Spoilers ST PIC Stargazer Comic

[Enterprise1701]

It was a treat to see the names 'Asmund' and 'Zoma' in a new publication!

Romulan issues aside, I really enjoyed the issue. I loved seeing Hiro return. And the use of the Litverse Stargazer crew was great!

My one issue there was Mike Johnson seems to think Gilaad Ben Zoma's name is Ben (first name) Zoma (last name). I'm also not sure they would have been in "spandex hell" at that point in time.

Ohhhhh yeah. This feels like the same general mindset of a lack of research which led to an avian species in the Kelvin ongoing being named the 'Felidae'.

YE had them attack a Klingon outpost. Nothing with SF, so from SF's perspective, they were not interacting with them.

I would opine that is an extremely shoddy way to write further context for Data's dialogue. Why would it not be relevant to the staff conversation that they are all flying in space aboard the almost-new D because the Romulans destroyed the C? And he is an android who time and again demonstrates the prodigal mental capacity for loquacious exposition.

The real point is that it’s a shame there were never any canonical Romulan ships seen between the bird of prey and the warbird. With the obvious though irrelevant exception of the Klingon battlecrusier. That’s limited tie in writers and artists in more cases than not.

Yup. I get that it's not IDW's priority on this budget, or maybe their contract here limits new lore inventions, but the D'Deridex-class ship leaves my heart feeling empty that the comic did not use the still-never-illustrated Ivarix class like Aventeer Vokar's Tomed or Amarcan class like Volskiar's Victorious.

For me, getting a fresh-ish design for the Theseus in Year Five #13 was a surprise break from monotony.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

SNW S01E10 gave us an entire fleet of 2266 Romulan designs.

Meaning it took over fifty years to get an official ship design that bridges the gap between the bird of prey of 2266 and the D’Deridex in 2363.

 

[Christopher]

That's just your interpretation. The more urgent matters could easily have been matters with the Klingons or elsewhere along the border. And the attack on Narendra could've been unsanctioned, or made secret, or committed by renegade forces, or by the Tal Shiar, or in response to a Klingon attack, etc.

Yes, of course we can rationalize it in-universe to fit what was established later. I do that all the time in my professional Star Trek fiction. But I'm not engaging in in-universe discussion here. I'm talking about the original intentions of "The Neutral Zone"'s makers at the time -- that the Romulans hadn't been active in decades and now were "back" -- and the way later writers chose to modify or disregard them. This kind of adjustment is a normal part of the creative process in an ongoing series, especially when different writer/producers take over. Like how Data was originally meant to have subdued emotions but had the "emotionless robot" cliche imposed on him in season 3. Or how first-season Picard had a caricatured, Chekov-like nationalism about his French heritage that was mercifully dropped afterward. Acknowledging that those inconsistencies existed doesn't mean they can't be reconciled within the story. It's just discussing how the creative process happened in real life.

 

[Dukhat]

The real point is that it’s a shame there were never any canonical Romulan ships seen between the bird of prey and the warbird. With the obvious though irrelevant exception of the Klingon battlecrusier. That’s limited tie in writers and artists in more cases than not.

I completely agree, but look at it this way: if a Romulan ship model had been built for one of the TOS films like the K’T’inga and the BoP were for the Klingons, then they would have used that model in TNG rather than being forced to build the warbird because they had no other Romulan ship models in their stock inventory to use. Then the Romulans would have been flying around in 70 year old ships just like the Klingons did, instead of debuting a brand-new filming model.

SNW S01E10 gave us an entire fleet of 2266 Romulan designs.

I think he meant that there were no other Romulan ship designs between TOS and TNG except for Wah Chang’s BoP and the D’Deridex.

 

[NCC-73515]

But I'm not engaging in in-universe discussion here.

then it makes a lot of sense

 

[The Wormhole]

The real point is that it’s a shame there were never any canonical Romulan ships seen between the bird of prey and the warbird. With the obvious though irrelevant exception of the Klingon battlecrusier. That’s limited tie in writers and artists in more cases than not.

Romulans in general hardly got any ship designs from 1966-2005. Only seven. And of those seven, one was actually a Klingon ship that was being used by Romulans, one was simply a copy of the original BoP, but colored green with different nacelles, and one was a reuse of an alien ship of the week from Voyager.

 

[Christopher]

Romulans in general hardly got any ship designs from 1966-2005. Only seven. And of those seven, one was actually a Klingon ship that was being used by Romulans, one was simply a copy of the original BoP, but colored green with different nacelles, and one was a reuse of an alien ship of the week from Voyager.

Canonically, yeah, but they had some interesting Romulan designs in the FASA role-playing game, one of which were used in DC Comics' Trek series. And there was the Star Trek Chronology's conjectural design for a Romulan War-era ship.

 

[ryan123450]

I loved a mirror image bird of prey (top and bottom) that was once in one of the comics. Something from Marvel I think. The obvious first step between BoP and D’deridex.

 

[Christopher]

I loved a mirror image bird of prey (top and bottom) that was once in one of the comics. Something from Marvel I think. The obvious first step between BoP and D’deridex.

I think you're thinking of the Romulan design from DC's TOS comic that was an intermediate step between the Klingon battlecruiser design and the D'deridex. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Time_Crime_Part_1

 

[ryan123450]

I think you're thinking of the Romulan design from DC's TOS comic that was an intermediate step between the Klingon battlecruiser design and the D'deridex. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Time_Crime_Part_1

I love that one as well, but I was thinking of the double bird of prey from Unlimited #4. Only picture I could find online- https://ship-o-rama.tumblr.com/post/155736380833/romulan-heavy-bird-of-prey-profile-upgrade-of-the

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Canonically, yeah, but they had some interesting Romulan designs in the FASA role-playing game, one of which were used in DC Comics' Trek series. And there was the Star Trek Chronology's conjectural design for a Romulan War-era ship.

To say nothing of the video game designs - both the Star Trek Armada games come to my mind first, where there were about a dozen ship designs per faction, which included the Romulans.

 

[Christopher]

I love that one as well, but I was thinking of the double bird of prey from Unlimited #4. Only picture I could find online- https://ship-o-rama.tumblr.com/post/155736380833/romulan-heavy-bird-of-prey-profile-upgrade-of-the

I don't like that one as much. The DC hybrid Klingon design comes closer to the structure of the D'deridex, with the "head" on a long "neck" and the oval loop structure just being at the rear. There's a more plausible design lineage from the K'tinga to the DC design to the D'deridex.

 

[ryan123450]

I don't like that one as much. The DC hybrid Klingon design comes closer to the structure of the D'deridex, with the "head" on a long "neck" and the oval loop structure just being at the rear. There's a more plausible design lineage from the K'tinga to the DC design to the D'deridex.

I can see them trying out multiple designs in the wake of inventing the microsingularity drive, or whatever causes the need for that hollow design. Basically ‘kitbashing’ their own older ships in multiple ways to see what works.

 

[Christopher]

I can see them trying out multiple designs in the wake of inventing the microsingularity drive, or whatever causes the need for that hollow design. Basically ‘kitbashing’ their own older ships in multiple ways to see what works.

I'm thinking more about the creativity of the real-life comic book artists. I think that recognizing a design lineage from the K'tinga to the D'deridex is a cleverer and more organic insight than trying to force the BoP to become an ancestor of the D'd.

 

[DarKush]

I thought Issue #3 was a decent conclusion, and I liked this miniseries more than the first PIC prequel comic. That said, I do feel it was rushed (though they were able to fit in the requisite Picard apologizing for letting yet someone else down which is a hallmark of the PIC series) and I would've liked to have gotten two or three more issues to flesh out the story and characters more. It's doubtful we'll be seeing Captain Mekara and the Stargazer crew again, or anytime soon, so it would've been nice to get more of them.

Spoiler

Also, I would've liked to have seen more of relationship between the Remans and the Jenjorans. I liked the twist there but once again it was done in exposition, and I wish that had played out slower and Picard had figured out something was amiss on his own. i

I don't get why the PIC miniseries go for just three issues. I can get it for the PIC prequel comic because perhaps they didn't want to reveal too much about the series, but for a comic set before the final season, I thought it was a missed opportunity to do more world building, which I feel PIC as a series hasn't been that great at overall.

 

[Anduinel]

I thought Issue #3 was a decent conclusion, and I liked this miniseries more than the first PIC prequel comic. That said, I do feel it was rushed (though they were able to fit in the requisite Picard apologizing for letting yet someone else down which is a hallmark of the PIC series) and I would've liked to have gotten two or three more issues to flesh out the story and characters more. It's doubtful we'll be seeing Captain Mekara and the Stargazer crew again, or anytime soon, so it would've been nice to get more of them.

Spoiler

Also, I would've liked to have seen more of relationship between the Remans and the Jenjorans. I liked the twist there but once again it was done in exposition, and I wish that had played out slower and Picard had figured out something was amiss on his own. i

I don't get why the PIC miniseries go for just three issues. I can get it for the PIC prequel comic because perhaps they didn't want to reveal too much about the series, but for a comic set before the final season, I thought it was a missed opportunity to do more world building, which I feel PIC as a series hasn't been that great at overall.

Spoiler

I got the feeling that this was only supposed to be gap filler - we don't even really get Seven all the way to joining Starfleet, just enough groundwork that it's a bit less of a leap to see her in the ranks whenever S3 is set.

And I think because it is set in the gap between seasons, it's safer for the writing team to keep the scope of the story modest so as not to butt up against whatever Matalas might establish in PIC S3. Once PIC is off the air, maybe the comics will have room to get a little more ambitious.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I don't get why the PIC miniseries go for just three issues. I can get it for the PIC prequel comic because perhaps they didn't want to reveal too much about the series, but for a comic set before the final season, I thought it was a missed opportunity to do more world building, which I feel PIC as a series hasn't been that great at overall.

I agree the flaw of this comic book mini-series is that it's just too short. It feels like it wasn't even a full-episode's equivalent of TNG or PIC. They arrive on the planet, meet the natives, find out the Romulans were jerks, the Remans attack, the Romulans attack again, and then everything is hunky dorey. I understand part of this is the limitations of the medium but I kind of think that this deserved to be 5-6 issues at least.

I admit, I really do like the Fenris Rangers though so I was overall happy at the conflict between Starfleet and the Fenris Rangers over methods. I enjoyed NO MAN'S LAND for the conflict as well and think I would very much enjoy a Jeri Ryan-driven series about her and them. I did like the continuity that Picard and company blew up one of the Romulan warlords in the first season, though. I admit I would love an entire book or comic series set in the former Neutral Zone about the partisans fighting for FREEDOM.

(I really liked the Romulan questline in ST:O and think this is pretty close)

Sadly, I disagree with the premise of Seven rejoining Starfleet and feel that was a mistake narratively. So Picard trying to win Seven over here didn't really fill me with joy.

 

[Markonian]

It's great to see the Remans again. While NEM was received lukewarmly, I was fascinated by the Vulcan -> Romulan offshoot -> Reman offshoot idea. And the potential the Remans represented as slaves who fight for freedom (good guy stuff) that are hostile to others (bad guy stuff).

 

[Christopher]

While NEM was received lukewarmly, I was fascinated by the Vulcan -> Romulan offshoot -> Reman offshoot idea.

I never liked the conjecture that the Remans were some kind of mutant Romulans. I prefer to think they're an indigenous species that the proto-Romulans found and conquered when they settled the twin-planet system. One, they just look too drastically different from the Romulans. Two, early interbreeding with indigenous Remans could've explained where the "northern" Romulans' forehead ridges came from. And three, I was so grateful to Nemesis for finally, finally portraying one of Trek's so-called "empires" like an actual empire. The whole way empires work is that they have a dominant nation ruling over multiple subordinate nations, channeling their wealth, resources, and labor to the ruling state. So portraying an interstellar "empire" as only having one species within it is nonsensical. NEM's Romulans actually operated like an empire, subjugating another people and using them as a labor force and as cannon fodder in their wars. It was so refreshing. Making the Remans just offshoot Romulans falls back into Trek's usual laziness in portraying mono-species "empires."

 

[DarKush]

Spoiler

I got the feeling that this was only supposed to be gap filler - we don't even really get Seven all the way to joining Starfleet, just enough groundwork that it's a bit less of a leap to see her in the ranks whenever S3 is set.

And I think because it is set in the gap between seasons, it's safer for the writing team to keep the scope of the story modest so as not to butt up against whatever Matalas might establish in PIC S3. Once PIC is off the air, maybe the comics will have room to get a little more ambitious.

I get what you mean. But I wasn't really thinking about Seven's story. I was thinking more about the Stargazer crew, what was going on on Jenjor IV, but also world building in general. I can see the comic writers wanting to be cautious when it came to world building, and I don't know if they had any contact, or much, with the PIC writing staff. If they did it would've been nice if they had been able to flesh out more things that the third season wasn't touching.