1402. WeedsPUBLICATION: Star Trek: Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor #1, IDW Comics, April 2010
CREATORS: John Byrne (writer), John Byrne (artist)
STARDATE: Unknown (before The Motion Picture)
PLOT: From the letters of Leonard McCoy... McCoy has joined the Frontier Medics Program and has been assigned an old ship and Dr. Duncan as a partner. As they leave an Andorian moon, the ships goes astray as there's too much mass on board. They find Theela, a spoiled Andorian girl who is stowing away. They're about to take her back when they're forced to respond to a medical emergency on Ophiucus III, a colony covered in a giant megaplant. The colonists are unfortunately falling prey to a devastating fungal parasite, which only affects humans. The plant's more animal-like aspects start attacking the colony, and everyone succumbs to the fungus, even Duncan and McCoy, though not Theela. McCoy directs her to find and create a remedy, and by the end of the process, she even seems to enjoy herself. Though they find a temporary cure for the fungus, McCoy's report still makes the Federation declare the megaplant a protected life-form and the colonists are forced to abandon the planet. Theela's family pulls some strings and has her assigned to McCoy's crew - he gives her a month's probation.
CONTINUITY: These stories occur while McCoy is on leave from Starfleet; Admiral Kirk reads about them during the Enterprise's refit (The Motion Picture). Ophiucus III is where Harry Mudd was headed in Mudd's Women. "Joanna" is written on the side of McCoy's ship - his daughter's name.
DIVERGENCES: Byrne pictures Andorians both with the forward leaning antennae of Enterprise and the ones sprouting out of the hair of The Original Series, as if to say they're two races within the same species.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Rookie med school mistake
REVIEW: John Byrne is becoming quite good at creating Star Trek series that never were. First Assignment: Earth, then Crew, and now Frontier Doctor. McCoy gets a supporting cast right off the bat, including a steady and courageous professional in Duncan (who may play the action hero of the stories), a cute but volatile nymph for him to mentor in Theela, and a ship's computer that talks back a lot (perfect for the technological curmudgeon in McCoy). The story itself is a fairly standard medical dilemma, livened up by cool-looking plant creatures and technology. McCoy's acerbic self is always fun as he tells his partner to shut up and let himself be treated, or as he grabs an antenna like you would a disobedient child's ear. Kirk's framing tale is not continued into other issues, but makes for a charming send-off from the parent series. Promises good fun just from the covers.
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