Star Trek 1315: Blood Reign O'er Me

1315. Blood Reign O'er Me

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: Klingons - Blood Will Tell #4, IDW Comics, August 2007

CREATORS: Scott Tipton and David Tipton (writers), David Messina (artist)

STARDATE: Unknown (framing story during The Undiscovered Country; actual story during Day of the Dove)

PLOT: Kahnrah and his granddaughter visit an old friend who served with Kang during the incident chronicled in Day of the Dove. He remembers their ship being disabled, and being beamed onto the Enterprise to fight the humans with blades. By the time Kang and Kirk stopped the fighting to defeat the unknown alien manipulating all of them, he had gained a new respect for humans. They fought well and were also able to lay down arms to save both crews. The story pushes Kahnrah over the edge, and he chooses to cast his vote with Gorkon in favor of accepting the Federation's help.

CONTINUITY: See previous issues (The Undiscovered Country, QuchHa). The story is told from the perspective of Kang and the other Klingons seen in Day of the Dove. The Day of the Dove's event are well before Kang and Kor's victory at Caleb IV (Once More Unto the Breach). Kang was returning from a Bat'leth tournament (Parallels). A Klingon gets bitten by Beauregard, Sulu's plant (The Man Trap).

DIVERGENCES: See previous issue (title).

PANEL OF THE DAY - A battle that didn't make the operas
REVIEW: Though seeing Day of the Dove from the Klingon perspective basically means a lot of fighting, it's good fighting. The brothers Tipton imbue their scenes with Klingon ideals retrofitted into the old TOS episode, such as the Chief Engineer dying of radiation poisoning by staying at his post, the storyteller telling a Starfleet officer he fought well (and not just "for a human") and Klingon reactions to the Enterprise's sterile environment. They break up the monotony of those corridors with fun bits, like Beauregard's surprise cameo. We also find out the story was kept out of the historical record to hide the fact that Klingons and Starfleet fraternized on this occasion. Blood Will Tell continues to add depth to episodes we know inside and out.