Trek It!

by Robert T. Jeschonek

  In "The Return of the Serpent," the Enterprise travels back to Gamma Trianguli VI after 20 years. Kirk takes a landing party down to the surface, intending to observe the current condition of the race which he set free, but finds that the world has become a desolate wasteland and that the inhabitants have adopted a barbaric, medieval society.

  Kirk and his party are caught up in the warfare between the planet's two tribes and are captured by Akuta, who possesses incredible powers derived from the Vaal computer. Akuta begins to drag the Enterprise out of orbit, and is only placated when Spock volunteers to help reactivate Vaal.

  "The Return of the Serpent" highlights Kirk's human capacity for error, and the tremendous responsibility which falls on his shoulders every time he meddles in an alien culture. One wrong move on the surface of an undeveloped world and a starship officer can cause irreparable harm. "The Return" points out that an explorer like Kirk can't always make decisions based on his own values and beliefs because those personal feelings might not be applicable in an alien frame of reference.

  5) "All the Infinite Ways"—Star Trek #13, 1981, Marvel Comics—by Martin Pasko, Joe Brozowski, and Tom Palmer

  Dr. McCoy's daughter plans to many a Vulcan? That's the wonderfully ironic plot of this story, and it provides an intriguing character study of both Bones and his child.

  The Enterprise crew travels to the planet Hephaestus to negotiate for mineral rights. While the Klingons engage in some nasty mischief, Bones has a chance encounter with his daughter, Joanna. Upset because her father hasn't been in touch with her for years, Joanna tells him that she doesn't want to have anything to do with him. Then she introduces him to her husband-to-be, a Vulcan named Suvak.

  Suvak has a sudden relapse of a mysterious illness which Bones diagnoses as a fatal Vulcan blood disease. When the Klingons kidnap Joanna, however, Suvak comes to her rescue. Though weakened by his illness, he frees Joanna and sacrifices his life in a Klingon-triggered explosion.

  "All the Infinite Ways" portrays a believable and fascinating relationship between Bones and his daughter. Though Joanna never appeared in the original TV series and was only mentioned briefly in one episode of the animated series ("The Survivor"), Martin Pasko brings her to life and develops her as a complex character.

  Joanna has been deeply wounded by her parents' separation, yet she has conflicting feelings about her father. She claims to hate Leonard McCoy for driving her mother away from him and ruining her family; she condemns him for ignoring her for most of her life. By pledging to marry the emotionless Suvak, she seems determined to avoid the strife of her parents' stormy marriage.

  And yet, Joanna seems drawn to her wayward father. Despite her professed hatred of him, she initiates contact with him on Hephaestus. Though she condemns his dedication to medicine and claims that it led to his break-up with her mother, she has chosen to become a nurse. Torn between resentment and attachment, Joanna is a confused and tragic figure.

  In "All the Infinite Ways," Bones is also a tragic figure. He feels the need to make contact with his daughter, yet he is laden with guilt; for perhaps the first time in his life, he realizes how badly he has neglected and traumatized Joanna. In the end, he goes to make peace with Joanna; though he is flawed and guilty of hurting her, his saving grace lies in his recognition of his mistakes and his willingness to make up for them.

  6) "The Wormhole Connection," "...The Only Good Klingon...," "Errand of War," and "Deadly Allies"—Star Trek #1-4, 1984, DC Comics—by Mike W, Barr, Tom Sutton, and Ricardo Villagran

  This four-part story (which I will henceforth refer to as "Errand of War") begins with a battle between the Enterprise and a secret Klingon space station. Defeated, the Klingons destroy their own base; Kirk then learns that the Klingon Empire has declared all-out war on the Federation, ostensibly because of the starship's attack on the station.

  Kirk takes his ship to the planet Organia, whose nigh-omnipotent residents have enforced a Klingon- Federation peace treaty for years. Joining forces with the captured Klingon captain Kor, Kirk learns the true cause of the war: the Excalbians, another all-powerful race, set up the conflagration as a galactic morality play to determine whether good—represented by the Federation—is stronger than evil (the Klingons), or vice versa. By imprisoning the Organians and manipulating Federation and Klingon leaders, the Excalbians instigated the war, which they refer to as a "drama."

  Kirk outfoxes the Excalbians, however, convincing them that they need to get directly involved in a "drama" themselves if they want to gain the ultimate knowledge of good and evil. He persuades them to fight the only beings who can provide a challenge for them—the Organians. The Excalbians free the Organians and they disappear to begin their private war, leaving the Klingons and the Federation to make peace or war of their own volition.

  "Errand of War" is an action-packed story full of surprising plot twists. It uses characters from the 'I'V series—Kor and the Organians from "Errand of Mercy," the Excalbians from "The Savage Curtain"—and combines them in a way which is fresh and dramatically effective.

  Interestingly enough, the moral of this story seems to be the opposite of that of "The Return of the Serpent." "Serpent" implies that a powerful guardian entity can be beneficial to a race and that the removal of such an overseer can be destructive. In "Errand of War," however, godlike manipulators are shown to be detrimental, and Kirk applauds their extrication from the affairs of the galaxy.

  7) "New Frontiers," chapters 2-7—Star Trek #10-15, 1985, DC Comics—by Mike W. Barr, Tom Sutton, and Ricardo Villagran

  Klingons...Romulans...epic starship battles...evil twins of the Enterprise gang—this six-part story has got it all.

  In the TV episode "Mirror, Mirror," Kirk and his compatriots traveled to a parallel universe in which evil counterparts of the beloved Enterprise crew work for a ruthless Empire instead of a benevolent Federation.

  This time around, the doppelgangers come gunning for the Federation. Bad-Kirk and his thugs bring the Mirror Universe Enterprise into Federation space and attack the Excelsior, which is carrying Good-Kirk and his pals. Good-Kirk finally defeats the evil duplicates, then takes the Excelsior into the parallel universe to head off the coming invasion. There they enlist the help of some resident freedom fighters commanded by David Marcus, a Mirror Universe duplicate of his dead son.

  As I said earlier, I'm a sucker for sequels, and this sequel to "Mirror, Mirror" is a real extravaganza. Though it lacks the warmth and poetry of my favorite Trek episodes, it's got more starship battles than you can shake a tribble at, and I just plain get a kick out of it. The closer look at the Mirror Universe and its history is interesting, and there is wonderful irony in the appearance of the Mirror Enterprise and David Marcus, right after the demise of their respective counterparts in The Search for Spock. The ending of the story, in which David survives to go on fighting the Empire, is also a nice touch; After the tragic death of "his" David, Kirk can console himself with the knowledge that another David is still alive in a parallel universe—"just next door," in a sense.

  8) "Fast Friends" and "Cure All"—Star Trek (Vol. 2) #5-6, 1990, DC Comics-by Peter David, James Fry, and Arne Starr

  In this two-part story, the crew of the Enterprise is sent to New Brinden, a world besieged by a deadly plague. New Brinden's society is structured into a rigid caste system, and the plague has primarily stricken members of the lower caste; happy to see the "surplus population" diminished, the ruling class makes no effort to find a cure or seek help...until a member of the higher caste finally contracts the disease and commits suicide.

  Fearing that the plague could spread further into the ruling class, New Brinden's Prefect gives Dr. McCoy only a limited amount of time to cure the infected citizens. When a previously untested cure fails to reverse the disease, the Prefect announces that he will simply exterminate all the plague victims.

  After learning that the Klingons and Nasgul have put a price on Kirk's head, the Prefect proposes a new bargain:
he will postpone the extermination of the "Lowlies" and allow Federation doctors to continue seeking a cure...but only if Kirk surrenders himself to the New Brinden government. Thanks to a covert action by a mysterious crewman, Ensign Fouton, the crisis is averted. The Prefect himself is infected by the plague and rescinds all his previous threats to kill the Lowlies.

  Like many of the finest and most thought- provoking Trek episodes, this story provides a parable based on a situation which exists in contemporary society. The New Brinden plague, like the AIDS virus, is fatal, and hits hardest in the lower levels of society; neither disease inspired widespread attention or extensive efforts to find a cure until it spread into the ranks of the higher classes. Like the victims of the New Brinden disease, the victims of AIDS are often shunned and treated like pariahs; some people would just as soon let those infected with AIDS die, just as the Prefect has done with the afflicted Lowlies of his planet.

  By presenting an extreme solution to the epidemic on New Brinden, a solution which we recognize as horrific, the story brings our own inhumanities toward the victims of AIDS more clearly into focus.

  9) "Vicious Circle!"—Star Trek #33, l986, DC Comics—by Len Wein, Tom Sutton, and Ricardo Villagran

  Thanks to a time warp, the contemporary Kirk and company meet themselves as they were 20 years ago. Talk about your mid-life crisis!

  Kirk and his crew (manning the Excelsior at this point in the comic series' continuity) encounter the old Enterprise and come face-to-face with themselves as they appeared during the original five-year mission. Unfortunately, the Enterprise's time-trip has caused a powerful temporal storm; if the ship isn't returned to the past, the time-storm could rip apart the entire universe.

  The past and future crew join forces and manage to throw the Enterprise back in time by using the Guardian of Forever. The time-storm ends and the two crews forget that their meeting ever happened.

  Though "Vicious Circle!" isn't a very substantive tale, it's still a lot of fun. The idea of the modern crew meeting the original crew is enticing, and it's carried off quite effectively in this story. There are certainly some memorable and well-written scenes, especially those between the two Dr. McCoys, like this one: Young Bones: "Please—give me some hope for the future. Tell me Spock gets better with age." Older Bones: "Wish I could help you—but you know how hard it is for me to lie with a straight face!"

  There are plenty of special scenes in "Vicious Circle!": Captain Kirk is thrilled to learn that he's destined for the admiralty; Spock finds out about his future death and resurrection but doesn't bat an eyelash; and Lt. Uhura is upset when she learns that after 20 years she still won't have a husband or children.

  10) "A Warp in Space!"—Star Trek #49, l9'77, Gold Key Comics—by George Kashdan and A. McWilliams

  In the TV episode "Metamorphosis," the Enterprise crew met an energy being called the Companion who was in love with the shipwrecked creator of the Warp Drive, Zefram Cochrane. The Companion merged with Nancy Hedford, a fatally-ill Federation commissioner, to save that woman's life and physically express her love for Zefram.

  In "A Warp in Space!" the crew of the starship returns to the Companion's world because some experimental hyper-warp ships have disappeared in the vicinity of the planet. Aided by the Companion, who separates from Nancy and reverts to her energy form, the Enterprise travels through "a rip in the fabric of our universe" and emerges in a starless void. In the void, which happens to be the Companion's original home, Kirk and company find the missing ships—but they also encounter a swarm of cloudlike beings similar to the Companion. After a show of force, the beings reveal that the crews of the ships were all killed when they accidentally passed through the space rift. Though the beings were willing to let the Enterprise return home, they insisted that the Companion stay behind.

  Using engine modifications suggested by Cochrane, the crew of the Enterprise manages to escape with the Companion. The Companion then recombines with Nancy Hedford, who nearly died without the life-sustaining symbiotic being. Nancy/the Companion is reunited with Cochrane, and they presumably live happily ever after.

  Though the plot is fairly simplistic, and Cochrane looks nothing like he did in "Metamorphosis," "A Warp in Space!" is still an interesting sidebar to the Trek TV series. The story provides some hypothetical background for the character of the Companion and gives the well-loved alien some welcome exposure. The creative team turned out some capable renditions of the starship crew and didn't make them behave in ways which would be contradictory to their established personalities; this is a major improvement over many of the old Gold Key Trek comics.

  If you can overlook the holes in the plot and the discrepancies with "Metamorphosis," you'll find this to be an entertaining sequel to one of the finest original Star Trek TV episodes.

  *****

  The Next Generation:

  Big Guns vs. Lower Deckers

  Could Star Trek: The Next Generation do without Guinan? Reg Barclay? Ro Laren?

  Mot the barber?

  Of course it could. The Big Guns--Picard, Riker, Data, Geordi, Troi, Beverly, and Worf--carry the show.

  So what, if anything, do the bit players from the Enterprise-D's lower decks add to ST:TNG?

  Illumination of the Big Guns, for one thing.

  The Lower Deckers shine a light on surprising facets of the Big Guns. Guinan, for example, brings out a soulful warmth in Picard. Miles and Keiko O'Brien help Data explore human concepts of romance and marriage. Reg Barclay pushes all the Big Guns' buttons with his Adrian Monk-style hyperphobic oddness.

  But that's not all the Lower Deckers accomplish.

  They also make great cast filler, giving the show the ensemble flavor so fashionable in late 1980s/early '90s television. In the era of Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law, and Thirtysomething, ensemble dramas were pure gold.

  But ST:TNG is no Hill Street Blues. Picard still gets the lion's share of the attention, especially after the success of The Best of Both Worlds. The rest of the Big Guns dominate the remaining limelight, leaving the supporting crew to settle for scraps.

  That's all the more reason to applaud the Lower Deckers. They do a lot with a little.

  They're virtually nonexistent in season 1, and they fade out again in seasons 6 and 7. Still, in their limited appearances, they play a vital role in setting the course for the future of the Trek franchise.

  They do it by adding diversity to a whitebread starship.

  In the beginning, the Enterprise-D isn't much of a melting pot. The crew reflects a colonial model of race relations, with whites in the majority (Riker, Beverly, Data, Tasha, and Wesley), and white alpha male Picard (French by name but with an accent straight out of the British Empire) leading "assimilated" lesser powers (Betazoids, Vulcans, a Klingon, etc.) in an illusion of egalitarian power-sharing.

  The Lower Deckers change this by adding diversity to the crew. In their heyday in seasons 2 through 5, the supporting players make the Enterprise-D a more multicultural place.

  In doing so, they blaze a trail for future series.

  The Enterprise-D gains a black bartender (Guinan), a Bajoran navigator (Ro Laren), a Japanese botanist (Keiko O'Brien) and a Japanese nurse (Alyssa Ogawa), among others.

  The next series, Deep Space Nine, features a black man commanding a diverse crew of aliens (Trill, Bajoran, Founder, Klingon, Ferengi), with only one white male cast regular--ironically, one of the original Lower Deckers, Miles O'Brien.

  Voyager continues the trend. A white woman leads a Latin American Indian, a black Vulcan, a half-Klingon woman, a Chinese male, a holographic doctor, and a Borg female. Again, the main crew includes a solitary white male--Tom Paris.

  In DS9 and Voyager, the world of Star Trek looks more like a believable far-future community of peoples. The humble Lower Deckers help make this vision possible.

  Their reward? Some get a chance to shine. Guinan saves the timeline in Yesterday's Enterprise. Miles O'Brien prevents war with the Cardassians
in The Wounded. Ro Laren attends her own funeral in The Next Phase. Reg Barclay whips up warped holodeck versions of the Big Guns in Hollow Pursuits.

  Then, the Lower Deckers vanish as if struck by a cloaking device. Guinan, Ro, and the O'Briens disappear in season 6 (though Ro and Miles each bow once more in season 7). By season 7, ST:TNG turns its focus on the Big Guns and beams the Lower Deckers into space.

  It hardly seems fair that the supporting crew members are discarded so easily. They accomplished so much: revealing new facets of the core crew; giving the show an ensemble flavor; boosting a trend in diversity.

  However, as the supporting crew fades, an episode comes along that serves as a tribute to their experience. Lower Decks in season 7 tells the story of four junior officers (including Nurse Ogawa), one of whom dies on a secret mission.

  Lower Decks makes the ultimate statement about the supporting crew: their lives go on in parallel with those of the command crew--sometimes intersecting, sometimes even affecting the lives of their superior officers. They live, and sometimes die, as bit players in the shadow of larger events. Ultimately, like most of us, they are important only to each other.

  This time, the supporting cast's role is clear: they represent the common man.

  They represent us.

  *****

  Deep Space Nine:

  Past Tense