Hero Collector, who significantly expanded their Star Trek book publishing slate for this year, recently released a Where’s Waldo? for the Star Trek universe sure to please the heart of any nitpicking fan.
The new Quibbles with Tribbles by Glenn Dakin is a fun locator game that draws upon something that all Star Trek fans love to do: find the mistakes!
Across eight richly-illustrated double-page spreads, Dakin — with art by John Ross and colors by Alan Craddok — present scenes from eight classic episodes of The Original Series, including “The City on the Edge of Forever,” “Devil in the Dark,” and “Amok Time.”
The reader’s job, among other things, are to spot the continuity mistakes. Maybe a character is wearing a uniform from a different era (such as Kirk wearing a Discovery uniform on the cover), perhaps a character from another time is incongruously aboard the Enterprise, or there’s a piece of technology in the scene that was not appropriate for the time period.
In addition to there being five big continuity errors in each spread — including connections to Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Lower Decks — there are also ten nods or callbacks to the other episodes of the Original Series on each page. All together, with the errors and with the callbacks each of these spreads is a visual feast that you’ll want to spend a long time poring over. The art is really phenomenal, and the colors really pop off the page.
Quibbles for Tribbles is focused on the classic Trek series, but there are lots of nods to the other Star Trek shows as well. For example, one Star Trek: Enterprise character appears in a certain spread, as do two appropriately-attired characters from The Next Generation. If there are more Quibbles with Tribbles books, it would be fun to do one for the other shows as well.
The great thing about Quibbles with Tribbles is that it’s more than just one game. For each spread there are the five continuity errors, the ten Easter eggs referencing other episodes of the Original Series, along with a hunt for an exploding tribble and several extremely deep-cut errors that will really test your behind-the-scenes knowledge of the franchise.
With four different games to choose from, the book can be enjoyed several times from start to finish as you look to complete each challenge.
In addition to the page spreads for the eight episodes of classic Trek, there are a full set of answers for each spread to tell you what you identified correctly, and where you slipped up. Providing the answers is particularly welcome, as there are some real deep-cuts here! There is also a score sheet provided so that you can write down your answers as you go.
In addition to the games, there is also some fun behind-the-scenes nuggets of information included throughout the book. Very little of that information is material that you wouldn’t already know if you’re a big Star Trek fan, but it’s fun to tie together how and why various elements were included.
If there’s any criticism of this hilarious little book, it’s that the exploding tribble game is a bit too easy. Given there are flames coming out of it, it’s pretty easy to spot on every page. But I’m a huge Star Trek fan, and I’ll be honest I didn’t find all the continuity errors or each of the callbacks to other episodes of the Original Series in my first pass — this is not a book for casual fans masquerading as one for more intense fans. This is the real deal!
Quibbles with Tribbles is a fun and humorous entry to your Star Trek library that will put your nitpicking skills to the test. I recommend it for even the most dedicated of Star Trek fans who like everything to be very specific and correct!
Will you be putting Quibbles with Tribbles on your holiday wish-list? Let us know your thoughts on this fun new book — and any ‘errors’ you find in the images above — in the comments below!