IDW revisiting Mirror Universe

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by The Wormhole, Dec 12, 2016.

  1. Tuskin38

    Tuskin38 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    They're isolated, why would they have a connection to Bajor? the KCA is probably blockading the system as best as possible, blocking communications and all that.
     
  2. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    Plus, it is the Empire. Why would they give a shit if they are running a human slave ring in the Bajor system?
     
  3. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Granted I've not read this series yet (I wait for the TP these days) but some thoughts on this discussion based on what I know of the plot:

    The Terran Empire is basically just the Sol system now, with Picard commanding the Stargazer defending it from the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. For all we know, the series ends with them failing and MU Earth falls to the Alliance. Or even if it is still unconquered by the time of the DS9 episodes, it's not too much to believe the Alliance would have a propaganda machine in place to suppress this info. After all, don't want those human slaves and resistance fighters hearing their homeworld is still defying the Alliance, might inspire them, give them hope or something.
     
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  4. Nyotarules

    Nyotarules Vice Admiral Moderator

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    I guess it can work if one ignores the novels that move on from the DS9 episodes and humans realise that their Imperial ancestors were a bunch of racist assholes with delusions of granduer and give democracy a go with the Galactic Commonwealth. But that means, the novels turn the Mirror universe into a wannabe Prime one.
     
  5. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Novels never were canon, and these comics aren't required to be consistent with them. Which has always been SOP among Trek tie-ins anyway.
     
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  6. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

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    So *our* universe is the mirror universe... :(
     
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  7. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, unless it's specifically set up as being part of the novelverse, like Wildstorm's DS9 miniseries and the first NF graphic novel, then the comics (probably) aren't going to be a part of it. Even IDW's NF comic, which was written by Peter David and was intended to be part of the NF series, isn't consistent with the rest of the novelverse.
     
  8. Garth Rockett

    Garth Rockett Commodore Commodore

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    No clear indications, but there are two things that allow us to make a reasonable guess. In the FCBD issue, the interview with the authors discussed the Yar character's role in the story. They said they thought her career should be "short", as in the Prime universe. Also, the plot of the story revolves around the newly-constructed Galaxy Class Enterprise. Given that technological advancements seem to move at a similar pace in the Prime U and the Mirror U, I think we can infer the author's intent that this story takes place roughly parallel with the beginning of TNG in the Prime U; in other words, early 2364. On my personal chronology, I've got it just before "Encounter at Farpoint", pending any new information in later issues.

    That puts it 6+ years before "Crossover." I look at this series as filling in some gaps between the TOS and DS9 mirror episodes.
     
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  9. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I just read through #0, and it does fit in with the DS9 episodes perfectly fine. Barclay's narration makes it clear that Earth is pretty much all that's left of the Empire, and he specifically says that most of the galaxy doesn't even know they're still around.
    I enjoyed it quite a bit, and I do plan on checking out the rest of the series.
    Making Barclay the POV character was an unexpected choice, and him becoming Chief of Security was a nice surprise and an interesting way to work around Worf not being available. I am a little disappointed to that they killed Yar, I would have liked to have seen more of her.
    I was a bit surprised to see that the MU Stargazer had the same engineering as Voyager. That seemed like kind of an odd choice to me, I would think if they were going to use a different one from the E-D, it would have made more sense to go with something from an earlier era, rather than a later one.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2017
  10. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Which it would pretty much have to in order to get approved. Though naturally it doesn't fit with the novels' Mirror Universe.
     
  11. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Well, not always. In one of John Bryne's Romulan comics a character references a Klingon Emperor in the 23rd century, even though Rightful Heir pretty clearly established that there wouldn't have been one at the time.
     
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Sure, the occasional bit of trivia gets overlooked, because even John Van Citters' eagle eye can't catch every last detail. But the basic concept of the story needs to be canon-consistent to get approved. That's just how tie-ins work, unless it's clearly marked as an alternate reality like Myriad Universes. And even those were consistent in the sense that the existence of alternate timelines is a known part of Trek canon.
     
  13. Enterprise1701

    Enterprise1701 Commodore Commodore

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    Ha, so did an issue of the second Star Trek/Green Lantern crossover, by Kelvin Timeline Khan, no less, who should have been up to date on modern Klingon politics.
     
  14. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Really, it is possible to reconcile the inconsistency about the Klingon emperor in the 23rd century, because TNG established canonically that Klingon chancellors rewrite history to suit themselves. So Gowron's claim about how long the Empire has lacked an emperor is not necessarily historically accurate. Or perhaps the chancellor that served in the TOS era styled himself an emperor, but later Klingon history rejected the legitimacy of his claim and refused to call him that.
     
  15. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    That could be an explanation, I forgot about that line.
    I guess that is any easy mistake to make since you would expect an empire to have and emperor.
     
  16. Kor

    Kor Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I think Byrne went on record saying he basically ignored almost everything after TOS. To me, his Trek comics are all the richer for it!

    Kor
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Yes, there's another of his IDW comics that has another contradiction, IIRC, though I forget what. I think maybe he can get away with more than a less famous creator could.
     
  18. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I figured that was probably the case, when you've got someone like Byrne writing for you, I can see not wanting to interfere to much.
     
  19. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    But then Sins of the Father implies there's a current Emperor, so Rightful Heir was a contradiction to begin with. Nothing wrong with contradicting a contradiction.
     
  20. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, there kind of is, because series fiction is about refining things as you go, so the later version of an idea is generally assumed to supersede the original.The older reference in the rough draft, the newer reference is the revised draft that replaces it. It would be considered a mistake, for instance, for a new story to go back to saying that Kirk's middle initial is R or that ships run on lithium crystals. Or to have Riker addressed as "Bill" or to portray Data as having emotions without needing a special chip. All these things were portrayed early on and then replaced by other ideas, and once the replacement happened, there was no going back.

    Even aside from that, the reference in "Sins of the Father" was one word -- from an elderly, frightened person who might have simply misspoken. The reference in "Rightful Heir" was much more prominent and unambiguous. So it's more problematical to ignore the latter than the former.
     
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