Star Trek the Manga  Recommended
Publisher
Tokyopop
Writer
Shinsei Shinsei
Artist
Shinsei Shinsei
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2006
First Look at Star Trek the Manga
By David Rasmussen
17th Sep 06  It’s September 12th 1966... Do you remember where you were? (90% of you can stop attempting to remember past live regression techniques, I’ll just accept “you weren’t there” as an answer… thanks.)
35 years before the day before (September the 11th) became a day that’ll live forever, these days would be remembered for something uplifting as a legacy that will live forever (thanks these days to G4, Spike TV and upcoming TVLand this November and not so much thanks to Paramount) as we hearld the start of three years of our celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek the Original Series. Yes, I said THREE YEARS! Because, as you guessed, every week and every month for the next three years will herald the 40th Anniversary of an episode of classic Trek.
The 40th Anniversary of Where No Man Has Gone Before, The Doomsday Machine, Mirror Mirror, The City On The Edge Of Forever, Piece of the Action, The Naked Time, Amok Time, Journey To Babel, The Immunity Syndrome, and… yes… even Spock’s Brain and Turnabout Intruder will also get it’s 40th Anniversary celebration, even if they are the WORST episodes of Classic Trek. All of these will celebrate their 40th in the coming days and months. Paramount, as if still lagging, is not as up on the 40th as others… though they could do more too.
TVLand just added Classic Star Trek to their line-up (but it’ll never replace Star Trek 2.0 on G4), Spike TV is keeping Star Trek-DS9 on (if you want it or not) as well as Star Trek-TNG (which is also a staple of G4), and there’s a new space shooter Star Trek game coming out… hooray?
But this isn’t about any of that, or the fact that MAYBE during this three year phase Paramount might roll out a new Star Trek movie into theaters (if rumors hold true), it’s about the coming of Trek to manga. Of course if you’ve been a steady follower of all things TOKYOPOP then you know that Trek in Manga is not a new thing. A few years ago TOKYOPOP was supposed to have put out an ongoing Trek title in manga format which (as you guessed) didn‘t seem to come out (proof for instance in how Right Stuf International doesn‘t seem to have any listings for this “series“ in their catalog of mangas for sale). This title, which was supposed to emphasis stories from ST-TNG, never came to be despite the fact I even went to far as to interview the Editor of that title when news first came out about it… wonder why it didn’t come out?
Well, now as we celebrate Trek’s 40th Anniversary we finally have a manga (listed in the AmeriManga section of the Right Stuf International Catalog if you’re looking) paying tribute to Star Trek, the classic vision by Gene Roddenberry and company featuring the original classic journey of the crew of the NCC-1701 and it’s Captain, James T. Kirk. Sadly, however 40 years has passed since Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry’s self proclaimed “Wagon Train to the Stars” launched and not all of the original cast (who we invite each and every day or week into our homes like beloved members of our family depending on when you view or log into G4’s website to check on your daily Spock Market dealings while watching Star Trek 2.0) could be here with us on this anniversary. James (Montgomery Scott) Doohan, Mark (Sarek) Lenard, DeForest (Dr. Leonard McCoy) Kelly, they and more are not here with us to celebrate one step closer to the Golden Anniversary. With 10 years left to go before the Golden Anniversary of Classic Star Trek (2016) we mark this anniversary by marking the passing of some of our beloved friends and extended “family” in the wide “family” that is Star Trek’s fanbase. We miss you one and all, and we’ll always remember you. Always.
And now, your first look at Star Trek the Manga. Star Trek the Manga
In this anthology format manga, five stories await you as well as a preview of Pocket Books’ new “Constellations” anthology book… PS, if this turns out to be a shill-fest for Constellations totally expect to see this title lose a point for being more about shilling Constellations than honoring Classic Trek. - The last survivors of a gender war (totally nasty) live on as spirits in machinery that take control of the Enterprise… apparently they never heard of the man named James T. Kirk, and his ability to talk computers and machines to death… pity the nasty machines. - A dying race unwittingly creates the ultimate resistance to disease… guess who gets involved in their disease resistant hijinks! - A small colony tries to cheat death (again with the whole dying thing!) by uploading it’s collective consciousness into a satellite… OK, just as long as they don’t get picked up by the Enterprise and end up being talked to by a bored Captain Kirk… no, he’s beginning to talk… don’t listen, machine thing, don‘t! - In a story that has nothing to do with dying races, machines, or dying races shoving themselves into machines (all alien machines die when Kirk speaks) warring planets too cheap to hire GalacticUPS or FederationEx (or flowers from Stellar FTD Florists) decide to go Enterprise when sending their absolutely gotta be there overnight peace offerings, that goes bad as one of the “gifts” ends up turning bad (but not in the “expiration date was all wrong and now it’s unedible” bad as the “this is going to kill somebody… or put somebody’s eye out” kind of bad).
Basically it’s like Intergalactic UN Peace Christmas gone wrong! - Finally, because nobody told this creator that Trek already dabbled in the whole giant mecha running on a rampage thing (way way waaaaaayyyyyy back in DC Comics’ first run of Star Trek in a Sulu story written by George Takei if memory serves me correctly) somebody gets a bunch of teen warrior-robot (mecha) pilots into mischief with their mechs… wonder if George Takei’s going to grab some mech controls and start kicking butt like he did in that issue way back when? (That story by the way it was totally jusitifed if you remember way back then.) - Oh, and that preview of “Constellations” from Pocket Books… hooray? Well, be on the lookout for the full review coming soon. But until then keep on trekkin’ and don’t forget to live long and prosper… OK, stop staring at me Paramount. You are so NOT getting into this 40th Anniversary very much, are you! Now get out there and start resoliciting classic Trek comic trade paperbacks, bring back Star Trek the Series DVDs and Star Trek the Animated Series on DVD, and while we’re at it how about Special Edition Collector’s Set of Star Trek the Movies since George Lucas just trumped Trek’s anniversary by re-re-re-re-re (whatever) re-releasing Star Wars Original Trilogy movies all over again (again).
Come on, people, do we classic Trek fans have to hold your hands (or spank you)? Get to it!
-- David Rasmussen 17th Sep 06
|
