# ST: TOS "The Trouble With Tribbles" nitpick (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876 "2014-02-09T03:29:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/61 "2014-06-05T12:24:11Z")
Zombie tribbles would be horrifying. But cute. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/62 "2014-06-05T14:28:58Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Zombie tribbles would be horrifying. > > But cute. Even Nazi zombie tribbles? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/63 "2014-06-05T14:34:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Even Nazi zombie tribbles? :dubious: Tribble of Borg… “Lo Cute is”. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/64 "2014-06-05T14:51:51Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Tribble of Borg… “Lo Cute is”. I can see the survivors of the Great Tribble Hunt being assimilated by the Borg and returning to wreak havoc on the Klingon Empire. What a story arc that would make! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/65 "2014-06-05T14:59:58Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Tribble of Borg… “Lo Cute is”. _kicks **mlees** out of the Collective_ ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/66 "2014-06-05T21:18:58Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Yes, but quadrotriticale was a perennial four-lobed hybrid of rye and wheat that could trace its origins back to 20th-century Canada. 🆒 [Chekov] I think you mean Russia. [/Chekov] ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/67 "2014-06-06T18:00:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > … And what about McCoy’s SS uniform in “Patterns of Force”? The damned thing was produced less than five minutes after “patching in” the historical computer to the uniforms section. Does the _Enterprise_ really carry around full sets of Nazi regalia (or the material to manufacture them) for just such occasions? :dubious: They happened to have some ready because they were doing a revival of “Springtime for Hitler” in the ship’s theater. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/68 "2014-06-07T02:22:51Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Couldn’t they just reverse the flux of the polarization when transporting the grain to the surface and solve the problem? Or did the tacheyon beams prevent that? You’re making it too complicated. They just have to cross-circuit to A. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/69 "2014-06-07T02:39:58Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You’re making it too complicated. They just have to cross-circuit to A. Spock: 1.9999999999999999999… Kirk: The answer is two, Spock! Goddamn it, two! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/70 "2014-06-07T02:45:39Z")
Of course, eating zombietriticale leads to its own set of problems. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/71 "2014-06-07T03:02:27Z")
My guess is that the toxic grain wouldn’t have been too obvious. Possibly it would have manifested as a mysterious illness taken to be local to Sherman’s planet; or it might have produced long-term malnutrition that would eventually make the colony a failure. Only because the tribbles directly ate massive quantities of the original seed grain and had fast metabolisms did they die so promptly. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/72 "2014-06-07T03:44:55Z")
They’re not Sun worshipers. They’re talking about the Son. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876/73 "2014-06-07T04:28:27Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > …and had fast metabolisms… That’s what you get when you’re born pregnant! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tos-the-trouble-with-tribbles-nitpick-open-spoilers/680876.md?page=3)