In 1966 a family comedy called "The Trouble With Angels" was released, directed by the great Ida Lupino. Might this have been the source for the title of the Star Trek episode?
Trouble With Tribbles - ep. name
- Thread starter A beaker full of death
- Start date
Yeah it's possible I guess.
I thought I read somewhere Gerrold wanted to call it "A Fuzzy Thing Happened" originally.
I thought I read somewhere Gerrold wanted to call it "A Fuzzy Thing Happened" originally.
If Roddenberry was an Angels fan, this could quite possibly be so.
How 'bout them Angels.
How 'bout them Angels.
Is this where the title "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" came from?
No. That opened on Broadway in 1962.
Okay, here's the beef from Gerrold's book about the making of the episode:
His original outline was called "A Fuzzy Thing Happened to Me." This, like the title A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, is derived from a much older joke-telling formula (probably from vaudeville, which was a major influence on Forum) beginning with "A funny thing happened to me on the way to..." or words to that effect.
The creatures in the outline were called fuzzies. But the legal department felt that was too close to H. Beam Piper's SF novel Little Fuzzy. Gerrold made a list of dozens of possible new names (including "shagbies," "gollawogs," "callahans," "goomies," and "brazzies"), and eventually decided that "tribbles" was the least objectionable choice. He had an inspiration for a new episode title: "You Think You've Got Tribbles--?"
But TOS producer Gene Coon hated that title. So "The Trouble with Tribbles" was probably a compromise title, a less cutesy way of taking advantage of the tribble/trouble pun.
It's conceivable that it could've been influenced by 1966's The Trouble with Angels, but it could just as well have been influenced by the 1955 Hitchcock film The Trouble with Harry, or 1940's The Trouble with Husbands, or 1947's The Trouble with Women, or... Anyway, "The Trouble with..." is hardly a unique title formulation.
His original outline was called "A Fuzzy Thing Happened to Me." This, like the title A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, is derived from a much older joke-telling formula (probably from vaudeville, which was a major influence on Forum) beginning with "A funny thing happened to me on the way to..." or words to that effect.
The creatures in the outline were called fuzzies. But the legal department felt that was too close to H. Beam Piper's SF novel Little Fuzzy. Gerrold made a list of dozens of possible new names (including "shagbies," "gollawogs," "callahans," "goomies," and "brazzies"), and eventually decided that "tribbles" was the least objectionable choice. He had an inspiration for a new episode title: "You Think You've Got Tribbles--?"
But TOS producer Gene Coon hated that title. So "The Trouble with Tribbles" was probably a compromise title, a less cutesy way of taking advantage of the tribble/trouble pun.
It's conceivable that it could've been influenced by 1966's The Trouble with Angels, but it could just as well have been influenced by the 1955 Hitchcock film The Trouble with Harry, or 1940's The Trouble with Husbands, or 1947's The Trouble with Women, or... Anyway, "The Trouble with..." is hardly a unique title formulation.
Forbin said:
That HAD to have been inspired by the Clint Eastwood film "Dirty Harry," which came out three years later.
(Sorry threads attempting to attribute derivation always amuse me).
Oh get bent. The timing was right and it was just a random thought. Pardon me all to hell.
If a new rap song starts out with this, we'll know where that came from.
Yo yo yo.
This one was great because the Prop guys as shatner was getting tribbles dumped on him was throwing them down through the hole beaning him on the top of his head.
"Would someone PLEASE close that door..." Was a bit of an adlib, but it worked...
I was routing the prop guy on... bean him Bean him!
Knock off that cheezy shatner toupe!
"Would someone PLEASE close that door..." Was a bit of an adlib, but it worked...
I was routing the prop guy on... bean him Bean him!
Knock off that cheezy shatner toupe!
No, it was scripted. The main ad-lib Shatner did in that sequence was picking up a tribble before beaming over to the station and carrying it with him for the rest of the act (it presumably got lost in the pile that then fell on him).
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