Why do you think it's overrated? "The Trouble With Tribbles" is the best of Trek TOS's few overtly comic episodes, IMHO. Do you think it isn't funny?
I'd say "The Menagerie" is probably the most overrated episode. Seeing the first pilot adds a nice bit of back story, and Spock's decision to violate regulations in Part I is a strong, dramatic hook, but Part II is a dud where the characters spend most of the episode watching TV punctuated by contrived cliffhangers at the act breaks which are all too easily resolved.
And yet, it's a Hugo winner. Season one had a number of episodes which were much, much stronger.
The way I see it, TTWT is friggin Shakespeare compared to episodes like Catspaw or Plato's Stepchildren!
the bar fight
I know David Gerrold and Harlan Ellison have an agreement: Ellison wrote the "best" episode while Gerrold wrote the "most popular" episode.
"The Trouble with Tribbles" is probably the most popular episode with people who don't identify themselves as Star Trek fans. Since there are more of "them" than there are of "us", then by those standards it's the most popular TOS episode.
It's very accessible by the casual viewer, you don't need to know much about "Star Trek" to enjoy it. It's not my favorite by any means, but it's still enjoyable to me.
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