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Patton Oswalt Just Made Star Trek's Most Beloved Aliens Terrifying

You can't keep a good tribble down. The adorable but troublesome fuzzballs reproduce so quickly that even if you get rid of one, about a thousand will take their place, and they've been making Star Trek stories funny and weird since their 1967 debut in "The Trouble With Tribbles." Since then, the franchise has used tribbles sparingly, and usually as a quick Easter Egg or punchline rather than a serious plot point.

But an under-the-radar Star Trek story just revealed a shocking new detail about tribbles. And once you know what that detail is, you'll be surprised that it's taken this long to think up. Spoilers ahead for IDW's Star Trek #500 comic book.

In a special 500th anthology issue of IDW's ongoing Star Trek comic book series, a new story called "I Knew You Were Tribble When You Walked In" tells the story of the tribbles in "The Trouble With Tribbles" from the point-of-view of the little critters themselves.

The tribbles have a hivemind!

Leonard Kirk, Lee Loughridge, IDW, Paramount/CBS

The story, co-written by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt, is just a few pages long. We start with the perspective of one tribble and quickly learn that it has a thing for Captain Kirk. In its mind, this tribble refers to Kirk as "my golden beloved."

But that's not all. When the little tribble can't find Kirk, it uses "my hive mind network" to locate him, which means the tribble's consciousness can transfer to all tribbles. At one point, it describes itself as "everywhere," and we see various scenes from the episode, as well as Deep Space Nine's time travelers, Captain Sisko and Lt. Dax, when they dropped by in the 1996 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations." The tribbles aren't exactly ageless, but their telepathic network does seem to rival Trek's other famous hivemind race; the Borg.

This makes perfect sense when you think about it. The tribbles are depicted as highly sensitive, and though not complex creatures, they do seem to behave with some shared purpose. And now, assuming this comic is low-key canon, we know that their shared goals are thanks to the fact they all can move their minds between one another at will.

In Deep Space Nine, Worf said the tribbles were once considered an ecological blight, and that the Klingon Empire had regarded them as mortal enemies. This hivemind detail makes that plot point make a little more sense. Not only can these tribbles become obsessed with human beings (again, this one is hot for Kirk), but they can also all decide to feel the same thing simultaneously. Like hunger for Klingon crops.

They may look cute, but don't let your guard down.

Paramount Pictures

In the Short Treks 2018 episode "The Trouble With Edward," we learn that Lt. Larkin (H. Jon Benjamin) was at least partially responsible for genetically modifying the tribbles to make them breed at exponential rates. This retcon, however, doesn't exclude the tribbles secretly being telepathic or part of a hivemind. In fact, what "I Knew You Were Tribble When You Walked In" asserts is that we'd have no way of knowing what tribbles were thinking because their language and thoughts are all internal.

Although Spock held several tribbles in the classic episode, it doesn't seem like he ever mind-melded with them. If Spock had telepathically linked with the tribbles, then everything about how that episode plays out would have to be changed. And while Spock probably would've favored trying to find a way to live with the tribbles, their hivemind abilities might have freaked Kirk out regardless of how cute they are.

While this new story should be read with a sense of tongue-in-cheek zeal, the ending does show the tribbles' fate. They're beamed onto the episode's Klingon ship, where they seem to connect with one Klingon officer. We know the tribbles and the Klingons didn't team up after this moment, but if they had, they probably could've conquered the galaxy.

Star Trek #500 is in comic book stores now and available for digital purchase. Learn Something New Every Day

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'Veep' Actor Questions Lack Of Invite To Reunion—Julia Louis-Dreyfus Reacts

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has responded to Patton Oswalt expressing his disappointment in not being included in the Veep reunion—and many think her post has missed the mark.

Veep is a political satire series that aired on HBO from 2012 to 2019. The comedy has never left the cultural zeitgeist as it predicted some of the chaos of the 2020 election, such as the "count the vote" protests, and the drama in the current election cycle, in particular, the president stepping down from reelection and the vice president taking his place.

The show stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer who ultimately wins the nomination and the presidency and Oswalt played Teddy Sykes, a former deputy campaign manager for Meyer's running mate, Jonah Ryan.

On Sunday Stephen Colbert hosted a live Veep cast reunion and table read with former cast members and a variety of special guests to raise money for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Before the reunion, Oswalt took to X, formerly Twitter, to let fans of the show know that he wasn't sure why he "wasn't invited" to join, with Louis-Dreyfus sharing a sarcastic post in response.

Newsweek emailed spokespeople for Louis-Dreyfus and Oswalt for comment on Monday outside of normal business hours.

Patton Oswalt at a Beverly Hills awards show in 2023, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus at a Hollywood Disney premiere in 2020. Louis-Dreyfus has responded to Oswalt's post about not being included in the Veep reunion. Patton Oswalt at a Beverly Hills awards show in 2023, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus at a Hollywood Disney premiere in 2020. Louis-Dreyfus has responded to Oswalt's post about not being included in the Veep reunion. Leon Bennett/Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

"This looks amazing. Not sure why I wasn't invited to it. This is the kind of thing I'd wanna wrap my hands around and grab with gusto and never let go. But tune in anyway because this looks EPIC," Oswalt posted on X in response to a video of Louis-Dreyfus sharing information about the reunion.

At the time of writing, his post had been viewed more than 577,000 times.

Not long after his post, Louis-Dreyfus responded, encouraging him to watch the reunion online.

"Sorry Patton, we only had room for the core cast plus Larry David, Jason Alexander, Senator Tammy Baldwin and Kevin Smith. The real core. But Patton, you can donate any amount here below and watch it!" she wrote, with her post being viewed over 313,000 times at the time of writing.

Louis-Dreyfus' post hasn't gone down as well as she may have hoped, with many saying her sarcasm is misplaced, even though it is exactly the kind of thing her Veep character might have said.

"You didn't have to verbally castrate him like that," one person wrote.

"Ouch! The slam & donation ask combo is some serious gut punching!" said another.

"Not the joke I hope you intended. Either way apology required," someone else commented.

A fourth person added: "Oh that is such a diss. Poor Patton."

However, others found her comment amusing, with one person writing alongside laugh-crying emojis: "Savage JLD."

"to be fair patton is on every tv series in the last 15 years so he cant join EVERY cast fundraiser," someone else commented.

While Oswalt initially expressed his disappointment in not being included in the reunion, he eventually made an appearance in the Q&A section of the stream, which creator Armando Iannucci also joined.

During the reunion, former cast members relived the Season 3 episode of the show titled "Crate," in which Vice President Selina Meyer finds out she is going to be president of the United States. Clips of the episode went viral in July after many thought this mimicked real life, as President Joe Biden had declared his intention to withdraw from the 2024 race and allow Kamala Harris to take his place.

The reunion swiftly surpassed its original $500,000 goal, according to The Wrap, and by the time the table read ended before a Q&A, $557,822 had been raised.

JUST FOR LAUGHS

JUST FOR LAUGHS returns to CBC for another series of hour-long stand-up specials, featuring the greatest comedians of the past and present.

JUST FOR LAUGHS: GAGS

A Canadian hidden-camera reality television show without words, from the people behind Just For Laughs. Filmed in Montreal, QC GAGS has been making people laugh in more than 100 countries and on every airline in the world.

JUST FOR LAUGHS: GALAS

A series of four galas, featuring the world's top comedic talents as they take to the legendary Just for Laughs stage.

Find JUST FOR LAUGHS online:

Stream Just For Laughs: GagsStream Just For Laughs: Galashahaha.Com

@Just_For_Laughsfacebook.Com/JustForLaughs

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