When the Universe Was Young (Star Trek: The Next Generation Books)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Star Trek: The Next Generation Books
Date:	15/09/07 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nostalgic and comedic relic from a simpler time.

Disadvantages: Generally weak plots and some distracting art.

Star Trek fan fiction and licensed or unlicensed spin-offs have existed for almost as long as the series, and provide an effective and enjoyable means for die-hard viewers to indulge their fandom and creativity by taking established concepts, characters and details and making their own stories, most of which are absolutely abysmal rip-offs of what has already come before. Advances in technology have made fan productions ever more lucrative, especially notable in the entirely fan-produced, fan-written and fan-starring live action series ‘New Voyages’ and the upcoming ‘Of Gods and Men’ film directed by and starring many authentic cast members. The canonical Star Trek universe is now so vast, expanded by five long-running series and ten feature films, that little mystery remains, and any spin-off media basing itself on the moribund franchise must either stick rigidly to its established frameworks, as most of them do, or branch out boldly into unexplored territory.

While fan fiction is pretty much free to do as it pleases, as long as no attempt is made to make money off the back of Paramount’s franchise, officially licensed publications such as the long-running Pocket Books novel series and the less stable comic book imprint have the benefit of using the real vessels, real characters and real likenesses to tell further adventures of the crews of the Enterprise and all those other ships. Paramount’s lenience is variable, often denying the use of recurring alien races or supporting characters in case this contradicts or upstages a continuing TV series, yet nothing outside the filmed medium has ever been considered part of the official Star Trek canon. Star Trek comics are a particularly popular and interesting feature of this expanded universe, acting as a bridge between the written word and the TV series in approaching something comparable to the latter, allowing fans the authentic experience of watching an un-filmed episode unfold before their eyes. At least, that’s the idea.

That’s why I enjoy naïve earlier publications, such as this six-issue mini-series, produced hurriedly by DC comics to cash in on excitement about the first new Star Trek series in twenty years, ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation.’ Fully licensed by Paramount to create exciting new adventures for the new crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, it attempts to replicate the look and ‘feel’ of the series to an authentic standard, which is amusing as the writers and artists had, presumably, only seen an early screening of the series’ shaky pilot episode. Dedicated followers of the TV series will know that its look, tone and focus changed substantially in the first couple of years, beginning its third year as a more thoughtful and mature show, and one in which the characters no longer wore skin-tight spandex. Essentially written to occur between the pilot episode ‘Encounter at Farpoint’ and episode two of the series, DC’s enthusiastic ‘Volume 1’ captures all the simplistic, nostalgic charm of the show’s earliest period while also being forced to take hugely speculative leaps in covering areas that the show had understandably failed to address in what had so far amounted to ninety minutes of screen time. More sombre and serious TNG fans will doubtless find some of the content ridiculous and even offensive based on their superior knowledge of the series, but for me this stupid, over-eager innocence makes them far more readable than the dull, repetitive and far more authentic second volume that ran throughout the rest of the TV series.

All six issues, soon collected together in a hardback and paperback publication, are written by Michael Carlin, an established writer for Marvel comics before moving to DC, whose inexperience with Star Trek writing is on display throughout. In Carlin’s favour, no one really knew what to expect from the new Star Trek series, though I don’t recall as much frantic racing about and fist-fighting in the televised version, something that can be equally attributed to the lack of a TV budget hindering the writer’s creativity here. The art is similarly far more suited to traditional superhero comics than the diplomatic world of Trek, though long-time artist Pablo Marcos would oddly never learn that Jean-Luc Picard’s chest, arms and legs don’t bulge with tensed muscle like that, on the TV show. Marcos is a fairly good artist, successful in capturing the likenesses of the actors and only resorting to what are obviously the few available publicity shots on rare occasions, though as with all Trek comics featuring random, previously unseen alien races, he has the freedom to draw whatever he wants in some instances, regardless of whether it would show up on television or not (though the first two years of TNG did feature actors in dog, lizard and fish costumes, so anything is possible). Carlos Garzon and Arne Starr provide the definitive inks, which sees them indulging in their hobby of over-cross-hatching the already inaccurate muscles of each character’s tight outfit, while Carl Gafford screws up some of the ship, technology and costume colours wonderfully, in the true spirit of this volume’s innocence.

These comics, originally released monthly in the first half of 1988, act as a time capsule, preserving a moment of genuine excitement regarding the new series before the over-saturation of the franchise in the nineties. There’s an obvious enthusiasm stemming from every department in expressing the style of the series, from the highly detailed drawings of the sets and over-sized introductory images of main characters to Carlin’s valiant attempts to address issues of character background that were stated from the onset, but often largely ignored in the official canon. Thus, we see Captain Picard reminisce about his childhood in France, years before the series decided to offer the ‘true’ details that unfortunately contradict this, while the old romance between Riker and Troi is perhaps mentioned more than it ever would be again (outside of fan fiction, obviously). Most interesting is the focus granted to security chief Tasha Yar, whose character was killed off towards the end of the first TV season for a number of reasons, and who therefore got little screen time or development compared to the others. Yar is given a prominent role here, obviously due to her action-heroine persona, and her troubled past at a corrupt Federation colony is referred to several times, as it was in the show. Other fun details replicated true to the first season include a beardless Riker, Geordi LaForge wearing red and piloting the ship, and a reduced, confused role for Lieutenant Worf, who really didn’t do very much before Yar was killed off and he took her place. There are a number of entertaining out-of-character incidents from pretty much the entire cast, which is understandable as no one really knew what in-character meant at this point.

The stories themselves are a little far-fetched and not particularly impressive, clearly only serving as a foundation upon which to explore this new ship and crew that Star Trek fans were so eager to learn about. The first issue, titled ‘...Where No One Has Gone Before!’ (which was also used as an early episode title) concerns a hostile situation on a jungle planet, allowing for both an action-packed adventure and a full exploration of the Enterprise command structure, particularly its focus on staff meetings and the Captain’s absence from the away team. Annoying teenager Wesley Crusher is also featured, allowing for an overview of Starfleet’s new families-aboard-starships stance that annoys Picard no end, and characters get to show off their unique attributes that would feature less prominently thereafter, such as Geordi’s enhanced vision. ‘Spirit in the Sky’ and the final issue ‘Here Today’ are both stand-alone stories, while the remaining half of the collection comprises an extended mini-series-within-a-mini-series focusing on the adversary Q, who was introduced in the pilot episode. Q’s return, predicted in the pilot but not yet confirmed by this point, provides some interesting foreshadowing on the writers’ part (both Carlin and the presumed Star Trek writers who informed him of the types of things to include in these stories), as although Q is far more malevolent and childish here than he would ultimately prove to be in the series, his antagonistic relationship with Picard is completely true to form, and even the presence of ‘Q’ in each issue’s title predates that pattern in TNG, though in this instance they aren’t used as puns (unless “Q’s Day” is a really weak pun for ‘Tuesday’). The Q story is far too long, convoluted and ultimately pointless as anything other than a convenient means to explore the psyches, histories and fantasies of all the main characters, but as that was pretty much Carlin’s job, he performs it admirably.

Comics have always had a reputation (at least in the western world) as being a little childish and less literate than written publications – even if we are talking about Star Trek tie-in novels – and although there are many notable exceptions to this rule, it is mostly true. DC’s first volume of Star Trek: The Next Generation is valuable and entertaining as nothing more than a historical artefact of the series in its earliest stages when it was still struggling to find its identity, and each time Picard yells out a French curse, or Beverley strikes a sexy pose for no reason, or a background character crops up wearing some kind of helmet or non-existent green-coloured uniform, I can’t help but raise a delighted smile. These comics are trying so eagerly to reflect the style of the new series (though with a degree of artistic license granted in terms of huge green monsters and old men’s athleticism) that only the most anally retentive Trekkie would condemn them for their silliness... though they are undoubtedly very silly in places. This mini-series would be followed a year later with a long-running publication that lasted for 80 issues, still mostly illustrated by Marcos but written by more experienced Star Trek novelists and comic authors. The second volume reflected the established television series more accurately, but what’s the point in that?

Summary: Published by DC, a 'six issue mini-series based on the hot new TV show' (1988).