Premise and writing Trials and Tribble-ations

captain kirk chest in tribbles

the writers discussed potential ideas. ronald d. moore had brought montgomery scott star trek: next generation episode relics , since takei appearing in voyager, felt having member of main cast original series return repetitive. consideration given moore sending ds9 crew gangster-type planet visited kirk in episode piece of action . rené echevarria suggested time-travel episode, seen expensive proposition. echevarria, however, pressed idea. moore suggested inserting ds9 crew trouble tribbles , suggesting resolve question of why constant stream of tribbles kept hitting kirk in head.

when discussion came inserting ds9 crew bar-brawl scene, berman liked idea unsure if done. visual effects supervisor gary hutzel created test footage , screened behr , moore, thought footage original episode. once hutzel revealed additional security officer had been seamlessly added sequence, episode green-lit. during scripting process, trouble tribbles regularly consulted, writers decide insert characters. temporal agents, dulmer , lucsly, named anagrams of mulder , scully x-files.

original tribbles creator david gerrold contacted new york times, wanted interview him anniversary , rumored tribbles episode. when questioned berman episode, berman denied it. gerrold responded didn t want embarrass anyone, able endorse project. berman asked endorsement cost, gerrold requested public acknowledgement of work , cast in episode. berman agreed. gerrold compared inserting new footage existing episode future part ii (1989) , later said have gone in different direction had written story. nonetheless, felt final product ended being better have created.