Star Trek 1046: The Broken Moon!

1046. The Broken Moon!

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation Annual #3, DC Comics, 1992

CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Brandon Peterson and Pablo Marcos (artists)

STARDATE: 45968.8 (between Time's Arrow and Realm of Fear)

PLOT: When he was an ensign, Geordi saved the life of an important woman from the Onglaatu matriarchy. Today, her son has come to bring him to Glaa by order of the Imperatrix to ascertain if his bonded "moon-sister" is quite herself. Seems she's been brewing civil war, against her usual nature. Geordi goes alone to prevent the Federation from becoming entangled in a Prime Directive problem, and discovers "bluegill" parasites infecting his moon-sister and others. A fire fight in the Council chamber destroys the parasite queen, freeing the infected Onglaatu. This helps convince the insular Onglaatu to apply for Federation membership.

CONTINUITY: There is a flashback to Geordi's days on the USS Hood under Captain DeSoto (Encounter at Farpoint). The "bluegills" appeared in Conspiracy.

DIVERGENCES: The stardate actually puts the story in between the two parts of Time's Arrow, which scarcely makes sense. Captain DeSoto looks nothing like he did in Tin Man.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Watch which branch you grab!
REVIEW: Each TNG Annual has featured a different character and this is Geordi's. To do so, it creates a previously unknown backstory for him (fine) and then throws in old enemies, the parasites from Conspiracy. It's a way of explaining why they didn't come back to plague the Federation, I suppose. Comic book Geordi is a lot better at action, and consequently, it's an adventure that moves at a good pace. With this issue, I've finally put the finger on something that's been bothering me about Friedman's comics work though. As with regular issues of the series, he cuts away from the A-plot to see what other characters are doing and thinking, but they only ever respond to that A-plot. On the tv series, there'd be a B-plot there. Here, it just amounts to padding as each cast member gets a little "screen" time, but doesn't have anything to do.