Ever since “The Trouble With Tribbles” debuted back in 1967, Star Trek fans have been captivated by the little fuzzy creatures that played a central role in the events of that episode: the tribbles.

With additional appearances on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Into Darkness, and Star Trek: Discovery, we’re also looking forward to an appearance by the tribbles in one of this fall’s Short Treks, aptly titled “The Trouble with Edward.”

There have been many licensed tribble toys for purchase over the years, but Science Division this summer announced that they will be producing the first interactive tribble product for fans to adopt.

We had the opportunity to chat with Kayleigha and Jay Zawacki, the founders of Science Division and the developers of the interactive tribble, to understand more about what to expect, the enduring popularity of the tribble, and how fans can get their hands on one.

TREKCORE: What made you decide to make an interactive tribble?

KAYLEIGHA: It’s my fault — I have wanted one since I was six years old! My dad had every episode of Star Trek on a VHS tape in a box. We would pick one out and watch it, and of course he started us out on “The Trouble with Tribbles.”

And what little girl doesn’t want [a tribble] after watching that episode? I always wanted one that was a pet, that was real, and we just never found one, so we figured let’s give it a go!

TREKCORE: How does it work? What can the tribble do?

KAYLEIGHA: It has a few different modes. It defaults to what we call “at ease” mode; that’s where it’s simulating that real-life tribble that we really wanted to make.

Every time you pick it up it’ll purr, and it has a little vibration motor in there. It trills at you and if you leave it sitting around it’ll trill every once in a while so that it feels like it’s really alive. It’s a living entity all on its own.

We did that first, and then we started playing with other modes. We came up next with “on duty,” which is where [the tribble is] actively seeking Klingons. Every time you pick it up and move it, it determines if you’re a Klingon or not…it’s a random determination, and it will either scream and violently vibrate at you or it’ll give you that softer vibration. It almost always picks me out as a Klingon!

JAY: I don’t know how, but you really do get caught as a Klingon so often!

KAYLEIGHA: My family has been telling me that I’m a Klingon for years, so we just figure that they know!

JAY: It has one other mode – “watchdog” mode – so it can guard your things. I like to put it on my keyboard at work. If one of my students tries to use my computer it’ll scream at them as if they’re a Klingon agent.

TREKCORE: In the show tribbles come in all different shapes and sizes. What’s the shape, size and color of the tribbles that you are offering?

KAYLEIGHA: We went with a standard brownish color. Ours are pretty large; they’re about eight inches in diameter and fives inches tall. One of the things that CBS loved about a larger tribble is that they’re so cuddly.

It’s really similar to some of the ones you see when you look at Kirk in the pile of tribbles [towards the end of “The Trouble with Tribbles”]; he’s got some of those really big tribbles next to him. That’s the kind of tribble we’ve created.

TrekCore: And the size in my mind seems pretty similar to that moment where Kirk sits down in the captain’s chair and he sits on the tribble. We’re talking about that kind of size, right?

KAYLEIGHA: Yeah! We even put a squeaker in them, so that if you push them then they’ll squeak. We don’t recommend people sit on them, but it’s a nod to that moment. So, if you push down on your tribble it’ll squeak at you like Kirk just sat down on it.

TREKCORE: How do you control the tribble? I think I read on your website that there is an app?

KAYLEIGHA: You can play it with or without the app. There’s a mode button on the box inside the tribble, so you can open it up and swap modes manually. Or you can pair with your phone via Bluetooth to what will be a free app download – one is on the way for both Apple and Android devices.

The app allows you to change the mode, volume, and you can assign [your tribble] to a different starship in “at ease” mode. We have the Enterprise, Deep Space 9, Deep Space Station K-7, and the Defiant all available as options.

JAY: You can name your tribble with the app as well.

KAYLEIGHA: And it also has an attack button, which is one really cool thing that you do need the app for. In any mode at any time you can trigger it to scream at whoever is holding it with the attack button in the app.

JAY: I can attest that it’s really fun to set it off on your boss. I did it earlier today. He was holding it, he went in for the cuddle right next to his face. I hit the attack button and the tribble screamed at him. It was a lot of fun!

TREKCORE: And how is the tribble powered?

JAY: The tribble takes three AA batteries. We’ve been running our three prototypes on both rechargeable and standard AA batteries. They’ve gone through all of Star Trek Las Vegas, which was six days, and then all of the Trekonderoga convention, which was another three. Plus some intermittent use in between, and they’re still on the same batteries.

TREKCORE: You guys are probably now the foremost tribble experts in the galaxy aside from David Gerrold, the creator of the tribble and writer of the original episode. Why do you think tribbles are so popular?

JAY: I think it comes back to – as Kayleigha said earlier – it’s one of the first episodes that you show someone getting into Star Trek. It’s very iconic. Because [tribbles] don’t have a face you can project your own emotion onto it.

They can be happy, sad, depending on your mood and the fact that they’re so soft and fuzzy and you want to cuddle with them. Those factors really make a creature that you want to spend your time with.

KAYLEIGHA: I think that there’s also some iconic [moments in “The Trouble with Tribbles”] – you see interactions between characters that are iconic. The episode gives you some Bones and Spock interactions that really introduce you to the dynamics of that relationship, you get to see Kirk deal with somebody that’s really irritating to him and yet diplomacy has to be employed at the same time.

It’s a great introduction to Star Trek and the dynamics in it, and who doesn’t love seeing Spock tell you he’s immune to the tribble’s effects as he’s sitting there stroking it? It’s just one of those things that you reference time and time again.

TREKCORE: We’ve seen tribbles a number of times since that first episode; what were your personal favorite tribble moments?

KAYLEIGHA: When we saw “Trials and Tribble-ations” for the first time we were just blown away by how well it was done. That one was just incredible. There was also an Animated Series episode, “More Tribbles, More Troubles,” in which they redid the original tribble a little, in a similar situation.

But the tribbles were pink!

TREKCORE: So if the first run is successful are you thinking about doing a pink Animated Series version?

KAYLEIGHA: I think if we do another run it might be fun to open it up to fans and see what they want to do. We could do a social media poll and take fan input to see what fans are interested in next.

TREKCORE: I think people would really like that!

KAYLEIGHA: That’s something that’s really important to us. We call ourselves a company, but it’s really about creating this thing because we as fans wanted it, and then sharing it with other fans. So fan input is really important to us.

TREKCORE: And what has the reaction of the fans been so far in your appearances at the two conventions you attended?

JAY: It’s been so wonderful. As soon as someone gets [the tribble] in their hands their face lights up. They start smiling. It’s a thrill to see that light up on their face, and then you can start showing them the other features. It’s been really magical to be part of this community and getting to meet people face to face has been fantastic.

TREKCORE: And it seems like we’re getting a little more tribbles to come in one of this fall’s Short Treks! Are you guys excited for that?

KAYLEIGHA: I can’t wait to see what they do with it! That’s one of the great things about tribbles is that they just seem to endure. Just like Star Trek itself. It’s fun to see what they do with them next.

TREKCORE: If someone wants to purchase on of your tribbles, where should they go, how much does it cost, and when do they ship?

KAYLEIGHA: We are selling them through our website; there’s all kinds of information there. It shows what they do, and we have a demo video that walks you through what tribbles do and how you can interact with them.

Tribbles are $69.99. We are doing pre-sales right now to place our order with our manufacturer. Our estimate right now is that they’ll be arriving in early 2020 or spring of 2020.

JAY: We do have some pre-sale incentives going on right now. We are hand signing and putting serial numbers on adoption certificates so we’re going to be sending those out with the tribbles. There’s also a place when you place your preorder where you can choose to have your name included in the app.

We’re going to have a list that people can opt into to include their name as a thank you for supporting us during our pre-sale period.

KAYLEIGHA: We also have been telling people that if they are hoping to purchase this as a holiday gift that even though we can’t guarantee the tribbles will arrive in time for the holidays we are going to a special holiday tribble card that we can send to people so they can give it to the people they bought the tribble for and let them know their tribble is coming.

We can also ship the adoption certificates out with that as well. So, they’ll get the adoption certificate and the holiday card at the same time, just to let them know someone bought them one and it’s coming.

If you’re interesting in starting your own creature colony at home, these interactive tribbles are available for purchase at the Science Division website, and you can also follow them on social media on Twitter and Facebook for updates on purchasing and shipping.

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