The burden of proof generally lies with the extraordinary claim, not the ordinary one. By analogy, a show set on present-day Earth doesn't have to prove that its characters are native to Earth. It's the opposite claim that demands proof.
And Koloth of TOS does? Looks more like the Squire of Gothos to me! How about the forehead on Colonel Worf? (ST VI) But if someone comes along and says, in an episode or movie, that the Gorn we met in "Arena" had once entered the Milky Way and settled here, is there anything to say that they couldn't have done so? I wasn't asking for proof, I was simply curious if any canonical evidence precluded the Gorn of TOS from being of extragalactic origin?
Yes, I suppose so. Although if you adhere to the depiction of the Gorn in the Pocket novels, an extragalactic origin would just be pointless for them. The Gorn species went from stone age to warp age on Gornar just as any other contemporary species did as far as the historical record can tell. Plus, Gorn mythology has nothing that could be linked to an extragalactic migration.
Why would they do that? The Gorn could have suffered the same type of societal fracture that the Vulcans and Romulans did in the past. Either one found there way from the Milky Way or to it.
Well I can't speak to potential storytelling opportunities, but the Gorn in the novels are just an ordinary Alpha/Beta Quadrant reptilian spacefaring species.
The preview for issue #32 of IDW's ongoing comic series, "I, Enterprise Part 2", showed up earlier today on the official Star Trek website along with a 7 page preview and a repeat of the blurb. http://www.startrek.com/article/i-enterprise-concludes I don't know how, but I'm actually psyched for an Abramsverse comic after seeing the preview!
Star Trek #32 I, Enterprise Part 2 of 2 review. Full article - http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2014/04/comic-book-review-star-trek-32.html
I picked up Part 2 of IDW's "I, Enterprise", about Crewman 0718, on Thursday, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We've certainly seen this kind of story before in Trek: the Ilia Probe in TMP; the Enterprise-D's computer achieving sentience in "Emergence" (TNG); the Borg Drone they called One, who came from the EMH's mobile emitter, Seven's nanoprobes and Mulcahey's DNA (VOY's "Drone"); Morgan Primus's most recent guise in "New Frontier" novels and comics; and the holographic avatar of a ship's computer in "Titan: Synthesis", fashioned after Minuet. But this story works well. I'm thrilled we got to know more about 0718. I hadn't really expected a backstory to unfold already, and thought Bad Robot may have done a little more with him in the next movie first.
0718 was one of my favorite parts of Star Trek Into Darkness. I actually like an IDW comic for once because of him although 0718's origin story could have taken more issues. So is 0718 supposed to be a cybernetically-enhanced artificial human, a newly-created artificial member of the machine planet's creators, or a unique individual? Or something else? Cause on first pages we see him completely naked but he doesn't seem to have any male genitalia as most Federation humanoids in theory have.
^The excerpt said the body was created from the ship's transplant-tissue stores, which would make him an android in the original sense of the word, a created biological humanoid like a Blade Runner replicant or Frankenstein's Monster -- though I'd assume the brain is cybernetic. As for the anatomical depiction, that could be artistic license; it wouldn't be the first time that cartoonists rendering a naked body chose to omit the genitalia.
I wonder the machine planet designed him with anything like vision for more spectra than the visible or great strength.
I would assume his eyes are better than humans' eyes. And most non-humans in Trek are stronger than humans.
I really liked the idea of an origin story about this character, but the end felt a little rushed: Spoiler: The End Spock reviving him with a phaser battery and upgrading him with an artificial intelligence program he had lying around? Feels more like the writers had only half a page left to explain the resurrection of Officer 0718, so they had to come up with some random bullshit. Maybe they should have made this a three parter? Anyway, this comic two parter would have made a great tv two parter!
Every time IDW does a two-parter it seems like people complain it shoulda been a three-parter. Four-parters shoulda been five-parters. Six-parters shoulda been five-parters. People screaming that subplots are either absent or "just filler". And so on. Madness! For me, finishing the "I, Enterprise" two-parter with "The End for now" suggests that there is definitely more to come for Science Officer 0718, but perhaps not more detail until after the next movie?
Y'know I wonder where this machine planet was in the prime reality. Maybe the Klingons encountered it first, lost some ships to it, and then brought a task force to annihilate it?
I think generally most of the two-parters have had over-simplistic, rushed conclusions, whereas I've felt that all the 4-parters have been fairly satisfying. A few of the shorter stories have worked well but mostly it has felt like they've squandered some really great ideas. The one-shot redshirts springs to mind as a really well done shorter story so it does depend on the material but for sci fi, I think one issue to set up and one issue to conclude leaves little room to tell a decent story with any character development. We end up with a story that is about character development or we end up with a brief sci fi story and I think that those elements work better if combined in one longer story most of the time. As far as this story goes, we only scratched the surface of the new character with almost no exploration of the sci fi elements beyond brief peril. It was enjoyable enough but I was hungry for more. Loving the artwork though.