1424. The Galileo Seven (Reboot)PUBLICATION: Star Trek #3, IDW Comics, November 2011
CREATORS: Mike Johnson (writer), Stephen Molnar and Joe Phillips (artists)
STARDATE: 2821.5 (sometime after the Star Trek movie)
PLOT: The comic follows the events of the tv episode "The Galileo Seven", with changes based on the new J.J. Abrams continuity (for anomalies that cannot be accounted for, see Divergences). The Galileo crashes on Tarsus II while investigating a quasar and must face primitive beings and a total loss of ship power. Meanwhile, Kirk has a dignitary breathing down his neck about keeping to an important schedule and threatening to put an end to the search for survivors.
CONTINUITY: The story signals Yeoman Janice Rand's first rebooted appearance. People and elements that appear here and in the original story include Taurus II, the Murasaki 312 quasar (with the look of the remastered episode, though a different color), the plague on New Paris, Makus III, Commissioner Ferris, Boma, Gaetano, Latimer, Kelowitz, and of course, the Galileo shuttle.
DIVERGENCES: Yeoman Rand does not appear in the original episode. She here replaces Yeoman Mears. The stardate is the same as in the original episode, despite the fact that the reboot continuity is set much earlier in time.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Someone knows he's wearing a red shirt.
REVIEW: Though issue 2 of this series proved interesting by visibly diverging from the original script it was based on, this issue suffers from the same problems the first issue did, namely that it's so close to the original as to be unnecessary. If it weren't for some small touches, like Uhura's relationship with Spock, you wouldn't even know this wasn't a straight adaptation, albeit an off-model one. The appearance of Yeoman Rand holds some promise. Here is a character unlikely to show up in the films, but whose name we know and who could enjoy some kind of hopefully surprising reboot arc. A paper-and-ink character need not suffer from the same personal problems as an actress and might be able to profit from this project. Very little is done with her here though. And while the "special effects" are naturally better than the original's (and the art up to the task), we don't get to see the Taureans yet, creatures in deep need of a makeover. But even with that to look forward to, there seems to be little to look forward to in the second and final chapter. The dangers are the same, the proposed solutions up to now are too, and the reactions beat-for-beat identical to the original script. Can you surprise me next month, Mr. Johnson? While I can enjoy this series on the same basis as, say, Target's Doctor Who adaptations, I do wish there was more meat to the retold stories.
Comments
The strangest thing about this issue for me was the fact that there was so much dialogue straight from the original episode. I found myself "hearing" the voices of Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley as I read while looking at the faces of Pine, Quinto and Urban. Wierd.