Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This television prop is a "tribble," a fictional alien creature featured in the episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" in the "Star Trek" TV show, which aired on NBC from 1966-1969. A tribble was a living furry creature on Space Station K-7. They did nothing but eat and multiply. Eventually, tribbles are found aboard the Spaceship Enterprise and created an enormous problem by over-multiplying.

The popularity of this episode led the writer, David Gerrold, to produce the book of the same title, "The Trouble With Tribbles," published by Ballantyne as a paperback in 1973, in which tribbles threaten to overun the entire galaxy. The episode also led to a variety of tribble merchandise and their own cult following almost as big as the show itself.

Paramount gave this prop to the Museum in 1973.

 Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type MEMORABILIA-Popular Culture Manufacturer Paramount Pictures Corporation
 Dimensions 3-D: 12.7 × 10.2cm (5 × 4 in.)
 Materials Formerly identified as cotton, but when sample hairs examined under a microscope, material appears to be a synthetic, acrylic.
 Inventory Number A19850353000 Credit Line Paramount Pictures Corp. Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.