Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s acclaimed crossover with Star Trek: The Original Series, but it was far from the first time that DS9 crossed over with the classic TOS episode “The Trouble with Tribbles”. Written by David Gerrold, Star Trek: TOS season 2, episode 13, “The Trouble with Tribbles” is an undisputed classic that has successfully crossed into the wider public consciousness. Along with the regular TOS cast, the episode featured a strong guest cast that included William Schallert, Stanley Adams, and William Campbell, three actors who continued to appear in Star Trek in the decades that followed “The Trouble with Tribbles”.
To celebrate three decades of Star Trek in 1996, Paramount wanted to commemorate the 30th anniversary in a big way. On TV, both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager aired special crossover episodes which saw the modern crews interact with members of the Star Trek: The Original Series cast. DS9‘s contribution, “Trials and Tribble-ations” is the most lauded of the two episodes, due to the creative way that it seamlessly blended the TOS footage with the DS9 scenes. However, this wasn’t the first time that elements of “The Trouble with Tribbles” crossed over into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Cast & Character Guide
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had the biggest cast of characters of any Trek show, meaning that Captain Sisko had numerous allies in the Dominion War.
Star Trek: DS9 Did 2 TOS Tribbles Crossovers Before Season 5
“Trials and Tribble-ations” was the sixth episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5, but there had already been two crossovers three years earlier. DS9 season 2 featured two callbacks to “The Trouble with Tribbles” via the casting of two actors from the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode. Firstly, DS9 season 2, episode 10, “Sanctuary” saw William Schallert play the Bajoran musician, Varani. Schallert had previously played Nilz Barris, the Federation Undersecretary in Charge of Agricultural Affairs in TOS. Although a musician himself, Schallert had never played a wind instrument prior to playing one in DS9.
Later in season 2, the episode “Blood Oath” brought three classic series Klingon Warriors to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Among the three Klingons seeking an audience with Curzon Dax was Koloth (William Campbell), who was the captain aboard Deep Space Station K-7 in Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 13, “The Trouble with Tribbles”. Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) inherited Curzon’s blood oath with Koloth et al., and was delighted at the opportunity to meet him in his prime during “Trials and Tribble-ations”. However, Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) warned her against such a potential breach of the Temporal Prime Directive.
DS9’s Star Trek: TOS Crossover Was Groundbreaking
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s crossover with Star Trek: The Original Series was groundbreaking at the time. René Echevarria was inspired by how Robert Zemeckis’ Oscar winning movie Forrest Gump had seamlessly slotted Tom Hanks’ titular character into major historical events, wondering if something similar could be done on DS9. “The Trouble with Tribbles” was chosen because of its light-hearted tone, and the fact that it’s one of the best-loved and most widely-known TOS episodes.
However, the team were still skeptical that a Forrest Gump-style episode could be achieved on a TV budget, until they weren’t able to tell that the VFX team had slotted a new character into some existing “Tribbles” footage. The care and attention shown to realizing the Star Trek: The Original Series-style sets and the impressive visual effects work helped to create a coherent and seamless mixture of old and new Trek. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s “Trials and Tribble-ations” still stands up today, and that’s a testament to the impressive work of everyone that brought this groundbreaking celebration of Star Trek to life.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew – Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) – with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas.
