gray and Adira were miscast physically. I’d like to explain that DSC is a big visual show. When there is a wide shot, both Gray and Adira seem too small and too far away. We get to see their acting talents in the scenes where they are in a two-shot or a medium-shot. In my opinion, Blu’s acting is MUCH better this year. Ian Alexander’s acting is just too small for me. It must be difficult to frame the shots he is in, due to his physical size, which is a testament to the show’s production challenges. When you see how athletic Culber is compared to Gray? It’s just too jarring for me. His character doesn’t grab your attention. Let me be clear: I’m beyond happy about the LGBTQ representation DSC is showing. I’m glad the LGBTQ community can see themselves on TV. FWIW, I notice the same things in SNW. Peck and Mount are very athletic buff actors. In a wide shot, they can tend to dwarf smaller actors.

Sorry was not a big fan of this one at all. So many cringy moments and it went back to the usual stalling with barely any real plot at all. I had so many problems with this one but happy others liked it.

But per usual it moved at a snails pace with a lot of mostly forgetful dialogue.

And when did Trill turn into the cave and quarry planet? It’s a very developed planet with cities and people living in houses. But the two episodes we seen of it on this show you would think Trill is one big national park or something.

I think Trill’s budget was spent on the cloaking monsters.

Yeah I think that segment ran a bit too long for me. I feel like the point about the cloaking monsters could have been made sooner and they could have spent their time on giving some screen time to others.

Overall, this episode definitely struggled with too many plot points. The individual pieces weren’t bad but together they didn’t always form a cohesive whole. I like Rayner as a character and I like his more professional take on being a Captain vs. Burnham’s more personal take. Neither is inherently wrong, just different. I feel Tilly etc are too quick to judge him. He clearly had a reason for his 20 words or less and I got what that was. Although I didn’t like that the background actors only got some throwaway facts told about them. Then again they usually don’t get that! Culber did a great job portraying Jinal. He really felt like a different person. Adira and Grey wrapped up which I think is a good thing. They are better apart than they are together. I am still not sure about Book’s loyalty to the ship and its crew. Glad Saru and T’Rina are moving forward and we are getting some more backstory to this time period.

Stalling is a great way to put it. I think it boils down to if you like the characters and relationships they’re focusing on. If you’re going to focus on character, it had better be compelling but it was pretty banal and uninteresting. Saru and T’rina are focused on a wedding.. seriously? Gray and Adira are having your normal teenager type trouble. Both sets of circumstances were so blah.. if this were the best they can do with portraying whats happening with young people, Academy is in serious trouble.

Yeah this one frustrated me a bit. I am fine with a character episode but the character work was too telegraphed (Gray browbeating the theme of the episode at the end and Stamet’s ongoing arc where he obsesses over his legacy were feeling especially contrived). At least the Rayner scenes worked for me and made for a better use of Tilly than usual.

…although if they lead to Rayner just embracing the tactic of being an emotional support First Officer, I’ll be annoyed. Butting heads with Tilly worked, I just am probably on the losing side of, “His POV is valid and they could all learn a little from him. Not every connection needs to come from laying bare emotional trauma and being super chummy.” Characters who keep a professional distance but have personal depths that shine through are compelling and a Trek staple.

I actually liked this episode better than the first two. It felt more like a story and less like a bunch of action setpieces strung together.

I’m afraid I have to disagree with our eminent reviewer where he says, “ It may not have made sense for Tilly to act as HR for the ship (especially as she’s only on loan as a science advisor from the Academy).” No, that’s EXACTLY why it makes sense for HER to be the one to let Rayner know his style won’t work with this particular crew. She won’t have to work with him in the future, so she’s the one who can tell him he’s being a jerk without poisoning their future relationship.

I REALLY liked it that the true test wasn’t “Can you hike this canyon” but rather “Can you empathize with the creatures who live in it?” Very Star Trekky!

I loved the Saru/T’Rina stuff, both her standing her ground when Saru tried to be protective, since she’s the PRESIDENT of a freaking PLANET, for heaven’s sake. And also her saying that conflict was inevitable and not to be feared.

Wilson Cruz! So good! More of him, please.

I thought Rayner’s twenty-words thing was a little over the top; it made him seem like a parody of a crusty old guy, rather than a real person. I don’t mind being emotionally manipulated by Star Trek, but the wires shouldn’t be quite THAT visible. :-)

So, how could Moll possibly have gotten to Trill long enough before the Discovery to go undercover as one of those red-robed people? She and La’k didn’t dig up the thingy that gave them the fifth line of the poem until long after Burnham and Saru did, so how did they even know to go to Trill, much less get there so fast? Doesn’t Discovery’s spore drive get them places MUCH faster than any other ship?

The one thing I really didn’t like was that the lighting in the canyon was so dark that I couldn’t SEE anything during that whole scene. I’m glad the dialogue told me enough about what was happening that I didn’t have to actually see it to know what was going on.

Very astute observations Corylea, and well stated as usual. Couldn’t agree more!

Aw, thanks so much!

Oh.. and the repeat of the Fal Tor Pan ceremony really was annoying. They really could have mixed it up q lot better. It felt like a cliche.

Engaged couple bickering over their wedding announcement… This is exactly the sort of thing that’s kept me tuning in to Trek for all these decades…

And I don’t care how exaggeratedly mean the Rayner character is written, there is no way in real life that a Lieutenant speaks to a Commander/superior officer the way Tilly did. Totally strains credulity.

Starfleet is different from modern militaries. Starfleet officers’ feelings aren’t so fragile that they get upset when a subordinate speaks impolitely to them.

I think TMP nailed how these interactions are supposed to go down and it avoids this perception of insubordination: “Permission to speak freely, sir?” Done and done. The answer is almost always going to be yes.

I thought this was a very strong episode…and I didn’t like the first two of the season at all!

The character dynamics almost all worked for me this time. Burnham seemed like a real person rather than a screenplay with limbs; Rayner was great; Culber, who I have loved even when this series was at its worst, was great. Heck, I even liked Tilly this week, which is not typical. I got some chuckles out of Saru stepping in it, too.

I’ve loved and defended Disco since day one, but I have to say I’m having a hard time getting excited about this season’s Big Hunt For The Puzzle Pieces. But I was thrilled to see Wilson Cruz get to really shine as an actor in this one.

I believe this is the standard now, and it’s very very low .. the story is starting to be so boring .. always the same cave .. everybody keep sharing their emotions in every scene .. and the stubborn unfriendly character destined to change.

If only there wasn’t the “Star Trek:” in front of the series title I would had bailed long ago.

I am really loving this season. The latest episode really took on a lot, but it delivered for me. The pacing was good for each story and keep the mystery alive. Loved the adventure on Trill. Wilson Cruze did an amazing job in the episode with his portrayal of Jinaal. I absolutely love the addition of Rayner – the opposites of Rayner’s tough command style and the way Discovery is – works for me. Already looking forward to the next episode.

Yes, a very scattered episode. The twenty-word bit with Rayner was a poor writing choice. I don’t see how someone would rise to Captain without listening to his senior crew.

I think the bar scene got across that he was astute in learning about his crews quickly. He just didn’t hold their hands and talk about how much of a family they all are.

In other words, Discovery discusses their feelings ad nauseum yet again