Star Trek 1277: All of Me

1277. All of Me

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: All of Me, Wildstorm Comics, April 2000

CREATORS: Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll (writers), Aaron Lopresti and Randy Emberlin (artists)

STARDATE: 6618.4 (before The Trouble with Tribbles)

PLOT: With a brig full of Orion pirates, the Enterprise is deviated from its course by Starfleet to answer an urgent summons from brilliant scientist - and former classmate of Spock's - Armand St. John. When they get to his laboratory on Pollux II, they find that 1) he's gone insane and 2) he's populated the planet with versions of himself from alternate universes. He plans to take over the Federation with one of himself to govern each planet and he quickly captures the landing party and commandeers the Enterprise with the Orions' help. Scotty locks out the computers, giving Kirk and Spock below more time. Spock gets on St. John's good side and tricks him into revealing his machines don't really work. How could they? Finding St. Johns of different species and genders that are all pliable to his will hardly makes sense. Spock surmises some unknown force is creating the duplicates, and in knocking St. John out, they disappear. As they ferry him to a mental health facility, they are visited by the Djinn, a god-like being that hates humanity and wants to prevent it from realizing its full potential. He belives he's won, having taken the mind of a once brilliant man, and prevented the Enterprise from making a discovery at a now destroyed colony that would have set humanity on the path to godhood.

CONTINUITY: The Orions of both sexes appear. Armand St. John was inspired by Kirk's trip to the Mirror Universe, and some version of Mirror Spock appears (Mirror, Mirror). St. John is sent to the Elba II asylum (Whom Gods Destroy). Scotty is shown to be the source of the computer lock-out strategy (TNG and beyond).

DIVERGENCES: It seems unlikely that this would take place on Pollux II, a stone's throw from Pollux IV (Who Mourns for Adonais?).

PANEL OF THE DAY - That night, at Tribal Council...
REVIEW: In the early 2000s, the Star Trek comic book license passed to DC's Wildstorm imprint, which used it to publish graphic novels and mini-series, but no continuing series. The same model would later be adopted by IDW, so Marvel were the last to invest in monthly and bimonthly series for the franchise. All of Me is the first TOS graphic novel and though retro in many ways (a god-like being, a "fantasy world"), it has a slick modern look with many fun set pieces. It basically starts with Kirk kicking an Orion upside the head. Yay! Lopresti's art is quite pleasant (that's a fetching Orion slave girl!), and Isabella and Ingersol are "name" writers that are never less than competent. Sure, not every cast member gets a proper moment, but they're all here, and good for some gentle comedy. It's all about Kirk and Spock, with a side-order of Scotty. I was a little disturbed that St. John would have a female duplicate of himself, but as the truth of the situation was slowly revealed, it became more palatable, and "Jane T. Kirk" is a really funny idea. Best not to dwell on how the tv show would have done this... As for the Djinn, he seems to promise to return, but I don't think ever did. Not a problem. The Star Trek universe is already jam-packed with "gods", often with cultural links to Earth. We didn't really need another one. His motives and complex agenda were interesting for a one-off, but I'm in no hurry for another tale of this type to come from Wildstorm.

This Week in Geek (31/05-06/06/10)

Buys

A number of buys this time around. A sale on Amazon had me get MI-5/Spooks Series 7 and the first season of Chuck for cheaps. Finishing the Martha cycle (see below) made me get 4 New Series Doctor Who books (the ones after the three I still have to read): Beautiful Chaos, The Eyeless, The Story of Martha, and Judgement of the Judoon. And because I wanted to feature Michelle Yeoh in August's screening of Kung Fu Friday, I snatched Royal Warriors, Butterfly Sword and in the thematically compatible A Touch of Zen.

"Accomplishments"

DVDs: With Ip Man, Donnie Yen goes from being my favorite contemporary martial arts action star to one of my favorite actors as well. Ip Man was a Wing Chun master who taught, among others, Bruce Lee. Yen creates a wonderful semi-biographical character, much unlike his usual screen persona, who is rather serene when he fights. Until the Japanese invade, that is, and he goes all Fist of Fury on them. The action, choreographed by Sammo Hung, is incredible. I've never seen those moves before. The human drama is poignant. Wilson Yip's other directorial efforts have been good, but not incredible. This comes out of left field. The DVD has a the usual making of material, interviews and deleted scenes notable for featuring the death scenes of three main characters(!).

Books: Time, Unincorporated vol. 1 is Mad Norwegian's collection of Lance Parkin's articles from a variety of fanzines, mostly The Matrix and Enlightenment. The biggest chunk is a year-by-year review of the franchise (including the 1989-2005 wasteland), with previously unpublished material taking us to 2008. Stand-alone articles discuss everything from Quatermass to Torchwood to the novels and audios. Parkin admits to identifying with Adric when he was young, tries to find the point at which Doctor Who jumped the shark, but is most infectious in his love for the new series. As he says, "There was a war, and we won..." Because of the nature of the collection, there's some repetition between articles, but it's still a great compendium. I'll admit that I didn't read it ALL because the last section is about writing The Eyeless, and I haven't read it yet. As you can see under "Buys", I just got it. So I'll wait to read it before finishing Time, Uninc.

And I finally finished Dale Smith's The Many Hands, a new series book starring the Tenth Doctor and Martha in 18th-century Edinburgh fighting cloned hands by the loch. There are some good bits, especially near the end when things are most dire, but I felt the book was rather repetitive. The Doctor and Martha, separated, encounter the same threat, after all. There was also the problem of shifting the point of view to the ancillary characters, which would work in a longer book, but here somehow marginalizes the stars. I have little interest in a story about a British soldier who doesn't know what to think of the funny man with the wand. Consequently, this is a book I put down and only picked up again lately. Took me awhile.

On top of that, I completely read Gary Russell's first Doctor Who novel, the New Adventure "Legacy". Or as I call it, Legacy of Peladon. Russell is well known for his obsession for continuity plug-ins, which at their worst turn out like Divided Loyalties, but here, I think it stands up. It's possibly the best Peladon story in any medium (ok, the bar isn't very high, I know). There are tons of winks to continuity, as well as inside jokes, only some of which I'm equipped to get. The history of Peladon, the Ice Warriors and Bernice are all very well used, but then there are more gratuitous references like the Ogri, Goth and the Cybermen. Still, a cracking story not very much hampered by the over-obvious villain or Ace's side-lining. (It strikes me that she has become a difficult character to integrate into the action of the NAs - too competent and combat happy.) So... a 6.5 out of 10?

New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 1 card each from each story in Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 and each episode in Torchwood: Children of Earth. Those 11 are joined by 13 more from New Earth as I start designing cards for my Song for Ten set, celebrating the 10th Doctor's much beloved era.
Hyperion to a Satyr entries this week include:
I.ii. The Wedding Banquet - Tennant (2009)

Star Trek 1276: Splashdown, Part Four

1276. Splashdown, Part Four

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: Voyager - Splashdown #4, Marvel Comics, July 1998

CREATORS: Laurie S. Sutton (writer), Terry Pallot and Al Milgrom (artists)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: As the drones swoop in to attack, Chakotay beams aboard the aerowing and then to the alien facility where he surprises the prospector and destroys the drones' control circuits. They crash into the sea. However, Chakotay's hit causes a cascade reaction that threatens to destroy the facility, and the away team in the crypts barely escapes the flooding. The gateway shows them the pyramids of Egypt, but Chakotay can't take the chance of ordering someone through in case it leads to another time as well as place. He throws a piece of his uniform into it which tourists in 2863 (the far future) ignore. Janeway plans to return the prospector's confiscated treasure to their rightful owners and to use the planet's geothermal energy to replenish the ship's power supplies.

CONTINUITY: See previous issues (Aerowing). The crypts are full of Vhnori corpses (Emanations). It is never made clear if the gateway was of Iconian origin (Contagion, To the Death).

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Starfleet... They've seen it all.
REVIEW: While the action beats are strong and the ending a properly inspirational "hero" speech, there are entirely too many questions left unanswered in the Splashdown finale. Was that gateway Iconian? Why was the script familiar to Tuvok (who was sure he'd seen them in the Delta Quadrant). Why was the prospector stealing Vhnori mummies? How did Voyager recover the treasure? What did they do with the prospector? Why wouldn't he give up his identity? Is there a reason for withholding information here? Perhaps at some point there were plans to pursue all this in another mini-series, but alas, the entire line collapsed. At least Voyager ends on a relative high compared to many issues of the series itself.

And this is also the last issue under the Marvel license. I'd like to thank editor Tim Tuohy for his many contributions in the comments sections of these reviews. It was very interesting to read about what was going on behind the scenes at Marvel Star Trek. I, for one, will miss his input as we enter the next phase of Star Trek comics - the Wildstorm issues.

What If... There Were No Fantastic Four?

At first, it seems like this story isn't playing very fair with us, setting the origins of every single Marvel hero in the same week, but then I realized what writer Roger Stern was doing. By effectively removing Marvel's first superhero series from continuity, he prevents the entire Marvel Age from occurring. It doesn't really work as a timeline, but it's conceptually perfect. What we get is a Marvel Comics that's still exclusively doing monster stories (which the Thing's journey becomes). Rather interesting!What If Vol.1 #31 (February 1982)
Based on: Fantastic Four #1
The true history: Four people go up into orbit in an unprotected ship and get hit with cosmic rays. When they come back down, they have super-powers, so they band together as the Fantastic Four.
Turning point: What if Ben Grimm was unhinged by his transformation?
Story type: Deviated origin
Watcher's mood: Acne problems
Altered history: In this reality, the Thing refuses to join the FF and instead goes a little coo-coo for CocoPuffs. He's a freak! A monster! They all are! He starts a rampage across the country while the other three lay low and prepare to stop him. When he hits New York, he briefly meets Alicia Masters (oh the potential!) and then starts interfering with everyone's secret origin. He throws a truck and scares Peter Parker away from the science exhibit...
He causes a traffic jam that makes Don Blake miss his plane to Scandinavia. Thor remains legend.
The government pulls Tony Stark away from his trip to Vietnam and Bruce Banner from his gamma bomb tests to work on a weapon that can stop the Thing.
They'll never get shrapnelled/irradiated now! And that's the Baxter Building Ben's climbed up on. It gets destroyed in the battle. Thunderbolt Ross gives the Fantastic Three a few minutes to reason with Ben, but it doesn't work. And neither does the Stark-Banner cannon.
It just makes the Thing stronger, but somehow depowers the rest of the would-be FF. Ross is so angry, he promises that none of them will ever work for the government again. No Iron Man armor! No gamma bomb! No rocket back into space! It's hard to become a superhero when you don't have DoD funding.
Books canceled as a result: Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor and Incredible Hulk are all out, which by extension means we lose Avengers, Sub-Mariner and Captain America. The Watcher does make reference to Dr. Doom and the Skrulls still menacing Earth, but perhaps this time other heroes rise up. Looks like Marvel Universe would have surrendered to X-Mania 15+ years early. And Ant-Man. He's still around.
These things happen: The FF dropped to three a number of time, but it didn't put the group in serious jeopardy. They just recruited other people. Most famously, the Thing was replaced by She-Hulk for a long stretch.

Next week: What If the Avengers Had Become Pawns of Korvac?
My guess: Everybody dies (when in doubt...).

Star Trek 1275: Splashdown, Part Three

1275. Splashdown, Part Three

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: Voyager - Splashdown #3, Marvel Comics, June 1998

CREATORS: Laurie S. Sutton (writer), Terry Pallot and Al Milgrom (artists)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: As Voyager continues its slow climb to the surface, B'Elanna fights anti-gravity fires in engineering. In the alien facility, an alien prospector comes out of a teleporting portal. He's made it his base, and has learned to control its transport system and the drones. He slips from the away team's grasp and Harry trips a defense system that shocks them all into unconsciousness. The prospector locks them in the crypts and in order to protect his claim, commands the drones to ambush Voyager as it rises out of the water...

CONTINUITY: See previous issue (Vorik).

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Playing at Wasted or Busted
REVIEW: The villain of the piece provides some humor, as it's basically a misunderstanding, but a dangerous one. The disaster movie elements are still there, though the firefighting sequence doesn't work very well. Engineering seems much bigger than it should be and we often lose landmarks to orient ourselves. The cliffhanger with the drones waiting for the ship have much better visuals. Continues to be an enjoyable action-driven mini-series. Everything seemed too easy on the show itself, so it's nice to see Voyager's crew really put to the test.

Kung Fu Fridays in June

The month's new poster features probably my favorite contemporary martial arts star, Donnie Yen. The image is from the promotional material for Ip Man, for which he got many accolades, even though the Donnie Yen movie I planned to show was Dragon Tiger Gate. And then I was given Ip Man as a gift, so guess what change I made to the line-up of films shown at my house every Friday this month?

Ip Man - The name (and story) of Bruce Lee's master, the first man to openly teach the martial art of Wing Chun (so it has nothing to do with Internet Protocol). Donnie Yen partners with his usual director, Wilson Yip, as well as Kill Zone co-star Simon Yamm and action choreographer Sammo Hung. This is all good news.

Above the Law - A strong dose of 80s cheese should come with this Yuen Biao/Cynthia Rothrock vehicle about a lawyer who takes the law into his own hands. Some guys take you to People's Court. Yuen Biao kicks your ass with his kung fu. Note that this KFF will actually be on Saturday, because most of us are walking the Relay for Life.

Dog Bite Dog - I think a KFF regular complained that we hadn't seen any "pure fight" movies recently (in favor of police tragedies and wuxia, presumably), so I've really loaded the dice in June. Which seems unnecessary after Fist of Fury/Fist of Legend last week. But here we are. Dog Bite Dog looks to be big on fights, but I expect it to be a violent noir police thriller as well. Apparently so dark as to be called nihilistic. Leave your joie de vivre at the door.

Battle of the Warriors - And we end the month on a historical "Warring States of China" picture featuring one of my favorite Chinese actors, Andy Lau. The better Hong Kong title is "A Battle of Wits" and it has a convoluted pedigree, being based on a manga, in turn based on a Japanese novel inspired by Chinese history.

Star Trek 1274: Splashdown, Part Two

1274. Splashdown, Part Two

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: Voyager - Splashdown #2, Marvel Comics, May 1998

CREATORS: Laurie S. Sutton (writer), Terry Pallot and Al Milgrom (artists)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: Voyager is still sinking and taking in water (and nasty seafood). An injured Seven reaches sickbay while B'Elanna attempts to section off the flooded parts of the ship and restore the shields. From the bridge, Janeway tries everything to slow the ship's descent, from reversing the environmental systems, to beaming out the water, to powering up the anti-gravs, to the thrusters. Eventually, the ship stabilizes and stops going down. They detect where the drones' commands were coming from and send the ship's aerowing to investigate. The underwater ruins still have atmosphere, and Tuvok thinks the script on the walls inside looks familiar. But before he has time to translate them, the power systems come online...

CONTINUITY: Joe Carey and Vorik appear. They make use of the aerowing shuttle, which appears on Voyager's design as its own captain's yacht.
DIVERGENCES: The aeroshuttle was never used on the show, but that's a problem with the show. A Commander Sherwood appears, which seems too high a rank for us not to know who she is.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Will they have any air LEFT?
REVIEW: This issue uses technobabble right. We know Starfleet ships have all these systems, and Janeway uses as many of them as possible in order to address the sinking problem. I'm sure some crew members will be unhappy that their furniture got beamed out with the bathwater, so to speak, but hey, it's a crisis. And that's very well conveyed here. The situation is dire, and every new solution brings its own set of problems. It's really the kind of thing that could never be filmed for television (flooded decks, anti-gravity, oh my) but remains grounded in the show's reality. Character moments aren't forgotten, especially the tense relationship between Seven and B'Elanna. The appearance of the aerowing is an unexpected and very cool surprise. It always irked me that the Enterprise never used the Captain's Yacht (from the Technical Manual), and with the Delta Flyer, Voyager ignored its own design even more. The visit to the alien ruins is more standard fare then the disaster movie elements, so we'll see how that goes.