Star Trek: Short Treks (TV Series) The Trouble with Edward (2019) User Reviews

We've got the meat!

[jklew888 · 7/10 · 9 December 2019]

H. Jon Benjamin, the actor playing Edward Larkin, does the latest Arby's commercials. So it is sort of fitting that he's a self-proclaimed "protein expert" and pushing tribbles as a new meat source to end galactic hunger.

works as a parody

[Rob-O-Cop · 8/10 · 22 December 2022]

I caught this by accident after having totally losing confidence in the Star Trek franchise with the absolutely awful Discovery, and pretty much anything the managers of the franchise touch.

I thought this episode was a parody shot on the sound stages in spare down time, and really enjoyed it for its poking fun at the franchise, except I think it was actually a legit episode, which actually does make it worse. But lets keep it at a parody.

A scientist who manipulated cute creatures to be tasty and meaty? Hilarious. A b!tch fight that goes on and on with the captain, much more entertaining than anything they've served up in real start trek lately.

The character of Edward was just so out of sorts with the Star trek world that it had to be a parody, lets pretend it was. Like a SNL wind up. Let's pretend.

If you think of this as a parody of Star Trek, it's actually quite hilarious

[isabellacheng · 7/10 · 26 October 2019]

But then unfortunately this is canon. So, nope.

Everyone was blaming Rosa in this scenario, but as per the "Swiss cheese model", there were multiple points of failure in Star Fleet to allow this disaster to occur.

Before:

• According to the crew, Edward's behaviour was a chronic problem. Why was this not dealt with before, by the previous commander?

• Edward was a senior officer on-board. How did he get this far in his career?

• Edward's lack of ethical restraint was indicative of a lack of monitoring in research activities. Did Star Fleet personnel just pass an ethics exam in the Academy, and then zero periodic evaluation thereafter? Even research projects today have to be reviewed by an ethics board.

During:

• Was there any on-board counselor like Deanna Troi? If not, it was understandable though since this was a small research vessel.

• But then, not even a physician with psychology training? Or other qualified psychologists? It's a science vessel!

• Did command training not include identifying and dealing with psychological breakdown of crew members?

• They were in a food crisis. Why not assign Edward to agriculture research? That's not how science works! He's a protein specialist, not OP Michael Burnham!

• Why did Edward still have laboratory access?

• Why did they not lock on to the tribbles and beam them to space (before they ate the transporter)?

• Did they call for assistance?

• That's a pretty large evacuation shuttle to not have its own transporter to beam Edward on board to rescue him.

• Why did Rosa not set the ship to self-destruct, and allow this tribbidemic to spread?

After:

• How did Star Fleet fail to contain the tribbles in the aftermath?

• Was the other crew members being reviewed by the hearing?

• What should Rosa have done in this scenario?

• What should Edward's colleagues have done in this scenario?

Freaking hilarious & really good performances

[soletospirit · 10/10 · 17 January 2020]

I laughed my a** off. The exchange between the Captain and the, er, miscreant had me chortling out loud and rewatching the scene. It's darkish humor but played broadly enough that it is not actually disturbing.

I adore Star Trek. All of it. I love the deep conversations about ethics, about communication with very alien species a la Darmok, with debating the personhood of artificial intelligence, with the plainly written moral dilemmas the Prime Directive entails. I love the action, the swashbuckling, I love Kirk and Riker getting it on with every vaguely female entity that comes within pheromone distance.

I also love Star Trek takeoffs, whether self-generated (as this is) or coming from fandom -- a la Galaxy Quest and the Orville. Bill Shatner's storied appearance on "Saturday Night Live," where he told early Trekkers to "get. a. life!" is funny even as I see myself as one of those Trekkers. All these things can be reconciled if one is not a humorless fundamentalist.

It's Great

[satanenterprises · 19 December 2019]

These short treks are a really interesting laboratory for show concepts and direction. This probably made me laugh more than anything I've seen in star trek which has to count for something.

Then I read the comments here.

The fact that old nerds complain about it not lining up with a campy TV show where hero's chuck styrofoam rocks, dweeby kids save the ship, whales are aliens and space Lincoln exists is a preposterous golden age fallacy. This just continues the legacy of levity for tribble episodes in both TOS and DS9 guys. The wink of an insider joke baton passes to a new generation.

I love star trek, but it's vision for the future of humanity will die with its aging fanbase if we can't modernize it with each generation. Sure, less rediculous melodrama in the new show would be a welcome change, however, the melodramatic pedants in half these comments are even worse.

Be happy. We finally have a short episode that you can onboard someone to star trek with. Maybe you're a Sisco fan, someone else is about Kirk, and this new person might end up being a Saru or Pike. I'm just happy to have them onboard our idealistic vision for humanity. This of course is the tolerance of a Picard deciple speaking ;)

Very Funny!

[acharrell · 10/10 · 14 January 2020]

And that's the point! Geeze people, get over this "this isn't star trek" garbage already. It's so boring. This is obviously a comedy episode and it is very funny. John Benjamin's character is hilarious of course, and the captain handles him perfectly. I guess some people still can't stand to see an intelligent woman in a position of power, even on TV. Just because the bumbling science officer is a man doesn't mean this episode is about "gender politics" or whatever nonsense codewords y'all have to cover your backwards and misogynistic worldview. It's sad how easy it is to read between the lines with some of these other reviews.

The Obligatory Tribble Disaster

[ghanima_atrieadies · 8/10 · 28 March 2020]

Enough said. Hahaha. I love it! These Shorts are great.

Awesome to watch- illogical to think about

[Killrover · 9/10 · 14 October 2019]

Very cute episode with- finally a bitter and sarcastic crewman- played by voice talent of Bob's Burgers and Archer.

Illogical parts: Vulcan crewmember in transpoter - Spock is only vulcan in Starfleet at this time.

Tribbles reproduce so fast they cause a wave and explode the ship? Eating what? And they survive the explosion, space, atmospheric entry to planet, and somehow spread to other planets?

But it was so cute I shut my logic off and enjoyed it.

Socially awkward = idiot... But of course it does

[reloaddcr · 2/10 · 22 October 2020]

TNG tackled a similar sort of story line except they took the idea that maybe you learn how to work with the socially awkward person instead of shoving them aside and sniggering at them. They even tackled the idea that simply transferring the "problem" somewhere else was a failure on the bosses side as much as it is the member of crew.

But hey, let's not let that get in the way of encouraging laughter at the socially awkwards expense.

Great fun

[Donners · 10/10 · 15 October 2019]

The conference scene alone makes this worthwhile - it made me laugh out loud several times. It serves as a neat origin story for the tribbles (at least in their troublesome form) and features a couple of great performances.

Just as funny are the reviews - never ceases to amaze me how people who bash modern Trek for getting things "wrong" are wrong themselves.

Spock is the only Vulcan in Starfleet? Er...how about the entire crew of the Intrepid for starters.

Trek humour should be restrained "by precedent"? Never seen I, Mudd or Bride of Chaotica, I take it.

Sigh.

The actual, absolute low point in all of Star Trek's history

[coltcompton-02393 · 1/10 · 26 August 2020]

I understand that some people like this episode. For me, it's literally the worst Star Trek anything EVER produced. It's worse than Final Frontier, worse than any episode of Enterprise, worse than the Voyager episode where they turn into sexy iguanas. It's so reprehensibly bad that I have never in my life felt so intellectually insulted as I did watching this episode.

People say that a lot of people have missed the point of the episode; it's about a young commander who learns cynicism from having to deal with a troublesome crew member; it's about said commander not being mature enough to face an immediate challenge and how hard it is to be in charge. But to me, all that misses the point. The commander is not portrayed in that fashion, she's portrayed as the plucky protagonist struggling against the ineptitude of lesser beings. You're supposed to root for her and commiserate with her plight, but the problem is, she's just awful. She makes absolutely no attempts to do anything constructive in the whole episode, tries to get rid of her problems rather than solving them, and lays blame for her own personal failings on the very first problem she encounters, then calls that problem an 'idiot'. Would Kirk do that? How about Janeway? Even Bakula wouldn't do that.

Maybe all that would be okay if she wasn't portrayed in such an unaffectedly positive light in the episode, or there was any indication that she was supposed to be seen as just making rookie mistakes, but anyone that says that is in there is living in a dream world. Some people say this episode is just 'outside the box' and that Trek fans need to get with it, that not all Trek captains need to be portrayed in the same way. Well, an episode where Kirk sells Spock into slavery because he annoyed him would be pretty 'out of the box' too, but that doesn't mean it's good.

To all the people defending this episode, I ask you this: Imagine if you were a new Trek fan and this is the first thing you had ever watched. What would you think the show was about? What ideals would you think it seeks to convey or uphold? Do those ideals line up with anything Trek has ever represented AT ALL? This is the absolute nadir of all Trek.

Bob's Burgers in space,,,

[WKYanks · 8/10 · 19 November 2019]

The Star Fleet/Federation status of Tribbles isn't high on my give a list 😂 so I don't see the need to go into tribble canon violations in this obvious parody.

Iiiiiiiiffffffff I were to nit-pick... I would say that in TOS they didn't go all breed-happy until you fed them... so why did these just multiply all the time seemingly immediately? Were they cannibals?

That vacuum guy set the tone for this one.... 😀 Frakin lol hilarious!!

I thought the actor that played Edward was really good. His mannerisms and stubbornness really added to the short. I can certainly see why he didn't have a department. Initially I couldn't help but think of Barclay when we first met him.

Got to see Pike once again.... all is good. 🖖

Many seem to complain about our new Captain. She was just a reason to get Pike in the short. They could have easily left out the Enterprise and Pike all together. (glad they didn't) Remember, everything is "woke" no-a-days... female everything you know...

The "this conversation is over" bit was pretty funny.

The cereal commercial at the end was pretty funny too.

Another nice job with a Star Trek Short.

Not as meaningful, wonderful or special as 'Q&A' but I doubt we will ever get anything rising to that standard again.

All in good fun.

Tribbles! What could possibly go right? Has hidden, twisted, and sinister overtones

[tfc · 8/10 · 27 September 2020]

The Trouble with Edward (2019) is just plain fun. Some serious people may try to over analyze it for ST canon, but just sit back and enjoy this tragic smorgasbord of workplace dysfunction in "utopia". Though a comedy, it's crammed with so many delightful levels of subtle "what the..." and that an introverted savant's actions could snowball to affect everyone's ethics, work, careers, ships, planets, and the whole Federation. This episode took some thinking to orchestrate this clockwork train wreck and is deeper and more humbling than I expected as an engineer. Thoroughly enjoyable just how many other Star Trek episodes this connects together. Things to notice: Edward is morally and ethically obtuse, yet a genius. Add to this a drive to prove he's smart and trouble insues. He did (unintentionally) create a cheap biological way to destroy ships, evacuate planets, disrupt empires, and it's a tasty food. It touched on how to manage people and groups and how easily a promising young Turk's career was sunk. The only minor thing that I see that needed explained is where the Tribbles found enough food/water to breed that much.

Now on a sinister note: If the ending was tweaked to be less silly, this episode could have gone very dark. Imagine Edward did not die at the end but was really working for Star Fleet Intelligence (SFI) or even Section 31 (S31). This would make sense because Edward is the perfect savant for working on black projects that would make others in Star Fleet (SF) wince. Notice how Edward obtusely comes up with famine solutions (eating Tribbles, manipulating human DNA, lobotomizing lifeforms) that ethically causes his co-workers to smile uncomfortably or tense up. This is similar to "ST: Into Darkness" where Kahn was recruited to cross ethical boundaries Star Fleet wouldn't come near. In "ST: DS9" Dr. Bashir or the augmented savants were used either by SFI or S31. This would answer Captain Lucero's incredulous question why Edward was able to stay in SF so long being "an idiot" (Edward might be an asset for SFI or S31). If this was so, after every "screw up", Edward would just be moved to some other isolated insignificant science posting to continue his "protein work" (i.e. Weaponizing tribbles against Klingons). This idea could be milked to explain several ST:TOS and other episodes where SF comes across strange lifeforms, diseases, and devices that are the deliberate or unintentional byproducts of someone like Edward working for SFI or S31 (The Naked Time, The Deadly Years, This Side of Paradise, Operation - Annihilate!). "Operation - Annihilate!" could be just another TOS examples of Edwards creating another new "food" source. Edward is use to being dismissed and thus is covert in his actions. Captain Lucero was reported by Edward for interfering with his work and later became the patsy for Edward's (SFI, S31) project. Sadly, SF, SFI, or S31 will likely conclude she being in charge is what caused all the problems and not Edward. As I said, this episode could really be milked into several episodes to show all the Federation dirt swept under the carpet by SF, SFI, and S31. But hey, it's just a comedy. I hope they have future adventures of Edward Larkin.

The best Discovery production ever

[marianthenightman · 10/10 · 11 October 2019]

I had so much fun watching this episode,and i really like the new science uniforms,and even that post-credits scene was awesome,and i like cinematic dark tone of the scenes with the two ships.However ,this kind of problem has one easy way to be resolved : they should leave the ship temporarly and then they should reduce the air level to zero ,and all the tribbles would die.This was a trully Star Trek episode ,better than all the episodes from the main Discovery series .

Human interpersonal relationship

[opticuscro · 8/10 · 24 July 2020]

Excellently set episode, great description of interpersonal relationships, I know it's offtopic but I have to say we have one "Edward" at work, man your description of souch people is incredibly accurate!

Snarky, cynical and unpleasant

[SciFiSly · 3/10 · 19 September 2021]

Designed as a Star Trek story with a lighter tone, it instead comes across as an unpleasant take on a Starfleet that's more reflective of current day society as opposed to the idealistic future Gene Roddenberry had presented in the 1960's and again in the 1980's.

In many ways, the stumbling, awkward character presented in this story is the Reginald Barclay of his day. Unlike Barclay, however, he isn't nurtured or befriended by the crew of the Enterprise or his commanding officers at Starfleet headquarters who see that, at his core, he is a brilliant man. No, Edward's commanding officer views him as an idiot who wants him as far removed as possible without digging a little deeper into what he believes he can accomplish and his fellow crew members are as dismissive and unpleasant as she is. In the end, his ultimate fate is met with a collective shrug.

It seems unlikely that the tone of this particular short, if presented in the 1960's or 1980's, would have inspired two generations of fans to look toward a more hopeful future and to look beyond themselves.

Short Treks have been a lot of fun but this one was a big miss.

The "Threshold" Episode of Short Treks

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 10 November 2019]

This is almost as insane as the Star Trek Voyager season 2 episode "Threshold" which goes beyond all previous limits for high comedy and insanity in Trek. In that Episode, Tom Paris, when trying to accomplish one thing, ends up doing something entirely unexpected, and it just elevates from that point, up until the last second of the episode.

Same thing here.

When we first see Edward, we think, "Who IS this Idiot"? But that is just the start of the debacle.

I'm glad this was merely a short Trek, I could not have tolerated the induced laughter if this were a full length episode.

And of course it is great to see the continued tales involving Captain Pike and the original crew of the Enterprise.

Are you kidding me??

[cjde341-736-330208 · 2/10 · 12 October 2019]

I gave this Short Trek two stars because of the great exterior shots of the ships. The rest of the episode was a disappointing, cheesy waste of time.

I like the acting.

[captain_meatball · 27 October 2019]

The actors and the director of this episode are great,and this beats the fact the Star Trek creators have no clue about the biology lessons from the school.For example,Odo can turn himself in to a glass ,and can be as easy as a glass ,but in the same time he can transform himself into an iron shape shifting Terminator or in to a very heavy hard solid rock,so ,how much mass has h is body in reality ?!?..or how can he remain alive without eating anything,although he sometimes makes very much effort.. ?!?..or how can you combine a being with a copper based blood with the one with an iron based blood ..?!? ..or how to combine a being with two hearts with the one with one heart ( a Discovery producer would say something about their external ,sexual organs ,because they clearly don't understand such sub textual and still so obvious references) ...?!?...how can a being who eats cereal seeds to grow so fast without food and even they are just omnivore beings how can they eat so fast ,when they don't seem to have the sense of smell,they don't have eyes or mouth or ears ?!?.. Anyway the Critters-Gremlins are still cute enough and the actors the same to save this little episode for bad reviews.I would love to see a Galaxy Quest series with those actors and that ship,but we, the Trekkers, don't have that kind of luck.

Everyone probably knows a colleague like that from their own company

[tomsly-40015 · 8/10 · 27 March 2024]

I cannot understand the arguments and anger of many commenters. Yes, Star Trek always strives to show an inclusive, cooperative and collaborative working environment. But that is based on mutual respect. And with Starfleet in mind, that means everyone follows Starfleet's ideals and abides by the rules and command structure. Everyone is encouraged to express their opinion, but when it comes to orders, they must be followed. This also means that subordinates should trust their superiors, should follow their orders and respect their decisions. In addition, Starfleet officers are usually experts - explorers and scientists who strive to discover new things and improve the peaceful coexistence of different species in the galaxy. Self-interest and addiction to profiling are not at the top of the list.

This Edward is nothing like Barclay - that's the comparison some commentators make here. Barclay is shy and also a bit socially awkward. But he is an excellent engineer and he lives the ideals of Star Fleet. He wants to help others and he doesn't do anything that could harm anyone. He's just not used to dealing with other people and needs a little help from his comrades. Edward, on the other hand, seems to be a sociopath. He complains about his captain behind her back - that alone is not the Star Trek philosophy. He ignores orders, he experiments with genetic modifications (which is forbidden), he endangers the lives of his comrades and that of the ship. He is also not a solitary scientist who only has the best interests at heart. On the contrary. He doesn't even help contain the threat after his experiment goes wrong. The fact that someone like that is even a science officer in Starfleet and serves on a spaceship is a slap in the face.

Of course you can say that the captain doesn't exactly act like a captain either. This woman appears to have little to no leadership experience. She was probably promoted straight away without ever being number one. The way she tries to end the conversation seems amateurish. But she doesn't have to play best friend and listen to Edward's whining either. It is her prerogative as the captain to have him transferred if he has abused her trust. And he has. Picard, Pike or Janeway would probably have reacted even harder, more professionally though, but the result would have been the same. A guy like that wouldn't have been a valued officer on either the Enterprise or Voyager.

You really don't understand what star trek is....

[joel-si-silva · 1/10 · 30 October 2019]

The writers and the agenda people should be fired and let in REAL STAR TREK professionals.... what a waste of money and time... another nail on Star trek

So much cringe...

[klingbeil-02990 · 2/10 · 21 November 2020]

There is so much wrong with this episode and the poor writing is in competition with the poor character building.

But first: 1) H. Jon Benjamin plays a great idiot savant 2) Rosa Salazar plays a great idiot incompetent

The character of Edward had to have gotten to where he was because of his abilities, unless Starfleet just started placing tinfoil wearing hobos on starships just to get them off the street. No, of course they don't. Edward must have earned his position in Starfleet. He displayed plenty of competency and ability in this short.

By that standard, Capt. Lucero should have equally earned her way into being a captain. Absolutely NOTHING she did was deserving of being a captain. She acted more like the catty clique cheerleader captain berating and brushing off any sort of responsibility for her inability and failings with "he was an idiot" as some sort of explanation that redeems her of any sort of culpability for everything under her command turning into an utter dumpster fire. Starfleet never would have put someone so irresponsible and childish in charge of other people's lives, let alone an entire starship.

I wish captain was airlocked into space

[kis-aleksandar · 1/10 · 25 October 2019]

I wanted to love it. I realy did. My God I did wanted. But this episode is by far the most stupid and un-Trek as it gets. By far the character of captain is so anoying, sto idiotical, that makes me want to airlock her into space. She is abusive and coward and makes mockery out of the Starfleet. This episode is black hoel of Star Trek.

anti star trek and ridicule men once more

[petersjoelen · 3/10 · 9 December 2021]

This is so far detached from what Roddenberry's vision was , it is an insult and a discrace .

That goes for the morals and respect for people as a whole .

Also the story makes no sence at all and the character building of Harry is not there .

The new female captain is in some way even worse , she is praised from the beginning ( yes we understand feminism we are not allowed to criticise woman at all ) and for what ? . Than she shows her true character , no emphathy , no patience and no leading skills .

What a terrible anti star trek message .

This is not Star Trek

[avifb · 1/10 · 9 May 2022]

This is a short story about an infantile girl who was promoted to Captain and the disaster that followed this promotion.

This is not Star Trek, there is nothing here but the demeaning of an already beaten franchise, which now evidently target only young kids.