How many continuities are there in Trek Literature?

[David cgc]

I don't know why, but I still love that TSFS montage. It's also the only Star Trek movie where the first (post credits) shot is the Enterprise! No, I'm not counting Generations. But even if I do, that means that in 13 movies we open on the hero ship TWICE.

Beyond's first shot is of the Enterprise, though we cut to Kirk on the planet below.

 

[Tallguy]

Beyond's first shot is of the Enterprise, though we cut to Kirk on the planet below.

TOUGH crowd. I love it! Ok, 3/13, right?

 

[JD]

Since DC's series didn't start until '84, they only did 8 issues set between TWOK and TSFS, comprising four distinct storylines (in fact, the comics adaptation of TSFS came out in between the two parts of the story spanning issues 7-8). So that's probably only a couple of months' worth of events.




In one respect, it seems there should be something in between, because the Enterprise has significantly more hull damage at the start of TSFS than it had at the end of TWOK. The story in issues 7-8 does involve the ship getting banged up by torpedoes, although it doesn't explain how the new battle damage includes some of the exact same scars inflicted in TWOK.

Other than that, the most significant inconsistency is the bit at the start of TSFS where Phil Morris's character asks if there will be a memorial service for Spock. I could buy issues 7-8 (dealing with Saavik's pon farr) getting Kirk preoccupied with Spock's death again, but it's hard to believe there wouldn't have been a memorial before then.

Still, it's better than DC's attempt to fit The Voyage Home into their continuity. They managed to reset things pretty well for the most part, but the transitional storyline asserted that the captured Bird of Prey had been in the Excelsior's shuttlebay the whole time, even though the issues set just after TSFS correctly showed that the BoP was far too big for that and needed to be towed behind the Excelsior, tucked under its fantail.

I was thinking it was at least a year or two's worth. It's been a while since I read the issues, so my of them memory isn't very clear.

 

[Lt. Tyler]

How about the Gold Key Star Trek comic book series. Would that be in it's own separate continuity/universe?

 

[Christopher]

How about the Gold Key Star Trek comic book series. Would that be in it's own separate continuity/universe?

Holy cow, would it ever. The writers and artists of the early issues hadn't even seen the show. The later issues tended to be more show-consistent, but still, they were '70s Gold Key comics, so they were weird and goofy at best.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Can we put Gold Key in the same universe as the old TOS UK strips, which had redshirted Captain Kurt, Spock and Bailey as the leads for the first couple of issues?

 

[Christopher]

Can we put Gold Key in the same universe as the old TOS UK strips, which had redshirted Captain Kurt, Spock and Bailey as the leads for the first couple of issues?

I doubt it very much. And I doubt either one has enough internal consistency to be treated as a cohesive "universe."

 

[Extrocomp]

The Gold Key comics may have had silly stories, bad artwork and terrible continuity with the show, but at least they never got Kirk's name wrong.