Star Trek 1342: The Enterprise Experiment, Part 3

1342. The Enterprise Experiment, Part 3

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: Year Four - The Enterprise Experiment #3, IDW Comics, July 2008

CREATORS: D.C. Fontana and Derek Chester (writers), Gordon Purcell and Terry Pallot (artists)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: Kor intercepts a message saying a Federation outpost has found a massive dilithium deposit AND an equally massive archaeological treasure, so he decides to test the Organian Treaty. For some reason, the Organians are no longer enforcing it, and he takes the planet by violence. As the Klingons commit more ships to crossing the neutral zone, the Enterprise is sent to investigate. Kirk and crew liberate the survivors from a handful of Klingon troops, but fully expect the main force to return. They fly to the archaeological find, a huge city poking out of a crevasse...

CONTINUITY: Kor and the Organians first appeared in Errand of Mercy. Kirk thinks of Carol and David Marcus and quotes from A Tale of Two Cities, prefiguring The Wrath of Khan. He saw the two of them at his brother Sam's funeral (Operation -- Annihilate!).

DIVERGENCES: DC's 1984 Star Trek #1 has the Klingons break the Organian Treaty during the movie era as if it was a first. Marvel's Untold Voyages had yet another explanation.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Nurse Chapel sees an ugly mole on Kirk's back, but says nothing.
REVIEW: I was afraid this would happen. Too many IDW mini-series haven't been able to stick to a single story, awkwardly setting stand-alone tales next to each other under a single title. The Enterprise Experiment is an exercise in two-parters (up to now), but issue 3 simply doesn't fit under the mini's title. The first two issues laid seeds for stories featuring Romulans, the Guardian of Forever and Section 31. None of these appear here. But if I look at the issue as divorced from the mini, it's as good as the others were, if not better. The Klingons and how to threw off the shackles of the Organian Treaty are worthy subject matter, and the comic doles out equal servings of action and character development. I don't know how Kirk's angst vis-à-vis his son will play a part in the overall arc of the mini-series, but it certainly gives more potency to the Year Four mythos IDW is trying to create. These aren't just stand-alone tales, they're part of a sequence that lays the groundwork for the movies. And as usual, excellent art.