Star Trek: Early Voyages

[Procutus]

I'm now into Part 2 of 'Cloak & Dagger' and I have to agree with you guys; this is good stuff. It's a testament the writers and artist for re-creating this pre-TOS period so well to the point when I'm reading the dialogues of Pike, Spock and Number One, I'm hearing the voices of Jeffrey Hunter, Nimoy and Majel Barrett. As much as I like Anson Mount's interpretation of the character, I immediately saw this as the Captain Pike I first saw and heard... A long time ago.

This feels like Star Trek.

 

[nightwind1]

One fellow fan disagreed with the force of a thousand exploding suns.

That looks a lot like James Dixon's rants. I bet he's the one who wrote it.

I (and a lot of other people) used to get into numerous "discussions" with him on Usenet back in the day.

 

[fireproof78]

There's just no way these comics can fit into a headcanon now alongside SNW. That being said, they were pretty good and their take on the Rigel VII disaster was far more compelling than the "something, something evil yeoman on amnesia planet" gobbledygook.

And yet they do, side by side. I love the comics and think they are well done in some sense and over the top in others.

 

[BillJ]

I love the comics and think they are well done in some sense and over the top in others.

So, Star Trek.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

That looks a lot like James Dixon's rants. I bet he's the one who wrote it.

I (and a lot of other people) used to get into numerous "discussions" with him on Usenet back in the day.

It is, believe me. I have ten versions of his chronology stored on my hard drive. That rant comes from Version 17; the last one he published online before he stopped.
His rants tended to get longer and more unhinged with each new update.​

 

[Procutus]

I also forgot to mention that the relationship between Pike and Dermot reminded me a great deal of Kirk and Gary Mitchell. I can't help but wonder if that was the intent or not.

 

[Yistaan]

I also forgot to mention that the relationship between Pike and Dermot reminded me a great deal of Kirk and Gary Mitchell. I can't help but wonder if that was the intent or not.

It was a well written friendship. I think SNW tie-in writers are now boxed in because if they try to explore that period with Zac Nguyen, his portrayal was so over-the-top evil and cartoonish (I blame the writers and director not the actor, he just did what they told him to do) that no prequel story depicting a similar friendship between him and Pike will really be believable.

 

[Procutus]

Agreed. I feel that Our Dearest Blood was much better than what we got.

 

[fireproof78]

Gary Mitchell tried to kill Kirk while claiming to be his friend. Not sure which relationship was more damaged?

 

[Procutus]

Well, I was thinking of Gary before he became a deranged super-esper.

 

[fireproof78]

Well, I was thinking of Gary before he became a deranged super-esper.

You mean, he wasn't always deranged?

 

[BillJ]

It is, believe me. I have ten versions of his chronology stored on my hard drive. That rant comes from Version 17; the last one he published online before he stopped.
His rants tended to get longer and more unhinged with each new update.​

Has he passed on? Haven’t heard his name in years.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Has he passed on? Haven’t heard his name in years.

You would have to ask @F. King Daniel about him. I think his last post on this forum was under the pseudonym Lenny Nurdbol back in 2013.​

 

[Procutus]

You mean, he wasn't always deranged?

Let's just say he had issues.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Has he passed on? Haven’t heard his name in years.

He pretended to once, along with a fake memorial page where he sounded off on everyone who ever disagreed with him ever and wrote detailed fantasies about murdering them.

He vanity searches, so don't be too surprised if he shows up immanently. I avoided saying his name for a reason

Should probably get back on topic.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

That looks a lot like James Dixon's rants. I bet he's the one who wrote it.

I (and a lot of other people) used to get into numerous "discussions" with him on Usenet back in the day.

I've never met him, but I considered him a friend long ago and still think of him fondly. I enjoyed reading his chronology, told him so, even gave him some feedback that he didn't dismiss out of hand.

 

[Turtletrekker]

He pretended to once, along with a fake memorial page where he sounded off on everyone who ever disagreed with him ever and wrote detailed fantasies about murdering them.

He vanity searches, so don't be too surprised if he shows up immanently. I avoided saying his name for a reason

Should probably get back on topic.

He's like Beetlejuice then? "James Dixon James Dixon James Dixon!"

Now... We wait.

Honestly, the guy was unintentionally hilarious with those rants of his.

 

[Procutus]

Just finished the EV Omnibus. While I enjoyed all of the stories, I have to say that Issues #12-15 was one the best overall ST tales I've read in recent years - not to mention one of the best time-travel stories I've read. I loved everything about it, from Chang quoting from Henry V (and yes, I heard Christopher Plummer's voice in my head as I read it) to the images of the TNG characters that Colt saw as she was tumbling through the temporal vortex.

And the ending was both perfect and chilling at the same time, and I can't help but note the comparison to Pike learning his fate in Disco. And the entire story itself bore some similarity to the Season 1 finale of SNW, leading me to wonder just how much the writers of 'A Quality of Mercy' where influenced by this excellent story.

Or I could just be overthinking things.

 

[Saul]

Or I could just be overthinking things.

Pretty much directly taken from the comics. Time stone. Time orb. Pike seeing his future self... I've been waiting for some time to pass before I got into those spoilers on the boards.

 

[Ketrick]

For me, even if we know where the story will end, and I fully accept that this is 100% the same Prime Universe we saw in TOS so that is where this will end, we still don't what will happen before the ending, and that's enough for me. And even if we know what will happen to the TOS characters, we don't know what will happen to the new characters, so there's still enough questions with there. And when the characters we know will live are in danger, I still find some suspense since we don't how they'll get out of danger.
As for it looking so different from TOS, I'm willing to allow the real world differences in a 1960s production vs a 2020s productions to overrule any in universe concerns I might have.
And I'm not really concerned with the details of the in universe references they might be contradicting, since most of what we got in TOS was rather vague, and prequels like this never line up exactly with the original. We've already gotten a storyline about Pike's accident, they've included T'Pring, and next season they're introducing Kroby, so that's enough to accept this as a direct prequel to TOS. The only things that I have trouble with are April being a white British guy in TAS and a black and American in SNW, and M'Benga seems too old and experienced to be the same character we saw in TOS.

I agree that SNW is a direct prequel to TOS. My headcanon explanation to the change with April is that there were two Robert April's. Captain/Commodore Robert April (from TAS) only commanded the construction and shakedown cruise of the Enterprise whereas Captain/Admiral Robert April was his younger nephew/cousin who commanded the five year mission. I've also seen it proposed that Dr. Joseph M'Benga is a relative of the Dr. M'Benga from TOS.

As far as EV goes, I remember reading it when I was in high school. I saw in TV Guide it being announced but wasn't able to start reading it until issue #11. I used to love it and Starfleet Academy. I remember my sadness at them ending. I would love to see its original characters brought into canon. Nano, Moves-With-Burning-Grace, Sito Mohindas, etc. would all be great additions and could fit in the time before Discovery Season 2 and SNW.