Although The Original Series never lacked some cheap alien critters (Kirk's pet unicorn-wearing pooch comes to mind), the Tribbles take the cake.
The furry fellas in question jumped on to the scene in 1967, and have been one of Trek's most enduring creations ever since. They're the definite highlight of the episode in question, but Trouble's genius lies less in its use of the aliens, and more in its approach to a burgeoning cosmic crisis.
Focused on a territorial dispute between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, the episode divulges duplicity on both parties' behalf, adding the Tribbles in as another headache to the already fraught negotiations underway.
As far as Trek episodes go, TTWT is perhaps the most iconic. It's emblematic of a Sci-Fi era where creatures themselves always looked less than convincing, but as far as images go, they don't get any better than Kirk engulfed by a sea of abandoned wigs.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
