Star Trek 1238: An Infinite Jest

1238. An Infinite Jest

PUBLICATION: Star Trek Unlimited #7, Marvel Comics, January 1998

CREATORS: Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton (writers), Ron Randall, Tom Morgan, Art Nichols, and Scott Hanna (artists)

STARDATE: 49827.5 (follows issue #5)

PLOT: Q and Trelaine want to play a game of "who's captain is better?" and switch Kirk and Picard's place in space and time and throw some cross-time Klingon threats at them. Their crews see nothing amiss, but the captains do confide in each other's telepaths/empaths. The omnipotent tricksters accuse the heroes of cheating because Picard uses boldness and Kirk uses diplomacy, as per the era they are in. Q and Trelaine reset everything and decide to fight it out mano a mano instead.

CONTINUITY: The Enterprise-E (First Contact) is launched. Both Trelaine (The Squire of Gothos) and Q (Encounter at Farpoint through All Good Things...) both appear, as do Gowron and TOS Kang (Day of the Dove). Worf is on loan from DS9 again. Spock verifies the mindmeld he will one day have with Picard (Unification).

DIVERGENCES: The events surrounding the launch of the Enterprise-E may contradict the novel Ship of the Line. The link between Trelaine and Q revealed in Q-Squared isn't acknowledged.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Unflattering?
REVIEW: Before the Telepathy War, Star Trek Unlimited produced a TOS and a TNG story. In this issue, Abnett and Edginton merge the two crews into a fun romp that I wish could have gone on longer. It's great to see the crews react to the other captain's style, Kirk putting the moves on Troi, and Picard calling on the intimate link he shared with Spock. Great expressions throughout from each "side"'s artists as well.

Comments

Timothy Tuohy said…
Forget anything that you may ever have heard about genetics. This single issue may have been the primary culprit for my hair loss!
Siskoid said…
Hard to coordinate the two creative teams? Or just wanting to be more like Picard?
Glenn Greenberg said…
If I remember correctly, the cover alone nearly sent Tim to the nuthouse!
Timothy Tuohy said…
So much more than can adequately be described in such a short space. But in a nutshell this was me wanting to fulfill a childhood fantasy of redoing (artwise) What If #32: What if The Avengers Had Become Pawns of Korvac? This was my inspiration to lose my sanity (and hair)! The concept of having multiple artists work on a single page really excited me and this was how I was able to make it happen in one of my Trek titles.

Don't talk to me about the cover ;-)
Siskoid said…
Glenn: Can't wait to read your Untold Voyages. I'm still a vergin to them.

Tim: And What If 32 gets some play here in only a few Saturdays! Sorry to hear about your hair. ;)
Matthew Turnage said…
I'm looking forward to Untold Voyages coming up in the rotation as well. Glenn, I really enjoyed that series. I wish it could have been an ongoing.
Siskoid said…
I'm going to finish the series I started before Telepathy War (Unlimited, DS9, Voyager) and then will delve into Untold Voyages. That's in about a week!
darkknight81 said…
I gotta tell you,the Enterprise-E would've been the perfect ship for a badass like Kirk. 16 phaser arrays,ten torpedo launchers?!The kickass design!! Kirk would've been in hog heaven!
Anonymous said…
I gotta say I found the mischaracterization of Kirk in this comic pretty awful. He's not a "shoot first, ask questions later" type. How can anyone who has actually wayched the series believe that!!? He always tries to outwit (and befriend if possible) his oponents. This is established at least since "The Corbomite Manouever". Violence is always his last resort. And don't get me started with that crap with Troi. Kirk is not a womanizer or a Lothario. When he used seduction, it was always as a means to escape some danger, not just "because".