Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer/Photo Manipulation: John Byrne
Release Date: 8th October 2014
Now a recurrent criticism of IDW’s Trek is the slavish attention to character detail at the expense of… well, pretty much everything else. This isn’t always the case – Countdown, Species Spotlight: Borg, the current Q Gambit storyline – but it’s a common complaint nonetheless.

But here, we have something different: a photo montage, new stories told with carefully repurposed stills from the Original Series. It’s a bit like reading a 70s TV annual, in many ways, right down to the slightly dodgy angles, mismatched colours (Sulu in blue?) and what looks like the occasional slipped scalpel cut.

That being said, this is a lot of fun. The first story brings together that old trope, the re-edited episode: it plays heavily on fan knowledge to make a good old Jim Kirk romp, with some great Spock-Bones banter for good measure. Drawing on the original Shatner pilot (‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’) it comes up with a convincingly Original Series tale – a bit daft, a bit earnest, but a good tale with a heart. (3/5)

Unfortunately, it’s then matched by a particularly ropey attempt at a Mirror Universe tale that’s contrived and convoluted at best. The Mirror Universe is supposed to show the flaw in humanity, the darkness that is the Federation’s counterpart. Instead: Mirror Kirk and Spock beam over blah-blah, Klingons blah, cheap Uhura gag at the end *sigh*… (1/5)

And we continue to explore the slightly overused conventions of Trek with a time-travel episode. At best these are enlightening, at worst head-meltingly tedious. Leaving aside the terrible, neck-free composition, there’s the kernel of a good story here. It takes far too much time (sorry) to get anywhere though. (2/5)

But just when you thought it was a bit of a write-off, the last, brief tale – tying up the loose ends of fan-favourite Yeoman Rand – is an absolute beauty. Stylish, well-written, and genuinely touching. It’s not a slave to the genre; it’s a human story, set against the backdrop of the Enterprise. (4/5)

Part of me wanted to go and dig out old photobooks, watch some classic TOS and revel in nostalgia after this. Part of me just thought, meh. It’s a difficult thing to have tried, but ultimately it’s little more than self-indulgence.

Rating: 2/5.

The Writer of this piece was: Sam De Smith
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