Star Trek 1361: The End Of History

1361. The End Of History

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Last Generation #5, IDW Comics, March 2009

CREATORS: Andrew Steven Harris (writer), Gordon Purcell and Bob Almond (artists)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: Picard and the Excelsior go back in time to the Khitomer peace talks thanks to Data's calculations. They discover Braxton has changed history again and again by this point, taking Kirk completely out of the equation. Picard initially fails to save the Federation president, and Braxton takes him to his ship, the Event Horizon. There he explains that in his studies of history, he's found that the galaxy ends suddenly in every timeline where the Federation exists. He needs for Picard's era to be the Federation's last generation and will now carpet bomb the conference. But Picard's returned to this moment before too and is somewhat ahead of Braxton. To save the future, he has the Excelsior ram into the Event Horizon. Though we don't see the timeline reset, the future is apparently saved.

CONTINUITY: See previous issues. The cover is an homage to the Star Trek VI poster. Braxton (Relativity) claims Kirk made the whales go extinct in the first place when he took the two back to the future (The Voyage Home). Picard paraphrases Kirk's "it's about the future" speech when talking to Azetbur (The Undiscovered Country).

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - No really, who IS that dark haired guy with the stubble?
REVIEW: A strange, but fun finish. Strange because Picard is recursively going back to the same moment many times, just as Braxton is, but we're not always in on it. It keeps the surprise, but can be confusing. As is the very end, since it doesn't include an on-panel reset. We can imagine everything works out for the best, but as of the last panel, Kirk still doesn't exist and Khitomer lies in ruins. Cute (or cheesy, according to taste), but not reassuring. Of course, we know Lost Gen is not the true timeline (or one of two true timelines now), so we don't mind. I would have liked for the rest of the group to have a little more to do in the finale, but solid art, fun paradox stuff and a satisfying homage to ST VI will just have to do!