5x06 Trials and Tribble-ations

[9.7/10] Doing satisfying fan service that doesn’t just feel like empty calories is hard. Doing time travel stories is hard. Doing stories where you mix a familiar story with a new one is hard. Mixing old a new footage in a satisfying way is hard. Blending a current series with a classic one is hard. And yet, “Trial and Tribble-ations” succeeds at all of it.

That’s why I’ve ranked this one so highly. Is it the best ever episode in the Star Trek franchise? Certainly not. Is it even the episode of Deep Space 9? Probably not. But the task at hand was so hard, the pitfalls so many, and the folks behind the scenes at DS9 managed to craft a funny, clever, nostalgic, winking, and above all satisfying hour of television.

It’s particularly interesting revisiting “Trials” after watching the original “Trouble with Tribbles” episode of The Original Series. That only heightens the potential difficulties in appreciating the modern follow-on, because it should more clearly expose the seams in the way that “Trials” attempts to integrate itself with the classic. Instead, it just makes it all the more impressive what attention to detail the people who made the DS9 episode (who are clearly very admiring of their 60s predecessor) showed in sending Sisko and company back to TOS.

What’s really impressive is the way that the episode manages to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to nodding at the sillier or fan-noted elements of the original Star Trek. There’s plenty of opportunities for DS9 to poke fun at its predecessor. Everything from the short skirts of the female officers on the Enterprise to the jerry-rigged control stations get a wink. Kirk in particular gets a few nods of his own, from the Temporal Agents noting how many violations he had to Sisko noting that he was known as quite the ladies man. There’s even some fun riffing on fan fascinations like Bashir, Odo, and O’Brien asking Worf about the ridgeless Klingons or Dax having a crush on Spock.

Still, for all “Trials” has fun focusing on the eccentricities and rib-elbowing elements of revisiting The Original Series, it’s also clearly so reverent and loving of the old Star Trek that those gags never mean spirit. When Dax admires the black finish and silver accents of the old tricorders or, in the episode’s crowning moment, Captain Sisko tells Captain Kirk what an honor it is to serve under him, however fleetingly, it’s obvious how much writers René Echevarria and Ronald D. Moore (of later Battlestar Galactica fame) admire the old series, with their observations coming from a place of affection not derision.

Echevarria and Moore also do well to find an interesting hook for our modern day heroes to have something to do back in the 23rd century. While the orb of time is fairly convenient as a device that sends them back in time, “Trials” manages to have its own plot that compliments, rather than clashes or feels glommed onto the original story in “Troubles.” The episode benefits from using a light touch, keeping Sisko and co. near the action, but only getting directly involved when necessary and plausible, preventing things from getting too cute in the matching.

I’m also a sucker for long-term continuity, so I love the fact that they got Charlie Brill back to play secret Klingon Arne Darvin as an old man, who’s returning to the past to fix what went wrong for him the first time. The episode does a nice job at giving us just enough of a post-mortem on “Troubles” -- the Klingons struggled to eradicate the tribbles after Scotty beamed them aboard Koloth’s ship, and Darvin was excommunicated by both the Federation and Klingons -- to give context to the choices people are making here. It helps make the main plot of the episode, that Darvin has planted a bomb to kill Kirk and make him a hero rather than a scapegoat in Klingon history and Sisko and his crew have to find, work on its own terms, not just as an add-on to the story we know from “Trouble.”

If that weren’t enough, there’s all sorts of amusing riffs on the sort of confusion and tropes that come with any kind of time travel story. It’s great how jaded and world-weary (time weary?) the temporal agents are in their back-and-forth with Sisko, lamenting stable time loops and other stock answers in time-hopping tales like they’ve heard them a million times. Beyond that, O’Brien and Bashir have a nice moment where they debate the old “I’m my own grandpa” paradox in an amusing fashion years before the cast of Futurama would do the same. Again, the writers are laughing about the conventions of time travel, a well Star Trek returns to often, but do so lovingly.

It also must be said how well the effects team integrates the cast of Deep Space 9 into the various scenes from The Original Series. I remembered the effects as having been impressive at the time, but it’s amazing how well they hold up twenty years later. Again, it’s clear that the show took great care in not overdoing it, but throwing in just enough interactions and connections to thrill without going overboard. The restraint is admirable.

So is the devotion to visual continuity. While it’d be nigh-impossible to bridge the gap between sixties shooting techniques and nineties network television, “Trials” does one hell of a job. Much of it comes from simply editing new footage with old footage in a coherent fashion, to where bits like Bashir, Worf, Odo, and O’Brien getting involved in the bar fight on K9 or Dax shrugging at Captain Kirk work more from stitching the episode together than any special effects. (And it must be said that the lighting and costumes are spot on and help create that continuity.)

But the effects shine as well. While there’s seams here and there (the difference in audio quality is particularly notable), the folks behind the scenes did a tremendous job of depositing the Deep Space 9 cast into the old clips. Much of it works by simply placing the Defiant’s crew in the background, making them notable but not distracting, but it works just as well when the show gets more ambitious as well, whether it’s standing O’Brien next to Chekov when the crew’s being interrogated about the fight or putting Sisko face-to-face with Kirk.

That’s what makes “Trials and Tribble-ations” such a gem. It is absolutely an achievement of craft -- with well done effects work, production design, and editing to meld the two shows made thirty years apart. But it’s also an achievement in writing, finding ways to nod at the rhythms and style of the old series but also to honor it, while telling a story of its own. It would be so easy for the episode to settle at “pretty good” and coast on the thrill of blending new and old. Instead, Deep Space 9 nails it, finding the perfect mix of humor, adventure, nostalgia, and fun. It may not be the best episode of Star Trek, but it’s one of the hardest episodes to get right, and “Trials” absolutely does.

This episode is genius. It's a labour of love from all involved and just worked out perfectly. The producers made a great choice by selecting 'The Trouble with Tribbles' as the episode that DS9 would revisit, as it's one of the best of the original series and allows for all the comedy that follows.

What struck me watching it now is that the special effects from this episode, made in 1996, still stand up. The integration of the DS9 cast into the 1960s episode is nearly (not quite, but nearly) flawless. The attention to detail on the set design is great, and the cinematography matches The Original Series exactly.

On top of all that, the script is fantastic. Sisko, Dax, Bashir, Odo, Worf and O'Brien all get to have a lot of fun while remaining beautifully in character. The episode certainly isn't anything more than a fun deviation and has no bearing on the continuing plot of DS9, but it's a wonderful tribute made for the 30th anniversary of the franchise, and absolutely essential viewing.

Plus, it introduced the quite hilarious concept of the Department of Temporal Investigations. While we unfortunately won't see them again in the shows, they'll get a bunch of novels written about them.

One of the best and certainly one of the most fun DS9 episodes. Of course it's a lighthearted episode. Of course it's not as dark, as political or as serious as other top episodes DS9 is lauded for. Of course it isn't interconnected with DS9's overarching story. Of course time travel like this is nonsense. I know this. But I always liked those occasional distractions anyway ...

And what they did here is great. I don't like the Original Series. After watching TOS last year for the very first time, I must admit that some episode of the original series are quite good though. The Trouble with Tribbles was one of the episodes I really liked. It was fun and the B-plot was reasonably suspenseful. Thus it's a great choice to build on this episode. Still, there's the chance to botch it and come up with nothing else than cheap and dull fan-service in order to celebrate the Trek anniversary. But DS9 writers really nailed it. Presumably because they love the franchise. The stage looks great. Costumes looks great. Beehives look great. Colors are vibrant like in the original series. It even captures a lot of the silliness inherent to the 60s show (and the 60s for that matter of fact). The use of the original film material is outstanding. It's great how they blended both shows. The jokes are hilarious. It's fun to watch them interact with them aboard the Enterprise. It's fun to watch them interact with the old tech. It's the right balance of reminiscing the old times and making fun of it (like when they talk about the make up of the Klingons) I especially like Dax. She obviously had a lot of fun.

And just like in the original episode the actual mission isn't really important but a fair story in its own right.

After watching the original show the first time last year, this DS9 episode has even grown on me. It's just great how they were able to connect both episodes.