Well, I'm not the only one who thinks that Bones was serious. Even Wikipedia states 'McCoy concludes that tribbles use over fifty percent of their metabolism for reproduction and that they are born pregnant.'
Scotty and.....Tribblecide!!!
- Thread starter MarsWeeps
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Well, I'm not the only one who thinks that Bones was serious. Even Wikipedia states 'McCoy concludes that tribbles use over fifty percent of their metabolism for reproduction and that they are born pregnant.'
Part of the humor in "Tribbles", again I keep having to add the qualification such as it, is that both the premise and the narrative themselves involve exaggerations for effect.
The punchline of Kirk having tribbles dropped on him, while he simply stands there and lets the pile fill up to almost bury him, is perhaps the most blatant example of that.
If "born pregnant" sounds like hyperbole, it is, but only on a metacontextual level.
The punchline of Kirk having tribbles dropped on him, while he simply stands there and lets the pile fill up to almost bury him, is perhaps the most blatant example of that.
If "born pregnant" sounds like hyperbole, it is, but only on a metacontextual level.
Just keep in mind, being born pregnant is a real world application.
That's really interesting. Thanks.
However, I find it highly unlikely, though of course not impossible, that Gerrold knew about this and based tribbles on it. If you go to the article on Adactylidium, none of the cited references date before 1980, and the genus was named only in 1965. For tribbles to have been inspired by Adactylidium, there would have had to have been some really cutting edge stuff in the field published right away that Gerrold got his hands on or found out about pretty much immediately. Not impossible, but I doubt it.
I suppose it'd have been a different story (or, rather, a familiar one) had the tribbles taken a stance something like this like this... 
As a sidenote, how did Scotty do it anyway? Do Klingon warships usually fly around without any shields to stop Starfleet engineers beaming stuff into their engine rooms?
Obvious explanation is that as the Klingons were guests at K-7 under the terms of the Organian treaty, the treaty obliged them to drop their shields and not raise them until they entered warp to leave. But in that case you'd think that Scotty taking advantage of this to beam a known pest aboard would be a treaty breach in itself...
Obvious explanation is that as the Klingons were guests at K-7 under the terms of the Organian treaty, the treaty obliged them to drop their shields and not raise them until they entered warp to leave. But in that case you'd think that Scotty taking advantage of this to beam a known pest aboard would be a treaty breach in itself...
That's right: if we take the story seriously, it would be a huge "international incident" and cause major problems for the Federation.
Maybe right after the episode fades out, Kirk says "Seriously Scotty, what did you do with the tribbles?"
And Scotty admits that he beamed them en mass into a matter reclamation machine that extracts their useful proteins and minerals for use aboard ship. The Franz Joseph blueprints had machines like that on Deck 9 if I recall.
^ Ah, good, so Kirk gets to have them in his chicken sandwich and coffee all over again.
The tribbles are animals, it's hardly murder.
Uh-oh. Don't let the folks from PETA hear you say that!
I think Scotty beaming them to the Klingons counts as biological warfare. Tribbles are so dangerous in their natural state you don't have to weaponize them, they're deadly as is.
I just like the sound of "Weaponized Tribble"
That could be a punk band.
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...Or meanderin', purrin' merkins!
Sincerely,
Bill
It seems to me that had to shoehorn in an everybody-laughs ending no matter how inappropriate it was and no matter how little sense it made. The stories often involve them getting involved with wars and life-and-death. Minutes later the show ends with everyone trying to laugh at some dumb joke. I can't stand that aspect of TOS.
So if the Enterprise was infested with fleas, and they all had a laugh about Scotty bagging and fumigating the ship ... ?
Did they love the fleas and want to keep them as pets, before they realized they had to get rid of them ... ?
Consider that they used the same trick again in the TAS episode, but specifically as a weapon. It is also shown that Tribbles will seriously hamper Klingon ships. It seems the Klingons just do not know how to deal with the screaming furballs. And using Distuptors in the Engine Room might be a bad idea. Never know what you might blow up in there.
Hi, I am Maurice's Intern...I found this phrase on his desk...I think he meant to send it...
"...you're the best Grammar Nazi."
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