Star Trek -- Season 2 Episode 15 (The Trouble with Tribbles)

Klingons pose a danger to the Federation.  While there was no open declaration of war, Klingons were hostile towards Federation colonies and Starfleet ships.  Tribbles are more of a menace.  Yes, they’re dangerous, but they’re cute and fuzzy.  Menace doesn’t sound so bad, but tribbles do two things:  Eat and make more tribbles.  And boy, do they make more tribbles.

Both tribbles and Klingons come to a head on Space Station K7.  The Enterprise has been called to protect a grain bound for Sherman's Planet, which the Federation wants to colonize.  The Klingons would rather colonize the planet themselves.  That alone would be a problem, except that one Cyrano Jones has brought a few tribbles to K7, which leads to a lot more tribbles.

The tribbles pose two problems.  The first is that they like to eat and grain is a good food source for them.  The other is that tribbles don’t like Klingons.  Tribbles are like space cats.  They’re cute and they purr.  Klingons are a warrior race.  You can see where the two parties wouldn’t like each other.

Most of the episode is Kirk being annoyed at having to guard the grain.  Once again, he has to do the bidding of some Federation undersecretary of something.  He’s got better things to do.  I always wonder if an actual military ship would be called to do this and, if so, how argumentative the captain of the ship would be.  I suppose it would be in Kirk’s job description to help the government once in a while.

There is a certain cleverness to the episode, in that the tribbles are used to expose a pair of problems.  All of the major components play well off of each other.  Everyone seems to dislike everyone else to some degree.  Even the tribbles, which are friendly, do pose a problem.

It’s definitely one of the more memorable episodes.  It was used for the basis of Deep Space Nine’s The Trouble with Tribbles and for the short trek, The Trouble with Edward.  If I had to pick a few episodes to get you started, this would be one of them.  I don’t know if it would be on everyone’s favorite list, as it is a little goofy.  Despite the seriousness, Star Trek had a very heavy camp element to it.  However, tribbles have become a point of reference within the Trek universe. 

 

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The Twilight Zone (1959) -- Season 1 Episode 33 (Mr. Bevis)

I don’t imagine many people like wearing a suit and tie.  People might get used to it.  People often see the value in it, but I don’t think anyone has ambitions of fitting in.  James B.W. Bevis certainly never did.  He’s goofy and absentminded, to say the least.  He doesn’t have the latest car, but he likes what he likes, whether or not anyone agrees.

The neighborhood children seem to like him.  Bosses?  Not so much.  He’s had several jobs in the past several months.  In fact, the episode begins with him getting terminated, his car getting in an accident and his landlady evicting him.  Although you might feel empathy for Mr. Bevis, you can see where he could do better.

Today’s his lucky day, though.  J. Hardy Hempstead appears and offers to help Bevis.  Who is J. Hardy Hempstead?  Hempstead is Bevis’s guardian angel.  Hempstead offers to let Bevis relive the day, on the condition that he give up anything that makes him unique.  No more zither music.  No more figurines on his desk.  He won’t be popular with the children anymore, but he won’t be fired, either.

Bevis decides to give it a try.  He now has a new car that actually works.  When he gets to his job, he finds his desk is clear and the boss gives him a $10/week raise.  His landlady even loves him, as he’s paid his rent in advance.  Bevis tells Hempstead to put it all back the way it was.  Bevis realizes what he’s known all along:  It’s not worth an extra $10 every week if he can’t be who he is.  He’s been homeless before and he’ll survive it again.

The episode has been called the opposite of It’s a Wonderful Life and with good reason.   Bevis isn’t particularly despondent, but he gets help anyway.  After the help is given, he refuses it.  According to IMDb, this was supposed to serve as a backdoor pilot.  Since Burgess Meredith declined the title role, Rod Serling dropped the idea.

I thought the episode was a bit extreme.  I’m not sure why the Bevis was written with so many eccentricities.  There were some things that could be toned down, like listening to zither music.  I don’t think they had portable CD players back then, but they did have headphones.  Stereo headphones had been invented two years prior, so I would think that some compromise could be found if Bevis was a halfway decent employee.

The episode seems to be more about accepting who you are regardless of the consequences.  However, I don’t think most oddballs are as odd as Bevis.  I’m not sure how much of it is exaggeration.  (Why is it that people like Bevis go through so many jobs?)  I suppose some of this would have been explored if the episode had been made into its own series.

I had never seen this episode before, which surprises me a little.  It was a good episode, even if it was somewhat thin.  The problem with the half-hour format is that the episodes don’t go into much detail.  Still, if you can still get it streaming on Netflix, I’d recommend watching it.

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