1103. Future ImperiledPUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation Annual #6, DC Comics, 1995
CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Ken Save and Sam de la Rosa (artists)
STARDATE: 48015.1 and 8854.3 (follows Star Trek Annual #6)
PLOT: In each of their eras, the Enterprise A and D send a crew down to a cave on Devidia IV and find a way to create a time rift there. Walking through the Devidians' limbo, but unable to fully perceive each other, they find the forcefield that contains the timeknapped characters. By removing these people from history, the Devidians have created a parallel where the Romulans will eventually defeat the Federation. Together, they beat the Devidians and Exana returns the captives to their proper times with their memories of the events wiped. The Aegis appear to apologize to her and Gary Seven (they've rescued him from his death) for not believing them about the Devidian threat. Gary and Exana fall into each others' arms and everyone returns home to a repaired timeline.
CONTINUITY: See Star Trek Annual #6 (Devidians, Aegis, Romulans, Harriman, Gary Seven). In the changed timeline, Riker and Troi are Imzadi again, after he almost lost her in a border clash with the Romulans. Chancellor Gowron joins the ranks of the timeknapped (from 5 years after Reunion).
DIVERGENCES: See Star Trek Annual #6 (Treaty of Algeron). Worf recognizes "Ambassador" Spock, which would seem to contradict the first part of the story where Sybok has taken his place (Spock is out of history before becoming an ambassador).
PANEL OF THE DAY - The Aegis' policy on arms is unclear.
REVIEW: Sure, I would have liked to explore the parallel universe more, and it would have been great fun if the two crews had been more aware of each other, but the story does keep continuity from completely imploding. I was reminded of the novel Federation in how it managed that. Gary Seven is resurrected as expected, though that does deflate Part 1 a little, and there's an awful lot of walking through limbo in the issue, especially since the two crews have redundant experiences. I'm gonna go and call Part 1 the better chapter (funnier too, which I wasn't expecting from a Weinstein script), but Part 2 is ok too. Kind of like most televised Part 2s in Star Trek, it falls a little short of Part 1's promise. And Nova never turns into a dude?!
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