From an episode that wanted to be taken seriously but kinda failed to make the grade, we shift to an episode that was always intended to be silly, one of Star Trek‘s few deliberate stabs at comedy: David Gerrold’s “The Trouble with Tribbles”.

First of all, I find that this story succeeds perfectly on its intended level. I rewatch it fairly often, and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. Sure, I suppose that someone who takes their fandom more seriously might get wound up by the gentle self-mockery inherent in the story, but knowing that everyone was in on the joke, as it were, relieves it of any real sting.

I was also surprised, despite my frequent rewatching, to find something new when I screened it tonight. Shatner’s vocal mannerisms are already sliding by this point in Season 2, into the overwrought hyperbole that would become his trademark. However…watch his face, especially when he’s neck deep in tribbles. There’s a tremendous range of emotion being conveyed by his expressions, especially in his exchanges with Nimoy.

This episode also includes what winds up being the most forward-looking portrayal of Klingon mannerisms, the template on which much of TNG and later characterization is really based. Not Koloth. Koloth is an embarrassment, here, a Klingon dandy¹.

But Koloth’s unnamed second is almost perfect. He has the combative stance, the hostility, the deep desire to fight for the entertainment of fighting. He finds Scotty’s efforts to make peace amusing and absurd. Stick ridges on his head and bad teeth in his mouth and he could pass for a latter-day Klingon without much difficulty.

And then there’s the simple continuity of it. This episode is the aftermath of “Errand of Mercy”. Together with “Friday’s Child” and “A Private Little War”, we actually have a hint of a story arc. It’s not as well developed as the arcs in later series, but given how non-serial this show was expected to be, it’s still remarkable.

This story does have some problems, though. The characterization of Uhura here is almost insultingly gender-typed, with the sole exception of her brief backtalk to Kirk about how rarely she gets shore leave. But except for her key, girlish scenes with the tribbles, she doesn’t seem to have a very useful job–mainly repeating Kirk’s orders over the intercom. We see here the roots of the Galaxy Quest character Tawny Madison. Nothing shows just how far we’ve come in our perception of gender roles quite so much as the contrast between Uhura in this story and in the JJ Abrams movie.

Kirk isn’t really done any favors here either though. This is a Kirk who is starting to believe his own press and lets his ego and irritation trip him into making key mistakes. In the end, his entire career is saved by the tribbles’ dislike of Klingons. The Klingon insults that fail to start the bar fight seem distressingly close to the mark in some ways, here.

And finally, we have the character of Darvin. It’s almost impossible to reconcile the Klingons as we come to know them in the later shows with this man, who is almost sniveling at the end. That said, Moore and Behr made the right decision when they brought him back for DS9′s “Trials and Tribblations” to leave the character more or less unchanged in this regard.

All in all, this really is an enjoyable little romp in and of itself. But it also highlights many of the issues that crept into the classic show’s production, and sows the seeds for Shatner’s increasing, unintentional, self-parody as the series progressed.