Watch: Preview For ‘Star Trek: Short Treks’ “The Trouble With Edward”

The Short Treks “Q&A” was released on Saturday after the Star Trek: Discovery New York Comic Con panel as a surprise for fans, and this Thursday (October 10), the next one will be released, with the title “The Trouble With Edward.”

Episode description

In the “The Trouble With Edward,” we meet newly minted Captain Lynne Lucero (Rosa Salazar) who is excited to take command of the U.S.S. Cabot. That is, until she meets Edward Larkin (H. Jon Benjamin), an ornery scientist who believes he has found a revolutionary new use for tribbles.

Episode promo

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3XWUJtBPll/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Episode promotional photos


Star Trek: Short Treks are available in the USA on CBS All Access. Season 2 is available in Canada via CTV Sci-Fi Channel (formerly known as Space) and Crave. Availability for the second season in other regions has not be announced.

Keep up with all the Short Treks news at TrekMovie.

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Looks ‘zany.’ Was mostly interested in getting an outside look at that ship.

From the glimpse, I’d say it’s a Magee class ship. Like the USS Shran as seen at The Battle of The Binary Stars.
https://shop.eaglemoss.com/usa/star-trek-discovery-starships/uss-shran
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Magee_class

Sigh, yet another Millennium Falcon wannabe as designed by John “Busy” Eaves. I really wished Abrams had taken him out of Trek to design starships where his design aesthetic really fits, the Star Wars sequels…

Thanks, Matt!

Looks a little like an early derivative of the future NX class Defiant.

Only the NX class is NX class. NX is a Federation Starfleet designation for prototype ships of a new class.

I’m excited by the idea of some kind of secret Tribble origin story…

…or even the story of a Starfleet researcher inappropriately trying to make a useful creature out of a vermin animal from the Klingon Empire, and having it go wildly wrong.

I note that there are folks fussing on the official Star Trek Twitter about how tribbles should have been in the Starfleet database already when the Enterprise encounters then in TOS.

However, having a research modification of Tribbles run amok on a ship that isn’t Enterprise seems benign enough canonically, especially after seeing the value-free exploitation of the tardigrade in the context of war. Not to mention we saw a version of them in Enterprise.

Phlox already showed Sato some Tribbles, and even in the preview for this short, they say “They call them Tribbles.” So, it’s not an origin story, but perhaps some kind of twist.

It seems that you were right.

wow…

I guess if I speculate enough here, I’ve got to be right every now and again.

Wished that worked for me with lottery tickets.

Yep you were definitely right lol. And I liked it. Very fun episode!

“…the story of a Starfleet researcher inappropriately trying to make a useful creature out of a vermin animal…”

Yeah, I’d say that was pretty inappropriate! Did Edward really jizz on the tribbles?!? Why is this only rated PG? And you people let your KIDS put those tribbles in their mouths after Edward infused them with his “macro-nutrients”? That’s pretty messed up. Gene Roddenberry is rolling over in his grave.

“Yeah, I’d say that was pretty inappropriate! Did Edward really jizz on the tribbles?!? Why is this only rated PG?”

WHAT? Haven’t seen the episode yet but can anybody confirm or clarify what NoMad is talking about? This sounds incredibly “bold”…
Is it anything like that infamous pizza scene from the German movie Wetlands where they had actual adult stars performing that act? Or is it rather like that prison scene in “Silence of the Lambs” with fake snot?

Wait where did you get he used his semen lol? He just said he used his own DNA. You can get that by other samples like hair. And even that were true, I don’t really see how that is a bad thing for anybody. I mean every animal we eat comes from someone’s semen, hence why they exist. OK, this topic is getting weird lol.

Thanks, Tiger2. If it’s not even clear whether he actually used his bare seed or scientifically extracted DNA strains, I can take it for granted there isn’t anything visual here. NoMad made it sound a lot more graphic than it obviously was. :-)

“And even that were true, I don’t really see how that is a bad thing for anybody. I mean every animal we eat comes from someone’s semen, hence why they exist.”

Well, it would have been weird to show actual semen on Star Trek or even fake snot for what it’s worth. But in combination with an animal, even if it’s a ficticious classic Trek species, this would have been borderline illegal as animal p*rn is banned in most countries.

No, nothing like that was ever remotely shown or even implied lol. It was just one line where he said he used his own DNA to help the genetic mutations of the tribbles. It was suppose to come off as weird (Larkin is a very weird guy lol) but not in a perverted way.

It’s Star Trek, DNA is discussed all the time on these shows for some loopy science idea, I don’t think anyone ever assumed it meant actual semen was ever involved.

It is strongly implied, once the crew realizes that Edward used his own DNA, they react as if he just admitted to f*cking a tribble. At least, that’s my interpretation. Also, the post-credit scene/commercial mentions Edward’s “macronutrients”… in the context of reproduction, what else can that mean?

No, sorry. That’s not implied at all. The crew’s reaction can be put down to this very offputting character’s DNA being mixed with anything, much less the genetic material of a barely-known species. They even show the moment he makes the modification, and it involves nothing sexier than a spray hypo. You’re just reaching — and why you would care to reach in that particular direction is anyone’s guess.

Was that another Trill?

Seems to be. We know they were regularly in contact with the federation at this time, makes sense some served.

It makes sense. And we know that McCoy met Emony Dax around this time. Jadzia had to hide her spots when she pretended to be an Enterprise crewman, but that could easily be because there weren’t any Trill serving aboard the Enterprise.

Agreed…We know that Dax was in contact in that era certainly.

Given that the symbiont hosts were a small fraction of a percent of the general Trill population, Trills could serve in Starfleet without making symbionts general knowledge.

I really doubt the Federation would allow a race into the club without checking every detail about them first. Sisko knew all about symbionts when he was Cadet. Just ignore that TNG Trill episode. The writers had to reboot the Trills just to get them working on DS9.

If the Federation did vet them, they clearly missed the fact that the symbiosis commission was lying to their people about how many Trills are capable of joining, and that they are actually pretty corrupt. We don’t actually know that Trill ever did join the Federation. We’ve seen a few Trills in Starfleet, and Curzon was a Federation ambassador, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Trill is a Federation world. Curzon could have just taken Sisko into his confidence. In the novels, Tobin Dax told Malcolm about the joining but asked him to keep it a secret.

I think it’s safe to assume that Trill was part of the Federation. Being a member of the Federation would be first step in getting appointed as an ambassador.

I think that the original Trills from that TNG episodes wasn’t members of the Federation and that would explain why everyone was so clueless about them.

Canon Schmanon. I liked the TNG episode, The Host.

“I really doubt the Federation would allow a race into the club without checking every detail about them first.”

Oh, they wouldn’t? People are telling me “Open Borders” has been ascribed Federation policy all the way back to TOS ;)

Whoever is telling you that is incorrect. “Journey to Babel” makes it clear that the borders aren’t open.

Pick Hard, of course I was being sarcastic since there are people steadfastly claiming 50 years of Star Trek were always 100% aligned with the most extremist parts of 2019 “progressivism”.

No, that’s just a strawman. Obviously, Trek’s overall tone, however progressive, has always been more complicated than that. As a progressive, I wouldn’t have it any other way. No one person or ideology has a lock on the truth.

voting for Biden?

Non sequitur — but yes, however unhappily, if necessary.

Team Biden all the way.

Team Buttigieg here, but I will enthusiastically campaign for a barstool over the malign rotting pumpkin currently barricaded inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW if it comes to that—nuff said.

Put me down for Team Barstool. :-)

“Obviously, Trek’s overall tone, however progressive, has always been more complicated than that. ”

Isn’t that what I was saying in the other thread? That Trek was more complex than “black-and-white” and not locked to a single ideology? Seems we do agree for once ;)

If you ever make your own Star Trek site, I’m leaving with you.

What I thought you implied (and maybe I read you wrong) was that TOS was ideologically neutral. That would certainly apply, say, to the rebooted BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, which was a great show. But Trek was always primarily progressive for its time.

Hard to imagine what mental contortions one would have to go through in order to rationalize that. But you do you.

Rationalize what?? If you have a argument to make, make it.

It’s been made (and apparently won).

Whatever gets you through the night, Sport.

Definitely time to think up an Internet nickname to fake the personality you lack.

In other words, Sport, you got nothing. Color me shocked.

“What I thought you implied (and maybe I read you wrong) was that TOS was ideologically neutral. That would certainly apply, say, to the rebooted BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, which was a great show. But Trek was always primarily progressive for its time.”

Not exactly neutral, I agree with you it always was left-leaning, and the BSG reboot surely has a more conservative world view in its focus on zero-sum-scenarios. However, left-leaning in the 1960s meant something VERY different from today, and to a larger part of population. I was saying some of the “newer”, and more radical ideas of (American) liberals, as they have been promoted by people like Jason Isaacs, have no basis in the older shows, and on the whole Discovery has been more uncompromising in pushing these views (i.e. not integrating alternative angles). So overall, politically the older shows were appealing to a much broader segment of the population than what we have now on screen, and that’s why I often call the latter “partisan” or “divisive”.

A) no progressives want open borders B) The worlds of the federation almost certainly allowed free movement of federation citizens.

“A) no progressives want open borders”

Absolutely not true. But please do your own google search :)

:-)

YEP!!!!! :)

It’s pretty cool we are getting a Trill (I guess they are going to be around quite a bit for awhile ;)) but yes I thought Jadzia was the first Trill in Starfleet? But then I used to think Spock was the first Vulcan in Starfleet too. ;)

I don’t care either way, just curious. Or maybe she was just the first joined one?

I don’t recall any reference to her being the first Trill, joined or otherwise, in Starfleet. There could be a reference that I forgot about though.

At no point was Jadzia ever said to be the first Trill in Starfleet. And Spock was never said to be the first Vulcan in Starfleet, either. It’s possible you read these claims in the novels, but not on the TV shows.

I don’t think its likely that either of those were in the novels. In the novels, T’Pol was a captain in the Federation Starfleet, and Tobin served on a Federation starship, although he wasn’t actually a starfleet officer.

OK thats fine. It really was a question. I was always under that impression for some reason lol. I could’ve read it somewhere I don’t know.

As for Spock, I use to assume he was the first Vulcan but then someone on Reddit reminded me even in TOS they had a Starfleet ship that was manned by Vulcans in some episode.

And then Discovery made it clear later there were others.

The Intrepid, in “The Immunity Syndrome.” It’s interesting that they could find enough Vulcans to crew a Starfleet ship, presumably operating under Starfleet regulations, since Vulcans had their own exploration service and were supposedly too pacifistic as a rule to serve with their human allies.

Vulcans will use violence if it is logical to do so. Thats the entire basis of the Vulcan hello.

Well, in order to have Vulcans in the Admiralty, they’d have to come up through the officer ranks and be captains first.

…Which would be so much less unpleasant for them if they had a few Vulcan crewed ships.

How can there be tribbles?

Because there are? They were in ENT, and DSC, and there’s more to the universe than the Enterprise.

It always amazes me how narrow-minded a lot of fans can be. “OMG, tribbles before TOS, even though there’s nothing on TOS to say there weren’t! Small Treks has ruined my childhood!” I mean, seriously, how ridiculous. The very fact that Cyrano Jones was peddling them proves there were people who knew about them before Kirk did.

Except that keeping an unknown animal as a pet wouldn’t fly even in our century, let alone in the future when everybody has a handheld chemical analyzer / imaging scanner / recorder at their fingertips. Tribbles would be recorded, thoroughly analyzed and classified within a *week* after the first encounter with a Starfleet crew.

Some years ago in Europe, there was a huge incident with genetically modified green-eyed rats. Perfectly harmless things, just ordinary lab rats, except with green eyes. And yet, several people got heavy fines for illegal keeping of unlicensed GM organisms. Do you honestly think a highly advanced technological utopia like Federation would be any less thorough than European Union, especially considering that tribbles (unlike green-eyed rats) are potentially harmful to ecosystems of entire planets?

It isn’t about ruined childhoods, it’s about internal consistency. The events of Trouble with Tribbles made it obvious that tribbles were previously unknown to Federation. Hence why Bones had to breed them and dissect them in order to find out how they work, instead of simply looking them up on his computer.

You make a pretty good case (and I have to wonder how David Gerrold, still very much with us, feels about all of this). But as others here have pointed out, that bit of continuity went out the airlock with ENTERPRISE. No use getting unduly upset about a silly little short.

Boze people keep all kinds of creatures that they shouldn’t from places far away, and do it illegally.

Border security and animal protection officers do their best but it’s astonishing what kind of exotic creatures people try to keep at home. And then they try to breed or interested them.

I live in Canada. A local rescue centre has a Nile crocodile and an alligator snapping turtle… and sloths.

Do the Mounties cart you off to a rehabilitation facility for twenty years if you’re caught? :-)

And we know Cyrano Jones didn’t come off as the most trustworthy fellow lol.

Look, in reality MAYBE Uhura was the first person in the Federation introduced to a tribble. Yes that is possibly true. But its not true anymore because we have Enterprise and now Discovery to refute that. This is how prequels operate and I’m NOT saying that in a bad way either. Prequels retcon things all the time but in THIS instance its never made clear if this was the first time the Federation knew about them or simply the Enterprise crew, so there is wiggle room to present them in earlier time periods. That’s how stories works in general.

And my guess is tribbles are probably fine to have in the Federation IF they are sterilized which Lorca’s obviously had to be. But in TOS case, Jones probably never bothered and sold them naturally. But then you would think the guy would want to sterilize them for no other reason he starts to lose money once they start breeding and can just be given away. But again, this is a case of me (and everybody else) waaaaay over thinking it lol.

The tribble infestation doesn’t seem to be on the Enterprise, so it dosn’t conflict with Trouble with Tribbles.

Why wouldn’t there be tribbles? That was a ridiculous question.

The universe is a big place. That’s why.

Writer’s first line.”there areTribbles in this story”. It’s that simple.

Dr Phlox introduced tribbles to Hoshi way back in Enterprise, so the Federation has known about them long before Kirk and company.

Yeah Enterprise established long ago they knew about tribbles, it doesn’t mean everyone will have personally heard of them.

It’s pretty likely that McCoy, at least, would have heard about them, or at least would have found an entry on them in the Fed Zoological Database. But what are you going to do? That’s why life is too short to obsess over canon.

Is it super likely? Have you heard of the red-throated guinea pig from the shores of eastern Australia? And how if it’s removed from its natural environment, e.g. in a zoo, it tends to breed to overpopulation? No? Well, then maybe neither does McCoy, since there are like a million species on Earth alone. It’s not like he has an encyclopedic knowledge of every class of organism.

[btw there is no such animal, I was just giving a hypothetical example to illustrate just how unlikely it probably is that Bones would know tribbles in particular unless he had some reason to know about them]

I wouldn’t expect McCoy to be familiar with every species the Federation or Starfleet had ever encountered, but I would think that if he had punched ‘tribble’ into the Fed database that it should have come up with something if the species had already been encountered. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of exploration?

okay definitely a good point

Who discovered the “Bärtierchen”?
The producers of Discovery say it was the lesser known brother of the famous Johann Melchior Goeze. But other sources say Johann Conrad Eichhorn discovered them probably few years before.

Millions of years of evolution.

I love anything Star Trek with tribbles and the mishaps that ensue. I can’t wait.

I’m watching promos/trailers on CTV Sci-Fi. Don’t know if it’s region locked like CBS. https://www.youtube.com/user/spacechannelvideos

I can’t comment in Firefox anymore, am using Edge Beta.

I don’t see any Short Trek-related videos in their list of uploaded videos so they are probably region-locked as well.

Coach McGuirk vs Tribbles – sounds good.

He’s Bob now.

Just started watching that show and really enjoyed it.

He’s also various characters he used to play at The Comedy Studio in Harvard Square, a can of vegetables, and Dr. Katz’ son.

Wow this looks really fun!

Also nice its coming so soon after the last one. And we haven’t had a tribble episode since DS9! They seem to come every 20-30 years. ;)

And don’t quote me on this but I have a feeling this episode connects to Picard and whatever experimentation being done with the Tribbles is what help leads to the downfall of the Borg on that show. Could I be wrong? Most likely no! So this is looking to be E-P-I-C kids!! :D

And the captain in the episode looked really famaliar to me but couldn’t place her. Googled and found out she played Alita in Alita: Battle Angel. WOW! I really loved her in that movie as well. I’m still really hoping it gets a sequel.

Anyway the Trek news just keeps coming.

Anything’s possible, but I don’t think that it is likely that the Tribbles are responsible for the downfall of the Borg. In fact, I suspect that the majority of the Borg are doing just fine. There seems to be one damaged cube in the trailer, which can account for a few thousand Borg that the Romulans are experimenting on. Most Borg are probably safe and sound back in the Delta Quadrant. I could be wrong though.

LOL, I know! I’m just messing around. I’m just teasing when fans come up with these zany off the wall theories like last year when people thought Control was going to somehow be the origin of the Borg or the latest one making the rounds of how the events in the Picard show might be the cause of the Federation falling 800 years later in the 32nd century.

But if I’m right about my theory though, it would be E-P-I-C!!!!!!!!!!!

“And the captain in the episode looked really famaliar to me but couldn’t place her. Googled and found out she played Alita in Alita: Battle Angel. WOW!”

Wow indeed! I knew that name sounded familiar to me. Seems she is headlining this short rather than that (I don’t know) guy :D

The ONLY remaining question is: will tribbles cause her to get bug eyes in this one too? :D

I forgot about this one, but Dr. Phlox introduced Hoshi to tribbles on board the NX-01 Enterprise. Then after he let her hold and pet it, he promptly fed it to one of the members of his little menagerie!

LOL. No, tribbles are NOT what will lead to the downfall of the Borg. But that was hilarious, so thanks for that.

You’re welcome! :)

Isn’t that the guy from the Hardee’s or Burger King commercial?

Nevermind. Before you get all shitty on me. It’s Arbys and he is Archer’s voice. My bad.

I just realized he was the slacker son Ben on Dr. Katz.

They better have a Bob’s Burgers reference.

Didn’t we have that one courtesy of Number One’s infamous and endlessly repeated burger meal scene in Discovery season 2? Product placement at its finest! :D

LOL.

Did she have a specific burger from an existing company or is showing any burger product placement in your mind?

Somebody didn’t get the joke ;)

“Humour, it is a difficult concept.” It wasn’t a joke. It was you not knowing what the term product placement referred to. But sure, blame it on them not getting it. Another example of how not all those who speak have something to say.

In other words, you didn’t get the joke either.

He does not know what product placement is. He call himself “Vulcan Soul” but clearly lacks the intellectual sharpness characteristic of Vulcans. (Only rudely pointing this out because of his other racist and sexist comments on other posts.)

Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Seems like you don’t know what product placement even is. If someone drank coffee that wouldn’t be a promo for Starbucks.

Enough is enough. You are a bully AND an id!ot, and now it’s clear for everyone to see. Since neither software nor mods will do their job, consider yourself permabanned in my personal blacklist :)

I was watching the Expanse and apparently FEDEX is still a thing. It wasn’t even subtle.

Can’t wait to be dialing the Enterprise on my NOKIA with the same ringtone from the early 21st century!

Seems comedy is back to Trek ;)

Awesome!

But what’s with the collars on the uniforms? They’re missing the black bit.

I’m reading it as a tribute to the monochromatic uniforms shown in The Cage.

And WNMHGB

Aha, that makes sense.

I like seeing uniform variants. Now if they’d just get rid of the awful pointy shoulders, I’ll be happy.

I like the bold collars actually.

I expect that the decision to go with black both now and in the 60s is based on the fact that the colourful tops don’t work with a wide variety of completion or hair colours. A black collar breaks it up.

Pointy or tailored shoulders with some kind of shoulder pads are pretty common in military jackets. Not seeing these as extreme – especially as compared to 90s Trek.

Common in military jackets that are more formal (i.e. business suit equivalents), but not for uniforms typically worn daily. Doing any kind of physical work in those would be hell.

Rather than a Pike Enterprise series, TPTB will be giving us Pike walk-ons in every Short Trek.

The one after this looks like it will be directly about him though since the first trailer showed him being arrested for something.

I always find it weird seeing voice actors appear in real life. Like, you’re supposed to be a cartoon!

Is it just me or are they building a lot of cool TOS sets… the transporter room and the turbolift in Q&A was AMAZING. Maybe we are going to get a Pike / Number One / Spock movie?!?

My guess is that will almost certainly happen eventually, given the positive fan response — the sets are pretty much built, and the actors are both willing and enthusiastic. I don’t know that we need a “Cage”-era Trek series, but a movie or miniseries would be awesome.

I don’t know about that- I’d trade Picard AND Discovery any day for a Pike, Number One and Spock series… but beggars can’t be choosers and I’ll take a movie or mini series.

Not everyone fixates on the TOS era as you do. I happen to prefer it myself, but see no need for an ongoing series of that type, especially featuring characters and a setting I’m already familiar with. Been there, done that.

That said, I’d bet good money on a movie or miniseries at this point, subject to Mount’s availability.

And I would not bet any money on it despite Kurtzman saying that he “hears” the fans when they say they want a Pike series, and evidence of existing sets is hardly any indication. After all, they built sets for the Shenzhou too…

I’m betting there will be a movie or mini-series of some kind too.

I think thats my biggest problem with a Pike series, we would be going back to the Enterprise well for the third time.
I don’t know if there is a public demand for it and I am talking about the general public, not online fansites.

Uh not me. I would be happy to see a Pike show, but not over Discovery or Picard. I want to see the universe expanded and excited Discovery will be doing that more than any other show to date.

Everything besides the bridge and turbolift is a color redress of the disco sets

Love that latest “Short Trek” I saw this afternoon. The uniforms worn on-board Cabot pays tribute to the ones seen in the two original series pilot episodes.

With so many variants it wouldn’t be incorrect to say Starfleet is in the exploration and fashion design business

THESE uniforms is what should’ve been used on Discovery. They look fantastic and not like over busy band uniforms.

Agreed! Ironically, the standard Discovery uniforms always looked more “Trek spoof” or “Zap Brannigan” like than the much derided “primary colored” TOS ones. As so many aspects of Discovery, I think they will not age well.

Although I have a feeling they will keep the DIS uniforms in the 32nd century based on the trailer I’m really hoping if they do join some form of Starfleet they will adopt whatever they are wearing. I know, long shot, but I really hate these uniforms, especially seeing how great all the updated TOS uniforms have been. I kept hearing the lame excuse no one would want the old TOS uniforms when all along most of us wanted something more updated like this.

For all his failures, despite the Apple Store Bridge and the Brewery Engineering, Abrams did recognize the primary colored uniforms are part of the inalienable “Corporate Design” of Trek throughout the ages. If any series needed a bit of visual continuity to help bring fans over the many stark narrative differences to the Trek we are used to in this time period, it was Discovery – and as the results here show, the uniforms would have been a really EASY choice.

Have to agree. I actually like a lot of DSC’s PD, but the band outfits and the weird, asymmetrical collars are just off-putting.

I mean *pay*. Darn typo.

So this means that, when Cyrano Jones created his safe Tribbles, he was actually just trying to restore the Tribbles to their natural state.

Having watched this episode now, it IS pretty funny, but also troubling in its anti-nonconformist (or conformist, if you will) subtext. The writers have such a great time ridiculing the “mad (male) scientist” stereotype that they fail to see it is also a failure of the captain and the crew to integrate differently thinking crew members for the benefit of all, rather than to antagonize them and ultimately cause their (and everyone’s) downfall. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a most contemporary failure!

What are you even talking about man? The “male” in question does everything wrong from start to finish. Ever had a job? Ever had to, you know, take any kind of direction?

You’re very obviously talking about yourself and some sort of persecution complex thing you’ve got going on. The “male” here is very clearly shown to be a prideful idiot with a complete lack of social awareness / maturity, who causes his (and everybody else’s) problems. It is literally is Archer, maybe worse. How much more obvious does something need to be? What configuration of genders would have avoided triggering your insecurities?

What is wrong with you people making everything a personal attack now? Your comment says everything we need to know about YOUR social maturity :)

100% not the captain’s fault. That guy should never been admitted into Starfleet.

The hallmark of a good leader is the ability to integrate the most diverse group of personality types, and get the most productive self out of everyone, and the group. Clearly this captain, inexperienced as she is, failed at that spectacularly (as laid down by the court martial at the end). A leader blaming one of her subordinates for everything just shows her immaturity. SHE has the responsibility, in the end, and SHE lost control. This guy is no different from Barclay, or Tilly. Both of these have been met with understanding and help by their crewmates, and ultimately been well-integrated for the benefit of everyone. So the difference is neither were antagonized from the get-go, starting with a brilliant biologist being reassigned to climatology because “we are all scientists, we gotta learn!” (total BS). If the captain and his colleagues had not shown their disdain for his ideas and work in the way it was obvious from the beginning, maybe the entire little “project” could have been realized within group supervision and not under the table, not resulting in a lab breach (since nobody was watching) and ultimately, the loss of the ship. In the end, this is not a story about one crazy guy who caused all trouble, as the writers maybe want us believe. It is a story about failure in leadership.

Sometimes, a comedy is just supposed to be FUNNY! That was clearly the primary goal here.I didn’t take it that seriously, because , from my point of view, I WASN’T SUPPOSED TO!

Disagree – it was funny, it wasn’t meant to be taken “seriously” in the sense of literal drama, but it is a farce that has something to say. It’s a farce, the characters and situations here are deliberately being taken to an outlandish extreme for the purpose of social satire. We know its a farce because 1) the characters and scenarios are outlandish exaggerated; 2) this intentionally subverts the tone and messages usually found in Trek; 3) MOST IMPORTANTLY, The first clue we’re in a farce comes early and is excellently played: Edward’s “Modest Proposal” to the starvation problem is to eat something small and traditionally considered cute/cuddly, an allusion so obvious even a high school English Lit class could cover it. If you don’t get the Jonathan Swift/Modest Proposal allusion and are taking the characters and scenario at face value I can see how you might read this literally as “idiot narcissist scientist destroys ship.”

And as a good farce, it still has social commentary and satire even if it’s just “funny.” This is a great farce chastising the current state of political/social discourse in this country: the disastrous effects of two entrenched sides unwilling to listen, cooperate, or be decent toward one another. I’m a little bummed that EVERYONE seemed to miss this and everybody seems hung up on the retcon of the tribbles, if that silly post-credits commercial is canon, and brushing it off as just silly fun. And yet, I don’t see anyone talking about the deeper theme.

“This is a great farce chastising the current state of political/social discourse in this country: the disastrous effects of two entrenched sides unwilling to listen, cooperate, or be decent toward one another.”

Thank you. I didn’t miss it! That’s exactly what I was alluding to by calling it a “most contemporary failure”.

Hi VS,

I’m reading this differently than you.

My take is not that the writers are down on males, but rather that when they want to draw attention to a classic personality or behavioural problem, they go for the most neutral demographic group available.

We can’t on one hand say that it was ok for straight white men to be the default representation for humanity for more than half of Star Trek’s captains, and then complain when writers use a white male to illustrate a negative trait in a morality tale.

That said, I believe that we’ll have really arrived at true representation when diversity groups are equally represented in all roles, even as the flawed characters in a Trek moral allegory.

Last, in our current less than perfectly equal North American society, scientists with Edward’s moral, social and psychological/behavioural deficiencies really do exist.

I have at least two colleagues who are currently trying to deal with exactly these kinds of challenging research employees. It’s really classic, and one colleague has already said to me ‘He’s just like ….’.

Getting researchers to research what an organization needs is a classic management problem. There’s literature on it going back to the 1960s in places like Bell labs.

But there are also more pathological types like Edward, and in our current imperfect and unequal work environment, a researcher from a disparity group with this behaviour is less likely to survive in a research organization even as long as Edward did.

Edward’s type doesn’t just want to work on whatever their favourite project is rather than what the organization needs to do. More, they don’t have basic critical judgement, refuse to respect the hierarchy or process, try to poison the environment against any management and colleagues that get in their way.

“I believe that we’ll have really arrived at true representation when diversity groups are equally represented in all roles, even as the flawed characters in a Trek moral allegory.”

TG47, I feel the writers have kind of spoiled their objectivity in this for me when they took favors with the ultimate flawed and morally bankrupt character in Discovery, Emperor Georgiou, and declared her “delicious”. From a social awkwardness point of view this guy is not much different from Tilly or Barclay, and yet he is treated with hostility and ridicule by his colleagues in every scene. I think this is a two-way-street, and what goes around comes around. Please also see my addendum on leadership above. A captain can’t abstain herself from responsibility in such a way – it happened under her watch, and that’s why she is being court martialed in the end. If they had managed to integrate this guy instead of isolating him, making him “go it alone”, this whole unfortunate chain of events would not have been possible.

Lest you forget, Barclay was initially treated with a lot of hostility (or at best, indifference) by his Enterprise crewmates as well. Tilly was an Ensign, and thus treated as an underling by everybody.

(Haven’t seen this short yet, though, so have no opinion on how the trope was handled in this case.)

Agreed. Maybe the captain and whole crew being scientists was a factor.

Failure to integrate? HE WAS AN IDIOT!

[SPOILER DISCUSSION]

From the final scene it seemed clear that the captain was being held responsible for not managing Edward well. She can honestly explain that he was an idiot who went rogue and caused the catastrophe, but it happened on her watch and was ultimately her management failure. From the demeanor of the inquiry board it seems likely that she would be stripped of command, if not kicked out of Starfleet altogether.

I hope that we see her again. They brought back Po From Runaway. You never know.

Now that Discovery has left the 23rd century, it seems unlikely.

We could see her again in another Short Trek, or on the Pike show if they do one, or on the Section 31 show if it’s set in the 23rd century.

Since a few here lately are going the extra mile of disagreeing with me by personally insulting me, I wanted to add that some professional reviewers view this episode through exactly the same prism as me, as a failure in resolving interpersonal conflicts which used to be a hallmark for Trek in general, and those characters we deem “different” in particular: http://blog.trekcore.com/2019/10/star-trek-short-treks-review-the-trouble-with-edward/
What would have happened if the Barclays, Wesleys, Datas, Neelixes etc. had been treated the way it is now seen as fashionable to treat those who don’t easily fit in?

Finally, I can tell a few folks here have never actually led a team, by their lack of understanding how responsibility works when “technically” your subordinate is in the wrong (hint: nobody wants to hear about that, much less your own superior!)

If a crew member was repeatedly insubordinate to Kirk, Picard or Riker — to the point of going over their heads and sending complaints to Starfleet, do you really think there’d be no consequences, especially if that crew member was proposing ethically questionable research?

Let’s not forget he send those complaints AFTER she ridiculed him in front of everyone and transferred him, a not very young biologist with no doubts decades of experience in the field, to CLIMATOLOGY, saying as a scientist he can just “learn it”. If you know how scientific education works, you gotta agree with Edward that this move of hers is really “dumb”. And it provoked the following chain of events that was eventually everyone’s undoing.

I think it is fair to say that the captain could have handled the situation better. When she had Edward transferred, she didn’t know about his modifications to the Tribbles yet. She just knew that he was an odd guy, and she suspected that he had complained about her to her superiors. At that point, she could have tried to find common ground with him instead of sending him away. It also seemed rude that she wouldn’t even hear him out, and just condescendingly told him that the conversation was over.

All of that being said, Edward was dumb. It was inappropriate for him to make stuff up about the captain in his complaints to Starfleet, and it was inexcusable for him to modify the Tribbles against orders. There is also really no excuse for his general insubordinate attitude.

“When she had Edward transferred, she didn’t know about his modifications to the Tribbles yet. She just knew that he was an odd guy, and she suspected that he had complained about her to her superiors. ”

I think it’s important to note she transferred him right away, and in front of everyone, BEFORE he made those complaints. That gives quite a bit weight to his argument that as a team leader of scientists she is acting quite “dumb”. Putting him into a field he is utterly unfamiliar with and has no experiences or credentials in can only be interpreted as a big middle finger, and he took it exactly in that vein.

I have to agree with Vulcan Soul here to a degree, except I don’t think the authors overtyped the made male scientist, and I don’t think they missed any criticism of the Captain. They are both put on blast in this clever farce- I put a post up on the Trek reddit to make a similar point. No one is excusing Edwards behavior, but too many people seem hung up on how Edward should never have made it in Starfleet and that he’s 100% at fault for this mess. Which would be true – if this were semi-serious sci-fi drama Trek, but it’s not. It’s a farce, the characters and situations here are deliberately being taken to an outlandish extreme for the purpose of social satire. We know its a farce because 1) the characters and scenarios are outlandish exaggerated; 2) this intentionally subverts the tone and messages usually found in Trek; 3) MOST IMPORTANTLY, The first clue we’re in a farce comes early and is excellently played: Edward’s “Modest Proposal” to the starvation problem is to eat something small and traditionally considered cute/cuddly, an allusion so obvious even a high school English Lit class could cover it. If you don’t get the Jonathan Swift/Modest Proposal allusion and are taking the characters and scenario at face value I can see how you might read this literally as “idiot narcissist scientist destroys ship in humorous fluff episode.”
Sorry for the wall of text incoming, but you can’t really have a literary criticism discussion in one paragraph. I’ll post it as a reply so it can be shrunk if you just want to ignore me.

I, for one, like the deviant humor in this Short Trek, but (SPOILER), the commercial at the end went way over the top! The production money for that alone would have been better spent on “degraining” the “exterior” shots.

I liked the commercial. It reminds me how eager they were to try and capitalize on the tribbles in 1967.. they knew they could market these little fuzzballs and sell them to kids and the kids would (figuratively) eat them up. Now they’re literally eating them up!!!

I liked the commercial. It was pointless and very silly, but that’s what made it so great.

That was not good.

No. That was GREAT!

I watched this morning when I was getting ready for work. I guess I can see how SOME might not be into this one but man I loved it. I thought it was funny, and it really made me think of Lower Decks. I liked the setting of a small research ship where something goes wrong. I also like the idea behind (what some fans are calling) the retconning of the species. Biologically, for that to be a natural trait just never made sense to me. Also, it’s very cool how this year’s Short Treks are really going to be giving us a taste of different genres that can be explored within the Trek sandbox. It’s what I always wanted. Trek can be intense horror, Trek can be beautiful character study, Trek can be a big action piece with phasers and explosions, Trek can also be comedy – dark comedy at that. It works depending on how it’s done and that you jump to different pockets of the universe to do it. I still have a feeling that when the Pike show is announced, it will be a collection of one-shots like TOS and TNG and to an extent Voyager was. Kurtzman is showing that Trek can be all these things for people who enjoy different genres and I love him for it.

Loved this episode. Just loved it. It’s a great Time to be a trekkie.

Absolutely!

This was off the wall and I loved it! Obviously not to be taken too seriously since most of the characters do stupid things rather than problem solve like a typical Star Trek story. Not to mention the origin story of the Tribbles is a little nonsensical, but I love the concept and execution and it manages to fit without much conflict. The visual gags in this story are hilarious, like the Tribble vacuum and the Johnny Appleseed montage. Not to mention the exterior shots of the ship and the *spoiler* view through the windows. And that end-credit gag scene! “We’re Pregnant….with flavor!” I was laughing way too hard at that. But at a time when SOME are easily “triggered” around Discovery, I can’t wait for the predictably hysteric YouTube videos from fragile poisonous anhedonic geeks. I seriously love the potential of this TOS-inspired universe, it looks way more fun and familiar and visually arresting at the same time. It looks like a recognizably human society, I haven’t really felt that about Discovery even if I love the show.

Yeah, I am loving the Short Treks.

I will say watching this short I actually don’t feel TOO bad they were eradicated by the Klingons in the ‘Great Tribble Hunt’. I originally thought it was cruel hearing the Klingons wiped them out by the end of the 23rd century but now I’m convinced they could be the saviors of the galaxy. ;)

This episode was hilarious to me. Like “The Office” set in Starfleet!
“This conversation is over.”
“Technically, if I keep talking …”

Off the wall theory:

Edward Larkin survives and becomes Cyrano Jones, relentless purveyor of tribbles.

Cyrano Jones was much smarter than Edward. And Cyrano Jones was an idiot.

Yes, Cyrano Jones was an idiot, but also an oblivious true believer in his product.

Jones’ efforts to (genetically) modify tribbles in the TAS episode ‘More Tribbles, More Troubles’ made me think of Edward Larkin.

My favorite part was the conversation about the conversation!

I sure hope the PTB at CBSAA, Netflix and whoever else can work out contractual language so Trek fans around the world can see these at the same time as we US folks. I hate that my friends can’t see it.

Given that the Picard show will run on Amazon Prime I expect that the Piucard-related Short Trek may also be released there. As for the others, I hope that they will land on Netflix. Last time, Netflix dropped all the Short Treks in one go shortly before season 2 of Discovery. Let’s hope they don’t wait this long this time as it would be after season 1 of Picard is over.

Looks fun!

A great follow-up episode would take place on the Klingon territory.
We need to see the great Klingon war with the tribbles that Worf mentioned.

Fun episode, but cereal ad at the end was out of place (because it wasn’t funny ;-( )

It was funny to me…especially as a call back to the kinds of sugar-sweetened cereal ads that were the mainstay of Saturday mornings when TAS was originally on the air.

Not to mention the rapid-fire delivery and small type that are rampant on the brief ads allowed on 8+ children’s television in North America today.

How were the Tribbles reproducing onboard the ship?? The vast multiplication would indicate a food source was needed to support the rapid growth, as previously established in their earliest appearance… and just based on good science.

I know it was just a “fun” episode… but…

And also… why did the Captain try to transfer Edward … a protein specialist… to climatology? That’s a bizarre reassignment. Regardless of if Edward was a whack job or not.

I think the ship didn’t have a protein team, and she didn’t want him working alone anymore. Clearly it was a bad decision on her part, that came back to haunt her.

The ship’s mission was to supply food to that colony, so I assume there was stuff on board for the Tribbles to eat. And they ate Edward.

They also apparently ate that poor female crewperson! :O