1346. Yesterday, Today and TomorrowPUBLICATION: Star Trek - Assignment: Earth #2, IDW Comics, June 2008
CREATORS: John Byrne (writer), John Byrne (artist)
STARDATE: Unknown (1969; a year after the last issue and simultaneous with Tomorrow Is Yesterday)
PLOT: When the Enterprise in the skies of 1969 and accidentally destroys a fighter jet, Gary Seven's team teleports to the air force base to destroy the plane's camera footage of the starship. Kirk beats them to it, of course, and the team spend the rest of the day chasing various loose ends just as they get tied by Kirk or Spock. They even teleport to the Enterprise to get John Christopher back (already handled), and then Gary realizes the ship is going back in time so he 'ports his team back. They meet themselves and Seven hypnotizes their past selves and makes them forget what just happened before making his computer hide the starship from the plane's cameras on this second try. The current team goes to dinner, as there's no emergency, and the time traveling team disappears from the timestream.
CONTINUITY: The issue tells the story of Gary Seven's involvement in the events of Tomorrow Is Yesterday. John Christopher appears.
DIVERGENCES: None.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Isis does her thing.
Isis does her other thing.
REVIEW: With a vibe not unlike that of Trial and Tribble-ations (or Back to the Future Part II), this issue revisits a classic Trek episode, though there's not much for the Aegis team to do once there. Byrne could have played this for laughs a little more, but it's a fun enough romp. Especially amusing is how the Trek guys are always seen from the back or heard through doorways, but never given a proper hero shot. They didn't see the team the first time around, after all! It's also fun to see Gary and Roberta in TOS uniforms. If there's a weakness here, it's the ending. What they finally "fix" is something of a non-issue, to be honest, and deflates the big joke that the Enterprise crew had everything well in hand... but thanks for the help anyway! And then the way the paradox plays out is just a tad mystifying, but then didn't really make sense on the show either, so beggars can't be choosers.
Comments
With regard to Assignment: Earth, I've often speculated that it takes place on April 4 given Spock's line about an important assassination taking place that day (in this case, Martin Luther King, Jr.).