Starfleet Academy's Talaxian Furfly Teases Tribbles Tribute

Starfleet Academy works a recurring Talaxian Furfly gag into the voice-only announcements of Stephen Colbert's Digital Dean of Students. The Dean has referenced the creature — said to belong to an unseen Specialist Krebs — four times through Episode 7, delivering the moments with a comic touch.

Those announcements have revealed the Furfly emerged from hibernation, tried to mate with a beaker, eaten its own fur and attacked a technician in Science Lab 7. The details have been drip-fed across the show's first seven episodes, suggesting the writers are deliberately expanding Furfly lore.

Furflies originate on Talax, the Delta Quadrant world associated with Voyager's Neelix, and they were rarely central to stories before. A Furfly appearing in the Alpha Quadrant in the 32nd century also implies more reliable travel between quadrants than viewers have previously seen.

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