Tribbles get A Piece of the Action

besilarius · July 13, 2015, 07:54:01 PM

Here's a little Trek trivia for you: I just re-watched an old episode of Star Trek - Deep Space Nine. It was a cool one, technically speaking - where several of the main characters go back in time to the original series' Tribbles episode. film technology allows them to (somewhat) interact with the original episode and what's going on in it. It was pretty neat. But in one of the commentaries on the DVD, it was mentioned that this was not the original idea:
The Producers and all, wanted to use the existing computer/film tech to take the DS9 cast back to an episode of the original series, but the first choice wasn't Tribbles - it was to be the episode of the Chicago Gangster planet! You'll remember that the original premise of that show was that a Federation expedition had visited there a couple decades earlier, and left behind a book about the Roaring 20's and Chicago's gangland. The natives were very imitative, and transformed themselves into amusing replicas of that period, Shatner and Nimoy get to have fun playing pseudo gangsters, etc. Well, the new plot was going to be that the DS9 folks go back there, a hundred years after the events in the first series, and find that they're now all imitating Kirk and Spock! I think that would've been so much fun - everyone chewing the scenery or going around mumbling about logic, etc.!
Can you imagine half the cast of a DS9 episode doing Kirk imitations, while the other half do Spock?

Staggerwing · July 13, 2015, 08:56:18 PM

Amusing, true.

But it still wouldn't explain the Klingon Forehead Enigma.

BanzaiCat · July 14, 2015, 08:30:49 AM

Quote from: Staggerwing on July 13, 2015, 08:56:18 PM
Amusing, true.

But it still wouldn't explain the Klingon Forehead Enigma.

http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Klingon_augment_virus

mirth · July 14, 2015, 08:47:41 AM

I love the various ways people have tried to explain the changes to Klingon appearance.

Sir Slash · July 14, 2015, 09:20:32 AM

Yeah. That's a long way to go. It would've been easier to have it an attempt at a more frightening appearance or a way to win UFC fights.

mirth · July 14, 2015, 09:25:06 AM

I've lost track of all the attempts to explain it. In the FASA rpg, the human-looking Klingons had been genetically engineered with human traits in attempt to create Klingons that could better understand humans - or some BS along those lines.

bbmike · July 14, 2015, 10:20:14 AM

Quote from: mirth on July 14, 2015, 09:25:06 AM
I've lost track of all the attempts to explain it. In the FASA rpg, the human-looking Klingons had been genetically engineered with human traits in attempt to create Klingons that could better understand humans - or some BS along those lines.

Careful, I love my John Ford Klingons!

BanzaiCat · July 14, 2015, 10:36:28 AM

Martok · July 23, 2015, 03:15:01 PM

Quote from: besilarius on July 13, 2015, 07:54:01 PM
Here's a little Trek trivia for you: I just re-watched an old episode of Star Trek - Deep Space Nine. It was a cool one, technically speaking - where several of the main characters go back in time to the original series' Tribbles episode. film technology allows them to (somewhat) interact with the original episode and what's going on in it. It was pretty neat. But in one of the commentaries on the DVD, it was mentioned that this was not the original idea:
The Producers and all, wanted to use the existing computer/film tech to take the DS9 cast back to an episode of the original series, but the first choice wasn't Tribbles - it was to be the episode of the Chicago Gangster planet! You'll remember that the original premise of that show was that a Federation expedition had visited there a couple decades earlier, and left behind a book about the Roaring 20's and Chicago's gangland. The natives were very imitative, and transformed themselves into amusing replicas of that period, Shatner and Nimoy get to have fun playing pseudo gangsters, etc. Well, the new plot was going to be that the DS9 folks go back there, a hundred years after the events in the first series, and find that they're now all imitating Kirk and Spock! I think that would've been so much fun - everyone chewing the scenery or going around mumbling about logic, etc.!
Can you imagine half the cast of a DS9 episode doing Kirk imitations, while the other half do Spock?

Fascinating; I hadn't been aware that was the original concept the DS9 crew wanted to go with.

I love "Trials and Tribble-ations", btw. I'm not sure if it counts as one of the "classic" DS9 episodes, but it's easily one of my favorites. :)