Oh my... Oh my oh my oh my... First, kudos in some attempt to mesh so many goofy subplots involving relationships, jealousy, and not controlling others in with a bigger plot involving free and breezy carefree and cootiefree life on one of Roddenberry's indulgent dream planets with the ooga-booga scary critters across the galaxy just waiting to get at the easy pickins... in sexy swimwear... The story starts out with some humor and wit, saving the action and seriousness for later. I forgot about that. Usually, relationship faff isn't my thing but somehow seeing Dax and Worf bicker was surprisingly entertaining. Seeing Worf lulled by the New Essentialists just seems natural too. Monte Markham pulls in a terrific, even underplayed performance. Indeed, the last time I saw this, his phrase of "middle-aged" went completely over my head and at warp 2. This time it stopped me outright. Do people over 45 really don't look to oingy-boingy? Don't let a hairline or paunch stop you. Everyone by that age has got something imperfect, apart from the desire to tell those horny li'l youngins to never grow old, just like how we were told some two point six decades earlier regardless of how much or little we were putting out at the time, since "in order to get love one must give it", and all the other cliches worthy as song lyrics by The Brady Bunch Variety Hour... And, of course, the unexpected sob story at the end where he discusses seriously injuring a boy because he was much greater in strength. Yeah, the episode otherwise has a field day discussing how injured Dax gets every time they make whoopee and for the sole sake of comedy, but what other episode could have such lurid details of their personal lives told in an episode without feeling out of place? I will agree that: 1. Bashir/Lita's subplot is deliberately left untold just so they could force a twist involving a Bajoran custom that works for them ever so perfectly (but for far fewer Earthlings)... Then again, the same can be said for most episodes of 'The Brady Bunch"... In DS9's case, an "end of relationship" custom that also involves "I haven't gotten you out of my system yet, let's go mess up the sheets again!" uttered jubilantly and exuberantly by one and met with equal enthusiasm by the other, which is about as realistic as saying "I'm going to stop drinking forever after tonight! Let me just finish these six kegs of ale mixed with real Everclear first because that 'best if used by' date is beckoning", all while the ale just sits there and laments the bizarre nature of humans' digestive systems as it goes down the esophagus... That said, the flip side is discussing Worf being quite the busybody (like Cindy Brady, just waiting to tattle and everyone else tells him not to!) 2. The Dax/Worf scene where she rants about not wanting him to control her life ends... with her controlling him. What happened to relationships involving people who care and look out for each other and not wanting to eat Farkleberries despite being allergic to them? That said, this might be a reason why (?) the episode gets some graft for oversimplifying some plot points, but I have seen people in real life bicker over the smallest of things. Yet still kiss and make up afterward. Even jumping back into bed and, oops, one other little surprise wasn't mentioned and now we're off to see the doctor, the wonderful doctor of - dang, there's no STI that rhymes... oh well... at least the other potential surprise, one that wets the bed constantly at age 4, wasn't... 3. Zilch, regarding Worf's involvement with the New Essentialists - if only for the sake of getting people to listen. That said, the hornballs at the holiday planet didn't listen and a sequel where the Dominion zaps them all into Ketrocel constituents would be one I'd get an extra bag of popcorn to sit through. DS9 deserved a spinoff where all these wacky developments could have taken place... 4. Worf needed a scene with the gold lamé swimtrunks on. Or is that, I disagree with those who were grateful he hadn't? Oh well... 5. Had this been "Justice" from TNG season 1, it might have been better. Then again, watching an ant haul half a potato chip and shove it down the anthill is bound to be more enthralling than a vicarious video of people oiling themselves up and there's no bathtub, private or thanklessly otherwise, in sight... 6. And most importantly of all, bar none (not even point 5 above): This episode gave Futurama so much to play with - involving goofy futuristic swimsuit designs that scream "Hey, look at this part over here!", and - even better yet - the immortal line of "death by snu-snu". Well, Futurama only had 22 minutes per episode so they removed 27 of the DS9-coined term's syllables for the sake of expediting the plot... by the seashore... No worries, "Trials and Tribble-ations" also gave Futurama the nice and charming subplot of "You're your own grandpa" too... 7/10. Maybe a bit generous, but it's high time Trek's universe addressed the lunacy of a completely open planet, given the threats of the Borg, Dominion, more recently the Klingons... Especially compared to "The Lights of Zetar" from TOS, where anyone did invade and turned everyone into a glowing LED party bulb that made "come hither" frog croak noises. I just wish they did more with that instead.
I just wish the writers, Behr and Wolfe (!) had gotten their grammar right in the title: the correct usage is “Let him who is without sin...” There were some good moments…the lovely Vanessa Williams’ friendship with Jadzia. Worf’s romantic speech about beauty.
Well, yes, it was a bit awkward. Ira Steven Behr said he really wished he could have refined this episode. "It was supposed to be a show that looked at 24th century morals and sexuality. We pretty much failed on both counts."
Actually, Behr and Wolfe weren't using any standard bible translation, they made up their own version-- to keep the title short enough. One of the many versions is "He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone." But no translation ever has Let followed by he.
Not any of my absolute favorite DS9 episodes but rather good and watchable, funny in some places. My only complaint is that Joval from the TNG episode "Captain's Holiday" didn't show up in the episode. As for Risa, I would love to live there permanently! As for "Trials And Tribble Actions", it's not one of my absolute favorite DS9 episodes either but it's EXACTLY what a "flashback" episode should look like. Absolutely brilliant when it came to recreate the TOS scenario! Those who were in charage of the bleak series "Enterprise" and those in charge of the horrible "Discovery" should have watched this episode and learned from it. If they had done that, I would probably have continued to watch those shows after 5 episodes or so.
The essentialists weren't radicals at first. They just believed in certain values and principles, as did Worf. That never changed: near the end, Worf says: "You say that we have to return to traditional Federation values. Well, I agree." Problem is, Fullerton went too far. When he turned to faux terrorism, Worf made it clear that he did not condone the behavior. And when he resorted to actual terrorism (by setting the uplink to destroy buildings), he had betrayed the very principles he claimed to defend. That's when Worf threw him across the room.
They weren’t violent at first, they were fairly radical in their message. That if we don’t absolutely reverse our lifestyles and give up anything that gives us pleasure we’ll be conquered. Particularly for someone into blood wine, who had already gone through iterations of ‘Learning a lesson’ to accept his wife’s hedonism which he conveniently forgot.
The essentialist message was pretty problematic, period. It was obviously intended to present itself as religious fundamentalism, but without the religion. That's like trying to have a body without a skeleton... it just kind of lies there and flops around.
Well, if anything it showed that Worf in some respect is still the insensitive brute he was in TNG season 1. He thinks nothing of ruining the vacation of a planetload of people because he's going through some existential crisis... Does that sound like a brute who would shoot at a "menacing" screen? Definitely! The rest is so contrived bullshit that it's barely worth mentioning, Leeta's Bajoran parting custom, that we've never heard of before or after!!! It's almost as if she made that up... Quark who's no Rudolph Valentino who just needs to brandish two statuettes to get two gorgeous women to sleep with him... ....
Well, if a woman looked anything like the female Ferengi we saw, I don't care how good in bed she was I would rather die than sleep with her!!!