Star Trek 390: Trials and Tribble-ations

390. Trials and Tribble-ations

FORMULA: The Trouble with Tribbles + All Good Things

WHY WE LIKE IT: Temporal investigators. Brilliant effects.

WHY WE DON'T: The Klingon cop-out. The combadge snafu.

REVIEW: Tribble-ations is a brilliant anniversary special made possible by snazzy digital effects, yes, but also a lot of humor and originality. Where to start? Well, how about with Temporal Investigations, a hilarious invention that would probably make sense in the Trek universe, what with all the time travel shows floating around (it's probably not just the crews we tend to watch either, is it?). Lucsly and Dulmer (Scully and Mulder) are very funny with their deadpan deliveries and intimate knowledge of the calendar (yes, The Trouble with Tribbles DID air on a Friday!). One of these days, I've got to figure out what Kirk's 17 violations are...

Sisko's tale concerns a trip back to that classic series episode, with our characters cleverly inserted into the action. And when I say cleverly, I'm not just talking about the seamless special effects. The storyline is clever too. The DS9 crew is deftly inserted into scenes as participants (in the line-up, for example), tourists (Dax commenting on Spock or McCoy's viability as mates), or secret participants (when they throw tribbles out looking for the bomb, they are timed to fall on Kirk's head). TOS elements are lovingly recreated in the costumes, hairstyles (Bashir is hilarious), set design, fight choreography, even the casting and acting by new guest actors. The music sadly isn't, and it does take away from the original scenes. Only one piece of TOS footage comes from a source other than Tribbles, and that's Sisko's indulgent meeting with Kirk pulled from Mirror, Mirror. Don't think about it too hard or you'll realize Kirk is way too attracted to Sisko (standing in for Marlena), but rather check out Uhura in the background. She's totally into him.

Lots of great bits: Worf's lilac smell, Bashir's predestination paradox anxiety, the Great Tribble Hunt, O'Brien mistaking Kirk's stunt double for the captain himself, "the raktajino - a vital clue others might have missed", Dax standing in for the fans and also justifying the 60s design style... The new CGI Enterprise, Klingon cruiser and K-7 station of course paved the way (for good or ill) for the new Star Trek Remastered. A few things don't quite work, such as Sisko tapping his stitched-on combadge and not realizing it won't work (silly). The Klingon question is sidestepped, but at least acknowledged. Now we have an answer (combining the theories set forth here), but at the time, this was met with a mix of amusement and frustration. I'm calling it funny myself.

LESSON: Even a temporal investigator would bend the rules to meet Kirk. Well, not ANY investigator apparently. (Cue longest stare-down in the history of the universe.)

REWATCHABILITY - High: Manages that toughest of highwire acts by successfully honoring AND poking fun at the original series. Clever, funny and gorgeous to look at, I also happen to think it redeems the original which was problematic for me.