1231. Parents' DayPUBLICATION: Starfleet Academy #13, Marvel Comics, December 1997
CREATORS: Chris Cooper (writer), John Royle and Tom Wegrzyn (artists)
STARDATE: Unknown (follows Telepathy War #1)
PLOT: It's Parents' Day at the Academy and everyone gets a visit. Admiral Decker wants to transfer Matt out of Omega Squad. Pava's mom is a holo-novelist who smuggles a pregnant pet hybor to Earth and has people believe she's a secret agent and that the animal has secret coded information in its DNA. Edam's parents beam negatve thoughts at their son because they want him to return to Betazed, and those thoughts make the hybor change into its secondary, fierce form (along with its entire litter). As Admiral Decker and Pava's mom get romantic (gross!), the cadets work together to capture the hybors without harming any of them, making the Betazoids see Starfleet (and their son) in a new light. T'Priell's parents come to the conclusion that she isn't their daughter and warn the Academy commandant...
CONTINUITY: Admiral Brand (The First Duty) returns as Academy commandant.
DIVERGENCES: The hybors get fierce when they're cold, but the impression we get from episodes of Enterprise is that Andoria is always cold.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Forget the Telepathy War. Forget the Dominion War. This is REAL.
REVIEW: After all the action and drama of the Telepathy War, we get a fun character-driven breather. Scenes for each child/parent combo could have been isolated, but Cooper goes the extra mile by integrating most of them into the same story, playing off each other. Pava's mom is a hoot (a sexy hoot!) as are the pacifist Betazoids tortured by their rebellious son. The Vulcan parent-child relationship is pretty funny too, come to think of it. There's even a scene with cadet Goldstein's parents, showing that Kamilah hasn't been forgotten, and the story is told in a letter to Nog, so he gets a cameo too. One thing left unresolved is Commandant Pradesh's status. Is he a shape-shifter or isn't he? And is there actual worth in not telling us yet? The next few issues will deal with T'Priell's Romulan sleeper stuff, a storyline that's been in the making since issue #1. So Pradesh will have to wait longer, but I think T'Priell deserves to go first.
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