Tribble

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This article is about the fictional furry creature of Star Trek. For other meanings, see Tribble (disambiguation).
Tribble
Polygeminus grex

Captain Kirk in a pile of tribbles
Homeworld Iota Geminorum IV
Affiliation None

Tribbles are fictional animals in the Star Trek universe. They are depicted as small, soft, and gentle, and as producing a soothing purring sound. These traits are said to endear them to most sentient races which encounter them, with the notable exception of Klingons. While only appearing in two episodes, they are one of the most popular and well-known species featured in the Star Trek universe.

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[edit] Physiology

According to Star Trek canon, tribbles are native to the planet Iota Geminorum IV. They are essentially small bundles of fur with no visible external features. The fur of live-action and animated tribbles ranges from solid white to grey, speckled light to dark brown, yellow to reddish orange, and black. According to Leonard McCoy's dialog their only two purposes in life appear to be to eat and to reproduce, and they perform both of these functions well. McCoy concludes that tribbles use over fifty percent of their metabolism for reproduction and that they are born pregnant. A creature that keeps the tribble population under control on their homeworld is introduced in the animated episode "More Tribbles, More Troubles".

[edit] Inspiration

David Gerrold, in The Trouble With Tribbles: the Birth, Sale, and Final Production of One Episode [1] mentions that after the episode was aired, people asked him if tribbles were inspired by the Flatcats of Robert A. Heinlein's novel, The Rolling Stones, which are a similar small, fuzzy creature.

Look — I thought I was telling the “rabbits in Australia” story. When rabbits were first introduced to Australia, they multiplied at an incredible rate because there were no predators or natural enemies to keep them in control. It was an ecology story — and a spaceship is the perfect setting for it because a spaceship must be a balanced ecology.
When it came to designing the creatures though, I had to be simple — they had to be easy to build; they had to be cheap, and they had to be believable. We wouldn’t want to use rabbits for the story — we wanted something … well, gimmicky. We needed a science fiction animal. ...
I had to think — what would be easy?
Holly ... Sherman had a key ring attached to a ball of pink fuzz. The more I looked at it, the more obvious it became. ...The ease with which a fluff ball could be manufactured made it a natural candidate.

The concept is an old one that predates even the Heinlein novel, since it is central to the story "Pigs is Pigs", which was very popular from its first publication in 1905 and beyond.

The name for the creatures was originally "fuzzies", but in order to avoid confusion with the H. Beam Piper novel, Little Fuzzy, Gerrold brainstormed some nonsense words, arriving at "tribble" almost at random.

[edit] History

Tribbles have appeared in several instances of Star Trek series and movies, arranged here in their order of production:

[edit] Original Series

Viewers first saw tribbles in the 1967 Star Trek: The Original Series television episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". The episode was written by David Gerrold, and the original tribble props were designed by Wah Chang. This episode was not, however, a depiction of first contact since it was a human named Cyrano Jones (Stanley Adams), a small-time merchant, who introduced the tribbles to Captain Kirk's crew.

In the same episode, Spock, a half-Vulcan himself, explains that Vulcans see no useful purpose for tribbles, so the species is not endearing to them, but it's not mutual for the ever-adoring species. However, he is caught petting one while claiming, "Fortunately, I am ... immune to its effects".

[edit] Animated Series

Tribbles returned in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "More Tribbles, More Troubles". This time, the tribbles Cyrano Jones brings have been genetically altered to not reproduce when they are fed, but instead they just grow larger. The tribbles are eventually taken care of by the use of the tribbles' natural enemy.

[edit] Movies

Tribbles make brief reappearances in the bar scene of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and the evacuation scene of Star Trek Generations. Before that time, tribbles had been described as having been considered a dangerous menace to other planets' environments, so much so that transporting them off their native home could incur a lengthy prison sentence.

[edit] Deep Space Nine

In the episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" the crew of the USS Defiant encounter the tribbles once more when they accidentally travel back in time and participate in the events of "The Trouble with Tribbles". The Deep Space Nine characters are edited into scenes with the original series cast, although a few of the scenes are from different episodes. Each of the featured characters are seen in this episode, including Cyrano Jones and Arne Darvin.

In this episode, Worf reveals that the tribbles were hunted down and exterminated by the Klingon Empire; specially-trained warriors were sent to kill every tribble in existence, and an armada of Klingon vessels obliterated the tribble homeworld. Klingons are unique among Star Trek's races in their extreme hatred of these cute little creatures (the feeling was apparently mutual). This is because they were "an ecological menace", and emitted a loud shrieking noise instead of their normal soothing purr in the presence of Klingons. Deep Space Nine Security Officer Odo dryly remarks, "Another glorious chapter in Klingon history. Tell me, do they still sing songs of the Great Tribble Hunt?" A number of tribbles were brought back to Deep Space Nine from the past and the species was re-established.

[edit] Enterprise

The date of first contact with tribbles has never been established in canon. Chronologically speaking, the earliest known appearance of tribbles was in the 2003 Star Trek: Enterprise episode "The Breach" (which takes place in 2152) in which Doctor Phlox uses them as food for his medicinal pets in Sick Bay. Hoshi Sato, a human, sees a tribble being utilized by Phlox.

[edit] Star Trek: Armada 2

While not making an actual visual appearance, tribbles are used as a form of trade in the Star Trek computer game Star Trek Armada 2.

[edit] References in popular culture

  • Tribbles made a brief appearance in the 1997 Teen Tournament version of the television game show Jeopardy! when they were the object of a Daily Double answer. The tribbles appeared on host Alex Trebek's podium during the clue and then multiplied after every commercial break, eventually covering the camera.
  • On the unaired pilot of the television drama Moonlight, the main character, Mick St. John, mentions the episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" as being his favorite.
  • In season 10 of the television series The Simpsons, episode AABFO6 "Viva Ned Flanders", a reference to tribbles is made on a bumper sticker that is on the back of Comic Book Guy's car. Before entering a car wash Comic Book Guy informs an employee not to remove his bumper stickers, there is a clear view of several of the stickers at that time, which includes "I brake for tribbles".
  • In a season 2 episode of Futurama there is an episode titled "The Problem with Popplers" where the crew discovers an irresistible source of food on a distant planet, and brings it back to Earth to be sold at the Fishy Joe's restaurant chain. But when it's discovered that the so-called "Popplers" are actually Omicronian babies, the Omicronians demand recompense.
  • In a season 1 episode of Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends there is an episode titled "The Trouble with Scribbles" where the character Bloo finds out about a door in the home that everyone is forbidden to open. As he asks around about the door, no one tells him what is inside of it. However, in the middle of the night, Bloo finally opens the door, and releases imaginary friends called scribbles. The scribbles are natural hard-workers that begin to work around the house, making everyone lazy.
  • "What are Tribbles?" was the answer to the Final Jeopardy question on the April 14, 2008 episode of Jeopardy!.
  • In the Apogee game Crystal Caves, the protagonist is trying to raise money for a Twibble Farm, which are creatures very similar to tribbles.
  • In the episode "As You Were," from Season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy's ex-boyfriend Riley describes the Suvolte demon to her: "rare, lethal, nearly extinct . . . they're breeders, Buffy. One turns into 10. Ten become a hundred." To which she responds: "So they're like really mean tribbles?"
  • In Barry Trotter, it is mentioned that the game of wizard water polo is played "with an animal similar to a tribble but a lot more waterlogged and a lot less happy".
  • In the hidden track "Pigs" by Aesop Rock on the album None Shall Pass it's observed that "Wilburs multiply quicker than tribbles."

[edit] See also

[edit] External links