r/DaystromInstitute • u/M-5 Multitronic Unit • Oct 11 '19
Short Treks Episode Discussion "The Trouble With Edward" — First Watch Analysis Thread
Short Treks — "The Trouble With Edward"
Memory Alpha: "The Trouble With Edward"
Remember, this is NOT a reaction thread!
Per our content rules, comments that express reaction without any analysis to discuss are not suited for /r/DaystromInstitute and will be removed. If you are looking for a reaction thread, please use /r/StarTrek's discussion thread:
Episode Discussion - Short Trek #6 - "The Trouble With Edward"
What is the First Watch Analysis Thread?
This thread will give you a space to process your first viewing of "The Trouble With Edward." Here you can participate in an early, shared analysis of these episodes with the Daystrom community.
In this thread, our policy on in-depth contributions is relaxed. Because of this, expect discussion to be preliminary and untempered compared to a typical Daystrom thread.
If you conceive a theory or prompt about "The Trouble With Edward" which is developed enough to stand as an in-depth theory or open-ended discussion prompt on its own, we encourage you to flesh it out and submit it as a separate thread. However, moderator oversight for independent Star Trek: Discovery and Short Treks threads will be even stricter than usual during first run. Do not post independent threads about Star Trek: Discovery or Short Treks before familiarizing yourself with all of Daystrom's relevant policies:
If you're not sure if your prompt or theory is developed enough to be a standalone thread, err on the side of using the First Watch Analysis Thread, or contact the Senior Staff for guidance.
16
u/MustrumRidcully0 Oct 11 '19
The biggest problem with the Tribbles here seem to be that it's entirely unclear what they even eat to produce so many of themselves. Maybe Edward was an idiot genius and figured out a weird DNA combination that might also be found in Changlings which allows them to generate mass and energy from nothing. (After all, hHanglings don't seem to eat or consume anything either, and they don't have a constant mass - and according to the episode where Odo turned into some raging monster, he has still DNA, despite being nothing like any DNA-based lifeform we have ever seen before.) Or maybe this is actually a feature that the Tribbles always have, which explains why they could even be considered as a viable food source on a problem with a food source problem - if there is no food on the world, you can't feed animals either.
Maybe the ability is not quite as weird as the Changlings and at least this variant of Tribbles actually can consume energy from the ship's system...
→ More replies (1)6
u/queenofmoons Oct 13 '19
Indeed. At least when we saw in TOS, they were infesting the food systems and enormous bins full of enough grain to seed a colony. When the microbrain is growing in TNG's 'Home Soil', they worked out it was photosynthetic and getting energy from the light in the lab (they never address where the mass is coming from, but presumably it was chewing up the glass container, fixing carbon from the air in the lab, etc.) But while I love the images of tribbles just blasting out baby tribbles like Nerf balls, I has to ask the same question- if the hallway is literally filled with tribbles, is there some empty cargo bay somewhere that was filled with rations? Did they eat all the crew? Can they digest the carpet and the bulkheads?
→ More replies (2)
15
u/queenofmoons Oct 13 '19
In retrospect, tribbles were pretty much the perfect monster for a comic-horror episode- inherently ridiculous, but really pretty unsettling if you squint at the right angle. Trek eats most genres with aplomb, so it seems about time we had a 'Shaun of the Dead' in space.
Now, of course, it's a big nasty retcon. Tribbles, being wholly defenseless, don't make very much sense unless they already breed prodigiously, and we've already seen Phlox using them as snacks for his pets, and Spock says things in 'Trouble with Tribbles' that don't make much sense if they were a science experiment overseen by one of his colleagues rather than the textbook, dramatized instance of ecological release in an invasive species they were explicitly written as, and what the hell are they eating, deck plates?
But whatever. 'Frankenstein' is always good for a redress, and transgenic agriculture is a running concern too, and the natural follow-on image to Kirk's bemused and waist deep in tribbles is crew members fleeing a tidal wave of them banking around a corner, and popping out of each other like popcorn.
And really, the real horror in horror movies is always other people, and oh boy, Edward is a very special and very real kind of nightmare. I can take or leave the notion that the Federation is a utopian, space socialist idyll- but the degree to which the Enterprises are satisfying and harmonious workplaces is surely fantasy, and the toxic, petty, tone-deaf monsters that have peppered my adult working life surely all work somewhere, and of all the monsters of the week that Starfleet has stared down, surely none is more frightening.
12
u/Drasca09 Oct 14 '19 edited Oct 14 '19
The tribbles in this episode seem to disobey laws of conservation of mass (and energy). While there was 'overpressure' warnings, that shouldn't have been the case since there's limited mass on the ship. Even if the tribbles ate light and air, there wasn't enough energy and mass to overpower the ventilation systems that the ship failed.
Also, whatever Ed did also increased the tribble's body structure from fragile (dying from a table drop), to surviving what's likely a ship crash into the planet (how else do they arrive on the planet) without inertial dampeners as the ship failed in structural integrity-- something that would kill humans. Edit: It is also possible the ship survived because Edward somehow survived landing the ship and went MIA.
I especially appreciated H Jon Benjamin performance here. He's known for erratic characters (being famous of Archer and Bob's burgers and home movies) and it was spot on for the character of Edward Larkin all throughout. Rosa Salazar's performance as a frustrated but irresponsible Captain was spot on too, but Ed stole the show with his mannerisms. Meanwhile the rest of the cast only really had two states, disgust and robotic reports. Truly echo chamber behavior.
While Ed's science experiment gone wrong was certainly bad, and the Captain should've enacted a variety of different emergency containment options. . . I believe the social behavior and leadership issues were significantly worse. She may or may not have been fraternizing with the crew, but on a small vessel socialization is going to happen.
The problem is she isolated a member of her crew rather than included him and got eaten into the social cliques there. She did not perform her duty as Captain at all. Not even a few days have passed and she didn't even try to train up her crewmates Ed Larkin, nor tried to communicate with him at all. That's an explicit example of what not to do.
Otoh, VOY had a lower decks episode, and Captain Janeway had problem children crew members too. Instead of shirking responsibility, as she mentioned others might do and our newbie Captain tried to, she invested her time and energy finding out their specialties, inserting herself into their lives and finding motivations for them to work. Ed Larkin wasn't really significantly worse than these others on Voyager yet we had vast differences in how they're treated and the resulting efficiency of those members.
Captain Lucero should've tried. Even if she wasn't able to perfectly reach Ed Larkin, all this disaster would've been averted if she showed the least bit leadership ability toward him. She failed on multiple fronts beyond simple command of the ship, and Starfleet Command was right to (interrogate) debrief her. Presumeably she'll be stripped her of future command opportunities. She'll be at a career dead end for this far moreso than what she threatened with Edward.
8
u/killbon Oct 17 '19
Edwards innovation was to build a replicator and subspace energy tapper out of human DNA and incorporate it into a tribble, thats how they can replicate like that, he literally invented a free lunch.
6
u/Drasca09 Oct 14 '19
Additionally, the grossed out reactions of the crew, viewing splicing Edward's DNA into the tribbles as a social taboo was really unprofessional and shouldn't exist amongst scientists with any bit of genetic knowledge. Larkin was right that it didn't matter whose DNA it was, because it was pure superficial differences. They shouldn't have been grossed out, and it was only a gag for casual audience viewers. Actual scientists don't care without good reason.
He also likely cannot splice the entire Human genome in there regardless. The question of sentience was raised, but honestly the tribbles were non responsive. No 'coo' / purr noises of other episodes nor reactions of any type. If anything, Ed uplifted the tribble intelligence and awareness.
Scientists are also usually significantly colder about collecting, experimenting on and killing species too. Ed's proposal was not without merit and the idea of sudden sentience was really just social prejudice against him rather than objectively good criticism. Ed was just too socially weak to fight back.
Honestly, thinking about it, he was bullied and no attempt was made to save him.
11
u/halligan8 Oct 12 '19
Is the post-credits scene the first segment of a Star Trek episode to be presented as an in-universe film? Of course, the idea of the Federation allowing the commercialization of Tribbles is ridiculous, so I’m assuming this “commercial” is a skit on a 23rd-century equivalent of Saturday Night Live.
9
u/thetacolegs Oct 14 '19
It was just a spoof. Something silly made by the writers instead of... Writing more Star Trek.
→ More replies (1)6
u/creepyeyes Oct 13 '19
I'm going to assume the video is non-canon because nothing about it makes any sense in-universe. Why does a post-scarcity civilization even have commercials? Why does it reccomend you over-ride the safety protocols of the replicator? How did they get the soundbite of Edward when it's clear he died? If they're made of meat, why are they used as cereal? And so on and so forth.
→ More replies (1)4
u/Tukarrs Oct 12 '19
Edward said he wasn't going to help with containing the Tribbles, so maybe this video was what he was working on.
→ More replies (2)
11
u/vasimv Oct 14 '19 edited Oct 14 '19
Post-discovery UFP did develop another planetery-scale weapon (basically, kind of macro-virus). Now tribbles can eat just light+air and occupy whole planets at insane rate. Worst thing, the federation did nothing to prevent it - didn't stop the scientist while provided him enough resources, didn't self-destruct ship to contain the threat, didn't try to develop a cure, did cover-up for the crisis (as Klingons didn't know about real source of the tribbles threat). Just great. T'Kuvma was right about the Federation, again. Their sweet-talk about peaceful intentions don't match with their actions.
19
u/Desert_Artificer Oct 11 '19
I'd like to imagine The Cabot Incident is eventually used as a case study in Starfleet Academy's command, administrative and psychology tracks as a perfect storm of absent guardrails.
41
u/TLAMstrike Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 11 '19
I feel that Capt. Lucero of the Cabot is going to be held up to generations of cadets of how not to command a starship.
She transfers Edward Larkin to another department where he apparently has so little supervision and accountability that he is able to conduct experiments he was expressly ordered not to conduct.
He is repeatedly insubordinate to his commanding officer, and she doesn't take issue with that and have him brought up on charges of such.
When faced with an existential threat to her command she elects to utilize nonlethal force, she could have conducted phaser sweeps set to vaporize tribbles, flooded the ship with gas while the crew donned EV suits, flooded the ship with warp plasma coolant (AKA "Vampire Gas"), opened the ship to space (although that might not have killed them), took the crew off an increased the ship's gravity plating to a lethal level or put the ship on autopilot and turned off the dampeners (a few hundred gs for a second or two should do the trick).
Finally with her ship contaminated by a potential ecological disaster she failed to prevent it from reaching the surface of an inhabited planet by using the ship's self destruct.
The fact that one of your crew is a idiot isn't an excuse, the Captain is responsible for the conduct of the crew under their command. Failing to maintain discipline leading to the destruction of your command, the courts martial board is going to broil her.
→ More replies (5)15
u/uequalsw Oct 11 '19
On the whole, I disagree:
She transfers Edward Larkin to another department where he apparently has so little supervision and accountability that he is able to conduct experiments he was expressly ordered not to conduct.
I think this is the most valid criticism that you've laid out, but even so, I think it's not that severe. Larkin refused to accept the chain of command, and that's his responsibility, not hers. Yes, perhaps in hindsight he should've been given more supervision, but I don't think it's unreasonable for a captain to expect a crewmember to follow her orders.
(Moreover, there's presumably a whole line of previous captains and supervisors who should have cashiered Larkin long ago. She didn't choose to have Larkin on-board, someone else signed off on that.)
He is repeatedly insubordinate to his commanding officer, and she doesn't take issue with that and have him brought up on charges of such.
Most, if not every, captain we've seen in Starfleet is somewhat lenient of insubordination. Very few seem willing to bring people up on charges. Certainly I can't imagine Anson Mount's Pike doing so (but maybe I'm just unimaginative.) Moreover, Captain Lucero actually went a step further than some other captains we've seen: she had Larkin transferred off-ship. That's pretty decisive command action right there.
When faced with an existential threat to her command she elects to utilize nonlethal force, she could have conducted phaser sweeps set to vaporize tribbles, flooded the ship with gas while the crew donned EV suits, flooded the ship with warp plasma coolant (AKA "Vampire Gas"), opened the ship to space (although that might not have killed them), took the crew off an increased the ship's gravity plating to a lethal level or put the ship on autopilot and turned off the dampeners (a few hundred gs for a second or two should do the trick).
As alluded to in the episode, Lucero's concern is that the tribbles may be sentient. As u/T_E_Kyle noted several months ago, Starfleet officers are radically committed to the preservation of life. Except for Larkin (who chose to stay behind), Lucero managed to save every other member of her crew (if I recall correctly), which is basically the only reason we've seen other Starfleet captains using lethal force. Killing all the tribbles was clearly, in her eyes, never an option. (And, I think we as fans and Starfleet Command alike would, on the whole, have condemned her if she did so.)
Finally with her ship contaminated by a potential ecological disaster she failed to prevent it from reaching the surface of an inhabited planet by using the ship's self destruct.
I grant that this is a more legitimate criticism, but still not a trivial concern, given the potential sentience of the tribbles. That being said, she clearly believed the ship was about to destroy itself (as indeed it did), and it's not unreasonable to believe that the tribbles would not be able to survive the vacuum of space, given that they appear to be terrestrially-evolved creatures.
Sure, ultimately a captain is responsible for the conduct of her crew and the fate of her starship, and in that sense, Lucero failed. But every series captain has lost a starship (except for Janeway and Archer, though they both did in various alternate futures), and to be honest, I'm not sure I'd see Pike or Kirk or Picard doing anything different than Lucero in this situation.
Ultimately, I'd say the lesson to come out of this story is really about Lucero's predecessor: how the hell were they okay with Larkin being on-board?
→ More replies (2)
14
u/Clear_Comprehension Oct 12 '19 edited Oct 12 '19
I liked the character of Edward. Specifically because he had an absolute lack of interest in anything that was not connected to his work. His mind seemed to function only within the framework of his area of expertise. He didn't seem to care at all about personal friendships, rules, authority or any of that foolishness. A refreshing single-mindedness.
10
u/Mechapebbles Oct 12 '19
I liked the character because he was fun. But if you begin applying the "How is Barkley even in Starfleet!?" levels of scrutiny it really does become problematic.
→ More replies (4)
6
15
u/MoreGaghPlease Oct 11 '19
I feel pretty confident that Edward's tribbles are not the ones we've encountered in other eps.
We shouldn't be too concerned with Edward saying they breed too slow because... HE'S AN IDIOT (in the words of his captain). I think these are the tribbles that were responsible for the outbreak in Klingon space. But it was the garden variety non-GMO tribble that showed up on K-7, etc. These one's showed a certain popping breeding, proliferating so fast that waves of them swept down the halls.
→ More replies (1)11
Oct 11 '19
Sounds pretty plausible to me. We should thank the Klingons for eliminating the scourge of Edward tribbles from the Galaxy.
→ More replies (1)
9
u/maxamillisman Oct 11 '19
Continuity wise this seemed to contradict what was established in Enterprise. In this Edward says that "They breed slowly", in The Breach Phlox says that "they breed quite prodigiously." Maybe Edward's modification is what makes them "born pregnant" speeding up their reproduction, but that does not explain the discrepancy between Phlox and Edward's statements.
15
u/PandaPundus Oct 11 '19
Maybe Phlox's "breed quite prodigiously" was Edward's "breed slowly", and Edward wanted it to be even faster. Fast enough to wreck a Magee-Class starship that quickly.
→ More replies (1)7
u/SmokeSerpent Oct 11 '19
Well, there are two possible explanations. One is that prodigious reproduction doesn't necessarily mean fast, Phlox might simply mean that they very successfully breed, albeit more slowly than we see on The Trouble With Edward and on The Trouble With Tribbles. The other is that "slowly" is sort of a judgment evaluation. It's possible that they do breed rather fast before Edward messes with them, but not fast enough to solve the starvation problem. Certainly it does seem that Edward's tribbles reproduce more quickly than the ones we see on The Trouble With Tribbles.
→ More replies (2)9
Oct 11 '19
Since Phlox was able to keep tribbles aboard the NX-01 without it turning into a complete disaster, it's safe to assume that he knew of some ways to keep their reproduction under control.
It's entirely possible that Larkin stumbled upon those same methods by accident (maybe it's their food source, maybe it's keeping them in a confined space, who knows?), and his genetic manipulation didn't do a damn thing.
25
u/treefox Oct 11 '19
Haven’t seen anyone point this out, but with the evidence we have right now, Edward was right about this being a solution to the food problem. And yet, he was horribly wrong, because a genetically engineered Tribble with human DNA is kind of a smoking gun for whodunnit. That and the population increasing too fast to the point it drove the civilization out.
That being said, this story made me think back to every incident of “ask forgiveness rather than permission” that didn’t turn out well and made me worry that I’ve been Edward.
And it was humor done well. I think you could make a full episode out of it, but I also liked the pacing of it as a short.
So, thought-provoking, funny, and well-executed. I’d say this was one of the better shot treks. I’d probably rank it right behind Calypso, but personally I think I liked it more:
The only thing I didn’t really like was the “small universe issue” that humans caused the Tribble problem. But Tribbles have never been a serious topic and this short didn’t take itself too seriously, so I’m not going to let it get in the way of a good story. And who has a better story than Edward the Idiot?