He wrote Star Trek's 'The Trouble with Tribbles.' Friday, he's Zooming into Memphis.

In 1967, viewers of Star Trek: The Original Series saw Captain James T. Kirk confronted with a problem: the possibility of Klingon interference with a grain project on a space station.

Kirk was also confronted with Tribbles, cooing balls of fur that reproduced rapidly, consuming resources and displaying a deep hatred of Klingons.

The episode has gone down in Star Trek history, with tribbles appearing in other Star Trek series, in parodies and with the characters of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine being digitally inserted into footage from the episode.

And on Friday, the writer of “The Trouble with Tribbles,” David Gerrold, will appear virtually before a room of Shelby County Star Trek fans to speak about his work and the iconic episode.

Friday’s event will be the first in-person Shelby County Star Trek Day since the COVID-19 pandemic stalled such events in 2020. Before that, events occurred annually since the Shelby County Commission declared April 9, 2015, “Star Trek Day” in 2014, one of the last acts of former Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy, now a co-organizer of Shelby County Star Trek Day and a candidate for Shelby County District Attorney General.

This year’s event will include the guest appearance by Gerrold, a costume contest and a viewing of a “tearjerker episode.” The episode, which will be chosen by rank-choiced voting, could be chosen from episodes ranging from The Next Generation’s “The Offspring” to Deep Space Nine’s “The Visitor.”

It also features presentations by former NASA astronomer Jeremy Veldman and Chris McCoy, TV and film critic for the Memphis Flyer. There will also be a musical performance by Eileen Kuo and Kate Ryan of a Star Trek medley.

The food will be Star Trek themed, with beverages named Romulan ale and Klingon blood wine. Food will include Klingon gagh (no serpent worms in this gagh) as well as, for the less adventurous, New Orleans-inspired fare in honor of Deep Space Nine Captain Benjamin Sisko.

For Gerrold, the Friday event will be a chance to virtually "visit" Memphis after he drove through the city last month and didn't have a chance to stop.

He's still "gobsmacked" by the enduring love for his Star Trek episode, he said, remembering how when it first aired he assumed nobody would remember it in 20 years.

"I knew I had done a good job, but I did not realize it or Star Trek was going to turn into a phenomenon," Gerrold said. "To this day I am amazed that we touched some kind of cultural nerve. But in thinking about it, we were being optimistic about the future at a time when almost nobody else was. I think that’s what people really responded to is Star Trek said I think there’s going to be a better future than today and I think that’s what they still respond to.”

While he does talk Star Trek with fans, Gerrold especially enjoys discussing his other work, including "The Martian Child," the story of his son's adoption. His works are filled with "optimism," he said, as is his latest work, "Hella," about human beings settling a new world that is almost earthlike “but really not quite.”

“The real challenge is, and it's something that applies to every human being, that we don’t leave our problems behind, we take them with us wherever we go," Gerrold said.

Joe Thordarson, co-organizer of Shelby County Star Trek Day and founder of the Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention, said the Friday event is a “really cool community gathering.

“It’s very interactive,” he said. “It’s more of like a geek dinner party you could say. Everybody usually winds up eating and drinking while they’re there. My favorite aspects of it are more of the open discussions and the open debates.”

People are welcome whether they love all of Star Trek, just one series or have only seen the newer series like Star Trek: Discovery or Star Trek: Picard, he said.

The appearance by Gerrold is really a “first” for the group, Thordarson said, since they’ve never had a celebrity interview before.

“The goal I would hope is one day Star Trek Day would be more like a mini convention for us,” he said. “This might be a groundbreaking weekend for us having a celebrity.”

Shelby County Star Trek Day is Friday, April 8 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Black Lodge video store and event space, 405 N. Cleveland. It is a free event.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: He wrote Star Trek's 'The Trouble with Tribbles.' Friday, he's Zooming into Memphis.