When a Star Trek series pays homage to The Original Series, the heart of the episode lies in the callbacks that fans will instantly appreciate. Such was the case with the Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations," and DS9 actor Terry Farrell shared some great anecdotes about Michael Dorn during the filming of the season 5 installment during this year's Trek Talks.
Farrell talked about the making of "Trials and Tribble-ations" at length, from how they promoted the episode to Michael Dorn's antics, saying (per TrekMovie.com): “I think the only person that, and this won’t be surprising, that had a grumpy attitude, was Michael Dorn."
Farrell continued by saying:
"Because he was sitting in the commissary with a scarf covering his head, and he kept saying, [in Worf-like voice] ‘The tribbles know I’m here… I’m standing out.’ He kept rationalizing how we should be back on Deep Space [9], how he shouldn’t be there setting off the tribbles. It was hilarious.”
"The tribbles know I'm here" is such a sci-fi coded remark, especially when you think about movies where cute animals were not what they seemed, like Gremlins and Critters. I hope other Trek fans appreciate Dorn's sense of humor, as comedy is a basic element of any Star Trek series.
If blooper reels have taught us anything, it's that humor has always been important in Star Trek. When actors have a sense of humor and can laugh at themselves, the more honest and organic a series' funny moments are.
Dorn gave us so many great, memorable lines in The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Picard that we fans should take a page from his book and look in the mirror to laugh at our own humanity once in a while.
Share your thoughts and comments with us about Deep Space Nine's tribble tribute to The Original Series on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.